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"Maybe we should call it a day. That terrain over there will be a good place to set up camp" the blue haired princess said. Nami looks over the terrain then nods.
"Good idea" she turns around to call out to the guys "Guys, we're gonna set up camp at the rocks!"
Anamaria smirked at the two men when they nearly shouted sighs of relied when they looked over at the terrain and waste no time travelling there with the girls.
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"I'm going to go explore!" Luffy shouted.
"Finally, it's quiet now" Zoro sweat drops at the sight of his captain running off, before he sighs.
"Idiot!" Sanji muttered under his breath, which causes the two of them to glare at one another, making the cook smirk slightly as he could now look down on the swordsman.
"Let's just set up camp already..." Usopp shakes his head at their stupidity, before he takes his bag off his back.
Ф
The others nod in agreement as they set up their campsite. Sanji starts cooking dinner for the crew, while the rest of the crew sets up the tents and fire pit.
"Want some help there darlin'?" Ana asked the man.
"Could you chop up some of the onions Ana-chwan?" the cook asked her as he remained concentrated on the cooking food. Anamaria nodded and started thinly slicing the onions that Ace and Luffy had brought along with them.
"I remember when Luffy recruited me" Chopper chuckled from still on top of Sable "He was very insistent"
"You don't know the half of it. Once Luffy wants someone in his crew, it's almost impossible to change his mind" Nami chuckles as she sits down next to the reindeer.
"Really? How did he recruit you Nami?" Chopper looks up at the navigator with curiosity in his eyes.
"When I was a kid, I was forced to join a crew of fishman pirates who took over my village. I had to steal from other pirates in order to raise the money to buy everyone's freedom. That included Luffy and the others. However, despite tricking the crew and stealing from them, Luffy still wanted me in the crew. When he found out my situation, he confronted Arlong and freed my village" the redhead softly smiles at the memory of how Luffy recruited her.
"It didn't take much to have Ana join us" Vivi chuckled.
"Hey" Anamaria said from her place besides Sanji.
The ones who were involved in the fight to save Nami's village from Arlong's crew stare at the navigator softly, while the rest look at her in shock.
"Luffy really did that?" Ace asks with Nami to nodding with a smile.
"Yea, I don't know what would've happened if he and the others didn't help. And now I can make my map of the world"
"Wow, that's amazing..." Chopper can only blink at the incredible story that he heard.
"If you think that was amazing then you should hear my story. I saved my hometown from the Black Cat pirates with my 8,000 men, and Luffy was so amazed that he begged me to...!" Usopp nods before he smiles at Chopper.
"Don't make stuff up! You'll confuse him!" Nami cuts him off with a whack to the head.
"So it's not true?!" Chopper widens his eyes at the confrontation. The navigator shakes her head before she tells him the real version of how Usopp was recruited.
"No, we travelled to his island to get a ship. The island was about to be ransacked by the Black Cat Pirates, but Luffy, Zoro and I took them down while Usopp protected his rich friend. His friend was so grateful for our help that she gave us the Going Merry. After that, Luffy asked Usopp to join"
"Yup, Luffy not only took me as a crewmate, but Merry as well" Usopp rubs the bump on his head before he smiles at Chopper.
"Merry's a crewmate too?" the small reindeer blinks at the thought of the Going Merry being a crewmate.
"Of course, Merry's just as important as everyone else here. Don't ever forget it" the sniper nods with a knowing smirk on his face.
"I won't"
Vivi remains silent as she takes in the stories of how some of her friends were recruited into Luffy's crew. Hearing how the crew wasn't forced to join, but instead were drawn in by Luffy's personality causes her to softly smile at them. The princess snaps back to reality when Anamaria presents a plate of food in front of her.
"For you love" Ana smiled at the princess. Vivi smiles at the dish before taking it from the pirate, trying to escape the small blush over her cheeks.
"Thank you Sanji. By the way, how were you asked to join?"
"Sadly, Luffy made an terrible entrance. He caused cannonball to blast into the restaurant that I worked in" Sanji finishes passing the dishes to everyone before he grabs a cigarette from his pocket.
