Dragon's POV

I was in a haze and a fog it clouded my mind and I wasn't entirely sure where I was. Although I knew I was no longer in pain, that was something, right?

When I last woke I was in a burning agony, it blinded me to almost everything. The only thing I really remember was seeing Luffy, with big worried eyes. I knew I didn't like seeing that, then I told him I was fine and I also recall telling the boy not to get anyone.

I didn't want anymore help from the Yonko's crew. I had had enough of them, especially their captain, he had butted in more than enough.

Yet, here I was lying in bed, I was no longer in any pain, in fact I couldn't even register the chains around my wrists. I didn't feel drained, well not the normal drained feeling anyway, I was tired, but I don't think it was same as the other tiredness I'd come to know.

To be honest I haven't felt this good in a long time and that was awful when I really thought about it...

My eyes slowly opened taking in the darkness or at least I thought would be darkness, however there was a soft glow in the corner. Warm flickering from a flame came from a small oil lamp, I think there was a couple more than I was used to. It brightened up our room considerably.

Why was there so many lights? The dizziness my mind was in made the edges of my vision blur, there was a shape next to me, a moment of focusing later, it was one with a straw hat.

There was also another lying next Luffy or at least trying to, blonde spikes of hair was all I could really make out. Mario. Maurice, no, the blonde kid Luffy was friends with was there. Half his body was hanging off the mattress, that didn't seem to stop the boy from snoozing soundly.

What was he doing there? Not that it really bothered me that much, it was confusion as to why he was here, in our room asleep and not in his own.

Whatever.

Wait, Luffy did go get someone! That damn kid! I told him not to, doesn't he ever listen. If blondie is here, then surely he would have noticed my- uh- poor state. Wonderful just what we need. More eyes on us. Not to mention they saw-

I started to get up, at least try to anyway, but my body had other ideas and I fell forwards into my pillow before I even managed to prop myself up on my elbow.

I was half expecting to get tangled in my chains like normal, to hear them jangle. Silence. Where were my shackles?

Looking down towards my wrists, nothing was there, except for clean bandages. No hand cuffs.

I was stunned, I reached out touching my bare wrist, disbelief, I probed the area, rubbing the spot where the metal had been. There wasn't anything there.

My eyes were wide, my throat closed up. Grabbed my hand, running fingers up to my forearm. Nothing. There was nothing.

No that can't be right... I can't be free.

But there wasn't anything there...

I was free.

I was free!

A wave of emotions hit me like a train, I was happy, I was shocked and I felt like I was dreaming.

Was I dreaming?

In that moment I didn't care, a large smile enveloped my face, I sniffed a little, hot tears ran down my cheeks and took over my vision.

I'm free !

Those shackles had been my burden for a year. And just like that they were gone. It was to good be true. They were my reminder that my life wasn't worth much, I was a prisoner in my family. I meant very little.

They were gone.

I hiccupped out small relieved breaths, years of pain felt as though they had been lifted from my shoulders. The warm tears were almost welcome, I was happy. No, overjoyed!

I don't how long the tears welled, it went on and on, yet I didn't care. Years of emotional blockage had suddenly exploded, it was falling away, with every teardrop that fell, a little bit of pain disappeared with it.

Then the moment was utterly ruined when a voice butted in.

"Woken up have we? How you feeling now?"

Of course it was that stupid old man! There it was again that annoying feeling I got when this man was around.

"What you doing here?" I said sharply, somehow it lacked the normal venom I usually had in my tone.

"Sitting here listening to you snore."

Suddenly I was very aware of my wet eyes, I could feel the embarrassment burning me into a red coloured tomato. I began wiping my tears away, I could feel the uncomfortable feeling of dread bubble up in my chest.

Did he see?. Please don't mention it. God, how pathetic I am?

I'm cheeks were still hot from embarrassment. My gaze darted away from the Yonko, I didn't want him laughing in my face.

Wait why do I even care what he thinks.

Wait why was he here, what was he doing?

I slowly turned towards the man once again, he was sat on the floor legs crossed, his back was to me. For once the pirate captain didn't have his coat on, it had been dumped in a pile next to him. His hair had also been pulled back in to a lose ponytail, all in all, Whitebeard didn't really come across as the his usual proud and strong self.

Right now he looked tired, as if he had been up for way longer then he should have been. His shoulders were hunched over warily, he was reading something.

He was reading my something!

