Chapter Two: A Whole New World

She sees many people walking down the road once the sun strikes the ground. It is very chill and foggy in the morning which is definitely new to her. There are some small dews in the flower that rest on the front lawn of her new home. The pungent odor of coffee creeps under the wooden door to wake up the small girl. She sits up to welcome the morning not the smell of caffeine which adults depend on like they required air. Birds are chirping too loudly like they do every other day, and she just wants them to go away. The sunlight is piercing through the window as it shines on her face, adding a delicate glow to icy blue orbs that gaze out the window pane.

It's peaceful...

A burning smell catches her senses, seemingly coming from downstairs. She jumps off the tall bed and puts on her socks before running downstairs to find the source. There's Ace running about in the kitchen trying to save the disaster he called breakfast. A burnt crumb which is symbolic for an egg, another few for pancakes, a couple more that are meant to be bacon, and two piercing black slices of toast. If the smell wasn't bad enough, his cooking skills were a lot worse.

"Don't worry Emily!" Ace shouts over the smoke detector as it starts going off, and bats away at the smoke, "I'm a firefighter! I know what I'm doing!"

This attempt to not make Emily panic, worries her even more, and once the smoke has cleared and the detector is turned off, Ace whines into the phone as he calls and speaks to Sanji, "Sanji...Can Emily and I come over for breakfast? I burnt the food again..."

"Honestly...you need cooking classes or to date someone who can cook," Sanji rubs his temples before handing the phone to his fiancé.

Zoro chuckles a bit as his lover goes to make more food for the sudden two extra guests, "you should have known this was going to happen. Ace can't cook."

Ace arrives a few minutes later with Emily and the home is filled with the wonderful aroma of Sanji's cooking. Zoro greets them as usual before the trio sits and waits on the sofa, and he turns on the TV to the local news channel.

"Can't we watch cartoons~?" Ace whines cutely at his best friend.

"Watch that crap at your own house, "the swordsman grumbles as he takes the remote from the other man.

Breaking News! Our sources have just informed us that our troops will be returning from the battlefield very soon. We have won the long fought war against Blackbeard's threat on the country of East Blue. Thanks to the special ops group known as the Revolutionaries, which are led by Admiral Monkey D. Dragon, Blackbeard's forces were driven back into surrender. Unfortunately, we do not have any more details to share at the moment, but we will soon. Second Commander Sabo of the Revolutionaries has been given permission by his superiors to join us for an interview a week after their return.

"S-Sabo's coming home?!" Onyx eyes widen at those words, clearly excited and happy to have his brother coming back home. "It's been nine years; I wonder what he looks like now…"

For anyone with a soldier coming home, your long wait will finally be over in approximately three weeks.

Ace is so happy he could faint, which is almost what happens. Instead, his narcolepsy kicks in and he falls fast asleep, face squished against the armrest of the couch. Emily jumps up from her seat worried, as this is the first time she has seen this happen. Her eyes widen with worry and she looks up to Zoro for some kind of help.

Zoro chuckles and grins, "He's fine, he's just fallen asleep."

He's joking...right?

At hearing the gentle snoring from the freckled man, Emily looks relieved and just sits back down on the sofa. Honestly...

"Relax," Zoro says as he flicks through the channels on the T.V., "it happens quite often."

They finally settle on what to watch while Ace sleeps next to them, only waking up when Sanji calls them for breakfast. Ace grins as he rushes into the kitchen and takes his seat before shoveling down his food, Emily beside him, eating slowly and picking at her food. Her eyes linger on the contents on the plate in front of her, barely eating anything right away. She decides she doesn't want to eat anymore, but doesn't want anything to go to waste so she sneaks the remainder onto Ace's numerous plates. Much to her misfortune, Sanji catches her doing that and she can't help but feel a bit guilty from her actions. Two sets of blue eyes meet and before Sanji could make a comment, the doorbell rings. The cook gets up to answer the door and groans as a familiar high-pitched voice rings throughout the house.

"Sanji~~! I heard you made a lot of food~!"

"You just missed breakfast, Luffy. If you're that hungry then I'll have to make more," the blond sighs as the younger raven haired boy walks in and instantly goes to hug his older brother.

"Luffy~!" Ace grins as he hugs Luffy back, "come and meet Emily~!"

"Eh, who's Emily?"

"She's the girl I adopted, I told you on the phone, remember?"

"Oh yeah~ Shishishi~" Luffy grins when he sees the young girl in the kitchen and hugs her before making a dash for the extra food Sanji has just cooked, "I'm Luffy~! I'm your brother now~!"

