"The trouble is you think you have enough time"

Octavia sat on the large whales head of the Moby Dick with a scowl on her face. She was not happy. Over the last twelve months she had grown, she had learnt so much, and better yet, she was stronger than she had ever been in her entire life. Since her training and rehabilitation had begun she could now keep up with her brothers through their running exercises and most of their strength exercises. But now that was all too be put on hold.

For twelve months they had faced the craziness of the grand lone and the many appearances of both the marines and other pirates that had the stupidity or courage, she had yet to work out, to try and attack the Whitebeard Pirates. She had spent hours with her strength and agility training, and after many conversations she had convinced her guardians to allow her to start fighting with hand to hand combat and less about her powers. She wanted to be both proficient in offence as she was in her defence, and as much as they complained and argued about her being so close to a fight, they finally agreed. She wasn't as sturdy as her brothers, but she could at least give them a hard time in taking her down.

So, when she was told that Thatch and his division was preparing for their three week long mission, she was not amused. She refused to speak to the commanders, to her brothers and to her father. Thatch was her guardian, and he was teaching her exactly how to handle herself no matter what situation she was facing, so why she couldn't go along with him for a routine mission was beyond her.

What made her even angrier was that her brothers, her guardians and her Papa had all agreed that it would be safer for her to remain on board the Moby Dick. Sighing again she glared daggers into the smaller ship that was currently anchored next to them. She wanted it to burn to the bottom of the sea, with no one on it of course, but still she wanted to see it burn. She even had plans to try and anger Ace enough for him to burn it to a crisp, but he was true to his word, he had yet to lose control of himself.

"Are you really not going to say goodbye to me, Turtle?" she glanced over her shoulder and saw Thatch leaning over the railing and towards her on top of the figure head. Looking down she saw Ghost standing beside her guardian, just staring back up at her. He was using her dog to try and earn her attention. Growling she snapped her head back to the ocean in front of her.

But deep down, she was a little upset. Upset that none of her family seemed to think that she was capable enough to join them on the three week adventure. It hurt, even just a little. Izo had even designed her a whole range of cloaks that his her face while the hood was up. It concealed her weapons that were strapped to her outer thighs, but most of all it donned a large whitebeard symbol on the back. No one would mess with her.

"Please Princess, I won't be able to concentrate out there if you're angry with me." She didn't bother turning back, because she knew that he would be pulling the best puppy dog face that always made her cave and do whatever it was that he wanted to her to do.

"Goodbye." She grunted with her arms crossed over her chest. She heard her guardian sigh and begin to walk away.

"Look after her boy," she heard Ghost bark in response and she quickly turned her head. Her heart thumped in her chest and she quickly twisted her body around to actually see him walking away. His shoulders were slumped forwards and she could tell instantly by his demeanour that he was hurting too.

Disappearing from her spot she flickered towards him and threw her arms around his neck and clutched onto his back.

"I'll miss you." She whispered the truth and squeezed him tightly. Truly she would miss him, she would miss him more than she could possible comprehend. There hadn't been more than a few days of them being separated, and now it was going to be for three whole weeks. Twenty one days of complete separation and not a single word spoken. No den den mushi either, it was to be complete radio silence.

She didn't want to admit it, but she was slightly afraid. She had become so dependent on the man, she hadn't even realised how much until he told her of his mission. The first of the guardians to leave. She didn't like being the guinea pig either.

"I'll miss you more, Octavia." Thatch pulled her around to stand in front of him and pulled her up against his firm chest. "Soon you're going to be too big to carry." He spoke with a hint of sadness in his voice. She knew that he didn't want to leave her as much as she wanted him to leave, but this wasn't a choice. There was a mission and he had to complete it. It had been twelve months since any of the commanders were sent on a serious mission, and the public were starting to notice. The papers and tabloids were wondering where the famous commanders were all this time. Whitebeard needed them to be seen, they needed to prove to the world that they were still around and still as strong as they ever were.

"Wipe off four more seconds off your course. And annoy Izo every day to keep up your training with your bow. I want to see perfect targets when I return alright. Keep at your exercises every day and never let yourself fall behind your brothers, they'll never let you live it down. Oh and some of your muffins would be great when I return." She nodded against his chest not really able to form the words that were stuck in her throat. She wanted to beg him not to leave, but she knew that would only make it harder for the both of them.

