Chapter 2

"Luffy, please stop," Delta mumbled with an exasperated sigh, his head resting on the bar between his arms. "Luffy. Luffy, come on. Luffy, stop. This is too much. Luffy…"

"But what's wrong with poking?" Luffy asked, "Poking's never hurt anyone before."

'Well, then tell that to CP9.' Delta thought, 'They obviously didn't get the memo.'

"And besides," Luffy continued, "This is your own fault, really."

"Please," Delta scoffed as he sat up. "I'm not irritated because I'm afraid of getting hurt. It's about you putting me through this mental torment with more obnoxiousity than I have ever remembered facing. You've been poking for five minutes. Five whole minutes. This," Delta gestured to the poking, "Takes actual effort to accomplish. You need to truly have the drive to be annoying if you poke someone for that long. That is true willpower." Delta looked off into the distance solemnly, "True, infuriating willpower."

It was ten minutes ago when the duo sat beside each other at the stools of Party's Bar in a calming hush when Luffy began spouting out questions ascertaining to future events. They'd just finished dinner a moment earlier, leaving Makino to tend to the comically large number of dishes the pair accumulated during the evening, much to Delta's unheard protests. Just as Makino disappeared behind the large wooden door leading to the kitchen, pile of dishes in tow, the utter downpour of inquiries came tumbling out of the young boy's mouth.

Some actually held some real value, but the vast majority of his questions seemed to be a bunch of six-year-old nonsense. Asking if people still pooped in the future was one of Delta's favorites from the latter category. But Delta was still adamant on keeping tight-lipped to any and all queries, important or no. This in turn lead to the aforementioned poking.

"Come on," Luffy whined, "Makino'll be back any minute now and then we'll have to be quiettt," Luffy puffed his cheeks and pouted, "And I thought you were cool. Maybe you are just some idiot…"

Now that seemed to get Delta's attention, "Hey! Like hell I'm an idiot!" He huffed, "Fine, just to show how cool I really am, I'll answer one question about anything future-y. But that's it. Got it?"

Instantly grinning, Luffy nodded happily, "Yep!"

"But that also means you'll have to stop poking me." Luffy nodded again, excited as ever, and quickly ceased with the poking. "Oh, and also you aren't allowed to poke at me ever again. Sound fair?"

"Mm! I can do that!" Luffy hopped up on his stool while his grin turned to a rather intense look directed at Delta. To finish the look, Luffy pointed at Delta rather intensely as well. "Because I only have one question, and you made me wait so long, I have to make this good. So I thought of the one thing I really wanted to know most, but you can't laugh at me, kay?"

"Alright, shoot." Delta looked at Luffy with half lidded eyes to hide the curiosity as to what his younger self would want to know about his own future.

"Well, what I want to know is," Luffy faltered slightly as he looked away nervously, "Do I get friends?"

Delta's eyes flit open. "What do you mean? Of course you get friends. Honestly, you get the most awesome friends in existence." He gently tugged on Luffy's chin, and forced the boy's head to face his own as he stared into the despondent kid's eyes, "Why would that be your question? I mean, it's obvious isn't it? We're pretty great, so by basic logic, we'd also have pretty great friends."

Luffy tried to look sullenly at the floor, but Delta's hand kept it firmly in place. "Well, I. er -I mean- I have Makino and Wood Slap and the people who sometimes come here and talk to me during lunch and stuff, but, well, I don't really have any real friends."

Delta'd almost forgotten the feeling of being without others considering how long ago it had since he was the age of Luffy, but when he heard the boy talking like that, it brought a rush of memories he really didn't want to handle right then.

Delta sternly said, "We, in the future, get the most precious friends I and you could ever ask for. Honestly, even though we're awesome and all, we really don't deserve them." He grinned, "I don't know why they put up with us if I'm telling the truth. I'm thinking about them right now and I miss the hell outta them. So shut up with this sadness and come here." Delta held his arms out in the 'come hug me, you look like you need it' sort of way, which Luffy happily accepted.

The back door creaked open, revealing a slightly wet Makino, whom the two chose to ignore in favor of keeping the wonderful hug they were sharing.

"Oh, did I miss something? I didn't think I was gone all that long," Makino smiled.

Delta was the first to respond, though the manly embrace held strong, "Ah, just a bit of brotherly bonding, you know how it is. Right Lu?" He was answered with a soft snore escaping the boy still wrapped tightly around him.

