The Devil Fruit That Ruined Lives

Luffy Is Found

This is a possibly upsetting chapter featuring Garp and some new enemies. Poor clueless Luffy. Enjoy~

The newspaper the next day was delivered, and the whole village was nervous and frightened. They didn't know the scope of it or the whole story, but the newspaper reported that multiple large, New World crews had entered the East Blue. They didn't know that the pirates would come to Dawn Island, but the fear was there.

Sabo read the newspaper aloud to Ace while Luffy napped on the futon in the storage room, a blob of mochi on the bed and under a soft blanket. "Multiple large crews have crossed through the Grand Line in almost record time after hearing about the coveted devil fruit found in the East Blue. These crews include New world crews such as the Big Mom pirates, Donquixote pirates, including the captain himself who has taken a break from his kingdom. Multiple smaller, lesser known crews have also made their move.

"The authorities encourage citizens in the East Blue to keep a look out and stay home if any arrive on your island. Hiding is your best option. The fruit's exact location is not known by the public, but no matter the island you are on, you could be in danger."

Sabo frowned and looked worried. "Gramps said not to go into the forest, but would that be safer than being on the coast? Or going back to the bandits' hut?" Ace wondered. Sabo shrugged, but they both trusted Garp's judgement in situations like these, which they'd never encountered. But, he was a seasoned marine, so he knew what was best, even if the boys doubted his decision.

How would the marines treat Luffy? Would they see him as a nuisance to take care of? Would he take up a lot of Garp's time? Who and how would anyone train him? Did any marines have devil fruits? Well, surely some did, but there had to be others that had devil fruits and weren't in the marines. It was a given. And the two doubted any pirate or wanted criminal would like teaching a four year old how to use their powers.

Surely, some in the world would be upset with someone having the same power as them. They would kill Luffy for that. Ace and Sabo knew most pirates were bastards, like Bluejam. They had of course heard stories of horrible pirates from Garp. Though, they still wanted to be pirates and free in the sea.

While Luffy was growing up and learning how to use his powers, Ace and Sabo would eventually set out on their pirate journeys in a couple years. They would see Luffy again, though. There was no doubt they'd meet up with him again, once he was stronger. The strongest.

No one came to bother them the first three days, and they stayed at Makino's, who was glad to have them and feed them as Garp told them to not go back into the forest until he was there. Ace and sabo could fight against guards or policemen from Goa, but having Luffy with them while doing so had always been a nerve-wracking liability.

Not that they wouldn't miss him. Some things would be easier, but they'd also not really have anything to do. No one to teach or play with or raise as best as they could. Neither had told Luffy he was being separated from them yet. They would postpone it until Garp arrived. Hopefully before the other pirates did. East Blue may not be tiny, but it was also much easier to navigate and New World or Paradise pirates would no doubt have no trouble navigating these waters.

Luffy was happy to play with toys Makino bought for him, since he had no real toys and only one stuffed animal that had been trash. He also got some paper to draw on. The boy seemed to enjoy it, so hopefully Garp and the marines could give him more than the brothers could. They felt bad for not getting Luffy any toys and hoarding their stash of money for the future. They could have at least spent some money on the little one.

Throughout the days, Luffy continued to have trouble with many of his new powers, though the same ones each time. The one that made him rubber, mochi, diamond and bubbles. Luckily, he didn't have trouble with the poison or bomb fruits. Or any of the ones that included sharp objects, like the spike-spike and dice-dice fruits. Along with the snip-snip. Ace and Sabo were thankful for that, and also thankful Makino didn't press them over what was happening to Luffy, even though it scared her.