Chapter 14: Failure

Following the departure of Naguri, Dori and the boys had stayed with Dadan and co. for a few nights while they made initial repairs on the hideout, after all their safe haven in the trees had been left practically abandoned throughout the entire winter. It was there that Dori once more remembered the horrible news she'd discovered before the whole argument broke out between the boys about Rogers... The Tenryuubito were going to be visiting the Goa Kingdom sometime during the Spring, and if she was remembering correctly, the visit of the Celestial Dragons had been the reason behind Sabo's death in the series (that and something else revolving the poor ex-noble's asshole of a father). The following conversation she'd had with the boys was one of the most serious one's she'd had with them, barring the boy's discovery behind her scars. Only Sabo had any inkling of knowledge behind who the tenryuubito were, and even that was lacking.

"The tenryuubito are more dangerous than any person or creature we've ever encountered before." She had whispered in fear.

"Eh? Does that mean their strong?" Luffy asked excitedly, not picking up on her emotions at all.

Ace frowned, "If they are so strong... they might prove themselves to be a nice challenge now that we've defeated the Great Ti-"

"NO!" She shouted surprising them into silence, "They aren't strong, it's the opposite! They're super weak! It's the people who serve them that we have to worry about!"

"Wh-What do you mean?" Sabo asked hesitatingly.

"The marines." She stated blandly, "The marines follow their every order. If the tenryuubito want to set an entire island on fire, the marines do it. If the tenryuubito want to make you their slaves, the marines enforce it. If the tenryuubito want to hold a slave auction, the marines protect them and their cargo. If the tenryuubito walk by and you don't bow..." Dori visibly shuddered before stating ominously, "You'll wish you were dead."

"I don't understand? What so great about these assholes?" Ace spat as the situation began to dawn upon them.

Dori swallowed the lump in her throat, "I think it's because they are ancestors of the people who built the World Government... so now they get to do whatever they want."

"But that's not fair!" Sabo angrily as he clutched his top hat. "These Celestial Dragon's are obviously the one's in the wrong here!"

"Yeah!" Luffy piped up, "Jii-chan says that the marines are always supposed to be... ya know- all Justice! And stuff! He arrests bad guys! Why doesn't he arrest them!"

"He can't Luffy." Dori whispered, "Anyone who goes against a Celestial Dragon... is annihilated... everyone they ever knew or cared about, is also punished or killed as well. But that's not the worst part..."

Ace growled, "What could be worse than this!"

"Each tenryuubito is accompanied by a Marine Admiral..." Dori trailed off hesitatingly, "If they find out Ace's secret... they'll destroy the whole island in an attempt to purge the uncleanliness we've left on the island."

The boys paled.

The Grey Terminal and Goa were off limits until after the dammed Celestial Dragons had passed. They had never agreed to a decision so fast.

Grey. The skies above them were completely grey, a swirling mass of angry clouds. The wind was howling, and loose leaves and branches were tossed around mercilessly in the air. Rain was pounding against the tree house furiously as Dori hid underneath her blanket in the safest most secure corner in the base. Her whole body was aching. And not just because of phantom pain. A wet cough expelled itself harshly from her throat as her entire body shook from its force, the coughing was however swallowed by the sound of the wind. Her head ached and sweat clung to her form. She was hot, but she was cold. Dori was sick. She kept quiet not wanting to let the boys know of her condition and took the wrapped bandanna from her neck and tied it above her nose to obscure her flaming cheeks and runny nose.

"Rain, rain go away... Come again another day..." She whispered to herself softly, barely hearing the tune over the force of the wind.

"There it is! A storm is coming!" Ace exclaimed from where he was standing at the helm of their treehouse holding onto the wheel tightly. A tremor ran up Dori's spine as she pulled herself from out of the covers and forced her creaking body to move closer.

Sabo was by his side admiring the rampaging storm fearlessly. "We're ready for it! Bring it on!"

They were ready for it. It had been lightly drizzling for over three days as mother nature prepared to unleash her tantrum across the island. The quartet had gathered as many supplies they could carry and brought them over to the treehouse during the moments of peaceful ceasefire from the sky. They had enough food to last them... well two days with the combined stomachs of the ASL brothers. She had even insisted that they gather extra rope and some of the left-over wood from the cove that was never used to finish Naguri's ship. Hopefully the storm wouldn't destroy their home.

She could barely hear Luffy from where he was clinging to their flag in the 'cockpit' as he exclaimed, "Oh, cool! It's getting windier and windier!"