"Well it seems Luffy here had a quite a big day." Makino commented, "His room is the first door on the left, and yours would be the next door down. If you could bring Luffy up there, then you can get some rest yourself."

Delta smiled, "And again, thank you for letting me stay here Makino. I really don't mean to be a bother, I'll find a place to stay on my own soon enough."

"Oh don't worry yourself too much, Delta. Luffy seems to really like you, and any brother of Luffy is welcome to stay here." Makino smiled and walked off to the kitchen. 'Oh Makino, still such a kind soul.'

Delta climbed up the staircase to the upstairs, earning slight creeks with each step up until he reached Luffy's bed. There, he laid the boy down gingerly and tucked him in.

He tiptoed out of the room and gently closed the door behind him as to not wake Luffy.

Now, when Delta turned around, he did not expect to see much. And if he were to be expecting something, it'd probably be something like a wall, because that makes sense. Walls usually are on the sides of buildings, after all. Logic.

Now, what he was not expecting was for Makino, one of the sweetest people he'd ever known and the closest thing to a mother he'd ever had, to be standing right behind him, scowling and brandishing a particularly large butcher knife, with the edge (the sharp one) held very, very close to the rubber man's throat. No. On a list of things Delta was expecting, this was very near the bottom, hovering right below the egg man of Big Mom's crew crouching behind him, and just a little above Whitebeard in a dress. So yes, suffice it to say, seeing Makino like that was very surprising to say the least.

"Don't speak." Makino commanded coldly, "Come with me now. We're going downstairs. Wouldn't want to wake Luffy up, your beloved little brother."

Delta gulped, "Alright, I am with you all the way. And I'll be quiet. You're right; we wouldn't want to wake Luffy." 'Damn Makino can be scary. Wait, but aren't I supposed to be the strongest man alive? No, scratch that; it doesn't matter how strong you are, this Makino is a true terror only found in the lowest depths of hell.'

Delta took the lead down the stairs with Makino trailing close behind, holding the knife steady against the time traveler's back.

No matter how scary Delta found Makino to be, he knew he could not lose his cool at a time like this. "Hey, can you not do that please? You're cutting my jacket with that scare tactic of yours. And see, I really like this jacket." In response, Makino pushed the knife into his back a little harder. Delta sighed. "Now I have to assume that you have a reason for sticking a knife on me, right? You don't really seem to be the type to do this just for the hell of it."

He took a seat at one of the tables and faced Makino, who stood opposite him, knife still raised in what was supposed to be a threatening manner. Delta continued, "So what would it be? Is this a questioning, or are you just gonna attempt a murder? Personally I-"

"Shut it." Makino commanded icily. "Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want with Luffy? He's just a simple boy who I promise has done nothing wrong. Just go. I don't know your reason for getting closer to Luffy, but I'll warn you, his Grandpa is the famous Garp the Fist, and I doubt he would take kindly to some pervert trying something on his only grandson."

Delta sat there for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Then something dawned on him, 'Wait, did she just call me a pervert? Me? No, that's not right. I am definitely not a pervert. Maybe I just heard wrong. I should ask, just to make sure.'

Delta tilted his head, looking quite puzzled. "Um, sorry, I'll get to all that other stuff in a sec, but did you just call me a pervert? Because I can assure you, I am no pervert." He nodded self-assuredly. Sure he knew quite a few perverts, there were three just on his crew, but he was fairly certain he was no pervert. But that just seemed to make Makino glare harder. "Okay then, w-well, I guess we can just go over the 'me not being a perv' thing later, alright?" Delta twiddled his thumbs and suddenly became very interested in the wall on the other side of the room.

Makino snarled, "Stop messing around with me. Do you think this is some sort of joke? And if you think I won't use this," She stabbed the knife around a little, "Then you'll be sorely mistaken. Now start talking."

Delta decided then and there he'd had just about enough of this side of Makino. It was too… unsettling. He stood up abruptly, grabbed the blade and crushed it within his hand, which he'd coated in a light layer of armament haki. Then he said, in the most serious tone he could pull off, "Makino, sorry, but you are the one that is mistaken. My name is Delta, and though you're right that I told a small lie about being Luffy's brother by blood, I still love the kid like he was one. Now I have no reason to explain why to you," His face softened slightly, "But I honestly mean Luffy no harm whatsoever. Please, I'm begging you; just give me a chance."