"Promise me you'll come back." She whispered letting her anxiety break through.

"I'll be fine Princess-"

"Promise me." She clutched onto his shirt and she felt his arms tighten around her.

"I promise I will be back in three weeks. I promise you, Octavia." She looked up from his chest as he pressed a kiss firmly into her forehead.

"Be safe." She poked his chest with her finger.

"I will."

"Don't be stupid." She nudged him again.

"Ah no faith in me." He rolled his eyes down at her and earnt himself a slap to the chest. "I'll be fine, Princess. I promise." He leant forwards and pressed a final kiss into her temple before heading towards his ship with a lighter spring in his step.

She stood at the edge of the railing and waved a final goodbye as the smaller ship disappeared from sight. She looked down at Ghost who was still sitting beside her, obeying her guardian's commands. He had grown so tall that even sitting next to her, he towered her. She could pet his head from this height. Marco was right, he was definitely more wolf than he was a dog.

"You alright?" she glanced to her side as Sabo appeared.

"I think so." She sighed looking at the empty horizon. These next three weeks were going to be something new for all of them.

"Let's go find Marco." Sabo picked up her hands from the railing and dragged her towards the training rooms. Which reminded her of the task that Thatch had left for her in his absence, and by god she was going to complete it and smash it. She would make sure she left her guardians mouth wide open in shock for when he returned.

"Come Ghost," she called as Ghost yawned and stretched onto his feet. With a small yip her large grey wolf puppy followed after them and towards the galley.

Ace smirked to himself as they sat around their own official table in the galley. Everyone knew it was there table now. The four of them would often sit together, just the four of them with Ghost sitting beneath their feet, but then sometimes their guardians would join them for a meal and laughter. But they all noticed the longer they stayed aboard the Moby Dick the less their guardians were able to spend time with them all together.

It was only a matter of time before they had to get back to their normal jobs and responsibilities. Even each of them had received small tasks to help around the ship. Flick was helping out in the kitchen as much as she could, actually she was one of the only ones who had to be dragged away from the countless cooking books she wanted to learn off by heart, and when they couldn't find her there she was either in the training rooms or in the library. She was now completely sufficient in her reading abilities, and he would often find her and Sabo having a lengthy and sometimes heated discussion about a certain book they did or did not agree with.

Sabo was mainly in the navigation room, or in the library. But instead of reading, he was writing. He was writing more and more in those journals he loved to fill. From every major encounter or island they went on, there was always a new chapter added to the Whitebeard Wolfpack Adventures book, as Luffy dubbed it. Sabo's training with Namur was on a whole different level, Ace had looked in on one of their usual sessions a while back, and was flawed at seeing what his brother was now capable of. He was almost hesitant now to face his brother, almost.

For his youngest brother, he was sure Luffy had grown the most out of all of them. He was almost on par with Sabo and himself and that was saying something. Luffy was taking his vow to be the greatest captain ever, along with being the Pirates King very seriously. He was training every day and each day he would command one of the other pirates to spar with him or teach him something new. But in saying that, Luffy was still the number one trouble maker on all of the Moby Dick and that was saying something in comparison to Thatch.

For himself, however. He was proud of himself. It was three months after their last encounter with Garp that he made his position on the Moby Dick a permanent one, and one for everyone to see. He glanced over his shoulder and could see the dark shading of the tattoo that dawned his entire back, from shoulder to shoulder and down his spine, displaying Pops' mark. He remembered the day Marco took him onto an island by himself for scouting, one long glance in the window of the tattoo parlour and Marco dragged him inside without a second thought.

But that wasn't the only tattoo that he was proud of, the five letters that ran down his arm was his other treasure, another reminder of who he was. A, S, O, and L were printed from his shoulder to his elbow. They were his precious people. And after that date, his brothers and sisters vowed that the next island they would get their own, but that day was still pushing until today. Sabo swore that if the next island did not have a legitimate tattoo artist than he would do it himself.

