Hello everyone!'My name is Dragon' has been updated.Luffy is now fighting Perospero, because of this I've had to change my notes and story line, not much but enough that has taken some time to do.So the next two chapters are going to focus on what Sabo and little Shanks are doing, as that already has all the note's, also gives me time to rewrite the next couple of parts with Luffy and Dragon's side of things. At least this way the story is going forward and parts are coming out.I want to thank all of you for your patience and support.Peace out

Dragon's POV

The sea was getting darker, night was falling and the air was definitely getting colder, maybe we were sailing towards a winter island?

I wasn't sure when we'd arrive, maybe by nightfall tomorrow? Either way that's not what I was worried about. I was worried about Luffy.

When we arrived back in the cabin he went straight to his hammock, he was clearly very upset. And I wasn't really sure how to comfort him, also I wasn't even sure if he wanted to be comforted.

I've never been good at the emotional stuff, for the longest time I just kept everything trapped up inside, choosing to ignore emotions. I had always found it easier, however it wasn't just me anymore. I couldn't just keep them all locked inside, they wouldn't stay there and that annoyed me to no end.

I'm not entirely sure what had changed, but since my meltdown the other night I couldn't shut them off, the floodgates had opened and I don't think they were shutting anytime soon.

God it was so much easier. It was so much easier when it was just me. Saying that, I'm not sure if I would want it to be me and only me now.

Luffy was somebody I cared about. I hadn't really given a damn for a long time, but because of him, I finally felt like a real person. He treated me like a real person. He saw me, not the old geezer or a burden. Just me. Dragon.

That made me happy? Yes, it made me happy.

I turned to gaze in his direction, his back was to me as he lay there unmoving. What could I do to make him happy again? I couldn't understand why he had to tell them. Surely it hurt talking about it so why think about it at all?

I never thought about my mother or the old geezer. When I did it made me feel awful, so why think about it? If you never thought about it then you would never hurt.

I didn't want him to hurt.

I sighed dragging myself over to my bed, slumping down on it. The bed was directly below Luffy's hammock, in fact if I didn't duck my head then I would have hit my head on his suspended body.

"Hey Lu? You awake?" I asked softly, there was a long pause, just as I was beginning suspect that he was asleep or was at the very least choosing to ignore me, the boy spoke up. "Yeah..."

"Are you okay? I mean I know you're not but I just, uh, well..." I broke off, I had no clue what to say.

"You know I think I am." Luffy admitted quietly, I turned my head up in surprise, he had an arm held out, almost like he was reaching for the ceiling. Or maybe he was reaching for the heavens.

"Seriously?" I asked dumbfounded, I wasn't expecting that.

"Yeah. I kinda wanted to tell' em for a while." He sounded calm, there was sadness in his voice but it didn't shake. There was a clear resolve in the way he spoke, no regret.

"Why did you tell them? Doesn't it hurt? Wouldn't you rather not think about it" I blurted out; I just didn't want him to think about something so painful. I couldn't understand why he would want to put himself through something like that.

He was silent for a while, I was unsure if he was going to answer, maybe I had upset him. That was never my intention...

"Dragon do you ever think about your mom?" Luffy asked out of the blue, once again it threw me off. What did my mom have to do with this whole situation?

"No. Not really, I don't like thinking about her..."

"So, you never talk about her?"

"No. As I said I don't like thinking about her."

"Isn't that kinda sad?" Luffy murmured, his tone was very dull, it lacked its normal joyful nature.

What is he trying to get at?

"Why would I want to talk about something so painful?" I asked, I couldn't hide my frustration.

Why is he going on about ma? This has nothing to do with Ace...

"Cause she's your mom. Don't you like thinking about her. Didn't you like her?" Luffy questioned, he sounded tired and a bit distant.

"Of course! Ma was really important to me!" I snapped.

I may be lacking in the emotional department but I'm not heartless!

Was this how he felt about me? I mean I couldn't blame him for that, I had straight up abandoned him. The way I acted sometimes would suggest that I was heartless.

"Ace was important to me too. I told them because I wanted say how much they helped my brother. Ace would have wanted them to know." Luffy sighed heavily, before my brain could even process what he was saying properly, the boy continued.

