Chapter 7: Brothers? (pt. 3)
"DON'T!" the boy's screamed in unison, raising their pipes into a fighting stance.
"Otta my way!" Ace shouted as he banged his pipe over one of the thugs head, instantly batting him away as he made his way to Porchemy.
"It's him, Porchemy-san!" one of the wilder looking thugs screamed recognizing the freckled face boy.
"He stole the money from us! Damn you!" shouted the thug that had been trying to convince Porchemy to let the two dangling children go.
"A-Ace!" Luffy sobbed in relief, snot and tears running down his face.
"Ahhhhh!" cried the ten year old boy as he lifted the pipe above his head and jumped trying to hit Porchemy over the head like he had done to the previous thug he'd defeated.
"You made it easier for us by coming here voluntarily." Porchemy growled, grabbing Ace by his sensitive throat and squeezing it threateningly. Ace wrapped his legs over the giant arm connected to the hand choking the air from his lungs, he tried to pry open the fingers clamping over his neck with his left hand as his other hand gripped his lead pipe tightly. "We were having a really hard time making your friends talk." He sneered.
"Ace!" Luffy screamed in concern.
"L-Let me go!" Ace choked out struggling to breath. "Sabo!"
The top-hat wearing boy jumped up behind Porchemy and wacked him on his head with a battle cry of his own. Porchemy let go of Ace in surprise of the unexpected attack against the back of his skull, and the freckled face boy landed on the ground harshly as took in huge gulps of the air that was previously being denied to him.
"Porchemy-san!" the thugs screamed out in surprise and anger.
Ace struggled to get back up on his feet while Sabo's grip on his pipe tightened, his battle stance not wavering. "Ace, Sabo!" Luffy cried out, happy to know the elder blonds name at last.
"That kind of hurts. Hey! Do you know what happens when you mess with adults!?" Porchemy growled at the small blond who had the audacity to attack him.
"I'll fight you! Sabo, help them!" Ace challenged, finally standing up steadily as he held his lead pipe threateningly.
"Ace!" Luffy cried looking at Ace's back in concern and fear, Sabo nodded at Ace's command.
"He has a sword! Be careful!" Sabo warned Ace as he ran to let down the two younger kids.
Ace let out another battle cry as he charged the big pirate. Porchemy swung his sword only for Ace to use it as a jumping 'stone' onto the man's back, Ace quickly flipped off his back and blocked another wild swing of Porchemy's giant sword. Porchemy gasped in surprise that the boy could keep up with his strength and speed.
Sabo ran in-between the thugs and disarmed the one with a curved a knife, he held the small blade in contempt and smirked at them angrily.
"Ahh! P-Porchemy-san! That kid…!" screamed one of the thugs trying to warn the pirate, Porchemy turned to look at Sabo as the blond swiped at the rope hanging from the ceiling and caught the beaten children in his arms.
"Let's go, Ace!" he screamed as he began to run towards the giant hole they had created earlier, before stopping when he realized that the other boy wasn't following him.
"Go ahead." Ace said calmly not turning away from his opponent.
"You fool! Hurry up!" Sabo screamed in panic as sweat ran down his face, wanting Ace to follow him out so that they could find cover to recuperate, his arms were already aching from the strain of carrying the-fidgeting-younger children despite the fact that they didn't weigh as much as he had originally believed they would.
"Dylan…" Dori whispered in hazy pain, only to earn a concerned glance from Sabo.
When I come to face someone, I won't run!" Ace responded stubbornly.
"What you say!? You little shit!" Porchemy howled in frustration.
"Don't do it! He's not like the thugs in the city!" Sabo turned around to look at his friend trying to convince him to stop fighting with Porchemy and find shelter.
"You got that right." Porchemy sneered before looking down at Ace, "Alright! Enough playing around! That's our money. Give it back to us peacefully, gaki! You must have been possessed by some evil spirit, right? Give the money back so you won't regret it."
Ace changed the way he held onto his pipe and sneered back at the older man and wacked away Porchemy's sword when he used it to point at him. "We have better plans for that money!"
"Wh-What did you say!?" Porchemy growled.
"Wait here a minute!" Sabo told a limp Luffy and Dori before he dropped them on the ground to help Ace fight off the thugs.
"You're so reckless! Why are you always like this!?" Sabo asked Ace furiously not taking his eyes off of the thugs that were now flanking Porchemy.