Makino just stared as he talked. She just didn't really know how to react. He didn't seem like a particularly bad guy, but maybe he was just a good liar, but then again, he snapped the steel knife like a twig and unless Luffy was lying, he knew how to use conqueror's haki, which meant he was definitely strong, which meant he could probably forcefully take Luffy pretty easily if he really wanted to so…

"And why should I trust anything you say?" Makino asked, some of her bravado from earlier fading, "I mean you could just be a criminal who happens to also be a good liar. The two do mix fairly well after all. How could you expect me to trust you?" She crossed her arms, still holding the snapped knife.

Delta thought about that for a moment, "Well you do have a point there, and you don't know me well enough to know I can't lie for crap, so I guess that wouldn't really work as an excuse. Hmm, it seems we are at a bit of an impasse. This sure is a toughie…" Delta trailed off, wracking his brain for a way to make Makino trust him other than telling the truth, though the very idea of Makino distrusting him left a sour taste in his mouth and almost made him compelled to tell her his secret.

"Well I have an idea," Makino said, smirking a little, "As you either already know or just learnt from me, Monkey D. Garp is Luffy's grandfather, and I trust him completely. He is also a pretty good judge of character. He will be coming to the island to check up on Luffy in one month, and when he does I will pass you off to him. Either way he decides concerning you, I will be on board. And during this next month, you are not allowed to leave the village or talk to Luffy without me present and without my express permission. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Delta stated simply, and then looked at her pleadingly, "And though you don't completely believe me, I need you to know this; I would put Luffy's life above mine any day of the week, no questions asked. And about the whole sleeping situation- am I still allowed to stay in the room you gave me in earlier? Or should I sleep outside?"

"No, sleep inside. I'll be able to keep a closer eye on you from inside the house." Makino answered, then added tentatively, "And I'd like you to know one thing."

"Hm?"

"I want to believe you. I really do. My gut says to, but I can't just put Luffy's life in possible danger from a gut feeling. And if you truly care for Luffy the way you say, you'll understand. I'm sorry." And with that, Makino set down the broken knife and walked upstairs, presumably to get some rest as well.

Delta's heart jumped. That was the Makino he knew.

Delta walked up to his room, tiptoed past Luffy's door, and dived into his borrowed bed.

With the day he'd been having, it was not hard for the future Pirate King, Codename: Delta to drift off to sleep.

-o0O0o-

Delta opened his eyes slowly and rubbed the morning gunk out of his eyes in a less than fluid motion. 'So it looks like I'm still here.' He thought, 'Guess the 'I'm just having a very vivid dream' theory was wrong. Drat.'

The Pirate King slowly forced himself out of his very comfortable bed and groggily swayed around, slowly progressing towards the door's general direction. When Delta finally passed the daily morning challenge of moving and got a grip on the door's handle, he very carefully opened it, not wanting to wake anyone who might still be sleeping, and made his way to the bathroom to freshen up.

"Oh yes, I sure am freshened," Delta said to himself as he walked out off from the bathroom and towards the downstairs. 'Wait just a minute, Makino might be down there, and if she is, that could be awkward. I guess I'll have to go stealth.' Delta crept towards the stairs, making sure to be as silent as possible.

He pushed himself against the wall to the right of the staircase, and carefully, oh so carefully peeked out, in order to search for any sign of the green haired woman. 'Sneaky, sneaky, I got this, I got this, I got this, I got-'

"Oh hey Delta!" Luffy laughed, "What are you doing?" The boy was just sitting there, staring right at him, from across the room.

'Damn! Operation stealth is a no go! Abort! Abort!' Delta jumped from his hiding spot and casually started walking towards Luffy, "Oh, nothing much, just coming down the stairs completely normal like. Yep, there were absolutely no hidden stealth tactics I was using that I learned from a real ninja. Nope. None of what I just said happened."

"You're weird." Was all Luffy said. His eyes then travelled over Delta's shoulders and he waved, "Oh hi Makino! Can you get me breakfast? I'm starving!"

Slowly, like in a horror movie, Delta looked over his shoulder, wide eyed, to see Makino walking towards the pair, smiling as usual. Delta gulped. As she passed by him towards Luffy, she whispered, giggling slightly, "Wow you really are a terrible liar. It almost makes me want to believe you."

"Wha- hey!" Delta huffed. Sure it's okay when he's the one pointing out his one teensy flaw, but when other people said it, it was just wrong.

