electro64: I honestly can't blame you, as I too hate them...reading them that is, I usually love writing them! (Insert evil laughter here.) As for the heart attack, hyperbole or not, be careful, wouldn't want one of my readers dropping dead on me. :P I'm so very glad you enjoyed the chapter though, above all else.

Also, I don't think I have yet, so I'll do it now, I want to thank you, and everyone else for putting up with my update ethic, or lack thereof. I just can't force myself to write when I don't feel like doing anything for that particular fandom at that moment, nothing comes out right. As for the story going unfinished, I'd have to be the one to drop dead for that to happen, trust me. :)

F-ckthesystem125: You already know that answer, so...yeah. :P

NinjaFang1331: Thank you!

midnightscar17:We shall see my friend...or to be more exact, all of you will see, as this chapter will answer the question of whether they are alive or not.

DarkPirateKing69: Well thank you, believe it or not, that means a lot to me. :)

Now then, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

Luffy was a complete mess, his sobs racking his body so hard he shook, tears racing down his face faster than they ever had before, as he cried over the loss of the two people closest to him in the world.

Despite the fact that the seven year old had just experienced some kind of mental breakdown, matter of fact it probably wasn't even over, the dark skinned pirate captain, who was currently struggling to get to his feet, looked fearful of him. And as he got to his feet, stumbling back a bit as he did so, his wide, frightened eyes, were soon filled with scorn and hate, just as they had been before. "I don't know what kind of monster you are brat, but whatever you just did won't save you, I won't allow you to do to me what you did to these weak fools." As he said this, his hate and anger shone through his tone, just as his fear did.

He bent down and retrieved the weapon he had dropped, his rifle, before standing back up, almost stumbling once more as he did. "I'll kill you now, before you can get older, and grow to become an even bigger monster. Even if your existence doesn't threaten mine now, one day it will, so I'll save myself the trouble, and snuff your life out right now!"

He now stood before the bodies of the two children he had mercilessly killed, as well as the all but catatonic Luffy, and leveled the barrel of his gun right between young child's eyes. "Now die!" With that he fired on the seven year old at point blank range.

However, instead of the bullet going into his head, ripping through his skull and coming out again, killing him in the process, like the pirate captain had intended, something much different happened. The tiny piece of metal hit him in the forehead, but instead of it tearing through the skin, the skin gave way to it, causing the small object to push the flesh inward, doing so for roughly two inches, before the skin pushed back, flinging the bullet back at the one who had fired it.

The bullet came flying back up at the dark skinned man, though the trajectory wasn't the same as when it had been fired, so it scraped the side of the barrel of his gun, and grazed the side of his face, taking just a bit of flesh with it as it did, leaving him with a small cut on his face. As it began to bleed, he slowly, almost shaking as he did, raised his left hand and placed it on his face, as if he found he wasn't hurt, that it would dispel the illusion of his bullet bouncing back at him. But when he did, his hand made contact with the sticky red substance, which confirmed for the now wide eyed man, that his metal projectile had indeed been flung back at him.

The young boy he had just tried to kill, felt a severe stinging sensation when he was shot, and the feeling got him to raise his head, doing so just enough to see what had happened, and when his eye fell upon the man's face, they stayed there for several moments. When their eyes met, the young child's face changed, becoming distorted with hate and rage, and as it did, Bluejam's fear grew to new heights, as he was now terrified of this boy, as despite his young age, the look on his face was almost demonic to the captain's eyes. He unconsciously took a step back, his body, despite his best efforts, betraying him in this regard and showing that he was horrified, his tone doing the same as he spoke. "I was wrong, you're no monster, y-you-you're a demon!"

Bluejam might as well have been speaking gibberish, as at this point, despite the fact that the young child could see his lips moving, all he heard was white noise, as the images of his best friends lying in small pools of their own blood continuously flashed in his mind. He began to speak, his voice quivering as all of his emotions were channeled into his words, "This...this is your fault, you did this! This is all your fault! You're the reason this happened! You killed them, you killed them! I...I-I, I HATE YOU!" He shouted this at the top of his lungs, forcing himself to his feet and rushing the pirate as he did so.

