"We are running out of diapers," Rouge said, as she fastened Ace's freshly changed diaper.

The three bandits had covered their noses and moved away from the baby, even Roger had leaned backwards from the smell. She sent them a silent really and rolled her eyes. It was baby poop, not toxic waste.

"We're going to have to buy more soon, and I still want a proper crib for Ace," she continued.

"There's a town just down the mountain," Henry said. "It's this small little village."

"You mean Windmill village?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, if you knew why did you ask?" he asked.

"Garp specifically told us to avoid it," she said. They had been forced to walk through it to get up the mountain. It had been a miracle that no one had taken much notice of them, and if they had they hadn't said anything - probably because Garp had been with them. "The smaller the town, the more attention to strangers."

"Well, there's Goa Kingdom, at the other end of the forest. It's a lot bigger and you'd probably draw much less attention there," Folliard said. "But it's not the safest place."

"Why is that?" Rouge asked, sending a silent sit down to Roger who looked ready to dart off like he'd done the first day.

"It's surrounded by this huge wall to keep people out and this huge pile of trash called the Grey Terminal. Inside the walls there's Edge Town, Town Center and High Town," Folliard explained, counting the separate areas on his fingers. "I've never been to High Town or the Town Center, but it's Edge Town and the Grey Terminal that's more dangerous."

"Yeah," Henry nodded. "The Grey Terminal is lawless, anything's okay there because the guards don't care about its people. Edge Town is full of thugs and gangs, it's a ghetto."

"Is there no other city?" Rouge asked, picking Ace up.

Goa sounded like it could become a problem. If it was full of gangs and thugs than new faces would also draw attention. Which was the exact opposite of what they wanted.

She'd grown up on a small island with no large cities but with a myriad of scattered towns. There were so many that when you walked through one and decided to blink, you may just find yourself in the next town over.

"Not that I know of," Henry said with a shrug. "I'm from Edge Town, most of us are. You could ask Boss, though. She would know."

"...-Diapers, baby crib, blankets and pillow for said crib," Rouge muttered as she jotted the items down on a notepad.

There were quite a lot of items which they needed but currently didn't have because of the move. It was frustrating to have to list all the items again after already owning or having gotten them back on Baterilla. Some items were things she had already owned, like a baby bed. It had been a beautiful oval crib of white wood. It was padded with blue pillows and a white mattress. When they'd left the only things they'd been able to take with them had been the essentials, the crib had not been part of said list.

"Toys, maybe?" Henry asked. "All kids need toys."

Rouge nodded and wrote it down. Maybe a stuffed animal to start with since Ace was still so young, and something to chew on, since he seemed very keen on chewing on anything he could grab. Like how he was currently chewing on Folliard's finger while the man looked slightly disgusted.

He'd been allowed to hold Ace again, though he felt somewhat nervous since Rouge kept eyeing him as if she was expecting him to do something, like drop him.

"Do you need more baby food?"

"No, Ace is still too young, it'll just upset his stomach," she answered, tapping her chin with the pen.

"Clothes, right?" Folliard asked.

"He'll just grow out of them," she said.

Ace was still growing and fast at that, plus they were living in the middle of a forest where contact with other people would be scarce. It would be a waste of money to buy baby clothes Ace would never get the chance to wear, and that made her sad; Thinking of all the regular things normal children had that Ace would be forced to grow up without.

He wouldn't be able to go to school, because it would be too risky. He wouldn't be able to make friends his own age because he had to grow up away from other people so he could have his family with him. Rouge would never be able to brag about her son to other mothers and Roger would never be able to boast about his amazing son to random patrons at the bar. Ace would never get the chance to proudly say to someone "These are my parents" and that made something heavy grow in her chest.

But just because Ace couldn't have a normal childhood didn't mean that she wouldn't try to make it as close to one as she could. She had no problem believing that even if they had been able to stay on Baterilla, Ace would've still had an abnormal childhood. Normal tended to evacuate the room when Roger entered.

The last decade of her life was a pretty good example of that.

She smiled fondly as she thought back to all the happy times they'd had together. There were so many moments of pure happiness that made her all warm inside. Like when Roger came to apologize to her the first time they'd met, long before he'd become the pirate king, or the time he came back after almost two years away in the Grand Line, holding a beautiful golden necklace and a huge grin on his face as he said those words that had become their thing, "Missed me?" - which had turned into "I'm back!" which eventually became "I'm home." - or the time when she'd told him he was going to be a father and he'd twirled her across the living room in joy.

"We do need a playpen."

"A what?"

"It's a small fence that works to keep the baby from walking off, or maybe a crib that works as a playpen? That way we could move it around the house," she mussed.

When Ace got old enough to walk there existed the real possibility of him wandering into the forest, maybe even as soon as when he started to crawl. She didn't want him going somewhere without their supervision, especially here where she didn't know the terrain or the animals and definitely not the people.

She tried to think of all the necessities that they now lacked and which ones were a higher priority and which were lower on the list. So far the crib, diapers and blankets were at the top of the list.

"What about you?" Bowdre asked. "Don't you need anything?"

"You did move and don't seem to have taken all that much with you."

Rouge hummed. She hadn't thought as much about her and Roger as she had about the necessities for Ace, but now that he said it, there were things she would like, too. Like books, both baby books and books for her - Roger didn't care much about reading. If she was going to spend the next twenty years up on this mountain she needed some material to keep her busy, books were a good start.

She looked around the front yard of their new residence and frowned. Back home she had had some beautiful bushes full of flowers and they had taken up a lot of her time. They had even been her source of employment. Working with the flora had relaxed her, helping her relax and release her stress. Whenever she'd read something about Roger in the news - a battle, some propaganda about the Roger Pirate's having disappeared, or the similar articles - she had turned to care for her plants.

Maybe she could convince the bandits to let her plant a small garden somewhere around the house. It would definitely improve the surroundings.

But necessities for her and Roger… A bed would definitely be at the top.

"A bed - for us, not Ace. Those mattresses aren't exactly comfortable to sleep on."

If she slept on those mattresses for too long, she might develop a back problem and she did not just end nine months of back pain just to trade it for more back pain. They were flat, hard and lacked the amount of cushion that made a mattress a mattress. Not to mention that they weren't exactly the cleanest, either. They probably hadn't been washed or replaced for quite some time.

There were of course smaller things they'd need, such as toiletries and she needed to find a drugstore that could replenish her narcolepsy medication. But a bed was a good place to start, as well as covers for said bed.

"Dadan-san," Rouge said, sitting down next to the huge woman. Dadan gave a nod in acknowledge. "Are there any towns other than Windmill village and Goa on the island?"

The bandit pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. She tapped the floorboards with a finger as she thought. Then she nodded.

"There's a few scattered towns along the coast on the other side of the island," Dadan said. "But they are a few days away at least by ride, walking would take even longer."

Rouge sighed. She had really hoped to be able to avoid Goa.

"So Goa is our best bet," she said.

The capital sounded like it could become a problem. If it was full of gangs and thugs then new faces would also draw attention. The bandits might be people who'd occasionally be seen in the city, but Rouge had no doubts that she would turn at least a few heads. Which was the exact opposite of what they wanted.

"Seems so," Dadan nodded.

They decided to go the next day and that Rouge would be accompanied by Dogra and Folliard. Dogra would handle the finasials while Folliard would handle the heavy lifting. It was also decided that Roger would not be coming with them. It would be too risky. It had barely been little over two months since the news about Roger's supposed death and his face was still plastered all over the world. If someone with said face turned up in East Blue then the marine's would be all over it. They had already had to run once and Rouge was in no mood to do so again.

"You can't come," Rouge said, tightening the belt with the hip bags around her waist.

Roger pouted. "But I want to..."

Rouge smiled and patted his shoulder in sympathy. "I know, honey, but we talked about this. There is no way they won't recognize you."

"And I don't want any marines coming here because someone saw the Pirate King," Dadan grumbled. She probably didn't notice that they could all hear her mutterings.

"But I want to see the city," Roger said, puppy dog eyes now accompanying the pout.

"But she's right," Rouge said.

There was no way that Roger wouldn't be recognized down in Goa, no matter how far from the Grand Line they were. The bandits had recognized him immediately and Rouge had a hard time believing Roger would be able to walk through Goa without someone being able to place his face. If what she'd been told about the place was true, then there would probably be a couple of stupid schmucks who'd want to cash in on the bounty on his head. It would probably have them set for a good couple of years.

Roger couldn't go with them.

But maybe that was a good thing. Rouge didn't want to leave Ace alone with the bandits, but they still needed to go buy the essentials from the list. Roger wasn't a fan of shopping, anyone could tell you that, and Rouge wouldn't mind a small break.

She didn't want to leave him completely without something to do, though. A bored Roger tended to be a Roger who got into trouble and that was the last thing they needed right now.

"You'll look after Ace while I'm gone," she said.

She had a memory of reading somewhere that it was good for new fathers to bond with the baby early on. It would strengthen the bond between them and lessen the baby's dependency on their mother. It would be good for Roger.

"And I'm not going alone, Dogra, Folliard and Dadan-san will go with me."

The two men nodded.

"Exactly- Wait, what?" Dadan exclaimed. "Why am I going?"

"It would be nice to talk with someone other than a man for once," Rouge said. "I've spent the last two month's on a boat with two oafs who can't go two seconds without arguing - and if we are going to share the same home for the unforeseeable future, I would like to know you better." Then she smiled deviously. "Of course, you could stay here with Roger if you'd rather not come."

Dadan grumbled inconsistencies before she crossed her arms. "Fine, I'm going."

Rouge gave her a sugary smile before turning back to Roger and the rest of the bandits.

"Alright, there are spare diapers in our bedroom and if he gets cranky try putting him to sleep. Try not to feed him too soon after we've left, he ate barely half an hour ago and if he eats too much he'll just get upset," she explained. "There are blankets upstairs and you can bring the box down for him to lie in. And-"

"Rouge, I've got this," Roger said, cupping her cheeks. "Everything will be fine."

"I want the house the exact same way it was when we left, you hear me?" Dadan barked as she and their small group made themselves ready to leave.

"Yes, Boss!" the bandits said in unison. It was almost reminiscent of the marines.

Rouge gave Roger a quick kiss. "Behave," she said. "Promise not to cause too much trouble."

"I never cause trouble," he smiled.

Despite all the rumors and stories about it, the forest was beautiful. The large trees cast long shadows with small rays of sunlight shining through, giving off an almost ethereal atmosphere. Chirping of bugs sang in the wind like natural music while butterflies danced across their path. Above them the flutter of wings and trill of the birds reached their ears, like a smokescreen for the real terrors that roamed the forest around them. Rouge could faintly sense the presence of what must be an animal walking alongside them before it turned to walk further into the forest.

It would definitely be easy to get lost among the vast amount of greenery that all looked the same to the naked eye. Would it even be possible to memorize the many paths in such a covered area, she mused.

She had never been in a forest before, at least not one of this size. She felt absolutely miniscule in size to the large trees and a part of her wondered if this is what it felt like to be standing next to a giant.

Baterilla had been a fairly small island with only two major - with major being just a few yards wider than the one in Windmill Village - ports. This meant that the amount of forest on the island was incredibly reduced and the few areas that fell under the category looked like a backyard bush in comparison to mt. Colubo. This was the first time she had the chance to actually take in the scenery around her.

It was… An odd feeling. She had never left her home island, much less South Blue, before. Having had to watch her home shrink away in the distance, the smoke of her home rising up into the heavens, had been almost painful as the voice in the back of her mind told her that she could never go back. So having set foot on the soil of an island in another blue had been both exciting and terrifying, though not as much as having to sail underneath the red line had been - never in her life had she seen fish that big.

Dawn Island was the polar opposite to Baterilla in so many ways, with the few exceptions she found being all connected to Windmill Village despite having spent less than ten minutes in the small port-town. Those similarities being small village relying on the port and land for economic stability, fishing and farming being the main source of employment and sustenance. But that had been the only similarities she'd seen.

"How far to Goa?" Rouge asked, pushing some branches out of her face.

"About an hour and a half, maybe two?" Dogra answered, sounding a little unsure. "Sometimes it takes longer."

"Why?"

"Different reasons, but most of the time it's because of the animals," he said. "You wouldn't want to cross paths with one, so we may have to take a few detours."

Dadan looked at the strawberry blonde with undeniable curiosity. She was a strange being, to say the least.

At first glance, Rouge looked like your average young mother. Actually, she didn't look much like a mother either. You couldn't tell that she'd birthed a child just a few months ago. You couldn't tell either that this woman had somehow managed to ensnare the Pirate King as well as keep him by her side. That she was, if unofficially, a queen - even if it was one of pirates.

No, Dadan would never have guessed had she not been smacked in the face with it barely three days ago.

