Betaread by DemonicWhispers!

Chapter X

"You shouldn't waste the kindness of others."

(Luffy/Usopp ~8, Nami ~9, Zoro/Sanji ~10, Bepo/Ace/Sabo ~11, Law ~15 y.o.)

Luffy, Zoro, and Law were gazing at the open wooden gates in front of them. A tall wooden fence enclosed the whole perimeter of the yard with several buildings and a neat garden surrounding them. A signboard above the entrance stated that this was Seikeikan Dojo.

"It's bigger than Isshin Dojo," Zoro said in awe.

Luffy tilted his head, puzzled. "I remember it being in a shop, not a Dojo," he mumbled under his breath.

Law glanced at the younger raven. After a moment, he carefully commented, "You never know where things or people might end up in the future."

A small, knowing smile touched the corners of Luffy's mouth. "You're right, Law," the boy agreed easily. "Let's go inside!"

The teen narrowed his eyes at his youngest brother's back, but said nothing more and followed soon after. They crossed the garden and entered the Dojo.

The hall was well lit and clean with incense filling the air, practice swords and other tools tidily organized in the corner. There was a man kneeling behind a small table in one corner, frowning at the sheet of paper in his hand. His face was stern, a few grey strands were mixed between his dark hair, and the right sleeve of his royal blue kimono was lying flat at the side – the man was missing his whole arm.

The stranger looked up at the kids, his gaze lingering on Law's nodachi for a bit longer, and a few more wrinkles joined his frown. "Come with parents if you want to join the Dojo," he said dismissively, returning back to glaring at the paper.

"Not here to join," Luffy responded. "We're here for the sword."

The man's eyes snapped up at them again, but none of the three boys seemed to be intimidated by his sharp and keen glower. He put the paper down on the table with a sigh. "Has Haijen sent children to do his bidding now?" he wondered, a barely perceptible anger layering his voice. "Go back and tell him that I haven't changed my mind and the sword is still not for sale."

The trio stared at him blankly. Luffy folded his arms and tilted his head to the side, furrowing his brow, as he usually did when he was confused about something. "Who's that?" he asked. "And who are you, ossan?"

The Dojo master was taken aback by his words. He scrutinized the kids for a while, his expression giving away a feeling that he knew that they were much more than his eyes could perceive. "If you're not here on Haijen's orders," he spoke carefully, "what sword are you talking about?"

"Sandai Kitetsu," Luffy replied as he looked at the furthermost cupboard with a small grin.

The man followed his line of sight and his eyes widened. "How do you know about it?"

"It's Zoro's sword, of course, I know about it," the boy responded with a distinct 'well, duh' tone.

Law couldn't help but smile in amusement. "You know, this isn't how you convince people of something."

"But it's the truth!"

Zoro scowled at the youngest boy. "Is that sword as good as you say?" he asked skeptically.

"If you can control it," Luffy said, scrunching his face a bit in displeasure. "It may be a bit too much of a jerk for you right now."

"Too much of a jerk?" The young swordsman blinked at the younger boy. "You understand that you're talking about a sword, right?"

Luffy glanced at him, and the corner of his mouth twitched up. "You'll understand once you have it in your hands." He turned back to the man, who observed them in silence, and asked, "Hey, can we buy it?"

The Dojo master stayed quiet, his gaze calculating and contemplating. "I already told you that it's not for sale," he finally said.

"Eeeh?" Luffy's jaw dropped. After a moment, he scratched his head. "Well, that's a problem…"

"We have money," Law informed.

The man sighed. "Money is not the issue here," he admitted, his hand unconsciously brushing along the empty kimono sleeve. "Sandai Kitetsu is the cursed sword. It's too dangerous."

"Luffy, didn't you say that this is also the cursed sword?" Law asked after a short pause as he brought his nodachi forward and frowned at it, ignoring the Dojo master's surprised 'What?!'. "Feels like an ordinary blade to me."

"Yep," Luffy answered nonchalantly. "But Kikoku is different. Besides, it's still sleeping. Once it wakes up, you'll know."

"How intriguing," Law said softly with a smirk forming on his lips. He stared at his weapon for a bit longer, then put it back on his shoulder. "Well, it feels right to have it."

"Of course it does!" the little Pirate King cheered. "You're not Traffy without Kikoku, your cool attitude, and tattoos!"

Law scowled at his little brother and simply stared with the unreadable look in his eyes. "Tattoos, huh?" he murmured thoughtfully. He was thinking about getting some body art done on himself, but hadn't told anyone about it yet. Nevertheless, he didn't comment, just flicked Luffy's forehead, eliciting a joyous 'shishishishi'.

