Chapter 4: Goodbyes are always Hard, but then again so is saying Hello…

After the introductions were all through, aka some more shouting occurred as Makino's rath was unleashed on Shanks and the crew who were supposed to be watching over Luffy and keeping him from committing stupid acts, The Red Force Pirates were celebrating a safe voyage back to Foosha village and Luffy's "bravery." Dori sat on Shanks laugh observing the party-goers with curiosity, sure the crew was rowdy but they were relatively harmless-at least she knew they weren't going to turn on her in a whim-despite being the renowned Red-Haired Pirates. While they were all enjoying their grog and beer, she wasn't afraid of them as she had been afraid of Demon Eye and the other Yakuza goons who would get extremely violent after having a few bottles, in fact the carved "whore" in her right inner thigh was a product from one of those days…. the pirates were tame in comparison.

On one of the tables, of the very full bar, the childish pirates were chanting for more grog while the men on the table next to them were fighting for meat wile Lucky Roo, the sharpshooter of the Red-Haired whom she had been introduced to her earlier, chugged down an entire barrel of alcohol on his own. The noise level was through the roof, but Makino didn't seem to mind… and to be honest neither did she. While she and Dyl-her brother had never really grown up well loved, much less in a loud environment (the large apartment they lived in was always rather hauntingly quite, which is why they spent so much time out of the house or making as much noise as possible), they often spent the majority of their day in the orphanage after school was over. It was comforting, she had learned over time to hate the silence during her captivity. The old hospital wasn't around any town and there wasn't a highway close by either, the only time it wasn't silent was when their tormentors were around and that never bode well for the twins. She was drawn into the conversation Shanks, Luffy and Makino were having over the incident that afternoon.

"It didn't hurt a bit!" Luffy exclaimed while tearing up, 'Liar' she thought somewhat amusedly, 'it's still definitely hurting him. Baka, who on earth stabs themselves in the face willingly, oh right, he does.'

Shanks seemed to have been reading her mind because he shouted out in anger and concern "LIAR! That was a foolish thing to do!" Dori couldn't help but giggle, Luffy wasn't even paying attention to the goofy captain.

"I'm not the least afraid of getting hurt! So you have to take me with you on your next voyage!" He continued with enthusiasm, "I wanna be a Pirate too!" he said with an ear to ear grin stretched across his face, his arms were wide open with exuberance, as if to emphasize the validity of his dream.

Peals of laughter bubbled out of Shanks mouth, his shoulders trembled with his laughter jostling her slightly, "You?! A Pirate! Impossible!" Dori looked up at Shank as he continued explaining why he believed Luffy's dream career was an impossible feet for him. "Luffy, do you know why we call you 'Anchor'?" Luffy shook his head, Shanks plowed on, "It's because you can't swim, you just sink! What good is a pirate that can't swim?"

'He has a valid point, but he could have explained a bit nicer… or not..' Dori sighed, if she could sweat drop a giant one would have formed behind her head for sure, Luffy's logic made no sense.

"But if I don't fall overboard," 'Unlikely' "then it doesn't matter if I'm an anchor!" 'Yes it does, you could die' "Plus, I'm a strong fighter!" 'Oh, God… he really believes that doesn't he?' "I've been training! My punch is as powerful as a pistol!" Luffy exclaimed while punching his fist in the air towards Shanks to show him his strength. 'Right… and I'm currently not sitting on the lap of an infamous pirate who was just a fictional character to me not even one whole day ago…'

Shanks was just as skeptical as she was, their eyes locked momentarily, "A pistol, eh? Is that so…" he said disinterestedly. Luffy looked affronted.

"Are you doubting me!?" He screamed in anger, spittle was flying out of his mouth in his indignation… 'That's just gross'

The partying members of the crew, who hadn't originally seemed to be paying attention to the conversation happening between their favorite gaki and Captain, suddenly jumped in trying to diffuse the argument in a chaotic fashion. They seemed to have their arms around one another ('They look like a sideways conga line… is that even possible?' Dori thought absentmindedly), they kept each other up right as they threw their encouraging words to the small seven year old.

"Calm down Luffy!" "Let's just have a good time!" "Yeah pirates always have a good time!" "The sea is vast, and there are a lot of islands to explore!" "And best of all, Pirates have FREEDOM!" Random crew members, shouted, imparted their… wisdom to the young and impressionable kid in front of them. Luffy, or course, was in awe.