What was it about this woman that stood out among the rest? How had Rouge trapped what was a supposedly untrappable man?

Was it the strawberry hair? The freckles dotting her tanned cheeks and slender shoulders? The chocolate eyes that held determination and kindness yet hid unimpressive strength no one would guess such a small frame could contain?

Rouge lifted her orange and red skirts as she walked over a tree root that reached up to her kneecaps and offered Dogra her hand to help him over once on the other side.

Was it the grace with which she moved? The kindness she showed to others? Was it the strength that Rouge had exhibited that first day on the mountain?

Dadan couldn't figure it out. She had no problem believing Rouge capable of turning a few heads her way, but Roger? The Pirate King? It escaped her.

How had the two ended up together? How had Roger met this pretty little thing and somehow ended up in her care all the way out here on a random island in East Blue?

"What are you thinking about, Boss?" Folliard asked.

Rouge was happily chatting away with Dogra at the front, bright smile on her lips and shining like a mini sun.

Her curiosity took over. "How did someone like you end up with a pirate?"

Rouge looked around at her, brow furrowed. "What do you mean, someone like me?"

"A pretty girl like you," Dadan explained. "Wouldn't you want a farmer husband or a fishmen* on some peaceful island somewhere?"

Rouge laughed, almost like two pearl's bumping into each other. "Of course not!"

The tree bandits raised their eyebrows in unison. Rouge smiled and looked up at the canopy above them, hands clasped behind her back and seemingly looking far beyond the present.

"Then, how did you end up here?" Dogra asked.

"That is a very long story."

"Not really," Folliard said. The three turned to look at him, wide eyed and furrowed brows.

"How do you know?" Rouge asked, eyes narrowing.

"Roger told us yesterday, about how you met on… uhm, somewhere in South Blue, right?" he asked more than said.

"He did, did he?" Rouge muttered, looking a little less than pleased. "Well, if you already know…" she said with a shrug.

They continued walking as Rouge talked.

"When I first met Roger, long before he became the Pirate King, I thought he was a big idiot," Rouge started, speaking more like she was stating a fact than telling a story. "I knew who he was to a certain degree. He was all over the newspapers back then, too." She smiled fondly. "He and some of his crew were messing around in the square and they ended up knocking over one of my flower stands. The only one that had the courtesy to stop and apologize was Reyleigh," she huffed.

Dadan had a hard time seeing Roger messing around as anything other than getting into a fight.

"T-the Dark King?" Folliard asked in disbelief. He swallowed audibly.

Rouge nodded, answering with a hum.

"So I confronted them about it," Rouge continued.

The three bandits looked at her with surprise - it seemed to be a common emotion these days. She had known who Roger was and had still approached him to confront him about her broken flower stand? And she mentioned Dark King Reyleigh so nonchalantly that he might as well have been any other Joe and not a dangerous criminal wanted by the Marines. Despite knowing that this woman was connected to Roger, the shock was almost too much. She was either very brave or very stupid.

"He had the gall to act as if he didn't know what he'd done, which it turned out that he didn't." At that she shook her head and sighed, obviously referring to Roger.

"So you slapped him?" Folliard finished with a question.

She nodded. "Yes, so I slapped him."

"How very romantic," Dadan said with a roll of her eyes.

"I had to slap him in the face with romance quite a few times before he got the concept," Rouge chuckled, once again holding her skirts up as they walked through a muddy path. "He made it up to me."

Roger watched as Rouge, Dadan, Dogra and Folliard disappeared behind the trees. He was still a little sour over not being able to go with them, but understood why he had to stay behind. You didn't survive the Grand Line without at least some common sense, and you definitely didn't survive Portgas D. Rouge without listening to what she had to say or she'd slap you until you understood why it was dangerous - he could vouch. Hopefully he and Rouge could go to Goa together one day without having to worry about putting Ace in danger.

The moment the group was out of sight, Ace - as if on cue - started crying again. A collective "Come on!" echoed among the bandits.

"Shh, Ace," Roger hushed in an attempt at getting the baby to calm down and started rocking back and forth.

"Can't you do something?" Henry asked, watching Roger try and get Ace to quiet down.

Ace was a mama's boy. He clung to Rouge like hair did its roots and had a tendency to cry when she wasn't in the room or got really upset and she wasn't there to comfort him. He refused to let Roger tend to him at night, only screaming more when he tried.

"I don't know, what do babies like?" he asked.

