EARLY UPDATE!

I really really really appreciate the people who had Fav and Follow this story, and thank the ones who reviewed even more. Sorry for the mistakes. And like always, enjoy the story. Oh, and this chap is a bit shorter compared to the other ones, kay?

Disclaimer: If i owned One Piece i would thank the gods. (cry) But i don't own it.

Resting her head on her two tiny palms, Luffy stared at the rain as it pattered on the forest floor. She lay on her belly, slightly revealing her back as she watched the water colliding with the ground. Luffy had managed to keep herself entertained while her brothers lightly snored under their breaths. Currently, the three rested under the roots of a gigantic tall tree deep in the forest to shelter from the sudden downpour and Luffy couldn't find the mind to sleep. She was awfully occupied with the thought of finally owning a hideout with her brothers.

So, how did the three siblings get themselves caught in this situation?

About 12 hours ago… Three weeks after their exchange of sake…

'Luffy-san, I came in for a visit.' Makino said as she peeked into the hut, Dadan and her colleagues following behind the young woman. Dadan was silently engaging an argument with Mayor Woop Slap while Magra tried to calm her down.

'Makino!' Luffy jumped off from the second floor and landed on her feet with a thud. Makino braced herself as Luffy pounced at her and locked her in a warm embrace.

'It's been six months since you left, we were worried so we decided to visit.' Mayor Woop Slap said with a smile that contradicted his usual scowl immensely. 'But who would've thought you would be living with mountain bandits…'

He left his sentence afloat to return the glare Dadan had thrown at him. Luffy pulled Makino by the arm and signalled her brothers to come down. She spoke with a cheery smile, 'Guys, meet Makino!'

'Hello,' Makino waved her, a kind smile on her face. 'By the way, I brought you guys some presents.'

So that's Makino, the mother like figure Luffy was always talking about. Sabo stepped down from the stairs and walked towards the young woman. He bowed, took off his top hat and said with a grin, 'Nice to meet you.'

'Oh, what a charming young man.' Makino giggled and continued, 'I brought you guys some new clothes in case Garp didn't think about it.' She took of her basket, laid it on the ground and flipped over the cover, revealing layers of freshly made clothes. Luffy and Sabo leaned closer to look at the pieces of cloth before picking them to take a closer look. Suddenly, Luffy turned to Sabo, 'Where's Ace?'

Sabo pointed up above and said with a sly smirk, 'Still sleeping like a dead person.'

'You did it, didn't you?' Luffy leaned closer and asked secretively.

'Was just doing some 'connect the dots', he won't mind.' He laughed slightly, an evil smile on his face. Luffy laughed out loud, trying to imagine what kind of look Ace would make when he sees his face in the mirror.

Makino looked at them questioningly before taking out a little pink dress with the words 'ANCHOR' on them and pressing it onto Luffy, 'You'll look perfect in this, Lu.'

Luffy pouted and pushed it aside, 'But I want something I can run around in. And also Ace would laugh at me it I wear a dress.' Sabo smirked; he seriously doubted that would be true. From the looks of an outsider, Ace seems to be head over heels for Luffy. The blond smiled to himself before picking up a blue tank top and inspected it. He didn't know why but he had always been unconsciously attracted to blue objects. Makino slightly disappointed about Luffy's reaction but soon got over it, seeing how Sabo was finally interested.

'I wasn't sure about the size so try it on and I'll fix it for you.' Makino turned her attention to Sabo and said with a generous smile. But before they could continue, a loud shout exploded, rumbling the house, 'WHO DID THIS?'

Luffy smiled as she ran away with a pile of hand selected clothing. Sabo turned around; his face decorated with his own little grin and also darted off, following behind the young girl. Makino couldn't even react before and loud bang echoed from above and Ace landed onto the first floor. Makino put a hand to her mouth to suppress her laugh while the young raven haired boy panted hastily, his face red from either embarrassment or anger. Dadan walked in, ready to ask why Luffy and Sabo had ran off but was stopped by her own laughter. Well, no one could really not laugh if they saw Ace's face. Lines of dark ink decorated his cheeks, connecting his freckles together, forming a flower on one cheek and a smiley face with hearts as eyes on the other. On his forehead were the letters: 'LOVER BOY'. Ace angrily followed the two outside the house while screaming lines of curses.

'You really did it.' Luffy said as she leaned closer to Sabo, a devious smile on her face.

'T'was your idea.' The blond boy stuck out his tongue and the two siblings ran through the jungle

Half an hour later

Luffy stood to aside, watching Makino try on clothes for Ace. Sabo stood next to her, dress in a pair of new blue shorts and tank top. The two both have a giant bump on their head and both were decorated with wryly snickers.

