Chapter 12: Two Older Brothers, One Younger Sister and Brother (pt.2)

Dori sighed in relief as the tree house came into view and started running even faster before she started climbing up the side and into her home. She'd burst through the door flap before stopping in shock and looking at the mess the boys had made out of their club house with wide eyes. It took a moment for Dori to actually find her brothers, the mess was rather overwhelming, before looking down at the three boys sleeping on the ground.

"What the heck happened here!" she shouted in concern, forgetting the terrible news that she had learned just earlier that morning, rousing the three boys from their sleep.

Ace and Sabo jerked awake as Luffy slowly rubbed his eyes as he sat up, "Well!?" she demanded as she placed her hands on her hips while surveying the wreckage the treehouse sustained.

Luffy smiled in relief and wrapped her irate form into a hug, "Nee-chan!"

Sighing, Dori hugged the younger boy reluctantly (it was going to take her hours to clean this up!) before turning to the ten-year-old boys, "What happened last night Sabo-nii?"

Sabo rubbed his head in a somewhat sheepish motion, "Well-"

"NO!" Luffy shouted as he glared slightly at their brothers before looking back up at Dori, "Their not our brothers anymore Nee-chan!"

Dori paled slightly as hurt clouded her face, "Wh-What?" she asked softly as tears began building up in her eyes. Luffy tightened his hug around her as he buried his face into her collarbone not wanting to look at the older boys any longer.

Ace scowled angrily, "That's right!" he growled as he glared at Luffy ignoring Sabo who was trying to calm him down.

Hugging her younger brother closer to her chest, Dori sucked in a shaky breath, "Fine. Let's go Luffy." She stated softly as she pulled out of the hug and ushered him towards the stairs. After climbing down the side in silence, Dori looked at Luffy as her bare feet hit the soft crunchy snow once more, "What are we gonna do now?"

Luffy shrugged morosely before his entire expression lit up, "I know!"

An entire week had passed since Dori and Luffy had seen the two older boys of their small family, and despite the fact that she was preoccupied with Luffy and Captain Naguri's so-called training; she couldn't help but miss the other boys.

Looking at Luffy enthusiastically chopping down one of the giant trees in Mt. Corvo took her mind off from the boys, smiling at her younger brother she picked up her own ax and began whacking the base of the tree with the same vigor as Naguri stood behind them and instructed them on what to do. It wasn't long until the massive tree came toppling down.

"Hmmm," Naguri murmured, "I think I heard some voices over where our tree fell." He stated as he rubbed his chin gingerly.

Dori's eyes widened, "Shoot! I hope no one got hurt!" the sun was starting to set over the horizon and it was going to get difficult to see anything soon.

"I'm sorry!" Luffy shouted as he leaped over the trunk and started running towards the sound of voices, "Are you okay? I'm sorry 'bout that we didn't know nobody was there!"

"Ah! Lu-chan, don't leave me behind!" Dori shouted as she ran after him, after all the people they almost squashed might not be too friendly nor happy towards them... they had almost killed them after all!

"EH! LUFFY!" two familiar voices shouted in unison as Luffy stopped running in front of her, Dori slowed down her pace as Ace and Sabo's faces came into view.

"Ace! Sabo! Long time no see!" Luffy exclaimed happily as he jumped up and down as Naguri placed a warm hand on her shoulder as they walked up slowly behind Luffy, "How've you been!?"

Sabo laughed nervously, "Uh, well… you know."

Dori reached for Luffy's hand and held it tightly as she smiled softly at the two boys sitting on the ground, "Yo." She greeted.

"Ah, it's you boys…" Naguri stated before looking at the boys contemplatively as they stood up, "Why don't you guys join us at our camp tonight? We're going to need some help moving this to the Gray Terminal on our own."

Ace and Sabo exchanged glances before agreeing. Dori smiled secretly, the boys were in for one hell of a surprise.

"What's that? A target?" Sabo asked as he stared disbelievingly at the crude drawing Luffy had made of the Great Tiger on a wooden board that was hanging at the camp.