"That sounds exactly like Luffy" Ace snorts at the hilarious scenario before he lights Sanji's cigarette and then Anamaria's as she took another one from the cook who happily offered it. The chef quietly sighs at the memory as he takes a drag from the lit cigarette.
"My boss was so mad that he made Luffy agree to work there for a year. But, he managed to get out of it by helping us fight off a pirate crew that tried to take over the restaurant"
"Really? Then how did you join?" Chopper tilts his head at the story. Ana was just as curious as the reindeer since she had joined them after most of the crew had gotten together.
"He got fired" Zoro says, so the chef sends a kick his way, but the swordsman quickly blocks him.
"That's not what happened! I left to find the All Blue! How did you wind up being the first member anyway moss head?!"
"Like I need to tell you curly brow" Zoro scoffs at the question.
"What?!" Sanji lunges at Zoro and goes into a leg and sword brawl with him while the others enjoy their meal.
"Luffy's been out there a while. Think he'll come back?" Usopp finishes his meal, before he looks back at the terrain.
"He'll probably be out there all night trying to find something" Nami shakes her head at the question.
"Maybe we should go after him" Ana said, getting worried.
Despite not admitting it she saw the young careless boy in a similar light to her own biological brother. They were both rather cheerful and always causing trouble wherever they went, also being proud of being pirates and having bounties on their heads.
"That sounds about right. We just gotta wait and see what happens" Ace chuckles as he looks at the ravine. The others smile at the agreement before Ace passes out and falls on his back.
"HE FELL ASLEEP?!"
Chopper rushes to his side to make sure that the freckled man's breathing steadily. He goes into heavy point to move him in order for him to sleep in a more comfortable position, and then turns to the others.
"He's ok; it's just another narcoleptic fit"
After being assured that their friend is okay, the rest of the group returns to their meal. Chopper transforms back into a two legged reindeer then looks back at the terrain. When he thinks back on all the stories he heard about Luffy convincing everyone to join him, he can't help but smile.
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Ana stayed up a bit later after they had all huddled up around Chopper and Sable's still warm scales as she waited for their captain to come back. Which did not take long.
"'Ello cap. Are ya tired?" she smiled in amusement when she saw the boy's sluggish movements.
"Mmmmm" Luffy nodded as he slowly made his way into the tent and sown to the pile to snuggle up against Zoro who begrudgingly allowed it in his sleep.
Anamaria looked down at the group with a small smile before she herself laid down in the spot between Nami and Vivi near Sable's head. An arm wrapped around her middle before she could settle down and she let out a whoop as she was slumped over Nami, who grumbled, and Sanji brought her closer to him.
"Mmm. Just one more tonight" Anamaria gave up (far too easily and soon) and let the man lean his head into her dark hair before she herself drifted off.
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Just before the sun starts rising with the group sleeping soundly. Anamaria was woken up for the fifth time as Luffy's limbs stretched and hit her right on the nose. She sighed and slowly snaked out of the hold that the blond behind her still had on her.
She fanned her face as the sun rose higher into the sky warming the desert. Anamaria pulled out her water bottle and tilted it, seeing the few remaining drops of the now lukewarm water drip down and wet the sand below.
She sighed out of boredom and saw a small scorpion coming out from under the desert grounds and her hands snatched out, one grabbing the head and pincers, and the other making sure the tail couldn't move back and sting her.
"Sorry littl' bud" she said as she looked into the small beady eyes of the animal "But you'r gonna be my new test subject"
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A while later Ana was done extracting the little moisture that the scorpion had, finally silencing the tiny shrieks coming from it as it died. She had only managed to get a small amount of water and she slipped it into the palm of her hand. To test it, her tongue darted out and she waited a bit until she was sure that none of the animal's venom had gone through it.
"Time for next level" Anamaria muttered to herself.
She flexed her fingers which had gotten a bit locked up due to having spent so much time trying to 'drain' the scorpion. Once she was ready, Ana called out for help from the water as she usually did. She heard how the water slowly came through the cracks and saw how it began to pool before her.