The young coal haired boy stood with his back stiff as he felt Makino's hand grazed on his skin. His face blushed deeply; making the other two fell on their backs with laughter yet again. He grunted and glared at them. Then Ace squirmed, trying to move out of the way to attack the other two only to be stopped by Makino, 'Now, now, don't move just yet.'

Slightly hesitant, the ten year old boy decided to stand still. 'I'll get you later…' Ace grumbled under his breath, the blush creeping back under the black smudges on his cheeks.

After they were done with the clothes, Makino went into the hut to prepare the dinner. Smelling the alluring scent of cooking food, the three children couldn't help but race into the kitchen, drool running down the edge of their mouths. The barmaid only chuckled as she placed out the plates, three young siblings following behind her like a tail. Right at the moment she finished displaying the food, Luffy had managed to hop on the table and began chowing down food.

'Come on, let's hurry or no Luffy'll finish everything before anyone could even begin eating!' Ace pulled Sabo on the table before they both shouted, 'Thank you for the food!'

Forgetting she was supposed to have some courtesy, Luffy said in a muffled voice, 'Shank kyou for de food.'

The bandits rushed in a minute after only to see the feast was already half finished. Luffy burped lightly, followed by Ace's loud burp then Sabo's, 'That was delicious!'

'Yeah!' Ace nodded in agreement.

'It's gonna be hard to get good food like this on our voyage. When I go to sea, the first thing I'm gonna do is to add the greatest cook in the world into my crew!' Sabo announced happily.

'I'm gonna become a pirate first so that's impossible!' Ace leaned in and said proudly.

'That's not fair! I'll become a pirate before both of you!' Luffy jumped into the conversation, latching onto Ace as she nearly fell. Ace blushed slightly, which had not gone unnoticed by Sabo. The blond boy only grinned and the three continued on with their pirate talk, completely unaware of the towering shadow behind them.

'PFFT!' The bandits spitted out their food in unison, finally aware of the man standing in the back. He wore a Hawaiian T-shirt and slick, black pants, his eyes gleam with pure evil. Stopped by their caretaker's reaction, the three children looked to their backs, their face turning from pink to green to a pale shade of blue.

'Are you to still going on about that?' Garp grunted loudly, his voice sending shivers down their spines. Luffy scrambled to her feet, trying to escape her grandpa's 'fist of love' before he even raised it.

'I'm telling you guys to become Marines! Is that so hard to understand?!' Garp shouted and the young girl could feel a hard surface knock against her skull. He'd just have to use Haki? She grumbled angrily in her head. Luffy fell to the ground and soon, Ace and Dadan accompanied her on the floor.

'Why'd you hit me too?' Dadan said with a painful frown.

'I'm not happy with the way you're raising these kids!' Garp said with a defiant stance, his fist held high.

Makino had already gone off with Mayor Woop Slap and left Sabo alone to his fear coated shock, 'So that's Garp? This old guy is Ace's and Lu's grandfather?'

'Kid. You were talking about going out to sea too, right?' Garp asked, his death glare sending a cold chill down Sabo's spine. The blond boy took a step back but he was stopped by Ace and Luffy, 'You should share our pain too, we're brothers, right?' They said with sly grins.

The two black haired kids pushed Sabo forward, cold sweat dripping from his chin as they introduced, 'This is Sabo, he's our brother.' The two snickered.

'Oh, so now there's three little idiots who wants me to give them a work out?' The grandfather leered at them with mischievousness as he cracked his knuckles. His look was returned by three hesitant pair of eyes, cold sweat running down their pale cheeks.

It was the worst nightmare of Sabo life, not counting his parents, of course. The three brothers collapsed on the ground, bruises and cuts surrounded their body. Luffy had led them to an escape route but it only took Garp a matter of time before he caught up. He had wrecked nearly one sixth of the forest with this training session, Ace didn't even want to know what he will make them do tomorrow.

'We've got to get some medical supplies to cure these wounds before they get infected.' Sabo suggested as he picked himself up to his feet. Ace latched onto his arm to support himself up. He stumbled slightly as the two come to grab Luffy, who was sleeping by a tree stump. Sabo carried his sister piggyback style and the three managed to drag themselves back to the hut, the translucent moonlight guiding their way. They walked through the rustling forest and by the time they had returned to the hut, Luffy had awoken.

The three little monsters stared at their caretakers from a hole on the broken down hut. Ace grunted and Sabo shivered at the sight of their grandfather. The bandits were all sprawled on the ground, snoring away their hangover. Ace eyed the marine Hero and said the obvious, 'At this rate, he'll kill us by tomorrow.'

'Even if we survive long enough to go to sea, we'll be beaten until we give up on being pirates.' Sabo replied in a whisper. Luffy sat next to the two and nodded enthusiastically. Her face scrunched together as she cringed at the thought of training with Garp.