"Just because it makes me sad, doesn't mean I never want to think about Ace ever again. He's still my brother, we had so much fun together, I would never want to forget that, even if it hurts sometimes. I look back at the fun we had, the good stuff, you know. Sure, the way he died makes me feel sad but that doesn't mean that's how I remember him. Ace was more than how he died. He was Ace. He was so much more than that."

I froze up, it suddenly hit me. I understood. I could feel my chest tighten, it felt like my heart was being crushed. Yet I smiled, I understood.

"You know Luffy sometimes you make a lot of sense, you that..."

I was such a terrible son. That's how I had defined my mother for years, the way she died. However, she was so much more than that. She wasn't how she died; she was how she lived.

The person who lived was amazing. How could I just forget that?

Maria wasn't the woman who died at the wrath of a Tenryubito, no, she was the woman who stood up to them without a single regret.

She stayed true to her beliefs. That was who my mother was.

I would not forget that again.

The next morning

I was woken by a loud and rather abrupt sound, I rolled over to find Mario yelling for Luffy to wake up. He was jabbing him in the side, Luffy didn't seem all that bothered, he just carried on snoring away.

I wasn't sure how he could sleep through all that? Then again, if I was him, I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep at all last night.

Mario was on his own today, did the kid have to be so damn loud? I sat up, giving the boy a cold glare, I was tired, could he not be a nuisance?

The blonde teen ignored me, deciding to use the trump card. Why he hadn't started with that was a mystery.

"Luffy breakfast time, yoi!"

My boy shot up, a large grin in it's normal place. He looked absolutely fine today, the sad sullen air gone.

How he bounced back honestly baffled me, then again Luffy wasn't anything like me. He was such a positive force, nothing ever seemed to keep him down for long, it made me rather envious.

The raven leapt down from his hammock, chattering away to Mario without a care in the world. I forced myself out of bed, dragging my tired body to get up. It's not like I had done anything physically taxing this week. Okay, sure I almost died from Sea Stone poisoning but that was like 3 days ago... Then again that wasn't really much time.

Anyway, it was my eyes and brain that were tired, maybe my body too. That was everything, alright I was just tired. Plain and simple, I was exhausted, even though I had just woken up, I still felt as though I hadn't slept in a month.

It was all rather pathetic. I was pathetic. That's what the old geezer would have said, suck it up you're a man aren't you?

"Oi Dragon are you coming or are you just going to keep standing there? Come on I'm hungry!" Luffy broke me out of my thoughts, he was prodding me in the shoulder not too gently.

I nodded, mumbling a "coming", they both grinned, bolting out of the cabin leaving me to jog after them warily.

Breakfast came and went, the morning felt like any other on this ship, utter chaos. In some ways I was glad that everything felt like normal, but deep down I knew it wasn't.

Mario was being extra friendly today, it was forced. Anything Luffy said he would laugh and joke about it. If the conversation started to die, he would jump in and change the subject, or start laughing nervously.

But the biggest difference today was that Mario was on his own, the other apprentices were nowhere to be seen. Turns out they were doing the daily chores without them, for some reason Mario had been let off. But the way he was acting it wasn't really a surprise, what had been said last night must have really bothered him or at the very least caused him to be worried over Luffy.

The more I looked at the kid, the worse he looked, he had deep-set tired eyes, they kind of had a puffiness to them, almost as if he had been crying. His upper body was held stiffly, as if he'd been sat hunched over all night. He looked awful.

I thought I was in bad shape, this poor kid was suffering. Then again, he was 15, teenagers were going through puberty after all, they were all emotional, right?

What was I like as a teenager?

When I was 15, I was still on Dawn Island. I was hunting huge animals to eat, beating up stuck up nobles, trying not get caught stealing. I guess our lives were really different, I never had time to sit there and get emotional.

I was just trying to survive. Then again, I didn't really make it easy for myself either. Geez, I was dumb kid.

When breakfast was over and done with, we went top deck to sat on the figure head for a while. Mario who was slowly beginning to run out of stuff to say, his words began to slur and his eyes started to slide shut, hevfinally had enough, practically falling over backwards asleep, leaving both Luffy and I staring.

