My oh my, hello, I'm back so soon~

I ended up sitting down today and finishing this entire chapter! Please enjoy!


Chapter III – Moving


"Dolt!"

He paused in the middle of his yawn, glancing down to see a very eager Luffy staring up at him, gaze excited and determined and with that light that meant Luffy had gotten an idea.

Dolt started to grin-

"Yeah?"

"Teach me how to use a staff!"

-and blinked. Several times. Didn't see that coming.

"You want me to teach you Bo-jutsu?"

Luffy's head nodded several times, "Uh-huh! I wanna learn how to use a pipe like you use your staff!"

"Really, now?" Dolt knelt down to eye-level with the kid, "And why's that?"

Luffy's lips pursed while his eyes glanced to the side in that look he always got when trying to avoid the truth, "No reason!"

Dolt raised an eyebrow and watched Luffy sweat. The kid held stubborn for an entire minute before he caved and grumbled out, "'Cause we used 'em all the time."

Dolt's lips thinned. This kid'll be the death of me.

"Alright, then!" He stood, smiling reassuringly, "Let's go get you that pipe, then, and we'll get started!"

Luffy's eyes widened, as did his smile, "Really!?"

"Yup!"

"Woohoo!" Luffy cheered, bolting away, "Let's go!"

"Hey -Luffy! Wait up!"


"We want to leave the hideout."

Ido froze, one foot just inside the doorway. Gable and Din stood in front of Jorda, awaiting the verdict. Jorda turned away from cleaning his gun to look over the two bandits before him. They looked well enough, if oddly determined.

He shrugged, "That's fine. Just don't be long."

Gable, the one leading the duo, grimaced, "No, that's…"

Din picked up, voice firm, "What we mean is, we want to leave the Dadan Family."

It was a conversation Ido had had with them, not long ago. He'd told them he wasn't the authority here, that only their senior members could give them that clearance. Of course, he hadn't expected them to go to Jorda. Magra, Dogra –either of them would have been the better choice.

Then again, as Ido watched Jorda's eye twitch and eyes harden, maybe that was exactly why they'd gone to him. Say what one would about bandits, but the Dadan Family never backed down from one of their own.

"And why would you want to do that?" Jorda asked, voice low.

Din gulped, "It's -it's not just us. Some others, too. We're all happy to have had this family but…" Din trailed away.

Gable continued, "Dadan's gone, Jorda. We know we're some of the newer members, but even before we lost her, we were just holing up in the mountain, and… honestly, I feel it's time we move on."

Jorda grit his teeth, and they all stewed in those words.

"Actually…"

"Erk," Ido jumped, ducking forward and out of the doorway where Dolt stood. I hate it when he does that. "I've been meaning to bring this up with Magra, but I think it might be best if we disband the Dadan Family."

Nothing. Anyone in the hideout that hadn't been listening certainly was now. No one moved, no one breathed, Ido covered his ears, and then-

"WHAT!?"

Ido watched Jorda's horror fall away, expression settling into anger. That had always been his default when he heard something he didn't like. "Maybe you should explain to me what exactly is going through your thick skull?"

Rio recovered enough to sputter, "What -what do you mean, disband!? It's not like we want the family to—"

"I mean just that," Dolt interrupted. "We're not much the Dadan Family anymore, are we?"

Ido opened his mouth, maybe to question him, maybe to scold him on that horrid lack of tact –because really, Dolt? It's been two months, and you pull something like this!? He couldn't get so much as a word out before Jorda had a fist aimed at Dolt's skull.

Dolt ducked away, standing back upright once it became clear Jorda was withholding his second attempt, "You can't tell me that isn't the reason." He aimed a glare at all of them but kept one eye on Jorda. "I've been thinking a lot lately, Jorda—"

"Surprise, surprise," Jorda growled.

"—and," Dolt ground out. "We haven't really been bandits in a long time. After the Terminal, well," he threw a thumb back to Rio and Gable, who stiffened at being brought in, "you know as well as I do that a lotta the reason we're here was because of Dadan."

"So, what!? Are you just giving up on being a bandit, then!?"

"You mean you'd rather keep this family going on some misguided sense of duty!?" Dolt snapped, and Jorda flinched back, "You'd rather keep living as a shadow of what we used to be!?"

"Is that what you think we are?"

Dolt's eyes narrowed, "This family's all I've ever had, old man. But not even you can be that blind. No one wanted to leave when we holed up here because we still had a leader, still had a direction. We don't anymore. You're not gonna try and guilt everyone that wants to go just because you can't move on, are you?"

