Foosha Village wasn't anything like Gray Terminal.
It was cleaner, quieter, and smelled of the sea instead of smoke and rot. Small houses lined the main street, a handful of shops stood open, and further down, I spotted a wooden sign swinging with the words: 'Party's Bar'. That was our destination.
"Looks boring," Ace muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Not everything has to look like a battlefield," Sabo replied. "Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing what kind of people live here."
I kept my thoughts to myself. For me, this place was more than a random village with a bar. I already knew exactly who we'd find here.
We hadn't even made it halfway down the street when the peace broke.
"GIVE IT BACK, YOU STUPID BIRD!" a high-pitched voice rang out.
All three of us turned just in time to see a kid with messy black hair barrelling down the street, chasing after a chicken-salamander that flapped and squawked like it owned the place. The bird had a sandal dangling from its beak, and the kid was raising hell over it following the creature behind the bar.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
'It's him.'
One look was all it took for me to recognize Luffy and even though he was currently little more than a wild pipsqueak, during that one moment images of the great man he would later become, appeared and overlapped with his little frame.
The chicken made the mistake of darting toward us. In one quick motion, I reached out, snagged it by the wings, and plucked the sandal free. The bird squawked in outrage before bolting down an alley, leaving me holding the prize.
Luffy, who rushed over like a bull skidded to a stop with one bare foot dragging across the dirt. His wide eyes locked on the sandal in my hand.
"My sandal!" he yelled.
I crouched down, grinning as I held it out. "Yours, right?"
He snatched it back like it was treasure and shoved his foot right into it. "Thanks! That stupid bird almost got away with it, yet you caught him so easily! You must be quite strong, aren't you?"
Ace raised an eyebrow, Sabo chuckled under his breath, and I just stood back up. "No problem, kid."
Without missing a beat, the boy puffed out his chest. "I'm no kid! I'm Monkey D. Luffy! But who exactly are you guys?"
"None of a brat's business." Ace chimed in before me and I could have sworn that for a second Luffy's next words appeared practically written all over his face.
'I am not a brat! I'm Monkey D. Luffy!' he was about to shout but instead his stomach growled so loudly it could have been a small explosion. Luffy froze, then scratched his messy hair sheepishly. "Hehe… all that running made me hungry."
Ace seemed stunned probably unsure of whether that loud a sound could really come out of that small a stomach, whereas Sabo was busy laughing his ass off to the stupid expression my brother was making.
Jerking a thumb towards the swinging sign while wiping a tear, formed from laughing to hard, he asked: "Is the food over there any good?"
"Oh! Makino's bar! Best food ever!" Luffy shouted bolting through the doors without even waiting for a response.
Ace groaned, looking at the entrance. "We just got dragged along by a brat, didn't we?"
"Looks that way," I said, already following behind. A savoury scent greeted first thing upon entering followed by an atmospheric chatter that was different from all other bars Ace and I ever visited.
Behind the bar stood a young woman with soft green hair and a kind face. She was smiling at the sight of Luffy bouncing onto a stool until she noticed the three of us trailing in behind him.
"Over here! Hey! Here!" He energetically waved us over while also making sure every pair of eyes settled on us, though I didn't really mind the stares.
"Luffy," Makino sighed, resting her hands on her hips, "what did I tell you about dragging strangers around?"
"They're not strangers!" Luffy declared, leaning over the counter. "They saved me from a monster chicken!"
She blinked, her gaze shifting to us. "...A chicken?"
Ace stepped forward, his expression a perfect deadpan yet his voice bared a mocking undertone. "He tripped into a bucket and lost a little chick that stole his sandal."
"Wha-! That's not what happened" Luffy shouted, his cheeks flushing red.
Sabo only chuckled as he slid onto the stool next to him. "Either way, I think we'll take whatever he's having. Make it three portions please."
Makino studied us for a second longer, before her expression softened into a welcoming smile. "Alright then. Since you are Luffy's new friends today's meal is on me."
"We are definitely not his -!" Ace of course was quick to retort but I shut him up in a brotherly way before he could cost us a free meal.
Soon, steaming plates of stew with lots of meat and thick slices of bread were set down in front of us. Luffy dove in headfirst, his face practically disappearing into the bowl. Ace watched him with a mix of disbelief and reluctant amusement.
"This kid's a disaster," he muttered.
"A disaster with good taste," I corrected, taking a spoonful. It was really good. And it was the first meal we had with Luffy, whom I already planned to adopt as a little brother. At this point in time, I couldn't have possibly known that historians and archaeologists would later refer to our meeting as 'The first shared meal of the 4 disaster kings.'
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3rd POV
A week and a half went by since Ace, Jackson, and Sabo first met the boy who smelled of fish and trouble.
In another life, one only Jackson knew of, this meeting wasn't supposed to happen for almost another year. In that timeline, Ace, not having a twin brother, was a lot colder and grumpier, outright rejecting and ignoring Luffy's desperate attempts to befriend him no matter the lengths the later would go to or the injuries he would suffer in doing so.
Luckily Jackson never let it come to that. He actively pushed Luffy into their circle, playing the role of the bridge. At first, neither Sabo nor Ace could make heads or tails of why Jackson showed such a sudden interest in a loudmouthed, clumsy nuisance like Luffy.
Yet they followed Jackson's lead. Whether it was a trip to Foosha Village after a morning of gruelling training or a stop at Party's Bar after collecting "taxes" from the local criminals, the trio had slowly, reluctantly, become a quartet.
The training sessions were particularly chaotic. At Luffy's insistence, he was allowed to join their training once, which quickly ended with the boy being sent tumbling across the clearing like a rubber ball. But to their surprise, the pipsqueak always got back up. Luffy followed them like a persistent shadow, and before long, Ace had stopped trying to lose him in the woods when the other 2 stopped paying attention.
Slowly, the "clumsy nuisance" started to become "their" clumsy nuisance. Sabo began finding ways to make Luffy useful in their schemes, laughing at his ridiculous goofiness, while Ace, in a rare moment of patience, actually showed the boy how to throw a proper punch without having his body shake like a leaf in the wind.
During one of their walks home, as the sun dipped low over the mountains, Jackson casually remarked how fun it would be if they had a shared younger brother like Luffy.
Sabo and Ace had immediately dismissed it as more of Jackson's "random nonsense," giving him looks that practically screamed, 'Get a load of this idiot.' But they didn't realize the seeds were already being planted. All it would take for them to sprout was time and Luffy's uncanny power to make people love him.
Meanwhile, a few miles off the coast of Dawn Island, a massive ship steadily cut through the waves. Its wooden hull was painted a deep, striking red, and its figurehead; a fierce, horned snake or dragon, loomed over the water as if searching for the next adventure.
High on the mainmast, a black flag snapped sharply in the wind. The Jolly Roger was unmistakable: a skull with a pair of crossed sabres and two distinct red scars slashed diagonally across its left eye socket. The Red Hair Pirates!
"Island! I see an island!"
Perched high up on the dragon figurehead, a young girl with a unique mix of red and white hair pointed toward the horizon. Her eyes sparkled with excitement as the vague outline of Foosha Village finally came into view.
Uta didn't wait for a reply from the crew. She scrambled down from her perch with practiced ease, her boots hitting the wooden deck with a loud thud. Without slowing down, she bolted across the ship and burst into the captain's quarters without knocking.
"Shanks, get ready!" she shouted, her voice full of energy. "The next island is right in front of us! Wake up!"