Chapter 1-A look at the past

Ace slipped out of the small room to look for Kiro. He didn't see the need to wake up Luffy and make him worried for no reason.

Sure enough, when Ace reached the cliff facing the ocean, he saw the familiar silhouette of a seven year old girl. When he approached, she quickly swiped at her eyes to try to hide the fact she'd been crying. That's just the kind of kid she was.

"Is it true that Sabo is dead, Ace?" she asked, staring at the ocean.

Ace was 7 years older than Kiro and had known her since she was a baby. But it still surprised him how serious the kid could get whenever things went wrong.

"We can only assume he is, Kiro." He said, not feeling quite sure that this was the right way to answer.

Kiro took long shaky breaths trying to keep her from crying in front of Ace. Ace, who had been standing this whole time, reached out his hand. Kiro took it without a word. Without warning, she hugged him.

What was amazing was that he hugged her back. She's upset, he thought. And why shouldn't she be? We all really miss him.

Ace felt the small child go limp only a few minutes later. Not to mention she's tired and needs some sleep. Despite how he felt, a smile formed across his lips. Carefully, Ace picked her up and carried her home.

Luffy was awake when they got back. "You scared me, Ace." He said.

"I wasn't about to wake you up just to find Kiro."

"She's technically my sister."

"By blood, yes. But she is my sworn sister." Ace replied feeling pleased with himself.

Luffy yawned and rolled over. "Oh, yeah." He said.

Ace set Kiro down on her bed and lied on his back on his for hours, staring at the ceiling. With nothing to think about, he decided to go to sleep. It didn't work. So, he thought about the time Kiro was arguing with Luffy about food. Then Ace laughed to himself as he realized this had happened more than once.

"Luffy, did you take my rice?" Kiro asked

"Ummm…No." Luffy replied

"Liar." She had said.

"Am not!" Luffy said.

"You are such a bad liar!" Kiro yelled.

"SO?" Luffy had said.

Ace and Sabo watched them go back and forth for 5 minutes. Ace was laughing, and Sabo, deciding that now was a good time to do something, said, "Ok you two break it up."

"But Sabo, he took my rice and I'm hungry." Kiro whined.

"Well, I'm hungry too!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I know what to do," Ace said. "Let's feed them to the crocodiles."

"Ace, you're not helping." Sabo sighed. "Luffy, what happened to your rice?"

"Ace ate it."

"I did not! You ate it for breakfast this morning!" Ace shouted at his younger brother. Kiro took this opportunity to take back her rice and sat down with Sabo, both just watching the two argue.

He smiled at the memory. "Kiro," he said as if the sleeping child could hear him, "Use that heart of yours and find a dream to follow. I don't care what it is, but find it. Then, follow it through and if God ends the world before you make it, it means your real dream has already been achieved."

(A few nights later)

Again, Ace woke up to find Kiro missing. He sighed, and went up to the cliff once again.

But she wasn't there.

Ace ran up to the edge and looked down, and there he saw her, lying in the sand.

Hurrying, Ace prayed Kiro would be ok. There wasn't time to get Luffy or Dadan. Luckily, he ran into a familiar face as he ran down the path, leading to the beach.

"Ace, what's the hurry?" Kyoka asked.

"Kiro's hurt. Badly. Go get Luffy!" Ace explained quickly and ran down the path.

Kyoka and his twin were 10, a year younger than Luffy. But that meant nothing as Kyoka snuck into the room and shook Luffy awake.

Dazed, Luffy asked one question, "Meat?"

Kyoka grabbed Luffy's shoulders and shook harder.

"Ok, ok, I'm awake. Kyoka, why are you here? Where's Ace and Kiro?"

"Ace said Kiro was hurt and told me to get you."

"WHAT!?" Luffy yelled.

"Shut up!" Kyoka hissed. "Go. Now!"

Luffy ran off as Kyoka slinked back into the night.

Ace knelt next to his sworn sister, relieved she hadn't fallen off the cliff. But it was obvious she'd been in a fight and knocked out.

She had a black eye and bruises on her face. Whoever did this had used either a knife or a sword, as there was a slash on the small girl's back. Anger and worry boiled inside Ace. He saw Luffy's arms stretch as he lowered himself from the cliff.

"KIRO!" he screamed and ran toward the two.

Ace grabbed his sworn brother by the wrist and told him to be quiet. Luffy looked at Kiro as she lay there, still as stone.

"You know what happened?" Luffy asked, joining Ace sitting as calmly as possible.

"No. I woke up and couldn't find her. Then I looked over the edge of the cliff and there she was."

"D-did they throw her off?" Luffy asked, worried.

"Of course not! She'd be dead! But whoever did this dragged her down here."

Luffy merely nodded.

All that was heard for the next few minutes was the sound of the waves washing the sand. Then, a weak, child's voice whispered,

"Luffy? Ace? Is…that you?"

"Kiro!" both boys said at once.

She smiled and coughed and tried to sit up, wincing as she did so. Her head and back hurt the most.

"What happened, Kiro? Tell me." Ace said sternly.

"Ace," Luffy started, but Ace held up his hand.

"Tell me." He repeated.

Kiro wasn't surprised by Ace's sternness toward her actions. He was worried.

"Well," she said. "I wanted to look at the stars, so I went out to the cliff. Some kids showed up and started saying a bunch of crap about you, Luffy, and Sabo. I told them to knock it off. They didn't. So I punched the guy who seemed to be their leader. We fought. I lost."

Ace and Luffy were speechless. Finally, Luffy said, "Why didn't you go get help?"

She looked a bit guilty as she said, "Because I wanted to show you guys I could take care of myself. That I could be brave," She took a breath. "I wanted to show you I could put my life on the line."

At this, Ace slapped her, actually slapped her.

"Ace, what the heck!" Luffy shouted and punched his brother in the arm. Ace ignored this, and forced Kiro to face him.

"Don't you ever pull a stunt like that because of pride! You can keep your pride, but don't let it make you do something stupid, Kiro. They could have killed you." Ace said firmly.

Kiro became very angry. "Like you're any different, Ace! You're always doing this kind of thing!"

"That's not the point, and you know it." Ace said slowly. "I don't want you to do the same stupid things I do! Make your own damn mistakes and I'll make mine. But don't let your mind hold you back, Monkey D. Kiro."

Kiro didn't care that she was beginning to cry. It was first time she ever cried in front of anyone. Tears streamed down her face as she said, "I'm sorry, Ace. I'm sorry!"

Now I get why he did that, Luffy thought. He needed to teach her something.

Ace hugged his sister. "I know you are. But you can't go off by yourself like this. It's stupid, not brave. Let's go home."

Kiro walked into the room, keeping her back to Ace and Luffy. She wondered if Ace was still mad about the whole, "I gave myself a pixie-cut with a knife", thing she had done last week.

She also wondered what he would say if he saw that she had a black eye and a bloody nose.

She wondered what Luffy would say. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice.

"Kiro, why are you trying to hide your face?" Ace asked his voice full of suspicion.

"That's none of your business." Kiro replied stubbornly.

Luffy walked toward her. "I bet you got in a fight," he said. "Did you win?"

Kiro turned from Luffy, still trying to hide her beat up face.

Of course, she forgot that Ace was standing right there.

"Damn it, Kiro." He said. "How many times is this going to happen?"

Kiro looked up and grinned, lighting up her face. "At least I won this time!" she said happily.

Luffy laughed. "See? I knew it! I was right!" he laughed along with his sister. Ace tried to hide the grin forming on his face as he shook his head.

Kiro beamed. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a sketch book and a small pencil. She was going to make sure she captured the happiness that filled the room.

"This will be the first of many." She declared. "That will leave their mark on this world."