Second Wind

26

When Vivi, Sanji, and Chopper arrived back at the ship, they were greeted by the sight of Ace, who was introduced to them by Luffy. While Sanji and Vivi were shocked to find out that his brother was a commander of the Whitebeard pirates, Chopper just stared at him in curiosity.

"Is Luffy's brother really famous?" he asked Sanji.

The chef blew out some smoke. "Yea, you could say that," he responded. "He's a living legend among pirates, a menace among marines, and an insurmountable goal to bounty hunters. He has a bounty of 550 million."

Chopper's eyes widened. "But that's over 10 times Luffy's! Is he that much stronger?"

Sanji shrugged. "Beats me. They're both monsters. All it means is that Ace is more of a threat according to the World Government."

While he was vaguely aware of the attention he was getting, Ace was still preoccupied by the revelation that his long lost brother was alive. As Sanji disappeared into the kitchen, Ace contemplated the many questions that had suddenly arisen. Luffy had told him that Sabo was with the revolutionary army. How had he ended up there? Well, Ace was sure of one thing. The object of his search has just changed.

"Hey, Luffy." The rubberman looked up from the food he was eating.

"Yea? What's up Ace?"

"I was going to ask you to join the Whitebeard pirates, but I'm guessing that would be pointless."

"You guessed right," Luffy said, grinning.

"Well then, I have another proposition for you. How would you and your crew like to form an alliance with us?"

Several of the Strawhats collectively gasped, and Luffy himself was intrigued by the suggestion. "Will old man Whitebeard be ok with that?" he asked.

"I'm sure he will," Ace said, not really stressing over it. "But will you be? I know you're aiming to be Pirate King. It would be a bit of a strange agreement, but considering the circumstances, I think it could be a good idea."

"I agree," Luffy said. "And I'm not really worried about our goals clashing. If Whitebeard wanted to be Pirate King, he'd most likely have found One Piece by now. Same with Shanks."

Ace's brow furrowed. He'd never thought of it that way, but now that Luffy mentioned it so matter of factly, that made a lot of sense...did Pops even want to be king? Questions for later.

"Well, in that case, take this," Ace said, handing Luffy a small sheet of paper, which he took. "It's my vivre card. If you ever need to find me, just follow it."

Luffy noticed that there was also something written on it. A number. "This is...?"

"The number to Pops' transponder snail. I'm going to call him later and explain that I'm going to be looking for Sabo instead of Teach from here on. I'll also get his approval for the alliance, and fill him in on...recent information."

Luffy nodded. They had agreed that Ace would tell Whitebeard about his situation, but no one else. They could only imagine the headache it would cause if word reached the wrong people, so for now, it was on a need to know basis.

"Well then...until we meet again, Luffy," Ace said as he hopped off the ship and into his devil fruit operated boat. "See you at the top."

As Ace sped off, Nami's mind finally caught up with her. "We're allies...with the Whitebeard pirates..." she mumbled.

"Guess so," said Zoro with a smirk.

"That's insane!" exclaimed Usopp. "We must be the only allies they have in this part of the Grand Line. Are we, like, really important now?"