"You kids… Who are you?" the man asked, watching them in disbelief.

Luffy put his hand on the top of the straw hat and grinned, wide and bright. "I'm Mon–"

"Hirotada-saaaaan!" a yell suddenly echoed throughout an empty Dojo as the door was ripped open and a group of men entered like they owned the place. Each of them sported mocking smiles on their faces and had katanas either in their hands or attached to their waists.

"Haijen," the Dojo master, Hirotada, growled. There was a distinct undertone of animosity, and as he slowly rose up, even his body language betrayed hostility towards the group.

The burly guy in front laughed. "Hirotada-san," he said again, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I'm gonna get that sword from you today."

"Over my dead body!"

"What can you do with only one arm?!" the man laughed again, grabbing his katana to unsheathe it, but stopped when he noticed three kids gawking at him. His mouth stretched into a menacing grin. "Oh, you even have such cute pupils here! Are you sure that you don't want to give that useless sword to me?"

Hirotada gritted his teeth. "They are not my pupils, just random kids that wandered in here. Don't touch them."

"Hmm," Luffy hummed with his arms behind his head – the picture of relaxed indifference. "They remind me of those guys we met on your island, Zoro."

The green-haired boy rolled his eyes. "At least I know now that you can't be taken as a hostage."

Law raised an eyebrow at Zoro. "Taken as a hostage?"

"Tch, I thought that he was in danger… Little bastard."

Luffy laughed, as carefree as the wind.

"Stop ignoring me!" the burly man roared, drawing his sword and slashing it at the smallest kid.

"Watch out!" Hirotada yelled in alarm, grabbing his own katana from under the table, but there was no way that he would be fast enough to protect the boys.

Law's eyes flashed with a chilling murderous intent. Kikoku easily slid from its sheath and met the blade of the enemy with a sharp ding. "While I know that there is no way weaklings like you would ever even touch a hair on Luffy's head," he said in a dangerously low voice as he effortlessly pushed the attacker away. "But as an older brother, I don't take kindly to anyone threatening him." He smiled, vicious and unforgiving, and lifted his left hand with an energy already swirling under his palm. "Room."

The moment the blue transparent bubble stopped expanding, Law swung his blade several times through the air in front of him. Everyone, except Luffy who grinned and Zoro who folded his arms with a huff, stared at him in confusion, unable to understand what he was actually doing. The cursed nodachi went back into its sheath with a soft click.

That's when the world tilted for Haijen and his goons and their bodies fell apart.

"We were cut!"

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Aaaaaah! Save me!"

Hearing them all scream, Law's smile sharpened into an evil one. "Let's play," he said softly.

As body parts started flying around followed by terrified cries, Zoro tsked. "Dammit," he muttered. "I wish I had my swords with me."

Luffy tore his eyes from the torsos, flailing limbs, and screaming heads getting attached to the walls of the Dojo into some kind of macabre gallery, and looked at his swordsman. "Why don't you have them?"

"Sabo took them away," Zoro grumbled. "Said something about our cover story and that it would be bad if Marines saw me with them."

"But he's right. It's better not to get Marines attention until we get Sanji and cook-ossan out of here."

"Hmph."

"I already got everything I need to get the both of them on their feet," Law chimed in as the room disappeared and he turned around to face the other two boys with the last head resting on his palm. "We need to pick some extra stuff as we go back, and then we can leave whenever."

"Cool!"

Zoro eyed the head, looking slightly disturbed, but didn't comment. Law walked towards the Dojo master.

The latter hadn't moved or said anything from the moment the teen blocked Haijen's attack, just stared at the three kids with an unreadable expression. When Haijen's separate head landed on his table with a thud and a tirade of curses from its mouth, Hirotada's gaze flickered down at it and his brow furrowed.

"Apologize for making a mess," Law ordered coldly, bonking the head with the tip of Kikoku's sheath.

"It was you who made the mess!" the man shouted back, momentarily forgetting his current predicament.

The evil smile returned with a vengeance together with a dark, amused gleam in those amber eyes. "Ooh, you wish to be cut into even smaller pieces, don't you, Haijen-ya?"

The thug blanched, wide eyes following the teen's hand slowly rising towards his sword's hilt, and he immediately squeaked, "Sorry!"

Law dropped his arm back to his side with a scoff.

"Who are you, kids?" Hirotada asked again.

Luffy stepped beside his older brother, a brilliant grin stretching under the straw hat. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the Pirate King."

"Roronoa Zoro," the green-haired boy grunted.