Shanks sighed in exasperation, "You guys, stop filling his head with crazy ideas." It seemed that this wasn't the first time Shanks has had this conversation with Luffy and his rowdy crew. Dori hid smile behind her hand. She leaned back into Shanks in contempt. She had eaten a small meal (a plain bowl of rice with some steamed vegetables on the side, Luffy had thought she was amazing for being able to withstand eating such horrible food) after Makino had noticed how malnourished her frame was. She could feel her mind begin to fog over as sleep began to take over. An inaudible yawn escaped her lips; Shanks must have noticed because he stopped arguing-teasing- with Luffy and looked down at her with a small smile.

"Hmm, you must be tired huh chibi." He said softly, a rather contrast difference in noise level of his voice compared to when he was talking with Luffy.

Dori scowled a little at the chibi comment, she knew she was short but that didn't mean he had to rub it in her face, before she shyly nodded her head after another involuntary yawn escaped from her pouty lips. It had been a long day, and all she wanted was to sleep off her exhaustion.

"Makino-san, I hope you don't mind but do you have a spare bedroom for the chibi to sleep in tonight? It looks like she's ready conk off." Shanks sheepishly asked her.

Makino must have showed Shanks the way to a free room, since Dori found herself waking in a soft comfortable bed that morning when the first rays of sunlight tickled her awake once more. She laid their contently, her eyes ever wondering took in her surroundings. Like the bar, the room seemed to give off a warm feeling and she felt safe within the confines of the room. Since waking up in the infirmary of the Red Force, Dori had begun to realize her light aversions of being trapped in a room...'Great on top of being afraid of the entire male gender I'm developing claustrophobia...'

She could hear the rumblings coming from the bar below her, it seemed that the party had been a success since the moaning crew member seemed to be having hangovers. Makino was in the kitchen, based on the sound of clattering pans and complaints that she was being too loud from the migraine inflicted pirates. Luffy was... sleeping? She must have been more foggy minded than she had anticipated if she hadn't immediately realized that there was another bed across from hers that contained a softly snoring seven year old.

His chest was peacefully raising up and down, his small face screamed content, his expression innocent. Her heart tightened in her chest... Dylan had once looked like that. Hell, she once looked like that; a child without a care in the world, at least in Morpheus' realm. The only difference was that Dylan always had a Dorian attached to his side, warming him up in the dead of night and cool morning air. A Dorian that would hug him tight and rub his hair while singing sweet lullabies when nightmares attacked. Dorian also had a Dylan that would hold her hand when she felt alone and unwanted by the world, a Dylan who's very last words on this painful earth, were laments that he was leaving her behind... She felt alone. Luffy looked alone in the too painfully large bed, he seemed to be drowning in the covers.

Luffy let out a small whimper in his sleep, his face scrunched up. 'A night terror?' Dori looked, really looked at the little boy she had met in person just yesterday for the first time. He was suffering in his own way just as she was, he had just never had a person their fill that gap like her twin once did.

Dori didn't realize that she had even gotten up to move to his bed until her hand stroked his messy, but soft, bed head. She climbed into his bed, the mattress spring shifted a little accommodating her small weight, she pulled the whimpering boy close to her. She stroked his hair reminiscent to the way she had always calmed her own brother from the monsters that lurked in the realm of sleep. Her mouth opened, she breathed in deeply one before confidently singing one of her brother's favorite lullabies.

"Arrorró mi niño,

arrorró mi sol,
arrorró pedazo,
de mi corazón.

Este niño lindo
ya quiere dormir;
háganle la cuna
de rosa y jazmín.

Háganle la cama
en el toronjil,
y en la cabecera
pónganle un jazmín
que con su fragancia
me lo haga dormir.

Arrorró mi niño,
arrorró mi sol,
arrorró pedazo,
de mi corazón.

Esta leche linda
que le traigo aquí,
es para este niño
que se va a dormir.

Arrorró mi niño,
arrorró mi sol,
arrorró pedazo,
de mi corazón.

Este lindo niño
se quiere dormir...
cierra los ojitos
y los vuelve a abrir.

Arrorró mi niño,
arrorró mi sol,
duérmase pedazo,

de mi corazón…" ***

Dori's voice trailed off as she repeated the chorus of the Spanish lullaby once more, Luffy had stopped trembling in his sleep as he melted into the older girl's arms, his whimpers ended as the young voice singing soothed him quietly in his ear. Briefly his eyes opened, looking up at the girl who he had only had small interaction with yesterday, as he had been too excited by Shanks arrival and then later on the commotion that eating that strange fruit had caused him, to really talk with her. He'd never had any interaction with other children before, he was the only child in Foosha Village it was a port town full of only adults and teenagers who didn't have time to play childish games with him, and he hadn't known how to approach the fragile looking girl ('Dori' his sleepy mind supplied to him) on his hero's lap… but this was better than anything he could have imagined, his arms wrapped around her frame, she continued to sing. She was warm, he'd never felt so safe before, he listened to the strange and foreign lullaby and drifted back to sleep with a small smile tugging at his lips.

