【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 425 Connecting Freckles Game

Lucci and Ace looked at each other with smirks on their faces as they slid into the seat next to Luffy and grabbed all the food he could reach and stuffed it into his mouth. Ace also plopped down next to him and stuffed all the meat he could eat into his mouth. Sabo, who was sitting on the other side of Luffy, noticed their arrival and swallowed the noodles in his mouth, said hello, and quickly grabbed a piece of meat from Luffy's plate.

Luffy realized that his food had been stolen, and immediately began to steal food from the three of their plates indiscriminately. Lucci also began to fight back, quickly grabbing a piece of meat next to Ace, and Ace retaliated by stealing a chicken leg from Lucci's plate. Soon it turned into an all-out food fight. The Whitebeards who were surrounding them had dispersed because they realized that if they didn't eat, they would go hungry at noon today.

Lucci grinned as he stole as much as he could from his brothers, mostly from Ace's hands, definitely not because he wanted revenge, on the other hand, the situation reminded him of how they used to fight like this when they were kids in front of Dadan.

As Ace and Luffy argued over a particularly large piece of meat on the table, the chaos drew the attention of everyone around them, and Lucci and Sabo smiled at each other.

Looking at Luffy who was still arguing with Ace, Lucci grinned, Luffy looked full of life, even though he still couldn't look directly at Luffy's still unusually pale face, but Luffy was still alive and healthy, so none of this mattered.

The sound of Ace's head hitting the table interrupted Lucci's thoughts. Sabo looked at Ace, who suddenly pressed his face against the food, in confusion and asked, "What's wrong with Ace?"

"It's okay, he just fell asleep." Lucci grinned and took out two markers.

Luffy didn't care. He knew Ace was going to sleep, and more importantly, this huge piece of meat was his! Luffy immediately stuffed the meat into his mouth, chewing while looking at the two black pens that Lucci suddenly took out in confusion. After swallowing the meat in his mouth, Luffy asked in confusion, "Lucci, what's that in your hand?"

"It's for drawing. Luffy, do you want to play?" Lucci smiled wickedly and shook the pen in his hand. "Let's play the game of connecting freckles."

"I want to play!" Luffy was about to shout excitedly, but was stopped by Lucci, who asked him to lower his voice.

"Luffy, keep your voice down." Lucci handed the pen to Luffy. "Don't wake Ace."

"Do we really want to do this?" Sabo looked at Luffy, who was already eager to try, and said hesitantly, "Ace will be angry."

"Sabo, are you afraid that Ace will be angry?" Lucci pulled Ace's body up and leaned against the back of the chair, revealing his face, while looking at Sabo provocatively. "This is a rare opportunity."

"No." Sabo smiled shyly. "I just think connecting freckles isn't fun enough. We should add something more to Ace."

"As expected of you, Sabo." Lucci grinned and threw the remaining pen to Sabo. "Don't let Luffy finish the painting."

Luffy connected the freckles on Ace's face with an excited smile, eventually forming a vortex. He left the other side for Sabo. He thought his brother should also participate in this game, so he only had one place left to draw. Luffy looked thoughtfully at the bottom of Ace's nose.

Lucci grinned at Luffy's masterpiece, which would surely surprise Ace. Sabo also created a swirl, but it was the opposite of Luffy's. Noticing Ace's fluttering eyelashes, Lucci quickly reminded him, "Ace is about to wake up."

Sabo reacted quickly, rushing out of the restaurant with Lucci. Luffy? Luffy was completely unaware of the danger, still grinning as he finished the final stroke.

Ace then opened his eyes and blinked twice in confusion, looking at his brother's incredibly bright smile, Ace frowned because he saw the marker in Luffy's hand and the cool touch on his face when he woke up. Ace instantly realized what happened and sat up straight, glaring at his brother "Luffy, what did you do!?"

The next second a marker cap rolled off of him and Ace's expression froze as he looked down at the marker cap and then at the marker still held in his brother's hand.

"Nihihihi!" Luffy moved away from the angry Ace, then stood out of Ace's reach, grinning and pointing at Ace's face. "We're playing the connect the freckles game, but I only have two places to draw, so I made you look like Mr. Beard!"

"We?" Ace stood up, his face gloomy, and asked in a dangerous and seductive voice, "Lu, who else is playing with you?"

Luffy's eyes wandered, his mouth pouted, and he muttered, "Not Sabo and Lucci."

"Really?" Ace looked up at the two people hiding at the restaurant door and grinned.

Lucci and Sabo looked at each other and made a split second decision. There was no way to save Luffy. "Run!"

Ace ignored the two brothers who fled and waved Luffy over "Luffy, do you want to draw more?"

"Is it okay!?" Luffy immediately became excited and completely forgot what he had just done to Ace.

"Of course." Ace smiled kindly and pulled Luffy's cheek hard. "When we find Sabo and Lucci later, just use your rubber arms to circle them and I'll let you draw as much as you want."

"Okay." Luffy uttered a word with difficulty through his pulled cheek. Although he wanted to ask Ace why, he felt it was better not to ask Ace now.

……

"Lucci, is it okay to hide here?" Sabo asked in a low voice while squatting behind the huge chair.

"No problem." Lucci replied in a low voice. At the same time, he noticed the movement outside and stuck his head out and said to Whitebeard, "Dad, don't look at us!"

"Gulala!" Whitebeard couldn't help laughing as he listened to the two little guys muttering behind his chair. "Don't worry, son."

Lucci nodded in satisfaction, then whispered to Sabo beside him, "Don't worry, Daddy and the clothes on Daddy's chair can completely block us. Ace won't think we are here."

"What if we're discovered?" Sabo asked cautiously. "Outside is an open deck. It's hard to hide if we're discovered. I think we should move to another place."

"Even if we are discovered, we have many escape routes." Lucci explained in a low voice, "We will run separately then."

"Because he can only go after one of us, right?" Sabo chuckled.

"That's right, he will definitely come after me. When that time comes, Sabo, you just run away. Believe me, my fruit ability will allow me to get rid of him quickly." Lucci couldn't help laughing, as if he saw Ace looking for him everywhere but couldn't find him.

"Lucci, Sabo, so you are here!"

Lucci and Sabo were startled and nearly jumped out from behind their chairs, but they calmed down after noticing it was Luffy's voice "Luffy?"