Law was silent for a second as if considering something. "…Trafalgar D. Water Law."

The man's eyes widened. "Two Ds?" And then he suddenly burst into a merry laughter. The three boys simply blinked at him. The mirth died out as quickly as it started and Hirotada brushed the back of his hand across his eyes. "Is it fate?" he wondered in a whisper. "Must be." He looked at the kids again, his gaze alight with resolve. Putting back the katana under the table, he motioned them to follow him.

"Ne, ossan, you really won't sell us Sandai Kitetsu?" Luffy inquired as they walked across the hall.

"I already told you that it's not for sale," the Dojo master replied. Luffy's face fell, but before he could say anything, the man spoke again, "But you can have Sandai Kitetsu free of charge."

The straw-hatted boy started. "Huh?"

"Free of charge?" Law echoed, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Yes," Hirotada confirmed without skipping a beat. He opened the cupboard and took out a long package, rolled-up in a red cloth. "I believe it can finally do something good in the hands of D's companion."

Luffy grinned at his words. Zoro accepted the package and carefully unwrapped the cloth to reveal a sheath of a deep red color and a reddish-brown sword hilt with golden tsuba and pommel.

The moment Zoro touched it, he felt it calling out to him, inviting and seducing to set it free, to draw it. Without really realizing what he was doing, his fingers curled tightly around the hilt and pulled the sword half out of its sheath. The light blade sat nicely in his grip, perfect length and weight to slash and cut, to murder and slaughter, to dye the streets with the blood of the innocent–

A dominant willpower suddenly pressed down on Zoro and the whispers in the back of his mind receded. But as much as he wanted to let go of that accursed sword, he couldn't. A sweat broke on the young swordsman's forehead as he struggled to keep himself from succumbing to those dark temptations.

A hand landed gently on the top of his, another wave of the familiar power washed over him, and the whispers hushed completely. Zoro lifted his head, meeting the intense black eyes staring at him. "Luffy…" he choked out, his body shaking from such an unexpected experience.

"Sorry, Zoro," Luffy said earnestly. He pried his nakama's fingers from Sandai Kitetsu, pushed it back into its sheath and then re-wrapped into the cloth again. "I haven't realized just how strong it is for you right now." He observed the other boy, a worried crease in his brow. "You okay?"

Zoro took a few deep breaths to stabilize himself. "Yeah… I think so," he mumbled unsurely. "I…" He bit his lip. Despite his inability to control such a sword, for that brief moment when he had held it, Zoro felt its untamed terrifying power. A sword with its own soul – such a frightening entity – could either be a curse or a blessing for a swordsman, depending on their knowledge and skills.

Finally, reaching a decision, Zoro looked up, meeting Luffy's eyes again. "I will get stronger so that I can use this sword," he declared with nothing but pure conviction etched across his features. "I swear on my dream of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman! Any problems with that, Pirate King?!"

A grin crept onto Luffy's face, stretching from one side to the other, showing every single tooth. "Nope! I believe in you, Zoro." He propped Sandai Kitetsu against his shoulder in the same manner as Law had carried his nodachi, and turned to the Dojo master. "We'll be going now. Thank you!"

Zoro turned to the man too and gave a deep bow. Law dipped his head in respectful goodbye, and all three left.

Hirotada stared at the door, shocked from encountering such fascinating children. After a minute, he sighed, glanced around his Dojo, and grimaced at all the body parts stuck on its walls. "What should I do with this mess?"

Next time Sanji woke up it was already evening. The sun dipped closer to the horizon, painting the sky with a vivid palette of colors of the approaching dusk.

The room was empty, save for the old geezer who was sleeping. Those strange boys and their giant companion were gone. Sanji felt his heart clenching. Either they truly were just an illusion or they had already abandoned him. Honestly, he couldn't decide which option was worse.

Well, of course, they had abandoned him. He was just a good-for-nothing fail–

That's when the door of their room flew open with a bang. The boy flinched, startled, his depressing thoughts puffing out of existence.

Luffy dashed in with a dazzling grin plastered across his face, and Sanji's heart spurred into an excited flutter that this straw-hatted whirlwind was real and still around.

"Time to go!" the latter exclaimed cheerfully, sliding to a halt right next to the blond's bed.

His words slowly sunk into Sanji's mind, and his face blanked out. He could barely lift his limbs at this point, not to mention walking anywhere. "Go where?" he asked as he tried to sit up and would have failed if not for Luffy who propped him against pillows.

