Chapter Text
Chapter One | Caldo Verde
Death is eminent.
It is also time.
Time for which the span of someone’s life has come to a stop, time in which was written out long before one’s birth.
Still, whilst death is punctual, it still had ambiguity. There was never a real way to know how, and funnily enough, the only real way to know when was when it arrived.
Thatch lied cold and still.
The taste of blood was metallic in his mouth, something he found himself choking on in abundance as a feeble cough spewed blood out his mouth. The smell lingered in his mouth, and as a chef attuned to his tastebuds, it made the experience all the more harrowing.
It tasted nothing like his meals, cold and bitter, metallic and heavy. Flavours that should’ve never been served to him by him.
Yet, he laid still on the floor, unable to do anything as he slowly choked on the blood, forcing him to devour his last meal miserably.
Thatch laughed— or he thinks so, it’s hard when the only remaining senses left are his tastebuds. Either way, he can’t help but laugh, to be so amused by his dying thoughts being complied of his bloodied meal, as expected of a chef.
He is sure that Marco would be rolling his eyes at him had he known what his greatest worry was at death.
But it was hard to focus on anything else.
His sight robbed from him by his fallen hair, he cursed the pompadour for falling off so easily today of all days, maybe that should’ve been his first sign. His hearing was filled with the sound of blood pulsating through his brain, echoing in his mind and drowning out the noises of the world, drowning out his own voice.
Talking about his voice, he could hardly speak in his state, laid flat on the ground facing what he assumed to be the floor. It had to be, whilst he can’t see or hear, he can feel his chest heavy as gravity acted upon his back and pulled him down.
It’s a shame his last breath had only been that— a breath.
He had heard countless tales of lives flashing before people’s eyes, visions of what’s to come next, and yet, here he laid, with only his tastebuds grounding him to a reality he will soon have to leave.
He can’t even begin to think of the betrayal he had experienced, or the people he has left behind because the thudding in his head just kept getting louder and louder and LOUDER.
He knew what he’d leave, he knew what he’d missed.
But when the metallic taste ceased, and the cold swept over his body.
He knew nothing but the thudding.
It continued to beat, he could hardly tell if it was his own heart, still persisting on despite everything else being taken away. His will to keep on living with his family.
He drifted to sleep, the thudding becoming more tame and quiet, lulling him into a slumber.
Thatch woke up.
And it was wrong.
He wasn’t supposed to just wake up.
He had felt his senses being taken one after another.
The darkness consumed him whole.
He shuddered and gagged, the feeling of death was overwhelming, not something any being was meant to experience.
Let alone experience and LIVE to tell its tale.
Maybe that’s why a lot of people who live near-death experience always felt detached, their bodies weren’t meant for the Earth past their time and so they cannot help but feel as though they’ve lost apart of themselves.
But he can feel the sensations on his body, he was not an apparition nor some zombie who had risen from their grave.
He was alive.
He knew so because he had been so.
Had.
Thatch paused to finally open his eyes, to listen to his surroundings, no longer hearing the beating heart, to feel the cold winds and to no longer taste the bitter blood.
He had expected to be in the infirmary if he had lived, his injuries were not those that one could live through, even if it was some miracle. But instead, he found himself on the forest grounds tied up to a tree.
He had a lot to unpack.
Why was he tied up?
Who decided a dead man was that much of a threat to tie up?
And, lastly.
Why would anyone tie up the Fourth Division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates with only a simple, feeble rope?
He eyed the rope, unsure if the person who ‘captured’ him was an idiot or someone who didn’t know him, the latter making no sense.
“He’s awake! He’s awake!” Cries of a child called out, running away before Thatch could snap his head in their direction.
So, children had captured him? There was a huge gap in his memory that didn’t explain the jump from him being killed by his brother on a ship far out at sea, to being tied to a tree by a child in a forest he has not seen the flora before.
As a chef, he prided himself in knowing all things food. Animals and beasts to consume, but also plant lives in all the islands he visited, it was his pride to know all about it. Yet, there was nothing that could give him a hint to what island he might’ve ended up on.
“What are you doing by our terf?” A voiced called out, vicious and bitter.
Thatch snapped out of his thoughts, embarrassed to be distracted so easily.
But when he turned, he was shocked to see a smaller Ace.
His eyes widened but brows furrowed in confusion.
Ace was not a child.
Was he the mysterious brother who he always yapped about? They looked alike that only age would stop them from being twins.
He had seen Ace angry like that like when he attacked Pops.
He wondered how Pops was doing, if he learnt of his death.
But Ace’s brother was all the way back in the East Blue.
What was his name again?
“Lucy?” Thatch begun but then tutted, no it was something similar, “Luffy?”
This enraged Ace further, a second figure had also shown up behind him with a pipe at hand, he seemed to be more careful and calculating, but a child is a child nonetheless.
“How do you know that name?” He spat, the dagger now to his neck.
That had confirmed Thatch’s theory but he almost facepalmed, of course the kid was wary, he was a stranger to him.
“I know your family, he’s my family too.” He answered carefully, eyeing the child closer.
It was hard to not see the despair in his face as the blade trembled in his grip, it had slightly cut a bit of his goatee much to his dismay— but those cold eyes and callous stare was hard to pry away from, his appearance didn’t matter in the moment as he gazed unwaveringly at the boy’s eyes.
This didn’t sound like the Luffy he heard tales about, and he had heard many thanks to Ace. He was a boy who laughs, who loves, who has and will have all the freedom in the world. Nothing like the younger boy in front of him, who doesn’t laugh, who doesn’t care let alone love, and who looked shackled like the slaves he had seen at Sabaody.
Shackled by what, he wasn’t sure.
“Now now, I’d love to have this talk, but it’s kinda hard when I’m tied up,” he could’ve easily freed himself, but they were children, children who had to learn to be brutal and aggressive, and calculating and thoughtful, “mind if you help a brother out.”
Any brother of Ace was a brother of his.
So it felt natural to say.
Plus, he looked so much like Ace that he honestly felt like he was talking to him for a moment. Acted like him too before he joined the crew.
The blonde finally spoke up, the pipe in his hand clunky and awkward in his grip, it was much too large for his body, “how can we trust you?”
Thatch hummed, that was a fair question. From what he could gather, he was a strange man in their ‘terf’ as they called it, claiming to know one of their older brothers. It’s not like he had any proof of his ties to Ace, and if they really were in the East Blue then everything he had on him was left in his room: weapons; wanted posters; and pictures.
There was zero physical proof.
“I swear on my Pops’ life.” He said, not liking to resort to this method but it wasn’t as though he had lied.
“That doesn’t mean much.” The freckled child spat to the side and narrowed his eyes, “you look too old, it doesn’t add up.”
“Hey now, don’t call me old, I’m strong and fit for anything.” Thatch couldn’t help but pout.
“Ace, Ace! I wanna see the strange old man too,” the last voice called and Thatch’s eyes wandered to the final child who appeared, “woah, his scar looks like Gramps.”
