Somewhere far away, a young man was sitting against the rails of his ship as he took a nap. His straw hat was shading his face form the sun.
Suddenly the boy awakened as he felt some disturbance. He looked over and saw that the vice captain of his crew had halted his training as he read the newspaper with a serious face.
"Ne, what's wrong Zoro?" Luffy asked as he saw how serious Zoro got.
The green haired swordman just read on... And then sighed.
"This is the man... I need to defeat." Zoro said, gaining the attention of the others as he showed the newspaper. The front page had a picture of the Flame Emperor and Dracula Mihawk.
"Eh? You want to defeat Ace? My brother?" Luffy said as he tilted his head when he saw the picture of two men.
"No not him, the other man, Dracule Mihawk..." Zoro said, before he suddenly halted his words as he froze for a second, then his head slowly turned to Luffy.
The others also froze as they heard Luffy's words.
"Ermm.. Luffy... Who did you say Ace was again?" Usopp asked nervously, as he hoped he heard it wrong. Even chopper started shaking in fright.
"My brother?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"Your brother? Flame Emperor Ace? Your brother? Are you sure?" Usopp asked as he started feeling his legs weaken.
"Flame Emperor? I dunno. Gol D. Ace, he's my brother and the one I want to defeat." Luffy said as if it was a normal statement.
"NAAANNIIIIIIIIII?" All the Straw hat pirates started shouting in fright. Even Zoro's eyes widened.
Sanji, swallowed dryly.
The Flame Emperor is known as the strongest human, a monster in human skin.
The straw hats had challenged and gone against the world government and the marines, but that was a force of countless strong people...
The Flame Emperor alone is a force compared to them.
"Y-y-y should have told me this before I joined!" Usop cried out as he fell to the ground.
Suddenly a womanly voice chuckled at them... They turned towards Nico Robin who was sunbathing.
"Why do you think I joined your crew? I met him 4 years ago." Nico Robin smiled warmly.
"EHH YOU MET MY BROTHER?" Luffy became excited as he jumped towards her.
"TELL-ME-WHAT-HAPPENED!" Luffy cried out in happiness.
The rest of the crew looked at eachother. Not long ago, they heard that Luffy was he grandson of Marine hero Garp... And now this... There would be no other surprises... Right?
Even the purple haired navigator, Carina was lost for words, her face became pale... Was there someone else sailing the sea... With the same brain as her captain? She shivered by the thought.
"No way.... No way... Most likely, he got the brain, and then when Luffy was born, there was no brain left for Luffy.... Yes that makes sense." Carina whispered to herself in denial.
Her captain had made her lose hair. He had truly pushed her to the limits of her frustration. Sometimes she wished she had joined a smarter captain.
Finding out that Luffy has a brother, made her feel like she lost 2.. no, 4 years of her lifespan.
Although she still adored Luffy as he had totally won her over.... His brain power did frighten her.
"Wait, so my brother is an... Emp...ragnator?" Luffy asked while tilting his head.
"Emperor, They are the four strongest pirates, closest to the One Piece." Robin corrected with a smile.
Robin was still amazed by how Ace's words had come true so many years later... Her interest had truly been piqued.
"But your brother is different, he is the strongest man alive..." Sanji said as he took a smoke.
Luffy smiled from ear to ear.
"Which also means... If you want to become Pirate King... The Demon Ace Pirates will be the biggest obstacle we have to go through." Zoro said seriously.
"Shihihi I'll defeat Ace and become the pirate king!" Luffy laughed.
Although they all felt that he would succeed, somehow the Flame Emperor didn't feel like a wall that could be brought down.
"Wait wait wait... Are you telling me, that your brother is the flame Emperor?" Usopp sat in the corner and continuesly repeated these words to himself.
"LETS DEFEAT ACE!!!" Luffy jumped up and shouted happily.
Usopp, Chopper and Carina all flew towards Luffy and shut his mouth worriedly.
"Did anyone hear?" Usopp asked nervously.
"I don't think so.." Chopper said.
Carina was looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone near their ship.
"Shihihi you guys don't have to worry, I used to get beat up a lot by Ace when I was a kid! So I am used to it!" Luffy laughed with a thumbs up, as if his words would make them more relieved.
"We are so doomed." Carina cried.
In another part of the sea, in Hachinosu, the island of Blackbeard, a fight had broken out.
"It worked... But this madwoman won't stop." One of the BlackBeard pirates complained.
Marshall D. teach had devised a devious plan.
His plan had been to conquer this sea and become the face of this generation... But an obstacle had come up... Gol D. Ace.
Teach felt his blood boil just thinking about him... So he came up with method to bring down that devil's child.
Blackbeard had been searching for Big Moms statue... He had realised that if he used his darkness he could nullify the stoning effect of Hancock's abilities, and turn Big Mom back into a human.. or whatever she is.
Luckily he had found her a good while back... But he didn't turn her back until now, he was waiting for a good time to do it. He would use Big Mom to bring down that monster
Blackbeard revelry got a whiff of something big, he knew that The Marines were on the move, scheming something great.
With his ways, he found out that it is likely a move against The Demon Ace Pirates... And that's when he decided it was time for Big Mom to return.
He had been waiting patiently for a chance, and his time had come.
However, after turning Big Mom back from her statue state... This wild woman refused to calm down!!
"GRRRR" Big Mom was in a maddened berserk state.
Blackbeard felt that it was time to stop playing around as Big Mom had already caused too much damage and harm to his companions.
He suddenly took a stance as his fists started crackling the very fabric of space, and he punched Big Mom. She was blown into the big skull statue in the center of the island.
And a lot of dust was blown up, creating a dust cloud.
Soon, Big Mom walked out for the cloud, unharmed, and she seemed to awaken from her berserk state.
"Zehahah Will you finally listen to what I have to say?" Blackbeard laughed out, but there was a hint of irritation in his tone.
"How do you have that ability?" Big Mom questioned in annoyance.
Blackbeard could finally continue his plans.
"A lot has happened since you were defeated by that woman." Blackbeard stated as he turned around and started walking to his mansion.
"That woman...?!!!" Big mom was suddenly enraged as she remembered that she had been fighting the Warlord Boa Hancock.
"I WAS DEFEATED!!?" She was about to blow up again, but she calmed down a she remembered that this unknown man was using Whitebeard's ability... too much must have happened... She calmed down and followed Blackbeard.
Blackbeard grinned as he felt her follow him... He would use the Marines to crush Ace, and then come in and cause even more destruction, leaving his mark as the greatest pirate.
The glint in his eyes couldn't be hidden as his eyes reflected deep scheming.