She nearly shouted out in mirth before keeping it down so she didn't wake the others up, wiping the small drops of sweat coming down from her forehead due to the effort of the actions.
"Ana-chwan?" Ana turned around to see Sanji rubbing his eyes from his drowsiness.
"G'morning darlin'" she smiled as she made the water slip into her bottle.
"What are you doing?" the cook asked in genuine curiosity.
"Nothin' darlin'. Let me help ya make breakfast" Ana said as she stood and led Sanji back to the others who were now waking up. Soon they were all enjoying their breakfast.
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What none of them noticed ass they stuffed their face however, was that on top of a distant rock a middle aged man, dressed in a plaid shirt that's covered by his overalls, has been watching them.
"That man, could it really be him?"
The brown haired man tilts his motorcycle helmet, with a scorpion symbol decorating the front of it, then grabs his telescope. He places the telescope in front of his eyes, which are hidden by his sunglasses, and takes a closer look at the freckled man.
"It's really Fire Fist Ace!" he grins in victory as he wakes up the sleeping ostrich that's wearing a similar helmet "Popo, wake up! We got a bounty to catch!"
The ostrich grudgingly nods as he stands around while he watches his owner scramble to get ready for his bounty.
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As Luffy's crew enjoys their breakfast, Luffy and Usopp go over to Sanji after they finish their meal. They hold their empty plates to the chef while they speak simultaneously.
"Sanji, seconds please!"
"Shut up, you ate enough!" Sanji's eyebrow twitched before he kicks them both in the face.
Usopp groans at the kick and stays down. Luffy however, stretches his arm towards Zoro as he's eating his own breakfast and snatches a piece of his meat. Zoro widens his eyes, when he sees Luffy grab a piece of his meal.
"Luffy! Quit taking other people's food!"
He tackles his captain, to try to get his food back, with his captain not giving in. In the meantime, Usopp recovers from the kick, and starts arguing with Sanji about seconds. The three girls casually enjoy their meal as they stay out of the fight.
"Why does this happen at every meal?" Vivi asks as she watches Luffy and Zoro fight.
"At least we 'ave added entertainment alon' with the food" Ana retorted with a full mouth and a smile.
"Don't encourage them. They always overdo it" Nami said with a sigh as she too kept eating. She takes a look at the rock next to them to see Ace sitting alone, and cleaning the utensils he used with a napkin.
"Look up there though, Ace is cleaning after himself, and not causing trouble. He's completely different from his brother" Vivi and Anamaria follow her gaze towards the fire logia user for a moment.
"Completely" Ana agreed.
"I heard that Ace's bounty is so high, that all sorts of bounty hunters drool at the price. As the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, he's feared all over the world too" Nami nods as she thinks back on the rumours that she heard about Fire Fist Ace.
"Really, you guys think Blackbeard will be in Yuba?" Vivi widens her eyes at this.
"We'll have to see when we get there" Nami shrugs as she finishes her plate.
"Speaking of, we better get goin'. We've been taking the days far too slowly" Ana said as she took both of their plates from them.
The other girls hand her their empty plates and watch her walk off. After she makes sure that they're cleaned, she returns them to Sanji's bag getting a heart eyed thanks from the man. Once she's done she looks back at Ace who was sitting alone. She softly sighs at the thought of Ace leaving soon, and goes to keep Chopper, who's been eating in peace the entire time, company.
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Meanwhile, nobody has noticed the bounty hunter on the distant rock that's been preparing his bazooka ever since he saw Ace. The hunter begins to smirk with his smoking pipe hanging from his teeth as he finishes loading his weapon. He looks through the small scope attached to the bazooka to make sure that he gets a clear shot.
Once he sees the Whitebeard Pirate in his line of sight, the bearded man couldn't stop his smirk from spreading.