He didn't get to voice his opinions on the matter, because Luffy began yelling about all the possible meats you could have for breakfast. It was a significantly larger assortment than the average person would classify as 'breakfast meat'.

After breakfast, which entailed some awkward small talk with Makino on Delta's part and quite a bit of food stealing, a rather mundane day began, mostly because for the whole day Makino watched Delta like a hawk and he didn't want to arouse any sort of suspicion on the first day of their little truce. For the most part Delta stayed in the bar, walking around and talking to any and all patrons, making idle chit chat as a ways to get over his boredom and for the side goal of having the people of Foosha to re-get to know him.

And though the day went by pretty smoothly, one pest known as Luffy kept trying to lead Delta away from Makino so that he could ask some more future questions, but every time in Luffy's twenty plus attempts at sneaking off with Delta, Makino always caught him red handed. And every time Luffy seemed completely dumbfounded as to how he'd been found out, even though they were in a single room with only one exit. If she hadn't caught them, Delta may have been a little worried for her health.

Luckily, she never seemed to blame Delta and his possible criminalistic motives on the escape attempts, which he was grateful for.

-o0O0o-

As night reared its head around once again, Delta lay back in his bed and smiled up at the ceiling. For him the day, though rather dull, was a nice change of pace for him.

As the Pirate King, everyone seemed to know his face, thus he didn't end up having many conversations with strangers due to every person's totally unreasonable fear of the title Pirate King.

~CRASH~

A loud noise came from downstairs. Delta jumped out of his bed with a start and bounded for the door at lightning speeds, which in his case was actually quite literal. Something loud and probably bad had happened downstairs, and Delta was going to help in any way he could. Anything really to gain some good guy points with Makino. Not that that was the whole reason. Delta was a good person.

When he got downstairs though, he was greeted with a picture of some ugly ass man grinning madly at Makino while yelling in a disgustingly southern accent for her 'to give him all her cash or the boy get's it'. In one of is beefy arms, he held a revolver, which was being pointed at Luffy's head, who was being held tightly in the other meaty fist. One of the tables was broken, and shattered glass littered the floor, no doubt where the noise had come from earlier. Overall, it looked like a pretty basic mugging, though one thing about the whole scene was bugging Delta. He didn't remember this ever happening when he was a kid.

Then something clicked. The bear. In this world, he had attacked the bear, which had probably scared off this gross man in the last world.

And that brought on a whole slew of implications about Delta's time travel that he did not want to think about.

"Hey, the hell do you think you're doing?" Delta called out, nonchalantly walking down the stairs, "What you're doing right there is not very good thing to do, so I'm just going to have to ask you to leave."

Makino looked over at Delta, worry painted over her chocolate eyes, while the idiot with the gun just laughed. "Oh, is tha right? Well sorry, bu' why shuh I? 'Sides, once I ge' the cash, I migh' jus' take the kid. I kinda like 'im. He's quite a perty one, aint he?" He squeezed Luffy harder, probably to accentuate his point about the boy's prettiness, and Luffy was forced to cough from the increased pressure.

This didn't faze Delta, though. He turned to Makino and pointed at the man and said very sternly, "Makino, that is a pervert. See the difference between him and me? Pervert," he nodded to the man, "Not pervert," he pointed to himself. "Pervert- not pervert. I feel there is a very apparent difference."

"Are you serious?" Makino cried, close to tears, "He's going to kill Luffy and you're on about that? Really?"

"Oh what? No, don't worry, he's not gonna kill Luffy, promise, " Suddenly Delta was no longer standing by the stairs, but was on the other side of the room with the man on the ground, helpless under the weight of Delta's foot. The man's gun, now in Delta's hands, was placed firmly against the perv's sweaty forehead.

Instead of in the creep's arms, Luffy was sitting at a table next to Makino unharmed. After getting over the fear of dying he'd just experienced, which he did surprisingly quickly, the boy grinned with stars once again in his eyes. "SEE MAKINO?! HE'S AMAZING!"

Delta grinned up at him and then turned to Makino, "So what do you want me to do with this freak show?"

Makino, who was just getting over the shock of what had just occurred, answered, "Just knock him out and put him in the forest please. I sincerely doubt he'll try anything again after what just happened."

"How merciful," Delta looked down at the cowering man and struck him across the head with the butt of the gun, effectively knocking him out. He threw the man over his shoulder and looked over at Makino again. He stated seriously, "I'm sorry, but I just can't put him in the forest for you."