He threw himself at the much older man, knocking him off balance, and causing him to fall back onto the ground. The moment his back made contact with the ground, the seven year old began to rapidly and repeatedly ram his fists into the man's face, hitting him as hard and as fast as he possibly could, screaming in sorrow, hate and rage as he did so, "It's all because of you! They're gone forever, all because of you and that stupid treasure you want! You killed them for stupid money! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

In spite of his small size, the young child managed to pound on the dark skinned man for about a minute, without a single attempt of the man's managing to successfully dislodge him, of which he made many. Once that minute was over, he stopped punching the man, breathing heavily as he said, "For what you've done...you should just die." And despite the kid's history of overreacting during certain instances, this was one time when he meant exactly what he said, he felt Bluejam deserved to die for what he had done.

Said pirate captain was still conscious, though barely, as his face was bloodied, bruised and somewhat broken. His nose had been broken, blood now leaking from his nostrils, a few of his teeth had been knocked out, the sticky red substance filling and leaking out of his mouth, his head had been busted open, his entire forehead covered in the red life liquid, his left eye socket was broken, a very nasty bruise quickly forming, and his jaw was cracked, he could feel it, as pain shot through his face with the slightest twitch of movement of said cracked bone.

What the seven year old would have done next would remain unknown, as Bluejam, in spite of his fear of the 'boy' who was on top of his chest, let his anger, greed and hate override his other emotions once more, as he reached out for and grabbed ahold of a discarded sword from one of his unconscious crewmates. Before he could use the weapon though, the sound of a gasp could be heard, prompting both of them to look to where it came from, behind the child who was on top of the pirate, to see Nami's eyes open and wide, as she began to choke on her own blood, it beginning to spill out of her mouth as she did.

Luffy's eyes widened to the max once more, the boy stumbling as he got off of the pirate captain laid out on the ground, before he rushed to his orange haired friend's side once more. "NAMI!"

Even though his medical knowledge was rather close to nil, the straw hat boy could clearly see what the problem was, and solved it by raising the young girl's upper body off the ground, bringing her to a sitting position, where she proceeded to cough up the very blood she was choking on, clearing her airway and allowing her to get some of the life saving oxygen she needed, taking it in with a single lungful, as she passed out, losing consciousness once more. "It's okay Nami, it'll all be okay, I promise! I told you I'd save you, and I will! I won't let you down!" His tears had picked back up again as he said this to the once more unconscious girl.

That's when he noticed, out of the corner of his right eye, Zoro's right hand twitch, doing so two or three times, before it went still once more. As he saw this, the boy's tears came even faster, though they weren't ones of despair or sorrow any longer. Both of his best friends were alive! This was fantastic!

At the same time, Bluejam had risen to his feet, closed the distance between him and the one he called demon, and was prepared to strike him down with his blade. The black haired child's back was turned as the threat of death loomed behind him, the man thrusting his blade downward to end the boy's life. Just before the blade could make contact, it coming down on his head, something appeared in it's path, blocking it with a loud clang. This drew both Luffy's and Bluejam's attention to the one who had stopped him, the noise alerting the young boy as to something going on behind him.

There, standing on either side of him, were two women, one was large, bulky and had orange hair, and the other was average sized, slender and had red hair, the former held an axe, using it to keep the blade from reaching Luffy, while the latter held a rifle, using it to keep the sword away from the young boy as well. Seeing them caused Luffy's eyes to light up with hope, "Dadan! Bellemere!"

Both women wore scowls on their faces, however, while Dadan looked angry, Bellemere was obviously pissed, the fury burning brightly in her eyes, while at the same time tears were falling from them. The two mother figures then proceeded to cry...

Dadan, "Keep away from Luffy, you sea cretin!"

Bellemere, "Stay away from them, you damned bastard!"