"Time to take your bounty First Fist Ace! Don't worry though, I don't wanna kill you. I have my pride as a bounty hunter after all"
He aims his weapon towards the rock that the freckled man's sitting on, then lights a match to set the ignition rope on fire. Once it's set, the bounty hunter keeps his focus on his target while ignoring his ostrich who's standing behind him.
When the bazooka's lit rope was starting to cause smoke, it fills the bird's nostrils he starts to sniffle. He couldn't take it anymore, and sneezes onto the rope to put out the fire, before it can set off the bazooka. The bounty hunter however, didn't notice that the rope was no longer lit ,so he keeps aiming his bazooka towards his target.
As he waits for the bazooka that's never going to fire the Straw Hats continue to get ready for the next leg of their journey. Nami has just finished putting out the fire before she dusts her hands off.
"Alright guys, how are we on...?"
She cuts herself off when she sees Usopp, Sanji, Zoro ,and Luffy still arguing over breakfast. Her eyebrow twitched in irritation as she gets her fists ready.
"That's enough!"
She whacked all her crewmates on the head in order to shut them up. Everyone of them falls on their faces, while Nami places her hands on her hips.
"Forget about your stupid fight. Just hurry and clean up so that we can leave" the boys reluctantly agree as they stand up.
However, before Luffy does anything, he looks at Zoro's unfinished food, and sees a piece of meat being lifted up by a thin fishing line. Luffy wasn't able to see the small line, that's lifting the meat into the air, as he stares at it in awe.
"Awesome!"
"Oh no, he saw us!"
"Hurry big brother!"
Luffy widens his eyes at the young voices coming from the meat's direction, as it starts moving away from them.
"Whoa, the meat can talk!"
"What are you talking about?" Nami quirks an eyebrow at Luffy's statement.
"Hey, come back meat!" Luffy ignores her question when he sees the meat being reeled in and weaving past the rocks.
Luffy jumps onto some of the smaller rocks and starts jumping after it from one rock to another.
"Luffy, come back!" Zoro calls out, but Luffy doesn't listen as he goes deeper into the terrain.
"COME BACK HERE MEAT!" the rest of the crew freezes at Luffy's yelling, and watches him run off.
"What happened?" Chopper tilts his head in confusion as he watches his captain run off.
"Where da hell is Fire boy?" Anamaria asked them as she ignored Zoro still calling out to their captain.
Chopper looks up in confusion as the both of them tried to find Ace, but he's not in the campsite anymore. Their heads turn around to the sound of a gunshot being fired in the distance. She and the others rush to the noise, to see Ace standing on a small rock, while two young boys nervously watch him from the ground.
The younger of the two brown haired boys, hides behind his big brother in fear as he keeps the stolen meat in his hands. The older boy stands in front of his brother, with a pistol in his trembling hands, that's still pointed at Ace.
"H-he managed to burn off the bullet! Just how strong is he?!" he asked in a panic before he and his brother set eyes on the huge snake looming over the group.
Ana waved her hand behind her back to Sable as the younger of the two kids paled significantly and looked just about to faint making the snake slither closer to the ground to make herself smaller. Usopp looks down at the burnt remains of the bullet in shock, before he looks at the kids.
"What the hell happened? And who are these kids?"
"Please, we need your help" the older boy ignores Usopp's questions, and runs up in front of Ace's rock. Ace quirks an eyebrow at the request, as the child keeps going.
"There's someone I want you to find and catch! If you do it I'll pay you a million beli!" the others start staring at the boy in confusion, as the kid continues begging "I can't pay right now, but I will pay it when I grow up!" the boy digs into his pocket, and takes out a picture of the bounty hunter that's after Ace "Please find this man! His name's Scorpion, he's a bounty hunter"
"Did you say Scorpion?" Ace picks up the photo, and looks at the man curiously. The boys slowly nod, while the older brother speaks for both of them.
"My brother and I followed him from the Badlands..."
"Why are you guys chasing a bounty hunter?" Nami looks at the two boys in confusion.
"Well..." the two kids look at each other nervously, to try to find the right thing to say.
"Don't worry about it, I have business with him too" Ace says with everyone looking at him in shock.
