While the straw hats were enjoying their very first dinner in Navea, Kira decided to take a walk around the castle. It has been years since she felt confident enough to enter this area again, after being kidnapped by her own mother because of how dangerous she already was as a child.

Kira never understood how her own blood would want to get rid of her, especially at such a young age. The horrors of this night were still haunting her but thanks to Ace and Whitebeard, she learned to live with it in peace as much as her brain allowed her to.

Not realizing that she stopped moving, Kira felt a soft pat on her shoulder. When she turned around, completely confused, Kira looked up to a very tall redhead, who was staring down at her.

He didn't say a word but looked at her very calmly. Kid already knew how to behave around Kira, even though it sometimes made him mad at how calm he had to be. It was not in his nature. But startling Kira could end up in him being nailed down to the floor again, which he was trying to avoid.

Kira looked around and took a deep breath. She was standing at one of many bridges, which connected different buildings and made the castle look even bigger. "I am sorry. I didn't even realize that I stopped moving.", Kira sighed and shook her head.

"There's no reason to apologize. We were actually looking for you.", Kid stretched himself a bit and looked down the bridge, watching the workers clean up a training space, "Green hair went to look for you so I decided to take a nap. After like thirty minutes, I went out to look for you too and then I saw your butt walking around on the other side."

She couldn't help but smile. These two were completely different people and idiots in their own ways. But they both seemed to care about her, which warmed her heart. Even though she genuinely liked Zoro, it felt weird to be around him. Kid, on the other hand, made her feel warm and welcomed in his presence.

"How was the nap?", Kira looked down as well and watched Lucci train a few prodigies. She admired the man and the time they spend together but after seeing how he chose to live and follow marine commands, Kira couldn't even think of being by his side.

"Like always, since you decided to not stay on my ship. Boring.", he smirked at Lucci, who felt their presence above him. When the CP0 agent narrowed his eyes at Kid, the pirate couldn't resist but to put his hand around Kira and resting it on her butt. Kira just shook her head and took a deep breath to not just throw him down to Lucci and watch them beat each other up.

"Why do you two always behave like kids? And you and Zoro? Literally you and every other male existence.", Kira looked up to his grinning face.

"You see, men like me always want the best. And you are currently the best woman out there, so I have to show you off."

"Currently?", Kira raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms at her chest, wondering what sort of excuse he'll come up with.

"Well, yes. You, then Boa Hancock, Nami, then this pink-haired brat with the ghosts.", Kid shrugged and looked down at Kira, realizing that this wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. "Don't even think about getting mad. You literally have dated the worst men in this generation and I am not commenting about it either."

Realizing that he was right, Kira pressed her lips together to avoid cursing at him.

"Your hand is still there.", Kira reminded him carefully.

"And you haven't moved away at all.", a short giggle escaped his lips right after he squeezed her butt once.

"Alright, let's go.", she sighed annoyed and went back into the building from which she already came from. It was time for their meeting with all the new pirates on this island, as there were rules, which they had to follow.

"Can I just ask you something, kitty?", Kid followed her around and was still amused by the fact of how everyone was treating him like a king, just because he knew Kira. Every guard bowed down and offered him something to eat or to drink, wherever they would see him.

"Since when do you ask for permission?", Kira frowned at that and felt her daggers warming up in her boots. Roronoa must be near.

"True that. So.", he took a few grapes from a plate and ate them immediately, "Why is that CP0 scum here? There are so many pirates and marines mixed in here and there is no fighting. Kinda boring."

"You'll understand soon enough. My brother will explain it at the meeting. I just really hope it will all work out before-", she couldn't even finish her sentence. Kid grabbed her with his metallic arm, pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately. With his other hand he held her at her neck, stroking her cheek up once carefully with his thumb. She lost herself completely in the kiss, not realizing that her brain just shut down.

After pushing him back softly, Kira could barely catch a breath. His eyes rested on hers, looking deep into her soul. But she knew exactly why he did that. Kira could feel Zoros blood a few feet away from them. As she looked at him, Zoro was leaning against the wall with his hand resting calmly on his sword.

"Give me a reason to not slice him up right now.", Zoros muscles tensed and he had to hold himself back from jumping right onto Kid and behead him.

"Because we have a meeting now.", she stepped back and cleared her throat, not paying attention to whatever is happening behind her as she walked straight into the direction of where the office was.

Her heart was beating fast and her mind was all over the place. Flashbacks of the times where she and Kid spend days and nights in his room or in hotels were flooding in. She could barely keep herself together but Kira would definitely not show it in front of Kid. He would never let her hear the end of it.

Finally arriving at the office, where the Kid pirates, the straw hats, the heart pirates, the kujas and the bonney pirates were already waiting. Right before Zoro wanted to shut the door behind them, Lucci and Mihawk entered the room.

"Rorona, keep your eye open.", Mihawk warned him and sat down next to Aron at the front of the table.

The captains and their right hands were all sitting at the round meeting table, while the rest of the crew sat behind them and had an eye on the other groups.

Usopp and Nami were shaking at the sight of all the crews in here but they tried to keep it cool and pretended that they were feeling cold.

Kira sat down in between Mihawk and Kid and leaned back onto the chair, looking around the table and greeting everyone with a nod.

"Oi Hancock!", Luffy grinned happily and waved at her. Kira never expected to see Boa blush and almost melt down at the sight of a man, especially Luffy, but Kira was the last one to judge.

"For who are we waiting for?", Laila sat down on the other side of Aron and looked at Doflamingo sitting down next to her, who was ignoring the angry stares at him.