'Now that it's come to this…' Ace leaned closer, a devious grin on his lips, 'There is only one solution. It's time for us to make a choice, brothers!'

Dadan woke up with a shoe on her face, literally. Garp had kicked her straight on the nose and she could feel the hot liquid oozing out. The bandits' boss sat up and yawn aloud then, she looked around the room, expecting some weird prank to happen but nothing occurred. This worried her… Wait, what? Why would it worry her? She didn't care about the kids did she? Of course she didn't, that's stupid. She looked around the room once more and something caught her attention. A white note piece with crudely written letter was attached to a column.

WE ARE MOVING OUT

A.S.L

It said. Dadan turned to aside and looked away. So their moving out, those three monsters… THEY'RE MOVING OUT!?Dadan shouted, her voice echoing through the trees.

Back to current time….

Think back on the thought, Luffy couldn't help but giggle. They were running away when they were caught by a sudden downpour, seeing the tree was the closest shelter, they decided to stay there for the night.

The sun had risen, lighting up the sky, blinding the stars away. The bird morning tweets echoed through the forest and remnants of the downpour dripped along the trees. Sabo woke up to feel Ace leaning against his back and Luffy sleeping silently on the ground with her chest against the earth. That's odd. He remembered that when they arrived at the roots of the tree, Luffy was sitting against the two of them. Maybe she woke up… That's impossible, Luffy's not the kind of person to wake up in the middle of the night. Sabo shrugged the thought aside and decided to exit tree.

He set his foot on the damped earth and peered up at the huge tree. He liked it, from the looks; it seemed like the largest tree in the forest. Thinking of something amazing, Sabo couldn't help the grin that was about to spread across his cheeks.

'Ugh…' A little voice moaned, as the young raven haired girl shuffled in her sleep. Luffy sat up and rubbed her eyes off its drowsiness. 'Sabo, you're up… Did I fall asleep?'

'Hey, Lu, I've got a great idea!' Sabo crouched down at the girl and help her to her feet.

Luffy looked up at him before grinning too, 'I wanna hear it! But… should we wake up Ace?' The two siblings eyed Ace for a moment, shrugged and said in unison, 'Meh, we'll tell him later.'

'So, what are you planning?' Luffy turned to Sabo and said with a smile.

Sabo took a stick and scribbled down a few drawings onto the earth, 'We're going to build our base.' Then he looked up and pointed at the gigantic tree, 'Right there.' They directed their gaze onto the biggest branch of the tree.

'That's gonna be so cool.' Luffy pointed at the circular tree house drawn onto the ground and complemented with a smile.

'I thought that since you're a girl, you'll want some private space sometimes. So on the other side of the tree trunk; we'll build our private rooms. They will be small and in cube shapes.' Sabo scribbled another drawing onto the ground. This time, it was three small boxes with windows and each decorated with the letters A, S and L. Sabo continued, 'We could sleep together sometimes but we'll keep our things and mainly sleep in there.'

Luffy nodded, though she liked to sleep with her brothers, she would also like some alone time because one of the comrades she made later in her last life – if she remembered correctly - had taught her about gender differences and how girls should not be too close to boys she doesn't love. And love here is like love love okay?

'That's great! We could get all the materials we need from the Grey Terminal!' Luffy cheered and they commenced their plans.

Ace was awoken by the sound of hammer against wood. He sat up and looked outside. It was already late noon and he could feel the burning sunlight against his skin. The young boy stood up and exited only to meet with his two brothers, hammering nails onto a few wooden boards. Luffy noticed him first and jumped in to tackle him. Ace dodged to a side on instinct and grabbed onto the young girl's scruff before she could collide against the ground. 'What are you guys doing?' Ace asked as he moved Luffy up to face him, his hand still holding onto her shirt.

'We're building a secret base!' Luffy cheered as she raised her hands into the air. Unfortunately, as she raised them, the hammer in her hand knocked hard against Ace's chin. Startled from the pain, Ace dropped the young girl. 'Oomph.' She managed as her face planked against the ground.

'Ow…' The boy hissed, a hand to his chin and he turned to look up at the sky, trying to calm his anger towards his friend. Luffy jumped to her feet and approached her brother with caution, 'Sorry, you okay?' She didn't like it when Ace gets angry.

The raven haired boy looked down again only meet with Luffy's big round eyes that was only about a few inches away from him. He felt a rising heat come to his cheeks and turned away, using the shadows of the leaves to hide his nervousness. 'I'm fine.' He grumbled.