"Oi Ace, time for work." Marco called his attention and he groaned. He did not like his role on the ship. He hated paperwork. Most of all he hated that he was to 'assist' Marco in the ships paperwork. Marco tried to claim that he would be doing all the ships paper work within a year, especially if the four of them kept going the way that they did. Marco claimed that he was turning grey far too young for it to be normal, so they were the obvious blame for it.

The night was cold.

She stood in the middle of the training room with her bow in her hand and her quiff over her shoulder, this was the fifth night in a row she found herself in the dark staring down at her targets. She was adamant to complete the mission Thatch had set for her before he left. She was going to hit all her targets. Her bow was going to be her weapon of choice, and as soon as she mastered the bow she would move onto a crossbow, but Izo wanted her to be able to use her own strength to draw a bow before using an automatic weapon. But of course she always had her family pipe on her persons at all time. No matter what weapon, or what power she gained in the future, she would never go without her precious weapon.

The moon shined through the row of windows that lined her training room. It shone like a beacon down on the target at the end of the room. It was as though it was calling to her to hit it, or mock her constant misses.

Sighing, she took up her position on the fourth marker that Izo had drawn on the ground. She would start from one spot and then gradually move further and further away the better she got. So far she had made it back to marker number four out of the room full of eight, she was halfway to being complete. But from this point she barely hit fifty percent of the time, and those odds were not good enough for her. She stared behind her at the remaining four markers, each getting a greater distance away, and last the final marker was behind a corner. She didn't even want to think of hitting the target from there, but for now it was one marker at a time.

Take a firm stance.

She repeated the words of advice that Izo had drilled into her every day.

Feet wider Flick.

She shuffled her back foot backwards and readjusted her balance. She knew time and time again that she wasn't strong enough yet. Even her training her muscles every single day, she still needed to be stronger. The closer points she had mastered were fine with the strength she currently had, but the ones she was attempting now were proving to be a struggle. She could feel it in the way her muscles twitched and her elbows trembled under the force of the bow.

Keep your elbow up.

She placed an arrow upon the taught string and lined it up perfectly on the wooden bend beneath her left hand. Taking in a deep breath she raised her bow and pulled back her right hand. Her elbow adjusted so it was lined up perfectly with her shoulder. Ignoring the trembling of her elbow she tried to breathe through it, tried to stop the shakes.

Pull it further.

She dug deep and pulled the arrow back a little further. She could feel her muscles start to shake at the pressure of holding the string back.

Concentrate and breathe.

Letting her eyes close for a second she inhaled deeply before opening them and staring down her target.

Open both eyes.

She let the arrow fly and she watched as it pierced through the air and landed an inch off the centre of her target.

"God dammit." She cursed as she stalked towards her target to retrieve the five arrows that were spread randomly over her board. Not once did it hit the centre of the target. Not once. Her odds were getting worse and worse with every attempt. After five nights of pure target practise and she was getting nowhere fast. Sighing she went to place her bow down and repeat the numerous strengthening excises when she froze.

"You're pretty good girlie."

Her body froze and her eyes snapped to the entrance.

She didn't even hear him come in.

She didn't even feel him approach the room.

"Teach," she whispered in the night that seemed to vibrate off the walls around her. "What are you doing here?" she tried to keep her voice firm and hide any hint of anxiety that seemed to bubble in the back of her throat any time that man was around. She had become better at detecting that man's presence, but right now she was taken off guard. She never expected for him to come to her at night, never to approach her whilst she was alone.

"I was on watch when I saw movement," he explained pushing off the wall beside the only exit and took a step towards her. She suppressed her flinch and watched him carefully as he walked towards her. She resisted the urge to take a step backwards, she would not show him her fear. She felt herself getting tinnier and tinnier the closer he got to her.

"What are you doing?" she questioned a little more bluntly this time which caused him to pause his steps.

Do not show him fear.

"I'm pretty good with a bow myself. I could take over for Thatch-"

"Thatch will be back. No one can replace him."

"I never meant replacing him kid." Teach almost growled at her. But she wouldn't have any of it.

"What are you really doing here?" she felt her hands begin to sweat beneath the wood of her bow. She tried to gather as much of her courage, and as Thatch would call it, her balls, and face him head on. He would not make her fear, he would not stand above her.

