12

A few days later

In the middle of the night, Gray Terminal

Leo's Pov

"Alright, this is the place right here." thought Leo as he looks at Bluejam's ship

Leo is wearing a black shirt and jacket with black jeans. He's also wearing black boots and has a skull mask on his right hand. Right now, he is hiding behind a mountain full of scrap metal.

"Heh, it's been a long time since I did a heist so, I might be a bit rusty. But hey, I still haven't lost my touch yet." thought Leo

"Alright then, let's get this show on the road." whispered Leo as he equips his mask and put on his gloves.

"Are you ready there Darkness?" said Leo

"IM ALWAYS READY..." said The Darkness

"Good, 'cause it's about to get messy in there." said Leo as he used Soru to get to the ship

A few minutes later...

"Alright then, I'm here." thought Leo as he looks up at Bluejam's ship

"Okay then Darkness, do your thing." said Leo as he manifests a few tendrils on his back.

Leo then climbs up to the side of the ship using the tendrils on his back. Once he got up there, he looks around the ship using Observation Haki to find any enemies. Surprisingly enough, there was no one on the ship except for a few who is probably below the deck.

"Huh? I thought there would be anyone in the upper deck of this ship. Well, guess they're either sleeping or drunk as fuck right now. Either way doesn't really matter to me if they saw me then I'll just kill them. Quick and simple." thought Leo as he goes straight to the pirate cabin.

Once he got there he tried to open the door only to be locked.

"Huh, figures it's gonna be locked. Oh well, it's not really a problem since I have some lockpick." thought Leo as he used the lockpick to open the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened and Leo immediately gets inside the room while closing it behind his back.

Inside the pirate cabin

The pirate cabin looks very dark on the inside due to the curtain being shut. However, since Leo has The Darkness he already got used to it.

"Hmm, okay now I'm in. Now it's time to search the whole place for any treasures." said Leo as he searches the whole cabin

A few seconds later, he found a conveniently placed painting on the wall. He then rips the painting away only to see a small safe behind it.

"Really? I mean really? Out of all the places that you could have put, you have to put your safe right behind a painting. To top it all off, there is only one painting in this room and that's this. I don't know if I should laugh at how stupid he is or be disappointed. Either way, his fault for not hiding it very well." thought Leo as he summons another tendril with a serpentine head and uses it to rip the door of the safe.

Once he ripped it open, he found a stash full of Beli inside the safe.

"Looks like I found the jackpot! Now if I remember correctly, he did say that there will be somewhere around 50 million. Hey System, can you confirm that for me." said Leo

[Sure partner, scanning it right now...] said the System

[Scanning complete! It is confirmed that there is 50 million Beli in this safe.] said the System

"Sweet! Now System, store all of this money inside the inventory." said Leo

[Affirmative, partner.] said the System

A few moments later, just like last time, the money then suddenly vanished into thin air

[It is done, partner.] said the System

"Alright, now it's time to get out of here...or I could be a bit greedy and steal some more...then again I highly doubt they have anything that's valuable to me." thought Leo as he started to get out of the cabin.

"You know, this might actually be the most if not successful and peaceful heist I've ever done. I mean there was practically no one here. Seriously, did they never thought of someone stealing their treasure before. It's no wonder that Ace was able to steal their treasure." thought Leo

After a few minutes later, I was able to get out of the ship undetected. Seriously, did they not hear the footsteps at all. Anyway, back to the point, I look back at the ship one last time and an idea suddenly came to my mind.

"Hmm, you know what, this might honestly be a good time to mess with them for a bit. But the question is, how do I do it." said Leo as he tries thinking of a plan.

"How about I just blow up some part of their ship just for shit and giggles. I mean it's just a ship anyway, they can repair it anytime they want considering that this place is filled to the brim with metal, wood etc." thought Leo as he uses The Darkness to manifest a grenade launcher

"Plus, this is a good time to test out how my accuracy is. If by any chance I hit any bomb in the ship, then I guess that means that I have godlike accuracy." said Leo with a scary grin etched on his face as he points his grenade launcher to the ship and pulls the trigger

After he pulls the trigger, let's just say that things got a bit too...explosive. He started shooting at the pirate's ship 6 times and everything around the area of the ship started to explode. Leo reloads the grenade launcher and starts to shoot several rounds at the ship again still not satisfied. The ship's mast started to fall down, the figurehead exploded, the back of the ship exploded and so goes on. Screams and shouting were heard inside the ship, it was all chaos. Fortunately or unfortunately for Leo, he wasn't able to hit any TNT but he doesn't care that much. Leo looks at the destruction that he caused with a satisfied and cold smile on his face.