The two women then pushed the man back with their weapons, forcing him to stumble several feet back, where he would have tripped and fallen over Ace's unconscious form, if Magra wasn't holding him, having scooped him up when all the attention was on the two women, Dogra and the rest of the mountain bandits by his side. They moved away from the pirate captain as he regained his balance, keeping himself from falling over, his anger intensifying upon the sight of all these other people. "Who the hell are all of you!?"

Not one of the bandits looked brave enough to answer, their silence and physical stances showed their fright of this man, which is exactly why they followed the next order from their boss to the T. "All of you, take Ace and get the hell outta here!" With a nod from them all, they took off running, back the way they came, Magra holding Ace to him tightly, so as to keep the flames from getting at him.

With them gone, Bluejam's anger was directed straight at the two women in front of him, "I'll ask again, who the hell do you think you are, interfering with my business!?"

Dadan's scowl grew at those words, her eyes on the dark skinned pirate.

Bellemere's attention however, wasn't on the pirate, it was on Luffy, who was cradling her daughter protectively, her blood covering his hands and neck, with some of it on his chest as well. Just like her, Luffy was crying, and as their eyes met, he spoke, "I tried to keep them safe, I tried so hard...but instead, I was the one protected. Zoro took a sword for me, and I...I...I don't know what happened. The next thing I knew, Nami had been shot, and she was bleeding, so much. I...I couldn't protect Nami...I failed her, I failed them both." The broken tone of his, only served the break her heart into tinier pieces than it was already in, her tears beginning to come even faster.

Then, a small, hopeful smile crossed the young boy's face, though it wasn't anywhere near the size of his regular grin. "But they're still alive, Nami's still breathing, I just helped her get some air. And Zoro just moved, they're both still alive, I can still save them!" As he said this, he rose to his feet, taking Nami up with him, holding her bridal style. "I will save them!"

The former marine let a small, almost sad smile appear on her face, as she said, "I know you will, now go Luffy, save Nami...save my daughter...save them both."

Luffy nodded hard, before turning to Zoro, and lifting him up off the ground, and placing him on his back, in a piggyback like style. It took some effort, but the straw hat boy managed to make it work. However, before he could run off, Bluejam charged in, going straight for the young children, Bellemere and Dadan intercepting him once more, blocking his sword with their weapons, both of them exclaiming this as they did so, "Don't even think about it!"

With the danger being kept at bay, Luffy took off, though to the left rather than in the direction of the mountain bandits, mainly because Bluejam was blocking that way at this point. However, with enough luck, he should be able to find his way back to the mountains.

The two women shoved the man back once more, him stumbling a little less than last time. He snarled at the two at this point, before glancing to his right, spotting another blade, and picking it up. Now dual wielding blades, he had no intention of being thrown back again, he was going to fight to the death, no backing down. He was, after all, determined to kill the demon brat, get the treasure, have his revenge and get the hell of this shitty island, so as to make his comeback.

Seeing his gaze intensify, both women knew this had just become a life or death battle, someone would die here. Only one of them had any kind of interest in such a battle though..."Go on, I can see it in your eyes, you want out of this situation, so go ahead and take off."

Dadan glanced to her right, to Bellemere, as she was spoken to, but quickly brought her eyes back to Bluejam, as she didn't trust him nearly as far as she could throw him, as he would no doubt attack the very moment they became distracted. "You're right, I won't deny it. However this parasite tried to kill my boys."

"I know that, but here today you almost lost two children...I almost lost two, as well as two nephews. Besides, you've no interest in a fight, you only care that this bastard gets what's coming to him, isn't that right...Dadan?"

"You got roped into being that wild boy's mother as well did you? Though I suppose you're lucky that Ace is only a nephew to you, as he's just as wild. As for the situation at hand...once more you're right, but I don't think that little brat would ever forgive me if I abandoned you to fight all alone."

"Don't worry, Luffy doesn't need to know. Besides, I prefer it this way, I want to fight this scum on my own."

The large woman snorted at that, "Have it your way then, but don't blame me if you get yourself killed." With those words she took off, heading in the same direction as her fellow bandits. Bluejam of course tried to attack her, but Bellemere got in the way, blocking him off, as well as catching his swords with her rifle, allowing the boss mountain bandit to escape the area.

