She closed the door behind her. She just finished singing to Jerome again, apparently he needed it to go to sleep. After getting that business done she made her way to the deck where she knew Dante was. They had gotten interrupted the last time she tried to confess her feelings for him and this time she was able to do it alone. She stepped out the door and looked into the night sky. There Dante was sitting on the crows nest. She jimmied her way up and took a seat next to him. He didn't really seem to acknowledge her presence.

"Dante I wanted to tell you something before" Kat started. But before she was able to speak again Dante spoke.

"Katherine, before you say anything else you should no something's about me" Dante said. "And when you hear it I hope you can understand why I can't like you the way you want me to"

(Flashback)

Little Dante probably around the age of ten walked the crime ridden streets. He heard gun shots coming from a unknown source. At a normal place (and a normal person) she would run at the sound. But that's not how it worked here, if you ran than you looked suspicious and that could lead to a pretty quick death.

"Hey Dante want to play with us" Dante turned his head and saw some dirty beaten down kids (but he didn't have the right to judge). Instead of speaking back to them he simply kept on walking his way.

"Dang looks like we have to find someone else"

"To bad it would have been fun"

He heard them talk behind his back. Yes it sounded like they wanted him to play a game, but it wasnfar from a game they played. They last time they said they wanted to 'play' with him he was almost sold into slavery. He wasn't the type of person at the time to learn from a past mistake either. Not to long later they of course invited him to 'play' again and he gladly accepted. But this time they tried to kill him for all the money he had (which wasn't much). Yep life was hell here in the north western regions.

"Hey there's that kid!"

He bolted his face over behind him. There they were the same group of man he stole from a week ago behind him. Without waiting a second Dante dashed down the street. Yeah he was a thief, but leaving here you had to get your hands dirty sometimes.

He ran without a seconds rest for a entire hour. He had to make sure that he had escaped them. This place was hell, why would a person keep leaving in these conditions and not give up on life? Because he had something to live for.

Dante opened the door to his house and he was given a smile from a sweet woman in the kitchen. The woman resembled Dante in a way. She has long black hair covering her left eye which was sea green. She wears a dirty and torn maiden outfit. This woman was his mother and he lived for her and only her.

"Hello there old son of mine" she greeted him.

"Hey mom. What's for dinner" Dante grabbed his mouth asking those words. He knew very well that there was not much food around. They could only get enough for a five day meal if lucky.

"Were having apple's" she said.

Dante was grew a happy smile. Something he rarely did, he had a dream to one day take his mother away from all of this and they could live happily ever after. But that thought was cut short when he heard bagging at the door.

"Lisana open up!" Shouting came from the other side.

"Oh no" was all Lisana had to say. She didn't get the money she needed to pay rent. This was going to get ugly. "Dante promise me something"

Dante full aware of what was happening hesitated to answer. "What do I have to promise"

"I need you to go and hide in the barrel outside. Don't come out until I come and get you okay"

Dante wasn't going for it. He was too smart at this young age to believe everything was going to be okay. But she wasn't trying to convince him that things were going to be okay. She was warning him because he might only make things worst. So he obeyed his mother and waited in the barrel.

He waited. It took all his will power to not go charging in there when he heard his mother being beat. Then he heard gun shots fire and wasting no more time and ran into his house. When he got in the first thing he saw was his mothers dead body on the floor. The next thing he saw was the glimpse of someone running out the door.

He was now broken. He had all ways thought that there could still be some hope for those lost souls out there. But he was not living in that reality. In this reality human beings were monsters. The other kids tried to kill him every chance they got. The marines refused to give this place the help they needed. He whoever it was broke into his home and killed his mother. Humans were...

Untrustworthy.

He gave his mother the proper funeral she deserved. He put her grave somewhere that nobody could disturb it. And if they did let god be on there side. He took time later on to make his famous repeater rifle. After that he took it in his own hands and tried cleaning up this town. But as fate would have it he was too weak.

With nothing left for him, he knew he had to get off this island. It took him a month to build a dingy strong and well built enough to get him off the island. He sailed island to island not really sure what he was looking for. Then one day he came across a piece of paper that was offering work. Knowing he needed the money he at least went to check it out.

