【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Nami walked through the crowd and headed towards Luffy in front of her. She gently put the straw hat on Luffy's head, then approached the fallen marine captain with a stick and hit him into the water. "This is for you guys messing up Aunt Bellemel's orange orchard."

Nami pulled his marine captain's beard and said "Now you go clean up the mess, then help Housha Town rebuild, and give me my money back!!"

"I'll give it back to you, I'll give it back to you!" Colonel Mouse begged for mercy, but he did not forget to make harsh remarks when he left.

……

"It's all over, Bellemel. It took eight years, but everyone is...free!" Nami sat in front of Bellemel's grave, with Nojiko and Kenzo standing behind her. Her village, her friends, her family, they were all safe and sound, and Nami had a relaxed smile on her face.

"Ajian, Nojiko..." Nami called softly.

"What?" Nojigao and Ajian looked at Nami in confusion.

"If Bellemel were still alive, would she stop me from becoming a pirate?" Nami asked with a smile.

"How could she let her daughter become a pirate!" Ajian retorted instantly. He couldn't even imagine Nami becoming a pirate.

"No, she won't." Nojigo sighed, then a smile appeared on his face. "But if she did, would you listen?"

"No!" Nami said playfully, sticking out her tongue, "Absolutely not!"

……

In the waters on the other side of the world, a huge ship shaped like a whale was sailing alone on the sea with four smaller foreign ships.

A black-haired man was lying leisurely on the whale-shaped bow of the boat. The sky was clear, the waves were calm but enough to make the boat rock slightly, and the gentle breeze carried the scent of the sea, which made him involuntarily close his eyes and feel it.

He pulled the orange cowboy hat off his head, covering his messy black hair and tanned but freckled cheeks.

'It should be okay if I take a nap' he thought to himself and let out a soft sigh of contentment.

Ace stretched his arms in relaxation, then crossed them under the back of his head. The slight rocking of the boat made him feel like he was back in his crib as a baby. Although he couldn't remember whether he had a crib when he was a child, he was sure that he had had a similar feeling.

The sound of the breeze blowing gently past his ears and the sound of the waves hitting the side of the boat made him gradually relax his body and his mind.

"Hey, Ace!" A voice suddenly came from the deck.

The corner of Ace's eye twitched slightly, but he didn't get up or do anything. He didn't want to pay attention to the owner of the voice. 'Don't move, he'll think you're having another attack,' Ace told himself in his heart, and suddenly felt a little happy about the fact that he suffered from narcolepsy.

He felt someone standing next to him and heard an exasperated sigh followed by a chuckle.

He felt his hat fall from his face. When the sun slowly reached his eyes, he turned his head and shielded his eyes with one arm.

"What the hell?" Ace asked irritably.

"I knew you didn't sleep." The owner of the voice said with an obvious smile.

After a moment, adjusting to the strong white light, Ace opened his eyes and looked at the man looking down at him.

"Sachi, what do you want me to do?" Ace asked puzzledly.

"We found an island about 6 kilometers to the starboard side. Dad sent me and a few other people to explore it. Do you want to come?" Thatch asked with a smile.

"Sorry, man. I was planning on taking a nap." Ace said with a smirk on his face.

"Marco and the mysterious man asked me to tell you that if you don't come with me, they have something for you to do." Sachi said with a smile and turned to leave.

"What? Housework? Really? I'm not a child!" Ace shouted impatiently with a frown.

"You are to them," Thatch chuckled before jumping off the bow and heading for the railing.

"I'm older than him!" Ace looked in the direction where Thatch left, sat up and retorted.

Thatch laughed at Ace's roar without hesitation, and then teased, "Although that's what you said,...you two don't act like that."

"Can I go with you?" Ace asked, almost pleadingly.

"No, you're too late!" Thatch cruelly refused before jumping off the railing, then said with a gloating smile, "Good luck to you, man!" As he said that, Thatch jumped onto the boat under Moby and started sailing towards the island.

"I need to go with him..." Ace muttered to himself before slowly standing up and starting to walk towards the deck.

"Ace!" A lazy voice came from the cabin.

"I'm coming! Calm down, you guy," Ace muttered to himself and started to walk below deck.

After a few hours of chores, Ace was finally able to return to his favorite spot to take a well-deserved nap.

As soon as he climbed to the bow, he saw someone lying in his place. He walked towards him quietly, and Ace stood in front of the man with a little anger on his face, staring at him.

The man lying on the bow was wearing black combat boots, black pants tucked into the boots, and an open black and red sleeveless hoodie that reached his knees. Now, because he put his hands under his head, the hoodie was slightly pulled open, revealing his muscular waist and abdomen.

Ace noticed that he was lying exactly where he was before, and his eye twitched in annoyance.

Ace suddenly realized something, he stared at the black hood on the man's head that covered his eyes, and he had a blue half-face mask on his face that revealed his mouth and chin.

"Really? Let me do housework so that you can take my place?" Ace said angrily.

"As far as I know, your name isn't written on it." A tired and slightly complacent voice with a smile came from under the hood.

"That's abominable, Lucci! You should know never to compete with a man for a position." Ace covered his heart and pretended to be hurt.

"Is that true?" Slowly, Lucci took off his hood and sat up, looking at Ace. After a moment of silence, both of them burst into laughter.

Soon they were lying side by side, laughing and holding their bellies, and as the seconds passed their laughter died away until they were lying together on the huge whale's head, watching the sunset.

"You know what? Thatch actually said you are older than me!" Ace said angrily.

"Really? Why did he say that?" Lucci turned and looked at Ace in confusion.

"He said that we behave differently than usual. When Thatch left, he told me that you had chores for me to do. I told him that I'm not a child anymore and that I'm older than you, and then he said that." Ace told Lucci what Thatch said. Ace asked in confusion, "Is there any difference between our usual behaviors?"

Lucci couldn't help laughing after hearing this. "Sachi... maybe he thinks that because I work with Marco, my personality seems more stable, but that doesn't mean that I'm any different from you. If you ask me, I'll tell you that we behave the same way."