As the large woman disappeared from his sight, Bluejam growled at the only person left in the vicinity. Bellemere in return, let a fierce expression come upon her face, as she spoke, "You wanted to know who I was? I'll tell you then! I'm Bellemere, ex-marine captain, and the mother of two, no, three wonderful children, two of whom you just tried to kill! You put a bullet in my daughter, and mentally traumatized the boy, who no matter who his real mother may be, is a son to me! For that, I will make you pay!"

With that said, the red head forced the pirate back, though with him ready to battle to death, and without Dadan's help, she was only able to make him go back a total of two steps. That was more than enough, as she was still able to take advantage and attack, slamming the butt of her rifle into the two sword wielding man's gut, causing him to hunch over slightly and grunt in pain. As he did so, Bellemere wasted no time in taking aim and preparing to fire, before she could though, he shoved the flat of the blades of his swords against the bottom of the barrel, pushing the weapon up, standing erect once more as he did, throwing the trajectory of the bullet as the gun was fired way off, causing the former marine to shoot into the air.

Even though she was taken off guard by this, the twenty nine year old woman still had reflexes fast enough to jump back and avoid the harm coming to her, as after throwing her trajectory off, the pirate captain had attempted to slash downward with his two sharp weapons. She landed firmly on her feet less than seven feet from the dual wielding pirate, lowering her weapon back to the standard firing position, and prepared to take another shot as she did so.

At the same time, Bluejam advanced upon her, closing the distance between them before she could pull the trigger, and going for another double slash, though this time one blade going one way, and the other the opposite way. She avoided this attack as well, sidestepping twice in quick succession to her left, before she could try and capitalize on the fact he had just missed her though, he brought his blades together and spun a hundred and eighty degrees to his right. This forced the red head to turn and jump back, then sidestep, turn and jump back once more, keeping her away from the sharp pieces of metal, and putting her directly behind him. She had just managed to do this without his weapons touching her once.

Now behind him, she wasted no time in attacking once more, though she knew by the time she was ready to fire he'd have attacked her again, so she chose a different method of attack. She flipped her weapon upside down, gripped it by the barrel with both hands, brought it back and swung it, ramming it into the side of the dark skinned man's head as hard as she could, while at the same time kicking his legs out from underneath him, causing him to yelp in pain as he went down, slamming into the ground with the right side of his head, his left side having been the one hit with the rifle turned blunt object.

Before he could try and get up, the former marine kicked him in the back, rolling him over onto his stomach. From there he began trying to get up anyway, but was stopped once on all fours, as the ex-marine kicked him in the side as hard as she could, breaking a few of his ribs, causing him to bite his tongue so he wouldn't yelp again, and knocking him over onto his back. From there she stomped down on his injured leg, causing him to yelp in pain once more regardless of him biting down on his tongue. She kept her foot there, before taking aim at his uninjured leg, and firing, blowing out his kneecap with a bullet, blood quickly staining his pants, causing him to cry out because of the pain.

She however, despite the pain he was in, felt no sympathy for him, for what he had done, he deserved much worse. She didn't have nearly enough time to give it to him though. So she took her foot off his leg, stepped to where she was standing directly over him, and leveled the barrel of her weapon right between his eyes, her finger on the trigger, ready to fire and end the life of this worthless piece of trash.

Staring down at his bloody face, his breathing ragged as he stared right back, completely defenseless against whatever she decided to do to him, completely at her mercy, she felt doubt creep into her mind. Yet it was quickly banished, as the image of her daughter dying in her best friend's arms flashed in her mind, reminding her that this bastard deserved far worse than this. However that moment of hesitation was all Bluejam needed, as before she could fire, he had brought his blades up and, crossing them like an x, used them like a large pair of scissors to slice some of the front of the barrel off of the rifle, rendering it useless.