I was expecting Luffy to start laughing, however he remained quiet, that in itself was very unusual. Instead, he gently patted the boys head, his face remained neutral. That in turn made me fell incredibly uneasy.

"Uh. Guess he was tired..." I said in an absent voice, I was staring at my boy, trying desperately to read how he was feeling.

"Yeah. He must be sad about what I said..." Luffy murmured.

After a moment of silence, he looked up and smiled. He didn't look sad, yet his expression lacked its normal joy. He looked blank.

"Are you doing okay?" I asked. I didn't really want to make matters worse, he looked so un-Luffy-like.

"Yeah. I just hope Marco's okay..."

I blinked, confused. What did Mari- Marco have to do with this... He was worrying about him?

"What about you? Are you okay?" I asked again, trying to keep my annoyance out of my voice.

Luffy frowned, tilting his head to the side. "Yeah, I already said I was fine. Marco and the old man aren't... Maybe Icy-Chan too. I bet they're really sad."

"Yeah, but they don't know him... So-"

"You don't know him, my 'now' you doesn't know me, but 'you' care." Luffy interrupted firmly, there was something so confident in the way he said it.

Once again, I was lost in what to say. He confused me to know end, it's not like I didn't understand what he was getting at, I just didn't know what to say. In fact, I had no clue what to feel either. All this stuff just went over my head, but I really wanted to get it.

I wanted to be able to- to... what did I want? What was it that I wanted to understand? However, I didn't know what, I was so close to getting it, but it was just out of reach.

I wanted to have what Luffy did. What was it that he had? It was something so painfully obvious, yet I was clueless to what it was.

Once again, the old geezer was suddenly all I could think about.

"Dragon, why do you look so angry?" Luffy broke me out of my thoughts, he was giving me a odd look.

"I'm not. I just- I was just thinking about the old geezer... it's nothing"

"Gramps?"

"Yeah"

"Why?" My boy uttered, that single word bounced around my head.

Why was I thinking about him?

"I donno..." I shrugged, that angry and annoyance was so close to the surface, why did I have to feel like this? Why won't these stupid emotions and those stupid memories just shut off!

"Are you worrying about being like him again?"

That hit me like a train, why were we talking about me!

"Weren't we talking about how you were feeling?!" I snapped, the anger poured over, making me raise my voice. I was yelling at Luffy. I didn't want to yell at him, that's what I was doing.

Luffy didn't so much as blink, there was no upset or rage or fear on his face, he was looking at me with an unwavering hard stare.

Nobody looked at me like that, he didn't seem to give a flying fuck. He wasn't going to back down, when he spoke, I froze and the anger disappeared.

"You're really dumb you know that"

I laughed; it was funny because it was true. I was stupid... Pa always said that I was. I was laughing but it hurt, it really hurt coming from him. My heart really hurt. It twisted so tightly, I was in pain.

"You're Dragon, not Gramps." Luffy burst out laughing.

Oh... that's what he meant.

I guess I am pretty dumb...

Whitebeard's POV

Newgate was starting to wonder if he was ever going to get another decent night sleep ever again. The last 3 weeks had been one thing after another, Marines and the Monkey's were honestly bad enough. Now he was angry over things that hadn't even happened yet.

But he was mostly upset, he was trying very hard to keep face, however all he really wanted to do was go off and kill Blackbeard and Sakazuki... What Luffy had said was just going round and round in his head incessantly.

He couldn't save his son; he couldn't save his son... that was literally all that was going around in his mind. He could not save one son!

Because he was sick and old? Luffy made that very clear, he was sick, stuck to machines sick.

That horrified him.

He was just a sick old man who needed machines to survive? That was something that Newgate hated; he would have preferred to have been- well dead. What kind of life was that? But then again, Newgate was dead. What had happened to the rest of his children, were they safe? Were they okay? Did they still have a place to live?

Before he died, he would have been such a burden to his kids, they would have been looking after him. That was his job, he was the parent, the parent looks after their children not the other way around.

Then there was the whole matter of Ace, his poor son... Actually, was Ace his son? Surely Dragon had gone to save him too. Generally Newgate only took in strays, orphans and people who didn't really have a family.

