A New Friend

"Where are you taking me, gramps?" A 9 year old Luffy asked as he and Garp were walking through the jungle.

Luffy knew where Garp was taking him But he didn't know the specifics. He was taking him to Mt. Colubo, it is a mountain behind Foosha Village and serves as the home of Curly Dadan and her gang of bandits.

Mt. Colubo is one of multiple mountains in the kingdom, as Higuma also came from one of these mountains.

Foosha Village is located to the south of Mt. Colubo, a bit away from the mountain base. The Gray Terminal is located to the north.

The Gray Terminal is a massive junkyard located on Dawn Island, just outside the great gate of Goa.

Filled with unwanted goods and people ejected from the city of Goa, it is a lawless community without proper medical care, leaving many ravaged by disease.

Many, or possibly all of the inhabitants of the Gray Terminal make their livelihood by selling various wares found in the slum or surrounding mountains to the citizens of Edge Town.

Back to the main point, because of the mountain's closeness to the Midway Forest, a lot of the dangerous fauna that inhabits the latter also roam around Mt. Colubo. The climate is varied, with occasional rain and snow.

"I'm taking you there to introduce you to someone. She's ten years old and I'm sure she would be a great friend of yours. " Garp replied, making Luffy even more curious.

They arrived at a house in the middle of the wilderness.

Garp banged onto the door. "Oi! Dadan you old hag! Get the hell out of here!" Garp shouted. A second later, an older woman and two men came to the door.

"Garp! Ya old bastard! I can't handle another one!" The woman, Dadan pointed at Luffy who looked at her.

Dadan was a rather tall and overweight middle aged woman with long, orange, curly hair and a big, masculine face. She was seen smoking a cigarette.

She wears a white collar shirt, a pink beaded necklace, checkered trousers held up with a large belt, and heeled boots.

Her name was Curly Dadan and she had a bounty of 7,800,000 Belly. She is the mountain bandit boss of the Dadan Family and a wanted criminal.

"You don't need to! Where's that brat Ace?" Garp asked her. Luffy widened his eyes as he stepped back, dodging spit that was intended for him.

He looked to see a girl who was looking at him with a look that was full of aggression. She had curly black hair, looked remarkably like Luffy but she was more serious looking than Luffy's lighthearted look.

She also sported rather childish freckles (inherited from her mother) and tended to make a skeptical facial expression by raising her left eyebrow. Interestingly enough, she looked like Gold Roger in his youth.

She is shown to have often worn t-shirts with two-kanji phrases on the front (such as 'innocence' and 'violence'). She wore knee-length shorts and a black elbow guard on her left arm.

Ace was always seen wearing dark brown, flat, slipper-like shoes, and in the winter, she wore a green cardigan over her normal clothes.

This is Portgas D. Ace, born as Gol D. Ace. She is the biological son of the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, and Portgas D. Rouge. She was adopted by Garp, as had been requested by Roger before his execution. No one knows about Ace's true heritage, Garp made sure of that.

Ace was holding a dead buffalo in her hands. Luffy looked at her with a serious face. "That isn't nice ya know." He pointed out. Ace narrowed her eyes and spat at him once again.

Luffy dodged it calmly and looked at her. Ace growled, got closer and tried again. She missed as Luffy dodged it again.

Luffy grinned at her, Ace was angry. She got closer and closer and spat at him multiple times, Luffy dodged all of those attempts.

Ace had enough, she grabbed his shirt. "Stay still damnit!!" She shouted angrily and spat at him.

Suddenly, Luffy's neck stretched out. Ace was surprised and she stepped back, letting him go. Luffy's neck retracted back into place and he grinned at her surprised face.

"Hey, you're kinda cool. Let's be friends." Luffy stretched out his hand at her. Ace huffed and walked back into the house.

Luffy looked at Garp who was smirking at him. "Did I do something wrong, gramps?" He asked him. Garp laughed and shook his head.

"You did nothing wrong. She's kind of a tsundere ya see. But you'll get through her one day, you just have to make an effort to make her your friend. " Garp advised and patted his back. He then looked at Dadan.

" My grandson, Luffy here wants to he friends with Ace. Would you mind letting him stay here for a while? " Garp asked her. Dadan gulped at his intense gaze.

"Y-yes, Garp!" Dadan stood up straight and saluted him. Garp laughed and looked at him.

"There you go, Luffy. I gave you a chance, now go inside. I wanna go for a walk. " Garp grumbled. Luffy laughed and ran straight into the house.

"Oi, brat! Take off your shoes!" Dadan shouted. Garp could hear Luffy's signature laugh as he was walking away from the house.

"Maybe with him you can find a reason to live, Ace. "

.

.

Luffy saw Ace running off as the Dadan Family were eating to their hearts content. Luffy immediately got up and chased after him.

Ace looked back and gritted her teeth as she saw Luffy catching up to her rapidly. She started hitting a tree and kicked it, sending it rolling towards him.

Luffy narrowed his eyes and wrapped his right hand around the grip of his cutlass. He waited for the tree to get closer to him.

*SHING!!!*

The tree was sliced into pieces by Luffy's Quickdraw technique.

[Quickdraw V2: C+(20% completed)

You can unsheath your sword so fast now that you can do multiple slashes in the blink of an eye.]

Luffy grinned at Ace's shocked face. Ace quickly ran away while Luffy sheathed his cutlass back and chased after her.

Ace was fearing for her life as Luffy was running on her left while grinning at her. She noticed that there was a chasm right in front of her.

She smirked and pushed Luffy into it. Luffy widened his eyes as he started falling down the chasm.

"Ahh!!!" Luffy shouted and quickly unsheathed his cutlass and stabbed it into the rock wall in front of him. The quickly slowed down his fall.

Luffy looked up to see that he hadn't fallen that far. He pulled his arm back and threw it towards the top of the chasm.

.

.

Ace breathed out a sigh of relief as she finally got rid of Luffy. "How the hell did he run that fast? What is he?" She grumbled before continuing walking.

Suddenly, she heard rustling coming from the bush right beside her. She pointed the metal pole she was holding at the bush.

She widened her eyes in horror as Luffy tumbled out from the bush while laughing happily.

"That was fun!" Luffy shouted before standing up and patted off the dust on his shirt.

He picked up his cutlass and sheathed it back in the scabbard. He looked at Ace who had a look of disbelief etched on her face. He grinned at her and stretched out his right hand.

"Hi! I'm Monkey D Luffy! Let's be friends!"

To be continued.....