The red head's eyes widened at this, but before she could handle the situation, the pirate captain drew his less injured leg up to his chest, and kicked out, ramming his foot into the twenty nine year old's abdomen with all his might, causing her to nearly double over, spitting up just a bit of blood from the force of the blow as she did. The dark skinned man then shot up from the waist up, slamming his head into hers as hard as he could, causing her to jerk upwards a bit, as she stumbled backward a few steps, grunting in pain as she did. The pirate then dropped one of his blades, reaching out afterwards and grabbing ahold of one of his female opponent's legs, and pulling it out from underneath her, causing her to fall back onto her back on to the ground.

He then quickly lunged at her, throwing himself on top of her, intending to drive his sword down into her throat, and end this battle. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't going down without a fight, as just before the tip of the blade could make contact with her vulnerable neck, she grabbed ahold of the steel with both of her hands, keeping it from going down even another inch. He used all of his strength to continue to push the sword downward, just as she used every bit of her strength to keep it from moving towards her at all, and since that was the case, they were locked in a stalemate.

This deadlock continued for neither side knew how long, but about a little over a dozen moments since it began, just as her palms began to bleed from the man atop of her trying to twist his cutlass, the red head spotted his discarded rifle, which he had dropped when Luffy attacked him, not that she knew that. It was within reach, and would only take a moment to grab, however she knew that moment was crucial, and could cost her her life. So she had to bide her time, keep the blade away from her throat, and wait for him to slip up.

Thankfully she didn't have to wait long, as he grew so frustrated, that eventually he somehow tightened his grip on his blade, pulled it away from her, bringing it high over his head, as he screamed, "I won't be beaten by some demon brat and a washed up marine cunt! NOW DIE!"

As he did this, Bellemere reached out for and grabbed ahold of the rifle, before aiming directly at him, putting the barrel of the weapon directly under his chin, an definite kill shot. As he brought down his blade, her trigger finger was already doing what it was trained to do. "You're the one who'll die today, you sunuva bitch!" As the trigger was pulled, the pirate captain's blade dug into his female enemy's left shoulder, while at the same time the bullet raced out of the barrel, pierced the man's skin, tearing through his jaw upwards into his brain, before ripping it's way through that and out the upper back of his head, successfully blowing his brains out and ending his life in an instant.

Bluejam's eyes were glazed over, as he fell back off of the red head, his grip on the cutlass no longer existing, and onto the ground, his blood beginning to pool around his cranium. He was finally dead.

Bellemere was panting as she lied there for another moment, the sword that had been planted in her shoulder sticking out. She dropped the rifle, before reaching over with her right hand and removing it, letting out a cry of pain as she did so. Tossing aside the bloody blade, she pulled herself to her feet, grunting in pain as she did so, her right hand going to her left shoulder to put pressure on the wound, so as to keep herself from losing too much blood. She continued to put pressure on the wound, as she turned and headed off into the fire, in the same direction Luffy had run off with Nami and Zoro, not even sparing a single glance to Bluejam's body as she did so.

Luffy didn't know what to do, he had no idea where to go, the only way he knew to get back to the mountains was blocked off by burning junk, one of the piles having collapsed before he could pass by it. And although he didn't think there'd be much help there, he even tried for Goa, but the pathway to the gate was blocked by burning trash as well. Though this barricade of burning objects was there when he got there, rather than falling over before he reached it.

So at this point he was wandering aimlessly in the burning trash heap, the fire creeping ever closer, threatening to consume him and his two unconscious friends. He was hurting, having been burned all over, though thankfully nothing as serious as third degree, he was also inhaling way too much smoke, his lungs beginning to burn something fierce. Hell, he didn't even have a bearing on his surroundings, as with all the twists and turns he had been making, as well as with all the smoke and fire, he was hopelessly lost by now.

Nevertheless, as all of this was happening, he couldn't help but wonder aloud to himself, even if for nothing else but to keep his mind off of the fact his best friends were dying, doing so in a somewhat hoarse voice, "I wonder if everyone here made it out of the fire okay? I sure hope they did..."

That's when the sound of something that sounded like an explosion caught his attention, it coming from somewhere directly ahead of him, though he hadn't seen anything. "Another bomb? But why would it go off now?"