"What kind of business do you have with him?" Sanji quirks an eyebrow at the statement, as he looks down at the photo.
"The rumor I heard about Blackbeard being in Yuba. The full extent of it is that Blackbeard was defeated by a man named Scorpion there"
"This guy defeated Blackbeard?!" Usopp's eyes widened at this.
"Is that Blackbeard dude so strong?" Anamaria asked Chopper from the corner of her mouth.
"That's the rumour anyway. I was planning to go to Yuba to confirm it, but if he comes to me, then this'll be easier"
"So you'll do it?!" the younger brother looks at him in shock.
"Yea, I'll do it" Ace nods with a small smile. The older boy quickly brightens up before he bows his head.
"Thank you so much! My name's Dip and this is my younger brother Chip"
"We should still wait until Luffy comes back" Vivi smiles at the introduction before she looks around.
"I don't think it'll take tha' long" Ana said as she perked her ears to see if she could hear Luffy close by anyway.
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A few minutes passed since Scorpion ignited the line to his bazooka, and he is still waiting for it to fire. After a few more seconds of waiting, he realizes that something isn't right.
"Wait, shouldn't it have fired by now?"
He looks over the bazooka, to see that not only is the rope no longer lit, but it's been plucked from the bazooka to become his ostrich's lunch. Scorpion watches in horror as his pet slurps up the rope that he's using.
"You damn bird!" he drops the bazooka, and starts chasing after his bird for revenge. On the ground below them though, Luffy just stopped running to catch his breath "Damn, what happened to the meat?" he looks around to try to find the stolen meat, but there's no luck "WHY DID YOU EAT IT YOU STUPID BIRD?!"
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Luffy looks up in confusion when he hears Scorpion yelling, but he doesn't see the comedic chase between the man and the ostrich. The only thing that he was able to witness, was the bazooka being kicked off the tall rock from all the running. Scorpion quickly dips the top half of his body, to catch his weapon, but the bomb, that was loaded into the bazooka falls out of its holster, and starts hurdling towards Luffy.
"NO!" Scorpion looks at the falling bomb in horror, then notices Luffy standing below them "HEY BOY, RUN FOR IT! IF THAT BLOWS UP IT'LL TAKE HALF OF ALABASTA WITH IT!"
The bounty hunter watches Luffy not making a move as the bomb gets closer to him, so he jumps back to take cover. After a few seconds, Scorpion pauses when he doesn't hear any kind of explosion. He looks over the edge, to see both Luffy and the bomb are missing.
"What the...?!"
"What's the matter?"
"What the...?! How'd you get up here?! And what happened to the bomb?!" Scorpion jumps in surprise at Luffy's voice, before he turns around to see Luffy standing behind him.
"You mean this?" Luffy shows him the round black ball, with purple dots all over it.
"What the hell?!" Scorpion jumps back in shock from the sight of his bomb, and accidentally leans towards the edge.
It was too late for him to recompose himself, before he starts falling backwards off the edge. He manages to keep himself from falling, by holding onto the edge with his legs, while the rest of his body is dangling.
"Shishishi, you're pretty funny" Luffy chuckles at the man's predicament.
"Just help me up!" Scorpion reaches his arm up, for Luffy to grab him, and pull him back up. Once Scorpion's safely back on the rock, he grabs his telescope to see where his target went "Where did he go?!" he frantically searches for Ace, but he completely lost sight of him.
"I can't play around now!" he turns towards his ostrich, and puts the telescope back in his bag "Popo, we're heading over to where he was! Get everything ready!" the ostrich nods, as he helps Scorpion pack everything up.
"What's your name mister?" Luffy asked the man with his usual curious big eyes.
"I am the great Scorpion. How would you like to see an epic battle?" Scorpion said as he managed a proud smile at the younger boy.
"Yea, who's fighting?!" Luffy brightens up at the offer.
"Me and a tough pirate. Come on, I'll bring you along"
Luffy gets behind Scorpion on the ostrich's back, just before Popo takes them towards the direction of the camp. Meanwhile, Luffy looks around his surroundings while enjoying the fast ride.
