Chapter 4: Ace, Sabo, Luffy.
When Akane woke up she was laying inside a bed inside the captains cabin. At the desk sat Garp overlooking some kind of papers.
"Good morning, Grandpa."
Akane rubbed in her eyes as she drowsily walked towards Garp.
"Ah, Akane-chan. Did you sleep well?"
Akane nodded, trying to suppress a yawn which in the end failed.
"Un. But, grandpa, do you know where nii-sama is?"
"Ah, not yet, but we're looking into it. For now you can stay at my home until we find him."
Akane nodded at Garp's words.
"All right. Nii-sama is very good at hiding, so I hope you can find him soon."
Akane smiled at Garp.
Garp felt a little guilty, but that disappeared when he walked outside with her.
At least it was better than bringing her in at headquarters.
***
"Grandpa, where are we?"
Akane was perched on Garp's shoulders while she looked around her curiously.
"We're at my hometown, Foosha village. Your brother comes here often, so you might see him again if he comes by."
Garp said, secretly hoping Shanks wouldn't come back.
He walked through the village and was greeted by many, including a young woman with dark green hair.
"Oh, Makino. Nice timing. I've got a new kid here, Akane, so if you came by Dadan's cabin, make sure to look after her too."
"Oh my, she is so cute." Makino walked towards Akane and gave her a gentle smile.
"Hi there, I'm Makino."
Makino gave a small wave with her hand in greeting.
"I'm Akane, nice to meet you."
Akane did the same while she closely hugged Garp's head.
Strangers were still a bit scary for Akane who'd grown up only knowing Baba, Shanks and Shank's crew.
Especially after the incident with the pirates.
Makino didn't seem offended and waved Garp and Akane goodbye as they walked towards the forest.
"Grandpa, why leave the village? I thought you lived here?"
Garp awkwardly scratched is head.
"Ah, I'm leaving you with a friend who is also watching over my grandson, so be nice."
"Okaaay~."
Akane easily agreed.
She wondered what kind of friend Grandpa Garp had.
***
Akane and Garp stood in front of a small wooden cabin.
Garp began to continuously knock hard on the door.
Hurried steps were heard when the door was slammed open.
"Be quiet! Do you want to die?"
A big woman with curly orange hair screamed.
Garp angrily responded with, "It's me."
The woman backed away as if slapped in the face and fell on the ground.
"G-G-G-Garp-san! Why are you here? Please take the boys back, they aren't listening to anything I say."
Garp picked his nose as he responded with a, "Do you prefer the jail then?"
The woman immediately changed her tone as she refuted her previous words.
"N-no, I'd love to take care of them. So why are you here Garp-san?"
Garp took Akane from his shoulders and put her in front of him.
"Take care of her too. Akane say hello."
Akane looked at the big woman and said a short, "Hi." Looking at Garp and wondering why he was friends with such people. To be truthfull, she looked more like a gorilla, as she immediately stepped behind Garp, to look with a hint of curiosity and slight distrust at the woman.
"Ah, Akane, she isn't as scary as she looks. Dadan is really nice."
Garp said as he pushed her in front of him again.
Akane pouted but chose to belief his words.
She gave a short bow.
"Please take care of me."
She said, looking questionably at Dadan.
Dadan had begun to tear up as soon as Akane had said it.
"Garp-san, you've finally brought a decent kid with you."
Dadan wiped away the tears as she yelled at the forest.
"Oi, Ace, Luffy! Garp-san is here!"
As soon as Dadan screamed, the sound of something crashing was heard.
"G-Grandpa's back?"
A young boy's voice could be heard, followed by quick steps.
From the forest appeared a young boy with black hair and a straw hat. Underneath his left eye was a thin scar.
Along his arms and legs were multiple bandages, which were obviously hiding more than just scratches.
Akane felt the hat was somehow familiar but chose to ignore it for now.
"Ah, Luffy. How've ya been?"
Garp walked towards Luffy and lifted him by the scruff.
"Mou, Grandpa, I've only been here for a few months. But Ace doesn't play with me. But I've almost reached where he goes to play." Luffy puffed up his cheeks as he began to grumble.
"Where is Ace?"
Garp put Luffy down, who began to run around, as he looked for Ace.
Another boy with black hair appeared from the forest.
"Ace!"
Garp walked towards Ace and began to talk to him.
Meanwhile, Akane stood near Dadan in silence.
The boy called Luffy was running around like crazy, while Ace looked grumpy.
She wasn't sure if she'd come to like them or not.
"Ace, Luffy, say hi to Akane, she'll live with you starting today."
Luffy looked with big eyes at Akane, while Ace looked away.
"Hi, I'm Luffy, Nice to meet you."
Luffy immediately walked towards her and greeted her with a big smile.
Akane was about to do the same, when Luffy threw a strange and disgusting looking bug at her.
In shock, Akane's devil fruit seemed to activate on it's own.
She disappeared from her spot, only to appear a distance away behind a tree with her golden fox ears and nine tails visible. Even her red hair had turned golden.
She crouched down on the ground as he hands covered her ears.
To be honest, Akane really hated bugs.
She could stand them if she was prepared, but when they appeared out of nothing, they really scared her.
Luffy began to laugh, earning him a punch from Garp.
"Grandpa's fist hurts!"