"You're wrong—"

"Why's everybody yelling?"

Ido snapped his eyes over to the door. Luffy stood there, a curious frown on his face, clutching a piece of metal pipe.

Dolt closed his eyes, inhaled, and looked to the kid, "Aren't you supposed to be practicing what I told you?"

Luffy froze, obvious guilt at being caught on his face, then scrambled for a reason to be there, "Uh -oh, yeah! Jo, can you help me aim better later?"

Ido blinked. Jo? Then he nearly laughed when Jorda deflated and looked at the kid, defeated, "Why do you keep calling me that?"

Luffy just smiled.

Jorda sighed, "Yeah, later."

"Yes!" Luffy cheered. The kid paused when Dolt raised an eyebrow at him, and darted back out the door.

Ido shuffled over to Lack, who'd been watching the exchange with a raised eyebrow. Lack looked to him, and he gave the doctor his best fix this face. Confrontations were in no way his forte. He was and always had been an observer. Lack, on the other hand, was an older member than he, and had been dealing with everyone's bad moods for a long time. If anyone could fix this, it'd be him.

Lack sighed, moving forward, aiming a hard look at Jorda and Dolt, "Alright, enough of this. Get your asses back to doing something. I could care less what, just stop standing around."

Jorda scoffed, stomping over to his gun and sitting down to finish cleaning. Dolt watched him for a moment before stalking back outside. The hideout slowly settled back down.

Ido looked between the furious Jorda and the door Dolt had left through.

Lack placed a hand on his shoulder and jerked his head to the door, "Go keep an eye on him, will you?"

Ido glanced at him. They both knew Dolt wouldn't show it if he was angry, but Ido needed the time alone as much as the rest of them, and Lack was willing to let him have it.

So Ido nodded and walked outside. He looked around until he spotted Dolt, and Luffy… who smacked himself in the head with a pipe?

"Stop trying to go so fast so soon, Luffy. Get the motions right, then you can work on speed."

"But it's fun!"

Ido huffed a laugh and settled down near their wood stockpile. It was far enough out of the way he wouldn't be seen, and he supposed he just wanted time to… well, think.

He'd joined the Dadan family back when they'd still been wreaking havoc across East Blue, years ago. He'd been wandering the dregs of society, the only ability to his name the way he could blend into the background. It was what made getting information so easy, not that he'd ever done anything more than swindle a free meal with it before he'd met Dadan.

He frowned wistfully. Dadan's original troupe had been smaller than they were now, had barreled into his life and dragged him off before he'd even known what was happening. He hadn't ever regretted the lifestyle choice, not when it was already several steps up from where he'd been before. Now, though…

Without Dadan here, he didn't know what to do. And as shocked as he was when Dolt had said it, he couldn't help but feel that fact was proof enough of the truth.

He really didn't have a direction anymore.

"Wah!" Luffy's pipe clattered to the ground.

"Try again!" Dolt said cheerily.

Ido laughed awkwardly when the pipe flew out of Luffy's grasp and hit the ground. Dolt just laughed and helped him adjust a stance.

That was it though. None of them did.

Jorda had been with Dadan almost as long as Magra and Dogra, but he'd always been loyal. Always protected them, and no matter his quick temper, took the time to get to know them all.

Dolt… Dolt had joined after Ido. He didn't actually know the whole story -he suspected Dadan had been the only one to get that out of him -but they'd found him half-dead in the hold of a ship, nearly starved to death. This wouldn't have mattered much to any of them, normally -people died all the time, awful luck was just as much a killer as stupidity in their profession. Dadan, however, had frowned, stomped over and poked Dolt. Asked him what the hell he was there for. Dolt had said something, and to this day, Ido didn't know what had made Dadan scowl and toss him over her shoulder to bring along.

Dolt and Jorda had argued every day after that. Dolt faced the world with humor and grins, and Jorda was too serious for them to really get along. Or so Ido had thought. Dadan had dragged them both off one day, and the two had come back, grudgingly tolerant of one another, until eventually the squabbles became endearing rather than spiteful. Ido could see how they'd warmed up to one another.

Ido hadn't seen them ready to truly argue like they had just now in years, since Dolt had first joined. Since before Dadan had set them straight. And that sent the facts home more than anything.

