【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Ace looked at the photo album tenderly and carefully put it into the backpack with watermelon pattern that he had recently acquired. He looked at the slightly dim sky and frowned slightly. Why didn't Luffy come back yet? He was leaving tomorrow. He wanted to spend the day with Luffy before leaving, but he didn't know what Luffy wanted to do. He hadn't seen him since he left in the morning.

Ace sighed helplessly, he was still a little worried about leaving Luffy alone on the island, he knew that what Luffy feared most was being alone, but this was their agreement, they would go out to sea to become pirates when they turned 17, and he sometimes wanted to take Luffy with him, but he knew that Luffy was going to become the Pirate King, he would definitely not agree, he believed in Luffy, they would meet on the sea soon.

"Ace!" Luffy's voice sounded softly in the forest. Ace looked in the direction where the voice came from. Luffy was flying towards him quickly with something in his hand.

Ace subconsciously stretched out his arms to hug Luffy who was rushing towards him. He was knocked back a step by the huge impact force, but he quickly stabilized his body.

"Ace!" Luffy had a bright smile on his face and looked at Ace under him with sparkling eyes.

"Luffy!" Ace had already stabilized his body. He smiled helplessly as he watched Luffy using his rubber ability to circle his body several times with his hands and feet.

"Why are you so happy?" Ace asked with a smile, touching Luffy's head.

"This is the hat I found for Ace!" Luffy happily picked up the hat in his hand and put it on Ace's head.

Ace walked to the water tank and looked at the hat curiously. It was an orange cowboy hat with a pair of laughing and crying expressions on the brim and a string of red beads as a decoration on the base. Ace touched the edge of the hat and smiled happily. He liked this hat very much, and it was given to him by Luffy.

"I like this hat very much, Luffy!" Ace said to Luffy happily.

"Nihehe, I knew Ace would like it!" Luffy said happily.

"Ah! This is for you, Ace!" Luffy took out a dagger from his pocket and put it in Ace's hand.

Ace looked down at the dagger in his hand. The dagger was well protected by the blade cover, and the handle was embellished with a beautiful ruby.

"Isn't this a gift from Shanks?" Ace looked at Luffy and asked with a smile, "This is your treasure. When you were little, you didn't even want to show it to us."

"Well, it's still my treasure now. I already have a hat, so I want to give it to Ace." Luffy nodded and said with a bright smile.

Ace looked at the sincerity in Luffy's eyes and couldn't help wanting to give Luffy a tight hug. He thought so and did it. He looked at the bright smile Luffy showed him. Ah! How could Luffy be so cute? Luffy was his brother. It was so great. Ace's face was filled with a happy smile.

Although Luffy didn't understand why Ace suddenly hugged him, he immediately hugged Ace back and gave him a bright smile.

"After I'm gone, you have to take good care of yourself, Lu." Ace said softly with his chin resting on Luffy's head.

"Yeah, I will, Ace," Luffy responded with a smile.

"You are not allowed to go to the town alone after I leave." Ace let go of Luffy and said solemnly.

"Huh? Why?" Luffy asked confusedly.

"Just promise me." Ace tapped Luffy's head and said in a serious tone. Ace sighed in his heart. Luffy was too easy to trust strangers. There were too many despicable people in the town. He had always been by Luffy's side to prevent him from being deceived. Now that he was not with Luffy, he was worried that Luffy would be deceived if he was alone.

"Okay, okay." Luffy agreed.

……

"Keep doing good, Ace!" Luffy said with a bright smile.

"After I'm gone, you have to take good care of yourself, Luffy." Ace said with a smile as he looked at his younger brother.

"Don't worry, I got it." Luffy responded with a smile.

"I'm leaving, Luffy!" Ace stood on the boat and waved goodbye to Luffy and the pirates on the shore.

"Keep going... Ace!" Luffy shouted with a smile towards the small sailboat that was slowly drifting away from the coast.

"Just wait and see, I'll be famous soon!!!" Ace responded loudly.

"Haha!! Still waving!!" Luffy put his hand on his forehead and looked at the ship that was already sailing away with a smile on his face.

"Really...what will that guy Garp say..." The village chief said helplessly as he watched the ship sailing away.

"Boss!" After sending Ace out to sea, the bandits returned to Dadan's house one after another, opened the door and greeted their boss. "Ace is gone—"

"...Oh, really? Anyway, I was the one who got scolded by Garp in the end...I really can't do anything about that guy." Dadan said pretending to be indifferent.

"Ah... Speaking of which, Ace asked me to tell the boss something." said one of the bandits.

"What? Are you going to complain about me in the end!?" Dadan said angrily.

"He said thank you for your care!" the bandits said with a smile.

"Don't embarrass yourself, you little brat!" Dadan suddenly burst into tears and said with emotion while wiping his tears with a handkerchief.

"I still have three years!! Rubber rubber... Gun!!" Luffy spun his right arm and attacked the target stone.

"Clap!"

The stone was instantly shattered by Luffy's attack, and the arm lifted Luffy up a little when it retracted.

"I want to become stronger!!" Luffy shouted.

……

After 4 months

"Luffy!! Newspaper, newspaper!!" Dogula shouted loudly.

"What's wrong?" Luffy poked his head out of the new Luffy Country that he and Ace had built together when they were young. The newly built Luffy Country was a combination of Ace Country and Luffy Country, and it had been renamed Luffy Country. Since they stopped living in the tree house, they had been living in this new Luffy Country, but now only Luffy lived there.

"Wow!! Ace has become famous!! The pirate ship and his companions have been reported in the newspaper!! That's great, Ace is so awesome!!" Luffy said happily as he looked at the report in the newspaper.

"I will be more powerful than Ace after I go out to sea, hehehe!" Luffy showed a bright smile on his face.