Dori felt Luffy's small arms wrap around her, she couldn't see his face as he had burrowed himself under her chin, but she was positive the boy was fast asleep. She smiled softly at the thought of Luffy hugging her back in his sleep-'How cute…'-she began to repeat the lullaby one more time and fell asleep once more while giving the chibi snuggled up to her cariñitos.*

When Dori woke up once more it was because Luffy was gently shaking her awake. He smiled brilliantly at her when he noticed her hazel-green eyes were locked on his own dark-chocolate eyes. "Good morning Luffy" she mumbled while rubbing the sleep from her eyes and stretching.

"Morning!" he chirped back to her.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked him curiously, wanting to know if she had been able to comfort him in the early morning when he had been suffering from a nightmare.

He blushed a little before mumbling sheepishly, "Yup, no one's ever hugged or sung to me before when I had a night mare… Thanks!"

Dori smiled at his slight discomfort before smiling at him reassuringly, "No problem Luffy, that's what big sisters are for.." she told him while thinking of the many mornings that her little brother would cuddle up to her in thanks for comforting him in the night…

Luffy's smile widened when he heard her tell him it was part of the job description of an older sibling. "Big sister? I've never had one of those before.." he told her in an honest hopeful tone. Dori looked at the little boy's wide eyes filled with hope and longing staring back at her. She sighed mentally, this was going to bite her in the butt later on, she just knew it!

"What are you talking about, silly? You're looking at her; I certainly don't see any other brother-sister duo in this room do you?" She asked him rhetorically…

Dori hadn't known that it was possible for his wide smile to get any brighter, but it did. Luffy launched himself at the girl who'd just welcomed him as her own in joy; he'd always wanted siblings…

Dori listened to Luffy babble about this and that, and how cool Shanks was for getting him his very own sister and how he should be the older brother since he was just as tall she was ("But I'm nine Luffy, you're just seven so you can't be the elder sibling!") for a while, before Makino knocked on the door and stepped inside grabbing the attention of the pseudo siblings. Makino's green hair was tucked underneath a plain bandana; she wore a simple t-shirt and skirt combo underneath her cooking apron and boots that disappeared under her skirt. She was pretty, Dori decided.

"Morning you two! Captain Shanks and I were wondering when you two would wake up!" Makino bustled around the small room; making the bed that Dori had originally found herself in and opening the curtains in the room completely to let in the Morning sun. "I was thinking that after you two have had a bath, no Luffy you're taking a bath no matter what-Luffy pouted cutely-you want, you could come down to the bar and have breakfast with the rest of the crew."

Dori smiled, a bath, a real bath with water and soap! She couldn't remember the last time she had felt clean (considering that she had been hot and sweaty when she and Dylan had been kidnapped, she hadn't showered since the night before her abduction). "I would love that Makino-san." She said gratefully as Makino smiled at her and left to set the water temperature in the bathtub. Luffy snapped to look at her feeling betrayed. "Lu, don't look a t me like that, we can take a bath together alright?" Luffy's betrayed expression had melted off after she called him 'Lu', and he let out an excited laugh in response to her suggestion.

"I've never taken a bath with someone else before!" he exclaimed.

"Really? Not even with your parents?" Dori hated bringing up his parents since she already knew that Luffy was essentially an orphan like she was, but she wasn't actually supposed to know that information.

Like she predicted he slumped down, "I don't have any parents..." He said tearfully. Dori wrapped her arms around him.

"Shhh, shh, it's okay Lu. I don't have any parents either… but we have each other now, right? So, it'll be okay Luffy." She comforted him soothingly.

"Luffy! Dori! The bath is ready!" Makino called.

"Coming!" They both replied in unison. The siblings looked at each other before laughing, Dori held onto Luffy's hand as he showed her where the bathroom was.