"I won't run!" Ace answered.
"Stop talking crap!" Porchemy groused while lifting his sword up to strike at the two boys, he swung his sword down fast and Ace jumped to the challenge trying to block it with his pipe…. it was cut in two; Ace landed swiftly on his feet as a small cut appeared on his forehead and began to bleed.
"If I'm beaten by kids, I may as well quite being a pirate!" Porchemy smirked amusedly at the boys, not believing in the least that they would win against him.
"We'll make sure to make you quit!" Ace and Sabo screamed as they attacked Porchemy together.
"I'm going to kill all of you!" was Porchemy's furious response.
Luffy lifted his head and watched the fight in awe, Ace and Sabo were so- so strong. They were people that he could look up to, he looked to the side at where his sister lay face down in the dirt. She hadn't even tried to move her face to the side to breathe better… he could hear her quietly chanting his name. Dylan. He didn't know who Dylan was, but she often had nightmares where she would quietly call out his name and wake up sobbing quietly for him. Luffy didn't know whether or not he hated Dylan, as he seemed to make his sister cry so much, since his sister seemed to really love him. It hurt to see her that way, so broken… Ace kind of reminded him of her; they had the same eyes, lonely and something else that Luffy couldn't identify. Luffy looked up as another harsh clang of pipe hitting sword….
Luffy's relieved sobs filled the otherwise silent night. The sun had finally set and the full moon was above them shining ethereal beams of sweet moonlight down at them.
Ace sat calmly on the left side of the small dried out canal as he wrapped a bandage around his broken pipe, trying to fix the weapon that had been by his side for so long.
"You have a bad habit, Ace! When faced with a real pirate it's best to run! Why do you have such a death wish?" Sabo asked concerned and frustrated to his longtime friend, he leaned on the bank looking up at Ace, his arms were once more crossed over his chest and his pipe was still gripped tightly in his right hand.
Ace ignored Sabo's question and Luffy's sobs completely as he inspected the pipe in his hand. "This doesn't feel right. I like the one I had…" Ace mumbled not paying attention.
Sabo sighed resigned to Ace's bullheadedness, "We made a stupid mistake. The Bluejam Pirates won't forgive us for this… They'll come after us." Sabo said worriedly.
Dori stared blankly at the floor from her perch on a rock next to the crying Luffy, she had her arms wrapped tightly around her thin scar covered legs and her chin rested on her knees. Her bandanna had thankfully survived the torture session that Porchemy dished out, but her overalls were full of tares. She was angry, not at Luffy or at Ace and Sabo, but at herself. She froze, no worse. She had retreated into herself after she saw Porchemy's face, just because he looked and sounded similar to- to Demon Eye. She had failed Luffy as his older sister just like she had failed Dylan.
And what's worse, Luffy knew. He knew now that she wasn't as strong as he had thought she was. She was just a broken little girl trying to catch a ghost. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She didn't dare to look up.
"Oh, that was s-scary! I th-thought I was going to die! It really hu-hurt! Do-Dori was acting like she already did! And I- I was so scared!" Luffy cried.
"Ahhh!" Ace screamed frustrated jumping down from his perch, "You're so annoying! Shut up! Stop crying already! I don't like cowards or people who cry a lot!"
Luffy immediately stopped crying, biting his lip he tried to will his tears away. Ace and Sabo blinked in surprise and looked at each other in shock when the little boy stopped crying.
"Tha-thank you." Luffy bowed his head in gratitude at the two older boys, "You- you saved us!" he cried out as he began to sob once more, much to Ace's ire.
"You-!" Ace shouted annoyed as he tried to launch himself at Luffy, only to be stopped by Sabo.
"Woah, Ace! He's just being thankful!" Sabo said calmly.
"Why didn't you cough it up in the first place? Both of you!?" he asked frustrated. "They're the kind of people who will kill women or children without hesitation!"
"I thought that if I said anything…" Luffy confessed timidly as he began to run out of tears, his hat shielded his eyes from looking up at the angry boy, "you wouldn't be my friend."
Ace pointed at the boy angrily, "It's better than dying, isn't it? Why do you wanna be my friend that much!?"
"Because.." Luffy said brokenly.
"Didn't I give the both of you a hard time until now? How could you two follow me this far?" Ace asked.