"Oi, Sabo!" Luffy shouted before gigging triumphantly, "I'm gonna show you the result of my training! Here I go!" he exclaimed as he pulled his fist back, "Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy's fist flew as it stretched past the board towards Naguri, hitting the poor old man in the face before it rebounded back to its owner causing Luffy to spin in place from the force.

Sabo laughed merrily, "That's awesome! You couldn't reach that far a week ago!" he praised, ignoring the fact that Luffy had completely missed his actual target.

Luffy laughed before declaring challengingly, "Can you beat that!?"

Dori quickly rushed over to Naguri's side and helped him stand up, "Oh boy…" the old man grumbled somewhat irately ashe glared at Luffy in annoyance.

"Sorry 'bout that Naguri-san." Dori apologized on behalf of her brother; Naguri waved her off as he sat down once more and made himself comfortable.

"What kind of tips did you give him?" Ace asked, not taking his eyes off of Sabo and Luffy, speaking for the first time since they had encountered one another in the forest.

Naguri rubbed his chin as he turned to look at the freckled faced boy, "Nothing special. He was just chopping wood with an axe for me every day. But maybe it helped him build up his physique." He stated as he looked at Dori who nodded in agreement. Chopping down the trees of Mt. Corvo had required her use a bunch of muscles she hadn't used before, making her entire body ache before she had gradually gotten used to it, but she could physically feel the improvement in her strength and stamina.

"I know that you hate him too." Ace randomly stated in a calm manner as he screwed his eyes shut, causing Dori to look at him curiously.

"Hate who?" Naguri asked.

"Because he beat you." Ace continued.

'Roger.' Dori thought worriedly as she looked between her brother and the old man. Luffy had filled her in, almost immediately, on the reasons behind the fight that had occurred the day they had left the tree house…. To be honest she hadn't been too surprised, she could vaguely remember Dyl telling her about Ace's heritage a long time ago when it had been first revealed. Chewing on her lip nervously she studied Ace's face.

"You mean Roger?" Naguri asked rhetorically, "I felt frustrated for sure. But I lost because I wasn't strong enough. I rather feel grateful to him now." Naguri explained serenely, causing Ace to look at him in disbelief.

"To someone who beat you!?" he asked incredulously.

"That's right." Naguri stated calmly. "He was a man of quite high caliber! That's why I…"

"Don't lie!" Ace shouted angrily as he turned to glare at the man, "There are dozens of people who hate him!"

"Did they really fight with Roger?" Naguri asked as Ace's face slackened, "In the world of pirates, when you lose a fight, you lose your life. But I'm alive. Let's say that those people fought him, just think. They can talk about their grudges because their still alive!"

"I'll get stronger and-" Luffy began saying chirpily in the background as he and Sabo approached their campfire.

"Then what if Roger had a son!?" Ace snapped irately, getting to the crux of the actual issue.

Naguri smiled, "It must be hard to be his son. Whether he chooses to live a normal life or as a pirate, he will always be haunted by his father's name. It must be quite hard. If I were his son, I wouldn't want to become a pirate. Because that father's name would ruin his son's life in the end."

"Ruin his son's life!?" Ace growled as his hand tightened over his pipe and began trembling in fury, "Stop talking nonsense! You don't know anything! Why don't you fight me, old man!" he screamed before rushing towards him and bringing his pipe at the old man's face only to be blocked by Naguri's own weapon, a giant mallet attached to the top of strong steel pipe, with ease.

"Ace!" Sabo gasped as the three of them looked on in worry, as Dori made her way to their side so she wouldn't be in harm's way. Naguri wouldn't seriously hurt the irate freckled-face boy, but that didn't mean that Ace wouldn't back down from a challenge and she certainly didn't want to get in the way of that particular argument.

"Like I said, when you lose a fight, you lose your life…"

"I'm not going to lose!" Ace shouted determinedly as he pushed the metal out of his way. Naguri held the mallet upside down so he could use the weapon as a pipe, Ace continued to dab and lunge his pipe at the old man who dodged his attacks with ease before he quickly disarmed the freckled faced boy and flipped his own weapon so that the mallet was against Ace's face.

"I win!" Naguri stated in glee.

"Dammit! Do anything you like with me!" Ace proclaimed as he shut his eyes.

"Then, I want you to come with me."