Ace chuckles and sits back at the table, Emily sitting on his lap as she stares at the new arrival, "Luffy, you're not her brother."

"Eh?" the younger boy says as he shoves meat into his mouth and chews loudly, "what am I too her then?"

"You're her uncle."

"Shishishi~! Cool~, I'm an uncle~"

Emily smiles and picks up the notepad and pen she left on the table and starts writing on a new piece of paper, 'it's nice to meet you Uncle Luffy', she adds a smiley face then shows Luffy the notepad.

He laughs and gently ruffles Emily's hair, "it's nice to meet you too~."

Emily smiles as she draws in her notepad, lightly swinging her legs under the table, and giggles softly when Ace falls asleep again.

"Hey Luffy," Zoro says, "Did you hear, Sabo's coming home."

Luffy's eyes widen and he looks at the other man in disbelief, "h-he's coming home?"

The swordsman nods and grins, "it was on the news this morning before you got here."

"S-Sabo's finally coming home~!" Luffy cries and rubs at his eyes.

Once the numerous goodbyes are spoken and they return home, Ace decides to surprise his new daughter with a newly decorated and filled bedroom. The old guest room is now her room all to herself.

No drunken monster, no more tears, no more pain, and no more hurting inside. This is truly a dream come true…

Words couldn't describe the emotions running through her thoughts at this very moment. She glances through the door on her left is where a quite spacious room folds out. The walls are a lovely shade of lavender, along with the ceiling and the door to the walk in closet. Light filters into the room from the large window facing the driveway below. A bench is built into the wall underneath the window, but is dusty and dirty from not being freshly constructed. The light above was just installed a few minutes ago, and the tap of her feet bounce off the walls from her shadow. Sheer violet curtains hang in front of the large window pane, adding a soft darkness to the room. A full-sized bed with a zebra-print duvet and black & white pillow design reside again the center wall with four black bed posts that stand tall. A large white vanity is placed near the walk-in closet, and for once on her life she was getting such nice things.

Emily just looks around in amazement and writes on her notepad 'Thank you so much for my new room, Papa' along with a big heart under it. She smiles and drops everything in her hands to hug Ace tightly, feeling overwhelmed with joy but she wouldn't shed a tear. The raven-haired man smiles back and returns the tight embrace, lifting her up and twirling around with her in his arms.

"You're very welcome, Emily~" he kisses her soft cheek lovingly like a parent is meant to.

"Emily, Mommy loves you…"

Icy blue eyes snap open in an instant, and she sits up in her new bed quickly after being woken up in her sleep, panting softly as the nightmare fades. The soft moonlight seeping through the curtains couldn't help her fall back asleep. The picture of her mother lays on the nightstand after it had been recovered from him, constantly reminds her that she doesn't have a mom anymore, though she has something just as good, Ace. He is her family now, and she couldn't be happier. Now, she also has an uncle and another soon to return in three weeks. Emily couldn't help but wonder what this one looks like and what kind of person he is. All of these thoughts made it impossible to sleep alone in fear of having more nightmares, so she slides out of bed slowly and walks out of her room. She silently opens the door to her foster father's bedroom, shyly making her way over to the sleeping man. A gentle nudge was all it takes to wake him and onyx eyes meet blue ones.

"Hey, Emily, what's wrong?" Ace asks softly and gently pets her soft hair, "did you have a nightmare?"

She just nods and is already granted permission to sleep with him for the night. Emily buries her face into his white t-shirt lightly and his warmth caused her to immediately flicker her eyes closed, soft snoring and deep breathing are all that is heard from the little girl as she's now fast asleep. Ace can't retain the wide smile across his face when Emily sought him out for comfort again. All of his excitement made it hard to sleep, but his cursed narcolepsy kicks in which makes him fall asleep. Three weeks seem to fly by without a trace, and time isn't going to stop any longer. Ace and Emily are already driving to the airport with Luffy and Usopp driving behind them in their car. He can barely contain his nerves and excitement to finally have his other brother home from the army.

You're finally coming home…

The airport is more crowded than usual due to the families of other soldiers waiting for their loved ones to arrive. One by one soldiers come into the main lobby, but he isn't there yet. The crowds slowly disappear as the families take their troops home. At the stroke of nine, a tall man with wavy blond hair and a scar over his left eye walks out into the lobby. As the man walks towards the five with a wide smile, he notices the small girl hide behind his slightly older brother.

"Hey, guys. It's been a long time… I'm glad to see you are all doing really well."

The two D brothers well up with tears of joy to see the man in front of them, throwing their arms around the figure and sobbing happily for his safe return.

"SABO!"