"Home," was the quick reply. The exuberant boy glanced at the others who pushed two wheelchairs into the room as they entered, then faced Sanji again, his grin widening beyond the capabilities of a normal human being. "We're going home!"

"H-Home?" The concept of home was such a foreign thing to him that for a moment the blond couldn't even comprehend Luffy's words. "What do you mean?"

"Home is home. It's where your family stays most of the time and, currently, that's the Dawn Island. What else I could mean?"

"Am I also… f-family?" Sanji asked quietly, carefully, bracing himself for an inevitable rejection.

However, Luffy's smile didn't falter, it actually grew even wider and immeasurably warmer. "Of course," the answer was delivered firmly, without any doubt or delay, with a distinct 'obviously' undertone.

Sanji let out a quiet, "Oh." Because, seriously, what else he could say to that?

"Careful," Law warned as he helped Corazon transfer Zeff from the bed into the wheelchair. "Ace, give me the blanket. Also, can you get that pillow?"

Sabo came around Zeff's bed with the second wheelchair while Ace snatched the pillow from the bed. …And instantly set it on fire.

"Very nice, Flamebrain," Law quipped, unamused.

"Hey, not my fault!" the other boy shouted, his cheeks slightly flushed as he stomped on the burning pillow. "It's hard to control…"

"Hahahaha!" Sabo laughed. "You're like Cora-san now!"

Corazon grinned, almost proudly, but Ace wasn't having any of that. "Am not! I don't set myself on fire!"

"Oh, really?" Law asked as he tucked the blanket around the old pirate's legs and straightened up to look at him, his amber eyes shining with mirth. "You're on fire right now."

Ace glanced at himself and, lo and behold, fire sizzled along his whole left arm. "Damn," he cursed silently, willing it away, but then another fire sprung on his right shoulder. His three present brothers burst out laughing. "Shut it!"

"Even I'm not that bad," Cora said with a smile.

"You're worse!" the brothers yelled together.

"Am not!" the giant blond defended himself, a hint of blush creeping up his face, and earned another bout of laughter from his boys, this time with Ace joining in.

"Alright, your turn," Law said as he walked towards Sanji and Luffy, his voice still carrying the cheerful tone.

"What? No, wait–"

"Little eggplant!" Zeff who was quiet till now suddenly yelled angrily at him.

Sanji flinched, instinctively closing his eyes and hunching on himself as if waiting for a blow. It never came. Surprised and confused, he slowly opened his eyes.

"You shouldn't waste the kindness of others," Zeff continued the moment he had the boy's attention, "like you shouldn't waste food."

Tears instantly appeared in Sanji's eyes before he nodded. He would never ever waste food again. He would not waste the kindness of others either.

As Luffy pulled him into a much-needed hug, Sanji remembered his sister, her tears and her last words. I think I found them, Reiju, the people you talked about!

-next morning, Luffy's & Co temporary ship, the waters of the Polestar Islands-

Sanji watched the scene unfold in front of his eyes, trying to collect his jaw from his lap. Zeff next to him had a similar expression, albeit a more composed one. Corazon, standing behind their wheelchairs, seemed unperturbed as he calmly smoked his cigarette.

"Come ooooooon~!"

Not paying any attention to the loud whining, Law licked his finger and flipped a page of the medicine book that he had picked up in Loguetown, leaning comfortably against sleeping Bepo in the middle of the deck with his nodachi safely resting on his shoulder.

"I know that! I'll do it later!"

Zoro was sprawled nearby, snoring without a care in a world, hugging all three of his swords. Sabo had a bunch of maps spread around him and studied them with a dedicated concentration. Ace was up in the crow's nest, leaning on its railing, and seemed to be dozing off as he observed his youngest brother on the ship's front.

"We need to get out of here faster because of Marines and there's no wind!"

And Luffy? Well, Luffy was in a heated argument with his pet Sea King.

Kinto-un just grumbled something in return and cocked his nose away and up in a dramatic gesture of 'Nope!'.

"Argh!" the boy suddenly groaned in frustration. "Fine!" he snapped, throwing his hands up in surrender. "Belly rubs for pulling our ship it is!"

Kinto-un's face lit up and he immediately plopped on his back with a smile – literally – looking relaxed, content, and happy. Luffy leaped off the ship and onto his belly. With both his arms coated in Haki for a stronger effect, he stretched them all the way to the other side, dragging fingers across, and then back, and to the other side again, and back, and to the other side, and back, and–

"A child with a Devil Fruit giving belly rubs to a Sea King…" Zeff muttered in disbelief before laughing. "Now I've seen it all!"

