Please don't shoot me. *ducks under table*

I know it's been...a very long time since I've updated, BUT I have never given up on this story...the rewrite is just taking me a very long time. I hope to get a fair amount done in the next 2 weeks off as I have it off work. I do have other projects and such that I need to work on, copslay and cross stitch and a blog to run...

BUT we will get there. slowly but surely.


To be honest Leo didn't know what her grandpa was thinking, trying to argue with Luffy over his future. Garp was insistent that Luffy was going to grow up to be a Marine, just like him, while she was to stay home, away from danger. Probably marry a marine, and live a happy, safe and settled life. Or maybe take a nice safe desk job for the marines, a secretary or something similar. Leo had already decided she would rather jump off a cliff then spend her entire life stuck behind a desk or in some house cut off from the ocean. But unlike her brother, she was smart enough to know there was no point in arguing with their grandfather. It was easier to just nod and agree to his face.

As they made their way through the forest path she made sure to stay several paces behind Garp who was dragging Luffy by his cheek, doing her best to avoid her brothers flailing arms.

"Like I said grandpa!" he tried arguing, trying to pull his face from his grandfathers painful grip, "I'm going to be the pirate king! We both are!"

Hearing her brothers words lit a flicker of warm hope in her chest, he still included her in his dreams...for now at least. At the same time, as much as it touched her, it was kind of ruining her plan to keep Garps annoyance and attention off her.

"What do you mean pirate king?!" Garp turned to glare at them both. Dammit! Leo shrunk back, couldn't Luffy just for once in his life lie?

"Let me go!" Luffy whined as he tugged on his face, only really succeeding in stretching it out.

"Not only did you eat that Devil Fruit, but now you're spouting nonsense as well!" Garp continued to rant, "Worst of all you've dragged your sister into it all!"

"Nii-chan didn't drag me into anything" she couldn't help but defend her brother, Jiji was already angry at them both, as they say hang for a lamb hang for a sheep...what ever that meant.

When Garp turned his glare towards her she shrunk back even more, locking her jaw to stop herself from opening her big mouth any further. Garp grit his teeth, locking his own jaw. He wanted to let the words bubbling in his throat spill forth, to rant and rave about how, of course she was dragged into it! There's no way his precious little girl would willingly have anything to do with any of this. He had literally flipped a table when he saw the stitches holding her cheek together. The skin had healed over now, leaving a thin, but very visible scar. Every time his eyes landed on the imperfection rage swelled in his belly, making him want to rip a tree out and hurl it at someone.

But he refrained. Because they way his little star flinched away from him was like a block of ice sliding down his throat. So for now, he let it go. Instead focusing on his other grandchild.

"Luffy, both you and Ace are destined to become great marines!" he declared loudly, turning his back on his little star. Not entirely realizing that maybe his lack of words and reaction were gonna do more harm than good.

He probably thought it was better if he kept his mouth shut, to not rant and rave about Leo's future like he did Luffy's. To not describe in detail the life he had planned for them both (after all it only seemed to distress her). All it really did was send a spike of pain running through the child's chest, smothering the flicker of fire in her chest...of course Gramps wasn't including her in his plans, she obviously wasn't important enough. Luffy, and this kid Ace, they were the ones that had Garps full attention and devotion...she was just the annoyance on the side that had to be taken cared of eventually.

"Dammit!" her brother moaned as he continued to tug on his face, wincing as pain shot through his skin, "I'm made of rubber, how does this hurt?Please let go Grandpa!"

"Leaving you in that peaceful windmill village was a mistake!" his lecture seemed to never end, "I should have never let you leave my side!"

Leo glared at his back, 'you mean abandoning us in that village' she mentally scowled, her mood worsening the further they walked into the forest. And being left in Foosha was the best thing that had ever happened to them. She didn't have many memories of her life before Foosha, she was after all only two when Garp dropped her into her three year old brothers arms announcing he was now a big brother. (While he had originally been very upset with the news he was now going to have to share his things with this new sister the moment she looked up at him with those deep black eyes he was instantly in love) But what she did remember...flashes of...things. Some good; bright yellow eyes, painted smiles, fire and laughter and some...not so good, crashes and screams and explosions that still haunted her dreams if she dared sleep alone.

And besides, if Garp had never dumped her on Foosha she would have never met her brother...and she would have spent her entire life, as short as it was, all alone. The thought drove nails under her skin.

