KASL Book 1: Lost but Found (One Piece Fan fiction)

Chapter VI: Before the New World P.2 - Sabaody Archipelago

Grove #44

Ace

Sabaody. This was the place the slavers always talked about. A place where they would have sold the brothers. Yet it looked like nothing the boys had imagined it to be. All around were giant trees, mangroves, which made up the Sabaody Archipelago. These monsters dwarfed the trees back on Dawn Island. Ace gazed at the sights around him. Sabo admired the pearlescent bubbles that somehow came out of the ground and would float somewhere above the treetops. Right now, they were just kids taking in the new experiences. At least until they heard the sudden shouting.

"Oi, brat! Come down here!"

And there went Ace's moment of contemplation. Gazing into the bubble-filled sky, Ace's frown morphed into an expression of horror. Their bumbling little brother somehow ended up in one of those bubbles that kept rising from the ground. And the idiot just laughed as he looked around in awe at all the sights above and around the mangroves.

They had just docked at Sabaody last night. Marco had decided what divisions could have shore leave, and what the other divisions would do to prepare the ship for their next departure. Since the 12th and 7th divisions had shore leave, Marco had asked their commanders if they would watch the four children while the boys explored the island. Haruta didn't mind, and Rakuyo said he didn't plan for much anyway other than stocking up on his personal booze supply. Rakuyo may be having regrets now about agreeing. The 7th division commander had never spent more than a few minutes at the most with the boys, so he had no idea what trouble they could manage. Haruta, on the other hand, enjoyed watching his youngest brothers' shenanigans. Speaking of which...

Pop. Luffy's bubble had just broke open, and the rubber boy's laughter cut off as he felt his body suddenly plummet to the earth. Ace and Sabo scrambled to try and catch their little brother. Suddenly the boy's headlong dive to the ground slowed and abruptly stopped a foot above the ground.

"That, dearest Luffy, is why you should listen to the seventh commander when he told you to – how did he put it? – Not to do something stupid or reckless during our stay on the island. And that was only ten minutes ago," chided a voice above the group. Carelessly dangling from one of the mangrove's branches hung Kit. The elder boy sported a pair of yellow ears and was using seven golden tails to anchor himself to the branch. Haruta snickered at him.

"You're not exactly doing much better. At least Luffy won't hurt himself too badly if he fell."

"Mmm, good point commander," agreed the fox with a smile as he dropped down from the branch. Like Luffy, he slowed down just as he neared the ground. Rakuyo ran over to Kit and began yelling at him for being as reckless as his baby brother. Ace grumbled at the heart-stopping display. The show-off was using his telekinesis and messing with Rakuyo.

After Luffy and Kit sported some very interesting bumps from their sworn brothers and suffered a rant from Rakuyo, the group was off. Rakuyo warned the boys to not get into any more trouble and for Kit to change back. The boys were to stick close to the commanders as Sabaody had many dangers such as bounty hunters and slave traders. No matter what, the boys could not get separated from them. They stopped by a shop to rent some bubble bikes for which Luffy gave his best Luffy pout in an effort to persuade the commanders to buy one. Rakuyo chuckled good-naturedly and patted the young D's head. Apparently the bubbles of Sabaody popped outside of its unique atmosphere. That information slipped right through Luffy's rubber brain, though, and it took receiving another bump from Ace to get the boy stop nagging the commanders. Luffy had a short attention span luckily. He quickly forgot about the whole argument, as he cheered from his seat on the wagon attached to the bubble bikes.