The Explorer of the Universe
47

While Ace and Smoker fight each other, Vivi along with the straw hat pirate crew keep running towards where the Going Merry is anchored.

"Luffy! Was that really your brother?" Ask Nami.

"Yes, his name is Ace and he's stronger than me!" Answer Luffy.

"If you have an older brother is no longer a surprise, but what is he doing in the Grand Line?!" Ask Zoro.

"Ace is a pirate! He left my hometown three years ahead of me!" Luffy.

They all looked surprised to hear Luffy's story, Tanaka just put on a flat face as usual.

"But, I never thought I'd be able to meet Ace in a place like this!" Luffy.

Tanaka saw the road ahead split in two so he asked, "Which way?"

"To the left! Everybody listen, right?" Ask Nami.

"Ha'i, wherever Nami-san is, I will always follow!" Said Sanji happily.

Everything takes the left lane but only Luffy takes the right lane. Tanaka realizes it and lets it go because there is an Ace who will help him.

If there is no Ace then Tanaka has already pulled Luffy in the appropriate direction.

"Quick raise the load! We'll sail right away!" Nami said as soon as they reached the port.

"Hurry now! Develop screen!" Usopp.

The straw hat pirate crew with Vivi moved quickly to get the Going Merry ship back on the sail until no one noticed Luffy's absence with them.

"Hey, when we arrive, are we sailing?" Ask Chopper.

"Yes, we're anchored in this town to find what we need. Now we're going to Alabasta by the river. Our next destination is the green city, Erumalu." Vivi.

"Eromaly?" Ask Chopper.

"Yes." Yeah." Vivi. "Name a green city, it should be a fertile city according to its name."

Everything moved quickly and did its job so that the Going Merry could quickly return to sail.

"All right, we're sailing!" Shouted Nami.

At that time they began to realize the lack of presence of Luffy.

"It feels like there's someone who hasn't counted." Said Usopp who first noticed.

"Luffy's not here." Tanaka then sighed. "It looks like he took the wrong path when the road branched earlier."

"That idiot!" Zoro was upset.

Although Luffy hasn't boarded the ship, Nami decides to keep the ship.

"Why is it okay to ship without Luffy?" Ask Chopper.

"Marine ships will gather on this island and our ships will be seen if they stay here." Nami. "First, we have to hide our ship first."

Vivi as the host knew the ins and outs of the place so she directly directed the safe and hidden place.

While sailing the crew members straw hat pirates, except Tanaka and Chopper complain about Luffy's behavior which always makes them hassles.

Tanaka, who was looking down at the beach, saw a person in a red shirt and straw hat waving his hand at our boat.

Tanaka had not told the others, Nami had told about Luffy's whereabouts.

"I found Luffy!" Said Nami who was looking with binoculars.

"Meet, huh? Where's?" Ask Zoro.

"Yes, it's not wrong, that fool." Said Sanji who was also looking with binoculars.

Luffy then extended his arm so that he could return to the ship and ended up crashing into Sanji and Chopper because of his actions just now.

"I'm back!" Luffy said casually.

Tanaka gave a small laugh seeing the behavior of the captain.

"Welcome, captain." Tanaka Sahut.

"Shi shi shi~" Luffy laughed casually, then got to his feet.

"That's you, absolutely not kapok, huh?! I killed you too!" Sanji said as he pulled Luffy's collar as he got up.

"Truely, how long will you trouble us? Just act a little like a captain." Said Nami who was upset with Luffy's behavior that was always arbitrary.

"Have been friends, after all he was Luffy, to say whenever he won't forget it." Tanaka.

"You're spoiling her too much, Tanaka." Nami Nagging.

Usopp nodded his head and with the opportunity he volunteered to be the captain, Luffy's replacement. But no one responded.

"Oh yeah, Ace." Said Luffy who immediately approached the fence of the ship and looked at the beach where he was. "Ace!?"

"Your brother is with you?" Ask Zoro.

"Is it okay to leave him?" Ask Usopp.

"Well, just calm down! Ace is strong." Answer Luffy.

"He's strong?" Chopper.

"Yes! He had not eaten the devil fruit of Mera Mera, but I had never once defeated him! Obviously, Ace is very strong!" Luffy said proudly.