Luffy's right fist clenched on his lap, "Because… because we don't have anybody else we can trust! We can't go back to Fooshia village… it's not like we were even well like to begin with… and we don't like the mountain bandits! If we didn't follow you.. we'd be all alone! Being lonely is more painful than being hurt!" Luffy screamed.
Ace's accusing hand fell to his side, "Don't you have each other?" He asked pointing to Dori and back to Luffy, "How can you be lonely when you have each other!?"
Dori let out a choked sob, all three of the boys looked at her alarmed… she hadn't made a sound nor moved in a while, Sabo had begun to think that she had fallen asleep despite the screaming match that was taking place. "I- I'm broken!" she confessed, "Some-sometimes I get lost in my head, remembering things that won't leave me alone! And when tha-that happens I forget who I am and who Lu-Luffy is! All I can do is remember! Luffy always says that it's okay, but it's not! It's not! And I don't want him to suf-suffer because of me!" she sobbed brokenly before continuing, looking up at them for the first time since she started talking, "You-you make him happy! He'll never be al-alone with you two! He won't be for-forgotten!"
Ace and Sabo looked at the pseudo siblings in surprise; Luffy's fist was clenched so tight that they could hear his knuckles cracking, he wasn't looking at anyone again and his hat shielded his face. Dori continued to sob into her overall pants, but more quietly compared to when the 'dam broke,' and refused to look at her little brother and the two older boys as she bared out her failures for them to see.
"Where are your parents?" Ace asked looking at Luffy, as Dori wouldn't be able to answer any more questions until she stopped crying.
"Dori and Jii-chan are all I have." Luffy responded looking up at Ace once more.
Ace lowered his head so that his bangs shadowed his face, "Is it easier for you when I'm around?"
"Uh-huh." Luffy answered while nodding his head.
Dori sniffled and looked up at him and nodded, "Unn."
"Is it hard without me?"
"Uh-huh."
"Unn."
"Do you want me to live?" he asked quietly, Dori couldn't see his face but she saw how his hand clenched his pipe harshly as if expecting to be rejected, and he was, she assumed remembering what she knew about his past. It reminded Dori of her own situation, after all she and Dylan weren't supposed to exist.
"Of course I do!" Luffy screamed affronted.
Dori looked at him, "Everyone… everyone was born for a reason. A gift, a treasure. Every life is a treasure. So yea, Ace I want you to live." She said quietly, remembering the words a nun at the orphanage she and Dylan used to hang out at told her on the twins tenth birthday.
"I see." Ace turned around before continuing, his head still slightly bent so Dori couldn't see his reaction, "But I still don't like spoiled kids like you two." He said conversationally as he scratched his head nonchalantly.
Luffy jumped off his perch on the rock, "I'm not spoiled! I'm strong!" he rebutted, whining slightly.
"Strong!? You're not strong at all! You cry like a girl!" Ace shouted turning around to fight Luffy.
Dori huffed, what was wrong with being a girl? She was tempted to interrupt their argument to start a new one arguing over how girls could do everything and anything boys could, just better… but Dori could feel the wariness from the day rest on her shoulders. She was tired. Dori sighed, she must have had gotten lost in her daydreams again because all of the boys had already stopped arguing and were looking, even Sabo who had been quiet until that moment, at her.
She scratched her head with her right hand and laughed nervously, "Wha-what I miss?"
Sabo looked at her in concern, "This is what you meant by blanking out huh?"
Dori blushed embarrassed before jumping down and landing beside him, "Sorry." she whispered.
He smiled at her gently before shaking his head, "It's not your fault, anyway we were talking about how I live to close to the Pirate Cove-"
"Uh-huh! He could get killed in his sleep, Dori!" Luffy interrupted.
"Shut up, baka!" Ace bonked him on the head.
Before an argument could start Sabo intervened, "Yea, anyway we were trying to think of a solution…"
Dori woke up the next morning to the sound of stifled gasps at the door of their shared bedroom, she groaned mentally, cursing the fact that she was such a light sleeper and kept her eyes closed shut in protest.
"Why are they wounded? And all bandaged up?" Dogra asked as he looked at his charges. Pochi, the white dog that belonged to the bandits sniffed them in confusion.
Mogra blinked in surprise and exclaimed when he caught sight of Sabo sleeping peacefully on top of Dori, "Who- who is that!?"