Then again what did Newgate know, this old man Newgate seemed so unlike him. He would never want to be a burden on his children, why the hell did he get sick in first place?

What was wrong with him?

Whitey's voice suddenly popped into his head, what she had said to him last night rang in his ears... "This is why we're always telling you to look after yourself. Pops it's sounds like you were really sick."

Was that really what the problem was? He didn't look after himself. Thinking back on it maybe that was problem.

His kids were always complaining at him about his eating habits, all the cheap food he ate probably wasn't very healthy. He did drink a lot, actually he really wanted a drink right now, but he had drunk the ship out of stock. Maybe he a bit of a problem.

Newgate knew he was just a human, just like Luffy had said. He knew his own mortality; he was just a single person.

He was also the reason Luffy had lost his brother, if he had been healthier maybe he would have saved him.

That's what the problem was, he just put aside all his needs in favour of his family.

But at the end of the day, that mindset had gotten his son killed, he had nobody but himself to blame.

He drank because it was fun, he would get tipsy, all his worries would wash away, he got drunk and everything was so wonderfully simple.

Yet when he had been drunk the other night, he had caused nothing but grief. He had damaged the ship, terrorized his poor kids, stressed them out, all because he couldn't deal with Dragon's meltdown. Poor kid had needed him, instead had unwittingly thrown the whole ship into chaos.

Okay, sure things had worked out in the long run. But Dragon had still been sick, he almost died, all the while he was throwing around earthquakes and laughing his ass off at his terrified kids.

That was only a small thing that could have contributed to his illness in the future, there was so much stuff that had suddenly been brought to his mind.

How could Newgate protect his kids if he couldn't even look after himself?

If he had to change, if that meant no more drinking or at least less drinking, if that meant eating right and doing some other stuff. If it was for his family then Newgate would do it.

After all his family was by far the most important thing to him.

Just as those thoughts settled in, he felt the hair on the back of his neck raise. Without even thinking, his fist had struck the air, a large crack formed. The tremor fuelled shock wave sent a cannon ball flying back towards its origin.

Newgate sighed, lifting his eyes warily towards a biscuit looking ship that had sent cannon ball their way.

"Big Mom's subordinate ship!" He heard one of his sons yell, he nodded, this actually quite a nice distraction.

He got up from his chair, grabbing Murakumogiri as he made his way over to the railing. In the distance he could see the warship, which was hurtling towards them with surprising speed.

He didn't like that, he was all too aware of how damaged Moby was, admittedly he was cause of most of it, him and Luffy that was. The kid had done a number on the ship too.

Talking of Luffy, he had come running, his normal grin was back. Newgate was pleased at that at least. He was followed by a distressed Dragon and a rather sorry looking Marco, his poor son didn't look much then when he had first seen him this morning.

Luffy bounced onto the wooden barrier, crouching down almost like a excitable monkey with his hand shielding his eyes from the sunlight, he was chuckling which could only mean mischief was on the horizon.

"It looks like it's Big Mom's oldest son, I think his name was Perose- Perosmeno or something. I can't remember his name. The one that licks everything." Newgate turned his head to see Rakuyo had just jumped down from the remains of the crows nest.

"That brat... he's the one with that annoying sticky devil fruit, no?"

"Yeah, pretty sure that's the one." Epoida confirmed.

Newgate was about to give out some orders when he was rudely interrupted by an outraged Luffy shouting.

"IT'S THAT BASTARD PEROSPERO! I'M GONNA SEND THAT GUY FLYING!"

"LUFFY WAIT DON'T!" Dragon yelled in a slightly irritated voice, he made a grab for him, Luffy leapt out of the way. The boy threw his arms out, sending them towards the enemy ship and grabbing hold of some unfortunate pirate.

"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!"

Just like that the kid was gone, all he could hear was distant fighting and angry shouts. He turned down to see Dragon, who's face was drawn it a frustrated grimace.

"Luffy get your dumbass back here!" With that Dragon leapt straight off the ship, disappearing out of sight, a second later a large gust of wind swept up from below and the kid flew up, flying off towards the enemy vessel.

