Shoutout to MomoTheDreamer for her continually amazing reviews! Seriously amicus, your reviews are the highlight of my day. Beta'd by the awesome ghostperson.
Strength, upright - Inner strength, bravery, compassion, focus...
When Luffy dragged an unknown woman to the hideout, Dadan was at the door, axe in hand and ready to chop the woman's head off. And then she was going to teach the brat a lesson about trusting strangers with their location.
Of course, everything went pear shaped as soon as the brat opened his mouth.
"This is Auntie Nola!" Luffy shouted. "She's going to train me!"
Dadan froze, eyes bugging out. When the hell did Garp have another kid? And by the Sea, Dadan felt like she was going to have a heart attack. Two Monkeys were bad enough, she did not want a third one in her life!
And wait - why the hell did Garp drop his shitty brat on her instead of Nola?!
The blonde whacked Luffy upside the head. "It's Noir. Not Nola." Dadan snorted. There was no way the brat was going to remember that. Noir was going to be 'Auntie Nola' for the rest of the brat's life. "And I'm not your aunt and I never said anything about training you!"
Dadan's suspicion came back full force. The brat could get some strange ideas into his head, so his particular brand of stubborn stupidity - while annoying - could be dealt with. But if the woman wasn't a relative or sent by Garp to train the brat… "Who the hell are you then?"
"Portgas D. Noir." Correction, this was what a heart attack felt like.
Luffy's added, "She's Ace's aunt!" was completely unnecessary and his insistent, "Which makes her my aunt because Ace and I are brothers!" was not helpful.
Under normal circumstances, Dadan would wholeheartedly relate to Noir's exasperated groan. The brat's logic was completely skewed and nothing anyone said could change it. But Dadan's shock and fear - holy shit was this woman somehow related to the Pirate King?! - were quickly turning to anger. Because Noir was telling the truth. Dadan could see the subtle features Ace shared with her, in the shape of her eyes, the freckles, and the way their ears slanted just so. So where the fuck had Noir been these last eighteen years?
The mountain bandit crossed her arms. "Garp never mentioned you." She accused.
Noir's jaw tightened. "That's funny." She replied, voice light despite the anger sparking in her eyes. "Because Garp never mentioned you. Of course, he didn't mention Ace either. I had no idea my nephew survived Baterilla until I ran into him on the Grand Line five months ago."
The was old grief in Noir's eyes, hidden underneath the anger. Dadan could read between the lines to what she wasn't saying in front of the brat. Garp had lied to Noir. The million-beri question was: why?
"You saw Ace?" Luffy asked eagerly. "How is he? Is he strong? What's his bounty?"
"Yes. Good. I assume so. 50 million." Noir replied. "Last I checked anyway. Could be higher now."
Dadan lowered her axe. "You might as well come in." She grumped. At least she could send Luffy out for dinner. They didn't have anywhere near enough food to feed his bottomless stomach. "The brat won't let you leave until you answer all his questions about Ace."
And no, she wasn't eager to hear about Ace. Nor was Dadan itching to dig out the scrapbooks.
Unfortunately, Noir wasn't able to tell them much more. Ace had only been on the Grand Line a short while before Noir met him. But he was a captain of his own crew - the Spade pirates, and wasn't that ironic? - his appetite was as large as ever, and he ate a Devil Fruit of his own and was now a Logia.
Which prompted a short lecture about the different classes of Devil Fruits and their strengths and weaknesses. The brat zoned out halfway through, but Dadan paid attention, if only out of curiosity of Ace's new abilities. Which were strange. If she hadn't raised Luffy with all his rubbery stretchiness, then Dadan would have called it impossible to be made out of fire.
This was why Dadan wasn't a pirate. She didn't have to deal with all that crazy.
"Luffy, do you mind getting some meat for dinner-" Noir blinked at the chair that hadn't been empty half a second before.
Dadan snorted. Damn that brat was so easy to manipulate. Mention meat of any kind and he'd agree before you got half your request out. The conflicted expression that flickered over Noir's face though… "What don't you want Luffy to hear?"
Noir stared at Dadan, gaze piercing and Dadan felt a chill run down her spine. For a moment, it seemed as though Noir was peering into Dadan's very soul, laying bare everything thought and memory. She wondered if Noir had a Devil Fruit of her own. "What was Ace's childhood like?" Noir asked.
Dadan frowned. "Why?"