"I never really got a chance to apologise to you, I never get to speak to you alone to explain myself, Flick." She shuddered at the way he said her name. She wanted to reply sharply, telling him her brother had told him not to call her that. She had managed to avoid this man for so many months, but here he was now. Right in front of her, when she was alone.

"I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since that night. I swear." He took a step forwards towards her and this time her body flinched backwards. Her hands gripped her bow tighter, ready, just in case.

Do not show him fear.

"I never meant anything I said. I would never wish any harm to you or those boys."

"They're my brothers." She growled interrupting his pathetic attempt of an apology. Every single person aboard this ship new exactly what the four of them were, they were a family, and they were a tighter family than that of the Whitebeard Family. They were sworn brothers and sisters a bond stronger than any blood. To call them anything otherwise was an insult.

"Sorry." He grunted. But with one look at him she could tell he wasn't at all sorry, the small veins that appeared on the side of his neck and forehead were enough to tell this was all a formality. She knew that Thatch and the others were barely on speaking terms with their brother, but that had nothing to do with her.

Everyone has to deal with their own actions and the consequences that follow, he was no exception to the rule.

But, she knew the real reason why Teach was here tonight. She knew that Teach used to be in Thatch's division, and he was still serving his punishment which meant, strictly no missions, no leaving the ship other than picking up supplies. And she knew that this, pathetic attempt at an apology, was just to get out of the rest of his punishment. For the last several months Teach had been reduced to being a low level pirate, he was given lists to restock the supplies on the ship and given orders to clean the deck. It was clear to anyone that he was going to have to prove himself again, not only to the commanders but to Pops as well.

He not only discovered sensitive information, but then he divulged that information to the single person that was not meant to know. Now, the entire crew both old loyal members and the newest members all knew about her black warrant out for her head. Everyone knew about the infinite reward for her handover. That single drunken act, was an act of betrayal and for that he had to work to get that trust back.

"Thank you for your apology, I will inform Thatch and the others." She nodded towards the man and hid the well place smirk that she was feeling on the inside. She was not stupid. She could see through this man without even hearing him speak. She had him worked out on the very first meeting, he was only looking out for himself no matter what he did.

"Look I'm trying to make things right here, alright." He snapped and took a large step towards her. His hand looked as though it was reaching towards her. Her heart raced in her chest and she felt her hand reach for an arrow. She would not be defenceless. She had not trained for so long to feel defenceless.

Do not show him fear!

"Teach."

He stopped and she quickly took a few steps backwards thankful for the interruption. Her eyes darted to the entrance and she saw Marco standing there. His presence alone was enough to terrify anyone, but his voice, his aura of threat that he radiated was enough to even make Teach stumble.

"Good night, Flick." Teach nodded towards her before slinking out of the room. Marco stood his ground and watched as his brother left the room. He was not happy. He had only been thinking of checking up on the brats when he saw shadows of people in the training rooms. As soon as he sensed the presences in the room, did he change his course.

"Marco," Octavia whispered and he quickly moved to crouch down in front of her. His eyes checked over her body making sure nothing was out of place. His brother would have his head if anything should happen to his princess, and that threat was very real.

"Are you alright?" Marco whispered and he found his arms full of the young girl. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he cradled her to his chest. He didn't like this. He didn't like her being in a room alone with his brother, especially in the middle of the night. He knew that Teach wouldn't do anything to harm her, but his brother was never good with words, and with their history. He wanted to keep those two apart as much as possible.

"What did he say to you?" he prayed that his brother wasn't dumb enough to bring up anything sensitive to her.

"I'm fine." She whispered but he could feel her fear rolling off her in waves. "I'm fine." Pulling her back he looked into her watered eyes and gently brushed the few stray tears off her cheeks.

"What are you doing still awake Missy, Thatch would have my head if he knew you were awake after bedtime." Marco smiled trying to change the subject quickly.