Luffy began to whine as he rubbed his head.
Ace for the first time however, seemed interested.
He walked towards Akane, taking her hand and pulling her up.
"I'm Ace."
Akane nodded, as she had finally calmed down.
"So, are those real?"
Ace pointed at her ears and tails, obviously curious.
"A-ah, they are. I was given a devil fruit form Baba. She called it a mythical Zoan-type, I think. She said it was the Inu-Inu-no-mi: Kitsune Tenko."
While Akane was talking, Ace and Luffy were touching her tails.
"It's so soft~"
Luffy's hands kept petting her tail, making her face redden.
"They're a bit…sensitive, so please stop."
Akane whispered, but Luffy didn't seem to hear, as he buried his face in them.
Meanwhile, Ace had moved his target to her ears.
"Your ears are really soft too."
Ace said as he stroked her fox ears, his eyes staring intently at the twitching ears.
Akane's face had gone so red, almost the same colour her hair usually was.
Again, she fell to her knees, but this time, the boys kept doing what they did.
They seemed completely absorbed by the feeling.
"E-Enough already!"
Blue foxfire shot out around her body, scaring the boys away.
Luffy bared the brunt of it, as he wasn't on time to dodge.
His face blackened from it while his hair seemed as curly as Dadan's.
Remarkably, the hat managed to escape unscathed.
Akane managed to escape their greedy hands as she escaped behind Garp's legs.
"Hahaha, now, now, go easy on the girl. She's really shy with strangers, especially since she'd been attacked by pirates recently."
Ace and Luffy both bowed their head while said in choir "We're sorry!"
Akane moved away from Garp's legs as she shook her head, "I-it's all right, it was just a bit overwhelming." She whispered.
Ace seemed to hear her as he looked up.
"Then that means I can touch it again if I hold back?"
Akane blushed, while muttering, "Only if you hold back."
Ace smiled, as he took her hand and pulled her with him into the woods.
"See you later, stinky old man!" he yelled, followed by Garp's, "Call me grandpa!"
***
"Where are we going?"
Akane was confused as to why Ace was dragging her away from the cabin.
She could hear Luffy yelling behind them.
"Shouldn't we wait for Luffy to keep up?"
Luffy's voice became more distant as they kept going, but Ace didn't seem to mind.
"He'll find us anyway. He is really annoying."
As they kept moving across swamps and canyons, Akane was really surprised to still hear Luffy's voice.
If she hadn't been led by Ace, she might've gotten lost a long time ago.
When Ace finally stopped, they stood in front of a giant tree.
"Oi, Sabo!"
Ace yelled as he swiftly climbed up the tree.
"Ace, why were you so late? I've been waiting for hours now."
Another boy's voice sounded from atop the tree.
"Sorry, sorry. The old man came back, though that wasn't what I wanted to tell you. Come on down Sabo."
Ace jumped down, followed by a blonde haired boy with a black hat and blue goggles.
When he talked, she noticed he missed a tooth.
"Sabo, this is Akane. The old man brought her with him when he came."
"Eh?"
Sabo looked at Akane, immediately interested by her ears and tail, just like Luffy and Ace.
"Are those real?"
As soon as Sabo reached out, Akane covered her ears, which were more sensitive than her tails.
She nodded as Sabo's hand touched her tails.
"Apparently she ate some really rare devil fruit. What more can it do, besides giving you animal ears and tails? What about that fire? "
Akane, glad to get the attention away from her animal features, created blue balls of fire and shaped them like butterflies, which fluttered around.
"Wow, that's so COOL!"
From behind her, Luffy appeared with scratches all over his body.
"See, told you. Ya can't lose him even if you want to."
Luffy wasn't listening as he ran after the fluttering fire butterflies.
When he tried to touch them, they would fly beyond his reach.
"What else?"
Sabo seemed really curious, looking intently at her.
Not to be outdone, Akane changed how she looked with an illusion.
What she looked like was Sabo.
When she spoke even her voice was the same as his.
"So how do I look, pretty much the same right?"
Sabo looked at her with open mouth.
"That's really amazing! We could easily get into the city with your ability."
Akane blushed at their praise, instantly transforming back into herself. Without the ears and tail to make it easier for herself.
"Ah Ace, we should continue our plan. It can't be helped that Luffy and Akane are here now, so will you give us a hand?"
Luffy immediately agreed with Sabo.
Akane nodded shyly, even though she had no idea what their plan was.
"So you see, Ace and I are collecting money to assemble our own crew and buy a boat. The problem is that we can't collect enough money with just the two of us. So here's the plan. There is currently a pirate crew boarded at the edge of the Gray Terminal, so we just need Akane to transform Ace and me into their crew members, while Akane and Luffy keep watch in case something goes wrong, alright?"
Akane nodded again, though also a bit worried.
"I'll first need to see the person you want to turn into, otherwise I won't know what they look like and how they sound.
Also, we need to make sure those pirates are away from their ship while you go inside."
Akane's tone became a bit more confident as she pointed out the flaws in the plan.
"Then… we'll ambush two of their pirates. We'll wear disguises so they won't know who we are. As soon as we knock them out, you can transform us into them. Then we can rob their treasures."
Ace said, as he swung his steel pipe to indicate his actions.
The four nodded as they decided their plan.
They would take action as soon as possible.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone