"There she goes!"
"Catch her already!"

What was supposed to be calm and boring night, appeared to be less boring and more ruckus than Izo had guessed. He was running away from town's guards who had caught him red handed for trying to steal one townman's wallet. They mistook him as a girl, but it was nothing new to him since he was a cross-dresser and wore make-up all day long. Removing make-up and changing clothes was also very useful disguise, but now it was impossible to do. He just needed to trust in his speed and reflexes.

He managed to climb to roof and get away from guards. He collapsed to roof and panted. When he caught his breath he let out nervous chuckle and rolled onto his stomach, digging the wallet under his kimono and starting to count how much money he had got. Luckily the guy that he had stolen the wallet from seemed to be rich, since there was more than 300 belis at least.
Izo mainly worked as erotic dancer at one pub near marketplace, but he didn't get much money from that job, so he had to steal in order to feed himself and his sick brother Thatch.

When Izo was sure that guards couldn't hear him anymore, he dug a small whistle from his pocket and blew into it, making a low tune. Then he just sat down and waited.
Soon something could be heard. Something big was moving through the air, it's huge wings flapping on it's sides.
Izo calmly stood up and pushed some random hair strands away from his face. Then he placed his hands to his hips and glared at his ride when it finally appeared on front of him.
It was huge, night black gryphon with large saddle on it's back. It softly landed front of Izo, looking him like a puppy who had done something very wrong.
"And where hell have you been? I've told you millions of times that when I whistle, you come immediately here. I was almost caught by guards!" Izo hissed, mounting his gryphon. It let out quiet whimper as answer, jumping into the air and spreading it's magnificent wings. Izo was finally able to fully relax himself.
"Maa, sorry Laboon. I just.. you know that I'm in mess right now. Thatch's condition isn't good and we need fuckloads more money than we now have in order to buy his medicine...", Izo whispered and gently stroke gryphon's black fur. Yes, he was talking to his mount and he felt little bit embarassed by it, but he really didn't have anyone else to talk to. His only family and friends were Laboon and Thatch, since he really had not time to form any kind of relationships to anyone, not even his colleagues in the strip bar. His whole time was reserved to his brother.

It took almost one hour from Laboon to flew to the other side of the city. It was the poorest area of the whole city, known as Thriller Bark. All weak, sick and poor people ended up there. It was place for outcasts. But even though everyone was outcast, no one seemed to befriend with anybody. It was like they had lost their trust in humankind. It was rare that someone walked around Thriller Bark's streets more than once a day, so it was easy to Izo and Laboon to land safely at the front of their house.
Izo dismounted Laboon, tied him to fence around their home and wished goodnights for him. Laboon aswered with gentle peck to his master's back, making Izo laugh a little.
Cross dresser then rushed into his home, hastily opening the door and stumbling into small living room, where his eyes first caught sight of his brother, who was laying in the couch and looked sicker than ever. Despite his condition Thatch still managed to smile reassuringly to Izo.
"Hi... I was starting to worry about you already...", he wheezed and rose from the couch, just to be pushed back by his cross dressing brother.
"No worries. Have you taken your medicine?" Izo asked, sitting down beside his brother. Thatch nodded.
"Yeah and there is still plenty of it, so no need to stress about money yet", Thatch said, gently petting Izo's skinny back. Izo smiled to his brother.
"Good. Though I'm getting rest of the money tomorrow. We only need about 100 beli to buy new dose of medicine."
Thatch's eyes widened slightly, but then he frowned.
"How on Earth did you get that much money? You did steal again, didn't you Izo?" he asked, accusing tone in his voice. Izo crossed his arms and glared daggers to his brother.
"So what if I did? I'm doing this for you, you know!" he snapped back, causing Thatch fall back to his pillows and groan.
"You'll get yourself in deep shit! Look, doctors said that I have only 30% chance to survive and I don't want you to waste your life because of me! You could spend that money to new apartment when I d..!" Thatch began, but he was silenced by Izo's hand which slapped his cheek. It wasn't near that usual gentle slap he had used to. It was full of raw "shut the fuck up or I'll kill you" feeling and it indeed made Thatch shut up.
He lifted his hand to his cheek and turned his plate wide eyes to Izo and was shocked by the fact that his brother was crying. Tears left dark trails behind them when they rolled down on his cheeks. Thatch immediately felt bad that he had opened his mouth in the first place. He knew what he meant to his only brother.
"Don't you ever dare to say that one to me again, Thatch...", Izo sobbed, furiously wiping away his tears and messing up the sleeve of his kimono. "I'm not doing this only for you... I'm doing this for myself too... What would I be without you?"
Thatch lifted himself up, wrapped his arms around his big brother and gently pulled him into tight hug.
"I know Izo, I'm so sorry...", he whispered. "I was being an idiot."
"Glad that you realised it by yourself", Izo mumbled and stood up. "You rest now while I'm going to make some food. Then we both can go to sleep. I need to wake up early tomorrow."