He had never really comforted Ace before yesterday and that had been easy to solve once the babe had been fed. He had just eaten, so he couldn't be hungry and he wasn't smelling like a dumpster, so he hadn't filled his diaper, so the only reason why he was crying right now was probably because he'd seen Rouge leave behind the trees.

Roger was lost on what he should do. He had never even held a baby before Rouge had handed him Ace when the boy was born. He knew very little about childcare besides what Rouge and Garp had told him - though Rouge had told him to take everything the marine said with a shaker of salt.

It had surprised Roger to find out that the man had had a son himself. He had told the two new parents stories of when his own son was just a child. Not that he had been the best source of information about childcare, but Roger had listened with care. Any information was good information.

"What about singing?" a bandit piped up. "Don't babies like singing?"

"Of course!" Roger nodded.

It made sense. Everyone likes singing, he reasoned and he knew quite a few songs from his time sailing the seas. If there was one thing pirates liked to do while partying, it was singing and drinking. Especially at the same time. They also like the company of beautiful women, but mostly singing and drinking.

But which song? Not just any song would help calm Ace down, it had to be one that was slow and soothing. There were also a lot of songs that definitely weren't fit for children to hear.

"I know!" he exclaimed.

Roger cleared his throat and started rocking Ace back and forth in a slow rhythm. He started humming low in his throat, making his chest vibrate.

"~Sleep boonie pirate laddie, while the waves they roll**~" he sang in a deep voice.

He was definitely not the best singer. Anything but, actually. But he sang with confidence, not seeming to care about the way the bandits looked at him with shock.

"~Sleep bonnie pirate laddie, ocean breeze blow~

"~Feel the ship rock to and fro, hear wind through rigging sigh~"

Ace went from crying to whining, looking up at his dad with a scrunched up face and puffy eyes. Roger looked down at him, a smile on his face.

"~The gentle ocean sounds below, a pirate lullaby~"

The Grey Terminal was as much of a dump, if not more so, as she'd been told it was. There were mountains of trash everywhere and the smell was foul. People were wandering around in rags, digging through the trash piles for anything worthwhile. Some found the remains of food that looked way beyond its expiration date and yet still seemed ecstatic about the find while others found some sort of valuable necklace or other trinket that more often than not caused them to be hunted until they either got away or lost their find to someone else.

She had to lift her skirts as she followed Dogra and Folliard through the trash maze. They seemed to know exactly where they were going and she guessed it was towards the huge number of aura's ahead of them. There were plenty of aura's around them as well, more than she'd thought there would be in the Grey Terminal, not coming near the amount in the city, but definitely more than your average small town.

A few heads turned up when they passed and she could feel their eyes following her. Murmurs erupted around them, some being as bold as pointing straight at them.

She ignored them, looking straight forward towards the large gate ahead of them. The closer to it they came, the more people there were. A long line was formed outside the large opening while a group of guards decided who could come and go into the city. Plenty of people were turned away because of whatever reason the guards found legit, most being people she assumed were from the Gray Terminal. The homeless that were let in all had large bags with them, some looking more full than others; the guards seemed to be inspecting all of the bags.

"What are they doing?" Rouge asked.

"Checking their bags," Folliard said. He was holding their money pouch tight in his hands, keeping an eye out around them. "You can't bring in just about anything."

"Are there any specific items they don't allow?" Rouge asked.

"Not that we have to worry about," Dadan answered. "They know us well enough."

Getting through the gate had been easy. The guards had turned to look at them, given them all a one over before pointing with his gun that they could continue through.

Rouge didn't know that her heart was pounding heavily in her chest until they were inside and it calmed down. She let out a sigh of relief.

For some reason she had expected there to be some kind of trouble getting through. As if the man could sense that she wasn't from the island or that she was somehow connected to Roger and detain them. An image of a marine convoy appeared in her mind and a shudder ran down her spine, sending chills throughout her body. Every worst case scenario playing out inside her head.

"Alright," Dadan said, one hand on her hip and holding a list of her own in the other. "While we're here, we might as well stock up."

Most of the items on the list were related to repairs, like nails and bolts, others were more mundane, like cleaning supplies and soap. They went through both of the two lists and made up a plan on what to prioritize and what could wait till another time.

After a small debate it was decided that the baby essentials would go first, being the one that would take longer and because the three bandits really didn't want to piss Rouge off.