"Whoa, boss! Boss, boss! We have a problem!" Mogra shouted. Dori heard, much to her ire as any plan of going back to sleep was dashed with the bandit's course of action, more than saw Mogra and Dogra run out of their room to go get Dadan.
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, despite the fact that it was 'girly' she sung them to sleep at Luffy's request. Sabo and Ace had been surprised that she actually had a pretty good singing voice, despite the fact that it was slightly scratchy due to all of the screaming and crying she had done.
"Hmm, it's still early… What's wrong?" Dadan asked grouchily as she made her way to their bedroom. "Whoa! What's going on here!?" she asked looking at all of the injuries that her charges had sustained the day before. "1, 2, 3… Huh? 1, 2, 3… Huh? Ace, Luffy, Dori… Huh? Ace, Luffy, Dori… Huh? Ace, Luffy, Dori… Huh? Ace, Luffy, Dori… Huh? Ace, Luffy, Dori… Huh?" She counted in disbelief every time that she saw the extra pair of legs that belonged to Sabo.
Dori blearily rubbed her eyes as she heard Dadan begin to count and name the number of heads sleeping together on the futon for what seemed to be at least the fifteenth time before Dadan began screaming in confusion and frustration, "Ahh! Ace! Luffy! Dori! Who is that!?"
"Please, no more talking." Dori complained covering her eyes.
Luffy sat up in confusion, "Who is who?" he asked sleepily before cuddling up in her side once more.
"It's still too early—You're too loud!" Ace complained sitting up to look balefully at her before plopping down at her other side to hug her leg again.
Sabo sleepily looked up at them before lying back down on top of her and cuddling with her and rubbing his cheek sleepily on her tummy.
"How come there is another gaki here!? Who the hell are you!?" Dadan demanded, looking at the blond sleeping on top of, what she believes to be, her youngest charge.
"Ugh, are you talking about me?" Sabo asked drowsily as he stood up, Dori whimpered at the loss of his warmth before she pulled Luffy on top of her to cuddle with. "I'm Sabo. Hey, you must be Dadan!"
"Sabo? I've heard that name before!" She exclaimed while walking up to the small, compared to her, blond.
"Oh yeah? That makes it easier! Thank you for taking care of me from today!" he said cheerfully while shaking her hand.
Dadan slapped his hand away, "'Taking care?' Don't tell me that you're gonna stay here…"
Sabo farted loudly with a smile on his face.
"Don't answer me with a fart!" Dadan screamed in his face.
"Hehehe…" Sabo laughed nervously before farting again.
"You must be kidding! I heard that you're one hell of a brat, too!" Dadan shouted frustrated.
"Oh, yea? I heard that you're a worthless old hag, too!" Sabo 'complimented' her cheerfully before farting again. All of the bandits that had gathered to see what the commotion was about face vaulted backwards.
"That's unnecessary information!" Dadan screamed while pointing her finger angrily at him, "I don't wanna look after one more gaki!"
"But I heard that you're a good worthless old hag because you can't refuse a request! I heard that you're a man amongst men, for a worthless old hag!" Sabo continued on cheerfully, ignoring what Dadan had already said, before looking at her expectantly. Dori giggled silently at Dadan's predicament, she and the other two boys had already gotten up, the noise not allowing them to fall back to sleep.
"'Man amongst men?' I'm a woman! I'm not a gender bender!" Dadan said affronted, Sabo laughed cheerfully as he and Dadan had a stare down. Dadan sighed sadly in defeat, "Ace! Luffy, Dori! Sabo! I'm giving you a place to stay! You gotta get to work already!"
"Thank you, Dadan!" Sabo cheered before they all exchanged mischievous glances and ran out of the house.
"See ya!" all four of them crowed as they ran to the tree line.
"Hey Luffy, Dori! You two stay here and do some laundry and clean the house!" Dadan screeched after them.
"NO WAY!" Luffy replied, stopping his jog to turn around and stick out his tongue and pull the lid down of right eye mockingly. Dori laughed and waved her hand not turning around to acknowledge the curly haired woman. "Oh! Ace, Sabo! Dori! Wait for me!" he screamed turning around to catch up with them again.
