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C17:-OnePiece_FanFic_Ace
🕑 Added 2024-06-24 19:38:34 +0000 UTC17. Rayleigh’s Offer.
│3rd Person POV│
[Grand Line, New World, Sphinx Island, Moby Dick…]
“Ace!!! You! Are you alright?”
Ace reflexively held the Den Den Mushi far from himself when Luffy’s extra loud voice came out of the snail’s mouth.
“Don’t shout, you idiot! I can hear you just fine.” He couldn’t help but shout back into the receiver once Luffy stopped speaking.
“Shishishishishi~!! I’m glad you are fine, Ace!”
Ace smiled in response to Luffy’s words, “I should be the one worried about you, you idiot!”
“Sister, take a look at that!”
Just then, the shocked sound of one of the Gorgon sisters came through the Den Den Mushi.
“Rayleigh!? Is that.. Is that really Rayleigh?!”
More voices from other women he never met came through the Den Den Mushi.
However, because of his previous life’s memories, Ace could guess what was happening on the other side.
=+=+=+=< Scene Break >=+=+=+=
│3rd Person POV│
[Grand Line, Paradise, Isle of Women, Near the shore, Perfume Yuda…]
After Rayleigh boarded the ship, Sandersonia and Marigold wasted no time in reaching his sides and greeting him.
Gloriosa was right behind them. Only Hancock was still hovering over Luffy and completely missed the arrival of another person on her ship.
However, that changed quickly when Luffy himself went ahead to meet him, leaving the still-connected Den Den Mushi idle.
“Old man Rayleigh!! What are you doing all the way here? I was just about to head back out to Sabaody Archipelago by following your Vivre Card! Have the others returned yet?” said Luffy in a single breath.
While chuckling lightly, Rayleigh replied, “Well, I doubt they will be able to return just yet. And I left my own Vivre Card with Shakky. I could hardly move about freely otherwise, you see! Hahaha!”
Just then, Rayleigh's attention went to the unattended Den Den Mushi and he asked curiously, “Is that still connected?”
Gloriosa, Luffy, and the Gorgon Sisters looked at the thing Rayleigh was pointing at. With a look of realization, Luffy stated, “Ah! I was talking with Ace before you came!”
Hearing that Ace was on the other side of the call put Rayleigh’s mind at ease.
He knew the Whitebeard Pirate had a White Den Den Mushi in their possession. Hence, there was no chance of their conversation being tapped.
With a burst of motion, Luffy was beside the Den Den Mushi and saying into the receiver, “Ace, are you there?”
“No! The call has been disconnected!” A slightly off-pitch voice came out.
Luffy, the naive little idiot, believed the voice and turned to the others before saying in a disappointed tone, “It says the call was disconnected!”
...
“Rahahahaha!”
“Muhahahahaha!”
“Wahahaha! Ace, is your brother really the Captain of a Pirate Ship? Wahahahahaha!”
After a moment of silence, voracious laughter along with some scattered sentences came through the receiver.
Even Rayleigh and the others chuckled lightly. Only Hancock was the exception.
She was seething with anger as she thought, ‘How dare you make fun of Luffy! Even if you are his elder brother, you won’t be forgiven. I will remember this, Fire Fist Ace!’
Luffy also had the lightbulb moment and understood what had just happened. He shouted, “Ace! Are you making fun of me!?”
“Hahaha! Relax Luffy! I was just joking a little. Besides, you are also at fault. You abruptly left the Den Den Mushi without saying anything.” Ace said, shifting the blame to Luffy.
“Ah, is that so? Sorry, sorry!”
Luffy apologized with a confused expression.
On the other side of the Den Den Mushi, Ace adopted a serious expression and said, “Jokes aside, I have something important to tell you, Luffy!”
“What is it?” Luffy asked.
Knowing his brother’s simple nature, Ace bluntly said, “Luffy, Sabo is alive!”
“Sabo?.. SABO??!! HE’S ALIVE?? WHERE IS HE??”
Initially slightly confused, Luffy became extremely agitated once he processed what Ace just said.
“Sabo is a Revolutionary now. Just like Ivankov, Inazuma, and your father, Dragon. Moreover, he’s even the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army.”
Hearing Ace’s words, Luffy calmed down slightly. He asked in an excited voice, “Really?! When can I meet him? You know where he is?”
Ace chuckled lightly while answering his questions one by one, “Yes, he is alive. I confirmed it with Ivankov.
“That day, Sabo managed to survive the destruction of his ship. He was then rescued by Dragon and then taken to the Revolutionary Army’s headquarters, I think.
“Ivankov said that Sabo had lost his memories because of the injuries he suffered that day.
“As for where he is now? I don’t know. However, you don’t need to worry about it now. I have talked with Ivankov and he said that he will arrange a meeting between me and Sabo.
“Once I manage to awaken his memories, I will bring him to you, alright?”
Having no problem with the arrangement, Luffy nodded with a megawatt smile on his face and said, “I will be waiting.”
“You won’t have to wait for long, Luffy. I promise!”
“Umhmm!”
Done with the serious topic, Ace’s tone lightened slightly as he questioned, “By the way, Luffy, did you reunite with your crewmates yet?”
