I'm sorry I got this out late today, I haven't slept so it didn't really hit me until now that today was Friday. As I said, TSABL won't be updated this week to let DP catch up so they're both at canon. This chapter covers Shells Town but it's a lot different since it's three years prior!
Disclaimer: Don't own OP

Decisions Over Tea

As they were sailing on towards their first destination, which according to Sabo would be a place called Shells Town, the boys were eating a bowl of the soup. It was delicious but they knew that they were going to get sick of it pretty soon. Which brought them to their current conversation.

"So, Lu, who are we going to recruit first?" Ace asked, finishing his bowl of soup.

Luffy's face scrunched up in concentration before he answered.

"A swordsman!" Luffy said.

That caused Ace and Sabo to almost face-fault. Almost because Sabo didn't feel like getting his soup all over him and Ace because he had enough of face-faulting from his narcolepsy.

"Don't you mean a cook?" Sabo asked.

Luffy shook his head at that. But he had a really good reason for that, really he did!

"I also studied the East Blue! And I found out that the best place to get a cook would be this floating restaurant called Baratie!" Luffy said.

"Then… why aren't we heading there first?" Ace asked.

Luffy gave Ace a deadpan look.

"Because Baratie's pretty far away. So, why worry about one now?" Luffy asked.

Ace grumbled, admitting that Luffy had a point there. If they were going to end up there sooner or late then it wouldn't be a problem. They could deal with fish soup until then. Sabo then chose to speak up.

"You guys might want to let me do the talking when we get to Shells Town." Sabo said.

Both of the other boys gave their top-hatted brother a confused look. Sabo sighed at them before answering.

"Shells Town is a Marine occupied town. I don't want us to be getting wanted posters right off the bat." Sabo said.

Luffy pouted at that but Ace was just staring at Luffy for a second before nodding. He didn't want any attention to be on Lu anytime soon. Ace then perked up as he got an idea to get Luffy's acceptance.

"Hey, Lu, just think of it like this. If you're a nice pirate maybe they'll share their meat with you. But you gotta let Sabo do the talking." Ace said.

Instantly Luffy started smiling and agreed with Ace. Sabo and Ace just laughed at Luffy, smiling as well. About a day or two later they crossed paths with a tiny fishing boat that had a pink haired kid in it. When the pink haired kid saw their boat he had a scared look on his face.

"Pirates! Don't hurt me!" The kid said.

All three boys gave a confused look at the kid.

"Hurt you? You haven't done anything to necessitate us hurting you." Sabo said.

"Yeah, what he said, but with less complicated words." Ace said, nodding.

Luffy nodded as well at that. The pink haired boy suddenly had a confused look instead.

"B-but you're pirates. Aren't you supposed to pillage and kill?" The boy asked.

All three of the boys gave him an odd look.

"No? Not all pirates are like that." Sabo said.

Luffy then decided to introduce himself to the kid.

"Hiya! I'm Luffy and this is Sabo and Ace!" Luffy said eagerly.

"Oh. Uh. I'm Coby." The kid said.

"Whatchya doing out here Coby?" He asked.

Coby gestured to his fishing equipment before speaking.

"I was heading out on a fishing trip. There was a group that was going to depart for a fishing trip but I missed them. So I went out on my own." Coby said.

"That's pretty brave of you." Ace said approvingly.

That seemed to cause Coby to blush.

"I-I don't know about brave. But I figured I gotta be confident if I want to be a Marine." Coby said.

Luffy perked up at that.

"Hey! We can make you a Marine!" Luffy said eagerly.

Ace and Sabo raised their brows at that but Coby got an eager look on his face.

"You can?! How?" He asked.

"Shishishishi! Our gramps is a Vice Admiral! Although he did say something about trying for Admiral, so he might be an Admiral now." Luffy said.

Before Garp had left he had told them to keep an eye out for certain people in the Marines. One of them was a man by the name of Sakazuki who was a Vice Admiral back then. Garp said he was going to aim for Admiral to deny the man the spot as Admirals had far more leeway when it came to doing things. When Luffy mentioned Garp to Coby the boy's eyes widened.

"B-but why are you guys pirates if your gramps is a Marine?!" Coby asked confusedly.