Double blow of being called old and Gramps was hardly something he had wanted to hear.
But his eyes widened at the sight of the Straw Hat on the child’s head, it was not often anyone wears it except for farmers and those in hotter climates, but there was one pirate that Thatch remembered who had that exact same hat.
He also remembered the last time he had seen him, without it.
“Get back,” he seemed to want to say something but held off, perhaps a name, Thatch hadn’t had a clue, “what if this is Bluejam’s plan?”
“Bluejam?” Thatch tilted his head in confusion. “Is there a problem?”
The straw hatted child, seemingly intrigued by the stranger nodded, “yeah, he keeps trying to hunt us down, that’s why we—“
The blonde child slammed his palm into his hand, “stop talking to strangers!”
“Hunt?” That made Thatch frown for the first time since his death— birth— it’s hard to believe he died, “they’re hunting you?”
“Ace, I don’t think he’s involved with them. He’s too wet behind the ear for that.” The blonde sighed, insulting Thatch further as he released the Straw Hat kid from his grip.
“We don’t know that!” Ace screeched, wanting a reason to kill him, but still hesitant, still unsure.
“Your hat,” Thatch interrupted, hopefully this was enough proof to reassure them, “Shanks gave it to you, right?”
The kid seemed to beam at the mention of Shanks, “you know him?”
Thatch laughed, who wouldn’t know one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. He had a throne amongst the others despite a fraction of their possessions and numbers, truly a league of his own.
“Who doesn’t?” Thatch continued to laugh, throwing his head back into the tree accidentally with joy and glee.
The blonde seemed less tense but freckled kid hadn’t pried his knife nor his gaze away from Thatch.
“Ace! You can’t hurt Shank’s friend!”
Ace? Thatch stared at the freckled child in horror as he finally turned to the others, “Lu, he could be pretending.”
“But he knows me, and you, and Shanks, and looks kinda like Gramps, so he must be good. If you hurt him, I’ll never forgive you.”
Ace flinched and sighed, “whatever,” he pulled back his knife and turned away, “Sabo, let’s get away from him.”
“But—“
“This Shanks guy is strong right?” Ace mischievously begun to grin, “then that means that he can escape himself.”
Luffy hummed but seeing no flaw in Ace logic grinned brightly.
“Yeah, but I wanna ask him so many questions. Like does he p—“
“Oh, I guess you don’t want Crocodiles for dinner,” Ace sighed, pretending to turn around back to Thatch, “guess we will ask questions and eat later—“
Much to Luffy’s delight, Thatch was abandoned for food to his own dismay.
He hung his head low as the three children ran and climbed through the forest away from his field of vision. He couldn’t help but laugh again, they sure were a cheeky bunch that’s for sure. They’d love it on the Moby.
He paused, thinking about his Pops, his brothers.
But then snapped out of it.
If Luffy was the other kid and Ace’s brother, why was there a younger Ace lookalike also called Ace? And then the other kid— Savo? Sabo? Ace never mentioned the other two.
He gazed up at the empty skies, nothing like the clouds in the New World.
That meant two things.
Either he was dead and for some reason witnessing Ace’s childhood?— which didn’t make sense, why Ace? Why his childhood? Why not his own? Why could he interact with them? See new faces he’s sure he had never seen before? Why—?
Or…
This Ace was his Ace, but younger and angrier and oh-so trapped.
Not free.
Like his Ace.
A shadow towered over behind him, he felt a huff of air, way too smelly and way too hot to be the wind just by his neck. He craned to see a beast, a beast that was unfamiliar to him as a chef, but also a creature that didn’t belong in any of the Blue’s let alone the East.
Was this Ace’s home? Is this how he lived?
His brother was much stronger than he gave credit for.
“I should probably get out of these now.” Thatch stared at his binds and snapped them off quickly, hardly using Armament for a pathetic piece of rope as he rose from the tree, the binds falling from around his torso and onto the floor as he turned to the monster of the forest.
To call it a monster would be an understatement, it vaguely resembles a tiger— tigers? In this biome? It didn’t make sense. But it had the distinct features of them. It waltzed slowly around him, back hunched as it bared its sharp teeth. One of its eyes seemed to be sliced shut with a single scar.
Thatch licked his lips, a growl erupted from his stomach. He turned down to see the bloodied uniform of his chef outfit, caked in blood and torn through from the back and frowned deeper.
“Guess I should also eat something,” he remembered the metallic taste of blood as his dying meal and gritted his teeth tighter, “I need something to get rid of this flavour.”
He knew the taste was gone, and that it was all in his head. But in his final moments, as a chef nonetheless to have nothing but blood.
Not a fun way to go out.
Thatch ignored the voices that screamed ‘betrayal’ over and over like a mantra to him.
The tiger pounced.
Thatch pounced back.
Thatch hummed as he made a small campfire, the light of the sun shone high above him as he watched the remaining pieces of his kill be heated slowly above the fire’s heat. He didn’t have his usual seasonings, but nothing he couldn’t conjure up with the stuff here.
He hadn’t want to risk it with the mushrooms of the forest and stuck to the basics of what he knew: herbs and berries he saw other smaller animals munch on was his safest bet. Still, he wished he was back at his kitchen, it was easier to marinate meat and such.
Though, it was weird to make a meal for himself.
He always made it for others, he was a chef after all.
Now, he’s all alone away from his family, a huge banquet in front of him with no audience.
He sighed, he didn’t like to waste food, but he also hadn’t expected the tiger to bring friends along. To kill and to not eat would’ve been a waste.
So he did all he knew.
To cook.
He wasn’t the thinking type, sure he had his moments, but he wasn’t Marco to be so organised and in place. He was the wild one, he pranked others, he laughed and cried and had fun. He was dramatic, from his hair choice to his personality.
He sighed and got up, turning the meat to even it out, adding salt he evaporated from a river to season it lightly and berries for tanginess. It should be done soon.
A growl escaped his stomach.
He looked down again with a small smile, “now now, you know the wait is worth it.”
He saw his dirtied uniform, blood caked the white top and pants and now claw marks littered the surface of them. Whilst the tigers were nothing compared to New World, they still were a league of their own, smarter to hunt in a group when it came to him and to wear him down. He wondered how creatures as such ended up in the East.
The stomach growled even louder.
But he was sure it wasn’t his.
He gazed around and he was surprised to find a Straw Hat peaking behind the bush.
Thatch held back a chuckle with his index finger, a kind smile grew on his face as he layered the food onto a large leaf he found. Luckily he was smart to grab a few and made another makeshift plate with it.
“Awh man, so much food, but I can’t even eat that much.” He sighed dramatically, he was always a fan of theatrics. “If only I had a friend to eat with, food is so much better with people.”
“Right!” Luffy beamed from the bush, forgetting he was ever hiding. “I like eating Sabo’s and Ace’s stuff.”
Thatch snorted again, he hadn’t known Luffy would interpret his lines as such, “does that mean you’ll help me eat this?”