"Eh?" she asked in confusion in unison with Sabo and Luffy. As Naguri made his way towards the cave making Dori sigh in relief as she shared a secret smile with Luffy as they followed the old man.

"It's this way!" Luffy chirped as he held her hand while Sabo and Ace looked at the cove in awe.

"I didn't know that there was a cove..." Sabo mumbled in awe.

"Oi! Guys hurry up and get over here!" Luffy shouted as they stood at the small hidden beach, "Guys! Hurry, hurry!"

"What do you want Luffy?" Sabo asked exasperatedly as she giggled in amusement.

"Don't be shocked!" he teased as he looked up to the small cliff where their secret project was being built, Dori pressed her hand to her lips as the boys let out gasps of shock.

"That's a… boat!?" Ace asked in wonder.

"Isn't it cool!? It's a real pirate ship!" Luffy gushed as Dori began rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Unn! Doesn't it look awesome!" she chirped excitedly.

"A pirate ship!?Is this what Naguri has been making!?" Sabo exclaimed.

"It will take forever to make it on my own." Naguri stated as he admired his work while smoking his pipe, "Could you two give me a hand?" he asked as his eyes locked with Ace and Sabo's.

"Eh?" Sabo scrunched up his nose.

"Give you a hand?" Ace asked in distaste.

"You said that I can do anything I like with you!" Naguri taunted. Ace looked like he swallowed a lemon.

"W-W-Wait a minute! I have to help, too!?" Sabo stuttered out angrily.

Naguri rubbed his chin, "You happened to be here, so…" Naguri trailed off.

"You're not making any sense!" Sabo snapped angrily, "We're busy hunting the big tiger!"

"I can give you some pointers to hunt the beast." Naguri bribed nonchalantly.

"What!?" Sabo pondered for a moment, "Well then maybe…" he mumbled as he mulled over the opportunity.

Ace looked up at Naguri seriously, "Let me ask you a question. What are you gonna do with the ship?"

A cloud of smoke released from Naguri's lips as he exhaled as he took the pipe out of his mouth, "I'm going to go out to sea, of course. To find my crew that got split up."

"To sea?" Sabo asked in disbelief.

"What? An old man can't go out to sea?" Naguri asked in amusement.

"No, I wasn't gonna say that, but-" Sabo murmured.

"It doesn't matter how old you are to chase a dream!" Naguri interrupted passionately, "I don't care what anyone says, I'm going to go out to sea! I've already decided! Do you have a problem with that?" he asked as he pointed the mallet in their direction.

Luffy giggled confidentially at her side as she stared amusedly at Sabo's befuddled expression, "Nope!" she and Luffy proclaimed together.

Sabo laughed nervously, "You're an old man full of energy…. Ace?" he questioned as the older boy started walking away.

"A promise is a promise. I'll give you a hand. And… I will defeat you tomorrow!" he challenged as he locked eyes with the old pirate captain.

"What was that?" Sabo asked confusedly.

Dori chewed on her bottom lip nervously before running to catch up with him, "A-Ace?"

"Hn."

"A-Are you still angry?" she asked nervously as she fiddled with her fingers.

Ace stopped to look at her, "No."

Smiling widely, Dori threw her arms around him, "Good! I missed you guys!"

The older boy blushed, "Whatever…" he mumbled as they started walking again, "You know, don't you."

"Know what?" she asked nervously.

"That the Pirate King was my father." He stated somewhat angrily as he thought about the man who ruined his life before he was even born.

"Yea, I know." She stated calmly as she saw Ace tighten his hold on the pipe, "But you're still Ace, ya' know. Your Luffy's and Sabo's big brother and I guess you're mine too, right!?" she asked rhetorically, "Life wouldn't be the same if Ace wasn't here, so don't go anywhere okay?"

Skipping off ahead of him to the entrance of the cave and out to their small camp she started the fire once more, they were going to be rising early the next morning and she wanted to sleep as soon as possible.

A week had already gone by and the older boys were starting to get used to Naguri-san's odd habits (such as waking up before dawn to get to work). Dori decided that it would be a good day to make it back to Dadan's hut to complete her presents for Christmas. She hadn't been sure that she would be able to celebrate her favorite holiday that year due to the huge fight the boys had gotten into, so she was glad that they had made up. Christmas was a holiday for family, and she wanted to celebrate it with all three of her boys.