"For me. I am sorry but it has been a while since I have been here.", a very well known marine admiral just entered the room and had everyone gasping for air.

Fujitora was carefully led by a guard to his empty seat and could feel how everyone froze around him.

"I guess this is the perfect time to start, Aron.", Kira looked at him and immediately grabbed Kid's arm after he attempted to stand up. She gave him a warning sight and turned back to her brother before removing her hand again.

With a soft sigh, he nodded in agreement. "Good evening, everyone. My name is Aron Dracule. I am the heir of the throne and chosen to speak on behalf of my father, who had to excuse himself. He is dying because of an illness, which cannot be cured. Some of you may already know this."

Sad sobbing appeared from a few people around the room.

Aron continued after a deep calming breath, "Before I talk about the ceremony, I have to inform you about specific rules on this island. If you take a look around this table, you might already see a few friends and enemies. We have pirates here, marines and CP0 agents. On this island, we also have people from the revolutionary army, pirates and marines from all sorts of generations and secret agents from the underworld. The only people, who we don't want to see here are nobles."

A few agreeing nods were shared with each other, even Fujitora agreed.

"We don't personally choose, who can come in here but we can still decide to ask someone to leave. On this island, there is no war allowed. It doesn't matter how much you disagree with someone or how much you hate someone. No fighting, no war. This island is supposed to train people and offer peace. We are not friendly people but we are understanding. Not everyone has a perfect life and we don't care about anyone's past or future. We only care about today.", Aron pointed the finger onto the table and stretched out his back. "We have many dangerous men and women on this island, who chose to spend their time teaching others about fighting. We don't teach about the good or bad in people. And we do not accept any sort of crime here as well. Also, on this island, we don't have a currency. If you want food, you'll have to give something in exchange. You can work, you can teach or do anything else."

"So you don't have any gold on this island? I thought you were rich!", Bonney tilted her head a bit annoyed and wasn't too happy about it.

"Everyone who want's to live here has to give up all their goods, including gold and money. Our island is filled with it and we use it for trading with different locations. But you cannot steal it.", Laila smiled a bit and winked at her.

"Try me, bitch.", the pink-haired captain smirked at her.

"If you try to steal something, you will get killed.", Lucci interrupted them and gave Bonney a cold stare. She sighed annoyed and shook her head in disbelief. It hurt her to have others think that she could be this bad at stealing. Before she could comment on that, Aron continued.

"Enough of this now. For many years, we did not have any sort of trouble here but we do kick out unnecessary people if we literally have to. That would include you too, miss Jewelry Bonney.", Aron looked at her once and decided to have an eye on her after the meeting.

"Are you sure that your father cannot be healed? We have the best doctor in our crew and he could-", Luffy couldn't even finish his sentence.

"We know about Choppers' knowledge to heal people, which is why we asked his teacher to help us. After she has caused more trouble for us, even she said that there is no way for him to survive. He had a spell cast onto him, which no one can revoke."

The entire room was silent. It was something the Dracule's had to deal with for years and all this search and work for an antidote was for nothing.

"We would usually offer a prepared house for each crew to live in but we didn't expect any more visitors than usual. I guess we can thank Koreena for that.", Aron gave Kira an annoyed glare, which she did not expect.

"What's that supposed to mean?", Kira raised an eyebrow and hoped for a direct answer, which her brother usually never gave. Aron always tried to avoid confrontation.

"You know exactly what I mean. You all brought them here to fight Blackbeard."

Mihawk leaned now forward and turned to Kira, "You did what?" Everyone in the room stared at Kira, confused and concerned as well.

"I didn't do anything. Why Blackbeard? What are you talking about?", Kira sat up straight and didn't understand anything.

"I talked to our mentalist this morning and she warned me about him trying to get in here. Don't pretend like you didn't know. This is why you've been sailing with these pirates.", Aron tensed his muscles and wouldn't want anything more but to talk to her in private but he knew Kira very well. She would not let this go down easily.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. And in addition to that, I don't need anybody's help to beat up that bastard. The only reason why I didn't come here, is because I never wanted to and not because of some stupid plan.", Kira looked at him annoyed. After all these years, this was the first time that he has actually dared to talk to her and this is how he chose to communicate with her.

"A siblings fight is not something we need here.", Mihawk warned them and turned to Aron, "You still need a lot to learn and you can start right now. If you give us certain information about Blackbeard attacking this island, then you have to-"

"I don't have to get a command from any of you.", Aron stood up and pointed at the door, "You two can leave now. Mihawk, Koreena."

Kira shook her head and stood up too, "You are not our King yet. I don't have to listen to you."

Law exchanged a sight with Kid and then turned to his crew, "I guess we should leave. This is not the sort of professional island of which everyone talks about."

"Law, please. There is no need to leave yet.", Kira looked at him short and turned to her brother, "Tell us what you saw about Blackbeard now."

"Oh, I am getting commands from you now too?", Aron raised an eyebrow and looked surprised.

Killer massaged his temples and tried to calm himself down, "Why are all the Kings we ever meet so whiny?"

Kid couldn't help but laugh and agreed with him.

Mihawk closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. "Okay, that's enough.", he stood up, grabbed Aron by the backside of his neck, and dragged him outside.

With a quick glance at the guards he gave them a warning, "One step and you'll wake up in the medical room."

No one made a move to stop him.

The next chapter will be up soon too :) sorry for the long wait.

Have a great day/evening!

-Swenika