"And of all things the Pirate King?" Oh Jiji was still going? Leo blinked as she was pulled from her daydream.

"Yeah!" She sighed, Luffy really needed to learn that sometimes it was ok to lie.
"You moron!" Garp shouted back.

Leo watched, an amused smile forming,as Luffy reached out to a passing tree, wrapping his rubbery limbs around it, latching on like a vine. Garp of course paid zero attention, he just continued walk. Probably a bit too lost in his lecture to fully pay attention to the way his grandson was suddenly stretching beneath his fingers, or to the way the tree was making an unhappy groaning noise.

"Becoming friends with that damn Red Hair Shanks is completely unacceptable!" Garp continued to rave, "And letting your sister be exposed to that mans despicable ways!" Leo frowned, when he put it like that he made it sound like Shanks was doing something...well something really bad.

"Careful Nii-chan" she muttered as she came to a stop next to her brother, deciding to wait until it was once again safe to keep walking.

It was a good thing too, mare moments after she stopped by her brothers side the tree finally decided it had had enough, the last of the clinging roots snapped under the pressure, sending the tree, and Luffy with it, hurtling towards Garp. Leo could have voiced a warning...she covered her mouth to hide her smile and giggles as the tree slammed into Garp's back, sending him crashing to the ground.

"I'm going to become as strong as Shanks is!" Luffy, as resilient as he was, was completely unaffected why the sudden trip the tree was taking. He remained tightly wound around the tree, his grip iron clad. Garp tugged at the stubborn child, but not even his enormous wells of strength could dislodge the child. Garp couldn't help the spark of pride that blossomed in his chest, his grandson was so strong at such a young age, he would make a great Marine...if he only just got this unacceptable idea of being a pirate out of his head.

Leo felt her shoulders drop as exhaustion washed over her, it had only been an hour since she had woken, maybe an hour and a half...and she was already shattered and ready to crawl back into bed. And as much as she enjoyed watching Garp try and win the losing battle that was Luffy, she just wanted to get this day over with.

"Come on Nii-chan" she mumbled quietly, "Please just let go so we can just get there already" she pleaded.

The affect of her tired desperate tone was instantaneous. Luffy immediately allowed his limbs to recoil, not quite calculating just how much enjoy tightly coiled rubber limbs could generate, knocking himself and Garp back down. Much faster than their grandfather, Luffy was back on his feet, hat firmly on his head with a serious look on his face. His eyes were instantly on his little sister, his gaze running across every inch of her, trying to pick up the smallest hints of...well he wasn't sure what. But it was important.

With a nod of determination he instantly wrapped his arms around his little sister, maneuvering her onto his back,

"Nii-chan!" Leo squeaked, "What on earth are you...I can walk!"

"You can" Luffy nodded, "But you're also tired. And sore. And not used to walking and I'm your big brother therefore I have to look after you" he rattled off,

"By like 10 months" Leo muttered to herself, but none the less wrapped her arms around her brothers neck and her legs around his waist,

"Onwards then my noble Nii-chan" she pointed forwards.

Garp watched as Luffy shot forward, earning a shriek from Leo, before giggles as he jogged head. Then ran back and around Garp, jumping over logs and rocks, an unending source of energy. Panic rose in his chest, he wanted to slam his foot down, dull Leo from her brothers back. She could fall! or Luffy could drop her or throw her or...or...The endless possibilities stuttered to a halt when a weak smile spread across her face...maybe he could allow it for a short while.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

A short while turned out to be several hours it seemed, by the time they came across the cabin hut they assumed was their destination Leo was practically asleep on Luffy's shoulder. Garp's sudden loud banging on the door pulled her violently from her napping.

"What's this place?" Luffy wondered, he grinned bouncing Leo a bit to wake her up, before taking off down the side of the house to explore. Leo yelped at the sudden jolting, tightening her grip around her brothers neck.

While they didn't see it, they could certainly hear the person who answered Garp's door bashing.

"Would you cut it out! Who's the reckless daredevil?!" she screamed as she tore the door open.

"It's me" Garp crossed his arms, staring at her with an annoyed eyebrow raise

"AH! G-Garp-san!"

And then Luffy came back around the front of the house, cheering as he ran around, still firmly gripping his sisters hand. Leo, the weight on her chest lifting, giggled as she stumbled behind him, allowing herself to be dragged along behind him, ducking around the back of the house, in and out of the edges of the forest, she managed to catch fragments of conversation whenever they ran passed the grown ups.

"...that Ace is already ten years old you know!" The red haired woman shouted

"...Been that long? How is..." You couldn't mistake Garp's voice if you tried

"...any wilder, we won't be able to control him at all..." The bandit woman continued, wild? Leo frowned, great their supposedly new 'brother' was wild. That being said both she and Luffy were running around like savages, granted Luffy was making more noise than her but that wasn't the point.

The red haired woman grit her teeth as she felt a pounding headache take hold, she turned her glare to the source of the noise causing the pain

"Gods! Those kids are so noisy!" she snapped

Garp reached out, grabbing Luffy by the back of the shirt with ease, holding him up. Leo quickly wrapped her legs around Luffy's waist and her arms around his neck,hanging upside down like a sloth.

"Take care of them as well" Garp didn't so much ask the woman as he did tell her, she really had no choice in the matter.

The bright feeling in her belly was quickly snuffed out, so they were being dumped again. Of course they were, she should have know better than to think otherwise...but she couldn't stop the tiny flicker of hope that maybe they weren't being abandoned. Again. At least she still had Luffy. For however long that would last.

"Come now Luffy say Hello" Garp gave his grandson a light shake, very aware of his tiny granddaughter clinging to him like a baby sloth

"Heya" Luffy raised a hand in greeting before slipping it around Leo's shoulders, his own legs wrapping around her to keep her from falling.

"You too Leo" Garp prompted,

When she shook her head, hiding it in her brothers chest, as awkward as that was, Garp didn't push the matter. Letting her have her way, if she didn't want to say hello then she didn't have to say hello.

"And this is Leo" he greeted for her.

"Who're those kids?" The bandit grumbled

"They are my grandchildren" Garp grinned cheerfully

It took a few moments for the bandits to process the information. Garps...grandchildren. The children of his children...Garp had kids?...who had...kids...who were now...here...

"WHAT?! We've got another one! No another two to look after!" the poor woman looked like she was about to have a heart failure, "And they're Garp's, shit no they're Garp-san's GRANDchildren?!" her voice cracked

The bandit's reaction only soured Leo's mood further, their grandfather didn't want them, and these bandits obviously didn't want them. No one wanted them. They were alone. She was alone...well...She buried her head further into her brothers chest, listening to his steady heart beat. She wasn't entirely alone...she had her nii-chan. But still, even when it was just the two of them...well somehow it still hurt even when it was the two of them.

Garp lowered them to the ground, letting Leo carefully drop to her feet before dropping Luffy. Taking her hand again Luffy wandered around again, this time not straying as far as he had before. He of course had picked up on his little sisters shift in mood. How could he not notice how she stiffened in his embrace, or how she step had a lot less bounce than before...frowning he was determined to lift her mood somehow.

"What a crappy mountain hut" he stated loudly, trying to prompt a smile. Nothing. Ok time to up the game

"You want to die you brat?!" The woman, Dadan, shouted at him. But Luffy wasn't listening, his attention turned to more important things. He had to get Leo to smile again, the answer literally flew past his face. A dragonfly! Leo loved dragonflies! With a determined grin he tugged her along, letting go of her hand to swipe at the elusive flying bugs. Leo couldn't help but giggle as she jogged after him, watching as he jumped after the tiny bugs, failing to get one between his stretchy fingers. Luffy's chest swelled up with satisfied pride, he had made her smile! His victory was short lived when something very wet and warm hit his cheek, sliding down his face. He raised a hand to wipe it off, frowning

"What was that?" Leo inched forward, reaching out to wipe the rest of it off his face

"It's spit! Nasty!" Luffy cried out in realization

"Ewwww!" Leo let out a grossed out squeal waving her hand to get it off, then something equally wet and warm hit her forehead, she let out a distressed whine as it dripped down into her eyes. Fuck that was gross, and it was in her eyes! She just wanted to curl up and cry. Even when she felt Luffy's hands wiping the spit off her face, his chubby child fingers unusually gentle she couldn't help but sniffle pathetically.

"Who's there!" Luffy spun around looking for the culprit, furious that he had nearly made his imouto cry! (he was also pretty pissed off that he spat on him as well, but the worst crime was spitting on Leo as far as he was concerned.) He spotted the boy, sitting on top a high boulder, arms crossed, on leg over the over and a deep frown set into his face as he glared down at the two younger brats. Leo's hands gripped the back of Luffy's shirt, as if using her brother as a meat shield would protect her from the shear hate in the kid's eyes.

"Hey! You!" Luffy shouted at the culprit, "Apologize! That's really gross! You apologize to Leo now!"

Garp's attention was caught by Luffy's shouting, his gaze finding the source of the young boys anger.

"Oh! Ace!" He called out cheerfully, the only person it seemed unfazed by his attitude. Ace briefly moved his glare from the children to his 'grandfather'

"You're back Ace!" The bandits gasped out, sounding both surprised and nervous about the fact. Excellent, Leo wouldn't help but think, they were gonna be living with psychos.

She blinked away her tears, refusing to give anyone the satisfaction, lifting her chin she gave the boy, this 'Ace' a once over. He was a fairly handsome. boy, with long wavy black hair, his cheeks sprinkled with hard to see from this angle she gussed he was going to be taller than her and her brother, that being said everyone seemed to be taller than her. The young girl would have gone as far to say he was pleasant looking...if it wasn't for his eyes. Maybe a couple shades lighter than her brothers, and they appeared just as deep. Unlike Luffy, who's eyes were deep pools of warmth and energy, this Ace's eyes were like dark cold voids. Hard and unyielding as he continued to glare down at them.

"Hey!" Luffy shouted again, trying to catch the bastards attention, "Apologize!"

Ace's hard gaze shifted back towards them, Leo could feel her insides twisting uncomfortably under that gaze.

"Luffy, Leo, That's Ace" Garp had walked up behind the siblings as he made the introductions, Leo took her chance, moving from behind her brothers back to behind her grandfathers legs. The rude boy wouldn't dare spit on her with Garp between them.

"He's three years older than you Luffy. Starting today, you'll be living with these people" Garp informed his grandchildren

Just like that they had once again been uprooted and dumped, the young girl glared at her grandfathers legs, returning to her brother. If he didn't want them then fine! She didn't need him anyway! She couldn't help the sharp stab of hurt that shot through her chest, logically she knew this was coming...but for their gramps to do this to them, to her, again, well...it hurt. More than she was ever going to admit.

"You just decided that by yourself!" the bandits made themselves known again, crying out in shock.

Of course he decided already, he decided the moment he woke them up that morning. He was the great Hero Garp. He did what he wanted, regardless of anyone elses feelings on the matter.

Luffy continued to glower at Ace, it was one thing to spit on him that he may have been able to forgive, but he spat on Leo! How dare he do anything so gross to his little sister! If Garp expected Luffy to share his little sister, especially with such a jerk, then he had another thing coming.

"Try and get along" Garp ordered as he hit Luffy over the head for his growling, placing a stern hand on Leo's shoulder

'When the Grand Line freezes over' Leo wanted to mutter

"You think this is settled?!"Dadan screamed, this arrogant man didn't honestly believe he could just waltz on it, dump two more brats in her care then just go back to his life?! Well he had another thing coming!

The dark glare Garp pinned them with had their resole crumbling faster than wet sand,

"We'll look after them!" Dadan promised, bowing deeply.

"Great, then my business here is done" And like a switch Garp was back to his cheerful old self "I'll come to visit when I have time" so probably never.

While the adults finished their negotiations, Dadan trying to get some sort of compesation out of Garp, Ace finally moved from his perch on the rock, jumping down towards the ground. Leo made sure her rubbery meat-shield of a brother was firmly between her and the scary boy. But he didn't do anything...didn't even say anything. He strode past them, as if they didn't even exist...or like they were insects, not even worth of his notice. That sparked something in Leo's chest, overpowering the fear, while Luffy followed his path still glaring, Leo stuck her tongue out at the boys back. What a rude jerk!

Leo glanced up at her brother, his face set in determined. A wave of exhaustion fell upon the girl, whatever he had planned it was likely going to end in disaster. And at this point she had two choices, she could follow behind him, letting him drag her along in his insane plans...or she could stay behind and find herself a nice dark corner to maybe nap in.

Luffy made her decision for her, turning around her grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers. He offered her a wide reassuring grin, he had a plan and like hell was he going to leave her behind again. Never again.

"Come on" He tugged her towards the bandits hut,

His sister just let out a groan, allowing herself to be tugged along. She couldn't help the grin that started to spread across her face, whatever he had planned...well it couldn't be that bad.

