Shorter chapter, but I had to stop here since this is the last chapter of Luffy when he was young. So, the last of the sort of epilogue. Enjoy~

"What do you mean?"

"He's finished his education he needs to catch up," Anise told Hawks three months later. Hawks was, for the first time Luffy had seen, actually shocked. He looked at Luffy with wide eyes. "I've said he is gifted, I just didn't know he'd plow through everything so fast." Luffy was blushing fiercely, embarrassed about being under the spotlight.

"But he's a third grader. He had to learn first, second and third," Hawks said. Anise was patient, knowing it was shocking.

She nodded. "Yes, that's why I'm surprised. He didn't rush, look at this grade sheet of the weekly tests we'Ve done," and the tutor showed him a sheet of paper showing he had 100/100 on every quiz. Then there were the five essays and the two books he had to read. Hawks grinned triumphantly. "He will need to go ahead to fourth grade or he'd be learning nothing new."

Luffy was fiddling with his pencil, sitting down at the coffee table, watching the interaction through the corner of his eyes. Anise had told him last week that he was nearly done, but he was shocked himself. Luffy was smart. He wasn't incompetent, incapabale of learning anything. He'd never really shared all of his grades with Hawks, so this was a surprise to him.

Argentavis had also been improved. Many crashes into the lake and Luffy could turn after using his full speed. He still couldn't stay in place, flapping the wings fast enough like Hawks could, but he had done well. Aside from his schooling and quirk training, he'd learned how to cook good food, asking Hawks to teach him how to use the stove and given a cookbook. He was actually useful, other than his cleaning of the apartment.

He felt like he had a future. And after staying with the pro-hero for a couple months, he wanted to help him with his work. He wanted to be a sidekick. Hawks had told him he had to get credentials, even if he learned a lot just by being with him. He'd have to go to a high school with a hero program. He was fine with that.

Luffy wanted to make Hawks proud. He had no identity since he was so young and had blocked out any of his first five years of life, so he was staying with Hawks. He was his friend. Luffy had asked one day, "What are we, Hawks? You're not my dad, or my brother." Hawks easily said he was his friend, reading a book on the couch not looking up. Luffy was fine with being friends. Close friends, clearly.

The child hadn't been noticed by the news media, staying inside most of the time. He wasn't trapped there, but determined to advance in his studies at full throttle. The only times he went out with Hawks was to do quirk training or when they went to restaurants that mostly served them in secret.

Luffy had had no idea how many hero restaurants there were. But there were a lot, and that was nice. Hawks charmed the restaurant staff for recipes for Luffy. The kid always felt happy when he got a new recipe. He'd started a fire once, but Hawks didn't know about that as he'd extinguished it in no time and then cleaned up the charred mess.

But, he was far from being so inept at cooking that he'd cause a fire. He was useful to Hawks, even if it was only cooking and cleaning. It was really the only thing he could do to repay his kindness and generosity.

"So, we can start school, then?" Hawks asked Anise. She nodded, but said she needed to bring him tests to take to prove he is as educated as she is claiming, as well as go into the schools and speak to the leaders about him being put in a grade higher than others his age. Luffy's heart was beating really fast. He would go to school, meet others his age.

Wait, they wouldn't be his age. He'd be a year younger. He spoke up, asking, "Can I just join third grade late? I want to make friends, I might not while being a year younger than them." Anise pointed out that he'd be learning things he already knew. "I can make sure I learned everything. And I would be smart, too."

"You are already incredibly intelligent, you'd have to fake it." Luffy said he would do that, he wanted friends, he wanted to be as normal as he could be. "I guess that's alright. I'll be back tomorrow with proper paperwork to start the enrollment process. It is easier to enroll in elementary schools than junior or high school."

Luffy was grinning and Hawks looked pretty happy, too. She left, saying she'd see them the next day, and that it was a pleasure to tutor someone so determined and dedicated. Luffy was blushing the whole time and she left. Hawks closed the front door. "You didn't tell me how well you were doing," he said casually, not sounding accusing at all.