"Let's just say that for reasons not under our control we couldn't." Sabo said, wanting to go no further.

"Oh… okay. So… how would we do this?" Coby asked.

He was really eager to start being a Marine. The boys seemed to think for a minute before they answered, finally coming up with an idea.

"You could come with us! We're making our way to Shells Town, a place with a Marine Base. We could contact gramps there." Luffy said.

Once again Coby was confused at Luffy. But then again who wouldn't, they were pirates heading for a Marine base. Seeing the confusion, Sabo chuckled before easing it.

"We're heading there to ask around for directions." Sabo said.

"But aren't you afraid of being caught?!" Coby shouted in panic.

The three boys outright laughed at him for that question, causing him to shrink in on himself. Seeing this, Luffy just smiled at the boy.

"Not at all! Gramps said that East Blue's the weakest of the seas! So we won't have any problem!" Luffy said with a laugh.

"Oh… well I guess that makes sense?" He said, not really too sure of it.

So, after helping Coby move his stuff onto their ship they began to set off once more for Shells Town. It took them about a few days but in those few days they ended up running into a pirate crew. The captain of the crew was a rather fat woman called Alvida. Of course the trio had no trouble beating her, the problem was deciding who would fight. The woman, of course, was outraged when they did rock paper scissors to decide. Her outrage was ended rather quickly when Ace won and kicked her in the face, knocking her out. That scared her entire crew, making them run away. So, the three brothers were left with a tied up fat woman on their ship. The act of taking her captive was actually suggested by Coby who informed them that she had a bounty on her head of five million.

When they arrived at Shells Town they were met by a coalition of Marines. Sabo, however, stepped forward and spoke.

"We come in peace, we're here to ask for directions and turn in a criminal." Sabo said.

That garnered them a confused look before Ace shoved forward Alvida. The Marines then gained looks of recognition. So, one of them stepped forward to speak.

"Are you bounty hunters or pirates? At this point I can't tell." The man said.

"We're Pirates, sir. But we don't have a bounty at the moment and aren't really looking to make trouble for the Marines. Just to sail the sea." Sabo said.

The man seemed to think about it for a few seconds before he asked another question.

"Then why be pirates? Why not just sailors?" He asked.

"Ah, well, my brother here has a dream of being Pirate King, and you can't be that if you're not a pirate." Sabo said.

The man nodded at that but had a concerned look on his face when he noticed Luffy's age.

"But your brother seems to be rather young, isn't it dangerous for a kid like him? Especially since there are horror stories about the Grand Line." The man said.

Sabo shook his head, shushing Luffy before the boy could pout about being underestimated.

"Not at all, we were trained by our gramps who, despite wanting us to be Marines, agreed to allow us to be Pirates." Sabo said.

"Oh? Who's your gramps?" The man asked, thinking he might know the person.

Sabo gave the man a smile, knowing that the information would shock him.

"Ah, you might know him as Garp the Hero, he's not me and Ace's blood gramps but he is our little brother Luffy's." Sabo said.

The reactions on all of the Marines' faces was absolutely hilarious. Their eyes bugged out with their mouths gaping wide at them. The man who was chosen as the spokesperson was stuttering now.

"Y-your gramps is Admiral Shiroinu?" The man stuttered.

Luffy smiled widely at that.

"So gramps did become an admiral!" Luffy said with a laugh.

Stunned, the man nodded before answering.

"Yeah, rumor is, after returning from vacation he walked up to Sengoku and asked for the promotion. Since he's been offered the position a lot, they outright gave it to him over a newer candidate, someone named Sakazuki. So the current Admirals are Shiroinu, Aokiji, and Kizaru." The man said.

Ace smiled at that, seeing that shitty gramps actually did keep his promise to make sure that man didn't get the position. Figuring that the boys were telling the truth the man decided to let them land. From there he led them through the village. As he did this Sabo was asking questions.

"So, what's going on here?" Sabo asked, wondering why the Marines were so mobilized at this town.

"We're getting a new transfer today. They say he's a successful Marine, having captured Kuro of a Hundred Plans. So we're getting everything ready for a party." The man said, having introduced himself earlier as Ripper.