Luffy peaked inside first, after determining it was safe he stepped inside, Leo trailing along after him. It was a fairly large empty room, with only a fire pit and a pot hanging above it in the center of the room. The bedrooms must have been through one of the doors along the back of the room. No sign of Ace...or anyone for that matter.

"Where'd he go?" Luffy wondered aloud as he strode further inside, letting go of his sisters hand to let her explore herself.

Before they could get too far an arm wrapped around Leo's neck, a knife pressing against her scarred cheek. She barely had time to let out a shriek of shock when another bandit grabbed Luffy, holding a knife to his throat. Well this wasSudden an arm wrapped around Leo's neck, a knife being held up to her face, she let out s yell of surprise, freezing in fear. A group of other bandits, surronded them, another man holding Luffy in a similar position,

"If you don't wanna die, then fork over your cash" the man holding Luffy growled

"We don't have any money!" Luffy cried as he struggled to get out of the mans arms,

"Then call you parents and make 'em bring some cash" the bandit holding Leo added,

"We don't have any" Leo whimpered, completely frozen solid

"We only have Granddad" Luffy added as he tried tugging his head away.

"Then call your gramps here! What's his name?" the first man spoke again

"Garp-san"The smaller bandit with a white turban who had been with Dadan outside informed the bandits...Magra?...Kobra?...dogra?

The mention of Garp's name left the bandits grip to go slack, no...it wasn't...these kids couldn't be...

"These kids are..." one man voiced aloud in disbelief

"They're going to be living with us from now on" Dogra continued on.

The general reaction seemed to be a mixture of shock and fear, not only did they have two more brats to look after but they were Garp's grandchildren of all people, who knew what kid of monsters they were!. Finally fed up, having reached the edge of what little patience she had, Leo wiggled a little to get her head free, an easy enough task now that the hand holding the knife had dropped down to the bandits side, then bit down as hard as she could on the bandits arm. Which was pretty hard. Her sharp milk teeth sank into the bandits flesh, easily slicing through the skin, the reaction was instant, the man howled in pain, yanking his arm away while shoving Leo away from him.

She snapped her teeth at him again as she pushed herself up, dusting herself off. The man holding Luffy learned from his fellow bandits mistake, releasing Luffy soon after.

Once the reality sunk in, the complains started to fly as the men shouted at Dogra, at each other and at anyone who would listen really. This wasn't a day care! it wasn't their job to look after snot nosed brats! The noise crew louder and louder until Dadan finally slammed a massive basket of meat on the ground. The pile of food was always as big as Dadan was!

"Shut it you scumbags!" she screamed at them, "It's time for dinner!"

Completely forgetting about the children the bandits dove forward towards the food, the real chaos beginning. The sight and smell of meat had Luffy's eyes lighting up in stars.

"I want some meat too!" he tried making a grab for the food as well, only to have a bandit slam his small rubbery body to the ground, jumping over his head to get to the food. Sensing the danger Leo pushed herself against a wall, letting Luffy make all the food grab attempts. Anything he got his hands on he'd share with her anyway, no point endangering herself as well. She watched in horror as the men fought over meat like starved dogs.

"Didn't you eat already?!" Two men were literally yanking a bit of meat between them with their teeth!

"It wasn't enough!" the other spat back.

One bandit pinned Luffy to the ground growling "I won't lose to this kid!" It was horrible to watch, every time Luffy would gain any ground he was shoved back, shoved down. Stood on, yanked shoved. Nothing he did yielded any success. Not even when he tried to stretch an arm out to grab the last small scrap of meat in the basket, which was promptly swallowed down by an actual dog. Apparently the bandits had a dog as well.

"A dog?" he sounded so heart broken at the loss of food.

With the meat well and truly gone and sulked back to Leo's side, making sure she wasn't hurt in the chaos. They children noticed the bandits had started finding places to sit, it didn't take long to learn why when they spotted bowels of rice being hand around. Luffy tugged her towards the fire pit, where it was warmest, sitting them both down when a small bowel of rice and a glass of water was placed in front of them. Leo stared at the megar meal while Luffy downed his on one mouthful, picking up her shop sticks she started to shovel small bites into her mouth. She couldnt' remember the last time she had eaten...was it that morning? or lunch the day before... while she mused Luffy held his bowel out towards Dadan.

"Another bowl, pops another bowl!" he demanded

"I'm a woman!" Dadan snapped, "And don't you realize where you've been left?!"