"What? Why?" both Makino and Luffy asked.

"By request of Makino, I am not to leave the village borders for the next month, and the forest is outside of the borders, so…" Delta grinned, "To complete your request, you will have to lift my current village arrest."

Makino sighed and shook her head as a sign of annoyance, but Delta could see her smile plain as day, "Fine, I will temporarily lift your ban to throw this man out of here. But no funny business, got it?"

"Yeah I got it." Delta answered coolly, though he couldn't hide his grin very well either.

-o0O0o-

roughly five minutes later

Delta walked back into the bar after placing the man some random place deep in the forest, and saw Luffy eating some 'after trauma meat' to get over the man's breakin.

"Oi, Luffy, you alright?" Delta asked, pulling up a seat next to the boy, "That must've been pretty scary, huh?"

"It- 'chomp' was, but then- 'bite' when you showed- 'eat' up, I- 'swallow' knew I was safe." Luffy grinned and continued eating.

"That's nice to hear, but now I realize, I'm not supposed to be talking to you right now." Delta said, getting up.

"Why not?"

"Makino has told me that for the next month I'm not supposed to talk to you without being in her presence. It was a little deal we made last night after you went off to bed," Delta shrugged, just as Makino walked in from the back, "But it's fine, because speak of the devil, she's back. Seems we're good, then."

"Oi, Makino," Luffy called, "Why can't Delta talk to me alone? That seems weird."

Makino shot an accusing glance at Delta, who shrugged it off.

"Um, you see," Makino began, but was quickly cut off.

"Well, Lu, she doesn't trust me much." Delta answered, while Makino proceeded to direct a steady glare at him. "But it does make sense, because I am a stranger and all who just kind of showed up saying I was your older brother. You have to admit, it does sound strange."

Luffy looked at him, perplexed, "But you're not a stranger. You told me you were m-" Delta's hand quickly covered his mouth.

"Luffy," Delta whispered hastily, "Remember we weren't going to talk about that? Remember how I said that was a secret?"

"Oh yeah…"

"You weren't going to talk about what? What was Luffy going to say?" Makino asked.

"Nothing," The pair responded quickly, whistling and looking at either side of the bar respectively as they both tensed up .

"Well I don't believe you two. You are both terrible liars." Makino crossed her arms, "So spill it."

"It's nothing I swear," Delta said quickly while glancing at the floor.

"You really are the worst liar I've ever met." Makino face palmed and turned to Luffy next, "Luffy, do you have anything to say? Remember, I'm doing this all for you." She got down on her knees to look straight into the boys eyes and smiled gently, "You know I don't care to be like this, but I can't have someone I don't know going around and pretending to be your brother. You understand, don't you?"

"Well yeah but that's the thing! You do know him! He's me!" Luffy grinned.

"Luffy no! What are you saying?" Delta rushed over to him, "We literally just went over this! How could you forget? It was like thirty seconds ago!"

"Oops." Luffy laughed, "Sorry." Though he sounded suspiciously not sorry.

Makino gaped. "What are you talking about?" She turned to Delta, who froze. "What did you tell him? How dare you use his young mind for your own sick benefits!"

"Wait what? Makino, you've got this all wrong. Please, just hear me out. I didn't want to tell anyone about this, but because someone is a complete dumbass, I guess I have to explain. ...And, uh, please keep an at least slightly open mind before I say anything."

"This better be good." Makino grumbled.

"Alright, well first, I'll be blunt. I'm from the future. Yes I know- shocking and unbelievable, but it's true. Sounds crazy, but remember, there are such things as devil fruits and other insane, illogical things in existence, so if you tell me that time travel is impossible, then explain to me how Reverse Mountain exists." Delta waited a moment to see if she'd argue. When she did not, he moved on, "Alright, secondly, in the future, my name is not actually Delta, but is actually, wait for it, Monkey D. Luffy."

Now at this, Makino might've laughed out loud at what the man known as Delta was implying if he had not looked so serious. And the fact that he could crush knives, move faster than the eye could see, and was just terrifyingly strong in general also factored in, but it was mostly the serious face thing.

"You're insane. Do you really expect me to just believe you're from the future and that you're Luffy, just twenty years older?"

"Not really, but a man can hope, right? And i'm actually seventeen years older, but that doesn't particularly matter right now. To get you to believe me, I'm going to tell you a certain few things that I think will get you to trust me and my claims, though I need Luffy to leave first. Can't give him too many spoilers about the future, now can I?"

