Aysawolf: Thank you! That's so nice of you to say!

Magic Morgana: Thanks! I suppose Robin could have done that, but Luffy hated everything about being human, including speaking. He felt things were perfectly fine before the whole mess. Ace and Sabo had communicated fine with him before. But yes, Robin could have changed that.

livinganime14: Thanks for sticking around and reviewing so much!


Last chapter! Since the last time I published on this story, I've started submitting 2 more. Gotta love quarantine. Lot's of time to write. Anyways, it's 12:01 AM and I'm just gonna submit it as soon as possible. No bedtime since class is all online now... yayyy. So thanks for all those who stuck with it for so long! Enjoy the short epilogue!


Four years later


Luffy was flying high above the ocean when he smelled something vaguely familiar from below. He and his brothers were high enough that they didn't see the ship since it was small and it was night time. Luffy looked towards the scent and saw the ship that was resting in the calm waters.

Pirates! the dragon flying slightly below him said in Luffy's mind. Luffy squawked loudly to wake his sleeping brothers, and started slowly lowering himself down and closer to the ship. "What is it?" Ace mumbled with a yawn. He and Sabo were securely strapped down to Luffy's harness, so they were able to sleep when the brothers grew tired of the island they were on.

Over the past four years, the three of them, plus whatever dragons felt like tagging along, had explored nearly the entire planet. They hadn't made it to the end of the New World, because many of the dragons near the end of it were not very friendly, and Luffy didn't like that. They didn't need to worry about rough waters since they flew everywhere, and the calm belt wasn't off limits to them since the air was perfectly safe and the still waters changed nothing.

We're going to go see them for awhile, Luffy said to the small dragons that had been gliding with him. Ace and Sabo rarely interacted with the visitor dragons, but Luffy enjoyed their company. It was a win-win for everyone. Luffy never left his brothers but he was still able to interact with his own kind.

Luffy landed on the Moby Dick's deck with a heavy thud, alerting the pirates on watch that they had arrived. Ace woke Sabo, who was sleepy still, as it was three in the morning and Luffy had been flying for hours. Ace unclipped his belt from Luffy's harness and Sabo followed suit, finally catching on as to why they were awake and where Luffy had landed.

"No growling, Lu, remember they're our friends," Ace warned. Luffy nodded, though he was a bit restless. He rarely spent any time near humans anymore. He still didn't like them one bit, but would be glad to see their saviours again after all these years.

The dragon was sixteen now, and both Ace and Sabo were twenty two. Ace had eaten a devil fruit and was now arguably more powerful than Sabo was, who still used the pipe as it was his favorite.

"Hey guys!" Ace shouted when he saw Marco and Whitebeard come out in a hurry, both tired but happy to see them. Ace knew they must look strange. Luffy had a leather harness that wrapped around his body snugly, and a leather strap around his neck that connected with another rope for them to hold on to. Luffy didn't think of it as a saddle for them to ride on, but a safety mechanism for his brothers to not fall off.

Both brothers had chest pieces on that clipped to Luffy's harness. They had paid a lot of money to have it made, at the most dragon friendly village they'd ever seen back in the New World calm belt. The only place that had other dragons that lived with humans. Ace and Sabo had offered to stay there, but Luffy had gotten used to traveling and enjoyed it. They brothers did too, but they had a unique opportunity, and had wanted to take it if Luffy did.

The three had visited the place many times over the years, so they didn't leave it for forever.

Sabo and Ace ran to Marco and Whitebeard. Ace jumped Marco and hugged him while Sabo bowed respectfully. Luffy laid down on his stomach on the deck and unclipped the bags with his teeth. They hung under Luffy's tail when they flew long distances.

Marco was beaming while Whitebeard was laughing, and announced to those on deck that they would be having a party that day. When Whitebeard turned to Luffy, who was much bigger than last time they'd been together, he bowed deeply. Luffy gruffed and nodded to him as well. A few of the dragons that had been flying with the brothers were on the yardarms, looking uncomfortable.

It's okay, they won't hurt us, Luffy said. A few squeaks came from the small dragons as they landed on the deck, much lighter than Luffy had, but they were also many times smaller than he was. Luffy watched as one of the pirates who was on watch went inside to wake people up.

The feast was really a very huge breakfast with alcohol served much too early in the day. Luffy napped most of it, glad for some rest. He couldn't talk with the humans and decided he just wanted a nap.

No one was dumb enough to touch or wake him up, and they sat far from him. A couple dragons had flocked down to rest with Luffy, once again showing the humans how affectionate dragons were with each other.