Luffy bounced towards him, Thatch blinked wildly as the boy’s limbs snapped back into place as he yanked the food from his hand and devoured everything in one gulp. The kid instantly melted, eyes glowed as he tried to swallow down everything he could from that one bite.
“You—“ he started, about to question him but saw the kid eye the remaining piles of meat in front of him. “You want more.”
Luffy nodded quickly and was quickly to stuff himself. Eating as though he has starved for decades, licking the sauce from his fingers as he continued to chow down.
Thatch chucked and ate at a more sensible pace, watching the kid down everything he had made in a few hours in just a few seconds.
“Tiger never tasted this good when Ace or Sabo made it,” he continued to lick his lips, talking with his mouth full, “and they don’t make Tiger in the town. How did you get it to taste this good, old man?!”
Thatch rolled his eyes, “hey, old man isn’t polite now, is it. It’s Thatch to you, got it?”
Luffy stared at him with empty eyes.
“Hachy-ji.” Luffy concluded much to Thatch’s dismay.
“No, no, Thatch. T-H-A-T-C-H. I’m not old enough to be called Ji.”
“Makino said I should always thank my elders, so thanks again for the meal!”
Thatch sighed, brother they were indeed with their stubbornness.
Marco would have a field day with this information.
Luffy stared at Thatch’s hand, the last piece of meat in the palm of his hands. His mouth watered as he eyed the food, saliva trailing down his chin.
“If you call me Thatch, I’ll give you this.”
“Hatchy-ji.”
“Thatch.”
“Thatchy-ji?” Luffy tested, but it was progress.
“Tha-chuh.” He sounded out slowly.
“Thatchy.” Luffy said, smacking his lips together as he looked at the food before him.
Thatch sighed, somewhat guilty of withholding food to Luffy, but at least he got him to drop that stupid ‘ji’. He handed over the food to the kid only for the kid to pounce him, rubbery lips ensnared his hands as all the food that was left was taken from his hands.
He grimaced, now he had to wash his hands.
“So Thatchy, why are you all bloody? Did Bluejam attack you too?”
Thatch pondered for a moment, “I’m not familiar with Bluejam so I hardly think so.”
“Then who did it?”
Who?
He knew who.
A brother he had defended many times before.
He always said the most vile things to him, but all his brothers had their little quirks.
It only made sense he had too, even if it was less funnier than the others.
“Someone I trusted.” He answered, not wanting to call that man his brother anymore.
Luffy frowned, “who I’ll beat them up for you, my punches are like pistols!”
Thatch felt a somber smile grow on his face, “pistols, eh. That’s quite some damage you can do, Luffy.”
“Yeah, I’ve trained with Ace and Sabo, so I’m so strong.” Luffy paled. “Oh, I forgot to tell them I went out and met you.”
Thatch rolled his eyes, “won’t they be worried?”
“Really worried, Ace pretends he isn’t but he always holds my hands walking home. Sabo talks and talks and gives me a hugeeeee lecture, it’s so boring so I always fall asleep.”
Thatch hummed, “that’s what brothers are for.”
Slowly Luffy turned up to him, a small hand on his trouser pants, “say, Thatchy, do you have brothers too?”
“Many many brothers.” He begun. “More than what I can count on two of my hands.”
Luffy let out a woah, looking at his hands as he tried to count to ten, swapping the 7 and the 6 as he did so. “That’s like… a billion.”
That caught Thatch off-guard as he threw his head back to cackle loudly.
“A billion, huh?” At this point it might as well have been, Pop’s can’t help but adopt everyone he comes across. “Sure, I have a billion brothers.”
“I only have two. Ace and Sabo. I got punched and punched by Bluejam and they saved me. They promised me they’d never leave me alone.”
“That’s nice,” he kept the name Bluejam in the back of his mind, not liking this reoccurring person who is hurting his brothers, “it’s a lovely promise. Being alone hurts more than anything.”
His final breath.
On the floor of the ship.
None of his brothers in sight.
Just the metallic taste of blood—
He shook his head, grabbing a herb and chewing on the end of it to rid of the taste once again.
“Where are your brothers?”
“Far away.”
For now went unsaid.
“You’re Shank’s friend. So that means you’re my friend too.” Luffy proclaimed, “so you don’t have to be alone here. You have me.”
Thatch saw the genuine look in that child’s eye. His hand still on his bloodied trousers— he needed the kid to wash his hands too— but how honest and genuine he was to him despite just meeting him.
“You said Bluejam is causing you problems, right?” He grimly grinned, his fist tightened and loosened as he recall the boy saying he was beaten by him. Must’ve been an adult like him as the children were wary of him.
To beat a child, and one so kind like Luffy.
No wonder Ace gushed about the kid. It didn’t do him justice in words alone then by seeing the boy.
“Yeah, he has his crew so we can’t fight him just yet. When we get big, we will beat them all up.” Luffy cheered.
“How about I help you, you helped me out so it’s only fair.” Thatch asked. “Besides. Imagine the look on Ace and Sabo’s faces when Bluejam and his crew are all beaten up?”
Luffy felt a mischievous grin grow on his face, “you mean it?!”
“I promise it.” He proclaimed. “But first, you don’t happen to have any change of clothes?”
Luffy guided him through the forest with ease. Second nature for the boy to manoeuvre around every rocks and tree and creak as easy as it was to breathe. He kept his hands tight around Thatch’s own hands, dragging the tall man down a little to compensate his tall height with the smaller boy’s own shorter height.
Thatch realised Luffy was the best and worst at giving information— not that he was any better, but Luffy was oh-so easily distracted and went on tangents far too often for him to learn anything about anyone who wasn’t Ace or Sabo.
Thatch wondered why Ace never mentioned Sabo, it seemed the child was as close to him as he was with Luffy so he wondered where it went wrong.
Had Sabo betrayed them like Teac—
He smacked himself mentally, gritting his teeth with the herb still in his mouth to quell the taste of non-existent blood in his mouth. He can’t have doubts about their brothers, even when his was a fresh wound.
“How long have you lived here?” Thatch asked as he stared at the younger child’s straw hat from above.
“Since Shanks left,” he responded with a tone Thatch wasn’t sure how to decipher, “but we will meet again.”
The Straw Hat child was confident, so sure about everything he’s saying.
“Of course you will.” he added on, he might’ve not known Shanks on a deeper level but he knew the lengths that man would go to keep his promises.
He saw Luffy turn his head up to look at him directly, neck bending in a way no human should bend, before tripping on a rock in front of him. Quickly, Thatch pulled the kid up and sat him by his hip.
“Now we can talk face to face with you falling all over.” He teased a little, hoping to get a reaction out of him.
Luffy pouted slightly, “I was not falling over everywhere.” He stated but he latched onto Thatch tightly.
Before Thatch could continue to tease, he found himself staring out to the horizon line just by the last set of trees. The sea had called and he had answered. But it was nothing like New World.
Calm.
Tranquil.
Graceful.
