AN: This chapter takes place a few months after the last.

Disclaimer: One Piece and all characters (unless they're OCs) are the property of Echiro Oda. Props to him for being a badass.

Dragons of the Void Century

Chapter 06: Monsters At My Birthday

Adélaïde's hand clutched the immaculately white linen more tenaciously than eagle's talons snatching up sea-born prey. "Relax." Basi comforted, smiling widely. "As long as this dress is, you're not gonna be able to hide under it." Adélaïde's nervous expression gave no indication of abating. Not even a little. "Oh come on." Basi replied teasingly, her face scrunched into a mock pout. "Don't you want these boys to see how beautiful you look?" Adélaïde turned her head to her slave-nanny.

Unlike her older, fair-haired cousins Céleste and Héloïse, fully fledged Celestial Dragon maidens who relished finding themselves at the center of Mariejois' opulent and extravagant court life, driving droves of lovestruck suitors mad with desire, all Adélaïde wanted to do was hide in her bed, away from all the noise and pizzazz, curled up with novels about pirates and the maidens who found themselves aboard their ships, thrust in the midst of high octane adventure. Her face flushed painfully with scarlet. "You really think so?" Adélaïde whispered, struggling to believe what Basi had told her. The countless times Alphonse had called her a 'human bookworm' and the almost daily occurrence of Gisèle threatening to have Basi flogged for not cutting Adélaïde off from her books screamed otherwise. Am I really beautiful? She doubted, her cheeks as red as flame-licked coals.

"Hey, now." Basi whispered gently, placing her warm hand on the girl's shoulder. "Adi." Starting today, following Adélaïde's coming of age ceremony, Basi would no longer be allowed to address her by her nickname, at least not in public. The childhood nickname would be replaced by the honorific "young mistress" or even "m'lady". To say Adélaïde felt trapped by Mariejois, with all its stifling customs and lavish, over the top pomp, was an understatement. "I won't let your face be sour on this amazing day. Today's your Thirteenth BIRTHDAY!" Basi made the goofy face that'd set Adélaïde off into bursts of uncontrollable laughter all throughout her childhood. Adélaïde smiled in spite of herself, appreciative of how far Basi was going to cheer her up.

"Basi, I'm not six anymore." Adélaïde giggly protested.

Basi shrugged. "Really? I didn't notice." She leaned in closer, her eyes scanning Adélaïde from head to foot in mock scrutiny. "Woah! You're gonna be a woman now." Adélaïde rolled her eyes. She felt Basi's hand tousling her hair. Basi winked at her. "In all seriousness, I know you're growing up." Was that sadness Adélaïde heard in Basi's voice? Why? What had she done? She looked into Basi's eyes and saw the twinkling of restrained droplets.

"Basi, I don't care how old I am. You can call me Adi if you want to." Adélaïde stated matter of factly.

"Hey now." Basi was startled. "You can't just go turning over traditions whenever you feel like it. Lady Gisèle'll throw a fit!"

Adélaïde scowled at the mention of that icy-hearted woman. "I DON'T CARE!" The fierceness in Adélaïde's voice took both her and Basi by surprise. "If I'm going to grow up and be a woman, preparing to marry someone I don't give two shits about, who only cares about my title–"

"Adi?! Language!" Basi's hands perched themselves on her hips. My God! What's come over this girl today?

"–Then I should at least be allowed to be YOUR Adi!" Her eyes burned with molten indignation. Basi froze. She'd only seen Adélaïde this angry after witnessing Alphonse's cruelty to slaves. Basi felt that familiar dagger-like pain stirring in her chest. This is my punishment, she thought, bending down to the girl sitting in the emerald chair, my curse for keeping you from the truth. For denying you what you need. Basi smiled at the miffed teenager, the dagger plummeting all the more deeply into her heart. Adi, you have no idea how much this hurts, how much I want to cave in and tell you. But, if you are to stay free, I have to bear these chains. Silently. Seeing Basi's smile, the slave-nanny's eyes riddled with pain and hurt, brought Adélaïde to her senses. "I'm sorry, Basi." She cracked an apologetic, shame-fraught smile. "I didn't mean to be a brat with you."

"Shush." Basi insisted. She held the teenager in her arms. "My girl, you don't have to worry about being anything other than yourself when we're alone. I love who you are."