"Practising." She mumbled and looked towards her target, "But I'm not getting anywhere, I'm still too weak." She leant her head against his shoulder and he instantly wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Let me see," he nudged her towards the markers on the ground and he was shocked to see her walk to the one in the centre of the room. He looked at the target and then towards the three spare markers in front of her. Had she already completed those distances? He watched with careful eyes as she mimicked Izo's words under her breath. He hid the smirk as she followed the sharpshooter's advice down to the tee.

And then she let go.

His eyes widened in shock as the arrow flew from her hands and impeded it deeply into the cork board at the end of the room. The speed. The accuracy.

"See, I can't hit the middle anymore." She sighed in defeat, but he was more than amazed and what she had just done. She actually hit the board, yet she was upset she didn't hit the bullseye. He had to shake his head at her and her brothers thought mentalities, if it wasn't perfect, it wasn't good enough.

"One more time." He asked and she groaned.

"It will be the same as before, I can't do it, I'm just not strong enough." She sighed and he wacked her lightly on the back of the head.

"I am your teacher, only I can tell you what you can and cannot do. Now line it up." He ordered and she obeyed with a roll of her eyes. He looked down at the girl who was slowly but surely turning into a miniature Thatch, attitude and all. He made a mental note to himself to make Izo teach her something girlie or get her to spend more time with Lyon baking cakes and less time swearing. Maybe he could convince her to wear a dress, or even a skirt.

This time he watched her like a hawk. Every moment he captured and analysed.

"There happy now." She grunted but he stared at her.

"You're right. You aren't strong enough." He spoke but held up his hand to stop her loud and probably cursed response. "But, you have another strength you are completely neglecting." He watched as her eyes widened and her brows creased together in frustration.

"This isn't one of Thatch's 'your will is your strength speeches' is it? Because no matter how much I will myself to be stronger, it's not actually going to let me lift something heavier." She sighed and he resisted the urge to laugh.

"No Octavia. Your wind."

"My wind?"

Octavia stared at her guardian with shock. Her wind. Her power. If she could use her wind, to help push the arrow faster from her release than it would stay on course for longer, it wouldn't deviate from its path. It should, would, hit her target every time.

"Try it." Marco smirked at her and she already took her stance.

Holding her bow high up next to her shoulder she felt the firm string press against her cheek as she lined up her target. Her eyes never moved from the mark. Two fingers stretched her string back further to sit just beside her ear.

The familiar pressure in her stomach moved up her arms and towards her right hand and down the two fingers holding back her arrow. Pulling the wind in her fingers she released it all at once. Her eyes followed the arrow as it pierced through the air at a frightening speed and then it struck.

Her body jumped in fright as the arrow head disappeared into the cork board along with half of the stem.

"Holy shit." Marco gasped beside her.

"Language." She whispered but didn't take her eyes of the imbedded arrow.

Slowly they both walked towards the target at the end of the room. She gulped as her eyes moved to the now broken board and arrow. A small smile crept on her face as she reached her hand up to the broken arrow, but what she really looked at was where it was impeded. Right in the centre.

"Well." She laughed and tried to yank the arrow out of the board.

"No leave it." Marco smirked already wanting to see the looks and wonders of the others on board at the sight in front of him. Mainly he wanted to show Pops exactly what she had done, and maybe rub it in Izo's face just a little. He wasn't the first commander for nothing.

"We will get you another target tomorrow," he gently took the bow from her hand and confiscated it before she could destroy anything else with that power of hers.

"Thanks Marco," she whispered and took his spare hand. Together they walked back towards the stairs and headed towards her room. Her eyes shinned with excitement and pride, as she walked with a smile on her face.

He glanced down at her several times and each time their eyes connected he was rewarded with one of her own famous smiles. He was pretty damn pleased with himself, even more considering that no one had seen this smile since Thatch had left on his mission. Five days of a slowly saddening girl, and finally he found her smile again.

Izo woke up early that morning to prepare a new set of training regiments for the brats. But when he walked into the training room he froze on his spot. His arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the practical joke in front of him. Instantly he thought it would have been Thatch's doing, but he was on a missions.

Which left one of the other commanders who wanted to mess with him. And when he found out whoever it was, they better be prepared for the retaliation that was waiting for them.

Taking the broken board off the wall he stormed towards the galley, determined to find out which of his brothers was going to suffer his wrath. It was one thing to mess with him or his room, but another to mess with one of the brats training.