Taking a bath with Luffy was an experience. He hadn't realized before that boys and girls were anatomically different, besides the fact that the older girls got their breasts increased in size, he had originally freaked out thinking that her "willy" had fallen off and he went through a panicked frenzy trying to find it. He had looked so adorably confused after she had laughed it off and explained it to him, but hey, you learned new things every day. Luffy just learned that girl's didn't have "willy's"… After then two took their sweet time (mostly Dori who was trying to fully enjoy the sensation of being clean) taking a bath, Dori finally allowed them to follow the sounds of their grumbling stomachs leading them to the bar for breakfast. Luffy regaled the events that occurred the previous night after she had fallen asleep in Shanks arms: some wannabe bandit had broken a bottle of sake over Shanks head because he'd been angry that there wasn't any sake left, Shanks laughed it off and picked up the mess left by the bandits without defending his honor, Luffy got angry that Shanks had let the mountain bandit get away with it and started stress eating… which led to Luffy accidentally eating a devil fruit and becoming a rubber man.

'Ahh, everything is on course… Eww I sound like Dumbledore with all of his manipulations and "it's for the greater good" bullshit…'

The Red Force was docked at Foosha Village for three more days before they set sail once more, at first Dori couldn't help but feel anxious that her savior was leaving her behind but having to take care of Luffy took her mind off of it. Luffy was a fun kid to hang around with in general, besides he reminded her of Dylan and she knew that if it was her she wouldn't want a chibi version of her twin brother running around without supervision… and if Luffy just so happened to bring her out of self-wallowing, it was just a plus side.

Besides that she learned quickly that Luffy didn't have any other friends on the island and that there were in fact other kids in the village… they just avoided Luffy like he was the plague, especially after they found out he was devil fruit user. Once when Luffy had tried to join a soccer game that a couple boys were playing, while Dori watched from the sidelines, the began to pelt Luffy with rocks so he would go away. When Luffy started crying, Dori's anger and disgust against the village kids blew over the top and she chased them away, she had learned that she was only afraid of older men not children. "We don't need them Luffy, your Nee-chan will play with you." She had told him, thankfully it had been enough for him to stop crying and beam up at her in joy of having a friend…

A couple of weeks had passed and the fateful day of Shanks last trip to the island arrived as well, it was definitely not-so-funny how she had actually forgotten that Shanks would lose his arm to the Sea King while trying to save her and Luffy when the stupid mountain bandit, that had broken a sake bottle over Shanks head and then insulted him, kidnapped them when the Red-haired pirates took out his minions. That's right, her and Luffy. She had been trying to prevent Luffy picking a fight with the sensitive but dangerous bandit when she got stuck in the cross fire when the bandit let a smoke bomb go off, the idiot thought that he would be able to better insure his survival by snatching her as a hostage too. He was wrong. The Red-haired pirates stayed at the village for two entire weeks to let Shanks recuperate from losing his arm before he decided that it was time to move on.

Shanks permanent departure from Foosha Village hit both Luffy and Dori hard. He was their savior, not just from the Sea King (and her from starvation and drowning in the middle of the sea) but from some of the loneliness that had been plaguing them. He was their hero, and the father-like figure that they had both been craving. Shanks departure took place exactly the way it did in the manga/anime. Luffy declared that he was going to be the "King of the Pirates!" and Shanks had knelt down placing his straw-hat on the suddenly tearful seven-year old boy. It was only after promising that they would meet up once more in the future that the "story"-that was becoming her life, and how terrifying is that!-deviated, Shanks had taken off the red sash that was around his waist and placed it on her dark-brown-almost black curly hair. Her hazel-green eyes had snapped up to look at him so quickly Shanks swore he'd heard a snap, but he only smiled kindly down at her.

"This is for you chibi, I know it isn't much but it's just as important to me as that hat… Mostly though it's something for you to remember me by." He had explained sheepishly to the stunned-floored-nine year old.

Dorian could feel her eyes sting as tears began to build up on her lashes and spill over her filling up cheeks. Her lower lip trembled in sadness and happiness, Shanks was one of the few people (one of the only adults) to ever acknowledge her existence.

"How could I ever forget a Captain as stup-silly as you!" she teased as tears continued to stream down her face, she launched herself across to him and hugged him tightly. Shanks eyes flew open in surprise as the little girl actually initiated a hug with him; she had never done this before as she was usually trying to avoid contact with others unless it was Luffy who was looking for a hug. He smiled, feeling privileged that a broken little girl would trust a law-breaking (not that there was anything wrong with that) Pirate Captain like him.

"I'll miss you to chibi." He murmured soothingly to the crying girl, he looked at Luffy seriously before asking him, "Luffy, promise me you'll look after your Nee-chan… she needs you as much as you need her." Luffy nodded his head morosely, before his eyes hardened in determination.

"I will, I promise."

