This was a result of boredom and a feeling that I had to be more in depth with DJ's past. If you review you… get a cookie! If you don't review you… Get a poison cookie! I do not own One Piece or any of it's copyrighted stuff.

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DJ looked out the porthole of Dimitri's storage room, he saw the salty waves crashing upon the ship and the other quiet sounds of the sea.

Pirates sail the ocean to find laughter, and remember why they cry.

He recalled the legend he once heard in the pub back in his hometown. He rested his head against some boxes and looked up to the roof, through there was the deck of the ship, if the man named Dimitri or his crew caught him here, he would be in a lot of trouble.

"Aren't we in the Grand Line yet?" he sighed and looked out the window again. He closed his eyes and let sleep take him, his busy memories of his troubled past haunting his dreams as always. This time it was of the eventful time over two years ago where he visited a special little village that held interest to him.

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DJ took another sip of his drink and leaned back in his chair as he listened to the patrons of the Dragon's Fang pub ramble on with their drunken bar stories. He tilted his hat forward to hide his face, he hadn't gotten infamous enough to have much of a bounty yet, but he had still done some things the navy didn't like and he wanted to avoid any nasty encounters.

He turned his head as a small child, couldn't be more than twelve years old, barged into the pub. "I NEED THE ROUGHEST, TOUGHEST, STRONGEST FIGHTER HERE!" the boy screamed. Everyone seemed to laugh him off but they quieted down when he said: "I'm willing to pay whatever you want!"

"What do ya want kiddo?" one of the patrons with a scar across his eye asked.

"My little sister's been kidnapped by King Apollo! I need someone to go rescue her!" he cried and screamed.

"No way boyo, no one goes against King Apollo, even Ryu Renduin went up to Apollo tower a few days ago and hasn't returned." The scarred man stared the boy down.

DJ had heard from a few of the citizens that Ryu Renduin was somewhat of a local hero, a town champion for the weak. DJ had set out to see if anyone needed his help here and had intended to challenge him upon his return to test his strength in a friendly bout.

Renduin was apparently very famous here, as well as for his mark of the dragon, his style In fighting was patterned after dragon based attacks. Even this Dragon's Fang pub they were all in was named after him and his heroic deeds.

King Apollo on the other hand, was hated and feared by his underlings, according to the rumors circulating through the pub, Apollo had been kidnapping young people for some unknown reason. No one argued with him because of his brutal enforcement policy as well as naval connections.

"A damsel in distress you say?" DJ stood up and chuckled, removing his hat and tossing it up and down in one hand as he walked over to the boy. "What do you want kid?" he asked the youngster as he kneeled down and tossed the hat aside.

"I-I just don't want my sister to die." The boy said through his sobs and tears.

"What's your sister's name?" he asked.

"What business is it of yours?" The scarred man asked. "Who the hell are you?"

"You can call me the Phantom." DJ smirked as he turned towards the man before turning back to the child. "Her name please?"

"Miyoko…"

"I see…." He looked down at the boy and his memories flashed before him, he saw himself crying over Sirena's lifeless body. Someone needed him. He wasn't going to let a big brother disappoint their little sister again. He felt his shoulder were he made the blood oath years before.

"I'll find your sister, and I'll bring her back, alive. And I'll do it for free." He smirked.

"Really!? Oh thank you Mr. Phantom!" the kid wiped away his tears and beamed.

DJ closed his eyes and faced towards the door. "Sirena… I guess I'll never stop carrying you around on my back, will I?" he chuckled softly. "Better hold on tight then." He dashed out the door using his speed-speed powers, leaving a small breeze and a trail of dust and debris behind him.

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To get to Apollo tower, one had to cross Heretic Lake, a fact that DJ was unfortunately unaware of until it was too late. He continued along his speed-speed path until he skidded straight into the lake. "AH! CAN'T SWIM! CAN'T SWIM!" he shouted before sinking below the lake's surface

He remained calm as he hit the bottom of the lake, sitting cross-legged and unable to move under the water. Hmmm, let's see, can't swim because of the Devil Fruit, didn't see anyone around when I came in here, gonna break the promise to that kid and his little sister. It all seems so anticlimactic, always thought the end would be loud. Oh well, yay! I'm doomed! He could feel his lungs burning for air but he could do nothing to get away. He looked upwards to the starry night, refracted through the shimmering waters as his vision blacked out.

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"Breathe, damn you!" DJ stirred and heard a man shout as he coughed up a good amount of water. "Don't die on me you fricken kid!"

DJ leaned over the side of the small boat he was in and coughed up more water. "T-Thanks," he coughed at the man who had saved his life.