Not bothering to think about it, as he didn't have the time, and he just didn't want to, he rushed off in the direction he heard the 'explosion' come from, hoping against all hope that there might be someway out of here wherever it took place at. However, not long after, he came to a dead end, the fire blocking his path completely, so he was forced to give up on checking out what had happened in the distance. But as he turned around, another pile of junk came tumbling down, barely missing him as it did, blocking off the path back, trapping him and his two friend's in a small circle, barely big enough for two grown men to stand in.

Luffy's eyes widened a great deal as this happened, "No...no...I was so close, I almost had them out! I could have saved them! This isn't right! This isn't fair!" He fell to his knees at this point.

All hope fled the young boy, as the fire continued to creep closer, the flames just centimeters from beginning to lick him and his friends. His tears returned, as he didn't see a way out of this. His only real option was to go straight through the flames, but that wasn't much of an option, now was it? What if the fire hurt Zoro and Nami? It could make it harder to save them, if not impossible. Then again, it was better than sitting here and doing nothing, wasn't it? The young raven haired boy had no idea, he just didn't know! Could they still be saved if he tried to rush them through the fire?

That's when Zoro's and Nami's words from before repeated themselves in his mind...

"B-be-because...yo-you-you're my be-best...f-fri-friend."

"Luffy...I don't want to die...please...save me..."

With those words beginning to echo inside of his head, the seven year old forced himself to his feet, forcing all those thoughts to the back of his head, as his resolve strengthened. "I have to try! I have to try! I have to try! NO! There is no trying! No matter what, I have to save them!"

The young child's eyes hardened, as he moved forward into the fire, and began to sprint through the flames as fast as he possibly could. "Just hold on guys! I'll save you, I swear!"

Luffy wasn't sure how long he ran through the very flames themselves, as all he was focused on was moving, knowing that this fire could kill his friends in the matter of moments, but it didn't really matter. All that did matter, was that eventually he came out of the fire, and into a flame clear section of the Gray Terminal, though it was completely messed up. Stopping a moment to catch his breath, his breathing very ragged, he looked at the area. Something had carved a huge pathway through the junk, leading to the shore, where the shadow of a boat loomed. Seeing this, Luffy's hope swelled, and despite how exhausted he was, how short on breath he was, how much his lungs burned, how much of his vision was beginning to fade, and the fact that every step he took hurt his entire body, he began rush out to the huge shadow, hoping, praying, to anyone who would listen, that there was someone there who could save his friends.

A man stood at the bow of the ship at the shore, looking out into the huge burning trash heap. He wore an all black outfit with a green cloak over it, the hood put up over his head, he stood over six feet, had long, spiky black hair in a widows peak hairstyle, as well as some light stubble, but what stood out the most about the man, was the large tribal like, dark red tattoo on the left side of his face.

After a few moments, a second and third man walked up from behind him, one stopping three feet behind him, and the other stopping right beside him.

The second man, the one behind him, was a humongous man, standing at a little over twenty two feet tall. He had long, somewhat poofy black hair, and milky white eyes. He wore a huge, as it had to be to fit him, black jacket, with a white design similar to a cross hair, as well as white paws at the bottom of it, a pair of white pants with small black spots all over them, as well as a white hat with rounded ears, also covered in black spots, and over all that, he wore a brown cloak, the hood of which he had over his head. He also wore large black shoes.

The third man, the one beside him, was also a large man, larger than the first at least, though not nearly as large as the second. Thanks to him wearing his brown cloak so closed, one couldn't see what he was wearing, however his face was visible. He had a a large head, with a large bluish purple afro to go along with it, as well as long eyelashes. He wore, what appeared to be, makeup on his face, two large black mascara designs around his face, and purple lipstick. He, just as with the other two men, wore the hood of his cloak over his head.

The second man was the first to speak, "Dragon, the last of the refugees have boarded. We're ready to go on your order."

The third followed up the second's words, "We should be on our way, we've done what we came to do, haven't we Dragon?"