Dori looked at the two most important men currently in her life through blurry tears and smiled despite the situation. She felt loved, and safe… even though she knew she didn't deserve it, after all she was a broken and ruined excuse of a human being.

Luffy and Dori had stayed wrapped in each other's arms looking at the dot on the horizon move further and further until it was on longer visible to the human eye, before they trudged up to the Party Bar where Makino gave them some food to eat and then sent them off to bed.

Luffy had been sitting on their combined beds, as they had pushed them together after the third night Luffy had crawled into Dori's bed at night, watching as his "little-big sister"-not that he would ever call her that to her face, as she would probably beat the snot out of him despite her frail and delicate looking frame-as she changed out of her day clothes into a night dress/gown that had been given to her from Makino. His hat was on the night stand next to Dori's bright red sash, it had become two of their greatest treasures in the short time that it had been given to them. He looked at the ghastly scars that were carved in her still-to-thin body, he only snapped out of his thoughts when Dori cleared her throat inquiringly, she was blushing terribly as she knew that he had been looking at her-disgusting-body.

"Sorry Nee-chan, I was just wondering if it hurt…" Luffy asked her attentively, not really knowing what her reaction would be.

The red hue that had been dominating her face disappeared in realization, before smiling adoringly at the concerned little boy. "Only sometimes Lu… and even then it's mostly phantom pains when it rains…" she trailed off as she climbed up to his side, this wasn't an easy task as the bed was tall and it took all of the strength in her arms to pull herself up on it.

"Phantom pains? What's that?" Luffy's nose scrunched up in thought.

'He's too cute.' Dori couldn't help but think.

"It means Lu, that sometimes when it rains I feel the pain I received the first day I got the scars…" looking at Luffy's till confused expression she elaborated quickly, "In other words Lu they only hurt when it rains because it makes me remember when those bad men who took me hurt me and Dyl-" Dori cut herself off, not wanting to explain to the seven year old where her troublesome little brother was.

Luffy looked like he was going to question her some more, before he stopped himself and accepted his sister's response. He curled up onto her as she laid down by his side. Instead he asked another question that Dori wasn't averse to replying to. "Can you sing me the lullaby again?" he asked yawning cutely.

Dori smiled at her tired little brother. "Unn, Arrorró mi niño, arrorró mi sol, arrorró pedazo, de mi corazón…." Dori's voice lulled Luffy to sleep like it always did since the first time she'd ever sung it to him.

Two weeks had passed since Shanks and his crew had left for good, Dori and Luffy had been eating their lunch in peace when they heard a gruff voice scream.. "LUFFY! WHERE ARE YOU!? LUFFY!"

Dori had never seen Luffy pale so fast before in his life, the sickly pale boy jump over the counter and hide in fear. Makino who had been washing the bar with a dust cloth looked up at the door in dismay, knowing that she probably wasn't going to like what would happen next.

She was right.

The tallest and widest man Dori had ever seen-'Is he part giant?'- just barged rashly into, creating a ginormous sized hole during the process, in the poor and unfortunate wall of Makino's bar. Dori could viably see Makino's smile begin to strain as she looked in poorly concealed frustration at the wall, this must happen to her often… poor Makino.

Dori drifted off in what Luffy had started calling "day-dreaming mode" as she looked at the man known for his heroic marine-related deeds by the people, Monkey D. Garp. There was a 'c' shaped scar that went around his left eye only the 'c' flipped so that his left eye was inside of it… His hair was already a grey shade, as he had very few black hairs still mixed in with his aging hair. Garp was wearing a black suit with a white button up shirt underneath it, while he wasn't wearing his marine outfit he still looked very intimidating standing there while yelling at a crying Luffy who was massaging a giant bruise on his head-wait what!

'Ugh, I really need to stop getting lost in my own mind' Dori groaned in self-annoyance.

She quickly jumped off the stool and ran between the two, protecting Luffy by putting herself in front of the pained little boy. "Luffy!" she screamed in concern, "Are you okay!?"

"Unn, Nee-chan he hit me!" he whined, "And for no reason too!" he tattled on to her.

Dori turned around and glared hatefully at the man, sure she was terrified but no one hurt her brother except for her!

"No I didn't you GAKI! You were running away from you're loving Jii-chan, and you just told me you want to be a PIRATE of course I had to hit you with one of my fists of love! YOU'RE GOING TO BE A MARINE! Don't listen to him chibi-wait a moment! Who the heck are you any way!?" He screamed at Dori.

Her fear that he would touch her almost caused Dori to paralyze at his enraged face, but one quite sniffle coming from the upset Luffy strengthened her resolve.