Ace apparently heard him perfectly as he screamed up in reply, "Luffy hold onto the flag!"

"It's uncool for pirates to have their flag blown away!" Sabo shouted in agreement.

'Huh, they both heard him perfectly...' Maybe her hearing was muffled because of her cold... hopefully it wasn't leading into an ear infection, Dylan used to be prone to getting ear infections in his left ear and from her twin brother's whimpers of pain... Dori knew instinctively that it wouldn't be a wonderful thing to experience.

"Yosh! Come on, wild wind!" Luffy cheered.

Her little brother's excitement was infectious as Ace joined in, "Come on, violent storm!"

"Bring it on, you bastard!" Sabo taunted.

Dori swallowed a whimper, "Stop taunting mother nature! She's pissed off as it is!"

They laughed. 'Kami, no Fate! Why were boys such idiots!' Dori bemoaned to herself as an even stronger gale of wind struck them. Dori ignored the shiver that rankled her body as she held the banister in front of her, her sweater and bandanna were doing a poor job of keep the cold out as her hair blew behind her wildly. Sabo held onto his hat for dear life as a wide grin stretched across the boys faces.

"Here it comes!" Ace exclaimed. He has one of the widest grins she'd ever seen plastered across his face. They were such adrenaline drunkies.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

She could barely hear Luffy's scream of terror, but the worried expressions and looks of concern on Sabo and Ace's face when they shouted out the youngest boy's name, quickly cued her in to the fact that the rubber boy was in trouble. They all turned to the sound of screaming and ran to the right side of the fort that was closest to the 'cockpit.'

"Help me!" Luffy shouted in fear as his arms stretched. The wind was blowing his body around in the air as if he was a paper doll and the only reason he wasn't already a speck on the horizon was because of the eight-year old's grip on their black pirate flag.

Simultaneously amused grins stretched across the faces of the two older boys, while Dori felt her throat drop into her stomach in fear before she raced to the cockpit to pull the younger boy in.

"What are you doing, Luffy!?" Ace shouted before bursting into laughter with Sabo.

She was going to kill those two idiots if they didn't stop immediately and come help her.

"Stop laughing and help me!" He whined fearfully.

By the time the gales of wind and rain stopped, Dori was drenched from head to toe with cold water. The now ten-year-old girl could barely contain the chattering of her teeth and the trembling of her body. The hideout had been trashed by the storm and thankfully the wood they had gathered from Naguri's Cove had helped with the immediate repairs the treehouse had needed.

"Cool! We survived the storm!" Luffy exclaimed happily, breaking the newly found peace of the jungle as sunlight streamed in from behind the clouds and illuminated the jungle before them.

Dori's vision was spotty, and her breath was labored and short. Her headache had now reached monstrous levels. She was so cold, but her body seemed to be burning up her insides with the same intensity. Luffy was happily dancing around in front of her expressing his extreme desire for a telescope more than once, as the two slightly more responsible boys were figuring out where to begin the repairs and how to shut the devil-fruit user up. A small whimper escaped from her lips as her headache somehow intensified and the world completely darkened around her and she fell.

"DORI!"

Dylan was crying.

That man was there again.

"What do we do!? She's burning up!" Sabo shouted in concern. His hand was cool her forehead.

"Shit! Why didn't she say something earlier..."

Touching. Touching. Touching.

She was dirty. Ugly broken. She wanted to die.

They were breaking her.

"Nee-chan" Luffy whispered as he tried to soothe her cries, "It's okay..." He whimpered, "I'm right here. Ahh, A-Ace... Wha-What do we do?"

"I-I don't know." He sounded scared. But that was weird. Ace was never scared.

Mother.

Father.

They didn't care. Never cared.

"-need real medicine. Her fever's too high. If it gets any higher she could die!" Dadan was yelling again. Luffy was crying, stupid Dadan, she shouldn't make her brother cry.

"Shh, shh, shh... it's okay Dori. It's okay Dori." Sabo was rocking her back and forth. He smelled like the forest and the ocean. Wild and free. He kissed her hot forehead gently.

It hurts.

Help.

Please, kami. PLEASE.

"We're going to High Town nee-chan. Don't worry we'll be careful...we need to get your medicine."

Dori whined in the back of her throat, it was dangerous. Too dangerous.

"Stupid. Lie back and get some sleep. We'll be back soo-." Ace's familiar voice grouched.

Dylan.

