A Strange Turn Of Events

Thatch watched the cluster of tiny children put on their play for the Whitebeards arrival, all dressed as flowers or bees. The narrative had been drowned out as the kids forgot their lines or just danced while not knowing what to do, but it had started out something about a bee pollinating flowers and making friends with them.

The kids were all in the range of three to five year olds, and they were fucking adorable. Thatch had hearts in his eyes at the cute children. They were having so much fun on stage, not even caring about their cheaply made outfits falling off, or forgetting any and all lines before erupting into giggles.

The crew didn't see children much, and Thatch had always loved kids. It was the one major drawback of his pirate life. Never seeing children. So it was always nice to dock at one of their islands where the kids were comfortable to come out and mingle. Well, their parents were comfortable with them doing so.

There were mostly adults, parents, in the crowd but many pirates were watching and cheering the children on as they had a blast. There was one in particular which was going to melt Thatch into a puddle over joy. He looked about four and had a flower hat on with paper leaves stuck to both hands as he bounced around as one of the flowers.

"Go, Luffy! Be the best flower!" a black haired young man shouted from the stands, taking photos with a camera den den, wearing a proud grin. Thatch assumed it was an older brother. Luffy, Thatch's favorite so far, put on a wide grin and jumped up, one of his leaves coming unstuck and he gasped to reach down and stick it back on. It wouldn't stick and he started to get a little upset. "Don't worry, Luffy, lots of flowers only have one leave!" Luffy brightened and started dancing again.

His older brother clearly knew how to handle the little boy. What was left of the play was about to be finished when Luffy locked eyes with Thatch, who grinned at him with a wave. "Ah! He's gonna die!" he shouted, and Thatch lost his smile.

"Later, Luffy! You have to finish the play!" the same young man said, completely brushing off what Luffy had just declared. No one seemed particularly put off with it, so Thatch had a feeling he said that a lot for some reason. But in his gut, it gave him a bad feeling. Luffy bowed with the other flowers, and ran to Ace, who he shouted his name, jumping into his arms. "Did you see me, Ace?" Luffy asked brightly.

"I did! You were my favorite flower," Ace said with a grin. "Why don't you have some cake with your friends? I know you worked really hard on it." Luffy nodded and dropped down and ran to a little table that had small slices of chocolate cake being served. No one, still, had seemed like Luffy's sudden exclamation was strange.

It still made Thatch uneasy. He turned to the nearest person, an old man, and asked, "Why did Luffy tell me I was gonna die?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light and curious, even though the feeling was growing stronger.

"Well, he says that a lot..." the man said, clearly uncomfortable. Thatch asked if he was ever correct. "Well, there have been multiple heart attacks or other types of deaths, but usually the people leave too quickly to tell. It could just be a coincidence, no one knows," he explained. Thatch's face went white. "You could always go ask him, but Ace is very protective of him. He might snap at you. But he's a sweet boy, too." The old man walked away, and Thatch waited as the crowd dispersed for Luffy and Ace to leave the little circle where the kids were eating cake.

Once he was done, Luffy looked longingly at Ace's plate, who gave it to him without a second thought. Luffy devoured it, cake all over his face, which Ace cleaned off with a napkin. "Why don't we go to the market? I think your performance deserves some yummy strawberries," Ace said, and picked Luffy up. Luffy cheered, and Thatch felt weird to interrupt.