Nami was surprised because she had never seen any opponent Luffy could not beat. All of the Luffy opponents he had seen all along could always be defeated without being able to fight back again.

"The brother of a monster is indeed more of a monster, yes." Usopp.

"That's right, I always lose! But if now it might win!" Luffy said and laughed.

"Who did you say would win?" Said Ace who appeared suddenly and squatted on the fence of the ship.

"Oh, Ace! These are my friends I told you about!" Luffy.

"Oh, hello everyone! Sorry if my sister has been a lot of trouble!" Say Ace politely while slightly bowing.

"No, not at all." Said all of them while bowing back except for Luffy and Tanaka who just stood silently staring at Ace.

"He may be very troublesome to you and unruly, but..." Speak to Ace politely and kindly.

"No, not at all." Say them all except for Tanaka and Luffy.

"He's a hassle." Tanaka said honestly. "It's really very troublesome!"

Nami warned me not to say anything like that directly to Ace who is Luffy's older brother.

"But that's the truth." Said Tanaka with a flat face. "Don't you just say that Luffy is always troubling us."

Nami could not reply to Tanaka's words so all she could do was stare at the man with her ferocious face.

Tanaka just turned his gaze the other way, not daring to look at Nami who was like that.

"Hahaha, even though this brother of mine is troubling you, please be understood and please take care of him, yes." Ace said then bowed to us again.

They all bowed again except for Tanaka and Luffy.

"There must be a lot of things you want to talk about, right? Why not just go inside? I'll make you some tea." Sanji's Advice.

"Ah no, just here. No need to bother." Said Ace who rejected Sanji's offer politely.

Ace lights Sanji's cigarette with his fire.

All of them, except for Tanaka and Luffy were completely taken aback by Ace's friendly demeanor and courtesy. Totally inversely proportional to Luffy who is his sister acting arbitrarily.

"No way, a wise man like this can't be Luffy's brother!" Said Nami who could not accept that.

"He's a wise brother, yes!" Zoro.

"Brother is great, yes!" Chopper.

"In the ocean it's a lot of surprising things, yes." Sanji.

"Wait a minute, everyone, you can't say that in front of Luffy's brother." Said Vivi worriedly.

"Tuh, right? They're all funny, right?" Luffy.

Then we saw many ships belonging to Baroque Works near us. Vivi said the ships were used by the Billion.

"Hiken no Ace and Mugiwara no Luffy! Don't think you can run, yeah!"

"We'll show you the power of the Billion Baroque Works!"

"They again, huh?" Luffy.

"Luffy, let me take care of them. I'll show you something cool." Ace blinks his eyes at me and jumps on his little boat.

Zoro and Sanji snorted at Ace who wanted to act cool while Nami, Usopp, Vivi, and Chopper looked confused and also curious about what Ace would do alone against his Billion Baroque Works.

Luffy stared at Ace's departure with sparkling eyes, he felt excited because Ace wanted to show him something cool.

While Tanaka only gives a flat expression and no intention to see something that is certain.

Ace with the power of his devil fruit, moving his little ship, went to the ship of the Billion and then there was a considerable fire on the ships of the Billion.

In just about less than five minutes, Ace had destroyed all of those ships with a single strike.

"He..bat!" Surprised Usopp said, as did everyone except Tanaka and Luffy.

Luffy shouted happily while Tanaka just kept silent expressionlessly.

After Ace destroys all of Billion's ships, he returns to the Going Merry and the straw hat pirate crew with Vivi have a welcoming party and victory for Ace.

"Now Ace is our friend!" Usopp gave a confession.

"Pay!!" Usopp, Chopper and Luffy toast.

"Who said to join you?" Said Ace who was only ignored by the three of them.

"A good drink!" Usopp said with pleasure.

"Pay!!" Say the three of them toast again.

"Not to think about it! They're always looking for reasons to party!" Nami.

"Ace, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Asked Luffy who invited his foster brother to be his crew.

Ace rejected him quickly and then gave an excuse, "I'm looking for someone. His name is Kurohige." Ace.

Hearing the name Kurohige makes Tanaka feel angry and upset, not because he is the cause of the disaster that will be experienced by Ace later, but because since the beginning of the appearance in the manga one piece, but because, Tanaka doesn't like that character.