Cora breathed out a puff of smoke and smirked while Law, Sabo, and Ace snorted. "No, you haven't," all four said in unison.

-a week later, Dawn Island, Foosha Village-

Rust was bored. So far, this mission turned out to be the dullest their elite mercenary group, the Mad Dogs, had ever received. The payment was good, though, so he understood why their boss, Zaros-aniki, accepted it.

Find one kid on this single island. Just how hard could it be? The thing was that they couldn't find him.

They scoured the whole Goa Kingdom from the ground up, inspected every nook and cranny, checked this remote village, and came up empty. The people that lived in the Gray Terminal before it burned down said that they had seen the kid from the photo going out and into the forest, but after combing it back and forth several times they found only a few bandit hideouts. One of them was empty, seemed to be raided a few years back, so they made it their temporary camp.

They still couldn't find that goddamn brat! Zaros figured that he must have left the island or burned in the Grey Terminal, and informed the client, but the latter just offered more money and ordered to keep looking.

That's why Rust was here in Foosha Village, keeping an eye on the pier, bored to death. If the target left the island, he might return, so they posted lookouts in Goa port and here, just in case.

Rust was lifting his bottle of water (damn that Aniki for forbidding sake while on duty!) to take a gulp, when he spotted a small vessel sailing towards the shore. It wasn't the first one, so he didn't pay much attention to it until a bunch of kids jumped from the ship the moment it docked.

And their target – the blond brat – was among them.

Rust quickly ducked behind the tree he was previously leaning against and pulled a small Den Den Mushi out of his pocket. "Aniki, I have eyes on the target," he immediately informed once it connected. "He just came back from outside the island."

"Bingo!" Zaros cheered. "Is he alone?"

"No, but there's nothing to worry about," the mercenary reported, sneaking behind a building as he followed the merry group through the village. "The group consists of two adult men, with one of them being an old crippled guy in a wheelchair, a bunch of kids, and a bear cub that seems to tag along with them. The oldest of the kids might pose a slight threat, but others are just brats."

The snail's mouth stretched into a wicked smile, reflecting Zaros' satisfaction. "Doesn't seem that we'll have a problem then of picking the kid up and delivering him to the client."

Rust grinned too, peeking around the corner. The group stopped in front of the bar and the adults went inside. The green-haired boy who carried three swords on his back pushed the kid in a wheelchair after them.

"Those kids are kinda cute, carrying weapons with them," the mercenary chuckled mockingly before the rest of those cute kids and the bear suddenly turned around and looked straight at him with matching expressions of fierceness. Cursing, Rust hid behind the house.

"What is it?" Zaros questioned, alarmed.

The man took a breath and spoke while carefully sliding to look around the corner again, "It's noth–" He abruptly ceased talking because one of the kids – the youngest one, with a straw hat on his head – was right in front of him, staring. The others didn't move closer, but were still there, also staring.

"Ne, mister," the boy called out, his childish voice light and innocent, "why are you following us?"

"I'm not following you," Rust denied clumsily. "I was, uh, sightseeing."

"Hmmm…" the kid drawled out thoughtfully, putting his arms behind his head in a relaxed posture, watching him.

Rust felt those black eyes boring into his face, through his skin and flesh, directly into his soul. Those eyes didn't belong to a child; they were too dark, too intense, too powerful, too dangerous – the eyes of the being that dwelled on the top of the food chain, of the apex predator, staring down at the prey that really wasn't worth its time.

Honestly, Rust didn't feel any shame of stumbling a step back. "I-Is that a problem?" he asked, barely able to keep a tremble out of his voice.

"Nope," the boy popped 'p'. "Just," he paused and his gaze flicked down at the Den Den Mushi on the man's palm. "Don't wander up the mountain," he cautioned, his teeth flashing in a feral grin. "You might die."

And then the little brat turned around and skipped back to his friends. After a moment, they all disappeared into the bar, but not without sending last warning glares Rust's way.

"A-Aniki," Rust exhaled out as he pressed his back against the wall to steady himself, his heart hammering in his ribcage. "We might have a complication."

-a few hours later, Mt. Colubo, Dadan's bandit hut-

Dadan stared.

Luffy grinned from ear to ear.

Dadan's lips twisted downwards into a frown.

Luffy's grin didn't waver in the slightest.

Dadan lit up a new cigarette, glowering at the boy.

Luffy motioned at Sanji and Zeff behind him and exclaimed, "They're gonna live with us for a while!"

