Sons of Beasts Part 2

Caught Lying

This part is actually the part of the story where I almost gave up. The story almost took a very different path, but I like how it ended up more this way. Enjoy~

During breakfast the next day, Ace purposely sat next to Marco, near the end of the table, with Luffy sitting at the head, his own plate on the wooden surface. Usually, Luffy just ate off a plate on the ground, with his mouth.

Practically everyone was surprised when Luffy sat down and propped his arms against the edge of the table and picked up the fruits and vegetables with his hands. They hadn't really noticed the dragon had opposable thumbs, though they were relatively short compared to the rest of his fingers.

Ace paid no mind to it, making it clear this wasn't an unusual thing. Luffy just never had a reason to use his hands like this.

"Thank you for last night," Ace said quietly to Marco, with a slightly pink face.

"No problem," Marco replied. Luffy looked at Ace in an expression of confusion saying, Did you lie to me?

Ace looked slightly ashamed, and nodded his head. Luffy looked hurt, looking down at his food. I had a bad dream that you died. And I was all alone. You and Sabo were both gone, and I had to live out centuries of being all alone. You got old, and sick, and I had to take care of you and you died right next to me in your sleep.

Ace had watery eyes as he confessed to Luffy. I didn't want to make you sad or concerned. I went outside to cry, and Marco came over and helped me. Luffy moved the few feet to Ace and hugged him with both front arms. Ace hugged him back, trying to stifle the sniffles.

I also may have let slip some things that I shouldn't have. Hopefully he didn't notice them, or tell anyone else. Luffy cocked his head in question, back to his food. I accidentally said we were supposed to live for centuries together. And I told him a bunch of stuff about our relationship. He probably knows our dad was human, and mom was some sort of dragon. He's probably wondering how the hell a dragon and human can get it on and have kids. Ace chuckled at that, and Luffy smiled in humor.

Well, can't do anything about it now, right? the dragon asked. Ace nodded, and they both returned back to their food, neither really knowing everyone was watching them, wondering why Ace suddenly became emotional. Marco just sighed at it, feeling bad for the teen. Whitebeard looked at his son curiously. If something happened, he wondered why Marco hadn't told him what yet. Usually he does it before breakfast if he had something to talk about or inform the captain of.

But Marco must have a reason. It made the captain very curious.

There was nothing new in the paper that day. It had been a little over a week since the whole ordeal happened. Things were going surprisingly slow. And, considering the paper said an obvious celebration was a riot, things were clearly better that the Marines wanted anyone to know.

The brothers wondered if the slaves got away. The plethora of fishman must have gone back into the ocean to Fishman Island, and they didn't know about the others. There was nothing in the paper, and surely they would like to put in it that they caught the slaves for questioning. They would prefer that not to happen, because the slaves might slip that there was a dragon. They didnt know if anyone would believe them, or if they would even talk out of thanks they were saved in the first place.

The two kept having to remind themselves that they were strong, and if their identities were revealed, they would still be able to fight off marines and idiotic bounty hunters. So, hearing nothing in the paper was kind of nerve wracking. It had just happened, so they expected a lot more to have happened already.