The three boys however had a confused look on their faces. While they knew of people with bounties, they really only knew the larger bounties. And from their memories the man mentioned wasn't one of them.

"Uh? Who's that?" Ace asked, speaking up.

The Marines seemed to be shocked at that.

"You don't know of Kuro? He's the captain of the Black Cat Pirates." Ripper said.

Sabo sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, the only bounties we've memorized are the ones that are over a hundred million, like the Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea's bounty of two hundred and fifty million." Sabo said.

Ripper aahed at that before he continued on.

"Well, you won't find anyone with a bounty that high in East Blue, especially considering it's the weakest of the Blues. At most you'll find is twenty million, which is held by Arlong of the Arlong Pirates. He's been rumored to have been seen in this area." Ripper said.

Before he continued, he noticed that a little girl had dropped her ice cream and was crying. Ripper knelt down and gave the girl some Belli to buy a new one. The little girl smiled and thanked the man before heading on. The three boys smiled at that, as well as Coby.

"That was nice of you." Sabo said.

Ripper just smiled at them before he continued to lead them towards the base.

"It's no problem. The town folk here look up to us, so it's our job to make them happy. Plus, I have a little sister at home, so I couldn't see that girl sad." Ripper said.

Ace and Sabo looked fondly at Luffy after the man said that. Although, their affections for Luffy did go deeper. But like they said, they would do nothing until Luffy was older. Though, they were sure Luffy would accept.

"So, what was that Kuro guy's bounty?" Luffy asked, interested.

Ripper seemed to pause before digging into his pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Luffy who unfolded it. It turned out to be a poster of a black haired man with glasses and claw like weapons on his hands. Below the name was a bounty of sixteen million Belli.

"I thought you said bounties weren't that high in East Blue?" Coby asked.

"I also did say there were exceptions. Kuro was one of them. He lived up to his epithet, as he was able to plan his way out of anything. But somehow Morgan managed to capture him." Ripper said.

Ace however had a disbelieving look on his face about that.

"How do you guys know that the man actually did defeat Kuro?" Ace asked.

Ripper raised a brow at that.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, what if the man is lying, and the man you caught wasn't the actual Kuro." Ace said.

That just seemed to confuse Ripper even more. Sabo sighed at that before answering, planning to fix the confusion.

"What my dear brother is trying to say, is that if Kuro really had a plan for everything then the capture could have been planned. Was there anyone on Kuro's crew that could do anything that would help?" Sabo asked.

Ripper thought about it before his eyes widened for a second.

"Yeah, actually. There was a man on Kuro's crew called Jango. The man was a hypnotist and a really good one. He could hypnotize anyone into believing anything. If I recall in one fight he hypnotized the crew into becoming much stronger." Ripper said.

Sabo nodded at that before he spoke up.

"There's your proof of doubt. If they managed to find someone who looked like Kuro then they could have hypnotized him into believing he was Kuro and hypnotized Morgan into believing he caught Kuro." Sabo said.

Luffy's face was scrunched up in confusion at the whole conversation. While he wasn't dumb, he just had difficulty following a conversation that he wasn't part of for a long period of time. Ace, seeing Lu's confusion ruffled his hair and smiled at him.

"Lu, basically the guy could have done a cowardly thing and made someone else take his place." Ace said.

Luffy aahed before frowning.

"Cowards are stupid." Luffy said, causing Ace and Sabo to smile at him.

Ripper however was groaning about how troublesome this was going to be.

"The man who's supposed to be Kuro is set to be executed in a few days here. What are we supposed to do?" Ripper sighed.

Sabo however had a solution to the entire problem.

"I, uh, may have dabbled in hypnotism when I was younger. I could try to see if I could break the hypnotism." Sabo said with a light blush on his cheeks.

Ace and Luffy were sniggering at Sabo because they remembered when the boy had been trying hypnotism. Sure, Sabo could do it well enough but the problem was that when he had first started he ended up hypnotizing himself more often than not. Now though he could do it without hypnotizing himself but it still brought up interesting memories. Ripper however ignored that and smiled at Sabo.

"That'd be wonderful, but what if it fails?" Ripper asked.

"Well, you could always let him go and have him attempt to fight like Kuro." Ace said.