Dragon was silent at that question, but only for a few moments, "Yes Ivankov, we're done here. Prepare to set sail." As he said this, he turned to face all of his men.

Ivankov nodded his head, before turning as well, so as to give the order, however, just before he could, the second man spoke up once more, "Wait, there are children coming this way."

The second largest man spun around at those words, his eyes wide as he asked incredulously, "Children!?

Dragon let a scowl cross his face at those words, turning to face the burning junk piles once more, as he asked, "Where are they Kuma?"

Kuma raised one of his giant hands and pointed out at the path they had carved into the Gray Terminal, where a small child, who was carrying two other children, was lumbering their way. They were close, less than twenty feet from the ship, but they were so small, and since everyone was preoccupied, no one had noticed them.

They watched as the one carrying the other two continued to struggle, to push onward, despite the fact that his strength was obviously going to give out at any moment. He made it several more feet, before collapsing, the three landing on the ground in a small heap. Since this was the case, the leader of the group, Dragon, gave this order, "Kuma, retrieve them."

With a nod of his head, the humongous man disappeared.

Luffy's movements were sluggish at this point, as with everything that was already wrong with him, the adrenaline had finally faded, making it all that much worse. However, in spite of the fact that his eyelids were drooping, and he was worse off than ever before, he lumbered onward toward the boat, as he was close, so close, less than twenty feet from the large ship. "Don't worry guys, I'll get you some help, I'll save you. We're almost there, just a few more feet, and we'll be home free. You guys will be okay, I promise." Even as he said this, he continued to move forward, his lumbering quickly turning to stumbling, before finally, his legs gave out on him, and he collapsed.

The young straw hat boy made sure not to land on Nami as he did this, though he barely succeeded in doing so. His eyes were open all the way once more, as the pain of hitting the ground took him out of his groggy state, though it wouldn't be long before it returned. His head rested on Nami's chest, his breathing even raggedier than it had been before, his lungs still burning, and now hurting, with every breath. "Come on, I can't stop now...help is so close...it's just a bit farther. I only have to go a bit farther...and then...Nami and Zoro can be saved." As he finished saying this aloud to himself, he raised head off of the orange haired girl's chest, as he began forcing himself to his knees, not being able to use his arms to help him up, as they were still cradling Nami.

Just as he reached his knees, a humongous man appeared before him, but instead of experiencing fear like any sane person, especially a child, does upon seeing him, only hope and anxiousness were felt by the seven year old. "I don't know...who you are, but please...please, I'm begging you, please help my friends!" As he grovelled before this gigantic man, tears were once again racing down his face, while he continued to try and force his body onto it's feet.

"They're hurt, they're dying! You've gotta save'em! Their precious to me! They mean more to me than anything! I can't live without them, please...you have to...YOU HAVE TO SAVE THEM!" He still persisted in trying to force himself to his feet, even as he cried these words out at the top of his lungs, despite how much pain he was in for doing so.

Kuma stared directly down at the small boy as he begged of him this, keeping silent until he was finished. "You have my word, we will save them." After saying this, he reached down, and ever so gently scooped the three children up, doing so with only one hand, his right hand, while speaking as he did so, "I can see that you've done all you could and more for these two, you can stop fighting now, you can rest, you've earned it."

With that the four disappeared.

As Kuma reappeared before them, Dragon and Ivankov eyed him with interest, more specifically his hand, where the three children were located at. He lowered his hand to the deck of the ship, and gently laid the children onto it, careful not to bring any harm to them as he did so. Once they could be clearly scene, Dragon's eyes widened, just as Ivankov's did, though for two different reasons.

Ivankov's eyes widened even further than they had before, doing so because of the condition of the three children. The green haired one had a stab wound on his abdomen, having lost a lot of his blood from it at this point, as well as a few first degree burns. The orange haired one was covered in blood, just as the other two were, and upon closer inspection had a bullet hole in her chest. And finally, the one wearing a straw hat, his entire was covered in second degree burns, his skin red with blisters at this point, though a good deal of that was covered by the blood on him, his neck, hands, chest and back were covered in it, his face even had streaks of it going down it. Somehow his straw hat was completely untouched though, while it did have a bit of blood on it, there wasn't any actual damage to it.