"This is awesome!" he cried out.
"That's an understatement kid. You are going to see the world's greatest upcoming bounty hunter locked in battle!" Scorpion starts snickering as he pays attention to the path they're on.
"You're a bounty hunter?" Luffy asked the man in confusion.
"Yup, I've been on so many epic adventures that you probably won't believe me! I've fought epic battles with everyone. From Double Barrel Danny to Hellbattler Luther and it always ends with them begging for their lives"
"Wow really?!" Luffy's eyes widened at the story, before he smiles widely.
"No, but someday it will be!" Scorpion begins laughing triumphantly at the dream he's about to realize.
"Oh, someday huh?" Luffy joins him in his laughter.
"I'm going after Fire Fist Ace! Once I take care of him the others will be a cinch!" Luffy blinks at the statement before he chuckles.
"You wanna beat Ace up?! That's funny"
"Hey now! Don't mock me! When I do something, I don't kid around!" he tightens his grip on the ostrich's reins as he steers him ahead.
"Men have to live for big ambitions! I have to show them that!"
"You have to show who?" Luffy though, looks at him in confusion. Scorpion doesn't answer his question, but instead he snaps the reins to make Popo go faster.
"Enough talk! I'm coming for you Ace!"
"Whoa!" Luffy grips on his straw hat to make sure that it doesn't fall from the fast ride.
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Anamaria's group has just finished packing up, and are now waiting for Luffy to come back.
"Hey Ace, do you really think this guy defeated Blackbeard?" Usopp looks to see Ace is scanning the picture of Scorpion again.
"I'm not sure. The only way to know is to meet him in person" Ace casually shrugs, as he gives the picture one last look.
"You're Ace?! As in Fire Fist Ace?!" Chip widens his eyes at the name Usopp called him, and turns to the freckled man.
"That's right, why do you...?" Ace nods at the question and hands them the photo.
"THERE YOU ARE FIRE FIST!"
The group freezes at Scorpion's voice, and turn to see Scorpion riding his ostrich with Luffy on his back. The boys look at Scorpion in shock, before they hide behind a rock to avoid being spotted. The crew doesn't notice the kids hiding, as they remain speechless in seeing their friends riding with the bounty hunter.
Scorpion had to calm down his ostrich as the large dark sable coloured snake hissed at the large bird that appeared to be a whole ass meal in her eyes. Ace however, has his attention on only the bounty hunter.
"So you're Scorpion?" the bounty hunter flinches at the serious look on the pirate's face.
"Hey, what's up?" Luffy looks at the nervous man in confusion.
"Eh, nothing, I'm just getting ready!" Scorpion quickly shakes his head. He tries to regain his wits before he turns back to Ace. The bounty hunter manages to harden his nerves, before he scowls at the freckled man.
"That's right, I'm Scorpion! I'm here to challenge you!"
"Don't be stupid! He's the real one!" Dip nervously looks over the rock he's hiding behind, as he speaks up.
His words weren't able to reach the bounty hunter, but they were able to reach the crewmembers. The group looks at them in confusion, but the kids don't say anything else. Ace's eyes go from the kids to the bounty hunter, before a smirk appears on his face.
"I accept, let's fight. Luffy get yourself out of the way."
Ana doesn't hesitate one bit as she reached over and pulled their captain over to her so he wouldn't get in the way of the fight. Luffy grins in excitement about the fight.
"Don't pull any punches Ace!"
"I wasn't planning to!"
"HERE I COME FIRE FIST!" Scorpion pulls out a net launcher from his bag and aims it at his opponent.
He fires the metal net towards the freckled pirate. However, just before the net can trap him, Ace he quickly blasts the net off him with his flames. Scorpion stops his ostrich when the net lands on him and knocks him off the bird.
"Hot, hot!" he scrambles to get the hot net off of him, while Popo kicks sand on him in order to help cool him down.