The sea hardly put up a fuss of any kind, opting to sway calmly in the gentle breeze.
“Makino will give you some clothes.” Luffy pointed down at a place called ‘Makino’s Party Bar’. It was a quaint bar and restaurant with the simplest front and design.
Thatch nodded and slid down the rocky hills before jumping down onto the sandy beach. He begun to tread into the bar, avoiding the looks and stares from the villagers who found themselves curious about the bloodied stranger.
Luffy hopped off Thatch and ran ahead into the bar, Thatch walked a little faster to keep up with the boy.
“Luffy it’s so lovely to see you,” he heard a calm, young voice. As he pushed the doors open to see who, the bells of the shop jingled to announce his presence, “oh, a guest.”
Her eyes couldn’t help but trail down to his bloody and scratched up uniform, eyes squinted at him untrusting of Thatch, which he had expected from the get-go.
But it wasn’t as though he could walk naked through the town either.
“Makino! This is Thatchy, Shank’s friend! Like me!” Luffy beamed, already throwing away his cover story of amnesia in the forest.
Makino paused and seemed to ponder for a moment, “Shank’s friend?”
Thatch hummed and thought about the few times he’s interacted with the Emperor, trying to find something that’ll reassure the lady at the bar.
“If he knows how to drink and party,” he snorted, of course that was his first thought, “and an utter buffoon.”
Makino felt her smile grow wide, “it seems you do know him after all. Nice to meet you, I’m Makino.”
A beat.
“Thatchy, huh? I am not sure if I’ve heard tales about you.” She confessed to him.
“Heard any about Marco?” Thatch prayed the man yapped about his brother off the ship as he did on the ship. A glint of recognition from her eyes told him everything he needed to know, “I’m his brother.”
“Ah, such a shame I couldn’t meet the man from his stories, but it’s still a pleasure to meet you, Thatchy.”
“It’s just Thatch, Luffy keeps on doing whatever he wants to my name.” Thatch aggressively ruffled the kids hair, watching it stand all over.
“Oh, my apologise,” Makino felt flustered at the mistake, “I should’ve guessed knowing Luffy, remembering names is not his first priority when meeting people.”
Thatch snorted, “what kinda person doesn’t take names first?”
Makino humoured him, “the Luffy kind,” she then paused to eye his uniform better, “perhaps do you want some change of clothes. You’re just about Shanks height.”
“I’d like to think I’m slightly taller.” He proclaimed, getting another chuckle out of the green-haired woman.
“Then I should have something for you, but, would you like to use the bathroom first?”
“If you don’t mind.” He smiled wide, he hadn’t even asked her and here she was helping him with everything. “Mind if I ask how Shanks found an angel like you out here?”
She chuckled at his bold declaration.
“Thanks ma’am.” Thatch brushed his new plain shirt, missing the first few buttons from the top and simple baggy black trousers that cut just below the knee with a red sash around his waist. He didn’t like dressing up as others, it felt too much like he was a fanboy of the already egotistical captain.
But the more concerning part was the fact he looked much younger than before, He recalled looking into the mirror for the first time, without the ripples of the water obstructing his vision.
And he saw himself.
Much younger than he had remembered him last seeing himself.
It was hard to tell but now with the clear mirror it was so obvious.
He frowned deeper— if he was younger than why did the children still calling him old.
Thatch looked down on the small, green haired woman. “It must’ve been such a sight to see me so… sorry ma'am.”
“Oh not at all,” the kind lady shook her head, “and Makino is just fine. A friend of Luffy and Shanks is always a friend of mine.”
He could hardly say he was friends with Shanks, only seeing the Emperor bother Marco into joining his crew and drinking far too much to properly interact with anyone.
Besides, he didn’t lie. Technically, Luffy did for him. Already announcing him before he had the chance to get his story straight.
“Thanks, Makino.” Thatch smiled at the lovely woman. “I know it might be a lot to ask. But you don’t happen to have gel or something?”
He missed his pompadour, to tie his hair up was really annoying and using the flora in the forest to make some makeshift gel just felt icky.
“No gel gets delivered here, it’s too niche of a product for this small village.” She confessed to him.
Thatch sighed but nodded, still grateful Makino helped him thus far.
“But, maybe High Town might have some. If you can get in.”
High Town.
Luffy had mentioned it before.
Something about nobles and ugly people, and the food being amazing there.
She leant closer to the pots of her kitchen, taking a scoop of her ladle to smell the food properly. Dipping her pinky in, she tasted the green sauce before turning to Thatch with a soft smile.
“Perhaps you want to stay for dinner, I always make so much food because of Luffy.” She offered kindly. “But he ran as soon as I mentioned his brothers.”
Thatch hummed as he eyed the sauce, stomach still empty from Luffy stealing his own meal.
“Sure, if you’ll have me. What are you making?”
“Caldo Verde.”
“It was the tastiest meal I’ve only had the honours of eating once.”
Thatch blinked at the memory, recalling the childhood meal he tried to recreate for Ace but never getting the right ratio. He hadn’t tried it himself nor had Ace knew the ingredients so it was an impossible dish to recreate.
But now, he had a chance.
She set the soup in front of him in a large bowl, the hot heat smoked from out the top. She set the spoon to the side and a piece of bread before sitting across from him.
“Hope you enjoy the meal, Mr. Thatch.”
She tore the bread and begun to eat carefully and delicately.
Thatch had instead opted to use the spoon first to break down the ingredients, to try and taste the components before adding in another source.
“Onion, garlic, olive oil,” he listed to himself aloud, “maybe some lettuce? No, cabbages.”
“My, my, I’d think you’d be trying to steal my recipe.” Makino giggled.
Thatch panicked, realising his rude actions before correcting himself, “sorry, it’s just I haven’t tried much Eastern food before. Before I realised it, my instincts as a chef came out.”
And his instincts as a pirate, to plunder and loot everything he could.
Makino chucked and waved her hand side to side, “not at all, I hope it’s to your standard, Chef Thatch.”
Thatch could see her as Shank’s friend, the teasing and the calmness that emanated off her. Weirdly enough, she complimented his energy.
“But you were close, there’s also some potatoes and simple salt and pepper seasonings.” She confessed, taking another bite out of the bread dipped into the sauce.
Thatch hummed and stared seriously at her, “you won’t mind if I get a copy of the recipe?”
Makino blinked, “you sure? I’m sure you’ve had so many meals on the Grand Line better than—“
“Meals are to be eaten. Simple. Grandiose or weird. I’d take this over a North Blue Lobster any day.” And he would, it went back to his roots as a chef, to the start of his journey.
“I’ll give you a copy, I’ll even show you how to prep it if you’d like.”
Thatch had never met an angel of a woman in his life. Most of the nurses were pirates like him, they did what they had to do to help but weren’t exactly gentle with it.
He forgot civilians were actually normal and not pirates.
“Yeah, I’d like that… thanks.” He smiled gratefully to her.
“Is there anything else?”
“Do you happen to know what ships will depart from here and when?”