Everyone looked at Ace with a confused look at that. Ace blushed a bit before he spoke again.

"Ah, well, Kuro had a unique fighting style right?" Ace asked.

Ripper nodded but didn't know where Ace was going with this.

"Yeah, Kuro could move at superhuman speeds but he couldn't exactly control it." Ripper said.

Huh, that sounded oddly like Soru. Which gave Ace an idea.

"Actually, it might be better to have him try to fight like Kuro." Ace said.

"What? Why?" Ripper asked.

Sabo's eyes widened as he realized what Ace was getting.

"Because, if his body can't handle the speed it'll tear his legs apart and that'll prove he's not Kuro because Kuro could handle the speed." Sabo said.

Ripper's eyes then widened as well at that. It was a perfect idea but the problem was making sure that the man didn't attack other people. Ripper brought this up to everyone.

"Well that shouldn't be a problem, Lu here could easily make sure of that, trust us." Ace said, looking proudly at Luffy.

Luffy just grinned widely at that, accepting the praise. Ripper shrugged, deciding to put further trust in the pirates. I mean, he could feel that they were much stronger than they looked. So, Ripper led them into the base where they took them to his superior's office. The office was modest looking with tiny awards on a shelf and a bunch of books on a bookshelf. Sitting at the desk was an average looking woman who looked up when they entered.

"What's with these pirates Ripper?" The woman asked.

"I'm sorry mam, but they're here to turn in a pirate, Iron-Mace Alvida to be specific. Also, they have brought up a problem we didn't consider with Kuro." Ripper said.

The woman's eyebrow rose at that. She looked behind them and saw that they indeed had brought Alvida, the fat woman tied up behind them. She then threaded her fingers before speaking.

"What is this problem you speak of?" She asked.

"Well, they brought up the fact that the man we have may have been hypnotized by Jango, the hypnotist of Kuro's crew." Ripper said.

The woman hummed before she seemed to think about the suggestion.

"Do you have a way to prove that?" She asked.

"They said to let the man try to fight like Kuro. They also said that they could take care of the man if he tries to attack everyone else." Ripper said.

Once again she raised her eyebrow at Ripper.

"And you believe them?" She asked.

"Well, they say that the youngest is related to Admiral Shiroinu and I have to admit there is a resemblance in attitudes." Ripper said.

Her eyes widened slightly at that before she nodded.

"Alright we'll try this plan of yours but to make it more safe we'll do it in a more secure room." She said.

The woman then got up and led them through the building. It didn't take them long before they reached the lock-up area of the base. When the three boys saw the man in the cell they could tell something was off with the man. For one, he didn't exactly resemble Kuro completely. The way the man's structure was, was all wrong compared to Kuro. Nevertheless they grabbed the man and led him to one of the training rooms. When they got there the woman explained to him what they were doing. He acted snooty and said that he was definitely the real Kuro. They just rolled his eyes and told him to try fighting like he usually did.

"You asked for it." The man said, having been uncuffed.

He started swaying before he vanished. But when he vanished there was a ripping sound and the man was suddenly howling on the floor in pain as blood was pouring from his legs. Ripper and Coby were gaping at the injured man on the ground.

"Welp, that proves it. His legs couldn't even handle the speed that he was trying to force it to undergo." Sabo said.

"But that brings up the topic of where the real Kuro is." The woman said with a sigh.

Sabo just smiled before speaking.

"I promise that if we run into him we'll turn him in for you." Sabo said, Ace and Luffy nodding.

The woman seemed speculative for a few minutes before she nodded.

"Alright, normally we don't trust pirates but so far you've been helpful. Follow me." She said after telling the Marines who had gathered to take care of the injured imposter.

She led them back to her office where she dug through her desk until she pulled out a Den Den Mushi. She then handed it to Sabo.

"If you run into Kuro then give that a ring. It's connected to the one at our superior's base in Loguetown." She said.

Sabo gracefully accepted the Den Den Mushi, nodding at her instructions.

"What should we say when we ring it? I doubt they'd be happy that a pirate had hold of their Den Den Mushi." Ace asked.

Nodding at Ace's insight she wrote something down before handing it to Ace.