Dadan gritted her teeth in anger. "Look, brat!" she snapped. "The kid is fine! …I can't even keep up with you brats multiplying every now and then. One more or one less, there's no difference," she grumbled. "But now you brought an old cripple with you too?! You're worse than Garp! This is neither a kindergarten nor a nursing home!"

Luffy kept grinning at her.

"We're bandits!"

Luffy's grin brightened even more, and Dadan's stern expression started to falter.

"B-Bandits don't take in kids or elderly!"

"Why is she even trying?" Sabo questioned, shaking his head.

"She'll end up accepting whatever Luffy asks anyway," Ace agreed.

"Such a pointless endeavor," Law deadpanned.

"Trying to keep up her image," Bepo also added his two cents.

Corazon could only smile helplessly at his boys sassing poor Dadan. At least the others had the decency to stay out of it.

"YOU FOUR SHUT UP! You too, Cora!" the bandit leader screamed at them, eliciting sniggers from the brothers and a confused 'What did I do?' from their adoptive father. "And you!" She turned to Luffy, ready to drill her point through his thick skull.

"They are nakama, Dadan!" Luffy declared, beaming with a smile as bright as the sun and powerful enough to stop the world from spinning. "Family! Just like you!"

Dadan capitulated in an instant.

After Sanji and Zeff were successfully settled into one of the rooms, so that they could rest in peace, Luffy found Dadan again.

The burly woman was drinking sake and smoking and complaining to whoever listened to her about what her hideout and bandit group had turned into.

One glance at her and Luffy knew that she was already too drunk to give him answers. He turned to Dogra and Magra who sat nearby, sighing helplessly. "Hey, guys," he greeted them. "How's the situation in the Gray Terminal?"

"It burned, like you said," Dogra replied. "How did you know?"

"The fire was so big, the sky turned completely red," Magra recalled grimly. "We've never seen anything like that."

Luffy frowned, closing his eyes. He had seen a sight like that, and not once or twice – too many times if you ask him. "Did you warn the people?" he asked, stuffing all those horrible memories somewhere into the darkest corner of his mind.

The short bandit heaved a heavy sigh. "Yeah, but only a handful believed us."

"We even lied that we got the information from a guard we bribed," Magra said with a shake of his head. "Didn't help much."

"Well, it's better than doing nothing," Luffy pointed out. "And they wouldn't have believed a kid like me anyways."

"Yeah, you good for nothing brat!" Dadan suddenly chimed in, her words slurring a bit from her drunken state. "Bringing brats here, and more brats, and even more brats! And then the old man! We're bandits, y'know!"

"Ma, ma, boss, calm down."

"We're forced to look after kids like– like we're some sort of good people! We're bandits, dammit!"

Luffy observed her with a neutral face. "But you are good people," he finally said softly before his usual grin flared up. "And I love you all!"

They all froze, staring at him with wide eyes.

Dadan turned around, pulling out a handkerchief from under her blouse as a waterfall broke from her eyes. "Go away, you damn rascal!" she yelled with a teary voice. "W-Who cares about your opinion?!"

"Shishishishi."

-a few days later, The Mad Dogs temporary camp in the abandoned bandit hideout-

Zaros tipped back on the rear legs of his chair, threw his feet on the table, put his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes with a sigh. There were few maps and journals spread around on the table, together with a whiskey bottle, a glass with some of the liquor in it, and a middle-sized Den Den Mushi.

There was no one else in the room at the moment, either resting, preparing food, or cleaning weapons. Lately, the group started to get a bit impatient, wanting nothing more than just storm the place where the target was, grab him, and be done with the mission.

Zaros cracked open one eye when he heard soft rustling at the window. A chestnut colored squirrel ran along the windowsill, then slipped through the crack in the glass, and jumped down.

"You're early, Pippin," the mercenary boss commented lazily.

The squirrel sprinted across the room and darted inside the clothes that were neatly laid down in a corner. Suddenly, it shifted, its form getting bigger. Limbs slid into the sleeves, a head popped through the t-shirt's collar. A moment later, a very short adult man was standing there fully clothed.

"Any longer and they would have pinpointed my presence," Pippin replied, smoothing out the wrinkles on his clothes before looking back at the boss with a serious expression on his round, childish face. "Aniki, those kids are the real deal."

"Are they as good as Rust claimed them to be?"

"Yes. Probably better."

Zaros raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Pippin sighed, brushing his hand through his brown hair. "I've seen them train, and, believe me, that was not training children do. There're at least three Devil Fruit users among them, two paramecias and a fire logia."

The other man whistled. "Well, if we catch that logia brat off guard, even he can be taken down," he argued. "And with him down, the others shouldn't really pose a threat."