"I'm not a chibi! I'm Dorian and there's no way in hell I'm going to let you hurt my little brother any more you old bastard, so stay away from Luffy Jii-chan!" She screamed up at him.

"Really?" he said menacingly. She nodded in determination, only the slight tremble of her hands gave away her fear of being around a man she didn't know

Dori trembled in fear and flinched terribly as his huge-giant-hand came up and… pat her gently on the head?

'What the hell is going on?' she thought bewildered, relaxing her muscles as she realized that the violent man wasn't going to hit her, as the marine's gentle hand rubbed her hair.

"I see, I'll just have to take you with us. After all, what kind of Jii-chan would leave his granddaughter behind?" he asked them rhetorically. Dori and Luffy just looked more confused.

A few minutes later you would have been able to hear the screams of protest of the two children-mostly Luffy as Dori was still trying to process what the fuck just happened-as they were dragged into Mt. Corvo.

Garp was holding onto Luffy's cheek, and the seven year old boy bounced up and down as his cheek stretched with every step that his "loving" Jii-chan took, on the other hand he had his arm under Dori's waist and she hung limply looking around at her new surroundings, Shanks red-sash was being used as a bandana to keep her messy curls out of her face and block the summer sun from burning her scalp.

"What I'm saying is Jii-chan… I'm going to become the King of Pirates!" he exclaimed looking hatefully at the grown man dragging him away from Fooshia Village, his precious straw hat was hanging from the back of his head.

"Cut the crap!" Garp screamed in Luff's face as he lifted him up to meet with the stubborn brats eyes. 'Lu's an idiot, if only he hadn't said anything than Garp- no Jii-chan wouldn't be making us leave Makino..' Dori thought resigned.

"Let me go…Let me go" he screamed while slapping Jii-chan's calf trying to get the old man to let go of his sore cheek.

"On top of eating the Devil Fruit you're talking nonsense!" he gruffed angrily before looking down at his grandson sternly. "Luffy! Both you and Ace have to become the strongest navy soldiers!" he said passionately as spittle fell out of his mouth.

"Itai! Itai! Dammit, it hurts! It shouldn't even hurt, I'm made of rubber! Let me go Jii-chan!" he screamed in disbelief as his cheek continued to feel like it was going to detach from his body.

"It was a mistake to leave you in Fooshia Village!" the old man continued , completely ignoring the two children in his grasp except to scold the younger of the two (as Dori hadn't said anything about wanting to break the law in the future by becoming a pirate), "Of all the things, you like pirates!? What a fool!" he screamed.

Dori's eye's widened as she saw Luffy wrap his stretched out arms the base of a tree trunk that began to uproot itself from the strength of Garp's walk and Luffy's grip on it. Jii-chan unfortunately hadn't notice a thing.

"You can't make friends with 'Red-haired' Shanks!" he screamed looking down at her this time before he was cut off as his back made contact with the uprooted tree that ricocheted onto his back from the force that Luffy was holding onto it. It broke on impact; thank god it didn't hit her.

"I wanna become-" began Luffy… before the tree wacked Jii-chan, "Ouch!" screamed the surprised man, before Luffy continued, "-a strong man like Shanks!" he proclaimed while looking balefully at his grandfather.

Dorian just rubbed her butt, while her new Jii-chan screamed a surprised and angry "HEY!" at her stubborn little brother. She tried to fight off the giggles escaping from her amused lips, she really did.

When they had finally arrived to the destination the small mountain path led to they reached a modest sized home, that had definitely seen better days, in a small clearing that was surrounded by the harsh jungle native to the mountain. Garp Jii-chan had let her down gently to the ground and dropped an offended Luffy to the floor as he purposefully knocked loudly on the door.

Luffy just looked at their new surroundings in curiosity, as his Nee-chan kept a firm hand held over his so he wouldn't run off and cause trouble.

"What's this place?" he asked no one in particular as he began to drag an indulgent Dori to the side of the house in order to explore it more as she was also feeling more than a little bit curious over what she knew was going to be their new 'home'.

A big woman, who really looked more like man, with curly red-hair opened the door roughly. Her eyes were screwed shut in anger at the person who was disturbing her peace. Her earrings were going up and down as she screamed out, "Stop it! Whoever you are, do you wanna be KILLED!" she shouted in frustration as she almost lost her still burning cigarette.

"It's me." Garp-Jiji said looking at the now cowering woman in contempt.