"Hehehe, now they finally wake up from their sleep. Here I thought they were either deaf or dead. Oh well, let's just see how they can survive without any food or resources now." said Leo

[I'm sorry to interrupt, but I've got a question to ask partner...was that really necessary?] said the System

"Well, not really. Again as I've said, I'm just doing this just for shit and giggles, plus I want to make things a bit more interesting." said Leo

[And you thought killing the people inside the ship will make things interesting.] said the System

"Hey, to be fair they're all pirates, so they must have killed and stolen some people's treasure before. Hell, they might have done something way worse than that. Plus they're bound to die anyway from the massive fire that they've caused in Grey Terminal, so I just gave them all a quicker death" said Leo

[...Fair enough] said the System

"And for the final touches, I guess it's time for me to perform another magic trick. This time it's gonna be very hot." said Leo

"Agi!" shouted Leo as he chanted one of his magic spells and snaps his fingers at the ship

Just after he shouted those words, the whole ship was suddenly set into flames. Well, long story short, the ship didn't survive at all. But they were some leftovers.

"Oh man, now that's what I call a magic trick!" said Leo

[...Ok, now that was just a bit excessive, don't you think so partner?] said the System

"Well, I guess you're kinda right System, but you gotta admit though, it's sorta nice to finally see them like this. Maybe I should do this to Sabo's father. How about you Darkness, what's your thoughts about all of this?" said Leo as he points at the chaos he made

"OOOHH...IT WAS FUN SEEING THOSE PITIFUL CREATURES SUFFER AND SCREAM...I GUESS I CHOSE THE RIGHT HOST." said The Darkness

[...I got one weird host.] said the System

"Hahaha! Oh, don't be like that system. Look on the plus side, at least we have each other." said Leo

[Whatever you say, partner] said the System

"Okay, I should probably start running now. There's really no point in staying here anymore." said Leo as he starts running back to the forest

While he was running, his Observation Haki suddenly activates and he looks around to see the person. But when he looks around, he didn't see or hear anyone at all. He activates his Observation Haki again to find the person again but it failed.

"Huh, that was weird, I swear there was someone here. Hmm, whoever it was I just hope that it doesn't follow me." thought Leo as he resumes his running.

Unbeknownst to Leo, the one that was following him the whole time was the same mechanical owl from last time. It has been following and spying on Leo since the Auction House incident. Right now, it is now perched on a mountain full of scrap metal and looks at Leo running inside the forest. The reason it was able to spy on Leo for so long was that it has a long-range camera inside its eyes. And just like last time, the owl spread its wings and activates the jet booster under its wings to fly away.

The next day, inside the forest

Well, another day another training that I would always do but this time around I bought some weights at the Shop and I'm gonna try putting it on my arms and legs just like what Lee did. I'll say, it was a bit hard trying to do my daily training again but in the end, it was really worth it cause I gain lots of Strength, Endurance and Agility than I used to. I might buy some heavier weights in the future.

Usually, I would go back to the bar just to help Makino but this time I got a bit adventurous and explore the forest. Nothing really interesting happens, except that I did find some animals that tried to fight me. Safe to say that they're now dead. Anyway, while I was jumping from tree to tree like Naruto, I was able to sense 3 familiar presence. So I got there immediately and what do you know, I found Sabo, Ace and Luffy again. Since they haven't seen me yet, I jump to a nearby tree and crouch down hiding while eavesdropping on their conversation. They were arguing and demanded Sabo tell them about his secret.

"What? I'm not hiding anything!" said Sabo

"Really?" said Luffy as he is confused

"Of course, he is! Spit it out, Sabo! Do you think it's right to keep secrets from each other?" demanded Ace

"Come on Sabo, speak up already!" said both Ace and Luffy

"As I said before guys, it's nothing..." said Sabo

"Goddamit Sabo, just tell us already! If you're not gonna say anything then I'm gonna beat you up!" said Ace as both he and Luffy started choking Sabo

"Okay...okay guys...I'll...I'll tell you okay! Just stop choking me." said Sabo

A few minutes later, Sabo told them the truth and Luffy shouted due to being shocked.