He was looking over my notes and plans! Over my maps and books! I leapt forward in horror, all I wanted to do was snatch them out of his hands. Those were the plans to get Luffy home!

He would find out about my dumb boys secret!

When said I jumped from the bed, I mean I flew, straight over Luffy's head, over blondie and I just kept going until I slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the room. I had forgotten how light I was, I was light as air even.

My devil fruit was back!

And I hurt, my teeth and nose went smack into the wooden plank wall, I slowly staggered backwards I was disorientated. Standing up from my crumpled position, I wobbled, falling straight on my ass.

Great another thing to be embarrassed about!

"What are you doing old man?" I asked again, trying to breeze over what had just happened.

" Sitting" The blonde man said in slightly amused voice, giving me a raised eyebrow.

I scowled not liking his clear jab at a bit of humour, not about this. This was serious!

I stood up shakily, staggering over to the Yonko, who just give me a irritating smile. Though it did look a little forced, good, I didn't want him being nice to me. I'd had it with his attitude.

His stupid nice, caring attitude!

Why did it bother me, then suddenly it hit me like a bat over the skull.

"Know what I hate about you people...?" I uttered suddenly, the words came out on their own as if I couldn't keep them to myself.

Whitebeard sighed, head dropping a little, shoulders going slack, his eyes turning away from me.

" Drag-" Before his damn sad voice even came out properly, I spoke over him.

"I hate that I don't hate you! I hated everyone before, now I don't know what to do cause I don't hate you and I hate that don't hate you..." When the words were out of my mouth, I immediately tried to backpedal, as I realised what I had just said.

Can a person die from embarrassment? Cause pretty I'm going to. What is wrong with me? Where does all this stuff keep coming from?

I paused as I tried to get me thought in order, shaking myself mentally. I had been halfway over to where the Yonko was sat, when I had announced those stupid things. I turned my glare up, I was met with dumbest, dopiest grin imaginable.

"Don't smile at me like that! I just met I don't hate you! Not that I like you and your damn crew!" I winced at how painfully pathetic that attempt was, this in turn had made the stupid old man beam more.

"Gura ra ra! So you like us then. That's what it sounded like!"

I could feel my face getting redder and redder, burning with humiliation. At that moment I just wanted to hide in a hole and never come out ever again.

" Shut up old man" I was very aware of the two sleeping teenagers, I did not want them waking up. I'd been laughed at enough.

The Yonko was still grinning ear to ear, would he stop! " What's wrong with not hating everything, if anything that's a huge improvement, no?"

I averted my eyes, they fell on the papers on the floor and I was abruptly taken back to the situation at hand. Whitebeard was looking through my notes.

"Why are you looking through those. They're private!"

The pirate's grin dropped slightly, his eyes fixing on the map that had several circles and crosses I had marked on it.

"So Luffy's from the future..."

My eyes bugged out of my sockets, all the air was kicked out of my chest, that was especially hard to do considering I was made out of wind. But panic rose up, tearing a path from my stomach to my throat.

"What! He told you!" My tone hitched in a highly unflattering manner, at that time I really couldn't care less.

"Don't worry I don't know much. As soon as he told us, Luffy made it clear that it would endanger his crew and certain things in the future. I agree with him."

Whitebeard murmured softly until he paused, eyes turning on a newspaper page on the floor, he picked up and turned it over in his large hands carefully, the man sounded exhausted, but he continued a second later.

"I figured something wasn't quite adding up, though Luffy being from the future was not my first guess. It does make a lot of sense..."

I starred at the Yonko, attempting to read his expression, however I couldn't work out what he was thinking. I remained quiet and weary, waiting for his next move.

Let's just say his move went straight off the deep end. Pretty quickly too.

"Dragon I have a proposition for you."

I swallowed, maybe he was finally showing his true colours, oddly my heart sank a bit. Why, I wasn't sure. I mean I always knew that trusting them was a bad idea.

"What is it that you want?" I couldn't keep the sharpness out of my words, I felt betrayed, which was stupid, these people were pirates, they're whole thing was dishonesty.

"I'll help you get Luffy back to his own time and in return you become my son"

Out of everything that could have come out of that mans mouth, that was not what I was expecting. Not by a long shot. In fact I stood there stunned for a moment, my jaws agape, sweat dripping down my forehead.

What?

WHAT!

"What the hell old man! What kind of proposition is that?!"

All I got out of the man was a shrug and a smug smile, he seemed to think giving me a headache was funny.

"Yes, that's it."

"Again what!"