It was very clear to the pirates that the now young men had grown substantially in strength. They now gave off a presence that a weaker man would never challenge, and Ace was extremely muscled now. He went shirtless under the chest piece that he only wore while on Luffy. Sabo dressed as a gentleman and the two bet everyone was wondering where they got the money for everything. Well, the treasure the fishmen had given Luffy was more valuable than they could have ever thought and the three were selling them off slowly, with Luffy's permission of course.

Luffy wasn't awake to hear that his act of protection of his brothers, and Queen Otohime, had changed everyone's view of dragons in the Fishman capital. They still didn't visit the city, but public opinion of them had changed. Ace and Sabo grinned at this, and looked forward to telling Luffy, but wouldn't wake him up now after such a long flight.

"So, why did that guy attack the queen?" Sabo wondered. Ace was next to him, devouring some chocolate pancakes, and leaning against Luffy, who had the harness taken off since they would be there for awhile. The little dragons were still uneasy about being near all of the humans, but they were given respect, even if they were tiny, yet prideful, creatures, based on the fact that these pirates had lived on the ship for over a month with a testy dragon once upon a time.

Marco took a large swig of his rum and then replied with, "Hody didn't like how progressive Otohime was with wanting to be friendly with humans on the surface. Sadly, though their views on dragons have changed, most of the peoples' views on humans have not."

Ace tossed his pancake to the chirpy dragons, who seemed interested in the food but too wary to approach the plate. No one was surprised when the dragons didn't like the smell, and jumped over to another spot by the large dragon still sleeping.

"So, what have you guys been doing?" Thatch questioned.

"Flying all over the world. Luffy finally came to terms with leaving Paradise and that he wouldn't upset his mama. We've gone almost everywhere, but the end of the New World has not so friendly dragons, and Luffy doesn't like that. They spend time with him everywhere. We'll be flying and all of the sudden a bunch of dragons will fly up and hang out with us. We're not stupid, and don't touch them, but they are harmless as long as we don't do anything," Sabo replied. Ace nodded in agreement. "Ace got bitten by one of them after accidentally touching one that was flying next to us. But it was a tiny one, and it didn't hurt much and everything was fine after Ace apologized to it."

"We found an island in the New World Calm Belt where the people living there live alongside dragons, too. That's kind of our home base since we return to there often, but we don't really stay in one place too long. There's too much to see in the world to stay in one place," Ace said around his food.

Whitebeard laughed loudly. "You two have a pirate mindset," he said in his gruff voice. "Would have made great additions to our crew." Ace shook his head.

"No way were we gonna take orders from someone else," he said strongly. "We're our own crew and don't have any limitations due to terrain or enemies. Besides, with a dragon on our side, we're almost invincible. The dragons care too much about each other to let Luffy be in danger." Luffy wrinkled his nose and made a gruff noise, and Ace got the idea and moved the pancake away from his face, as it smelled bad to the dragon.

"And we would have had to get tattoos of your jolly roger, we get to choose our own tattoos," Sabo said, and nudged Ace to take his chest piece off. Sabo pulled his glove off to show a tattoo on his hand that Ace had a larger one on his back.

It was a black and white tattoo of a tribalized image of Luffy as a dragon. It was simple but beautiful. "I'm sure our adventures are better than yours anyway," Ace said lightly. "We don't gotta worry about marines of any type."

Whitebeard chuckled and Marco snorted at his bluntness. "Oh! You know how Luffy was terrified of that guy from Water 7? Lucci? Well, apparently, he's a member of CP9. A government guy in disguise," Marco explained. "So, Luffy wasn't afraid for an unjust reason."

Sabo smiled, and they could see Luffy smile softly, and he was clearly listening. Ace rest his hand on Luffy's cheek, and the dragon adjusted his head so it was resting in Ace's warm hand. The two brothers talked like old friends with the Whitebeard commanders as Luffy continued to relax, since they'd be leaving again soon and he wanted to be well-rested.

Seeing everyone again was nice for both parties, and Luffy was glad the humans could see him like he was and not in a pathetic child human body. When the three left again, little dragons flapping away after them, both the brothers and pirates were in a great mood, looking fondly at the past for their own reasons. Luffy would make sure to bring Ace and Sabo back to them one day.

They were going to continue to explore the world, and would no doubt come across the humans again. After all, the Whitebeards were often in the news when Luffy would rob a News Coo from the bird. They were a big presence on the sea, which Luffy and his brothers didn't need to worry about that at all. They were freer than anybody.

The End