After several hours of partying for Ace, the Going Merry has entered the Sandora River.

"First, we will dock in Erumalu, then go to Alabasta to get to Oasis or Yuba. In Yuba there is the leader of the rebel army." Said Vivi explaining her next plan.

"That's it, so your next destination is Yuba?" Ask Ace.

"Where Nami goes, and Vivi I'll follow." Say Sanji with lope-lope eyes.

"That's all you are, perverted chef." Said the upset Zoro.

"What did you say?" Said the angry Sanji.

The two of them looked at each other at such a close distance.

"Obviously, it looks like we can go together!" Said Nami who ignored the two people.

"Yes, Luffy's brother can be very helpful!" Usopp.

"Let's have fun, Ace!" Luffy.

"Yes!!" Say all of us a toast.

While they were busy themselves, Tanaka decided to go to the back of the ship and pondered while staring at the vast river water in front of me.

"What should I do with Ace?" Think Tanaka.

He wants to change Ace's fate, but he has promised himself to just go on an adventure without changing anything that should happen.

"If I save him, it'll make a change in the one piece story and maybe even lead to a bad thing." Think Tanaka. "But if I don't save, Luffy will be very sad, even though he can move on later."

Tanaka let out a long sigh as he did not know what he should do to Ace.

"What are you doing here alone?" Ace asked who had suddenly appeared behind Tanaka and made him surprised.

"You surprised me Ace!" Tanaka.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it that way." Said Ace who felt guilty. "But I want to know, why are you alone here? The others are still partying with food and drink."

"There's nothing special, I just love being alone like this." Answer Tanaka. "What about you?"

"I was just curious to see you being separated from the others." Answer Ace who is standing next to Tanaka.

The two of them went back into silence while looking at the Sandora river.

"I heard from Luffy that his friend is very reliable and always helps him when he gets into trouble." Ace looked at Tanaka. "I'm so grateful to you for taking care of my troublesome sister so well."

Ace bowed his head as an act of his words.

"No, you don't have to be like that, I'm just happy because I'm his friend and his pirate crew." Tanaka.

"Despite that, I really thank you and in the future please take care of her because she is my only and most dear sister." Reveal Ace.

Tanaka sighed and then said, "Alright, I'll take care of her, but this isn't because you asked me to because I'll still take care of her and help her without even needing to ask for one."

Ace nodded his head and looked back at the Sandora river.

"Ace ... " Call Tanaka.

The owner of the name immediately turned his gaze to Tanaka as he was called and waited for what the man wanted to say.

" ... regarding the person you're looking for, Kurohige, can you stop looking for him." Tanaka Pinta.

Ace was puzzled by Tanaka's request, but he did not ask Tanaka why he asked. Ace was just waiting for Tanaka to explain to him about it

"I don't know what he's done until you look for him, but I'll get into pretty big trouble if I keep looking for him and it's Luffy's relationship." Tanaka.

"Luffy?" Ace asked who was getting confused because his younger brother had something to do with Kurohige.

"Yes, maybe you don't believe me, I can see the future with this power that I have, even though that vision I can't control because it appears suddenly without me knowing." Tanaka.

"When I saw you, I saw that you were going to get into big trouble and that would make Luffy very sad." Tanaka. "I don't know what big trouble you'll get if you keep looking for that guy, but since this makes Luffy very sad, I'm asking you to stop looking for him."

Tanaka did not tell us clearly about Ace's future. He only gave a big picture for Ace to stop looking for Kurohige.

Although it would make quite an impact in the one piece story as he would not know anymore what would happen if Ace was still alive.

But he was ready for that change. Tanaka also wanted Ace to stay alive because at the time of Ace's death it was a very sad thing for all one piece lovers.

"Even though you say so, I will still look for Kurohige because this is my responsibility." Ace said calmly. "I'm sure the vision of the future that you said it would not happen."

Tanaka let out a long sigh as Ace did not grant his request. Even so there was nothing that Tanaka could do because Ace was like Luffy who once set his goal, then there would be no one to change it.

"Well, if you're like that, then all I can do is make what happened to you not happen." Tanaka.

He had set his goal of being able to save Ace and this would probably be his first and last time doing something he had never done before.