"Oh, yeah!" Sabo exclaimed stopping, causing a carless Luffy to run into him and fall on the ground comically, Dori and Ace stopped running to see what Sabo was going to say curiously, before turning around, "I forgot to tell them. Hey Dadan! While were gone the Bluejam Pirates might come by, so be careful!"
Dadan's and Mogra's jaws hung open in shock.
"The Bluejam pirates might come by? Why?" Dogra asked.
"Because we beat up some of his crew! Bye!" Sabo shouted back cheerfully as they all turned around and began running again.
All three of the bandit's jaws hung loose in surprise before they all screamed comically "WHAT!?" at their retreating backs, causing Dori to giggle at their misfortune.
"Dadan sure is an understanding worthless old hag." Sabo commented as they ran.
"She's still a worthless old hag." Ace said looking at Sabo.
"Plus she's a mountain bandit and her face is scary!" Luffy piped in, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.
Dori Laughed merrily, "You guys are mean!" she teased, "Dadan can't help being who she is!"
"What are we going to do now?" Sabo asked.
"First…" Ace started before he was cut off by Luffy.
"We eat something!" he yelled happily.
Ace sighed while Dori and Sabo laughed, "Alright! Let's eat!" Sabo agreed…
Ace and Sabo sat peacefully around a small campfire by a murky blue lake munching away on their catch. Luffy crawled on all fours salivating at the sight of the giant-as in bigger than a great white kind of giant-fish that the older boys had smoked to perfection. Dori sat patiently by Ace waiting for him to give her the 'okay' to grab a bit of the left over fish that the two ten year olds had already practically finished on their own.
"Luffy, so you ate a devil fruit, huh?" Sabo asked, his mouth full of the delicious smelling fish.
"Uh-huh!" Luffy agreed.
"No wonder you can't swim. Here you can have this piece." Sabo said as he tossed him the fish's tail, Dori gulped and licked her lips. Ace had given her a couple of pieces of the fish when he thought no one had been looking but she was still hungry, while she didn't have the same appetite as the three boy's she was still human and needed nourishment in order to survive, over the 3-4 or so months that she had arrived in the On Piece universe she had had steady meals that helped put her back on track and gain some much needed weight on her bones.
"You're too kind Sabo." Ace grouched. Dori hid a smile behind her hand, she wasn't going to give the older boy up that he was also 'soft.'
"Well, what's wrong with that?" Sabo asked rhetorically turning away from them to look at Luffy and ask him more questions. As soon as Sabo had his back turned, Ace offered the last piece of fish he'd been chewing, Dori flashed him a bright smile and began to eat ignoring Ace's embarrassed grumbles of 'annoying little chibis' in favor of eating.
"So, what fruit did you eat?" Sabo asked Luffy curiously.
"Gum-Gum!" he chirped happily.
"Gum-Gum!? Gum?" Sabo asked confused and then surprised when Luffy swallowed the entire fish tail in one bit.
"That's right!" Luffy responded while whipping his mouth clean with his arm.
Ace began picking his teeth clean with a fish bone, "In exchange for the ability to swim, your body turned to rubber? How crappy!" Ace smirked.
"It's not crappy! I can use a lot of unbeatable attacks!" Luffy snapped angrily. Sabo's inquisitive dark blue eyes locked with Dori's, she shook her head slightly at his silent question so that Ace and Luffy wouldn't notice their silent conversation.
"That's good. Good for you." Ace said patronizingly flopping onto his back and then moving onto his side, his head rested on his right hand as he turned away from Luffy to look at the lake, "You have such a fat mouth for someone who can't catch a fish."
Dori giggled and moved away from the boys and sat by the water's edge. She and Dylan had always loved to swim, it was around the middle of August she believed, so the summer was already ending and winter was coming soon. While she loved summer, honestly she did, winter was her favorite season. Drinking hot chocolate by a fireplace and listening to Christmas carols on a nice snowy afternoon always put her in a good mood. Christmas, Dori wondered if the people in this universe even celebrated the holiday… probably not.
Looking at the lake (or was it a river?) she smiled happily, her favorite Christmas carol popped in her head.