Makino turned to Luffy. "Luffy, would you go up to your room for a little, please? Me and this man here have to talk, and he seems quite adamant about you leaving."

"But I wanna hear the future!" Luffy whined.

Delta scoffed, "Luffy please. I told you I'd answer some of your questions later, but right now, these events are for Makino's ears only. Alright?"

After a moment of considering, Luffy finally grumbled out, "Hmph. Fine. But you owe me," The kid stomped off to his room.

Once Luffy was out of earshot, Delta turned back to Makino. "So what are these events of the future that you're so sure will make me trust you?" She asked.

"Alright, let me preface this with the fact that I'm going to try and tell you as little as possible as to not drastically change the timeline by accident, so bare with me." He took a few moments to collect his thoughts before talking again. Makino rolled her eyes during that time. "See this hat? Does it maybe remind you of any hat you know?" He pulled off his straw hat and passed it to Makino, who looked at it with a mix of curiosity and confusion for what felt like a solid five minutes. Trying to speed up the process with a hint, Delta said. "Maybe of a certain red-haired man...?"

Suddenly Makino's eyes widened immensely in recognition and she looked up at Delta. "Where- where did you get this? Shanks would never give someone this hat, unless…" She gasped, "You ki-"

"No. No. No. No. No I didn't and no don't say it." Delta repeated quickly, putting a finger to his mouth, "And no, I also did not steal it. He actually gave it to me when I was seven. He came to my village and used it as his base camp. Shanks took quite a liking to me and he gave me his hat as a parting gift when he left. This all happened a little over a year from now. Also known as the future. And if you didn't' get this, my village is Foosha, and the boy he gives the hat to is Luffy, or me. Oh, and I know you've got a thing for Shanks." Makino gasped, "But how would I know that, you might ask. Well it's because you told me, but in about fifteen years." Delta stopped talking then, but couldn't tell if his words had thoroughly convinced her.

She was unreadable. Makino looked at Delta, eyes wide, blushing slightly, and at a complete loss for words. She knew that had to be Shanks' hat, and Shanks would be coming to Foosha soon, but she was also certain that the man was keeping it very hush-hush, because the world government was not a big fan of such a strong pirate crew in the weakest sea. The crush thing bothered her, because she hadn't told a soul about it. Sure there were some subtle allusions to it, but there was no solid proof…

Makino took a deep breath. "I have one thing to say to you and one thing only," Delta tensed in anticipation. But she only smiled tentatively and asked, "I was just wondering- how do Shanks and I turn out?"

His tenseness eased and Delta grinned happily, which turned to a smirk as he thought about how to answer Makino's question. "I think that's a little piece of the future I'll just keep to myself for now. I mean, surprise is the best part of life." Then he sighed, "But really, thank you for believing me. I was trying to keep this a secret, but knowing Luffy this would've probably gotten out someday anyway. ...And on that note, if we could keep this me being from the future stuff to ourselves that would be great. And please watch over little me to not spill any beans. I was quite talkative when I was his age, and not very good at keeping secrets."

Makino smiled, "Of course, even I know that about Luffy. And if you really want to keep hidden from exposure, you should hide your hat, considering it would be strange for there to be two of the exact same hat, especially with the importance of who it belongs too… " Makino reasoned, "But that's just my opinion. And this is a little too much for me right now, so I will see you in the morning." She ruffled the Delta's hair and walked away, leaving him to think in silence.

On the one hand, he really wasn't into the idea of getting rid of the hat, but on the other, it made sense in every way besides his sentimentality. Delta growled. He knew there was only one option and he was not a fan. He stood up and walked out of the bar. He walked down the dark, empty streets he knew so well until he reached the beachside.

Delta swallowed hard. He walked to the edge of the dock, and with trembling hands, removed his hat. And if anyone would ask, the water hitting the hat as Delta looked upon it was a very small raincloud, nothing more. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes. When they opened again, they were filled with cold resolve.

He palmed the hat crushing it into a ball, and pulled back. "Gum gum…" Delta began without any ferocity, "Throw." And he threw the hat as hard and as far as he possibly could. He never saw the landing. It hurt.

Without a sound, Delta turned away and made his way back through town and into the bar. He trudged off to bed, hearing the light snoring coming from Luffy's room, who'd undoubtedly fallen asleep during his and Makino's conversation. It was a hard day.