The kids look at the bounty hunter with worry in their eyes, when they see Scorpion getting back up. He glares at Ace behind his sunglasses, while the pirate's is waiting for him to make his move. He smirks at his target, as he gets up.
"This wouldn't be fun if you were easy to beat Fire Fist"
"Oh, looks like you're a real fighter" Ace returns the smirk, when he sees that he has some fight in him.
"Our battle's just getting started! Popo, get the compressed extinguisher gun!"
The ostrich quickly complies to his orders as he takes the backpack weapon from his bag with his beak and gives it to his owner. Scorpion wastes no time in assembling the target hose while pulling the pack filled with extinguisher foam on his back.
"What the hell kind of gun is that?" Sanji raises an eyebrow at the strange weapon as he and Anamaria echo their thoughts.
"Looks like an overgrown fire extinguisher" Nami shrugs as she looks at the weapon with a blank expression.
"A fire what...?" Ana asked herself, knowing that she would be ignored if she asked it out loud at this moment.
"Get ready to be extinguished!" Scorpion fires the foam at Ace, but he quickly dodges.
The others look at the rock that was behind Ace in shock to see that Scorpion's shot was powerful enough to break through the rock. Scorpion keeps shooting at Ace, but he quickly jumps in order to dodge every shot.
Ace smirks at the attacks as he takes the offense and charges him. He side steps during his charge to dodge the foam shots fired at him until he makes it to the bounty hunter, and punches him in the gut. Scorpion dry heaves at the rough punch, as he clenches his stomach, and topples over the edge of a sand dune.
The rest of the group looks at how the fight ended in disbelief of how it ended so abruptly.
"Looks like you really did lie about beating Blackbeard. You used his name to get me to show up, didn't you?" Ace looks down at the collapsed bounty hunter at the bottom of the small dune, with a small frown.
"That's right, I made up the whole thing about Blackbeard being here. Not too shabby of a plan huh?" Scorpion groans from the pain as he struggles to get up.
"I'm not giving up though. Not until I beat you!" Ace casually watches as Scorpion sits up.
"That's enough dad!"
Everyone looks at the kids in shock to see them running from their hiding spot and towards the bounty hunter. Scorpion's eyes opened wide in shock to see his two sons sliding down the hill in order to reach their father.
"Dip, Chip?! What are you two doing here?!"
"We're here to bring you back dad! Please stop!" Dip reaches their father first and grabs his arm.
"You don't need to fight the world's greatest battle!" Chip makes it to over to them with tears in his eyes.
Scorpion recalls the night before he left them, so that he can prove to his sons that they can dream big even no matter what. He softly smiles at his sons, as he pats both of their heads.
"Don't be silly. I'm the world's greatest bounty hunter. I've fought epic battles from Double Barrel Danny to Hell Battler Luther and they all begged for their lives"
"Or so you plan, right?" Chip says with his father flinching at the truth.
"You found me out huh? That's right, I'm a terrible liar and a terrible father" Scorpion sighs in defeat as he lowers his head. The others look over the edge of the dune silently, as Scorpion's lips move into a smile.
"But, there's one thing that is true! Even the most insignificant person can challenge one of this world's toughest if he tries hard enough! That's what I want to show you. That men need to have dreams in their hearts. Ones that you won't give up on. Because then you know that you've had a life worth living" the boys' eyes widened at the explanation as he takes his hands off his sons heads.
"But, there's no way to show that, without putting my life on the line"
"As long as you keep standing, you'll always find a way to fulfil your dreams. Now, watch your father's unconquerable spirit!" he forces himself to stand up.
The boys watch in shock as their father starts walking up the wall of the dune in Ace's direction. He stops halfway up the slope then calls out to his bird.
"Popo, the bazooka!" Popo quickly brings him the bazooka, then runs towards the group to avoid the line of fire. Scorpion takes the bazooka in his hands, and aims it at Ace.
"This is the end, Fire Fist!" he shouted as he light up the new ignition rope, that's attached to the bazooka, just before Dip and Chip cling to their father from behind.
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