"Why aren't they back yet!" Dadan was screaming again. Her head hurt, Dadan should stop.

He's dying.

"There's smoke coming from the Terminal!"

No.

"It's on fire!"

PLEASE.

The world burned around her.

"The boys are still down th-"

Not Luffy... don't take him.

Luffy was sobbing again.

He was safe.

NO.

"Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace!"

Ace is burning.

"We have ta go back for Ace." Luffy won't stop crying.

Dori wants to wake up. Ace was in danger. Where is Sabo?

NO.

A needle pierced her skin.

Ace came back. Dadan is sleeping downstairs beside her, she almost died.

They got hurt.

Where is Sabo?

Sabo is gone.

It's all her fault.

NO.

Dogra was in High Town.

Sabo tried to sail free.

She was alone.

A Celestial Dragon shot his boat.

Sabo was dead.

Ace screamed.

Luffy cried.

Dori didn't want to wake up anymore.

She did. Her throat was sore and raw, there was a metallic taste in her mouth. Her stomach panged hollowly in hunger and the light streaming in from behind the curtains was blinding. Dori's entire body ached, she felt lost even though the ceiling of the mountain hut was familiar and somewhat comforting. Someone had tied her bandana to her arm and Dori didn't have any energy to spare in moving it. Her last clear memory was fainting after the storm. But her fever dreams of fire and death were too harrowing to be fake. The sobbing coming from Luffy and Ace's screams of denial and rage were to rea to have been conjured by her mind. Even so, Dori prayed it was fake. Her vision blurred as hot tears streamed down her face.

"Oi, you can let Ace down now!" Dadan shouted from outside. The female mountain bandit was so loud.

She was alone in their old room, the door had been left half-way open and the sound of quiet movement from downstairs wafted up. Dori could hear the muffled sobs of a heartbroken Luffy from where she lay. It wasn't a dream. She weakly sat up and crawled to the stairs. The room was dark even though she knew it was already late morning. The nightgown that she'd been changed into bunched up around her waist as she sat at the top of the stairs before she slowly descended the stairs without standing. Luffy needed her.

The eight-year old was in the corner wrapped up in blanket, his hands covering his face as he sobbed. Dori quickly crawled over to him, before pulling the startled boy into a hug. It didn't take long for Luffy to latch onto her figure and begin crying earnestly once more. Her nightgown was being soaked with tears but Dori couldn't find it in herself to care as her own tear landed on Luffy's hair. A startled gasp behind her made the ten-year old look up.

Magra was staring down at her in astonishment. "Your awake!" He exclaimed, "How are you feeling? You shouldn't be up yet, we almost lost you! Dori-chan you need to go back to bed!" He admonished.

Dori bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. "He's gone. Isn't he?"

Luffy's grip tightened as his sobs renewed. Magra looked away in sorrow. That was the last confirmation that she needed. Her nii-chan was gone.

"Th-The Dra-a-agon's!" Luffy sobbed as he lifted his head up to look at her, "K-Ki-Killed Sa-a-abo!"

She screwed her eyes shut in pain. "Why?" She whispered softly.

"What?" Magra asked softly.

"WHY!" Dori shouted as she stood up for what was probably the first time in about five days. Luffy sat on his butt in front of her in surprise as she exploded. Other bandits that had been outside streamed in at her shout, "WHY WERE THEY AT GOA IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Magra raised his arms up in a placating manner, "Now, now... you were really sick Dori, we- I didn't have the medicine necessary to heal you..."

Dori's face reddened furiously, "I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE!" She screamed, her already raw throat burned, "I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU TO KEEP THEM OUT OF GOA! I TOLD YOU!"

"YA! Who's shouting!" Dadan screamed, "CHIBI! Sit your ass down! What other choice did we have! You were dying! You needed the medicine fast!"

The hazel-eyed girl glared at the woman nastily, "SO!? What about Fooshia village? Why didn't you send them there! or at the very least sent one of the other grown-ass bandits!"

"You think I didn't want to? CHIBI-GAKI! There was no other choice! Fooshia didn't have the medicine we needed and the boys were the fastest out of all of us! What did you want us to do!? LET YOU DIE!?"

"YESSS!" Dori shouted painfully, the word had practically ripped itself out of her, and Dori was surprised at her own resolve. She would have preferred to die then to be the cause of the death of Sabo. Dori had lived once before, it had been an unhappy, lonely life despite having Dylan by her side. If she had died, she would have failed meeting him at One Piece, but her twin was an understanding soul. He would have been sad that she'd passed before him, but he would have understood as well.