Izo walked to kitchen and started to prepare their meal. They only had nearly spoiled meat and few vegetables, but he was still able to make somekind of meal out of them. He forced Thatch to eat as much as he could and just after that he ate his part. Rest of the food went to Laboon. Izo was tired of mice hunting gryphoon who caused extremely loud noises in the middle of the night, so he had decided to feed Laboon before he went to sleep. And he had indeed lept a lot better when Laboon's stomach was already full before the night.

Next morning started like any other. Izo woke up, dressed himself and put make-up on and then made some hot tea for his brother. Thatch seemed to be better and it made Izo smile. Maybe this was going to be a good day at last. He wasn't late from work, he could finally buy new dose of medicine for his brother and Thatch seemed a lot better from yesterday. He even smiled and made few jokes about Izo's make-up and pink kimono and how he was probably going to be hit by some drunk guards who chased him yesterday. Izo laughed to this, gave a slap to Thatch's head and headed to his work. Even Laboon seemed happier from yesterday. It was full of energy when they flew to marketplace, making it to there a lot faster than it usually did. Izo thanked his mount with gentle kiss on it's forehead before he was off to strip bar, where he was greeted by his boss Bon Clay. Izo greeted back, making his boss quite confused, since Izo usually was the quiet type and never spoke to anyone. But in that day he was able to make some friends before the lunch break even started. He found out that one of his colleagues had lived in Thriller Bark not so long ago and he eagerly started to chit-chat with him.
Colleague's name was Portgas D. Ace. He was very muscular man with long black hair and childish freckles decorating his face. He had bad habit to fall asleep during the show, so Bon Clay had moved him to amuse some VIP customers by doing short lap dances to them, mostly to females of course since his manly appearance wasn't easy to hide unlike Izo's.

"Why are you still staying at Thriller Bark? Apartments at North Blue district are kinda cheap", Ace asked from Izo while they were at the backstage, resting before their actual show. Izo smiled sappily to him.
"I don't even have that much money... I need to buy medicine for my little brother and that medicine is hecking expensive", Izo sighed. Ace nodded to show that he understood what his colleague was going through.
"It's some sort of cancer, isn't it?"
Izo blinked and lifted his eyes to Ace, who was silently staring at floor.
"My little brother had it too. But he got better in no time thanks to his doctor friend. He's the only one who has medicine that surely cures patient."
Izo immediately stood up and stared at Ace.
"Can you take me to that doctor?" he asked with desperate voice. Ace shook his head.
"I'm sorry, that doctor disappeared a long time ago. No one knows where he is, if he's even alive anymore."
Izo sighed and sat down to his chair, burying his face into his hands.
"I'm so desperate... Thatch's condition is becoming worse and I can't do anything about it. I feel so weak...", cross dresser sobbed into his hands. Ace leaned forward and petted his trembling shoulders.
"It's okay, I know how you feel. But I can almost promise that you'll brother will get better. Medicines are more effective today than they were when my brother was sick", freckle faced dancer said reassuringly, causing Izo to smile a little.
"I guess so."

After his work, Izo headed to pharmacy to buy that medicine to Thatch. After that he had enough money to buy some food to them. It had been truly wonderful day. Izo was all smile. He had made a new friend, Thatch was feeling better and he had had enough money to buy actual food, so they didn't need to eat that spoiled meat and vegetables anymore. Even Laboon came immediately when he called it. Izo was sure that nothing could break his happiness now.
Oh how wrong he was.