Adélaïde blushed. "Why is it you're more of a mother to me than Gisèle?" Basi hugged the girl close, an embrace tight enough to shield the teenager from the tears welling up in her slave-nanny's eyes, heavy, watery secrets that could never be allowed to roll down her tan cheeks.

Adélaïde scratched at the myrrh slathered spot on her forehead. Damn that human of a high priest for rubbing this itchy gunk on my forehead. She sighed in annoyance. The glistening, sweet-smelling resin, the symbol of her blossoming journey into maidenhood, gave her skin a frustrating oily sensation. Kinda feels like this prison. Adélaïde thought. Smells great and it's nice to look at, but don't let it touch you. She smiled at the thought of the palace littered with armed guards and wardens to keep the Celestial Dragons tied to their extravagantly wasteful lifestyles of excess. She relished the thought of her cousin and foster brother Alphonse and her aunt and adoptive mother Gisèle being locked in a room, forced to gorge themselves on obscene amounts of cake and sweets until they exploded. Serves them right. She let out a loud giggle, then caught herself.

Gisèle probably had a bunch of slaves scouring the palace in search of her right now. Adélaïde'd given Basi the slip to sneak around the halls of the palace. The sights and sounds of her thirteenth birthday celebration had been comparable to sitting in a cage with lions nearing dinner time. Celebrities, dignitaries, and heads of state of every rank and reputation had filed in to wish her well. But, Adélaïde had felt like the lions were sizing her up, trying to see whether the youngest member of the Childebert family had what it took to be a Celestial Dragon maiden. How she hated it. The faux politeness, the politics, the scheming in the backdrop of everything that went on in the palace, all of it screamed how out of place she was. Why can't I be kidnapped by pirates, like Elsa Smernias? The protagonist of her latest novel definitely led a far more interesting life than the stifling nightmare Adélaïde found herself unable to wake up from.

Speaking of books, it'd probably not be a good idea for Adélaïde to return to her room at this point. The library was also most definitely off limits. With her notoriety as an avid reader, those would be the first places Gisèle would have in mind to look for her. Gisèle. Adélaïde's fists clenched at the thought of the woman who seemed to derive pleasure from deriding her foster-daughter's every flaw. Far from the kindness her uncle Ambroise had shown to her from as far back as she could remember, insisting she call him 'daddy' or 'father' from the beginning, Gisèle treated Adélaïde like the dangerously ravenous Banana Gators in many of Mariejois' freakishly enormous aquarium tanks, a pet to be observed at a distance. Nothing Adélaïde did was good enough for her. She certainly wasted no time reminding the girl of the huge gap between her Plain Jane, cusp of puberty awkwardness and Céleste and Héloïse's full, womanly, and graceful beauty. Basi's more of a mother than she'll ever be to me. In the aftermath of the horror that'd taken place at Mariejois a few months ago, Basi had held her and done her best to make up for the absence of Adélaïde's childhood friend. Gisèle had acted as if what had happened had been nothing other than a stain on an expensive dress, something to be handed off to someone else to fix and forgotten about the very next second.

Adélaïde's brow furrowed. Let that woman look for her. She wasn't about to make it easy. She continued her stroll through the hallways and corridors. As a six year old, she'd often run off from Basi's lessons to go exploring. There were hundreds of rooms in the palace and Adélaïde didn't know a soul who'd been to every one. After a long period of walking, she found herself outside of a room she'd often seen Ambroise disappear into. She heard the sound of men's voices and with time to kill and insatiable curiosity, she pressed her ear up against the wall, hoping to ascertain the source of the hoopla.

The clink and slosh of wine being poured into a goblet echoed in Adélaïde's ears.

"Curse the spawn of that traitor Donquioxte!" A voice spat. Adélaïde's ears perked up.

"Indeed. How'd he find out about our Sacred Treasure? And more importantly, how is that demon child still alive?" Another chimed.

"Ambroise, don't you have CP0 working on that?"

More wine sloshed around in goblets. "I do." Ambroise replied. "But sometimes it takes the best of hunting dogs a little while to get on the trail, especially when they're hunting rats as persistent as these two brothers."

A fist thumped on a table. "You think we can let them live after that stunt that imp pulled here a few months ago? I want them found and brought here so I can have their heads mounted!"

"Understood." Ambroise agreed.