She was pretty sure that she was halfway finished with Luffy's gift… Dori had also settled on giving Sabo a book on navigating and Ace some new shoes (that she had already purchased from Fooshia village when she visited the last week) and maybe a new weapon. But for that she would have to make her way down to Windmill Village, she wouldn't be able to make it back to Naguri's camp by nightfall if she decided to go down the mountain to the village.

"Sabo-nii…."

Her blond haired brother turned to look at her as he folded his sleeping bag, "What's up Dori?"

Dori smiled softly, "I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm leaving for today. I promised Dadan I would help her run some errands today and probably for a while tomorrow too, so I'm going to sleep at the mountain bandits hut tonight."

"Ehhhh? You're leaving nee-chan!?" Luffy whined behind her before wrapping his rubbery arms around her multiple times. Dori patted his hair softly as Luffy's straw hat hung from his neck.

"Yup! But I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, that's a promise." She stated seriously as she stared into the younger boy's eyes.

"Hmmm, ok!" Luffy chirped as he unwound his arms. Dori pressed a quick kiss to his forehead before hugging Sabo and kissing his cheek.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" she decided as she gathered her bag, ignoring Sabo's red face, before looking up. "Where's Ace? Is he already working on the ship with Naguri-san?"

"Nope," his familiar voice sounded from behind her, as he and Naguri walked to them with a bundle of fish trailing from their net. Dori smiled at them as she threw her bag over her shoulder before running up to Ace and briefly hugging him while planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Bye Ace, I'll see you tomorrow!" she chirped before running off, as soon as she was out of hearing range she let out a peel of laughter. Ace's eyes had gone so wide and his mouth had dropped at her form of affection before his face went completely red, redder than Shank's hair! The older boy had turned into a statue! "Shishishi… Ace is just too cute!" she giggled as she quickly made her way to Dadan's hut.

"Chibi!? What are you doing here!?" Dadan screamed as Dori hugged her midsection.

Smiling up at the woman, Dori stated, "Ehhhhh, didn't you miss me?" she teased.

Dadan's face went red, "Nani! No way!" she screamed as Magra and Dogra tried to calm her down.

"Hehehe, you missed me!" she chirped in glee as she let go of the woman and made her way inside of the hut. Dadan gruffed a barely concealed 'Brat…' as she followed her inside.

"Why did you really come here chibi-gaki? It couldn't have been just because you missed us…" she stated as she sat on the ground. Dori smiled, Dadan wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed…. but she wasn't the dullest one either.

"Did you guys forget that we're celebrating Christmas this year?" Dori asked with a smile.

The older woman grunted, "We're still doing that?"

"Yup!" she chirped as she pulled the half made scarf out of the closet, "I have to finish Lu-chan's present before I can go get Ace and Sabo's gifts from Windmill Village." She stated as she hooked the yarn over the crochet hook and pulled, her nimble fingers quickly moved as she got into a rhythm and finished another three rows.

Dadan sighed from across her before she downed her cup of sake, "What else do you need to get done for this Cistmas?"

Dori looked up at her foster mother, Dadan wasn't the gentlest person in the world but she showed her love in a different way than others… and Dori knew that no matter how much she huffed and grouched she loved her and the boys.

"Well, we need to make lamb and mashed potatoes…. Ensalada de gallina, I can make that." She mumbled to herself before continuing, "We're going to need a lot of chicken, carrots and cabbage, ah! I need dough, ham, cheese, and corn to make the bread. We'll probably need to make turkey as well…. And we need vanilla pudding, condensed milk… other than food, we still need a tree and decorations." she mumbled as her fingers continued to work on the scarf on her lap.

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of food!" Dogra mumbled gleefully at the thought of a ginormous feast as he poured another cup of sake for Dadan.

"Are we really going to be able to pull that off? How much time do we have left until Cistmas?" Magra asked disbelievingly.

Dori giggled, "It's Christmas, not Cistmas…. I think we have three days." She stated as she stared at the calendar, "Whoa, looks like we're going to be working on a time crunch."

