Disclaimer: One Piece is Oda's story, I don't own it.

"Stop that."

Luffy giggled. Since he had told his friends about his powers, Ace wasn't the only one he could mess with. He would often tease them by making them float When they weren't anywhere near other people, he would steal their food once in a while. They ate on the roof of the school so no one bothered them, even if it was getting colder outside. Luffy simply heated the air around them and they were all wearing t-shirts outside even if December was nearing. He would also tease them in class some time and this was even funnier. He also would talk to them in the class by controlling their pencils in class and making them write what he wanted to tell them.

Another thing he would do was mess with the temperature in class and watch all his classmates get confused as hell. He and his friends thought it was funny, but they didn't do it all the time since it would make their teachers cranky and annoyed. All in all, in only a week, Luffy and his friends had become even closer. They all tried to come with new ways to mess around with Luffy's power and help him train and they always had fun doing it too.

It had been two weeks after the whole revelation-almost-suicide incident and the little group was sitting on the roof of the school with their lunch. Sabo was with Ace today and Kuina was standing pretty close to Zoro with an analytic gaze. She would always stay close to him and bizarrely avoid being anywhere to close of Luffy. Every movement anyone made was noted by the blue-haired girl, as it seemed. While they chatted, Usopp took his backpack and took three books out of it.

"I did a little bit of research at the library and on the Internet this weekend. Look at this. Those are books I found about psychics, ghosts, and other stuff. Would you be able to say which one's fake and which one is written by an actual psychic?"

Luffy read over the titles of each book. The first one was written by a medium he had seen on TV. He wasn't sure if the guy was an actual medium or if he was fake, but his first impression wasn't too good. He seemed like the type of guy who would lie to people just to get attention.

The second book was written by a man named Chinjao. The book was a bit more like a log book of his spiritual journey. He had been in taking a long journey in the mountains, been to different monasteries and did a lot of meditation, until one day he had become a medium. People would mistake the book as a work of fiction, but the details on spirits and everything surrounding that subject were too great and too accurate to have been made up. Even if it was a good book for his friends if they wanted to understand him more, it didn't give him new information. He had only skimmed through it but he knew it was the man was a real medium.

The third book was the most interesting one out of the three. It was written by a name named Basile Hawkins, a man from a local shop named Wiccan moonlight who sell all kinds of white magic items like incense, different herbs, and stones, pendulums, tarot cards, and etcetera. His book explained a lot of things about the soul and spirits in a way only a medium- no psychic- could.

"The first is a scam, the second is okay but not too instructional and the third one is a psychic for sure. We should go to that shop." Usopp's eyes widened. It hadn't even taken five minutes for the raven haired teen to get this conclusion.

"We can go after school, it's not too far from here," Nami suggested. She would pass it every day when walking back from school and even if the little didn't seem too weird or threatening, It had always been somewhat intriguing.

"Good. We'll go after school then." Luffy said in an excited tone. He had been excited to meet Marco again when he had discovered that the pineapple-haired man was a medium but, aside from Sabo, he had never seen another actual Psychic. This person was an adult too, he probably knew a lot more about this than him, Ace and Sabo did, which only managed to make him more curious and excited.

The book was also really educative. It explained everything about the different types of ghosts and the different phases for poltergeists but with much more details than what Marco had said. Still, it was nothing new for Luffy at this point.

Throughout the whole afternoon, Luffy was fidgeting in his chair as he sat through his teachers' lessons. He couldn't wait to go to the Wiccan shop. Vivi only giggled at the boy's antic while Nami sighed. Basically, the afternoon classes passed by pretty slowly for the excitable psychic and when the bell finally rang, they all had to run after him to keep up as he burst out of the school building.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted at his brother as he saw him coming around the corner with his blond stalker.

"Hey, Luffy! What are you doing running out of the school so fast? Were your teachers' lessons that boring?" The older brother replied teasingly. Behind the young psychic came Luffy's group of friends, some were panting with the sprint they just had to do.

"Nothing like that, we are going to a Wiccan shop!" Sabo and Ace's eyes widened a bit until a small smile made their way to their lips. "Wiccan moonlight? Yeah, Mr. Hawkins is a really good person." Sabo said.

"Don't fight against your destiny and future and enjoy the present. Enjoy what you have now before you lose it."

"You both met him before?" Luffy asked skeptically.

"We did. We have been to his shop a few times. Once, we were trying to get rid of a poltergeist at one of our friend's house so we had to get certain items and some knowledge on how to get rid of it. Mr. Hawkin was really helpful, even if he is always a bit too... enigmatic. He rarely tells you things directly, only when it's really important." Ace responded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Come with us!" Usopp said cheerfully. The others all grinned and Sabo bit his lips. "Kuina can't come though..." Luffy turned around to look at his blond spirit friend with a frown.

