【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 387 Memory Vortex

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Fires were everywhere, and thick, scorching smoke billowed toward the once blue sky. He needed to find him… What was once an open space was now surrounded by flames, and within it loomed the figure he was searching for. A relieved smile crossed his face, and he thought, "They'll be fine." With a scream, a blond figure slowly fell, and his smile froze as blood mixed with the broken steel pipes.

"Lucci, are you still awake? Lucci, are you asleep? Are you asleep now?"

Luffy opened his eyes and looked at the chattering boy and smiled helplessly. They had been trapped in the tree house for two consecutive days because of the storm, and he knew that Luffy was starting to get impatient.

"Yeah," Lucci said softly, giving Luffy a slight smile.

"You don't look good."

"I'm fine, Luffy." Lucci closed his eyes helplessly "I think I'm going to sleep."

"Oh, you need sleep."

Moments later, a new body sat down next to him, the sound of soft footsteps being his only warning, Lucci remained motionless, unsurprised by the thought as the body plopped down next to him.

"Lucci, are you okay?" he asked.

"I think so." Lucci opened his eyes and looked at his brother in confusion, frowning. Ace's voice was a little sharp, and he was not sure why he felt that Ace's voice should be deeper.

Why would he think that, this was Ace's normal voice, nothing wrong with it, just a little different, he thought.

"What are you doing?" Ace asked.

"Sleep," he answered without hesitation, but this earned him a strange look from his brother.

"But you're not sleeping, are you? You look like you're just lying there with your eyes closed. It's been a few days. You should get up."

Lucci blinked and looked at Ace in confusion, "I was up."

Luffy sat up and looked around. They were in the treehouse they had built. Two days of storms had left everything in a mess. There were collapsed wooden boxes, hangings on the wall... Why was that red sake cup on the ground? Why didn't anyone pick it up? Luffy would be unhappy if it fell.

Lucci stood up and walked over Ace's body towards the four fallen sake cups, examining them. They were very solid and did not break like ordinary porcelain, and there were no chips on them. The fishing net bag containing them was also not broken, but their branch hooks seemed to be broken. Maybe they needed to get a new one, but this hook seemed to be new.

The boy frowned, looking confused. New wood shouldn't rot so quickly. "Ace, come look at this."

"Ace?" Lucci turned around in confusion. Ace was no longer in the room. He had crossed the room and was standing outside the door at some point.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asked.

"What?" Lucci looked at Ace in confusion. "Where are you going?"

"You're totally out of your element today. We need to go to Waste Terminal and find some stuff to fix the roof and lookout that were damaged by the storm, remember?"

"Wow, Luffy, why aren't you coming out yet?" Another boy with short blond hair suddenly appeared beside Ace, looking at him with a toothless grin. "Luffy wants a telescope."

"Maybe we should wait another day?" Lucci suggested, absentmindedly observing his new brother. Why was there a bloodstain on his chest? Was it caused by hunting?

"Luffy has been waiting for two days. If you make him wait another day, he will get impatient." Ace snorted and shook his head in disapproval. "Then I'll go first!"

"No!" Lucci shouted hurriedly. Looking at his brothers who were staring at him, Lucci felt his body begin to tremble, as if something was pressing down on him more and more. Looking at the forest that was beginning to darken outside, he swallowed and explained softly, "The forest is already dark..."

"Don't worry, it's not completely dark yet!" Ace said with a smile, "Hurry up, Lucci, Luffy is waiting outside."

"Yeah, come on, Lucci, we still have to get some things!" The blond boy said this, huh? Why couldn't he call out his name?

Lucci's body froze in place, he was indeed his brother, something was wrong.

"Hurry up, Lucci!"

Lucci snapped back to his senses and saw Ace and the blond boy moving farther and farther away from him. He couldn't help but yell in panic, "Ace!"

"What? Hurry up, it's getting dark!" Ace's voice echoed "Hurry up, Lucci."

"I... I can't..." Lucci swallowed as he looked at the door. There was nothing there. Why did his legs freeze?

"why?"

"I... I don't know!" Lucci said nervously. He couldn't go out, or something bad would happen.

Why would he think like that? Lucci stepped back uneasily until his back foot bumped into something. Lucci frowned and looked at the red wine glass on the ground. "Why are these things on the ground?"

Lucci picked up the wine glass. He wanted to remind his brothers to put it back after use. What if it was broken? Luffy would cry.

He carefully placed the things on a small storage table, which was a cabinet made of the boards they picked up. Looking around the empty tree house, he seemed to have forgotten something. Lucci ignored the uneasiness in his heart and took out the photo album he had kept. He tried to continue to let the feeling of calm wash over him, and stayed patiently in the tree house, waiting for his brothers to come back.

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Marco is in a bad mood now. After they found out that something was wrong, they immediately set out to look for it. When they actually found it, the warship had entered the ocean current. He was very upset because they failed to stop it.

They could only return to Moby and contact the Allies. They were fully prepared and would definitely bring his family back. The Navy would not know what they had provoked.

Marco sighed deeply and leaned his tired body back on the chair, his brows furrowed and his fists clenched tightly. Anyone who dared to hurt his family would definitely pay the price.

"Blue! Blue!"

Marco reached out and easily found the screaming Den Den Mushi from the chaotic yet orderly pile of documents. "Hello," he said in a tired voice.

"Is he Lucci's friend?"

Marco sat up straight immediately. He had never heard this voice before. Judging from the voice, it should be a teenager. "Who are you?"

"I'm Luffy, and I want to be the Pirate King!"

Marco opened his eyes wide in shock. "Ace's younger brother?" But does this kid always introduce himself like this?

"um, yes!"

"Are you Lucci's friend?"

"Yes, did you get this phone number from Lucci?" Marco asked, standing up, pushing open the door and walking towards his father's room. "I'm Marco, the captain of Whitebeard's team."

"Oh, great. Hi, Ma, have you heard from Lucky?"

Hearing the name, Marco almost tripped over his own feet. "What is that name? My name is Marco Yoi."

"Oh, I saw the newspaper, but there was no news about Lucci."

Hearing the brokenness in the little guy's voice, Marco felt a little guilty. They hadn't even considered how Ace's brother would take the news. "I'm sorry, Luffy, don't worry, we will definitely rescue Ace."

"I'm going to Impel Down by myself to rescue Ace."

Marco's eye twitched at Luffy's words, was he serious?

"What!?"