Luffy, Sabo, and Ace meet Thatch while they are growing up, and Thatch adopts them as his kids. Thatch can already be apart of the Whitebeard Pirates, or not. And you can make Luffy a boy or a girl. Also, no Gum Gum Fruit. Please make up an original Devil Fruit for Luffy.

You can also genderbend other characters, such as Ace and Sabo.

"Luffy slow down damit, you're going to hurt yourself again!"

"I'm not even trying silly Ace, and I won't fall over! Promise!"

SMACK

"oww"

The tears that threatened to spill from the speedster were accompanied by two sets of sighs.

"Luffy, come on, you're alright it's just a graze"

Refusing to move from her face down position her fists clenched firmly as she shook in a mixture of annoyance, anger and pain.

Sensing her unwillingness to move Sabo took a seat on the large root from which he could be comfortable as well as be able to watch for any approaching figures.

Ace however, watched his 'younger sister', squatting down by her head and started poking the side of her face.

"You jinxed yourself"

Still too upset to respond Luffy shook her head back and forth in disagreement, swiping her arm out in attempt to push him over.

"HEY! That wasn't very nice!"

Sabo rolled his eyes at the scene in front of him, these two were always at each other and as the eldest, well the presumed eldest, he was much too old to partake in such nonsense.

Rising from his position he looked up searching for the closest branch that would support his weight. Finding a fairly solid limb Sabo pulled himself onto it before resettling with his back pressed against the tree trunk.

Ace sighed again as he looked over to Sabo before gazing back to Luffy. It was kinda his fault, he knew it, Sabo knew it, and well Luffy probably knew it too, which was why he was currently being ignored.

"Luffy...Luuffy...Luuuffy..."

The next swipe came to quickly managing to catch his legs and force him back on to his butt. Ace glared down at the still face down girl but quickly saw the pointlessness as she couldn't even see it in order to acknowledge his irritation.

Ace licked his lips in concentration as he tried to figure out a way to get Luffy to respond, poking hadn't worked and neither had calling her name but maybe...

"Don't even think about it Ace"

The deadpan call from Sabo dimmed the spark in his eyes as they continued to silently converse through raised eyebrows.

Dropping his shoulders Ace returned his gaze to Luffy.

"Luffy, I'm... I shouldn't have... I didn't mean...um."

Frowning Ace stopped speaking unsure of how best to phrase what he meant. Affection had never been one of his strong suits even with Luffy.

"Ace! Luffy! Move!"

The snap of a branch accompanied by approaching footsteps sparked Ace's movement into the nearby bushes. Luffy however remained stubbornly still.

"Luffy!"

Sabo hissed desperate for her to move "come on!"

Whilst continuing to ignore her brother's pleas, her shoulders grew tense as the heavy footfalls grew both louder and more prominent.

"Well what do we have here?"

A jovial voice sounded whilst the owner's eyes scanned the area assessing the situation he had stumbled across.

"Are you okay? I'm not a doctor but I'm sure I could clean up that nasty bit of blood you've got on your knee."

Reaching down the strangers hand changed course heading toward the discarded straw hat. Spinning it in his hands he twirled it appreciatively, "This is a nice hat kid"

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

Luffy screeched as she swung determinedly at his lower body, unable to reach Shank's hat in the man's too tall grasp, all pain currently forgotten.

Sabo winced as he watched Luffy's actions. This guy was huge, with what appeared to be dual wielding swords by his sides, he doubted that even the three of them could take him on.

'Just give Luffy the hat back and go away, please don't hurt Luffy'

Ace griped at his metal pipe tighter as the man's clasped around Luffy's small shoulder.

'We can take him, we can take him!'

Launching himself from his hiding place he swung the rusted rod at the man's arm, unsuccessfully as the man dropped Luffy's hat to catch his swing.

Following Ace's lead Sabo slid to the ground swiping Luffy's hat out of harm's way before pointing his similar rod at the man's face. "Let her go!"

Unaffected by the presence of both Sabo and Ace the man released a boisterous laugh before stepping back and raising his splayed hands in defence.

"Okay boys don't get upset I was only trying to help your friend"

"Sister" Luffy returned softly, slightly shaken from the events.

"My apologies, your sister, but you don't have to worry I'm not going to hurt you. Would you like me to fix your knee?"

Pouting out her bottom lip with watery puppy eyes Luffy nodded her head meekly looking towards her older brothers.

Sabo and Ace held another silent conversation before lowering their pipes and moving to a place where they could sit down.

"My names Thatch by the way"

"That's nice we don't care."

"Ace! Don't be so rude!"

"Whatever"

Thatch chuckled as he returned his attention to Luffy as she stood awkwardly on one leg with the other slightly bent and hovering in the air. "Can you sit?"

Luffy shuffled her foot searching the ground for a way down without moving her leg. After a few half bendings of her good knee, Luffy shook her head not wanting anymore pain then she was already in.

"I really can't fix this here without it hurting, the place I'm renting is just on the outskirts of town, if we go there I can fix this up no problems."

A low growl came from Ace's angry lips "Luffy!"

Sabo ever the diplomat studied Thatch's face, searching for any hint that they could be walking into a trap.

Another round of sniffles forced Sabo into accepting consequently dragging a highly reluctant Ace with him. Thatch gently picked up Luffy making sure her knee didn't bang against his arm as he started along the forest towards the dump that separated them from the town.

Stepping over the trash of the town's people Thatch was brought out of his thoughts "Why do you live on the outside of town?"

