Luffy yawns loudly, flopping down besides the Ace, who was sleeping soundly.
From his place on the make-shift bed, which was many deer hide stuffed with bird feathers, he stares at the smaller. Since Ace had come Luffy was very hungry, however he was no longer alone.
Luffy would rather go hungry then be without Ace now.
Only when the small person was asleep did Luffy dart out the hut and gather whatever he could find, he rarely travelled long distances nor was away very long.
"Little Ace has dots..." Luffy mumbles to himself, he had noticed the dots across the small one's cheeks behind but never thought much about it until it was silent time in the hut.
The five year old turns slowly sits up and blinks towards the hatch of a door. Outside was the candle, like every night. It came flickering with the wind.
"Little Ace needs more warmth." Luffy said aloud, another thing he started with the arrival of Ace. Talking.
Before Ace Luffy rarely talked to anyone, only a few people who he met along side the paths and even then it was a couple of words; his grandfather talked non stop when he was there but Luffy only had to answer with a few words.
The voice of his own voice made him feel more alone, so did not speak.
"Winter. Spring. Summer. Autumn." Luffy spoke to himself, this was how his world was, surrounding these season.
Winter brought the cold, Spring the new life, Summer the heat and Autumn the hard work. Because it was in the Autumn when his grandfather normal came and stayed and trained him and laid out his tasks he had to do for the seasons.
"Grandpa should be here." Luffy said laying back down, knowing that soon the powerfully man would come.
Luffy glances towards Ace, then crawls over slightly, hugging the small person closer to his chest. He grins when Ace hold onto his shirt and snuggles his face on there.
"Shishishishi, Little Ace..." Luffy laughs softly, holding onto the small person.
Ace makes a tiny sound which made the older grin.
Suddenly Luffy freezes, his breathing stills and he listens intently to the outside.
Footsteps.
Carefully letting go of Ace he rose up on his elbows, trying not to made any noise. Of course Ace had other ideas, because as soon as Luffy moves away fully, the small person let out a huge wail.
"Little Ace!" Luffy cries out in dismay holding Ace close to him away, knowing that whoever was outside knew they was there now.
"Luffy!" A loud booming voice calls, "Why did you make this entrance so small?"
"Grandpa!" Luffy calls back grinning at the hatch, he releasing the wailing small person and heads to the hatch door. Luffy opens it and peeks his head out, "Welcome home."
The old man looked like he was ready to hit the child over the head, but stopped with those words and grins down at him.
"Luffy," Garp says kindly still grinning, "I'm breaking this."
The child hurries back inside, just in time. The whole hut wall was tore only, like someone tearing up a paper box.
Garp walks around the wall, then took hold of it again and walks inside backwards placing the wooden hut back together with creaks everywhere.
Luffy settles down next to the sobbing Ace and cuddles next to him, then Garp lays against the wall beside them, placing a large arm over them both and fell off to sleep right away. It took Luffy a little while before getting Ace off to sleep, then quickly dropped off himself.