"Alright!" Dadan shouted startling her and all the bandits lying around in the living room space, "You heard the brat, we have a lot to get done in order to make Cistmas a success! So, GET TO WORK!" the curly haired woman glared determinedly at them before pointing at one of the bandits, "You!"

"HAI!" the man shouted as he jumped to his feet.

"Take a group of ten men and hunt down enough turkeys and lambs for the celebration!"

"Hai, Dadan-sama!" he shouted as he and ten other men followed after him.

"Dogra! You have a green thumb… go collect as many potatoes and carrots as you can!"

The bandit quickly ran outside to the field to find as many vegetables as possible hidden underneath the snow.

"Chibi! What kind of tree do you need?"

Dori locked eyes with the leader bandits before smiling widely, "An evergreen!"

Dadan nodded, "You guys heard the brat, go get a tree." She yelled at three bandits pulling on their coats. "The rest of the things on your list need to be picked up at Windmill Village, Magra you're in charge of the base! I want five men coming with us to help the brat carry everything back here! The rest of you!" she shouted, "You are going to make this place spotless and help the others in any way you can. What kind of decorations are looking for chibi?"

"Streamers, Christmas colors are usually green and red… we'll need lights for the tree and ornaments… you can cut out little snowflakes with paper and when I get back we'll put tinsel out!" she chirped as she wrapped her coat around her shoulders and placed her almost-complete scarf on a shelf for safe keeping. "I have some berries to help pay for everything, but I'm not sure that it'll be enough."

"Don't worry about it brat." Dadan gruffed as she stepped outside, "We'll get everything we need."

Dori smiled happily, "Okay!"

When the villagers of Windmill Village spotted Dori marching down the mountain with the two bandits by her side, they had understandably freaked out. It wasn't until the mayor and Makino cleared everything up that they all relaxed. Though, Makino was now thankfully in on the plan to make Christmas a success and proceeded to help them gather all of the food they needed for the celebration.

Finding the presents for the boys was also a pretty simple task as well, the book store on the island was surprisingly well stocked and she purchased two navigational guides for sailing on the blues as well a blank navy blue journal for Sabo to write his adventures in, as well as a brand new set of writing utensils and colored pencils (she had recently discovered that it was one of Sabo's guilty pleasures to draw in his free time, and who was she to deny her blond haired brother such a treat). She also purchased three other notebooks for the boys to practice their writing in, as learning to read and write had been put on the backburner when the quartet had been separated.

It was also rather easy to grab two new sturdy pair of shoes for Ace (one that resembled the pair he already had and another that resembled more like compact boots for when there was bad weather or when it was snowing just like it currently was and immediately decided to grab a pair of closed toed shoes for Luffy as well). She also grabbed him a warm pair of red socks and proceeded to grab a couple more socks for herself and the other two boys. Dori was also pleasantly surprised and happy when she spotted a pair of red mittens that patched the color of the scarf she was making for Luffy in the shop and purchased it as well as some more yarn (she was planning on embroidering the skull and crossbow symbol of the Strawhat pirates on the corner of Lu's scarf to customize it just for him).

It was picking out Ace's new weapon that proved to be somewhat of a challenge for the short girl, she eventually chose a dagger that curved upwards slightly at the tip but had a rather beautiful red gem (a sapphire the man selling it to her explained) at the top of the hilt, she also purchased a holster for it that was big enough to grow up with Ace. In the end she was rather pleased with her selection and hoped that Ace would like her gift. But it was the object in the window of a different store that was along the path towards the Party Bar, that caused all the air to escape from Dori's lungs. It was a cuatro, a small wooden four stringed guitar (not to be mistaken with a ukulele) that glistened when the beams of the afternoon sun struck across it's surface. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Dori pressed her face upon the window, not caring that she was fogging it up with her warm breath as she stared at the instrument in awe.

"What are you staring at gaki?" Dadan asked curiously as walked up behind her, "An instrument? Why would you be looking at that thing for?"

Licking her dry lips, Dori looked up at the woman, "It's a cuatro Dadan! My twin and I used to play it all the time at home before…" she trailed off sadly, "Well it doesn't matter anyway, we don't have enough berries anymore… Ace's present was really expensive, maybe next year…" she mumbled to herself in reassurance.