Staring down at the young girl, his lips twitched in an amused smile. "I'm a pirate, but I had some troubles out at sea and now I'm stuck here until I can find another crew to take me or I find a boat suitable for me to take."

"I'm going to be a pirate too!"

With a serious expression Luffy looked intently at Thatch, "but I'm not going to be on someone else's crew, I'm gonna be King of the Pirates! And I'll have the world's best crew, but it'd be better if Ace and Sabo joined."

"Like I'd follow you Luffy, you can't even swim!"

"You're so mean to me Ace."

Ace just rolled his eyes as he kicked the metal tomato tin back to Sabo not losing focus in their imaginary soccer game.

Thatch's eyebrows furrowed in shock "You can't swim Luffy?"

"No, I ate the speed speed fruit and now I can't swim."

Thatch motioned for Luffy to be silent as they slipped through the dump gates quickly weaving their way into the back streets until Thatch came to a halt outside one of the many dirty and paint cracked doors.

The number 97 in wooden cut outs hung precariously on the door, the nine appearing to have been at one stage a six. "Well this is it, home sweet home."

The small kitchen that the group entered had no table or chairs and only had a half sized fridge, rust around the edges.

Whilst the boys continued their observations of the fastest and most effective methods of escape in case something went wrong, Thatch smoothly lowered Luffy onto the bench.

"Sabo if you go out that door and turn left you'll see the bathroom; in the cupboard above the sink I have the first aid kit, could you grab that for me whilst I clean out the dirt."

Repeating the directions to himself Sabo quietly followed Thatch's instructions to retrieve the kit, not that Luffy would need anything more than a bandaid, she was such a girl sometimes.

When he made it back into the room Luffy was almost in tears despite Thatch's reassurances that it was just a little cut with some grazing, to Luffy it clearly felt more than a small loss of skin.

"Here's the kit"

"Ah great thank you Sabo, here we go Luffy we'll just put a band-aid on it and you'll be good as new!"

Choosing to ignore Luffy's very clear under breath mutterings Thatch finished patching up her knee, discarding the rubbish into a plastic bag hanging on one of the assorted door knobs.

"All done, you're ready to go-"

Luffy's roaring stomach interrupted Thatch causing a sheepish smile to rise on her face and a bout of laughter from Thatch.

"That's no good. I can't send you back home on an empty stomach. You guys want something for dinner?"

"MEAT, MEAT, MEAT"

Luffy chanted eagerly wanting to fill her empty belly and causing her older brothers further anguish.

Shaking his head at the young girl's enthusiasm, Thatch made his way around the kitchen pulling things out of random cupboards in order to prepare a much larger meal than he was use to making.

Half an hour later the bench was covered in a multitude of meat dishes and four bowls of rice leaving all three children drooling from their seats around the room.

Transferring all the dishes to the floor Thatch motioned for them to start whilst retrieving the remaining bowls. What he hadn't anticipated was for Luffy to be seemingly inhaling the food with her brothers keeping a similar pace.

"Whoa, slow down, now ones going to steal the food from you"

Muttering around a mouthful of food Sabo managed a barely recognisable "Luffy will eat it all if you don't hurry up"

Shaking his head in disbelief Thatch joined them on the floor eating at a much more reasonable pace than any of the three children.

By the end of the meal Ace had fallen asleep lying on his back, with his hands tucked under his head and his full stomach rising and falling with his breaths. Luffy had similarly fallen asleep however had found refuge in a holey armchair that was revealing bits of stuffing. Sabo whilst leaning back on his elbows remained awake watching over his siblings.

The clock down the hallway ticked over to the hour gently chiming through the house. Groaning Sabo rose poking Ace in order to rouse him from his slumber.

"Come on we really should be getting home, Ace you wake up Luffy, thank you for your hospitality but we really should be getting back to the forest."

Luffy, despite Ace's shaking was stubbornly remaining asleep in the oversized armchair that she hadn't left since finishing her dinner.

"You kids could always stay the night and leave in the morning when it's safer."

- One and a half years later -

"Daadddyyyyy! Why are you going! You can't go! You have to stay here, with me and Ace and Sabo!"

Exasperated, Thatch looked down to the slightly older, definitely less clumsy speedster currently clinging to his leg, refusing to let go despite him walking towards his new home.

Ace and Sabo were trailing a little further behind kicking the dirt under their feet wishing that they too could cling to Thatch's pants in an attempt to stop him leaving, but unlike Luffy, they knew it wouldn't change what had already been decided.

Thatch was finally heading back out to sea, but unlike last time it wasn't going to be a one man adventure. This time he would be part of the Whitebeard Pirates, be part of a bigger picture that would get him to the New World like he'd always dreamed.

"Daaaddddyy!"

Tears cascaded down Luffy's face as they came to a halt at the end of the dock holding one of the Whitebeards ships'.

Removing Luffy from his leg, he knelt down to her eye level and put a hand atop her hat covered head.

"Just think of it this way when you turn seventeen you'll be ready to start your own adventures. Just remember I expect a visit when you all make it to the new world, and Luffy you now have a duty to see two people not just Shanks, m'kay."

Sniffling almost uncontrollably she managed a "m'kay" in return before throwing herself into his arms for a last hug. This time her brothers followed her lead pulling in tightly to the man who had been the closest thing any of them had ever had as a father.

Removing himself gentle from the hug he stepped back swinging his body up onto the deck of the ship, he didn't look back to three children that had unexpectedly become his own.