A choked whimper escaped from Luffy before he grabbed the ends of her night gown, Dori ignored it as tears began to stream down her face. "Don't you get it! My life wasn't worth risking theirs! And now- And now... Sabo's gone!" She sobbed before straightening her back and glaring, "YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME DIE!"

Loud sobs escaped from her lips as she began truly crying. Sabo was dead. Her polite, nice, considerate Nii-chan was dead. It was all her damn fault! Dori swayed on her feet before crashing onto the ground. She was tired, Dori let her eyes slowly shut.

"Nee-chan!" Luffy exclaimed as he cradled her head. His world was exploding around him in a fire that was more dangerous than the one that had burnt the Grey Terminal to ash. Sa-Sabo was dead. He wasn't coming back. And Ace, Ace... Now, Nee-chan. His Nee-chan was breaking. It was even worse than all of the fan-phan- ghost pains that the rain made her feel. She said... that she'd have rather herself die than risk theirs. Nee-chan didn't understand, he would do whatever it took to keep his precious people safe... Sabo... he failed to keep Sabo safe. Sabo wasn't happy living with his parents. His blonde brother... was never going to sail the seas. He was never gonna be a pirate. But his Nee-chan wasn't allowed to break. To die. He wouldn't allow it. Luffy began to cry again.

Dori woke up to Dadan's shouting again. Ace had come back from where ever he had been and was sitting next to the older woman. Dori gently sat up from the cot she'd been placed in the corner of the room, her stomach groaned in pain. She was hungry.

"Ah, you're up Dori..." Magra mumbled before extending his hand and helping her walk over to the others eating lunch. She sat down on the floor next to where Magra had been sitting before without a word and accepted a bowl of rice and chopsticks from another bandit. She didn't know where Luffy was, it was strange. He wasn't eating.

"How could they call themselves observers!? They're partying every day!" The woman shouted in disgust as she put down the newspaper on her lap.

Disgust built up in her abdomen. Those damn tenryuubito were still on the island and the stupid fucking nobles were having a ball catering to its every whim. Dori swallowed her mouthful of rice and shut her eyes angrily.

"They haven't covered Sabo's story..." Dogra stated sadly.

The mountain bandit, Mushin, beside him added, "I heard that his parents didn't take action."

"His parents are nobles but they're powerless against the World Government and the Celestial Dragons." Another bandit stated.

'Like they would have done anything about it anyway.' She thought vindictively, they reminded Dori too much of her own biological parents. She didn't want to hear about this anymore.

It seemed like the conversation was making Dadan uncomfortable as well, "How's Luffy doing?"

"He still isn't eating much." One bandit replied.

Dori quickly ate the rest of the rice on her plate she didn't want to eat anymore. She spied Ace from across the room. He wasn't looking at her, if anything he was making it his mission to look anywhere besides her as he stuffed his face full of food. Dori ignored the pain that clenched at her heart.

"But he still is eating twice as much as we do..." Another bandit added, some amusement inflected in his voice.

Someone in the back mumbled, "I bet Sabo's death really got to him..."

She set her bowl harshly on the floor in front of her and stood up and asked them all generally, "Where's Luffy?"

"Luffy went to sit at the cliff." Magra responded, the girl nodded and made her way for the door, much to the majority of the bandits' concern, "Dori-chan... you should be resting... Luffy will be home soon."

Dori barely stopped at the man's voice before pulling on someone's sandals, she was betting they were Dogra's from their small size, that had been left by the door and marching out into the jungle in her nightgown. As she trudged up the familiar path towards the cliffside over-looking the sea, she undid her bandana and used to tie her hair back from her face. It was a familiar and comforting weight on her head, even if the swishing of her dress and the slight slap from the sandals threw her off. she'd gotten too used to wearing overalls and boy's clothes in general. The trees cleared away in front of her and the ocean came into view. Her little brother was lying face first on the grass, his strawhat laid faithfully on his head covering all of his hair. She watched him for a few moments as his once seemingly relaxed body tensed and his hands curled into trembling fists. The sounds of crunching leaves behind her alerted her of Ace's presence.

She looked up at him in tired curiosity as he stopped next to her for a few moments. Dori was surprised when the boy offered her his hand, of course without looking at her, she only hesitated for a moment before grasping it gently as he pulled her out of the foliage and onto the soft grass towards their little brother. He only let her go when they had reached the younger boy's side. Ace breathed on his hand before bonking Luffy on his head. The boys only response was to grasp his hat and pull it tighter on his head as his entire body bean to tremble. Dori narrowed her eyes at Ace, giving the boy a tiny pinch on his thigh in retaliation, before sitting by Luffy's side and gently rubbing his back in a comforting manner.