"This is a code we use specifically for pirates that help the Marines. Just tell Captain Smoker that code and tell him that Lieutenant Jenny of the Shells Town branch gave you the Den Den Mushi." She said.

The three boys nodded before Luffy remembered something.

"Oh yeah! We came here for two reasons! Uh, first…" Luffy started before shuffling over to Coby.

Luffy then shoved Coby forward, making him stutter and blush as he was presented in front of the Marine.

"Coby here wants to join the Marines! We figured we'd give him to our gramps to turn into a Marine! We couldn't join for personal reasons but figured he'd want a protégé." Luffy said.

The woman nodded before giving Coby a look.

"Do you really wish to join the Marines? The training is harsh, especially under Admiral Shiroinu if the rumors I've been told are true." Jenny said.

Coby didn't say anything for a few seconds before he suddenly gained a determined look on his face.

"Of course! It's my dream to become a Marine and catch pirates like Alvida! I want to be an Admiral one day!" Coby said.

The woman gave Coby a calculative look before suddenly grinning at him.

"That's the perfect attitude for the Marines, kid. Ah, what am I supposed to say to get Shiroinu's attention?" The woman asked the boys.

"Shishishi! Just tell gramps that Luffy, Ace, and Sabo have a student for him. We kinda did promise him one." Luffy said laughing.

The woman nodded before realizing something.

"You said that you had another reason for being here, what's that?" She asked.

Ace, deciding to speak this time, stepped forward.

"Ah, we need directions to a place that we can find a reliable swordsman for our crew." Ace said.

Jenny nodded before ruffling through the papers on her desk. She read through the various reports before she seemed to find what she was looking for.

"Aha! Here it is. A report from one of my subordinates says that there's a village on Taiyou Island with a dojo dedicated to swordsman. From what he said they're pretty good." She said.

"What's the name of the village?" Sabo asked, wanting to get as much information as possible.

She skimmed the report before speaking.

"According to him, the name of the village is Shimotsuki Village and the dojo you're looking for is the Isshin Dojo." She said.

Sabo then asked for directions to the island. The woman gladly wrote down the directions they had to take from Shells Town with the compass. Luffy however whined a bit.

"Too bad it's not like the Grand Line, it'd be soooo much easier." Luffy whined.

The woman's eyes widened at the thought of someone thinking the Grand Line would be easier.

"What in the Blue makes you think navigating the Grand Line would be easier?" She asked, astounded.

"Because! In the Grand Line you have to use a compass called a Log Pose. And there's a variant of the called the Eternal Pose. It's permanently locked onto an island and helps you navigate to it." Luffy said.

The woman seemed really interested in it and asked for more information about these Log Poses.

"Do you know how they work?" She asked.

Luffy's face scrunched up in concentration as he thought to remember the specific details. Log Poses were among the first things Luffy learned about the Grand Line so it took him a while to remember. Thankfully though, he managed to.

"Oh yeah! In the Grand Line, each island has its own magnetic field which messes with normal compasses. The Log Pose is designed to lock onto a magnetic field of an island and point you towards it. Eternal Log Poses are permanently locked onto an island." Luffy said.

The woman nodded at that, very interested in the information. But she had a question.

"Permanently locked?" She asked.

"Mhm, when you reach an island that the Log Pose is locked onto the needle attunes itself to the island. After a certain amount of time, that differs per island, the Log Pose will latch onto another magnetic field. It continues like this until you reach the New World, the second half of the Grand Line." Luffy said.

That seemed to confuse the woman even more.

"What happens there?" She asked.

"Ah, well in the New World the Log Pose is prone to changing mid-course, so you need a New World Log Pose that has three needles. From there it's up to a navigator's intuition to navigate from place to place." Luffy said.

The woman then thanked him for the interesting conversation. She then told them that the bounty for Alvida will be processed and they can pick it up later in Loguetown where the Bounty Office was. She gave them a piece of paper to hold onto for when they arrive there. The Marines then waved them goodbye as the trio left and made their way for Taiyou Island where they'd hopefully pick up a swordsman.

Hope you guys enjoyed it! As for me I'm heading to bed, I'm exhausted. Suggestions are always welcome!