“Any?” She hummed to herself as she thought, “I believe the last ship of the day has just set sail for Shells Town.”
Thatch groaned, he should’ve asked earlier.
“But, there is one more ship readying to depart in a week. It’s delivering some goods to Baratie’s as we speak. But convincing the shipowner to let you on is a task out of my control.”
“Do you mind if you guide me to him?”
“He’ll be the only ship on the dock this next week.” She told him. “You won’t miss him.”
A week was more than enough time.
He ripped his bread apart and dipped it into the steaming soup, sucking in the hot air as it burnt his tongue with its hotness. Still, he couldn’t help but continue to chow down onto it.
Ace was right.
“This is the tastiest meal I’ve had the honour of eating.” He told Makino honestly.
He downed the meal, trying to rid of the bloody taste in his mouth, so foul and so wretched barely being able to taste anything other than himself.
“No, no, no,” the man snorted and spat to the side, his fake arm laid limp by his side, “what do I look like, a mule? These are goods only.”
After leaving Makino, he went to the port as per her instructions and looked for the only ship he could find. Which wasn’t too hard as the port was not busy like Makino had said.
“I can be the goods,” Thatch joked to the unamused man before collecting himself, “but seriously, I just need to be dropped off and I won’t say anything. I won’t eat, I won’t breathe, it’s like I wasn’t even there.”
“You won’t, because you won’t be there.” The man shooed him away with a disgusted expression, not wanting to deal with a high energy man.
“I can fight off any pirates if you want.”
“I’ve been doing this job long enough to know how to steer clear from pirates,” he snorted even harder, pushing his finger on one nostril and snorting out a booger just by Thatch’s shoes, “that is, if there are any pirates in these waters.”
Thatch felt himself becoming more and more desperate, “listen, I will do anything. I can fight, I can cook.”
“Useless, and I can do the last two just fine.”
“I can cook better.” He boasted assuming the man would want to have more than just a simple meal to eat.
“Kids nowadays.” He stuck a finger in his ear and begun to dig, “listen. I was a former chef for Baratie’s before I lost my hand and I was a chef long before you were potty trained. I don’t need some third-rate cook trying to tell me how to cook.”
“Let me prove it.” Thatch threw a small bait.
“Eh? No, I don’t need to prove myself.”
“Not you, me,” Thatch corrected, “if I make a meal you’re satisfied with, you give me passage AND I’ll still be quiet and unassuming on board. If it’s bad, I will walk away and wait for the next ship.”
The man narrowed his eyes, flicking the wax from his pinky off to the side.
“Will you leave me alone afterwards?”
“Like I was never there.”
The man reached out his hand to shake Thatch’s, much to his dismay as he witnessed his disgusting actions, but he could hardly back out now. Grabbing the man’s dirty hand he shook with vigour and hope.
“I’m Thatch.” It felt weird not introducing himself as a Whitebeard Pirate.
“Fridge...” He greeted back lazily. “Now get out of my sight until I see some food in front of me.”
“First, any allergies, preferences—“
“No allergies, and good luck figuring out what I want.” He walked off to the ship, hauling crates over with one hand onto the ship with ease.
Thatch sighed in relief.
If there’s anything he could trust, it was his cooking skills.
But cooking could only get so far. Personal preference also affected a lot of choices people made, and even the most simple meal people loved would triumph over any other intricate food choice.
He’d have to figure out what to make.
“What do you like to eat?”
“Meat.”
“Anything in particular?”
“Um… I like the way you made the Tiger taste.” Luffy licked his lips as though he can taste it yet again. “But meat is my favourite.”
Thatch sighed as he stared at the kid in the forest once more.
He had opted to not gather information about the guy from the village people. It seems he wasn’t a resident there nor did anyone get along with him for that matter, so asking them was a needle in a haystack.
Maybe being doused in blood wasn't the best first impressions.
Rather, he decided to ask about preferences to inspire ideas and so Luffy was his experiment taste tester.
“Here, try this,” he handed some veggies to Luffy, who seemed to be appalled and insulted, “now, don’t knock it till you tried it, if I can make Tiger delicious then I can make anything tasty.”
Luffy pouted, unable to argue with the man’s logic as he scooped up a single vegetable and placed it in his mouth without chewing. Once he allowed the flavours to truly sink in, he begun to shove everything into his mouth once again in a single bite.
“See?”
“It’s good, every time I eat the leaves here, they always taste bitter.” He stuck out his tongue as he reminisced. “But I still like meat more.”
Thatch nodded and hummed, “what kind? Tigers or…”
“Crocodile is more tough, but so is Tiger— except the one you made. But if I had to pick what I like more, it’s Crocodiles.” He pouted for a moment. “But Ace and Sabo won’t let me hunt them alone.”
Talking about his brothers, “where are they? I thought they don’t like you around me.”
“They’re hunting second dinner,” he said like it was normal, “it’s really good, you should join us, Thatchy.”
“Sure.” He missed his brothers dearly, so having Ace around was a nice reminder of his brothers. Maybe then he will stop tasting the blood in his mouth. “I’ll help them out too. What do they like?”
“Ace prefers whatever, Sabo likes rabbits, but they’re never filling so he always gets crocodiles for me.”
He could probably set up a few traps to capture some rabbits, fast little critters they were. He was unsure how skewed they were from actual rabbits, seeing the tigers and the crocodiles much larger and more vicious, were the cute bunnies actually monsters in their own right?
Ace liked stuff a little sour, if his tastebuds from his future self had been acquired now. He always ate the tangy bits of food first, unable to save it for last as he chowed down the rest of his plate.
“Alright, crocodile it is,” he gazed up at the orange tinted sky, a day already about to pass him by on this strange island, “where do you normally hunt them?”
Luffy beamed, rising from his spot on the forest floor to guide Thatch once more. This time, the man lifted him up by his hip again instead of being dragged down all the way again.
“Shanks carried me like this sometimes.” He laid upon his chest, truly happy and comfortable, “he wore the same outfit you are.”
He doesn’t bother correcting Luffy that this was Shank’s clothes.
“Yeah yeah, but don’t sleep on me now, I need to know where the crocodiles are.” He jogged Luffy who was about to lull himself to sleep.
“Right. It’s alllllll the way over there.” He pointed straight past the trees which lead to more greenery. “Can you tell me more about your brothers?”
Thatch nodded, “which one, I have a billion remember? Perhaps you wanna know about the fire chicken, or the giant human…. Maybe even a swordsman from a different land.”
“Giant human?” His eyes widened, “how big?”
Thatch pointed to a tree up ahead, “about as big as that tree.”
Luffy let out a soft ‘woah’ in awe.
“Giants are normally bigger, but this is a human who ended up growing to that size,” he told Luffy, “I’m not even sure about the science behind that, but I guess Pops’ is a man beyond science.”
“His name is Pops?”
“No, he’s my father, though not by blood. His name is Edward Newgate, but everyone else knows him as Whitebeard.”
“Because he has a Whitebeard?”
