"I don't want it," pouted Helmeppo, sticking out his fleshy lower lip. Unbelievable. It was his 10th birthday. His only 10th birthday. And they'd gotten him a stupid mutt?

"But Meppo, sweetie," pleaded his mother, "look how cute he is!"

Helmeppo stared at the dog. Stupid mutt. It was ugly. And dumb. He didn't like it at all.

"Helmeppo, son," said his father, "that's no ordinary dog. That's a wolf!"

Helmeppo glanced over at the dog once more. Stupid wolf. It was ugly. And dumb. He didn't like it at all.

"NO!" screeched Helmeppo. "It's stupid, and ugly, and I don't want it! I wanted a real rifle for my birthday! Not this ball of slobber!"

"IDIOT!" his father roared. "Do you know how hard it was to find this thing?!"

"Well I don't want it!" screamed Helmeppo, crossing his arms.

"Sweetie," said his mother, "when I was your age, I had a wolf pup."

"Don't care!" sneered Helmeppo.

"Please listen dearest," pleaded his mother. "That wolf protected me through thick and thin. And this one will too."

The wolf scrambled forwards to sit at Helmeppo's feet. He licked Helmeppo's shoes, stopping only to grin up at him, tongue lolling from his mouth.

"GROSS!" Helmeppo shrieked. "Walter! Clean it!"

The poor butler scurried towards the kitchen, and brought back a clean towel. He knelt at Helmeppo's feet, and wiped off the wolf's drool.

"Bad wolf!" Helmeppo scolded the animal. The wolf whined and lay down at Helmeppo's feet. Helmeppo jumped back. He grimaced when he saw the tufts of fur that had stuck to his socks.

"WALTER!" screeched Helmeppo. The butler was once more at Helmeppo's feet, plucking off the clumps one by one.

"See?!" exclaimed Helmeppo, gesturing to his feet. "Look how messy this thing is!"

"I've had enough of your ungrateful, pathetic ass!" screamed Morgan, who had completely lost his patience. How could his offspring be so spoilt? It was undoubtedly his mother's fault. He was always cleaning up her messes. "You WILL obey me, and you WILL train this wolf. IS THAT CLEAR?!"

"Yes sir…" muttered Helmeppo. He was trying to look indiferrent, but Morgan could tell he was scared. Good. A proper marine should fear his commander, and bow down to their every order. Morgan had let his wife soften their son for much too long. It was about time Helmeppo was conditioned for life in the Navy!

"Well dearest?" asked Helmeppo's mother, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving Morgan a withering glare. "What are you going to name him?"

"Do I have to name it?" whined Helmeppo, still upset over being made to tolerate this disgusting animal.

"Yes," said his father, narrowing his eyes. His tone was low and dangerous.

"Fine…" Helmeppo mumbled. His eyes wandered to the thick novel on his bedside table. It was turned upside down, and fairly hard to see. He squinted until he could just barely make out the title. "What about… Soro?"

"That's a lovely name, Meppo," smiled his mother.

"Uh-huh," muttered his father, utterly unimpressed.

"Alright," began his mother, "we'll go off to get his collar made. While we're gone, you two can get to know each other. Have fun, Meppo!"

"Sure…" mumbled Helmeppo, crossing his arms. As soon as his parents left the room, he picked up the book and realised that he'd absolutely butchered the title.

"Zorro," he groaned, "not Soro. Zorro would've been so much cooler! Stupid Soro..."

The wolf licked his hand. Helmeppo wrinkled his nose, and called for a moist towelette. Walter rushed to his aid, wiping his hands off and drying them.

"I guess that means you like the name Soro then," said Helmeppo, narrowing his eyes at his new pet. "Fine. Have it your way."

A.N.: To be honest, this is nowhere near the level I wanted it to be at. I created the concept, but I felt like I could have gone deeper. This one is pretty shallow in my opinion. In any case, I hope it's alright. Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, Birthdays, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated!

Are we at the end of the July birthdays already? Wow. That's not too impressive, considering there were only 5 of them (haha) but that means we're entering the 2nd half of the year. For some reason, Eiichiro Oda and his readers have an obsession with fall birthdays, and I will be writing around 50 one-shots and drabbles for the next 3 months (half of which are in August). As such, I will probably be very busy. I know a lot of you are antsy for a ETM update, and some of you are still hanging on to TCS. And I honestly have no clue when I'll be able to afford to tear myself away from HBOP to write on those. Chapter concepts and outlines have been written for both of those stories, so I do have a plan. I just don't know when I'll be able to act on it. I thank you all for being so patient with me and understanding. I'll be posting the August list sometime this week, so please anticipate that and call me out if I missed someone or mixed up a birthday. Thank you all once more for your patience and support (^-^)