Luffy’s smile disappeared as he replied in a dull tone, “No. Old man Rayleigh said that no has arrived yet. I will go and wait for them on Sabaody Archipelago.”
At this moment, Rayleigh couldn’t help but interrupt.
=+=+=+=< Scene Break >=+=+=+=
│3rd Person POV│
[Grand Line, New World, Sphinx Island, Moby Dick…]
“About that, I don’t think you should do that.”
Hearing Rayleigh saying that, Ace heaved a small sigh of relief.
He was now sure that Rayleigh would offer to train Luffy for the next two years, just like he had done in the Canon Timeline.
“Eh? Why not?” Luffy’s confused voice brought Ace out of his thoughts.
“Well, I am sure you remembered what happened to you all on that island.”
Ace could picture the dreadful expression Luffy had on his face as he recalled his experience on the Sabaody Archipelago.
He wanted to say something, however, he refrained from speaking at this moment.
On the other side, Rayleigh continued speaking, “Do you want to meet up with your friend, only to have that happen again?”
A few moments of silence followed the statement as Rayleigh gave Luffy the time to think through the consequences of his actions if he followed his previous plan.
“I have a proposal for you. Naturally, it is entirely up to you whether to accept it or not.
“I offer to train you for two years so that you can be prepared to face the challenges you may face once you continue your journey from Sabaody Archipelago onwards.
“In the meantime, your crewmates can stay where they are and train their skills to aid you further. You all can reunite in 2 years at Sabaody Archipelago.”
After this statement, the Den Den Mushi once again went silent for a few seconds before Luffy’s voice came through.
“But, are my crewmates safe where they are? And how will they know to meet up after two years?”
Hearing the surprisingly insightful questions that Luffy asked, Ace felt a myriad of emotions.
Happy that his little brother was becoming more mature, sad as he knew what exactly Luffy had to go through to experience this growth, determination to assist him in his future adventures, among other feelings.
Rayleigh answered in response to Luffy’s question, “You don’t have to worry about them. After Kuma had dispersed you and your crew in different directions, he came to me and talked with me.
“Kuma was one of the leading members of the Revolutionary Army. The reason he sent your crew flying in such a way was to help you guys escape the pursuit of the World Government and the Marines.
“He had informed me that all the members of your crew had been sent to islands where they could grow stronger or hone their skills to the next level.
“So, wherever they are, they are safe. As for how to inform them about rescheduling the reunion time to two years later, I am sure we can figure something out.”
Ace had already spent some time thinking about how to solve this issue in the last week. So, he didn’t hesitate to speak up, “I have some ideas on how to do that.”
“You do, Ace? That saves the trouble of coming up with a feasible idea. Hahaha.” Rayleigh said with a laugh.
Rolling his eyes slightly, Ace replied, “Ivankov had told me that he would arrange my meeting with Sabo on Momoiro Island.
“So, I will be going to the first half of the Grand Line sometime in the following week. After that, I can use their Vivre Card to find them and convey the information to them.
“By the way, you do have their Vivre Card or at least they have yours, right Luffy?”
“Ah-! No. But, they have Rayleigh’s Vivre Card.” Luffy replied in response to Ace’s question.
“That will work. I will just collect a piece of Rayleigh’s Vivre Card from Shakky when I pass by Sabaody Archipelago.” Ace shared the plan he came up with.
In normal circumstances, this would have taken at least two weeks.
However, Ace, thanks to his previous life’s memories, already knew which islands the Straw Hat Crew members were sent to.
Therefore, he would just have to procure the Eternal Log Pose to those islands and the task of informing the Straw Hats of their new reunion time could be done within a week.
Additionally, as Luffy had not lost someone important to him in the Summit War, the Straw Hats Crew members shouldn't be in a hurry to return to the Sabaody Archipelago.
At least, that’s what Ace thought initially.
It is the Straw Hats he was speculating about. Luffy isn’t the only abnormal among them.
That is why, after meeting with Sabo, Ace had already decided to do his utmost to contact the Straw Hats as soon as possible.
After Ace and Rayleigh agreed to act according to the former’s plan, the two brothers talked about some trivial matters before the Den Den Mushi connection was severed.
At this moment, Marco suddenly appeared behind Ace, a menacing aura radiating from his body.
He said with an even tone, “You are not planning to venture out again on your own, are you?”
A shiver went through his head to toe and sweat began to form on his forehead as Ace slowly turned around.
“No, I wasn’t?”
Marco’s eyes narrowed upon hearing the unsure tone.
Seeing that he couldn’t fool Marco, Ace backed up slightly and raised his hands in surrender.
“Alright! I was thinking of going solo. However, I changed my mind and am planning to take Izou, Deuce, Bonney, and Law and his crew with me.”
…To Be Continued!
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A/N: Well, I don't think an apology would be enough at this point.
I will just say that something happened IRL and I couldn't just muster the motivation to write.
I have the subsequent plots ready in mind, and if composed into chapters, their number would exceed at least twenty.
However, whenever I opened the Docs to compose the chapter, one thing or other happened and I couldn't write more than a few dozen words.
I hope this doesn't continue. However, let's see how it goes.