"I'll help you get Luffy back to the future and in return you become my son. I thought I made that quite clear." He chuckled, leaning over backwards so his chin was resting slightly on his shoulder.

"No, no I got it... And you are aware that Luffy is from the future! I can't do something like that!"

"But that isn't a no."

I shook my head disbelief, was he crazy!

"ARE YOU CRAZY OLD MAN? "

The Yonko just snorted at my dumbfounded frown, instead of looking offended, he had a big amused grin.

"Not the last time I checked."

I opened and closed my mouth, unsure of how to deal with this crazy man. He couldn't have been serious! There was no way.

"Here read this..." The newspaper page was suddenly shoved in my sore hands, I didn't care about what the newspaper had to say.

"This isn't the ti-" The Yonko cut me off, pointing at the paper with a knowing smile. "Just read it will you."

I sighed grumpily, turning it the right way up. For the third time that night I nearly choked on my breath, there was two pictures in centre of the page. A blonde boy was staring back at me, burn on one side of his face, a top hat was perched onto of wavy hair. But that wasn't the person that caught my attention, no, it was the black haired man next to him. He had a sly grin, dark eyes and a very distinct tribal tattoo on the left side of his face.

That man was me.

Or future me anyway.

Underneath the picture of me was a subtitle which read:

Most wanted man in the world, Dragon the Revolutionary leader.

I slowly lowered the paper, my eyes were wide. In my chest there was a burning sensation, my heart was beating fast, yet it wasn't in fear or anything negative. These emotions were a bright passion, a dream, one long since gone, it was all suddenly burst a light again. That passion, a hope. My dream. I could make my dream a reality.

I could really make a difference! I could make a difference to other people that had suffered as I had. I could make the world a better place! I had fighting changing at taking down the Tenryubito!

A wide grin spread across my face. I chuckled, maybe my luck had started to turn around after all.

Man, that face tattoo is so cool!

Then reality came crashing down around me, I gazed up at the Yonko. Why had he showed me this, then asked such a weird thing. There was no way in hell I was going to give up on my new found dream again, I would get Luffy home on my own.

I didn't need this persons help...

I have several plans already. None of them include this ship or its crew.

Yet there was that nagging anxiety at the back of my mind, even though my plans were solid. They actually weren't. They relied heavily on luck, finding people to give us lifts to different islands, stealing food and money. Not getting caught by the Marines again.

I shook those doubts out of my brain. The only people I could trust was myself and Luffy. That was if my stupid boy didn't cause any problems. What if-

Stop! Don't think about. This is fine.

"Now you've showed me this, you know my answer, I can't accept your help."

"Really if anything I think this gives you more reason to accept it."

"I can't mess around with future, it's not just mine, it's Luffy too. If I screw this up, then Luffy may never be born. He's my kid! So, I gott-"

"How are you going to a accomplish that on your own? Dragon, at this point time things have already been changed. You're a smart kid, you must realise that right? For one thing you wouldn't have met myself and my crew if it wasn't for Luffy."

That made me freeze, my blood ran cold with as that sank in. I'd been so focused on getting Luffy home, I'd hardly even given that much thought.

Time was already screwed up.

"Another thing, how are you and Luffy going to get back. How are you going to travel? Where are you going to get money. Food? You know what happens when Luffy doesn't eat. You will most likely have Garp on your tail soon enough, along with whatever Marines he brings with him. What if you get caught? What if Luffy gets caught? What if you get so badly injured that it makes it impossible for you to have child. What if you're killed, then what? Luffy will never exist anyway."

I was shocked silent, Whitebeard continued on.

"Dragon that infection in your wrist was so severe that you almost lost a hand, maybe the other. If your fever hadn't broken and the sea stone poisoning wasn't treated you would have died. If I didn't come to check on you both, then I very well could have had two dead kids. All because one brat was too damn stubborn to ask for help. If you don't care about yourself, that's one thing, but the fact that you claim to care an awful lot about your son, then almost die, which would have caused said son t-"

"Enough. I get it" I whispered sinking to my knees, they felt like jelly. My stomach was in turmoil, I wanted to throw up.

I had almost died. I almost killed my own kid. A flash of Luffy's cheerful smile past through my mind, I flinched away from it.

"I don't know what I'm doing okay! I have no idea! I don't have any idea how to deal with any of this!"

I hide behind my knees, hugging my upper thighs to my chest. I was defeated. What was I supposed to do?