"Not quite, Aniki," the squirrel Zoan chuckled nervously. "The problem is that logia brat is not the most dangerous one."

"So, the eldest then?"

"No, on the contrary, actually. Two days ago, all the brats, minus the sickly one, did group training, and... Well, they all went against the youngest." Pippin furrowed his brow as if trying to make sense of what he had witnessed. "I couldn't even get close enough to observe that fight – it was that intense – but even from afar it was such an amazing sight to behold," he said with a faint awed smile on his face, then fixed his aniki with a hard stare. "None of them pulled any punches either. The logia brat got kicked and was sent flying, literally. He almost crashed into me when he flew past me." The mercenary paused. "And all five still lost. Honestly, the fight wasn't even fair."

A menacing grin spread across Zaros' face as he dropped his feet from the table and leaned forward, hungry eagerness sparkling in his dark eyes. 'Don't wander up the mountain. You might die'. "Figures that the kid who had the balls to threaten us would be a little monster," he muttered before throwing his head up and laughing loudly. "Hahahaha! Never could have imagined that we'd run into such monsters when those royals invited us into this backwater island to do the job for them!"

"At least we cashed in nicely from carrying some boxes with explosions around," Pippin added smugly.

Zaros laughed again. "And that noble jumped in with even more beli!"

"Ah, speaking about money," the Zoan mercenary said with a greedy grin. "I snooped around the bandits' house where those kids live and found a big bag of treasure."

"Nice! Good job, Pippin," the boss praised, and the other man preened. "And I know exactly how we go about this without setting those monsters on ourselves," Zaros continued as he pulled the Den Den Mushi closer, took the receiver off, and punched a number in.

-several more days later, Dadan's bandit hut-

"Boys!" Cora called out as they all piled at the door to leave. "I'm going down to Foosha's market. Anything you want me to pick up?"

"Why?" Ace asked. "We just went there a week ago."

The giant blond took off his apron and hung it on the wall. "Zeff-san is a cook and he wrote me a list of food that is good for him and Sanji, and also for growing boys." His eyes flashed with something that made the kids shudder. "That means – fruits and vegetables!" he exclaimed gleefully.

"Eeeeeeh?! But I hate vegetables!" Luffy whined.

Cora put his hands on his hips and pinned the youngest with a stern gaze. "If you want to be the Pirate King–"

"I'm already the Pirate King!"

"If you want to continue being the Pirate King," the man corrected himself immediately, "you need to grow up as a strong boy–"

"I'm already pretty strong!"

"You need to grow up even stronger," Cora once again adjusted his words, "and for that, you can't eat just meat. We've talked about that, Luffy. The same goes for you all."

"Aaaaaaye…" they all drawled without any enthusiasm, except Zoro who just smirked at their misery.

"You too, Zoro."

"No problem," the young swordsman replied coolly. "A true swordsman is not afraid to eat some greenery."

Ace smacked him over his head. "Stop sounding so cool!" he yelled.

Zoro glared at him while the others laughed.

"Don't worry, guys!" Sanji suddenly piped in with a bright smile. "Soon I'll become the best cook in the world and even vegetables will taste good!"

Drool started to form at the corner of Luffy's mouth and he wiped it with the back of his hand. "Can't wait to eat Sanji's food again."

Law's eyes flickered to him. No one else paid much attention to his precise words, but the teen caught on the use 'again', even though Sanji had never prepared a meal for them yet.

"You still have a long way to go, little eggplant," Zeff commented from the corner where he sat in his wheelchair.

Sanji's face fell.

Cora patted his head gently, ignoring the visible flinch his action had evoked. "You can do it if you'll try hard enough," he encouraged the boy and got a beaming grin for that.

"Really?!"

"Of course."

"Speaking of being healthy and all," Law spoke up, narrowing his eyes at their adoptive father's cigarette. "When are you gonna quit smoking, Cora-san?"

"Eh?" Cora looked like a deer caught in a bright light. "Uhhh…" he drawled, searching for a good excuse, but came up empty. "I'm not a growing boy anymore!"

Law rolled his eyes and the others just simply burst out laughing.

The giant blond rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "We should go now!" he stated, swiftly changing the topic. "Bepo, you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go then."

"We should be going too," Luffy said after those two left and then looked at Sabo. "Sabo, you're guarding home today, right?"

"Yeah."

Sanji glanced up at him, then quickly dropped his gaze down to his lap. "Sorry…"

"Huh?" Sabo blinked. "Hey, that's fine. This isn't because of you," he said, reaching to ruffle the younger boy's mop, ignoring the even more violent flinch the moment his hand made contact with his hair.