He looked over to the commanders table and saw it filled, along with the four brats and Pops.

"Who fucked with my training board?" He slammed the board down on the table and watched as everyone jumped. He was not in a good mood.

"Hey!" Flick jumped up on her stool and growled towards him. Good, he thought, she was pissed off just as much as he was. This was her training, and she was more than determined to master the bow in the shortest amount of time.

"Holy shit, did that go right through?" Namur asked picking up the target and inspecting it turning forwards and backwards looking at the metal arrowhead that had pierced the cork and gone straight through.

"Language." Luffy growled and then burst into laughter.

"This isn't funny Luffy. This will set back Flick's training by a whole day." Izo slammed his hands down on the table and stared at Pops who held out his hand to Namur for him to inspect.

Octavia stared at her Papa with hopeful eyes. She wanted to see his reaction to her little training session last night. She glanced over to Marco who wasn't giving a single hint away that he was her trainer last night.

"Did you do that?" Ace whispered from beside her and she had her brothers' full attention. She peeked over to Sabo and Luffy who were looking at her, waiting for the answer. She gave them a small nod and their eyes snapped back to the board.

"So who did it?" Izo asked again.

"Maybe Octavia here could shed some light on this?" Whitebeard spoke looking down at her. She felt her cheeks redden and she bit her lip trying hard not to burst out with a smile rivalled that to only Luffy.

"Flick could never do something like this, she barely made mark three yesterday. Not that, that itself isn't impressive. But this, she couldn't do this even if she was standing right in front of the board." Izo retorted.

"Hey!" She snapped looking back at her teacher.

"Sorry Flick," Izo spoke but she knew he was only stating the truth. She had only been able to make that short distance and even then the arrow head never punctured the whole way through. But for an arrow to be speared halfway through the board and a crack to form down the middle, this was a disgraceful joke from someone and he was going to find out who.

"It was me." She planted her hands on the table and glared at her guardian.

"Flick, be serious."

"It was my arrow that pierced that board. It was my own bow that let that arrow fly." She growled proudly of her own achievement.

"It's true. I was there." Marco added with a pleased smile on his face.

There was a silence around the table as everyone looked between Flick and Marco. No one was sure what to believe.

Ace looked at his sister with a smug but proud smile on his face. His siblings were getting stronger each and every day, and soon enough not a single person in this world was going to be able to mess with them, or their family. They were going to live up to their Pop's vision, they were going to wreak havoc on this world.

"Bullshit." Izo stood up straight and crossed his arm over his chest. "Prove it Flick." He challenged her.

"Fine." She turned and without a glance back headed out of the galley and towards the training room. Marco caught up to her side quickly and handed her previously confiscated bow and arrows.

"Just like last night, make him eat those words." Marco ruffled her hair and fell back in line with his brothers.

Ace, Sabo and Luffy flanked her as she walked into their training room. They had her back no matter what happened.

"The target?" she asked looking at Izo as her previous target was now destroyed.

Izo pulled out a barrel and placed it at the end of the room and with a red marker he drew a circle right in the centre of it. It was lower than what she was used to practising with. But it didn't matter. It was more the speed and force that she was trying to prove was her, but hitting the direct middle was going to be adding the middle finger to her salute.

"So how does it feel brother?" Namur taunted Izo as he gulped down his drink.

"Shut up," Izo growled and pushed his brother of his shoulder.

"Sorry Izo," Octavia spoke up feeling a little guilty about her midnight training and her little show and tell this morning. Especially now that the entire crew were throwing a celebration in her honour. She claimed that it was only an excuse, the crew always found the smallest of reasons to use as a celebration and today it just happened to be her.

"Never apologise for success." Izo snapped at her but his growl faded as he looked at her. She didn't want him to be angry at her. She wanted to make everyone proud of her, she just wanted to prove to everyone that she was strong enough and that she will continue to grow stronger every day, she will never give up.

"Come here," Izo opened his arms and she shuffled over her seat and into the man's lap. She missed Thatch. She missed his arms and his lap. The day had gone on long enough and her eyes began to droop. She fought with her instincts to look for her favourite guardian to take her to bed, and to read her a story or hum her his favourite lullabies, but she knew he wasn't here. Thatch was still on his mission.