"Hmm," the woman grunted in contemplation as the pair continued walking, "That reminds me… that brat's birthday is coming up."

"Huh? Whose birthday Dadan?" she asked curiously.

"Ace."

A delighted gasp escaped from her throat, "Junto!? When!?"

Dadan looked down at her as they walked through the threshold of the bar, not bothering to hold it for the bandits trailing behind them and holding all the goodies Dori had just purchased, "January first, he'll be eleven then."

"Jejeje, that means Ace is the oldest out of all of us!" she giggled amusedly, Sabo was not going to be very happy with that revelation, "Oh no! We have to get Ace a present… do we even have enough time to prepare for everything!? The boys are going to want to know too, ahhhh! But Luffy can't really keep secrets!"

Makino's soft laughter quickly stopped Dori's rant from escalating any further, "Maa, maa... Relax Dori-chan! I'm sure we'll get everything done in time!" The green-haired woman reassured.

Dori smiled sheepishly. "Right. Ugh, it's just..." She groaned somewhat in despair, "I don't know what to get him now! It took me forever to figure out what to get him for Christmas!"

Dadan laughed at her plight, "Gaki, I'm sure that Ace'll appreciate anything you give him..."

"Mou~" she whined as she rubbed her growing hair in frustration.

Makino gently placed her hand on Dori's shoulder, the woman had a contemplative look on her face, "Maybe we can throw him a surprise party here at the bar!" She chirped in excitement.

"A surprise party!" Dori exclaimed as Dadan downed her saucer of sake beside her.

The orange-haired woman nodded in agreement, "That sounds like a good idea... I'm not sure the base would be ready for another party so soon after Cistmas anyway. This way we have a place to prepare and hide things."

"Unn!" Dori agreed as Makino smiled in excitements and clapped her hands happily.

"Oh, this will be great!" The gentle figure exclaimed as she poured the mountain bandit another drink before whipping down the bar, "We can make him a giant cake and we'll all pool together to get him one big gift as a present."

"Jejeje, hai! AH! Makino?" Dori asked tentatively.

"Yes? Is something wrong Dori-chan?"

Dori smiled sheepishly, "It's not that, but I wanted to know if you were coming to celebrate Christmas with us as well... Are you? It wouldn't be the same if you're not there." The woman looked at Dadan for confirmation.

"If I am welcomed, I would love to go."

The mountain bandit smiled shrewdly, "Of course you're welcomed to join us. We're gonna need help with preparing everything for this party and from what I remember you are a pretty good chef."

"Yatta!" Dori cheered before hopping off her stool, "We're gonna have to get going now... the sun's going to set soon and we have a lot of things to do!"

The bandits that had been reduced to shopping lackeys groaned in despair, they were going to have to climb up the mountain carrying a- well mountain of goods! Dadan nodded in agreement as they headed towards the exit.

"Bye-bye Makino! I'll see you soon!" She called behind her as she darted off towards the pathway home. The trek up the mountain didn't take too long, especially after she had grabbed a couple of the more heavier bags from the shopping-lackeys, who by that point had been out of breath and swore they'd been close to dying. The inside of the hut was almost sparkling from how clean it was, Dori couldn't help but feel impressed, especially when she laid eyes on the evergreen in the corner of the hut. It was perfect, and the smell of pine was refreshing and familiar. She giggled in amusement before handing off her purchases to one of the bandits who quickly put away the food.

Plopping down on the floor in front of the tree, Dori was quick to wrap the presents she'd gotten for the boys and place them beneath the evergreen. Dadan had been keeping herself busy by organizing the food and making the bandits cut out snowflakes and gingerbread men (after Dori showed her how to that is) out of the construction paper they had bought from town and decorate them. As soon as Dori was done with the presents she began to make a paper chain to wrap around the tree as well as make paper ornaments in various colors, making sure to write the names of all the bandits and her brothers (even Naguri-san) on the back of each paper bulb. They spent around two hours in joyful companionship as Dori regaled the bandits with Christmas stories and songs.