During the time Sanji had been with them, they all had noticed that despite him wanting physical interaction, from all people who had touched him, only Luffy and Makino didn't raise such a reaction. Law theorized that it was due to his body's current condition and mental fragility after such a stressful ordeal adding up on top of the past trauma and that it should go away once he was at full health. So, everyone made an effort to ignore it. They all knew what it meant to have the past coming back to haunt them.

Hopeful blue orbs slowly slid up to Sabo's face. "We can play cards," the latter suggested.

The younger blond's smile bloomed in full power again. "Okay!"

"I don't think whoever was watching us left just yet," Luffy stated with a slight furrow in his brow. "It's not the guy that was following us in Foosha and I can't seem to find them," he growled in frustration. "We should all be careful."

"I didn't notice anything," Ace murmured and Law nodded in agreement.

"Me neither," Zoro admitted.

Luffy's wide grin was instantly up in all its megawatt glaring glory. "That's why I'm the youngest! Shishishishi!"

"That makes no sense whatsoever," the others intoned, sweatdropping.

-three hours later, somewhere in the forest of Mt. Colubo-

"How the hell are you so strong?!" Ace complained loudly as he laid sprawled on the ground on his back, trying to catch his breath.

Luffy was sitting on the branch high up in the tree cross-legged with one of his arms propped on his knee and his chin nestled on his palm. The straw hat rested on his back and warm wind ruffled his unruly black hair. His eyes were closed and mouth curled into a serene smile – a perfect picture of content. "Because I have a lot to protect," he replied in a soft voice.

Ace glared up at him as he sat there, calmly enjoying the peaceful moment without the decency to be even sweating while Ace himself was fully drenched and already exhausted. Throwing an arm over his eyes, the fire user groaned at the unfairness of it all.

Luffy sniggered, opening his eyes to look down at his brother. Dark tendrils of smoke rising from the forest caught his attention and he jumped to his feet in alarm. "Ace!" he yelled out. "I see smoke coming from our house! We need to go!"

"Huh?" the older raven grunted, peeking over his arm. A rubbery appendage suddenly wrapped around his waist and he blanched. "Wait! Luffyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaahhh!" The name of the little menace dragged out into the scream as Ace was yanked from the ground and catapulted after Luffy who rocketed himself across the forest.

The moment Luffy touched the ground of the clearing in front of Dadan's hut, dropping Ace down unceremoniously, a blue sphere expended from somewhere within the forest and Law with Zoro appeared right next to him. With terrified eyes, all four stared at the house engulfed by fire, spewing pillars of smoke into the sky.

"W-Why is no one outside?" Ace whispered in horror.

A power wave exploded from Luffy and rolled throughout the area, kicking up dust from the ground and leaving cracks on the tree trunks and the frame of the house. It swept through the fire, pressing it down until it died under its overwhelming force, leaving only stray wisps and smoldering embers.

Even though they were excluded from their little Pirate King's surge of Conqueror's Haki, it was powerful enough to manifest itself in a physical world, and three boys felt their breath involuntarily rush from their lungs and their visions blur for a split second. They managed to gather their bearings quickly though, just in time to see Luffy disappear inside the half-burned house.

The air inside was hot and suffocating. Luffy coughed, his heartbeat reaching a frightening speed as he saw bodies scattered randomly on the floor. His Observation Haki was useless, and it took him a few moments – excruciating long seconds – to tune into the Voice.

The relief that washed over him as he heard everyone's Voices was heavenly. They were alive, just unconscious. Luffy quickly scanned the room. Dadan was fine, Dogra was fine, Magra was fine, he noted absentmindedly, his gaze lingering on every single person for a briefest of the moment to confirm that they were alive and then moved on to the next one. Zeff was fine, Sanji was…

The others had already started to drag everyone out, when Luffy's eyes fell on Sanji. His breath hitched in his throat.

He heard no Voice. No familiar sound of waves lapping, no impression of freedom and sea breeze. Only a silent void.

Luffy scrambled closer. His trembling hands cupped those pale cheeks and it seemed like the world stopped. Panicking, the boy looked around wildly as if searching for something, anything that would help. Sabo's top hat lying abandoned on the floor without his blond brother anywhere in sight caught his attention.

And he instantly knew who exactly was responsible for this.

Luffy scooped Sanji – his small, fragile, limp, lifeless nakama – into his arms and burst outside, barely registering Cora's and Bepo's presences, all his focus on only one person. "Law! He's not breathing! Sanji's not breathing! Please, save him!"