He was on a mission.

Luffy took up his spot on the figure head of the Moby Dick as the sun came up just waiting. He was always the first one to wait for the morning bird to drop off the weekly paper. But today was an extra special day that he was waiting for. Every month they would release the new or upgraded set of wanted posters. He had begun doing this ever since their grandpa had left them, he wanted to make sure that their names weren't on any new posters, or if Flick appeared.

Pops had once told him that it was the job of the captain to know the bounties of everyone he held precious to him and especially the people who wanted to take those special people away from him. So from that day forth he was looking through every face that came through the papers.

Originally it was all his siblings and guardians that started waiting for the bird to drop, but now it was just him. He usually was the first to grab the paper and was first to rip it open until the many flyers fell out and onto the ground. He wanted to see them first, so now it was his job to get the paper, on the first day of every month and then hand it into whichever commander he found first. The other days, he didn't care about and left that job up to the others.

"Hai!" he screamed and waved his arms at the familiar bird. He grinned as the bird threw down a curled up paper and he caught it before it even entered the ship. Waving goodbye to the bird he sat back down and tore off the seal of the paper and uncurled it. Ignoring everything that was in his way he tore through until he found the loose pieces of paper.

He was rewarded with a familiar sight of Shanks. It seemed he caused a disturbance at a marine base and earnt himself another increase. Flipping the page he skipped over the worthless looking pirates until he froze.

A set of a pained eyes stared back at him.

A pair of eyes that reminded him so much of his sister.

Accept they weren't hers.

Demon of Ohara

Nico Robin

Growling he flung himself off the figurehead and stormed towards Pops office. Not bothering to knock he walked through the office and saw Marco and his Pops discussing something over a couple of maps.

"Luffy?" Marco sighed. "How many times have we told you to knock?"

"What is it brat?" Whitebeard sat back and cleared his large book off his desk already knowing what was about to happen. Luffy closed the door behind him remembering his manors and pulled himself up onto Whitebeard's desk.

Without saying anything Luffy revealed the wanted poster that he had found and waited for an explanation.

"I see." Whitebeard sat back and collected a large sake bottle from within his top draw of his desk.

"Nico Robin?" Marco spoke out loud curious as to why he picked up this poster. Did Luffy make a connection between his sister and this girl?

"Why is she sad?" Luffy asked and waited for the answer. He noticed Marco look to Whitebeard and he followed his gaze.

"Why do you think she's sad?" Whitebeard asked.

"I know she is." Luffy answered with certainty. He knew she was sad, he knew she was in pain and it reminded him of Flicks wanted poster and he didn't like it.

"She's sad because she's alone." Luffy continued.

"Luffy," Marco whispered and he looked up at his guardian.

"But that's okay. When I get my own crew I'll find her. I'll make her my nakama. And then she won't ever be sad or alone again."

"You will make a fine captain my boy." Whitebeard grinned and he found himself matching his smile. Happy with his response he picked up his wanted poster and headed back to his room.

"Is that a wise ideal?" Marco asked questioning his pops.

"Only time will tell my son. Only time." Whitebeard laughed and pulled his large book back onto his desk.

Jumping on his bed Luffy moved to the wall and placed the wanted poster right next to the copy of Shanks'. Except this time he folded over her title of Demon of Ohara and just left her name written at the top.

No person was ever born a demon, or a monster. Only people became them.

He vowed on his dream that he would make this girl his nakama and see her smile.

"You can't make up for lost time. You can only do better in the future."

There we go what do you think?

So it's been twelve months :D

Thatch has gone on his mission :( . [Yes, my timeline is slightly different, but it will match up for the future resentment...]

Little bit of each brat there and what they've been doing.

A lot of queries lately about Flicks future crew... she will be both Whitebeard and Strawhat. But she will not be a strawhat in the beginning. That is all.

Thanks to. Nala, MoltenThunder, guest, guest2, AddBaby, SavageKill, Lilnightmare, Nairn, Goldspark, guest3, Kankananime :D Thankyou lovelies

Next up: Training as a pack, nightmares return