"What?! You're the son of a noble?!" shouted Luffy

"Wait...who is that?" said Ace and Luffy

"I am!" shouted Sabo

"Hmm, so that's it?" said both Ace and Luffy as they stick their pinky finger into their nose

"You guys wanted to know about it so badly!" shouted Sabo

"Haa, okay guys what I'm about to say next is nothing but the truth so hear me out. The truth is, both my parents are alive. I'm not an orphan, and I didn't grow up in the Gray Terminal either. The man who called me out today...was my father." said Sabo

"I lied to you guys. So I'm very sorry, can you forgive me." apologized Sabo

"Hey Ace, he apologized, so it's fine, right? I forgive him." said Luffy

"To tell you the truth, I'm shocked. If you were born as a noble, why would you want to go to that place?" said Ace as he goes to the ledge of a mountain

"The reason why I ran away from home was that..." said Sabo

He then proceeded to tell his backstory on how horrible it was for how both his parents treated him. At first, he thought that he and his family would be happy if he studied harder and married to someone from the royal family. But after a long time, he finally realized that his family never really cared for him at all and only care for money and status.

The last straw for him was when he was walking around town and some snobby child who claims to be royalty demands him to carry him, so he just ignored him but the kid suddenly pulled out a knife and tried to stab him. But he retaliates back and the next thing you know, he goes back home to see the kid again crying with his mother. Before Sabo could say anything, he got slapped by his mother and saw her begging to the mother and kid.

"All they ever wanted was an heir to protect their status and fortune. Not me." said Sabo as he finished his story

"If I couldn't marry a royal girl, I'd be trash to them. For that reason, they made me study with a tutor every single day. My parents would always fight because I wasn't good enough for them. I was nothing but a bother in that house. I feel bad for you two but, even with parents, I'm still alone!" said Sabo

"Wow dude, I gotta say that was really sad even though I've heard it before. But, I gotta disagree with you about one thing though. You're not all alone Sabo." thought Leo

"The nobles despise the Gray Terminal, but I rather stay there than live a life that's been planned decades in advance in that suffering High Town!" said Sabo

"I see, now I get it," said Ace

"Ace! Luffy! The three of us have to set out to sea someday! We'll get out of this country and be free! I want to seek the wide world, and write a book about what I saw! If I have to study in preparation for the voyage, then that's no problem! Let's get stronger, and become pirate!" shouted Sabo full of determination

"I'd become one, even if you didn't tell me to! I will become a pirate, defeat everyone in my way, and become known across the whole world! That will be the proof that I lived! I don't care if this world doesn't accept me, no matter how much they hate me, I'll become a great pirate and stand above everyone else! I won't run from or lose to anyone! I'll make sure the whole world knows my name, even if it's through fear!" shouted Ace

"Hehehe, really? Alright then, I'm gonna..." said Luffy as he takes a deep breath

"I'm gonna become the pirate king!" shouted Luffy

"Yep, that same quote again. He always says that over and over again." thought Leo

"And here I was wondering what you'd say." said Ace as he scratches his head

"Hahahaha, you sure are an interesting guy, Luffy! I can't wait to see what the future has in store for you!" said Sabo

"But wait...becoming pirates is one thing...but all three of us want to be captain, don't we?" said Sabo

"An obstacle I hadn't consider Sabo, I'd just thought you'd be my navigator or something." said Ace

"You guys can come with me on my ship!" said Luffy

"No thanks!" shouted both Ace and Sabo

"Why not?! Come on board! Hey come on, join me!" complained Luffy

"That's never gonna happen!" said Ace

"Yeah, no way that's going to happen." said Sabo

"What?!...well okay then," said Luffy

"What the hell? That was fast" said Ace

"You really are an interesting guy, Luffy." said Sabo

"Oh Sabo, you really have no idea." thought Leo

"Well, guess it's time to make myself known now." thought Leo as he jumps down the tree

"Hey there guys, how have you been." said Leo

"Ahhhhhh, where did you come from!" shouted the three of them as they were surprised by Leo's arrival

"I've been here the whole time listening to what you guys were saying. You know, you guys should probably lower your voice I can hear it from a mile." said Leo

"Wait you heard everything, then that means..." said Sabo

"Yep I've heard it all right, but before that let's talk somewhere privately." said Leo as he gesture for Sabo to come closer

"All right then." said Sabo as they both go somewhere private

"What do you think gonna happen, Ace." said Luffy

"I don't know Luffy, but let's just hope nothing bad happens," said Ac

"All right, this is good enough. They can't hear us from here." said Leo

"So tell me, Sabo, what was it about you being a noble." said Leo as he crosses his arm

"Okay look, I can explain everything..." said Sabo only to get interrupted

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean that you said about being all alone." said Leo

"What?! What do you mean by that?!" said Sabo

"I heard that you said something about being alone, what do you mean by that you have friends right there waiting for you." said Leo