Dadan backed away after blinking three times in surprise before stuttering out a strangled "G-G-Garp-san!" as two bandits peeked out from behind her, Dogra (a very short mountain bandit) and Magra (a very funny, rooster-looking mountain bandit) gasped out in surprise at the Marine Admiral.

"You're looking good." Garp said off-handedly to the surprised bandits.

"Give me a break! You have to have mercy on me!" she exclaimed while raising her arms in distress. Dori had now made her way to stand next to her Jii-chan as she looked on at the mountain bandits all the while keeping an eye on the boisterous Luffy. "Ace is ten years old now!" she continued.

"Sou ka, already? How is he?" Jii-chan asked with a small mirthful laugh. Dori just looked at the she-man in curiosity.

"It's not funny!" Dogra snapped at Garp-Jiji, "We can't handle him anymore! You have to take him!" he begged the uninterested man.

"Putting that aside…" Garo-Jiji interrupted, only to have Dogra snap back in frustration "Don't put it aside!" sadly it was ignored by Garp who was trying to reach to the conclusion/goal for him being there in the first place.

Dadan, on the other hand, was starting to get annoyed at the excited Luffy who had been running around in circles behind them. "You annoying kid!" she shouted as Garp reached backwards behind him and picked him by the back of his blue tank top that had the number '56' written on them and then reached over and lifted her up by the straps of her blue-jean overalls.

"Look after them too." He stated simply as Luffy and Dori looked at them confusedly and curiously, respectably.

"Huh?" Dadan murmured.

Luffy's face darkened in anger as he realized what was going on, they were going to live with mountain bandits! He hated mountain bandits, but for now he wasn't going to anything, afterall he had to take care of his Nee-chan now and she'd be disappointed in him if he was rude.

"Ora, Luffy, Dori, say 'hi' to them." He told them while looking at his grandson and granddaughter after saying their names.

"Yo!" Luffy and Dori said in unison, both lifting their right hands in greeting.

"Who are these kids?" Magra asked as Dadan looked too overwhelmed and confused to say anything.

"These are my grandchildren." Garp-Jiji said calmly.

Dadan's eyes widened comically as she and the other two bandits screamed in unison "WHAT!?"

"THERE'S TWO MORE!?" Dogra screamed in fear.

"They're G-Garp's… I mean Garp-san's grandchildren!?" Dadan screamed out in shock.

All three of the bandits got on their knees and screamed in refusal, "We can't!" at the same time, after all there were too many D's that they already had to take care of in their lives…. Two more was pushing it!

Jii-chan had already let them down and Luffy had moved away from the sniveling bandits to admire the jungle surrounding them, Dori having wanted to get away from the screaming bandits and Jiji was holding his hand like it was life line. Behind her she could hear Garp-Jiji's voice harden as he gave the bandits a choice between raising his grandchildren or being incarcerated for their crimes. If it was possible to sweat drop in real life she would have, I mean who the hell blackmails people of questionable origins to take care of his grandchildren (who he expects will one day be marines-'Marines my ass!'-this man was an idiot) through black mail.

Luffy just picked his nose with his unoccupied like the gentleman he was-please not the sarcasm-and shot it out of his nostril like it was a torpedo. "Lu, that's just gross." She told him while scrunching up her nose in disgust. He just gave her a cute grin in response, and her anger just melted away. 'God, this kid will be the end of me!' Dori internally groused.

"Well I don't want to be arrested but…" Magra began.

"Sometimes I think that maybe it's better than taking care of Ace…" continued Dogra

"But you want us to look after you're grandsons too! I bet they're monsters too." finished Dadan.

'Wait grandsons… I mean I guess that I don't really look like a girl with my short curly brown hair and red wrist bands that covered up the ugly scars the shackles had left behind on my skin… and wearing plain white t-shirt under some unfeminine looking overalls and small red rain boots probably don't help maintain image a girl… but I didn't think I looked that bad' Dori thought morosely as she looked down at what she was wearing, 'I don't look bad enough to look like a monster do I? The majority of my scars are covered up…'

Luffy saw as Dori's previous somewhat relaxed muscles tense up as she frowned sadly at her hands, "Crappy shack!" he exclaimed finally losing his temper at the bandits only for Dadan to angrily scream back "You wanna fight!?" only to have the seven year old run away again, chasing a blue dragonfly, while dragging Dori away from them.

"He's not listening!" she exclaimed in frustration as her face "kissed" the ground. "Boss, are you alright!" Dogra and Magra parroted at the curly haired woman in concern.