Dadan was gone. And the pieces of their family were scrambling, trying to find their places without her. Jorda was willing to push them forward as they had been on sheer force of will. Dolt was willing to let the pieces fall where they might.

And Ido… Ido couldn't really say which he preferred.

"Hello, anyone home?"

Ido looked up and blinked at the kind smile that met him. "M- Makino?"


"We're… I'm sorry we didn't come sooner, Makino," Magra's head bowed. "I'm sorry it took us so long to tell you."

She… didn't know what to say. Didn't know what to do.

"We lost them."

Things had been going fine at the bar. Magra and Dogra had come in, grim-faced, and she'd felt worried. They'd told her the whole story, Dogra stubbornly stuttering through his piece, and…

…she couldn't do it. Didn't want to do it. Didn't want to connect the word 'dead' with the faces of those two boys and one of her best friends.

It didn't seem real.

But it was. It was, and as much as she wanted to ignore it, to pretend that they'd never come down the mountain and told her, as much as she wanted to throw them out and hide away…

"What… what about Luffy?"

As devastated as she was, Luffy was definitely feeling so much worse.

"He's… better than he was," Dogra admitted, fidgeting with the bandages wrapped around his arms, "Dolt talked to him a few days ago. He's… more himself now."

Makino took a breath and nodded, "Good. Good…"

Magra frowned, "Makino—"

"No, I'm—I will be fine, I just…" She shook her head. "I'll… I'll come visit soon. Just… I'll come see Luffy soon, alright?"

They looked to each other, concern passing between them, but Makino didn't pay them much more attention. She turned around and started cleaning, ushering the few people present out early. The bandits shuffled out not long after.

She was in the middle of cleaning the tables when the doors creaked open.

"I'm sorry, but we're closed early today," she said, not looking up, scrubbing at a particularly bad stain. She would finish the tables, then clean the floors, then wash the dishes, take stock of the cellar, fix that squeaky door hinge—

"What? A mayor can't come check on why his favorite bar closed early?"

Makino froze, the rag pausing in it's rhythmic motions.

"… Makino?"

Her shoulders shook.

She looked up.

"They -they're gone…" And finally, finally, tears fell from her eyes, "They're really gone, aren't they?"


It had taken her… too long to finally work up the courage to ascend the mountain once again.

What she was met with was what she expected.

It was quiet, the usual boisterous atmosphere completely subdued under an air of heavy depression. It made her skin itch, made her wish for a way to lighten the mood, like she would at her bar if her patrons came in downtrodden. It made the lack of happy greeting the boys and Dadan usually gave her that much harsher.

The first person she noticed was Luffy.

He wasn't smiling, really. He was listening. Dolt was there, coaching Luffy through some stance with the pipe in his hand -since when had Luffy ever wanted to learn to use a weapon? -and Luffy listened with all his attention, more focused than she'd ever seen him on anything but food.

It made her pause, her hand halfway up, ready to wave and call out before she even consciously decided to.

Luffy nodded several times, his eyebrows furrowed. His eyes only did that when he really was trying to listen, not just nodding along for the sake of finishing the conversation. He shifted then, thinking through what he had to do, and moved-

-and slipped, landing on his back.

Dolt shook his head, pulling Luffy up, and setting him on the ground with a huff and a laugh. Luffy laughed as well, and then began to listen again when Dolt added a demonstration to the move.

Luffy was… different. He was trying. Harder than she'd really ever seen him try something. He was pushing forward, with everything he had.

She blinked, her eyes suddenly watering, and wiped away the tears. Luffy was trying his best.

She took a breath, hefted the large basket she'd brought, and smiled. She would do her best too.

A quick look around, and she nearly jumped when she spotted Ido sitting not far from her, watching the two train blankly, lost in thought. She wouldn't be having that.

"Hello, anyone home?"

Ido jumped, only just noticing her as well, "M- Makino?"

She smiled, "Hey there, Ido. Do you think you could help me set this up over there?" She pointed to a spot in the clearing the hideout resided in, hidden a bit from where Dolt and Luffy were working. "We'll make it a surprise."

Ido blinked several times. Then he smiled. It was strained, yes… but it was genuine. And she was glad for that.

"Sure, why not?"


Dogra hefted his burden a bit to shift it on his shoulder. He was careful, though. It had taken most of the day just to make sure they'd had enough, after all.

"Do you think they'll be angry with us?" He asked, shuffling forward with Magra.