'Oh, that's great. Here's your hammer.' Luffy stuffed a worn out hammer into his hands. 'We're building the floor right now. Later on, we'll carry it up to that branch.' She pointed to the biggest branch of the tree, 'and start on the supports of the base. Then we'll start on the framing…' Luffy continued to blabber on. She still remembered how her shipwright would tell her all of these things when had free time. He even taught her how to hammer properly and thing but she had forgotten a lot of them already.

'Come on, Ace. Stop dazing around and let's get started.' Sabo called to his brother.

Two months later…

'We're almost done!' Luffy cheered, looking at her brothers from across the flickering flames. They nodded happily along with her, 'We've only got the staircase that connects the rooms and the crow's nest left to build.' Luffy laughed happily and went over to hug her brothers. It's been two months since they began their project and it had become a routine in their daily lives. In the morning, they would wake up and go to the Terminal to get supplies. By lunch, one of them would hunt while the others work on the base. And at night, they would set a campfire and rest. Then, the routine repeats. They had worked hard for them past months and they will have their own little hideout.

'Come on, Lu. Get off.' Ace pushed her off, a slight blush on his freckled cheeks. 'Let's go to sleep.'

'Yup!' Luffy jumped up and stretched her hand. Grabbing onto a branch, the young girl shot herself up and landed inside the tree house, face first, of course. Sabo climbed up the trunk, shaking his head and sighing silently. When will his little sister actually act like a girl? God knows.

'Ace, are you coming?' The blond boy looked down and inquired.

'Yeah.' Snapping out from his daze, Ace followed Sabo up the tree and they all entered their boat like, circular tree house. Luffy had already laid out her blankets and was snoring slightly. The other two followed the young girl's example and they all went into deep sleep, thinking of their busy tomorrow. None of them aware of Dadan and her bandits who were freaking out at their hut.

'You still haven't found them?' Dadan screeched. She sat next a brim filled basket of finished cigarettes, her face squeezing together in anger. Those kids have been gone for weeks and none of her men could find them.

'We've heard news of them in the jungle and the Terminal but gathered nothing specific!' One of her staffs informed her frantically.

'Now, now boss. They had wreaked havoc across the island, I'm sure they're in no danger.' Magra said as he laid a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. But Dadan, completely ignorant of her right man's word, broke out in panic. 'What if they were eaten by the tiger or captured by the royal guards or something!'

'Boss… It seems like you are worrying for the boys.' Dogra said as he drank a sip from his tea. The bandits' leader stopped in her tracks and turned to her chief of staff with a rigid face, cold sweat running down her cheeks, 'What do you mean? I don't care if they d-die. I'm worried out Garp killing us when they die…'

'Sure, sure.' Dogra took another sip of his tea and stared at his boss, a pink blush running across her cheek. Dadan grunted and turned away, 'What are you guys doing? Go hunt some food for dinner already!'

'Yes Boss!' They shouted in unison and scurried off. Dadan sighed and sat down next to her basket once again.

'We're done!' The three hugged each other as they stood back to stare at their work, they were proud. They ran through the place, organising their cube like rooms and applying the finishing touches. Ace's room was painted in a shade of orange and yellow, a letter 'A' painted on the outside wall in black. Sabo's room was decorated with different shade of blue and held many books and paper. Luffy's room was coloured in bright red and she had covered its inner walls with pictures and painting of her past adventures. The ghost ship, the sky island, the underwater island… It was all drawn on the walls. Though she was sad that she had to forget all the names and faces of her past comrades, she was happy she still remembered her adventures with them and was sure she could find them again. Luffy laughed to herself and exited her room. Running across the rigid staircase, she called for her brothers to come with her to the crow's nest.

'What is it?' Ace grumbled. He was organising the treasure they had stolen for the pirate fund in his room.

'Come on! I wanna show you something!' Luffy pulled his hand, completely oblivious about his deeply blushed face. Sabo tailed behind the two, snickering under his breath.

They climbed up to the observation deck and she showed them the view of the Dawn Island. It was truly breath-taking. They laughed as they pointed out the different places they went to and what trouble they cause while they were there. Luffy told them about Shanks and how they met and how she got her scar. Sabo hit her on the head for being stupid but the seven year old girl only laughed it off.

'Now that I think about it, this is supposed to be a secret hideout isn't it?' Ace turned to Sabo. 'Why don't we set up some traps?'

The three grinned at the thought and commenced onto setting up traps for intruders, completely oblivious of the fact that a day later, Dadan would trigger it and run away with a grumble under her breath.

Thank you all for reading this fanfic! I hope you like it. Just a warning, the timeline here is not the same as either the manga or anime. And for the good of the story, pls Review. :3

Next release is in two weeks, remember. The next chap is about the fire in Grey Terminal, look forward to it. Next chap: Chapter 5: Noble's Blood, Cursed Blood

Love, Knox