Luffy just continued to drag his sister until something wet and sticky hit the right side of his face, he stopped, bringing a hand to his face to see what was on his cheek. "What is it!? Ugh, spit! Gross!" he screamed in disgust.

Dori's face scrunched up in sympathy before she took out the red handkerchief Makino had made for her and rubbed Luffy's face and hand clean.

"Who did it!?" Luffy shouted in indignation as he looked through the foliage, before locating the perpetrator and moving to confront him. "Hey, you! Say 'sorry'! It's gross!" he exclaimed looking up at the boy sitting precariously on what looked to be a huge kill. He had his left ankle resting on his right knee that was dangling off the beast, his arms were crossed together and his right hand firmly held onto a… pipe. He was wearing plain black shoes that reminded Dori a bit like flats except without the heet, black shorts and a plain red t-shirt.

By that point Garp-Jiji had turned around and spotted the quit ten year old, "Ohh, Ace!"

"Ahh, are you back Ace!?" Magra asked while he helped Dadan up.

He was a lithe boy and muscles were already forming on his pre-teen body, various freckles were also adorning his face… but this was not what had caught Dori's attention, nor was it how his midnight black hair seemed to give off an eerie shine when hit with the sunlight… it was his eyes. They were a very dark brown, almost black looking in coloring, but at the same time they looked nothing like Luffy's, after all Luffy's eyes never had never held any amount of self-hatred in them.

It was haunting for Dori to see her eyes in another's face...

So this was Portgas D. Ace, she refused to allow herself to pity the man-no boy in front of her that she knew wouldn't live beyond the age of 20. 'The world is cruel place.'

Translate:

This is the English translation for Arrorro mi Nino (you can find this song, if you're interested on youtube… In English it's called Hush-a-Bye my Baby:

Hush-a-bye my baby
Hush-a-bye my sun
Hush-a-bye oh piece
of my heart.

This pretty child
Wants to sleep already
Make him a cradle
of rose and jasmine.

Make him a bed
On the lemon balm
And at the head
Put jasmine
With its fragrance
To put him to sleep for me.

Hush-a-bye my baby
Hush-a-bye my sun
Hush-a-bye oh piece
of my heart.

This beautiful milk
That I bring him here
Is for this baby
Who is going to sleep.

Hush-a-bye my baby
Hush-a-bye my sun
Hush-a-bye oh piece
of my heart.

This lovely baby
Wants to sleep
He closes his eyes
And opens them again.

Hush-a-bye my baby
Hush-a-bye my sun
Hush-a-bye oh piece
of my heart.

Preview:

She and Luffy had almost died several times now, and Dori couldn't help but feel her resolve wither, but one look at Luffy's hopeful face would always clear her doubts. She couldn't let Luffy go out on his own; someone had to keep it him out of trouble, even if it was starting to become more of a physical problem for her than anything. "Unn, Lu. Tomorrow we'll catch him for sure…"

They were all sprawled on top of each other in Ace's bedroom. It was hard to tell which limb belonged to whom as they had all cuddled up on top of Dori in their sleep, apparently Dori's Lullaby's were pretty affective in putting them all to sleep.

"Hey Dori can you pass me the soap-" Sabo began asking before he choked on his spit, his face reddening as his flailing limbs caught the attention of the other two boys, Ace looked at her in shock while Luffy was confused as to what the big commotion was about. "You're a girl!" Sabo finally choked out.

Dori tilted her head in false innocence and confusion, after all the boy's really should have realized by now. "I know, I was born this way." She informed them slowly as if talking to a pair of idiots, "Even Luffy could have told you that! Right Lu?"

"Unn, Nee-chan and I took baths together all the time inFooshia Village… Hey Ace, Sabo why areyou're faces so red?" Luffy asked innocently. 'Sometimes' Dori thought, 'I really love that boy.'

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

I've been really busy since I lasted updated! I've been having so much freaking homework lately that I haven't been able to even read for fun! Anyway if any of you have seen bio or read my new story "Across the Sea we Found It" (it's an OHSHC fanfic… no I'm not using this fic as a way to advertise my other one… alright, alright… maybe a little bit), you would know that I've decided that it's easier for me to update monthly since I'm busy with reality breathing down my neck (basically expect new chapters between the 5 days before the end of the month please)… Also, please don't expect each chapter to be this long…I mean I'll try as long as I'm still able to post it at the end of the month without rushing… but please don't have high expectations! (o l l o)

Anyway I hope you've enjoyed this chapter… see you next month!

6,829 Words

Fav/Follow/Review!

Love,

Mara-Chan (o l l o)