"That's fine. That's why I want to help you. Dragon, even though things could change, as long as the end result is the same it doesn't matter about the journey."

"What's that supposed to mean. I still can't accept your help."

Whitebeard sighed scooting over to my side. At the very least he respected my space, he didn't touch me which was appreciated.

"What I mean to say is that, things have changed, yes, however, you must still be on the same road that leads up to Luffy's birth, if you weren't then would he have disappeared. From what I see you are determined to become a revolutionary leader, nothing anyone could say would change your min-"

"Then you understand why I ca-"

"Will you let me finish brat! Geez, don't you boys ever listen!"

"Sorry..."

"Thank you! Now, what I was saying before you opened your big mouth was, if Luffy hadn't found you, you would more then likely still be on Garps fleet of ships. That has changed, there's nothing that can be done about that. That being said, Dragon you are not alone. You're on ship. As such we are going to do things my way."

I stopped turning to look at the man sharply, was he implying, that the proposition he given me wasn't optional. Before I could question this the man carried on.

"You're my son, so you're going to let me help you-"

"Hang say what?! When did I agree to that old man!?"

"You didn't. I'm a pirate, we're known to be pretty selfish." The Yonko was beaming down at my horrified expression. This man was evil.

"You can't just decide that on your own! What about the deal? The deal was and I quote "I'll help you get Luffy back to the future and in return you become my son." I never agreed to that!"

"Again I'm a pirate, I can do whatever I want."

"No!" I hissed as pushed my slightly angry tone under my breath, I didn't want to wake the two kids.

"Yes!" Whitebeard sniggered, he looked as though he was having the time of his life. Obviously, suppressing the loud laughter from come out.

"I am not your son. I'm the old geezer son."

"You hate him though. I'm a good dad also adoption is legit way to have a son"

I hated how much this stupid man was enjoying himself, it was like he'd already decided. Well actually, yes, he had decided. Dumb old man!

"Not when the other party doesn't want to, then it's just kidnapping."

"I prefer surprise adoption."

"No. I'm becoming a revolutionary! That's my dream! That is what I'm going to do! Nobody is going to stand in the way of that!" I stated firmly as I tried to keep my temper under control.

"I know. I didn't say I was going to. I just said you were my son."

"Huh?" That threw me, when would the old man stop doing that. He said one thing then another.

"Listen Dragon. Some kids have got fly the nest some day, I know that. Even if I want to keep every last one of them with me forever, I know I can't." He closed his eyes sadly, a small wistful smile played on his lips.

"However, as a father it's my duty to help them on their way, I'll be there to support them until they can stand on their own two feet. Even when they aren't at home anymore, they'll still be my kid, no matter what. If they need me then I will always be there for them. It doesn't matter what path they chose, they will always be my child. Do get what I'm saying."

He gazed down at me softly, I did get it. I finally got what he was saying. He was such a far cry from my father, a complete opposite. Maybe that was why I found it so hard to understand him.

"The point I'm getting at is, you stay with me as long as you need to, gather some money, find people that have the same aspirations as you do. Let me be the father, that yours just couldn't be. You're a good kid, I think you can do anything if you put yourself mind to it. I mean look at these plans you've made, there good, you were lacking the resources for them. But with my help I think they could be really helpful."

I turned away, I didn't really know what to say, so instead I thought about his 'offer' which wasn't really an offer. However it didn't sound so bad. I mean, as long as I got Luffy home and became Revolutionary then hopefully things would turn out alright.

I mean it not like I had any money, I didn't have a boat. Sure, I could fly now, however carrying a hyperactive Luffy for miles and miles across large expanse of sea probably wouldn't end well.

Also he was willing to help. I mean, he was a Yonko he had to have some big resources and lots of eyes everywhere.

It wouldn't hurt. I just had to make sure of one or two things.

Also, Luffy almost died because of my stupidity tonight. What would happen if... there was so many things that could go wrong.

And surprisingly I did trust Whitebeard.

I trusted Luffy's judgement, not to mention this crazy Yonko went to war over Ace. Just a single person. Just to save him.

"Fine. But I'm not calling you Pops"

A large arm enveloped me, I tried to push the stupid old man off, it was like being hugged by a immovable tree.

"Get off old man!"

"No" Whitebeard said cheerfully.

What have I done?

I just wanted to say thank you to all you lovely people for the supportive feedback. Also I've also had an apology off one of the problem people. So thank you to them to.

I'm just so glad everyone likes this story, I really do love writing it.