"When I met Ace," Noir said, each word pronounced with precision and care, "he asked me if he deserved to have been born." Noir's nostrils flared, and Dadan froze. "He asked if he should die like his father."
Dadan was going to hit the damn villagers next time she saw them. No, Ace hadn't been a happy kid before Luffy arrived, but Dadan hadn't known Ace carried such doubts.
Dadan very carefully did not fidget. She was tempted to brush off the question. She never wanted to care for the brats, was never given a choice in the matter. However there was a dangerous glint in Noir's brown eyes, a deep seated anger and Dadan remembered that she knew nothing about this woman. Nothing beyond that Noir was confident enough to walking into a mountain bandit hideout with only a dagger strapped to her waist.
And well, if Noir was going to be angry, Dadan sure as hell didn't want Noir angry with her. If there was one thing Dadan had learned in her career as a mountain bandit, it was when to throw someone else under the bus.
Noir was going to kill Garp. Slowly. With a fucking spoon.
She stormed out of Dadan's house and into the forest, fury burning through her veins. Noir knew Ace's childhood wasn't the best, not when Garp had left him with mountain bandits, but she'd hoped that was the worst of it. Oh no. Not even fucking close.
Sporadic visits that consisted of Garp chasing Ace, Luffy, and Sabo - a noble child that rejected his status, would wonders never cease - around the forest and beating the shit out of them. No wonder Luffy was terrified of his grandfather! And allowing them, hell encouraging them, to fight the local wildlife, wildlife that was so far out of their league it wasn't even funny, with naught but pipes. Barely any physical training, no Haki training, and no Marine or weapons training. Noir was amazed they were able to use the pipes as effectively as they did!
Despite Dadan's worry, Noir did not hold a grudge against the mountain bandits. Garp had blackmailed the woman into raising Ace and Luffy, and she'd done a much better job of it than Garp, to say the least. Not that Garp had set the bar very high, but her efforts still needed to be acknowledged, especially since she'd saved Luffy and Ace from actual damned pirates.
Oh yes, Garp. Such a fantastic job of protecting Ace.
Dadan didn't know why Ace didn't think he deserved to live, but the two women could guess. Ace learning of his parentage at a young age, of Roger's reputation created and disseminated by the Marines and World Government, and thinking himself the son of a monster. That did wonders to a child's mental health! On top of that, because it was a child's nature to seek comfort and validation, Ace had asked the citizens of Dawn Island about his father and a 'hypothetical' child of the Pirate King. No wonder Ace thought he didn't deserve to live. It was only what everyone had told him for years!
Yet Garp hadn't told Ace anything about his father. He'd known Roger for the Sea's sake! He'd known Roger wasn't the monster the Marines painted him as!
And Noir was using that to distract herself from her anger and pain because Noir could have told Ace about Roger, about Rouge, and Shanks, and Rayleigh, and the other Roger Pirates, if only she'd raised him.
But now - now Noir was torn. Noir was a Marine. Ace was a pirate. By law, Ace and Noir were enemies. Noir became a Marine to protect her family, to protect Rouge, because Roger wasn't going to be around to do it himself. And Noir was duty-bound to arrest Rouge's son, which would kill him.
Howling her grief and rage to the sky, Noir slammed a Haki-coated fist into the nearest tree. And Noir allowed herself to sink into the haze of her emotions and simply be.
"Wow!" Noir looked up. Luffy stared down at her from a tree branch. "That's so cool!"
Cool? Noir glanced around. She was surrounded by felled trees, thick trunks shattered near the base with a single blow. Damn, she'd caused more destruction than she thought. There would be a large new clearing here after Noir cleared away all the trees. Did Dadan need any firewood?
"How did you do that?" Luffy demanded eagerly. "I'm strong, but I can't do that!"
Noir looked down at her hands, still blackened with Haki. Dammit, Garp. Hadn't he even mentioned Haki to his grandsons? Of course not. Garp wanted them to become Marines, but Luffy and Ace were dead set against that. Quite sensible on Ace's part. Noir highly doubted that being a Marine would save Ace from execution if the truth of his heritage ever reached the wrong ears.
To hell with that, Noir decided. If Luffy wanted to learn Haki, Noir would train him, because payback is a bitch, Garp.
Noir hoped Luffy drove him up the fucking wall.
Please review! Please people, I'm not looking for an essay, I just want to know if you liked the chapter.