"Oh that one, I didn't mean it like that. I meant that I feel all alone because I was born as a noble." said Sabo

"That's it? You feel alone just because you were born a noble?" said Leo

"Yes, my parents don't care for me. All they care is nothing but status and fame. But it just not my family, the people around town are also the same. I hate being a noble that...that I would be ashamed of being born as one." said Sabo as he looks ready to cry

"*Sigh*, Okay then Sabo, since you already told me the truth, I guess it's fair for me to tell you mine. This secret should be kept just the two of us okay?" said Leo

"Huh?! A secret?!" said Sabo

"Yes, I have a secret to tell you, are you gonna hear it or not." said Leo

"Yes, I'll hear it out and I promise I won't tell anyone." said Sabo

"Good. Alright here goes, the truth is that I was also born as a noble." said Leo

"What?!" said Sabo with a shocked look on his face

"Yep, you heard me alright, I was born as a noble. I had a loving family before and a sister who cared dearly for me. Back then, we were living a happy life, no violence, no forced marriage, no abused and no bragging about our money or status. Safe to say that we weren't like any of those snobby nobles." said Leo as he sits in a convenient place stump

"I don't remember much about my family, but my father was a hardworking man while my mom was the kindest person I've ever meet. My sister, on the other hand, is a mixture of both my mom and dad. She's always nice to everyone especially to me and was always hardworking. It was a nice atmosphere back then" said Leo

"Then, what happened? What happens to your family?" said Sabo

"Hahaha, well Sabo, apparently every noble in High Town thought that my family was weird cause we don't act like any of them. So, one night I heard some noises in the living room and thought that I check it out. Once I got there, I saw something that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life, I saw my parents on the ground dead." said Leo

"What?!" shouted Sabo as he was shocked by the revelation

"But that's not the only thing I saw, I also saw some people wearing some mask fighting my sister. Mind you, my sister knows how to defend herself. But, she saw me and got distracted that one of the guards was able to backstab her. So long story short, I saw her getting killed. After that, I escaped from that place and never look back." said Leo as he finished his story

Saying that it was shocking for Sabo was an underestimated, he thought that he had a bad life before and no one can understand his pain but once he heard Leo's backstory, he finally understands that he's not alone anymore.

"So... you're just like me huh, a noble. Heh, here I thought that no one can understand my pain, but I guess I was wrong to think about that." said Sabo

"Yep, so I guess the feeling is mutual now." said Leo

"Alright, we might have start somewhere rough so let's start over again and introduce ourselves. Hello there, my name is Leo It's a pleasure to meet you." said Leo as he holds his hand out for a handshake

"Alright then, my name is Sabo and its a pleasure to meet you too," said Sabo as he shakes Leo's hand

"Oi! You guys have been there for a long time now, can you guys be a bit fast, we're gonna go somewhere." shouted Ace

"Well, you heard him then, let's go." said Leo as gets up from the stump

"Yeah, let's go. Oi guys! Wait up a bit, we're coming back." shouted Sabo as he and Leo started running back to Ace and Luffy

A few minutes later...

3rd Pov

"Well, we can decide our future later. We might end up sailing on separate ships." said Ace as he brings a bottle of sake

"Oh, you stole that from Dadan?" said Luffy

"Have you heard? When you exchange sake cups, you become brothers." said Ace as he pours the sake on 3 cups

"Brothers? Really?!" said Luffy

"When we become pirates, we might not be crewmates on the same ship, but our bonds will keep us connected as brothers! No matter where we are or what we do, our bond will not be broken!" said Ace as he and the others pick up a cup of sake

"Hey, why don't we let green eyes become one of our brothers too." said Luffy

"Yeah, I agree. Why don't we just invite him to become one of us." said Sabo

"Wait, hold up a second! You want me to become your brother too. I mean to be fair, I never really did care for you guys, I just always save Luffy just because I don't want Makino to be sad." said Leo

"Oh don't be like that green eyes! I've always seen you as a big brother that I've never had before." said Luffy

"...*Sigh, okay guys, you somehow convinced me. But don't expect me to protect you three 24/7, you got captured then it's your fault, not mine. Another thing though is how I'm gonna drink it. There are only 3 cups" said Leo

"Hmm, why not just drink some of it from the bottle." said Sabo

"Okay then, if you say so." said Leo as he picks up the bottle

"Alright, then guys, starting today, we're...brothers." said Ace

"Yeah!" said all of them as they started to drink their cup of sake

"Well, guess I'm now officially their big brother now huh? Can't wait to see what's in store for me in the future." thought Leo as he started drinking the bottle of sake