Ace

The split body of Laffitte had already been taken care off by the marine grunts when Vash was out duking it out with Jesus Burgess so he was relieved to be working in fresh environment. He went back to the dumpster to get the bag of materials he had hidden.

He went down the cellar door in the back end of the shop that lead him to the forge underneath. Vash unpacked his bag and took out few pieces of refined metal bars, he had also borrowed leather from Crocus, along with some straps and thin metal chains. Vash had gotten a long stick when he looted newbie pirates, apparently it was famous Treasure Tree Adam wood which was toughest wood found in this world, he had also brought it with him.

He first melted the iron bars, but before that he prepared several moulds. Vash added some fine charcoal in the furnace, he also added small amount of crystal like grains of sand. Vash poured the molten mix into the cavity of the prepared mould, and let it rest to solidify.

Vash took out the casted metal and put them into the fire that burned beneath the furnace. He took them out one by one and started hammering them on the anvil, and later dipped them on water.

*siiiiiii...*

With sizzling sound, the metal casting cooled off in their intended shape. The last two castings were of swords; one looked liked Western short sword with double edge while the other a curved Japanese katana. He hammered the two flat iron rods and cooled them off similarly.

Vash polished the remaining metal plates that were casted earlier, it brought out the silvery shine of steel on them. The metal plates were oval in shape, and these had been uniformly bent. It was to better fit hands and legs as he was planning to make gauntlets and shoulder pads. Vash made small holes on the plates and chained them with leather cuttings. Each metal plate was a segment of the gauntlet, and leather padding also had straps so it could be worn off. The final product looked like a scaled limb of a silver dragon. Vash tried it by putting it on his hand and he felt comfortable, the gauntlet fitted him perfectly.

He did the same thing with the other processed materials and he made three more gauntlets and a pair of shoulder pads. Lastly, he prepared the hilt for the katana and the short sword. He cut two section off the Adam wood stick and carved them with tools. Vash assembled both swords and made the grip cozy by wrapping threads. He planned to make a sheath for the katana with the remaining Adam wood. He gave this task to Doro Nimah who was now fully recovered, except for his broken nose. Vash had worked non stop for three days without any food or the water. He was superhuman at this stage so working off for three days without a rest was not impossible. In these three days, many marine officers came to investigate the previous case of murder but they all inexplicably fainted as they reached the store front. Just like that a rumour began to spread, the townspeople of Nanohana thought that the ghost of the killed person is haunting everyone who tried to enter there.

Vash strapped on all the armor pieces; gauntlets and shoulder pads. He looked comical as he was still wearing his red aloha shirt. He removed all the garments and went to take a bath, he went to the restaurant after that.

When he arrived there he found people making ruckus as if someone had died. Vash walked through the store and he saw a topless man flat face on the plate snoring. Surrounding people thought he died by poisoning and whispered in a hush. He went to the sleeping man smacked him on the head.

"What... what the... huh where am I? where's my pillow?" said the now awoke man.

"Did I hit you too hard? You seems to have memory lapse, young man." Vash said amused by the man.

"Ossan, Who the hell are you?" Questioned the man hearing Vash.

"I'm Vash, and you are disturbing others while sleeping here. I advise you to book a room somewhere to take nap." Said Vash. Ace was annoyed being interrupted and just as he was about to argue, he heard a new voice from the front door. Then the food house was filled with smell of tobacco.

"What do we have here, Whitebeard pirates' 2nd commander Portgas D Ace, What are you doing in this country?" A man in white marine uniform came inside the shop. He held a long jitte and smoked two cigars at the same time.

"I'm searching for my little brother." said Ace seeing the smoking man was a marine captain. Other people eating at the restaurant were shocked hearing the name of Whitebeard, they started panicking and worry for their life. A strong pirate especially one with a lot of reputation tends to be more cruel, so crossing paths with such pirate almost guarantees death sentence to any normal people.

Vash excused himself from the feud between the pirate and the marine, he went to nearby table and ordered a restaurant waiter for some food. While Vash was waiting for the food to be served, he paid attention to the conversation of Ace and the Marine officer. He saw atmosphere getting tense when the marine captain insisted on apprehending the pirate. Just then Vash felt a 'long' life force approaching the restaurant. He looked toward the front door and saw someone gripping the doorframe at the edges, but the person was not momentarily seen. After a second, a person came inside restaurant in rocketing speed and smashed both Ace and marine through walls of the restaurant and beyond that to other house walls. The new addition in the restaurant was oblivious of his actions, he immediately started demanding food to the manager.

Vash remembered the person, he was Monkey D Luffy. Vash thought Luffy was troublemaker, and his shenanigans would surely harm many innocent people. Like now, Luffy had destroyed many buildings and people could had been injured or even died. Vash got up from his seat and angrily punched Luffy who was busy filling his belly. This time Vash didn't knock out Luffy but he let him feel the pain.

"aargh... it hurts, who hit me? aargh..." Said Luffy and turned back to look at the person who hit him but nobody was in the back, Luffy was bewildered, and again went back to eating while holding a painful red bump on his head.

Vash speedily got back on his seat after hitting Luffy, and he saw two men who were crashed previously came out of the hole in the wall. Luffy ate up all the food in one sweep and ran seeing the marine. Ace also ran behind them.

After leisurely eating his lunch, Vash paid the manager and planned to go find a tailor. He also came out the restaurant and saw smoke and fire in the distance. Vash felt the same two people fighting who were in the restaurant some time ago.

"Hmm... They'll destroy this town at this rate. Seriously, there are troubles everywhere in this world." said Vash and walked toward the battle zone.