"La virgen se está peinando
Entre cortina y cortina
Sus cabellos son de oro
Y el peine de plata fina
Pero mira como beben los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben por ver a dios nacido
Beben y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el río por ver a dios nacer
Pero mira como beben los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben por ver a dios nacido
Beben y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el río por ver a dios nacer
La virgen lava pañales
Y los tiende en el romero
Los pajarillos cantando
Y el romero floreciendo
Pero mira como beben los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben por ver a dios nacido
Beben y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el río por ver a dios nacer
La virgen se está lavando
Con un poco de jabón
Se le han pintado las manos
Manos de mi corazón
Pero mira como beben los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben por ver a dios nacido
Beben y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el río por ver a dios nacer…"
Dori sang quietly in peace as she stared at the glittering surface of the water and the occasional splash of fish coming close to the surface of the lake… that is until the peaceful scenery was disrupted, Dori looked up in surprise as a blown up Luffy hurled by her with a giant splash into the mouth of an alligator, the two boys ran by her with battle cries to get Luffy back. She really needed to start paying attention…
The moment that the four of them had arrived back at the mountain bandit's home-after checking out Ace and Sabo's old 'old pirate savings' hiding spot and the Grey Terminal to see if Bluejam's men were actively looking for them which they were… leading to the decision that all four of them needed to lay low for a while until the Bluejam captain simmered down-after being gawked at since they were carrying, well the boys were since she decided to sit on the creatures belly instead, a giant alligator back for dinner, the four of them were thrown into the bath by an angry Dadan who didn't want their muddy footprints to destroy her clean house.
The three boys shrugged before striping from their torn clothes, Dori hesitated for a moment. She didn't really mind bathing with the boys, since she always took baths with Dylan and now currently Luffy, but she didn't really want them asking her about the scars that littered her skin. Luffy looked at her and smiled reassuringly. She flashed him a small smile and ripped off her t-shirt and overalls before dumping a bucket of warm water over head.
"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 in Fooshia Village… Hey Ace, Sabo why are you're faces so red?" Luffy asked innocently. 'Sometimes' Dori thought amusedly, 'I really love that boy.'
"Yea, guys? What's wrong?" she continued to ask innocently.
Ace and Sabo were both bright red by now; Dori looked at Luffy and shrugged. She passed the bar of soap to a statue stiff Sabo and sat down on the little stool, "Sit in front of me Lu so I can wash your hair." She told the younger boy who happily skipped over and sat in front of her.
She began to hum 'Splish, splash I was taking a Bath,' as she rubbed her fingers delicately through Luffy's hair, only stopping to pull out an odd twig or leaf from his tangled mane.
She and Luffy looked up when a choked sound escaped from Ace's lips. Dori looked at the older boy in concern, "Ace? Are you okay? Honest to god, I thought you guys already knew by now that I was girl…" she trailed off seeing as both of the older boys seemed to be in shock at the moment.
"Gi-girl.." Ace stuttered.
"Hai, girl." Luffy stated looking at Ace strangely. "So what? So what if nee-chan's a girl, she's still Dori." He told them wisely.
Sabo nodded, "That's true… wait did you say Nee-chan! I thought Dori was younger than you Luffy!" Sabo screamed in surprise.
Dori pouted cutely, "Just because I'm short doesn't mean that I'm younger than any of you!" she whined, "I'm just a year younger than you guys! I'm nine-" she stressed.
Ace and Sabo looked at her surprised, before Ace softly asked her, "Dori.. where did you get all of those scars?" after he spied the various painful looking crisscrossing lines over her olive toned flesh.
Dori tensed and refused to look at them.
In front of her even Luffy froze, he might not know where she got them exactly but he had overheard Shanks and Makino talking about how his nee-chan's experience must have been horrible. Luffy also remembered how his nee-chan once told him about the phantom pains they gave her, especially the one on her inner thigh, when it rained… he didn't want to talk about the scars, it hurt his sister to talk about it.
"It doesn't matter!" Luffy snapped angrily at the two boys, much to their surprise.
"It's alright Lu." She whispered lovingly to her little brother, "One day." she told them seriously, "One day, I'll tell you everything." She promised morosely, the two boys nodded unsure back to her.