"No" Luffy replied simply

Leo shook her head, Garp hadn't told them anything, all she knew it was deep in the mountains and very far away from her beloved ocean

"Well then I'll tell you" she leaned down towards them, "This is the hideout of the mountain bandits who rule Mr Corvo, the Dadan Family"

"Mountain bandits? I hate those guys" Luffy stated bluntly

Smacking her forehead, Leo grumbled to herself about idiot brothers, she was unsure if she wanted to edge away or towards her brother, at this point she wasn't sure which way was safer. When Dadan slammed a knife into the ground in front of Luffy she decided away was safer.

"Shut up you brat! It's already a pain in the ass raising you! If you don't want to be here, that's fine by us! Just go somewhere and die like an animal!" Leo shot a glare towards the bandit, it wasn't like they decided to be here, they had about as much voice as Dadan had

"I'm still hungry" Luffy moaned, staring longingly at his empty bowl, completely ignoring the Bandit leader's words.

Leo stared down at her own half eaten bowl, she knew she should be starving right now, she really hadn't been eating that much lately...but her stomach gave an uncomfortable twist. She really wasn't all that hungry any more...she never really was hungry a lot any more anyway. She held out the half eaten bowl towards her brother

"You can have mine Nii-chan" she offered quietly

Luffy snapped his gaze from her bowel of food to her, shaking his head, pushing the bowl back to her

"I can't take your food imouto..." he tried protesting, as hungry as he was it was bad to take food away from his sister.

She then forced a wide smile onto her face, closing her eyes as she knew it didn't reach her eyes,

"I'm fine, I'm really not that hungry anyway" she insisted, "Half a bowl has me feeling quite full actually" she was actually impressed with how chipper she sounded.

It took him a moment, but he slowly took the bowl, eating it much more slowly than his own, glancing at her every few seconds in case she changed her mind, deciding she was in fact still hungry. But even after the half bowl his stomach rumbled on,

"I want some meat" he whined

Dadan just laughed and his whining,

"You gotta earn your food" she said, "The life of a mountain bandit is harsh and starting tomorrow we'll work you half to death! Cleaning, laundry, shoe polishing and weapon polishing" the list of chores went on and on. Leo just grew grimmer and grimmer, she wasn't going to be allowed to continue her depressing routine afte rall...the alternative sounded far worse than just wasting the day away.

"And listen...you're not gonna say a single word to Garp about the stuff we make you do" Leo almost wanted to laugh, as if anyone could 'make' Luffy do anything he didn't want to. "One bowl of rice and one glass of water a day, that's all I'm giving you, anything else you'll have to get for yourselves. You'll have to raise yourself to be strong"

"Alright" was Luffy's response. Leo almost laughed at the shock on the womans face

"You're fine with that?!" Dadan fell over in her shock, really not expecting that response, she turned to Leo, "You as well?!" she demanded. Leo rose an eyebrow at her, before shrugging, "It's really no different to how things were before to be honest" Luffy nodded in agreement. Although before they had Makino providing them with a steady supply of food...maybe they could find a way back to Foosha village?

"You should be crying by now!" Dadan stared at them confused, they should be begging! upset by the harsh treatment...but they didn't even blink at it!

"Granddad threw me into the jungle once, earthworms, frogs, snakes, mushrooms...if it's a forest then there's plenty of stuff to eat" Leo nodded along to her brothers words, and if they could find a river and better yet a coast line then they'd be sweet. The ocean had plenty to provide if you knew where to look.

"Besides, we're going to be pirates one day! So we gotta deal with at least this much!" Luffy reasoned

Dadan had appeared to have passed out, and had somehow lodged herself into the floor, the childrens bold statements were too much for her current state of mind. First Garp, and how these two insane kids? It was too much for her. Luffy's attention was pulled away from Dadan, who was becoming less interesting by the minute, when he noticed Ace lurking out the door.

"Where's he off to?" he asked aloud, turning to Leo, who only shrugged.

With a nod he stood, holding out a hand for Leo. She stared up at her brothers bright eyes, he was giving her the choice...she could continue as she had been, stay behind, lock herself away from the world...she took his warm hand, allowing him to pull her up. Or she could actually do something instead of letting the dark fog suffocate her.

"Oi wait!" Luffy called after Ace. Even after the door was shut in his face, he just shoved it open following the other boy out, Leo hesitated as she stood in front of the door, the blinding light of the sun shining through. Bracing herself she took a step outside. Gramps had given the chance of a new start...might as well take it. And make the old man regret ever placing them with those bandits.