He walked onto a ship and walked into the office. He then met a man with his most noticeable feature being his silver teeth. "So are you the kid who accepted the job"

"Not yet. I want to know what kind of work I will be doing" spoke Dante

"You will be working as a mercenary"

"A mercenary forget it! Dante was about to storm out but he only got as far as the door knob.

"Sorry to tell you this kid, but we already left the island. Looks like your stuck with us" silver tooth said.

Working as a merc was killer. The odd jobs they were given was enough to kill a man. At one point he was given a job by a warlord and for what? Some damn medical tools. On the mercs side they found the boy very amusing. They would constantly tease him and they would treat him like a young child. Despite he was fourteen.

Dante walked back home from yet another loose job. Not going to much into details he hadn't eaten in three day straight. He looked over by a tree and picked up a weird looking fruit. It was a small plum with blue swirls. Yeah he was hungry but not that hungry.

Or was he.

A debate went on in his head over if eating the fruit or not. He came to t conclusion of taking one quick but small bite. But even with the little taste it was enough to make him want to barf. When he later confronted his fellow mercs about it they told him it was something called a devil fruit and he will never be able to swim anymore. Oh well, he never swam anyway.

Two months later.

Dante had a complete mastery over his devil fruit. They fellow mercs nicknamed him speedy. But he still closed them out most of the time. He had to admit he did feel some type affection for them, but he was still under the impression that humans were monsters. Even if that included him.

Tattoos the man with the silver teeth saw this. So he called the kid in for a talk in his office. Tattoos thought as the other mercs as his family and when something was wrong with his family he would be there to help them.

"Dante tell me what's wrong with you" Tattoos asked.

"It's nothing" Dante said. He didn't even lie there was nothing wrong with him at the time. Unless you count the baggage he carries.

"Let me be more specific. Why do you close everyone out so much" Tattoos asked.

"Well you know its not like I enjoyed being kidnapped by mercenaries" Dante said.

Tattoos laughed at his statement. "You see Dante that's why I like and everyone else here likes you. So please tell me what's wrong. What hurt you in life?"

The man wasn't giving up. Dante decided to keep it as vague as possible. "Human beings are monsters"

It wasn't much but Tattoos knew what he meant. Life was could be very cruel sometimes and the people in it could be cruel along with it. He could get if Dante was marked with that cruelty when he was young. "Dante you should know life can be hell. With people killing each other left and right.I can only imagine what you have been through. But not everyone is a monster, those people you meant in your past were nothing but monsters in human form"

Monsters in human form? A monster was something that killed for no reason and enjoyed misery. What was he talking about?

"But remember even monsters have feelings"

What did he just hear? Even monsters have feelings. Going by that logic everything thing had feelings. He would consider the idea, but he didn't owe anybody anything to try.

A week passed and he still thought about it. When he thought about he met some bad apples in his life and then there were the good ones. So maybe human beings weren't all monsters. Maybe some were like how him and his mother used to be. Happy and thankful. Tattoos was right.

But Dante was still stained in the mind and it was permanent. He would open up more, but he will still keep his loner status. He would never admit it but when he did open up more he enjoyed it. But was always still wary on the people around him. As stated earlier his mind was still stained and he would always be wary and cautious of those around.

"Fire!"

Guns were shot. A mission had token the turn for the worst and Dante was completely surrounded by marines. He fought so long and hard but he couldn't go much longer. He was outnumbered. His last thought before passing out was that he never got the chance to thank Tattoos.

(End of flashback)

"Well Kat I hope you understand now why I can't be with you" said Dante

"Oh Dante sorry I never knew. It's been so hard for you uh?" Katherine looked at the sniper and she put a smile on her face. "Dante you haven't smiled in a long time"

"So what?"

"That's my new goal to make you smile" She made it her vow. Even if they couldn't be together for now than she could at least get him to smile.

This was something Dante liked about her. She had determination. He could never trust someone enough to join them in a relationship. But he did hope that one day this crew could bring him out of it.

And I just revealed Dante's past. Something you all have been waiting for. And YES! Over a hundred reviews, you guys rock! Now I hope you enjoyed and I will see you next time