Newgate groaned, those little morons, could they listen to him for once!

He wasn't worried about them, he knew they would be fine, strength was one thing those two had in spades. No, he was worried about the enemy ship! He wanted Big Mom's damn treasure, he was broke and he had a ship to fix!

He needed to get over there before they sank the stupid thing!

Dragon's POV

When I landed on Big Mom's subordinate vessel I was lost in the chaos, swept away in a sea of pirate foes. Stupid Luffy had run off somewhere on an enemy ship and I had been given the less then joyous job of fighting the fodder. I could hear his battle cry's, a surprisingly serious roar, I could almost hear the enthusiasm in it. Then of course the unavoidable consequences of Luffy's fighting took a toll on the ship, a large spray of wooden splinters (or was it biscuit?) were hurled into the battle, the sounds of almost heavy artillery was a constant in this bleeding battle.

I was not amused, did my idiot of a son ever think? The answer to that question was a clear resounding no. No of course he didn't! He was Luffy! Luffy did whatever he wanted!

At least I had my devil fruit back at the very least, though I definitely wasn't enjoying using it. I was out of practice and it showed, instead of small, precise blasts of wind that hit hard, these ones were bigger and had less power behind them, not to say I wasn't dominating the battlefield, but at the same time I wasn't really making much progress either. The enemies would just get back up again, throwing themselves at me. I would hit them with a gust, it would toss them around a bit, may even send them through biscuit planks or out into the ocean, but for some god damn reason these damn people would just get back up again.

Where was Luffy?! Stupid kid! All I wanted to do was find him, drag him away, back to the relative safety of Moby Dick. I was so distracted by my irritated thoughts of my boy, a sword went straight through me, of course it didn't hurt, I was made of wind after all. I grabbed the blade through my stomach, tearing away from whoever's clutches had run me through. I turned around to face the culprit, kicking him square in the nose, he went toppling away. I couldn't help but be thankful that my attacker didn't know Haki. Those thoughts were suddenly echo by a loud voice. "Did you really let that brat stab you?"

My shoulders tensed, I didn't even need to look at the person to know who had spoken, my irritation spiked, could he not right now? I did not have the patience or the time to deal with him, I slammed my foot into the planks, the wind swirled sucking up the closest enemies in a mini tornado, they were quickly thrown over board.

"What are doing here old man?" I did nothing to cover up my annoyance, fixing my gaze on the Whitebeard captain, he was sat on the railing looking smug, he was relaxed, his naginata slung over his shoulder casually, clearly he had no concern with the current situation.

"Why are you still playing around with these punks?" Whitebeard lent forwards leeringly, a slight sneer in his tone. It made me tense, more annoyance built up, it made me want to tell him where to go, however I bit my tongue, I still had to remember this guy wasn't just a random pirate, he was one of the four emperors. In aggravation, I let off several angry sharp blades of air, hitting a couple of pirates, this time they did not get back up again. More of the same riffraff took their place, swarming every which way I looked.

"Is that it?" His voice was bored, I could barely make him out through the crowd of foes, from what I could see, his expression was a dull, disappointed even. For some reason that was even worse then the pirates I was fighting, I wasn't weak! That's what he was implying!

I jammed my fist into the cookie floor boards, sending a explosive tempest of wind beneath, a ripple run under them and then the deck erupted, sending the enemies flying into the air. I glared up at the pirate captain with a vicious smirk, however before I given found him with my eyes, more pirates appeared! How many of these bastards were there?

"Really? You can't even get rid of these guys! Aren't you Garp's son?" Whitebeard boomed, it was like time froze in that split second, the pain was there, he was saying what everyone else did. I was just Garp's son! But something was different, before I would have bowed out, that's all I was! I was the stupid old geezer's son! However, this time my blood boiled, a white-hot rage hit me, I wasn't just his son! I wasn't the old man! I was- I was!

"You're Dragon, not Gramps." Those words Luffy had laughed echoed inside like a volcano ready to erupt!

What I lacked, what Luffy had. I finally knew what it, it was a stubborn confident conviction! Luffy knew who he was, he was just Luffy. He did whatever Luffy wanted, Luffy knew what he wanted and he knew somehow that's what he would get.

