SailorStar9: Well, with Chapter 136 up, this is Chapter 137 this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews. Amended the previous chapter when I recalled owls' necks are not long enough to act like messenger pigeons'. This chapter begins the 'ASL Flashback Arc'.

Pairings: Ace/Sasha, sibling Luffy/Sasha and Sabo/Sasha, Background Protector!Law/Sasha

Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichirō-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.

Chapter 137: Arc 11: Luffy, Sasha and Ace! How the Trio Met!

About a week after Law left the island, the pirate surgeon having revisited the origins of his own familial line and Sasha had let him lay claim on the ancestral scrolls of his family.

That's one 'D' line reactivated. The reincarnated Dragon Empress mused as she looked at the 'D' ancestral lineage chart for the umpteenth time, the 'Marshall D' line had already ended due to Blackbeard's death. I'm going to need another to replace the 'Marshall D' family. And the first candidate at the top of her mind was, Sabo-nii should be an excellent replacement. "Good work." she smiled lightly when the last messenger owl returned: the snowy owl that bore Franky's letter and offered the owl four pieces of dried bacon as compensation. Her fingers rested over the lettering that spelled out 'Gol. D Ace' and her eyes trailed down to the two 'D' family lines that were linked to it; 'Gol. D' and 'Portgas D.'. If you only knew, Rayleigh-san, that your former captain left his blood behind. How would you have reacted?

Flashback to ten years ago...

"What I'm saying, grandpa," seven-year-old Luffy whined, Garp having dangled him by his rubbery cheek as the grandfather-grandchildren trio went their way up Mount Colubo. "I will become the King of the Pirates."

"Cut the crap!" Garp snapped.

"Let me go!" Luffy struggled against his grandfather's tight grip.

"On top of eating the Devil Fruit, you're talking nonsense!" Garp retorted. "Is this how you set a good example for your younger sister? Luffy, both you and Ace have to become the strongest Navy soldiers."

"Damnit, my body is rubber, but why is it so painful?" Luffy complained. "Let me go, grandpa."

"It was a mistake to leave you two in the Windmill Village." Garp declared. "Of all thing, you like pirates? What a fool. You can't make friends with 'Red-Haired Shanks'." he insisted, still pulling Luffy along, Sasha sweatdropping when she walked past her brother to see him grab hold od a tree trunk with his arms.

"I wanna become..." Luffy protested, said tree slamming into Garp when it uprooted. "A strong man like Shanks. What's this place?" he wondered, the trio had stopped in front of Dadan's hut and Garp was pounding on the door with his fist.

"Aniki..." Sasha blinked worriedly as Luffy ran off.

"Stop it!" Dadan snapped, flinging the door open. "Whoever you are, do you want to get killed?"

"It's me." Garp declared.

"Garp-san!" Dadan stammered.

"You're looking good." Garp noted.

"Give me a break!" Dadan protested. "Please, you gotta have mercy on me! Ace is 10 years old now."

"Already?" Garp nodded. "How is he?"

"It's not funny." Dogra complained. "We can't handle him anymore. You have to take him."

"You're annoying, kid!" Dadan retorted, her eyes trailing the running around Luffy.

"Look after them, too." Garp requested, holding up Luffy with one hand. "Hey, Luffy, Sasha, say hello to them."

"Yo!" Luffy greeted.

"Please take care of us." Sasha bowed.

"Who are those kids?" Magra asked.

"They are my grandchildren." Garp replied.

"We can't!" Dadan, Dogra and Magra chorused as one.

"Alright then, here's your choice." Garp declared. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison or raise them? There're many crimes you committed that I've overlooked."

"What is this?" Luffy complained, his hand on the sudden spittle on his cheek. "Spit! Gross! Who did it? Hey, you!" he spotted Ace sitting on an animal he caught. "Say sorry! It's gross!"

"Ace!" Garp turned to see the older boy. "Luffy, Sasha." he pulled Sasha over. "This is Ace, he's three years older than the two of you. You're gonna live here with them today."

"You can't do just that!" Dadan protested.

"Aniki, be nice." Sasha scolded her brother mildly.

Ace considered himself lucky the shade of the trees concealed the faint blush gracing his cheeks.

"Is it decided?" Dadan echoed.

"Any problem with that?" Garp glared.

"We'll take them." Dadan, Dogra and Magra chorused.

"That's all from me." Garp declared. "I'll stop by whenever I have the time."

"Grandpa, that's anywhere from half a year to nine months." Sasha pointed out.

"Shut up, all of you!" Dadan roared, silencing her gang of bandits up when meat was placed in the main hall. "It's time to eat! Dogra, Magra, where's the girl?"

"I think she found the library." Dogra replied. "When I last saw her, she managed to pull out the medical books we had."

"I really wonder if they're related." Dadan looked at the defeated Luffy on the ground, the younger boy having lost the fight over the meat.

Sitting around the fire pit with Luffy, Sasha slowly chewed on her rice, flipping a page from the medical textbook she salvaged from the small library and ignoring the ruckus around her.

"Where is he going?" Luffy spotted Ace leaving the hall.

"Where are you going?" Dadan barked.

"Aniki isn't listening, Dadan-kaa." Sasha looked up from her book.

"Hey!" Luffy pushed the door open and ran off after Ace. "Dogra-jii," she turned to Dogra. "Can you teach me how to read?"

Later that evening...

"Ace came back!" Magra called to the rest of the bandit gang.

"Ace, did you come back alone?" Dogra asked, the boy tossing a fish at his feet.

"Where is Luffy?" Magra inquired as the freckled boy stalked past. "I thought that you were with him."

"I don't know." Ace entered the house, only to see Sasha making notes on a piece of scrap paper with other small and big pieces of paper shattered around her.

One week later...

The bandits had helped build a small side shack for Sasha to act as a makeshift greenhouse.

"How annoying." Dogra awoke to Pochi's barks. "Why don't you shut up? Boss Dadan!" he shouted, opening the door to find the injured Luffy standing outside. "Luffy came back!"

"You're alive!" Dadan gasped. "Where were you?"

"I've been chased by wolves at the bottom of the valley." Luffy replied.

"Why don't you go to bed tonight?" Dadan tossed Luffy into Ace's room. "You gotta work tomorrow after Sasha fixes your wounds."

The next morning...

Sasha was carrying a basket of plants to the makeshift greenhouse and sighed when she saw Luffy chase after Ace yet again.

"Aniki sure doesn't give up easily." Sasha noted, after almost three months as Luffy took off after Ace once again, she herself having started grafting her healing herbs just the day before.

"A bee hive fell on me." the heavily stung Luffy announced to Dadan upon his return.

Sasha just shook her head and brought out her healing salve.

SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.