“No.” Thatch laughed. “Just because.”
Luffy frowned. “That sounds stupid.”
“It is, he only has a moustache.” Thatch complained alongside Luffy with humour.
“That’s nice, I don’t have a dad.” Luffy stated, not in disappointment but rather as a fact.
“Did he die?” Thatch found himself asking before his mind could catch up to him.
“Died? What no? I just never had one.”
Silence fell between them.
“Luffy. Everyone has a dad.”
Luffy gasped as though this was something no one had ever told him, “everyone?!”
Thatch tried to hold back his laughter, the kid was learning after all, “yes. Even you.”
“What does a dad do?”
Thatch wondered to how Whitebeard had raised him, “they are strong but caring, sometimes they’ll do things you don’t like but only because they know it’s best for you. They will give an arm and a leg to protect you.”
“An arm… does that mean Shanks is my dad?”
Thatch paused, “was that why he gave his arm up?”
Luffy flinched a little, lowering his head to hide his face beneath his Straw Hat. He hadn’t meant to guilt the boy, just wanting to confirm his theory a little more. If Shanks had given up an arm and his hat, perhaps friendship wasn’t the only defining thing of their relationship.
“I’d say he is.”
“Even if it ain’t by blood?”
“All my brothers have different blood to me. Same with your brothers. Does that make them any less than our brothers?”
“No!” Luffy defended.
“Then don’t overthink stupid things, Luffy.”
“…what about the fire chicken?” His mouth watered a little at the thought and Thatch laughed.
“Yeah, he ate a fruit just like you. Makes some real cool flames, but he looks like a pineapple a little.” Thatch snickered to himself, it wasn’t like Marco was here to tell him off.
How he wished to hear his scolding.
Sabo doesn’t know how to feel about the strange grown man he found bleeding on the forest floor. He doesn’t look like anyone from Grey Terminal, nor any of the Nobles from High Town.
Besides, if he was, no one was brave enough to venture forth in the forest.
Initially, they thought he was dead. His clothes were torn and he was soaked in blood so it was hard to assume he lived, but it didn’t look like anything any of the creatures of the forest could do.
So he did the more reasonable thing.
He robbed him.
There was only a few things on his person’s so it hardly felt worth it. His blades would fetch a high price in the Grey Terminal, but his father was likely still looking for him. Still, he took all that he could and carried it back to the Treehouse.
“Where’d you get those?” Ace asked with glee at new weapons.
“Found a dead man in our terf. Might’ve been a body disposal, crossed the wrong member or something. Doesn’t look like an animal.” He concluded.
“Let me see.” Ace was curious. It wasn’t often they got visitors, especially dead ones. Usually Makino or Dadan would come by, very much alive and well. “We need to get rid of his body or he’ll attract the other beasts here.”
Sabo nodded, leading Ace out with Luffy snoring up a storm behind them and to the dead man on the forest floor.
“There’s only that wound,” Sabo pointed to his back, “it looks healed but I guess he must’ve died from other complications.”
“You got his goods?”
“Not much but the blades.”
“Good enough,” Ace grasped at the man’s ankles, “grab his wrists and we will haul on three.”
Sabo ran to the man’s head, touching his hands with a frown, “his hands are warm.”
“So?”
“It’s a fresh kill.”
Ace narrowed his eyes and walked to the man’s side, hauling him over so he’s facing up to them. He then pressed his head to the man’s chest before flinching.
“Damn it, he’s still alive.”
Sabo frowned, “well we can’t leave him here.”
Ace paused for a moment, “then let’s kill him.”
Sabo grasped Ace wrist before he had the chance to stab the man, “we can get some information.”
Not liking that idea, Ace flickered his hand out of Sabo’s grip, “what if he’s with Bluejam?”
Sabo smiled calculatingly, “that’s even better.”
They tied him to a tree and waited him out. Luffy eventually found them and tried to slap the man awake to no avail. So they waited, and waited, and waited.
Then he stirred.
He looked too lost, too confused, seemed to let his mind wander a lot.
“He’s awake! He’s awake!” He called out to a sleeping Ace.
Then he found out this man was related to Ace.
A brother of Ace.
Another son of Gold Roger.
He made sure to stand behind Ace to protect him. Ace despised his father, but he wasn’t sure what that meant for any other relatives of the man. He sure didn’t look like Ace, light brown hair that trailed down his face— but his beard was black, it could have been dyed.
His features also didn’t add up, he didn’t have freckles or grey eyes. He felt like he was looking at the antithesis of Ace, his complete and utter opposite.
The ages might’ve not added up well, he looked young but Sabo could see how much older he acted. But he doesn’t know how Gold Roger looked, or Ace’s mom in order to understand if this man was truly telling the truth.
“Now now, I’d love to have this talk, but it’s kinda hard when I’m tied up,” Thatch smiled at Ace despite being threatened, “mind if you help a brother out.”
He said it naturally, as easy as breathing, as though he lived with Ace his entire life and calls him his brother. Not someone who’s trying to fake it, to force it, to pretend something there doesn’t exist.
“I swear on my Pops’ life.” Thatch said, not liking to resort to this method but it wasn’t as though he had lied.
“That doesn’t mean much.” Ace spat to the side and narrowed his eyes, “you look too old, it doesn’t add up.”
Sabo frowned, something was disconnect about the conversation. But he knew Luffy’s name, he knew who Ace was.
He didn’t like the fact this man was upsetting his brother so much.
But, he also knew the man didn’t know what he was getting himself into.
He knew Shanks, Luffy’s friend and saviour. He knew too much about them and acted too kind to be apart of Bluejam’s crew. Knowing Bluejam, he would’ve tried to escape his binds and kill them.
This man hasn’t yet to put up a struggle.
‘Is he an idiot?’ Sabo thought as the stranger and Ace argued. There was a knife to his neck, even if he didn’t think Ace would kill him, it didn’t mean it was a pleasant situation.
But he’s confident.
Kind.
And hiding something.
“This is really good,” Sabo stuffed his face, looking at the betrayal and horror in Ace’s eyes as he downed the food in front of him, “you know your stuff.”
Thatch held his finger up in a peace sign with a wide grin, “of course I do, I’m a chef. If the food isn’t good then what’s the point of my title.”
Luffy was already there ahead of time stuffing his face before Ace and Sabo bumped into the two. He needed to lecture Luffy again when he went home about following strangers and eating their food.
They had stumbled on the man and Luffy eating crocodile, drawn to them from the scent alone. It was hard to hunt as they were getting distracted.
“Here, have more. I made more enough for you guys too.” Thatch held out another stick filled with cubed crocodile meat, pieces of vegetables and some berries crushed on top as a drizzle.
Ace snatched the stick, taking a full bite before taking the other two off from the man. “Whatever.” He muttered, quietly enjoying his meal much to his dismay.
Thatch was right to cook more for the boys.
Ace and Luffy had the will of D for a reason.
It was hard to believe that someone ate more than Ace of all people.