Translate:
Sorry guy's but I really don't want to translate the entire song (it's called 'Los Peces en el Rio' or the 'Fish in the River'…. There isn't an English equivalence of this song) by hand, the meaning would be lost in translation… but the general gist of the song is that the Virgin Mary is by a river doing various chores like washing cloth diapers, etc…. anyway the chorus is that the fish are like in awe of her, yea…. I really don't know how to explain that, but it's really my favorite Christmas carol next to 'El Burrito Sabanero' and 'El Tamborilero' (which is the Spanish version of the little drummer boy)… Anyway if you want to hear the song, follow this link: ( watch?v=ryTIcppr_Xo)
Authors Note:
Hey guys! I know that the Holidays are over… and it sucks to have to get back to reality. By the way, I was re-reading the last chapter and I realized that I have some unfortunate grammatical mistakes…. I'm really sorry! English is my second language and grammar has been a pain in my ass since I started learning the language, on top of that I don't have a beta anymore since I don't want to bother Erin, her work load at school has increased significantly. I hope that these mistakes won't stop you from continuing to read my fic.
So remember this is the chapter I had to split in three, this is the last part of Brothers? (I'm so glad it's finally over!)…. Anyway (I'm going to advertise these every single time since this is the story that has the most fav's and follows) if any of you have seen bio or read my new story "Across the Sea we Found It" and "The Spare" (it's an OHSHC and Naruto fanfic respectively… 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…
I wanted to know if you guys want me to do a side story portraying Dylan's POV. It would go from his death up until he meets up with his sister again… remember he would be falling into the Naruto Universe. In this fic I'm making the Naruto Universe an island in the New World, I'll also probably make the hidden One Piece hidden somewhere in the Elemental Countries….. Yup! So tell me what you think, I'd be willing to hear suggestions as to what part of the Time line Dylan lands in and what kind of ninja he'd end up being… (though him being a part of Konoha is something I won't change, he could come from another village originally but he needs to end up at Konoha)….
On a another note, I know his chapter is a little late by my standards considering that I always post it on the 24th but I have been having a really tough moment in my life right now. I've been really depressed since October, and it got so bad that I was feeling suicidal for a while (I still am really)…. I've lived with depression all my life really and this time it just really hit me hard, it got to the point where I couldn't physically leave my house, I would have panic attacks and fainted twice over the course of my first semester in college before I had to go to school. I ended up missing a lot of days and ended up failing my first semester, btw the letter addressed to me saying that I failed arrived on New Years Eve so my dad was extremely pissed. Additionally my beloved Abuela passed away the first Monday of the New Year, so on Jan. 4th, I now have a legitimate reason to despise Mondays. Her death literally happened in the span of three days, on Saturday she was hospitalized for severe stomach pain, on Sunday the doctors told us it might be kidney failure when they noticed one day later that she wasn't peeing regularly, my family was going insane trying to find the medication that she needed to treat her but they weren't able to find it in any of the hospitals, she died alone at 4:00 Monday morning in the hospital. The situation in Venezuela is disgusting, people are dying every single day because they can't afford to buy food (people who were middle class are now the poor, the poor are now the dying, the 'rich' can't find anything and are trying to escape) basically everyone is starving, medicine that could have been used to save people's lives like my grandmother can't be found anywhere. Unfortunately only my mom and dad were able to go to the wake and the funeral because we couldn't afford buying 6 plane tickets to Venezuela to burry my grandmother. It has been really difficult year for my family so far. In the end I decided to take a year off school to get my life together (it was one of the options the college I was going to gave me, they said I could readmit in a year), I'll be taking courses at the community college (during the summer and the fall) until I can go back to my original school, for now I have to find a job... Basically I'm not really in the right state of mind at the moment, my family is falling apart because my mother's grief over lousing her mother is causing her to lose her rationality, my sister Nana is literally drowning in school work (she's doing the I.B. diploma) and is snapping at everyone, I learned that my younger sister (code name) Mono is being bullied horribly at school by the 'cool kids' and I hadn't noticed it until now, my youngest sister (code name) Annoyer is failing school and only has one friend because the other kids don't like her…. Not to mention that I can't find a fucking therapist or a psychiatrist… I haven't really had much inspiration for writing lately. I'm still going to be updating my stories. I'M NOT DROPPING ANY OF MY STORIES! But please understand if they are a little late.
(I'm still going to be doing a birthday special for Dori on the 14th of February but otherwise we'll see what happens, I do already have a couple chapters already prepared in advance for this story so it shouldn't be too big of a problem for this one).
I sincerely thank any one that has reviewed my story [bows respectfully].~You know who you are~
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter… and I'll see you next month!
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Mara-Chan (o l l o)