An older, more subdued voice spoke next. "There's a lot of talk going around that, after finding that dangerous fruit, he put together a pirate crew of scum and riffraff."

The owner of the table-thumping voice snorted. "You see that? The little runt just proved our point."

Ambroise laughed. "That insolent brat came back here and begged to be one of us again. Overcoming the difference between the blood running through his veins and ours is as impossible as a paraplegic successfully scaling the Red Line while blindfolded." He paused, taking a drink of wine. He continued. "I'd always respected Homing as a gentleman and a dear friend. That's why I tried so hard to change his mind when he'd started spouting off that heresy to me." He snorted in disgust. "Live as a human? Leave the palace. What buffoonery!"

"No wonder his own brat murdered him." A raspy voice spat. "Did our work for us, if you ask me."

"And did you see the way the younger of the traitor's vermin spawns just flopped on the ground like a dying fish?"

The ensuing chorus of laughter made Adélaïde's stomach gyrate with horror. "He couldn't bear the sight of his father's head in Doflamingo's hand."

"We'll be sure to do the same with his brother's once we catch him. What I wouldn't give to see those eyes rolled back in his head, mouth agape in shock."

More laughter echoed throughout the room.

"As a kid, my mother used to tell me if I held my mouth open too long, flies and gnats would fly into it." Ambroise quipped.

Adélaïde couldn't take any more of this cruelty. How could her adoptive father join in with these monsters? How could he laugh at Roci's expense? The Donquixote family had been nothing but kind to her. Auntie Donquixote had been a kind and loving soul, the kind of regal woman she'd hoped she'd someday grow into. Roci had been her best friend. Ambroise knew that. How could he laugh? How could he?

She briskly walked away from the door slumping in a corner as stinging, saltwater dripped down her cheeks. She let the tears come, pain she'd been trying to bury for months gushing out of her like dammed seawater billowing forth at the opening of the Gates of Justice she'd read about in an almanac.

Roci. Her tortured mind reached for a person she feared was long gone. Are you still alive? Faced with an onslaught of answerless questions, all her battered heart could do was mourn.

Hey guys!

Sorry for the LONG wait! I took some time off to completely outline and flesh out this story and figure out where I'm going to take Dragon and Adélaïde. All I can say is I got a lot of surprises in store for you guys including the appearance of a younger Gol D. Roger so keep reading!

Poor Adélaïde though. The kid just can't catch a break. I'm afraid our heroine is in for A LOT more heartache.

Next week, we'll switch back to Dragon and Foosha village.

I'll be honest and say that this week and next week's chapters will probably end up being my LEAST favorite chapters to write. It took me a while to finish this one because I'm too excited about getting to some of the craziness that's about to begin starting the chapter after next. With only a few chapters left until Dragon and Adélaïde meet up, I think y'all will be happy with some of the coming attractions.

Also, starting this week, I'm going to start answering each of your reviews, so if you guys have any questions or comments you want to throw at me about the story, don't be shy!

Here are my responses to last week's reviews

*** DEN DEN MUSHI TIME! ***

xenocanaan: I'm glad you can't wait! That makes me happy. Sorry I took so long!

13kuroineko: Dragon's anger and how he grows into the calm, level-headed commander we all know and get hype over is part of the story. Stay tuned!

BatmanSwim2016: Doflamingo is NUTS. No doubt about that. And yeah, Rocinante is in such rough shape right about now. :'( Corazon nooooooooooo. *Sniffle* I'm still torn up about that.

SNicole25: Yep, 6 years older. And you're definitely right about the horrors shaping Adélaïde into the woman she'll be in the future. Unfortunately, there are some more horrors to come before that can happen. I know, I'm cruel. :(

Guest: Sorry for not quickly adding my chapter. I'm trying to be back on a more regular schedule now that I have much firmer grasp on where my story's going.

Mr. Kira: You'll get more, my dude! Stay tuned, I'm glad you're enjoying this story!

Black Scorpio X: Thanks bro! I'm glad you decided to sail with me and I know right? Dragon is AWESOME!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to everyone who hasn't, do me a favor and send me your thoughts next week!

Pick up the Den Den Mushi and call me, I promise I won't bite.

Read and review!

Also, if you believe in this story, don't be afraid to tell your friends to check it out! I'd love to have some more crewmates.

All that being said, I'll see you all next week!

*Hops aboard Ace's Striker raft and sails away*