But Sabo was equally no joke, having stuff himself more than the average adult as though he had the will of D too. Perhaps they were separated at birth.
“What’s this sourness… old man?” Ace asked, licking his lips. He grinned knowing Ace’s peculiar tastes.
“Just some simple berries crushed and smeared over the meat.” He boasted.
“You should join my crew, Thatch. I need a cook like you.” Luffy begged.
Thatch smiled widely but shook his head, “there’s another man I follow. So I’ll have to decline. But we can be allies and I’ll send your cook recipes and stuff.”
“Allies?”
“It’s friendship between pirates.”
Luffy beamed, “we are allies then!”
It’s silent for a while. The noise of sizzling meat and the munching of food echoed quietly through the forest.
“Are you really my brother?” Ace asked more hesitant. “We— I mean…“
Thatch scratched his head, it was all so confusing. He originally thought Ace was Luffy and now that Ace was… well Ace. He might be confused about his new, mystery brother.
Thatch sighed, not wanting to overcomplicate things more.
“We are brothers. Even if you don’t realise it, even if you don’t want it.” He answered truthfully. “I wanna help you and I will help you, even if you nag at me.”
“Yeah Ace, stop nagging!” Luffy parroted with his arms raised.
Sabo snorted at the incredulous look on Ace’s face, not liking the title of being a nagger.
Childishly, Thatch joined Luffy to point at Ace, teasing him as he did so.
Who knew he could get riled up so easily?
Even Sabo had joined in, pointing and jeering.
A complete and utter betray on his brothers end.
“Luffy come here.” Luffy listened and approached Ace with sticks of food on each finger, Ace begun to pull Luffy’s cheeks either side with a scowl, “so not only did you break rules to meet a stranger, you also ate his food as well?!”
Luffy looked to Sabo who shrugged in agreement of Ace, then to Thatch who also seemed to agree with Ace.
“I totally could’ve hurt you, imagine if I was Bluejam’s crew.” Thatch added with crossed arms.
“But you’re not. You’re my friend and Ace’s brother, so that must mean you’re my brother too.” He pouted. “Besides, Ace and Sabo are eating too.”
Ace grimaced and looked insulted, “that oaf can be your friend but he will not be my brother. I only need two.”
He paused before blushing profusely.
Luffy and Sabo grinned as they poked at the flustered boy, “Ace loves us, Ace loves us.”
“SHUT IT OR I’LL FEED YOU TO THE CROCODILES AGAIN.”
Luffy snapped his mouth closed.
Sabo whistled ignorantly, looking away to Thatch, feeling more trusting than their initial meeting.
“I’m Sabo. And these are my brothers.” He introduced with a curt bow. He already knew Thatch knew of their names, but he may as well make it official.
“Ace.” Ace grumbled out but kissed his teeth instead, it’s so weird how he was now. (Now? Before? Time is a myth.)
“I’m Thatch, and I’m a pirate and a cook.” He decided against proudly displaying his Whitebeard pride without knowing the situation. He didn’t want to be seen as a foe.
He gazed down to Luffy, a strong and confident look to his dark eyes as he looked through Thatch.
The thumping had return, louder and louder.
The thumping of his death, but now before a kid who was still much to naive and much to young.
“Im Monkey D. Luffy! And I’m going to be King of the Pirates.” He proclaimed ownership of the title, daring anyone else to try and take it from him.
The thumps reminded him of a heartbeat, he thought was his own but it can’t have been.
It has to be…
It needed to be…
“The smoke is getting to my head.” He touched his forehead, the thumping reminded him of death.
Reminded him of the blood in his mouth.
He quickly gnawed on the ends of a leaf, it’s stem in its mouth.
Sabo blinked curiously.
“Why are you eating that instead of the food.”
Thatch waved him off, “rather than eating, I’m just chewing on it a little.”
He can’t eat with the taste of blood in his mouth, it’s so overpowering and gross, all flavours get overshadowed by its metallic bitterness.
But everything reminded him of that moment.
Himself.
The three brothers before him.
The food and taste.
It was all in his head, that he knew for sure, but he couldn’t help but think it was real. That when he smiled, blood filled the gaps in his teeth and trailed down his face.
“Do you know where High Town is?” Thatch asked to distract himself.
“High Town? It’s just past the Grey Terminal… but they’d never let someone like you go in there.” Sabo told honestly. “Only commoners who are allowed in there are for trades or serving Nobles.”
Thatch let out a low hum, his finger tucked under his chin, “and chefs?”
“Chefs work… if you look the part. You kinda just look like a pirate in all honesty.” He meant it as a compliment but it wasn’t helpful to Thatch at all.
“Any other way into it?”
Sabo shook his head, “guards are high alert because of us…. But what are you looking for exactly? You don’t seem to be interested in some Nobles.”
“I’m trying to get some gel for my hair,” he blew some strands off his face as an example, “it’s not meant to sit like this.”
“Just some gel?” Ace asked incredulously and now Thatch felt like the idiot.
“Hey, I also need a Den Den.” He defended, he had Pops’ number memorised, “and maybe another outfit change if possible.”
“Dadan has a Den Den. She uses it to call Gramps… or is meant to.” Luffy tilted his head.
“Dadan? Do you think she’d mind if I borrowed it?”
Ace snorted, “yeah right, she’ll chop off your fingers and make a stew to feed it back to you than to touch her stuff.”
Thatch laughed but then became nervous when Ace didn’t clarify it was a joke.
“Just take it when she isn’t paying attention.” Ace shrugged. “That is if you can get past the bandits and stuff.”
“Bandits?”
“Yeah, Dadan is the king of the Bandits.” Said Luffy.
“I thought she was a lady.”
Sabo huffed, “anything but a lady.”
“I can get it for a price.” Ace pinched his fingers together with an evil grin. “If you have anything to offer.”
Thatch thought long and hard. He arrived here with practically nothing so he had nothing to offer them.
“I’ll cook a feast better than this…” they seemed slightly hooked, exchanging glances to see if it was worth it, “and I’ll deal with Bluejam.”
Ace and Sabo stared silently at one another, talking to each other with their eyes alone.
“Deal, but that includes our meals of the day. First breakfast, second breakfast, first lunch to fourth lunch and our dinner.” He extended his hand out and Thatch nodded, clasping his hand to shake Ace’s and Sabo’s simultaneously.
“Merge the first three lunches— trust me I’ll make something filling. And I’ll teach you how to make other stuff.”
“Deal.”
After the meal, they lead him back to their Treehouse. A treehouse with a flag, ‘ASL’ haphazardly painted onto the black sail as it blew in the wind.
“Mind if come on your ship?” He asked politely.
“Ship?”
“That’s a flag, ain’t it? I need permission from one pirate to another to enter. Or else I’m an enemy.” He clarified, the rules were always wishy-washy with that but the grins on the boy’s face made up for it.
They truly were so simple.
Sabo nodded, “of course. You’re Luffy’s friend.”