Most of the shops, Rouge quickly found out, were seedy low class vintage stores with price exceeding the actual price of what they were selling. Another thing that was made clear was that one of the best things you could in Edge Town was barter the price down. But it was risky, because the salesmen were seasoned owners and knew what they were doing and could easily trick you into a much more expensive price tag than what you could actually afford.

Finding a shop with reasonable prices for baby cribs proved to be harder than she'd expected. But most of the ones she found she just needed to scan the cribs before turning on her heel and leave in search of another store.

"No."

She shook her head and went on to the next one.

"Absolutely not."

She said something about size and color.

"I don't think so."

She didn't even look at the crib as she walked past it.

"No."

Rouge pursed her lips as she looked down disappointedly at the cribs. Folliard had stopped paying attention to what was wrong with the beds a while ago, not understanding why she couldn't just pick one and be happy with it. They all looked about the same - wooden and square.

"Is this all you have?" Rouge asked the salesman.

The man, an elder man with oval glasses and a face that looked like a wrinkly butt, nodded with a plastered on fake smile. "Yes, are any of them to your liking, miss?"

"No," she answered pointedly.

"Maybe if you just take another look around, I'm sure there is one that would suit your needs," the salesman said in a voice that was too sweet and too well practiced to be genuine.

"No, we're done here," Rouge said and walked out of the shop.

"What was wrong with them?" Dogra asked as they made their way down the street. "They all looked fine."

Rouge scoffed. "They didn't feel right."

Folliard frowned. Was it always this hard to shop with a woman?

"Then why don't you just build your own crib?" he muttered. He was tired of going through stores. He was a more get-your-shit-and-get-out kind of guy.

Of course!

Why hadn't she thought of that? They could just build a crib, one that looked just like the one back home. They could paint it whatever color they wanted and do whatever adjustments that came to mind. It would also be more personal.

No matter how desperate she was for a crib for Ace she was not going to pay half a fortune for one.

It had not been this hard to find a crib back on Baterilla. In fact, Rouge had entered the store and had immediately fallen in love with an egg-shaped one out of white wood. She had padded it with blue blankets and white pillows and Ace had just looked adorable in it. Unfortunately he had only lived on Baterilla for little over a week and spent nearly all of those nights either awake or sleeping in Rouge's arms. The crib hadn't been used and finding one to replace it was proving to be harder than possible.

It was a good thing that Roger hadn't been allowed to come with because he would have fallen over of boredom. He had never been able to focus on buying a crib. He hadn't even been involved in buying the old one even if he had tried to be as helpful as he could.

But building their own? She loved the idea.

After a trip to the bookstore where Rouge picked a few books on fairy tales, some novels she found interesting and one on gardening with information that she mostly already knew but was still good to have on hand, they made their way back up the mountain.

They didn't have as much with them as they had expected when they left, but for some reason that was a relief. It meant less to carry and would also get them back to the house faster.

Roger smiled when he sensed the group returning to the house and waved at them when they came out through the woodwork. "How'd it go?"

"Didn't find a crib," Rouge sighed, setting her bag down before sitting down herself. "But we don't need to."

"Finally okay with the box?"

"No," she said, swatting him on the arm. "But we can build our own!"

"OH!" Roger said, smile growing wider. He could picture it in his mind, how he'd want the crib to look like. It slowly grew in his mind and he nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea."

"By the way," Rouge said and dug through the bag. She pulled something out of the bag and threw it at him. "I got you something."

He picked up the gray beard and raised an eyebrow. "What's this for?"

"So you can go into town," Rouge said with a smile.

*A fishman as in a fisher, not the species but as a man who works with fish

**The Whiskey Bards - A pirate's lullaby

Now this chapter was supposed to be longer, but once I actually got to Goa I realized that there wasn't much I could put there that wouldn't just pad the chapter out with nonsense that really didn't matter to the story. I could have Rouge walk around the town looking for a shop, but that wouldn't be interesting. I could also have there be some kind of complication by the gate, but we already know that Dogra could go all the way up to the port in High Town (as seen when Sabo 'died') so I'm fairly sure that the bandits are known people in Edge Town, so that wouldn't really add much to the story either.

So, yeah, this chapter didn't really turn out the way I hoped it would, but I couldn't come up with something that wouldn't just be useless babble. So I'm sorry if the Goa visit is shorter than you thought it would be.