Dogra had liked Jingle Bell Rock so much that he'd even gone to get bells to hang on the tree. Dadan herself had liked one of the soft Spanish Christmas tunes more and had joined her in 'singing' by humming along to the words of Nino Lindo. Dori had even told the bandits one of her more humorous stories of Dylan, involving an exploding toilet from a prank gone horribly-terribly wrong, and one that had occurred more recently with the three D. brothers after they had moved into the tree house. In the end the evergreen looked like a true Christmas tree and the entire hut reflected the joyous occasion as well.

"Well chibi-gaki," Dadan gruffed proudly as they surveyed the room, "What do we do next? You're gonna have ta return to your brothers soon and we can't go charging blind into Cistmas preparations."

"Christmas," Dori corrected absentmindedly as she contemplated their next move, "I told the boys I was sleeping over so they're not waiting for me... hmmm, we can't really make the main course right now, but we can make the deserts and leave the food somewhat prepared and seasoned so that all we have to do on Christmas is put it in the oven and eat!"

"Yosh! You heard the chibi! Let's get going!" Dadan ordered.

Dori woke up with a smile on her face. The bandits were all out cold, laying in precarious places from where they had suddenly fallen asleep the night-well early morning really- before. They had gone to bed around three in the morning, but the results were definitely worth it. The majority of the food was ready for their feast and Dori had even finished crocheting Luffy's special scarf and wrapped it up. She had even had enough yarn left over to make Dadan a cozie for her sake saucer! Though that wasn't the only gift Dori was planning on giving the female bandit. She had found a beautiful picture frame at the Grey Terminal almost three months ago and she had been waiting for the right moment to give it to the woman. After Dadan had fallen asleep she had gone through the orangette's 'secret' photo album and chosen a picture of all four of them (Dori and her brothers) to go inside the frame before wrapping up the gifts and stashing them below the tree. She would have to get a present for Makino too, after all she had been the one to invite the older woman to the party.

"Oi, chibi! Stop spacing out" the familiar voice of her pseudo foster mother knocked her out of her reverie.

"Hai~" a dopey grin stretched across her face as she turned to the mountain bandit.

"Keh, eat your breakfast and get out gaki! We don't want those boys coming here early and ruining the surprise because you decided to take your sweet time getting back to them."

Dori smiled, "Yes Mam!" She saluted teasingly before scarfing down the plate of food that had been set down in front of her.

The nine -almost ten- year old quickly made her way through the familiar jungle towards the cove. It was late morning, almost noon really, and Naguri probably had the boys building the ship before it would be time for a quick lunch break before getting back to work and probably chopping down more trees. The familiar chaotic voices of Dori's chosen brothers brought a smile to her face and the girls pace quickened as she burst into the small clearing.

Author's Note:

I'M ALIVE! Hey guys! DOn't kill me! It's been sooooo long since I updated but I have been so busy! Life Is really kicking my ass, but I swear that I am fighting back! It's final week for the Spring Semester and I figured that since I am literally looking for any excuse not to study (I know bad Mara-chan, bad!) that I'd actually make some other people happy by writing this chapter! I hope you've all enjoyed it! SO, I chopped this chapter in half, again! That way I have something to post next month ahead of time... Which means I'm about to start writing episode 500, aka 'Freedom Taken Away,' aka Sabo's "death." I already have an idea as to how I want this to go down but... still it's kind of terrifying! The childhood arc is starting to come to an end! (To be honest I never thought I would get this far in the first place!) Wish me luck!

Oh, by the way... I'm thinking of making the Christmas celebration as well as Ace's birthday separate omakes (you know so that I can concentrate on actually writing down the actual plot!) Let me know if Anyone has any cool ideas, or things they want to see happen!

Guys feel welcome to check out my other fics including "Across the Sea we Found It" and "The Spare" (it's an OHSHC and Naruto fanfic respectively…) and no I'm not using this fic as a way to advertise my other one… alright, alright… maybe a little bit...

Anyway, 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 but he needs to end up at Konoha)….

This Chapter is Dedicated to: Every single one of my viewers! Thank you for continuing to read this story!

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter… and I'll see you next month! (Maybe!)

Words: 5,570

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Love, Mara-Chan (o l l o)