The hut was quiet. It was never this quiet, but today it was silent.

Most of the bandits were hunched over a newspaper, or quietly drinking in a corner.

The last they saw of Dadan, she was stumbling her way towards the treehouse built by the boys, all those years ago. Back when they were all still innocent, and whole.

"Come on, we can't be here when the old man gets back tomorrow, he might actually kill us this time!"

It had been amusing, watching their efforts. The boys never knew that the bandits would go in at night and fix the construction mistakes they made. They couldn't have the boys falling through the floor because of a badly placed, or half-rotted board, after all.

"Hey, this board looks sturdy enough."

Half the boards they dragged back from the Terminal were rotted half-way through, but the bandits were able to cut away the rotted parts and use what was left in other areas of the little house the boys were building.

The bandits had enjoyed watching the boys play 'pirate', for once acting their ages.

"Sabo! Raise the sails and turn starboard or we're going to be sunk!"

"Bring it on, nature!"

"Yeah! Bring it on!"

But Sabo was gone now, killed years ago by the very people that Garp worked for, for simply sailing his boat nearby.

And now Ace was gone, too. Killed for his bloodline.

Luffy would never be the same again after everything that he went through trying to save his brother, only to fail in the end, only for Ace to die in his arms.

They didn't even know if Luffy was still alive, all they knew was that he'd been taken away by another pirate after the Whitebeard pirates defended him.

The bandits sitting around the clearing looked up, a few half-heartedly reaching for weapons, when they heard somebody walk up. Weapons were dropped back onto the ground when they saw it was a teary-eyed, lost looking Makino and the Mayor of Fuushia Village.

"Makino." Dogra said quietly, and got up to greet her. The bandits liked her well enough to make an effort at showing some sort of civilized behavior when she was here.

"Hello, Dogra. I wanted to see- see how everyone was doing." She said, holding back more tears. She handed off the basket she was carrying to Magra, who was standing next to her. He peeked inside to find a few bottles of Sake and cups.

"We'll be fine." He gave her a small smile, as always amazed at the kindness one woman could possess. "We think Dadan is up at the treehouse, I can take you there if you want?" He offered.

She looked back into the trees, and nodded. "I would appreciate that." For all that she'd heard about the treehouse from the bandits and Luffy, she'd never actually been to see it. She'd always visited with the boys at the bandits hut.

"I'll put these away for later." Magra said, and scurried inside the hut. There was no doubt that the Sake was for toasting Ace's life.

After a short walk, which was more difficult than expected, they left the forest to be met with a tall tree, probably the tallest tree on the island, set at the very peak of the mountain. The boys picked the perfect place for their house, that was for sure.

"A treehouse, huh? That sounds exciting."

"Huh-huh. It's awesome! And we can see all over the island, it's so high up, and- and, it's..."

"Eh, it's alright."

"It was so hard to build, though. But we did it!"

"I'll have to come see it some time."

"Yeah! Let's go right now!"

The boys never did get to show her their new home. She'd had to leave, not wanting to have to travel back down the mountain in the dark. She'd promised them the next time, but there never was a next time, because Sabo was killed before her next visit. She could only visit once every couple of months, she did have a bar to run, after all.

She spotted Dadan, she was sitting on the 'front porch' of the house, high up off the ground.

Makino didn't say anything, merely climbed up and sat beside her. She dimly registered Dogra leaving, probably to go back to the hut.

"What kind of world is this, that a young boy is killed for his father's sins, and for the blood in his veins?" Dadan asked after a while. "Not one word on that platform about his own crimes, his own time as a pirate. It was all about a man who's been dead for over twenty years. I don't know what's worse. That he's gone, or that his own life didn't even seem to have mattered in the end."

"It mattered. He d-died fighting, he died protecting Luffy. We both know that there's no other way he would have preferred to go out." Makino said quietly. "Sure, his own accomplishments weren't even mentioned, but he was protecting his precious baby brother."

"He fought his whole life trying to get out of his father's shadow, trying to prove that he was his own person. Well, I suppose that the way it finally happened will cement himself as Strawhat Luffy's older brother more than he'll be cemented in people's minds as Roger's son." Dadan huffed a laugh.

"I think he would like that." Makino smiled weakly.

Dadan sighed. "I hope Luffy is alright, wherever he is." She looked down at something in her hands, and Makino saw that it was a net containing three red sake cups. Dadan saw her looking. "I found these, years ago. They've been hanging on the wall, I honestly don't know why the boys had something like this, I never asked."

Makino laughed lightly. "I think I know. It's a common tale among sailors, that if you share a cup of sake with someone you're close to, you become brothers. Shanks told me about it, but I don't think he ever told Luffy, so Ace or Sabo must have heard about it in the Terminal."

"Ah... that explains the bottle of sake I found missing from my stock that one time." Dadan realized. "My men aren't stupid enough to steal from my personal stock. Ace, on the other hand..." She huffed. "Cheeky little brat." She muttered fondly.

Makino laughed lightly. "He never was very afraid of you." She said, amused, only for Dadan to huff in annoyance.

"Little brat." She muttered again.

They were silent for a while. "Come on, your men are waiting for us back at the hut. I brought some sake with me, we can have a toast or something." Makino finally said, getting up and holding out her hands to help the larger woman up.

Before Dadan moved, she looked up at the top of the tree, when Makino turned to see what she was looking at, her breath caught at the pirate flag flying cheerfully at the top of the tree.

Without thinking, she started softly reciting a sailor's prayer that Shanks taught her once. "May the seas lie smooth before you, may a gentle breeze forever fill your sails, may sunshine warm your face and kindness warm your soul, and until we meet again, may God bless you and keep you safe."

"Let's go." Dadan muttered after a moment of silence before she got up to lead Makino back to the hut.

This was an Irish blessing I found while looking for something that seemed appropriate here.