"Why?"

"Why what?" All the non-mediums asked curiously.

"She made the first step, Wiccan moonlight is warded completely against all types of... hum... evil spirits." Ace said awkwardly.

"Kuina isn't an evil spirit." Zoro had seemed almost offended as he said those words.

"I am not saying she is, but she won't be able to enter because it will be literally and physically impossible for her to do so. Mr. Hawkins took a lot of precautions after a certain incident he told us about and now all spirits who took the first step aren't welcomed."

"What happened?"

"Some angry ghost trashed his shop even if he wasn't a poltergeist so..."

"Yes, but I can still wait by the door, I'll stay close and wait for you guys," Kuina said nervously she took a step closer to Zoro and brushed her shoulder against the raven-haired psychic accidentally. She immediately shrieked away.

"What was that?" Sabo and Luffy said in unison, being the only two who could have seen the blue haired ghost's weird outburst.

Kuina took another step closer to Zoro and farther away from the psychic.

"I don't know... It started happening a little while ago. I... can't get close to you. At first, it would only pinch a little, but now it's like I will get burn if I so much as graze your arm." She said as she held her shoulder with her other hand.

"That's weird..." Luffy said, deep in thoughts. "It can't be a psychic power..."

"What can't? What is it? What is happening?" Usopp said curiously as he looked at Luffy with round and curious eyes.

"Kuina gets burnt a little if she gets too close to me or tries to touch me." The others frowned.

"Why can't it be a psychic power?" Sanji was starting to get a bit curious too.

"Well, I don't think this happened before and if spirits with bad intentions or poltergeists would burn if they got too close to me, I would have never gotten that scar." He pointed to the healed gash under his left eye.

"Maybe it's a new power you just unlocked!" Usopp said with stars in his eyes. The curly haired teen took his bag off his back and took Basile Hawkins' book and started searching anything that could give him a clue in it.

"I say we just get to the Wiccan shop now and ask this Mr. Hawkin instead of standing here, right guys?" Nami said with a smile. They all nodded, Kuina and Zoro a bit reluctantly and continued their way to Wiccan Moonlight.

Usopp was still plunged in the book, searching eagerly for any explanation. As much as the boy liked to lie, he was the kind of person who really enjoyed searching for the real explanation in those kinds of weird phenomenon. Everyone else was more or less excited to go to the shop and learn more about Luffy's and Ace's powers. However, the blond spirit and eldest medium were both happy and somewhat nervous to see Mr. Hawkins again though. They hadn't been to that shop since Sabo had died.

When they entered the shop, both wearing guilty and uncomfortable expressions, they hadn't expected to be warmly welcomed. Kuina stayed outside, waiting for everyone else.

"Ace! Sabo! Long time since I last saw you two. Was it three or four years? You surely have grown, well at least one of you two has." He added with a quick look to the bloodied blond who looked away guiltily. "And you must be Luffy, Ace's little brother, great to finally meet you. How are you boy?" Mr. Hawkins was speaking in a low voice and wore a serious expression.

"Ace told you about me?"

"No, Mr. Hawkins can... like... read people. He doesn't need to take your palm and everything, it's like he can read your soul." Ace said, trying to explain it the best he could. The only explanation he had gotten from the psychic had been really enigmatic and it even took Sabo a long time to understand the ability.

"Are you sure voodoo dolls count as white magic?" Sanji said as he looked at the ones on display sitting on the different shelves.

"Voodoo dolls are easy to use for bad intents, but they also are powerful for different healing spells and blessings. Some voodoo magic spells can help you change your looks and other things like that." The adult shop owner took a deck of tarot cards and started shifting them. "So? What is it you wanted to know?"

Sabo looked at the shop owner in disbelief. He had feared whatever the man would say to him, but the fact that he wasn't saying anything was even worse. Still, the blond spirit stayed quiet.

"First, there is this spirit who 'took the first step' apparently and now she can't get near Luffy unless she wants to get burned," Nami said as she pointed at the raven haired psychic. She wasn't going to wait to get answers.

Basile looked at the raven haired boy. "That's probably because of the locket around your neck." Luffy looked down at himself and saw that his locket was still tucked inside his shirt. He took it out and looked at it carefully.

"The carvings in the front protects you from the evil eye and evil forces. You also have amber and onyx on the back of it as gemstones." Luffy turned the locket over to look at the orange and black gems. "Amber is said to strengthen the aura, balances the Yin and Yang. It can also attract compassion. Amber also protects against evil influences and accidental injury. If you wear or carry black onyx it will help avert danger and misfortune. It attracts courage, strength, and spiritual wisdom. Onyx is said to dispel negative energy, defend against the Evil Eye, and control passionate desires. Furthermore, your locket is entirely made of pure silver and I am pretty sure it's attached to your soul, something around those lines. It's a powerful charm."

