Chapter 44: Enter the Pirate Empress: Boa Hancock

                                    

                                          
"Keep on running!" Ace taunted as he sent long lances made out of fire to force Luffy out from behind the rock he had to duck behind. Once Luffy was out, Ace put his index fingers together in a cross shape before launching a cross-shaped column of fire directly at him.
                          
"Who said that I was running?!" Luffy yelled back with a laugh as he shifted into his Second Gear and seemed to disappear. Ace blinked in surprise, but just before he realized what happened, Luffy—who was in the air—had grabbed hold of his shoulders from behind him.
                          
"Gum Gum... JET MISSLE!" and he retracted, crashing into his brother and sending them both into the ground.
                          
"You always were fast," Ace smirked through a mouthful of dirt. "But like hell I'm gonna be beaten by my little brother."
                          
And with an uppercut, he went for him, punching Luffy hard in the chin and forcing his face upwards before he kicked him in the stomach and sent him crashing through several more rocks.
                          
But Luffy was up at once, wiping away the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Please, you can hit harder than that! You better not be holding back on me!"
                          
Ace just grinned wickedly at Luffy. "I used to have to hold back for your sake... but not this time. You've gotten stronger, I'll say that much..."
                          
When he had been alive before he always wondered one thing. Was it worth it? Worth becoming a pirate and going out to sea? Hell ya... every little thing that happened to him had been worth. And now his little brother, the same crybaby that he had dedicated his life to protecting and helping grow stronger, was now facing him as an equal.
                          
Ace remembered when he first saw Luffy's wanted poster and he couldn't have been any prouder. He would brag about him to Pops and the crew so often that he knew that he drove crazy. But he couldn't help it. He had dreamt of facing Luffy as a rival someday out of the seas... but now that was impossible. This would be their last chance to fight like this... before Luffy would go back and become the Pirate King someday.
                          
However, if he couldn't even stand up to his big brother, his future didn't look too bright.
                          
And so Ace held up a fist and taunted, "BUT ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE ME ON?!"
                          
"Watch and learn!" Luffy cried out and if there had been anyone watching the battle from far off, they would've seen the giant ball of smoke and steam going up into the air like an erupting volcano.
                          
*Straw Hats*
                          
"Watch out!" Nami cried out and they backed away as something—much like a meteor—fell from the sky. It crashed into the ground and as the smoke cleared, they spotted Luffy lying there on the ground, inside a giant paw-print shaped crater.
                          
It was the same Luffy they saw disappearing from Sabaody aright. He was in the same blue shirt and there were still some dirt on his face... other than that however, his injuries from the battle with Kuma seemed to have fully healed.
                          
"So this is it," Franky said, looking around. "This is the island that Luffy was sent to?"
                          
"This is the maiden only island?" Usopp asked, looking at the thick jungle around him. He had been expecting something different. Maybe with pink trees or something.
                          
"Maiden... MAIDENS?!" Sanji cried out, staring around wildly, trying to see if he could find any girls here. "You mean this is home to nothing but fair ladies? This is heaven?!"
                          
"Luffy..." Usopp whispered, shaking his head bitterly. How'd he get off so easy here? He was on an island with nothing but women while he was being attacked by blood-thirsty plants and giant bugs? Maybe Sanji was right... life wasn't fair.