"I didn't want to get your hopes up only to fail in the end," Luffy replied honestly. He took his supplies - pencils, pens, notebook - to his room, which had a bookshelf that now had many books on it. Ones that he could read. He wasn't advanced, he was a bit above average. He was still 8 years old.

Hawks said he would have liked to know how well he was doing. "Well, when you go to school you have to tell me how it's going." Luffy grinned and nodded. He was so happy he'd be going to school like a normal person. "Man, I didn't think a little homeless boy riddled with nails would be so smart and talented. I'm impressed, truly."

Luffy was bashful and hid his red face. "I'm sure you'll make friends. Might be hard at first, but it'll happen." Luffy nodded, knowing he wasn't the average kid, and meeting other children might be awkward for him at first. But he'd learn and adapt. He would make friends, he was determined to.

Maybe he could even go to their houses to hang out! He wouldn't be bringing friends over here, even if Hawks said it was okay. This was a workplace, Hawks' home, and Luffy wouldn't risk making a ruckus or mess.

It was decided that that night was a celebration night, and they were going to Luffy's favorite restaurant, even if it was expensive. Hawks didn't seem to need to worry about money at all. Luffy still didn't like him spending money on him, but he had stopped protesting when Hawks showed him the amount of money in his bank account so he could finally know for sure that Hawks really was rich, and Luffy's costs weren't burdening him.

He could tell the man genuinely cared about Luffy, even if he didn't fully understand why. He resigned to the fact that he might never feel completely worth any money or kindness. He had to deal with that, and wouldn't let it interfere with his happiness. He'd try his best at that.

Luffy was in a great mood during dinner, eating his large servings from the Mongolian grill. His bowl was stuffed with food and he ate it happily. "You sure are smiling a lot. It's kind of weird." Luffy narrowed his eyes and Hawks just said he was kidding. "You should smile more, you look approachable when you smile. Not like your scowls. Okay, I promise, I'm joking. We gotta pick what elementary school you want to go to, now," he said, completely changing the subject.

"I know, but I don't know where to look, or what to look for," he replied honestly. Hawks said they could look that night. But he had to wait another week to start. Another week didn't matter if he'd already learned what he did in third grade. Hawks always stuck to schedule, on his break day and his work hours.

He was the boss, he made the rules, but even if he looked laid back and easy going, he still worked hard at his job and was responsible. "That's fine," Luffy said, meaning it. "Will it be weird, since don't you have to sign paperwork and stuff?"

"It's fine, the public knows about you, it just hasn't caught speed yet. If you want, you don't need to tell anyone else who I am. If you don't want to be influenced by my name." Luffy thought for a minute before asking if anything would change because of that. "It's possible. I'm not sure how much it would affect anything, but it might make things either easier or more difficult."

Luffy was silent for a moment. "I want to make a name for myself. I like you a lot and am happy you saved me, but I want people to know me for me instead of your friend or charge or something," Luffy said in a strong voice. Too strong for his age. He missed out on the mentality of being a child. But that wasn't going to change, he'd always know the things he learned in an unfortunate way. But, he would try to make his situation as normal as he could.

"Big talk for a third grader," Hawks said, though with a fond smile. Luffy narrowed his eyes at him, but there was no heat in it. "We'll still have training days." Luffy nodded, perfectly happy with that.

He hesitantly asked who would pick him up. Depending on where he went, it might take awhile to get to him. "A 20 minute break should be enough to fly with you to wherever you choose. You wanted to fly to school, right?" Luffy nodded. "Then we'll do that. Quick and easy. But we'll have to go at a regular speed." He nodded again, smiling as he ate, though not big grins.

-x-

A week later, Luffy was enrolled in a nice public school. Nothing fancy or expensive, but it was in a nice part of town and in a neighborhood with really rich houses. So, no criminal activity. That was why they picked a place in this area. Luffy wouldn't be exposed to that environment again.

It was Monday morning, and Luffy had his sling backpack on, since he couldn't wear a regular backpack with his wings while flying. He could carry it, but that would be annoying. "Good luck, Luffy. Call me when school is out," he said and gave Luffy a shoulder squeeze before flying off. He'd bought Luffy a basic tracphone. Nothing like a smartphone, but something to be able to contact the pro-hero when needed.