“Sabo,” he narrowed his eyes, the boy looked familiar for a moment. Goggles and top hats were always an interesting combo, “do you perhaps have an foulard? Yellow perhaps.”
Sabo’s eyes widened in confusion, “a foulard? I might have something similar but… why?”
He didn’t want to be Thatch that looked different, the Thatch with no pompadour, with no dual blades, who has no brothers or family.
The Thatch who’s dead.
“Whilst I’m rocking this new style, I do miss my old stuff.” He sighed tiredly and dramatically, pushing his hair back away from his face— it was wrong, so wrong. “Take it as payment for the meal.”
“Nope, the meal was a deal done to get the Den Den from Dadan,” Sabo bartered on his way to the treehouse, climbing up the ladder rungs, “so you need to give us something else.”
Thatch howled with laughter, wandering how a Noble-looking kid got mixed up with Luffy and Ace. It seemed the spitball was also feisty in his own right. He climbed behind Sabo and dusted himself off.
“You sure you aren’t related totGramps instead. You got that nasty scar and an equally ugly laugh.” Sabo hummed, gazing at Thatch with a sense of familiarity.
“You keep saying Gramps? Do I really look old?” He whined.
“It’s just you wear white like him when we first met… if you wore a blue scarf instead I would’ve mistaken you for a marine. And then you have that scar. He also laughs loads too and is the only person who comes up to this part of the forest.”
“Your old… old man is a marine?”
He sweated a little. He really didn’t need a marine on his tail.
“Yeah, Monkey D. Garp.”
He knew Luffy’s name sounded too familiar for his liking, no wonder he felt his head throb, now there was another problem to deal with.
“He only comes once a few days every few month.”
Thatch brightened a little, that’s more than enough time to get information and hightail out of this place.
It’d be a shame to leave the boys behind, but he needed to be there for Pops.
For his crew.
His family.
Besides, they all must’ve grown up well, right?
“Here,” Sabo handed him a scarf, it was not yellow but rather red, “hope this is better.”
Thatch tied it around his neck, it sat snugly as he adjusted it to his liking.
“And you have a mirror?”
“I charge extra.”
Thatch cried, of course the kid did.
“Why are you charging so much, you’re swindling me.” He cried out.
“For our treasure. We need to buy a ship, so don’t take it personally, Thatchy.” He answered with his tongue stuck out.
“Then I’ll add in some rabbits.”
Sabo narrowed his eyes, “Luffy told you.”
Thatch grinned, “yep.”
The kid still took out the mirror from their mini treasure box and handed it to him.
Thatch paused as he eyed the box.
“Are those my swords?!”
Sabo forgot about those.
“I haven’t seen Tiger Lord in a while.”
“She’s planning something for sure,” Sabo narrowed his eyes, pointing at a crudely draw map of the place, “hasn’t been attacking or sighted in her usual area.”
“Those big tigers you mean?” Thatch hummed, leaning over Sabo’s shoulders with narrowed eyes. The lines were much tidier than what he expected from jungle boys.
“Tiger Lord isn’t any ordinary Tiger,” Sabo turned the page to reveal the huge tiger drawn crudely again— did he say the tiger wasn’t ordinary? Does that mean he fought weaker tigers—, “she’s territorial, she isn’t someone we can down just yet. She’s always made her presence known. But not tonight.”
Thatch pondered for a bit to his fights with the other ‘regular’ tigers, eyes narrowed as he recalled each and every detail. One tiger he recalled was a little larger than the others, and also more feral, they were the ones who clawed his shirt open from the front.
He looked closer at the drawing, trying to take any details and spotted the claw mark on her eye. He might’ve been the one to kill her.
“Luffy and I ate her.” Thatch told them, recalling his first meal on the island.
“But we ate crocodile today?”
“But before that, Luffy saw me cooking and joined me before,” both the boys glared at their younger brother who hid himself quickly, “but I remember fighting off a few of them. Didn’t realise it.”
“You defeated Tiger Lord…” Started Sabo.
“…and didn’t realise it.” Ace finished him.
They begun to laugh.
“Yeah right.” They dismissed. The man couldn’t even escape his binds when they first captured him, how could he defeat multiple tigers AND the Tiger Lord.
“Did too.” Thatch boldly claimed.
“Did not.” Ace leant in to butt heads with the guy, who obliged.
Ace seemed serious whilst Thatch seemed joyous.
“Prove it then. Fight us.” Ace demanded.
Luffy got up from his hiding spot and cheered, “fight, fight, fight!”
“And what if I win? What do I get?” Thatch grinned, as though the kids fell right into his trap. “You can’t be asking me to fight for free now, are you?”
Ace eyes narrowed, “what do you want?”
“I want to be your brother. That’s all. All of you.” He smiled.
Confused, Ace blinked once.
“I claimed to be your brother, but you haven’t accepted me,” Thatch explained to Ace, “so I want you to accept me.”
Ace thought about it for a moment, “then I’ll take your blades when you lose.”
Thatch barked out a laugh, ‘when’ he says and not ‘if’.
He loved the kids confidence.
“Deal, but tomorrow,” he yawned tiredly as he threw himself to the wooden floor, “I’m so tired I feel like I could sleep forever.”
(He should’ve been sleeping forever, in the eternal slumber called death.)
He frowned, lying face down on the floor, hair covering his vision as he tasted the blood once more.
Thatch rolled over and laid facing up, pushing his hair away from his face as closed his eyes.
Groggily, Sabo is awoken by a kick from Luffy.
It happens all the time. Sabo does it. Ace does it too. Luffy is always the main perpetrator. Still, he normally tucks his brothers in tightly and stops them from kicking by swaddling them in their own blankets— it only ever lasts for so long.
He rubbed his eyes with a tired, low groan, tucking Luffy in tightly.
From the corner of his eyes, he watched Thatch lay deathly still.
Unmoving, just as he has left him.
Curiously, he tiptoed over to the cook, crouching down to examine the man better. He brushed his brown hair away from his face to find the cook unbelievably tense.
Fist clenched.
Eyes shut tightly.
Shallow breaths.
It seemed like he was trying to fight something.
Or escape.
Sabo frowned, it wasn’t like he could do anything about it.
But he can’t help but feel guilty, using his hands to pat Thatch’s in a ‘there-there’ kinda motion.
Before he could react, Thatch’s hands snatched his, holding it tightly and close. It seemed to help a little bit, stopping some of the sweating, but he seemed to tight and scared.
Nothing like the carefree man he witness cooking for them.
The bundle of joy who teased Ace and cracked jokes from time to time.
“Marco… Ace...” he quietly groaned.
Sabo’s ears perked up at the new name. He hasn’t heard of this Marco— a friend perhaps. Maybe a foe with the way he was sweating. But Ace’s name wouldn’t have been mentioned.
Sabo tried to pry his hands away from the man, but Thatch had a steady, gentle grip on him.
Tiredly, Sabo yawned and laid beside the cook.
If Thatch became more calmer and at ease with him by his side, he was too tired to notice it.