"SHUT UP! OLD MAN I'M NOT JUST GARP'S SON!" I roared over the mountain pirates piling on top of me, they were swinging and hitting my body, yet nothing hurt, their attempts passed through my body harmlessly, I wasn't going to let these bastards kill me!

"THEN WHO ARE YOU BRAT? THEN SHOW ME WHO YOU ARE!" Whitebeard bellowed.

My mother passed my mind, followed by so many others, people without any hope, trapped under the rule of oppression, those people all secretly wanting one thing.

I was going to free the world! I was going to stand up for those people! Those scared broken people the government had turned there backs on.

A chant rang in my head growing louder and louder. FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM...!

Who was I? I was the guy who was going to change the world.

"MY NAME IS DRAGON THE REVOLUTIONARY! I'M GOING TO FUCK OVER THE WORLD GOVERNMENT!"

When the rush subsided, the heat in my chest ebbed away, settling into my heart I realized I was the only one standing, the enemies were lying on the ground, eyes wide and blank, mouths frothing. What happened?

I was disrupted by a loud booming laugh, I turned my eyes on the older man, he was grinning ever so brilliantly, he marched up and the next thing I knew he had slapped me on the back, not too gently, it left me bewildered.

"Damn straight!" he chuckled.

"What happened?" I asked, staring wide eyed at the scene before me, I was utterly dumbfounded.

"My son that was your Conquerors haki! Told ya you could do it. Just needed to get ya outta that mind-set of yours." He was beaming down at me; in fact, it was making me want to squirm, however my mind was reeling from that information. I did that?

"Huh?" My head fell to the side, I was incredibly confused, I wasn't even trying to use it, I wasn't even close to dying either...

"How?"

"Will power is a big thing kid. It doesn't always make sense, but your will overwhelmed those punks and it knocked them out cold that's all you need to know" He clapped his hand on my back again, making my poor spine throb.

"Will you cut that out!" I snapped, I froze up realizing what I had said, then for the first time decided I didn't care. I could do whatever I wanted.

The Yonko snorted, to my surprise he did remove his hand, letting it drop to his side lazily. He was watching me with a weird expression, it was making me uncomfortable again, however it wasn't a negative look, he was smiling mischievously and there was a soft glint in his eyes.

"Sorry about the Garp thing I said, figured that was only way to get through to you."

The Garp thing? Oh. That. "Aren't you Garp's son?" I didn't care that much surprisingly. How weird. It had gotten me so worked up before.

"I'm proud of you Dragon"

Before that could even register in my head, before my confusion could become worse and the odd feeling of warmth began to spread through my chest more, Whitebeard turned around, beginning to make his way away from the fight Luffy and Perospero were in. I was going to join in with that fight, when a large hand grabbed me by my coat collar, dragging me along.

"HEY! Let go old man! I'm going to help Luffy."

"Lu doesn't need your help, he's perfectly fine. Anyway I doubt he would appreciate you cutting into his fight anyway." I slouched, that was true, the butting into his fight thing anyway.

"Will he be all right? This is one of Big Mom's strongest subordinates..."

"Have a bit of faith, he isn't going to lose to a damn a brat with a candy cane stuck up his ass. He's much stronger then you give him credit for. Also I wouldn't let my grandson fight somebody he couldn't win against"

I nodded, that made sense. Hang on who's grandson?

"Grandson?" I asked, immediately regretting asked as soon as it was out of my mouth.

"Well he can't be my son, you're my son and he's your son, so that would make him my grandson." The crazy man announced as if it made all the sense in the world.

"I'm not your bloody son! And he's not your grandson" I retorted, what was it with this damn Yonko and his delusions!

"Anyway son, come along we have a ship to pillage before Luffy sinks us! Lin-Lin always has great stuff to steal!" He just burst out laughing, enjoying himself, why was he like this! I kicked and fought, trying to get out of his grip, however I was shoved under one of his arms, being carryed like a sack of potatoes.

All I did in response was let out a angry shout as I was dragged away, which was followed by more of his cheerful laughter.

Stupid old man!