"... Luffy, who gave you that locket?" Ace had never really seen the locket before. He had maybe seen it shortly and had a few glances at it, but he had never asked about this particular accessory Luffy liked to wear. The boy often liked to wear some odd accessories and he would never really question it. For example, in the summer, the only hat he would wear was that old straw hat with a red ribbon. He didn't really know where Luffy had gotten it, but it wasn't rare to see the boy wearing it. Also, he would wear this weird dark decorated, jeweled armband around his left bicep. There were others, but he wouldn't go into details now.

"My... My father did..."

The emotions swirling around in his chest were very confusing and the questions on his mind were only left unanswered. He opened the locket and read the words engraved on it. The four words would usually leave him completely empty, drained of every positive thought he could ever have at that moment, but now, that locket...

It was protecting him.

For the last almost three years since Dragon had given the locket to him and left the house, he had never been attacked, hurt or even been approached by any evil intended spirit... Except maybe once... Because the locket had protected him. His father had protected him. Did he... actually care? Maybe deep down? But why would he tell him all those things if he did?

The young psychic clenched his hand around the locket. He felt like bursting but no tears would come. It was a hard thing to explain, his emotions and his confusion mixed up in a really weird way, almost making him dizzy.

"How could Dragon give you that?" Ace said with a tone that seemed dipped in poison. Luffy looked down at the floor with a blurry vision.

Ace wasn't the only one who felt angry at this discovery. Sabo clearly hated the man as much as Ace did and Zoro, who had been silent this whole time, had an almost murderous aura around him. Basile Hawkins was still shifting the tarot cards in his hands, his face stuck in a perfectly neutral expression.

"Maybe he cares-"

"Like hell he does!" Ace almost shouted. "He pretty much told you to go kill yourself two weeks ago!" At those words, Luffy's legs gave up on him. Zoro, however, caught him before he could hit the floor and helped him sit on a chair while Ace regained his composure.

"Fear is a strong emotion. When you are drowned in it, it is rare that you are certain of its origin. It is easier to shield ourselves away from anything painful than to try and find the real source."

Luffy frowned as he looked up at Mr. Hawkins. He was still mixing his tarot cards in his hands. "I am not scared of my father."

"That's not what he meant. I think he was saying that... your father... he is scared of something that... we don't know about. That something has to do with psychics and everything. If he knows about all those things, maybe he is scared for you and doesn't know how to deal with it except by getting away from you..." Sabo started.

"That doesn't make any sense. It still doesn't explain why he would ask him to basically... you know." Ace said with a sigh.

"Ace, your father... he was a psychic right?" The blond spirit was starting to understand the situation. Slowly, things started to make sense.

"Yes, he was. What's your point?"

"Well, Dragon was your godfather, meaning Dragon and Roger were close. What if something bad happened that completely changed Luffy's father? What if he was there when he died? You of all people know how that can mess someone up, you lashed out at Luffy for almost three months after I died before you started to move on." Ace looked down in shame as the blond spirit.

"Maybe I did... but... Roger died 13 years ago. He had a lot of time to move on."

"What are you guys saying?" Nami said in confusion. Ace had been talking to Sabo and the only ones who could keep up with the conversation were Luffy and Mr. Hawkins, but Luffy was still shaken up and Mr. Hawkins wasn't going to say anything. As Ace relayed the information they had said, Sabo continued to think.

"All I am saying is that it doesn't make sense. He never cared before, why would he do now? And also, when did he give it to you, Luffy?" Ace inquired as he looked at the young psychic with a slightly intrigued glare.

"Before he left the house 3 years ago."

"Let's not jump to conclusions now. Dragon isn't a good father, but he clearly wanted to protect Luffy at least a little if he gave the locket to him." Sanji said, frowning.

"We can't know for sure what is going on with Dragon if we don't know what happened between him and Ace's father." Usopp inquired.

Luffy stood and started to look around in the shop while the others discussed the matter. Mr. Hawkins came closer to him and looked down at him.

"You are troubled still, but not about your father. What is it?"

"Does the locket work all the time?"

"Yes, if it's around your neck and the chain isn't broken, you are safe from all evil spirits."

"That means that person wasn't a poltergeist? It was a person?"

"Zehahahahahahaha!"

Hey! I haven't updated this story in three months now, ouch... I was pretty busy but I can't promise the next update will come soon either. I write when I am inspired mostly.

I am sorry for the long wait,

Until next time!