Ace rubbed his leg, but ignored her actions otherwise, before crossing his arms in front of him and staring determinedly out at the sea before opening his mouth, "How much longer are you gonna sit there?"

Luffy, who had relaxed somewhat at her gentle touch, tensed up once more beside her. She glared up at him in annoyance, but Ace just ignored them both and continued.

"The treasure that we were hiding in the forest is all gone. The survivors from Bluejam's took it, or maybe the military found it... I don't know where it went. But I don't care about the treasure anymore. That was the pirate savings I was going to share with Sabo..."

How Ace was able to say Sabo's name without stuttering or bursting into tears was... impressive? Either way, Dori didn't know how the older boy could do it.

"But Sabo didn't need it after all. So I'll just let it go, too. It's no use having treasure if you can't even protect it."

Luffy sniffed beside her as he pulled his legs underneath him and continued to tug on his hat in despair, "A-Ace... I... I wanna become stronger! More, and more... More and more, more and more... More, more and more, more and more... More and more, more and more... I wanna become even stronger! Then I can protect anything or anyone! I won't lose anyone!"

Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks as Dori nervously chewed her bottom lip, her hand clutched the back of Luffy's tank top as she stared almost unseeingly at the sea. The water was so blue, they were like Sabo's eyes.

"I beg you!" Luffy cried out, " Ace, Dori, please don't die!" Dori's heart clenched.

Ace finally moved from his statue like position and hit Luffy's head, "Cut it out! Worry about yourself first! You're far weaker than me!" He shouted he had practically crouched down by Luffy's head to yell at him before straightening up confidently, "Listen carefully, Luffy! You too, Dori! I'll never die!"

Luffy sat up, his hat still obscured his face as he clutched to it, before nodding tearfully. "Uh-huh."

"Sabo told me to take care of you, too. I promise that I'll never die! How can I leave a wimpy brother and airheaded girl like you two behind?"

Dori pulled the younger boy into her side as he continued to tearfully nod and agree beside her, "I-" she started hesitantly, as Ace turned to stare at her and Luffy leaned into her, before continuing, "I will always be at your side when you need me. You are my little brother. I could never leave you behind. Ace is such a hot head, he wouldn't know how to look after you." Luffy just trembled as he continued to hold back sobs.

"Gaki." Ace mumbled before looking up to the sea, "I'm not smart so I don't quite know what really killed Sabo yet. I know it was technically a Celestial Dragon... it was more than that too. But what I do know is that it must have been something opposed to freedom. Sabo died before he knew true freedom. We exchanged that same cup of sake and we're alive!" Ace exclaimed, referring to their shared brotherhood, as a small breeze kissed their cheeks, "So listen, Luffy, Dori... We have to live without leaving any regrets."

Luffy nodded.

"Unn." Dori agreed with a sniffle.

"We gotta go out to sea someday... and live as we like. Freer than anyone else!"

"Unn!" She and Luffy agreed tearfully.

Ace continued passionately, "That means we'll make enemies out of many people. Even that old bastard will become our enemy one day!" He stated referring to their grandfather, "You gotta risk everything. Let's go out to sea at seventeen! We will become pirates!" he shouted passionately.

"For Sabo!" she declared before whispering, "We carry his dream on our shoulders."

"Unn, for Sabo…" Luffy agreed as Ace's hands came to rest on top of their heads gently.

"For Sabo. No regrets." He repeated solemnly.

It was a grief-stricken promise. Dori would be dammed if she broke it.

Author's Note:

OhmygodIamsooonervousaboutthischapter! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! One of the reasons why it took me so long to start writing this story again was because I didn't know where I wanted to go with Sabo's "death." I don't want Dori to set sail with Luffy or Ace (I thought it would be too cliché, but don't worry I am not going to create a bijillion of OC's... there is going to be a timeskip coming up very soon after the childhood ark episodes are over... I may have one or two max extra chapter of freelance writing of their lives before Ace sets sail. The time skip will probably occur then...). I really want to know your opinions! Did you guys like that I kept Dori out of the events of the actual fire in the Grey Terminal? Was her reaction on point? Please review to let me know!

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: 4,265

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Love, Mara-Chan (o l l o)