Inside the cave, sat a group of bandits around a campfire, they were drinking and laughing.
"Capt-hick-ain lemma tell you about the time I stole the panties-hick- of a celestial, and put it inside a marines pocket mwahahhah!" One of the drunk pirates laughed, followed by everyone else
In the middle the circle, sat a muscular, tan man with deep crimson hair, slightly stubby beard that had barely grown, and a 3 part scar above his left eye.
"Hahahaha Limejuice, tell me what happened after that!" One of the pirates laughed.
"About that, you see, this was before I joined the crew, 15 years ago, at that time I didn't have the strength to fight an admiral so I escaped the island!" Limejuice said meekly.
"Phahaha a pirate right through!" Another laughed
"Alright alright that's impressive.... but I did something none of you would dare to... I once slipped inside the palace of a kingdom during the night... and jumped inside the king's bed and played with his wife while he was sleeping right next to her ahhahahahh!" Another one told a story.
"Pff like I'll believe that!" someone retorted.
"It's true! just go to mimi-kingdom in south blue there should be a young prince, should be at the age of 17, that looks just like me!" He shouted bravely.
Another, newer member of the crew spit out his drink, aghast.
Everyone looked at him wondering what his deal was.
"I am from the capital of Mimi-kingdom... I've seen the royal Prince once..... and it's true, they look very similar..." The newer member said with a pale face, as everyone heard this statement, they all fell into another fit of laughter.
"Oh... we've got a visitor." suddenly the captain spoke.
"I can't feel any Haki?" Yassop, the gunman and sniper said. He was one of the best at observation Haki in the crew.
"They are still at sea and they'll arrive in an hour with their speed." The captain of the Red-haired pirates said with a smile, hoping for something exciting to happen.
"Captain, your Haki is as impressive as ever." Yassop said.
"Hopefully, it's a young pirate crew that'll start a fight as soon as they see us!" One said, hoping for a fight.
"Calm your horses Bonk." Benn Beckman said. He was the vice captain and the second in command. He was also the second strongest on the crew and one of the smartest people sailing the sea.
"Ay ay vice captain!" A big, round, fat pirate said with a big piece of meat in his hand. Lucky Roux, was the cook, and together with Benn and Yassop, they made the trio of the most trusted to the captain. They were the earliest to join and the strongest members of the crew.
They all continued the party until the Black pearl reached the island.
"He's here..." One commented.
The cave got silent, only crackling from the campfire could be heard in addition to the sound of steps that was closing in on them.
Soon, they saw a tall, young man with wavy black hair, black hat, yellow open shirt walk in. He was dressed as if it was summer, while they all had extra clothing and robes to keep themselves warm.
A few of the crew felt their eyes twitch as they saw how he was dressed.
As Ace saw everyone, he instantly recognized them as one of the strongest pirate crews out there Red Haired Pirates.
"Oh how nice, a campfire, and here I was getting cold." Ace said with a grin and a mock tone. And none of them believed him.
The cave got silent again, but Ace felt all their stares at him, they all had the eye of the tiger.
"How scary, won't you invite me to sit with you?" Ace asked innocently.
"Kid don't joke around, who are you?" The big fatty Lucky Roux spoke as he ate his meat, yet his eyes never left Ace once.
"Your captain and I are somewhat familiar." Ace said mysteriously.
"Huh?" Shanks said as he took a closer look, he did indeed find the young pirate somewhat familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was about him that was so... Familiar.
"Kid, have we met before?" Shanks asked.
"No, But you protected my brother once, and I'm here to give my thanks." Ace said with a smile.
"Brother? Who?" Benn Beckman continued as he saw his captain lose interest.
"The next Pirate King!" Ace said provokingly.
All the pirates that were sitting, stood up, looking fierce, some looking angry.
As the Red-haired pirates, their captain was one of the four Emperors and one of the four closest to being king of the seas, and this kid saying those words were a direct provocation.
"And who is that 'next pirate king' of yours?" Shanks asked, keeping his eyes on his drink and seemingly not interested in what going on.
Ace felt it, one slip of tongue and every pirate would try to kill him. He couldn't help but to smile crazingly.
"Monkey D. Luffy."
"HAAAAAA???!" everyone almost fell down, the atmosphere changed instantly.
"Hahahaha that brat still crying about that?"
"Luffy hahah I've missed him, has he set sail yet?"
"Luffy phahaha I knew it, captain you better watch out or we'll be in danger."
Everyone started laughing out.
"So you're Luffy's brother? Didn't know he had one." Benn said, but the suspicion in his tone couldn't be hidden.
Shanks finally started looking at Ace again, and seeing his crazy grin, Shanks really got the feeling that he had seen Ace before.
"Shanks, thanks for saving Luffy and in the process loosing your arm... I owe you one." Ace said.
'Maybe it's because he's Luffy's brother that he seems familiar.' Shanks thought.
Even Benn relaxed as only Luffy would have known about that event. They finally believed Ace that he was Luffy's brother.
"Sit and drink with us." Shanks said with a smile.
"Thank you but I don't drink alcohol, it makes my stomach upset." Ace said as he sat near Shanks, Benn, Yassop and Lucky.
"Arent you a pirate?" Lucky asked confused.
"Yes."
"A pirate that doesn't drink? That's new." Lucky commented.
Ace picked up a grilled meat from the fire and started eating without asking, as if he owned the place.
Lucky's eye twitched.
"So Luffy had a brother?" Shanks asked.
"Hmm, well we aren't blood brothers but we..." Ace sat with them and told them about how they came to be brothers.
He didn't give details that the Red-haired pirates had no business knowing, but he told them about Luffy, himself and Sabo.
"Hahahaha that sound like Luffy, but to think that he's still so dumb!" One commented making the rest follow in laughter.
Ace smiled brightly.
"Has he grown stronger? I'm worried that the sea will swallow him whole if he is still that weak." Yassop said.
"Don't worry about that, before grandline, no one can put up a good fight against him, now that I've left... unless gramps goes back." Ace said with confidence.
"Hoooo so you're confident in your strength, brat lemme tellya somethin, forget how strong you thought you were in the east blue, here in grandline, everyone is stronger than you can imagine." One pirate warned kindly.
"It doesn't matter if it's a n ant or a mouse, to a lion it's all the same." Ace said, not bothered.
"Phwahah good one brat, seems like you'll learn a good lesson soon." Another one said happily, they all believed that Ace would get a good beating before growing stronger. It happened to all of them, that's the tradition of sailing the grandline for the first time.
"Is that so..."
"WAAAIT A SECOND!" Someone shouted while pointing at Ace.
"Huh what's going on?"
"I-I-It's him!??" the pirate shouted as he finally recognized Ace.