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

Chapter XVI: Duck and Cover!

Moirai Island

One year and a half later

Luffy

Several monstrous beasts had Luffy cornered. The boy just grinned, tilting his straw hat forward to shade his eyes. One, a wolf that stood fifteen meters high, lunged. The boy deftly dodged to the right, letting the wolf charge inches to the side of him. "Gum-Gum armored gatling!" Black coated the young boy's fists before they vanished in a blur of seemingly endless punches. The wolf fell to the side. The circling beasts backed for a moment. An ominous growl sounded. They all leapt for the straw hatted boy. A wave of pressure struck them dumb. Another young man, raven-haired and freckled dived from one of the trees overlooking the scene.

"Aww, Ace! I was going to handle it," pouted Luffy, lip sticking out in annoyance.

"To think it only took him three months to actually do that without having you make him snap," chuckled a blue- coated boy that joined them.

"No, to think it took Ace two months to actually remember what happened back at the Grey Terminal," interjected a white-eared boy. Kit smirked before laughing. "To think that the three of us didn't even remember how Ace knocked out Bluejam and his men that one time, even when Marco and Rayleigh described the effects. Sabo's excused, but the rest of us are quite the bunch of idiots." Ace slung a fist that Kit simply stepped to the side to dodge. "No offense, shahehehe."

"Boys, the Moby Dick has docked. Thatch and another fellow has come to fetch you guys."

Whatever Ace was going to say was forgotten. The boys rushed over to Silvers Rayleigh. They all bowed in respect.

"Thank you, sensei, for all that you have taught us," chirped the four brothers.

"Hehe, you boys did well. I'll be with you guys for a little while longer, though. My ship kind of got wrecked a few days ago. Whitebeard had offered to let me on his ship and drop me off at Sabaody. So you boys won't be getting rid of me that easily," laughed Rayleigh.

"Uncle Ray! We hardly tried to get rid of you. Even if we tried to simultaneously attack you a few times. But you did challenge us!" Uncle Ray patted his flustering nephew's head good-naturedly.

"ZEHAHAHA! What an adorable scene!" Kit's smile fell. Next to him, Luffy visibly shrunk, his cheerful face closed.

Hmmm. There's something not quite right, isn't there, pondered Rayleigh, taking in the youngest and oldest children's unease with the large, unshaven Whitebeard pirate. Ace and Sabo also subtly tensed in response. Kit pulled back his grimace, giving Teach a poker face. He swung an arm around his baby brother.

Thatch cocked his head. The brats were acting strange again. He sneaked a glance at the second division member who had offered to escort their brothers back home. Teach was not a bad guy really; a little slovenly, ate too much like any D. A little bit lazy to be frank. Honestly, the guy didn't stand out much amongst the many division members. Marco didn't like the guy much at the beginning, but that could have been because of the lingering mood from Thatch's earlier pineapple prank.

Pushing his concern aside for later deliberation, Thatch smiled jovially at his little brothers. They had grown since he had last seen them several months ago. Ace and Sabo have noticeably put on muscle and height. Luffy didn't seem to change much at all. Kit grew only a little bit, but his mythical Zoan abilities may explain this. Heck, Marco hasn't exactly aged a day for the past twenty odd years. The boy had grown a bit into his frame, not the same developing musculature as Ace, but a leaner kind of muscle that made him sleek and willowy rather than skinny like Luffy. Thatch betted his last berry that the boy's transformations had fared much better.