Magra sighed, "You mean will Jorda be angry. You've heard what's been going around the family as well as I. He's the only one that's been deaf to it. I swear, he's the most stubborn man I've ever met."

Dogra chucked, knowing Magra never really would speak like that to anyone but them. "You're right… but… Magra, what do we even say? This is…"

"… 'This is the right thing to do, isn't it?'"

Dogra looked up to him as he finished the thought aloud. Magra smiled, "I don't really know that, Dogra. I don't know what's going to come…" He paused and looked up. Dogra followed his gaze until they were both staring up into the wide blue sky. "She wouldn't like things the way they are now. This is… the best I can come up with."

Dogra sighed, "I think… it's for the best."

Magra's eyes softened, "I hope so."


Jorda finished reassembling his gun and sighed.

What am I doing?

A shadow fell over him, "It's tough moving on, isn't it?"

"It's not the first time I've had to," he said as Lack took a seat beside him. "That doesn't make it any easier."

"It never gets easier," Lack said, pulling a flask out of his pocket and taking a drink. He held it out, and Jorda raised an eyebrow.

"Been hiding booze, again, eh?"

"Like you don't know where all my stashes are," Lack waved the flask in his face. Jorda snatched it away, taking his own drink.

"I know how things are," he said, handing the flask back, "I didn't need that kid to scream my faults at me."

"He just said what we've all been thinking," Lack leaned back and looked to the ceiling. "I'm surprised, honestly. I figured he'd be the one holding onto the past and you'd be pushing forward no matter how hard it hurt. Then again, he's never been the type to linger."

Jorda snorted, "No, he hasn't."

They passed the flask around twice more, enjoying the quiet between them, listening as the rest of the family carried on in different parts of the hideout.

"What now, then?" Lack asked.

Jorda leaned forward, elbows on his knees, "I won't keep anyone here. Dadan would've flayed me if she'd ever found out I tried. That was never what she wanted with this family."

"But you're not too keen on seeing them go," Lack prodded.

Jorda glared, "Of course not. Who the hell's gonna keep them all in line if I'm not around?"

Lack stared.

"What?" Jorda scowled.

"Pff- Hahahaha! And I thought I was bad," Lack laughed, standing and hiding the flask away again, "You can worry all you want, Jorda, but the facts are that it's time to let go of what was."

Jorda frowned, "Don't laugh at me, upstart."

Lack laughed.


"Okay, kid, let's call it a day," Dolt grinned.

Luffy looked up from where he was lying on the ground exhausted, and Dolt saw him pout before he turned away and started walking toward the hideout.

"Aww, really?"

"Yup, I'm done for the day." And what a day it had been. Luffy was clumsy and rushed through things and for all intents and purposes had a hard time really comprehending what he said… but he never ran out of energy and kept going no matter how many drills Dolt put him through, and didn't forget anything he did manage to learn, so Dolt counted it as a win.

He glanced back. Luffy picked himself up off the ground. "But hey, if you're still ready to go, you still have that training with Jorda to get to."

Luffy lit up with a smile, wider and happier than he'd seen all day, "Oh yeah! Where is he? I wanna get started!"

Dolt laughed, "You might just have to wait until tomorrow, Luffy! It'll be late, soon!"

Luffy pouted, "So!?" Then his stomach made that unholy noise, and he crumpled, "I'm hungry…"

"Well, I guess that means you've got plenty of room."

Dolt looked up from the kid, spotting someone he didn't think he'd see so soon, "Makino? What brings you here?"

"Makino!" Luffy cheered, though his stomach growling once again meant he didn't move much beyond waving his arms.

She pursed her lips, "There's too much gloom around here. Are you bandits or mercenaries?"

Dolt scowled at that, but she just turned to Luffy, "And I brought a picnic up."

"Picnic!?" Luffy's fatigue washed away at the mention of food, "Where?"

She smiled, and pointed around the corner -no wonder he hadn't noticed her, "Ido and I set it up over there, but I need you to go get everyone else before you start eating, okay? It's for everyone."

Luffy nodded eagerly, rushing into the hideout and yelling at the top of his lungs. Dolt just knew the last sentence didn't even register. There'd be barely anything left.

"You too."

He looked to the woman. He winced when he saw the grief in her eyes, opened his mouth to say something...

"No,," she said, holding up a hand, and he couldn't remember the last time she looked so determined, "We're all going to have some fun together."

"…right," he muttered, and she nodded and walked away.

"Well, that's new…" he muttered.