Luffy was in front of the school, and opened the front door before absorbing his huge wings. It would look weird to someone who saw the top half of the back of his shirt gone. It wasn't just cut out, Hawks had gotten him personalized clothes. Like his own, to accommodate wings. Luffy was nervous. There were two months left of the year, so it might seem weird to people for him to show up this late, but it didn't matter to him.

He held his backpack nervously. "Everyone, this is Luffy. He'll be joining class from today onward," the kind teacher said, named Ms. Levy. Luffy bowed to the class, looking nervous. Some had mutant quirks, but most looked like an average person. He already felt new quirks being added to his list of stored ones. He only used two, so these ones were inconsequential.

"Hey, what's your quirk?" a boy with red hair and freckles asked. Ms. Levy told him it wasn't a nice question to ask of a stranger, but Luffy didn't mind and grew his wings before spreading them out. "Wow! Those are pretty," a girl said. They were surprised when Luffy absorbed the wings back so there wasn't a trace they were there.

"Now, pick any empty seat you want, Luffy-kun," the teacher said and Luffy nodded, walking to the desk in the back, next to a grumpy looking boy with red and white hair with a bad burn on his face.

Luffy could tell this wasn't a happy go lucky boy, and Luffy didn't need to act that way. He seemed grumpy and closed off as well, barely giving Luffy a second look. Luffy's face relaxed back into the natural frown.

During recess he played with the other kids at the playground, or raced. Quirks weren't allowed to be used at recess since many children this age still weren't in full control of their powers and could possibly be dangerous. He had fun until somebody asked him about his scars. Todoroki, as Luffy had heard his name, was listening.

He knew his burns were completely visible in the hole in his shirt from behind. "My family threw me out of a moving car when I was five. I have road rash on my arms, thighs, back and chest." The kids were all silent in shock and horror before they expressed sympathy for him. "It's okay, I'm not ashamed of them or anything," he assured them.

"You don't live with those people anymore, right?"

"No, I live with somebody else," he said, voice sounding affirmative and even third graders knew when to not ask more. Maybe it was because of his past he'd told them that made them less nosy. Maybe thinking he was in another bad situation. That's what he hypothesized.

After recess, they went back inside to do organized reading. It was a lot different learning with other people, but was fun. He had to pay close attention to the book they were reading so he could read the paragraph he was assigned. He noticed Todoroki glancing at him a lot. So, during lunch, he asked him why he was watching him.

The other boy looked away, clearly not happy he'd been caught. "Why did they throw you out? What did you do?" Luffy replied honestly that he didn't remember doing anything, didn't remember that time of his life. "This scar is also from my family," he said, pointing to the mark on his face. "Looks like we both had bad home lives."

Luffy nodded in agreement, but they were both sad. Todoroki ended up being his first friend, because they both sustained marks from child abuse. A weird thing to bond over, but it was nicer to be friends with someone who at least partly understood some of his experience. He wouldn't bring his homelessness up. That was unnecessary, and he wanted to leave that life far behind.

After class, after taking homework into his backpack, he stood outside and called Hawks. "I'm out of school," he said, voice light and happy. The first day hadn't been bad at all! Todoroki walked home, living in one of the fancy houses. Hawks flew over, landing on the roof and grinned.

Luffy grew out his wings and flew home with him. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"Good! I think I'm friends with someone already," Luffy said. Hawks asked who it was. "His name is Todoroki. He got abused by his parents, too." The pro-hero was obviously surprised by this.

"So… you bonded because both of you sustained child abuse?" he asked slowly.

Luffy said, "Yeah. His mom poured boiling water onto his face." Hawks looked angry, but Luffy made sure to tell him it happened years ago, and that type of thing doesn't happen anymore. He talked about the rest of his day on the way home. They landed in the open window before Hawks said he had to go back down to work. Luffy nodded. He was a normal kid, and he knew by now that just because Hawks worked a tight shift didn't mean he didn't like Luffy or anything of the sort. He got to work on his homework, but finished it without even looking at the textbook. Well, less of a book and more of a packet.

He was so happy with his first day of school, and couldn't wait for the next.