SJ - a la mode - Summary, part 1

So, starting from where we left off (SJ - a la mode, ch.03 p.25):

    13-years old Luffy shows up at the station to pester Smoker into letting Ace out. Smoker explains the situation: that Ace is stuck there under Garp's orders. He tells Luffy that as punishment for causing so much trouble with all the gang business, Ace is supposed to stay in prison for a few days (from the 28th of December until January 2nd).

Luffy gets really upset and tells Smoker that it's unfair for Ace to miss the fireworks. Smoker remembers Ace's sad expression when they were talking about New Year's Eve and asks Luffy what's the big deal of missing the fireworks (since they are the same every year). Luffy then tells him that Ace is a bit of a Pyromaniac and that he looks forward to the fireworks each year most of all. He also tells him that January 1st is Ace's Birthday.

Later in the day, Smoker takes a deck of cards to a VERY bored Ace and they talk some more. He asks Ace why he joined a gang to begin with,  and Ace tells him that he didn't mean to, initially. He explains that before his gang showed up, there was another gang in the region. This gang considered the area around his school their 'turf' and did all sorts of bad shit to the students (like beating up the kids, stealing their money, etc...).

He tells Smoker that after a while he got tired of the oppression and together with Hiruma and Itachi, he gathered up other students to protect the school (Sanji, Zoro, Naruto and Sasuke were some of the younger members). After they managed to fight off the gang, they just got labelled a 'gang' by those who saw them as a threat (meaning, other gangs). Now, because of the constant attacks they suffered from other gangs, leaving his gang would mean putting his friends in danger.


The following day (December 31st), Smoker has lunch with Tashigi at the precinct and she ends up declaring herself to him (to which he has no response). He ends up telling her that he'll think about it and runs off to feed Ace. Once seeing Ace's depressed state, it becomes clear to him how much the fireworks are important to the boy.

Later that night, Smoker goes to see Ace. He tells him that even though he can't let him out of prison to go see the real fireworks, they can go play at the station's backyard with some children's fireworks that he found at the nearest convenience store. Ace is very surprised with the gesture.

They spend New Year's Eve outside in the dark, with Ace playing happily with the mini-fireworks while Smoker just sits comfortably and watches him in companionable silence. Right after the clock strikes twelve, Smoker wishes Ace a "Happy Birthday".

End of Part 1 -

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Turns out It'll take me at least 4 more posts to finish telling this story... LOL

The image above is a quick sketch of how I 'sort of' imagined the New Year's Eve scene. I quite like this scene. It's not supposed to be sexual in any way. Smoker is not a pedophile, so no, they didn't kiss. (Smoker is 24 and Ace is 16)

BTW, Ace's birthday is actually on the 1st of January. I didn't make that up, I just used that information on my story. 

ps: Pardon my english. I didn't ask anyone to Beta this for me, so it might be a bit bad. English is still my second language.

Cheers and Merry Christmas to you all!