"What is?"

"Gah!" Dolt spun around. "Magra! Dogra! …what's with the bags?"

Magra raised an eyebrow, "Something important. We need everyone gathered up."

"Well, Makino and the kid have already beat you to that," he jerked a thumb back at the hideout, "She says we're going to have a picnic."

Dogra blinked, looking as bewildered as Dolt felt, "Makino? She came up then?"

"Yeah," Dolt frowned, "Sooner than I thought she'd come, really, but…" His gaze followed after Luffy's dust trail, "...it's not that surprising."

Magra hummed, "Well, let's not keep this waiting, then."

Dolt blinked as they walked past him, "Wait, keep what waiting? Why do you guys always leave me in the dark?"


"Wait, Luffy! Don't eat all that-!"

"Damn black hole! …where's the booze? I need booze."

"Makino! How've you been!? It's been a while!"

Magra rounded the corner and rolled his eyes to see the picnic winding straight into party. The air was lighter than it had ever been.

Which almost made him feel guilty when he and Dogra placed the bags down, drawing the attention to themselves.

"Hey, Magra, Dogra! Glad you're back! Hope that's food you've got in there," Reggie said, grinning as Luffy inhaled another plate.

Magra exchanged a look with Dogra, then took a breath. "Listen up, Dadan Family!"

He let his gaze drift around, trying to convey how serious he was. The beginnings of the party fell silent.

Every single person here was his family. They didn't need any build ups, and Magra decided it was best to just say it, "From today forward, the Dadan Family no longer exists."

Silence. And then…

"What!?"

Surprisingly, Magra noted as he looked to the man sitting near the building, Jorda wasn't among those who made the outburst. He simply watched the gathering until he met Magra's eyes.

Magra saw he wasn't happy. He'd probably wouldn't be no matter what they decided, but he nodded, nonetheless.

Dogra shuffled forward and dug into a bag, "We're disbanding. We've lost our leader… and we're not going to be doing much else besides living on this mountain from now on. You're all free to what you want…"

He pulled a box out. It was slightly bigger than his hand, and had holes in it, and most of the bandits looked at it in confusion.

Reggie's eyes widened, however, "Wait, is that…?"

Dogra opened the box and pulled out the transponder snail, rigged with a small communication set.

Dogra smiled, eyes watery, and Magra's lips tightened, "But whatever you do, just keep in touch."

Jorda choked, looking at the bags they'd brought. "Exactly how many of those…? Did you steal all of those!?"

"Well," Magra shrugged, "I'm still a bandit, after all. I won't be showing my face around Goa anytime soon."

Dogra shook his head, "Me either."

"Then…"

The whisper was by no means the loudest piece of conversation happening, but Magra heard it. He turned, finding Dolt standing with his head down, shoulders tense.

A moment passed. Dolt's shoulders slumped, and he lifted his head.

Dolt smiled.

Really smiled. Magra had known him long enough to tell the difference, even if it was shadowed with sadness and relief, even if those shadows he normally hid skittered in the corners.

Magra smiled back.

Then Dolt grinned and strode forward, attitude right back in place, "That's right, you assholes! We might not be the Dadan Family anymore, but we're still family, whether you like it or not! Now, get your damn snails and call, or I'll just have to hunt you all down myself!"

With that, the somber moment ended, and Magra watched as the frowns faded away into grins, and the grins into laughter as the booze was passed around again.

Dolt jumped in, wrangling food away from Luffy, who had been eating as he watched the entire ordeal alongside Makino. Jorda kicked Dolt in the leg and snagged his drink, which ended up in the two of them squabbling over it -and Magra swore he saw Ido sigh in relief as he watched them. Reggie somehow rounded Lack and the lightweights into a drinking game, which he would end up losing before the night was out, because he rounded Lack into it. Dogra wandered off to pass out snails.

Makino laughed as they had one last celebration together.

Magra watched it all and poured two cups. One he placed opposite himself, the other he knocked against it and drank.

"We've hit our end, old friend. But I don't suppose it's so bad…" He looked over at Luffy, who had somehow gotten involved in Jorda and Dolt's brawl. "We're tougher than you'd think. So... don't worry about us."

He heard a hearty laugh, a ghost of a memory, and smiled.

The world kept moving. They would, too.


And with that, we've passed the 10k mark. I'm shocked.

Thank you to all who've reviewed, your words make me very happy, and I hope to hear more from you!

~Dragon