"Oh thank heavens," the man smiled. DJ eyed his savior over, he looked to be in his early fifties, wearing a black vest and matching pants as well as a hat made of reeds similar to the one DJ had back at the pub.

"Who are you old timer?" he rubbed his aching head, drowning sure could take it out of a guy.

"My name is Tazuro, I'm the ferryperson for Heretic lake." The man smiled. "Not to mention the guy who just saved your life."

"Yeah, thanks for that." DJ grinned and then looked at the small boat they were in, it was barely big enough to fit the both of them, it was roughly the size of a gondola without the ornate detail. "You're the only ferryperson on this lake? How do you even do business with this small of a boat?" he asked. It was easy for him to miss such a small vessel on his way in, which left him surprised that someone would come to rescue him.

"I don't need a big boat, but I make enough. Because of King Apollo living in Apollo tower across the way, not many tourists want to go that way. I make money off of some of the troops coming to and from the tower, shipping supplies and whatnot, plus the occasional hotshot who wants to challenge Apollo. Just yesterday I had that nice Ryu fella take a trip across the lake and tip me nicely, hope he makes it back okay. Out of all of them, never had any of them run straight into the lake before, you sure are a strange one."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." DJ sighed and leaned back.

"How old are ya kid?" Tazuro eyed DJ over.

"I'm 17," the speedy swordsman looked back curiously. It had been two years since he had left his hometown and a few months since he had gotten his Devil Fruit powers, which he had yet to master.

"Seventeen and can't even swim yet," the old man sighed. "And you plan to take on Apollo tower all by yourself?"

"Hey! I could swim I just…. forgot." He sighed, realizing how stupid that sounded. "I ate a Devil Fruit and lost the ability to swim." He put his hands behind his head.

"Ah, I see… well, I kinda feel bad for leading you to your death but I guess it is my job as a ferryperson. My wife keeps telling me to stop being so sentimental about it and just focus on business. You planning on getting married kid?"

"I don't know," DJ rolled over onto his side and stared out onto the water.

"Well the, take my advice, don't, All marriage is a bunch of nagging, followed by more nagging, oh yeah, did I mention the nagging?" Tazuro laughed.

DJ sighed and pulled out his flute, he had been versed in many other instruments and writing techniques, but the flute was the only one that seemed compact enough to carry with him. He began playing a sad, mournful song. As a musician and a poet, it was his job to find beauty in the world when everyone else saw none. It certainly made this an interesting time to be alive.

He stopped playing the song and set the flute down. He like playing music and writing poetry because it seemed to calm him, but nothing could ease his nerves about the battle about to take place.

"Why do you wanna take on Apollo anyways?" the old timer asked randomly.

"Have to help some kid I don't know rescue his sister, who I really don't know, no good reason I suppose." He sat up and exhaled. "It's just in my nature to help people, it's my purpose."

"Why? Chivalry's dead ya know." The old man pointed out and kept rowing the boat softly.

"Naw man, chivalry ain't dead, it's just taking an extended vacation." He laughed.

"But why act that way? A lot of women and children aren't weak anymore, empowerment and such, take my wife, please. Anyway, my wife can overpower me any day."

"Yeah, well that's the reason why I do it, not because I think they're weak, because I feel women are deserving of respect and adoration"

"Yeah, I used to think like you too when I was your age. I used to lie awake and dream of the girl I'd want to marry. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife dearly despite my jokes, but I miss those young, blissful days."

"I do that too," he sighed. He wasn't sure why he was opening up to this complete stranger so quickly. It was probably because it had been so long since someone wanted to know about him, he had been on his own for so long and no one cared about him, people needed him but no one wanted him after his help was over with.

"Really? Alright, just for kicks, we still got a little bit to go till we hit Apollo tower, let me hear about this dream girl." The old man laughed.

He sighed again, he didn't really feel like telling him but he couldn't very well deny a request to the man who had just saved his life. "Well, she has a will of fire, doesn't let anyone step on her. Isn't afraid to get scared. But isn't afraid to fight back when she's scared either. She should also have some spirit of innocence about her. In this day and age, such childishness is rare and should be treasured. She should be independent, need me but not know she needs me." He sighed, completing his long list.

"Well, good luck with that, chances of finding someone like that are slim to none though." Tazuro laughed again, he was getting tired of that laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, you asked, so I'm just telling ya."

"There it is." The old man pointed to a large stone tower, it was very tall and looked like it could be twice the size of any navy outpost he had seen thus far.

"Apollo Tower…." They both repeated in unison.

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DJ yawned and smacked his lips as he was awoken from his reflective dream and found himself back on Dimitri's ship, the least comfortable part of this was the spear being pointed in his face, at the other end was a man with a tattoo on his face.

"Good Morning…. stowaway."