Luffy's eyes found Dragon's, despite the fact that they were half lidded, and he was just moments away from passing out. And as they made eye contact, he pleaded once more for the lives of his friends. "Save them...please..." Finally, after so much struggling, the young straw hat boy passed out, losing consciousness right there on the deck of the ship.

All eyes were on the three children, however all of them went to Dragon, as he said one word aloud, "Luffy..."

Ivankov was the one to ask, "You know this kid Dragon?"

The only one of them with a green cloak didn't answer that question right away, but after a few moments, he finally spoke, "He's my son..."

Ivankov's eyes somehow managed to widen even further, and despite the fact that they were supposed to be stealthy during this mission, he couldn't help but cry out at the top of his lungs, "YOU'RE SON!? YOU HAVE A SON!?" Only a nod of confirmation was received at that loud ass question.

The large headed man, after getting over his shock and disbelief, chuckled, as he said, "That makes sense I guess. I mean after all, who else but your kid would fight tooth and nail, as well as wade through all this fire, just to get his friends some help. He takes after you, even if only a little."

Kuma nodded his head in agreement at that, "Indeed, he does."

Dragon remained silent at their words, being deathly quiet for a moment or so, before giving another order, much more bark to his voice this time as he did. "Give them the medical treatment they so desperately need, now."

A few hours later...

As Luffy's eyes opened, he couldn't help but grimace in pain, as he hurt everywhere. It wasn't the worst physical pain he had ever felt, but it was a bitch nevertheless. He sat up, noticing he was back in Dadan's hut as he did so, noticing the fact that he was once again covered from head to toe in bandages as well. Letting his eyes wander the room, he took notice of Nami and Zoro as well, both lying on the floor, but on a pallet of pillows and blankets, just as he was, the former had bandages around her chest, while the latter had them all over his torso, and both of them were unconscious. However they were both clearly breathing, and that was all that mattered, so the young boy couldn't help but feel joy fill his being, as he finally knew his friends would be okay.

That's when the sound of Ace's voice caught his attention, "WHAT!?"

Not sure what was going on, the seven year old, who was still wearing his straw hat, got up and stumbled out of the room, not bothering to close the door to the room as he did so, into the main room, where Ace, who had bandages wrapped around the top half of his head, Garp, Bellemere, who had bandages wrapped around her left shoulder, Dadan, Magra, Dogra and the rest of the bandits were.

The oldest of the bunch then spoke, apparently repeating himself, not noticing Luffy had entered the room as he did so. "You heard what I said, Sabo is dead." Despite his words, his tone was a mixture of sadness, regret, and gentleness, the last part to try and soften the blow of the news, though it didn't help in the slightest.

Luffy's eyes widened a great deal, tears beginning to well up as they did, as he spoke aloud, his tone showing his disbelief, "Wh-what?"

All eyes, except for Ace's, went to the seven year old, all of them not wanting him to find out like this.

Ace still seemed to be processing what he had been told, as he tried to speak, but couldn't get the words out for several moments. "Wha-what!? When...how did this happen!?"

Garp couldn't look either of the boys in the eyes as he spoke once more, having to look away, to his right and down at the ground as he did. "He was out at sea when...his boat crossed paths with the ship of the Celestial Dragon who was coming to inspect the kingdom today. As soon as he was noticed, they fired upon his boat, and after only two shots, it was completely destroyed, taking Sabo down along with it. There...there wasn't anything left of him. Only his hat remained, and it was washed out to sea before I could get ahold of it. I'm sorry boys."

Those words shook both of the boys, the older one of them so much so that he quickly denied the truth. "That's not true! It's a lie! You're lying!"

Garp, despite not feeling up to it, looked back at his grandsons once more, as he needed them to understand that this was real. "I wouldn't lie to you two about something like this, you know that."

"Shut up!" Ace shouted in rage, his fists clenched as he nearly shook with anger. "Sabo went back to his noble born parents! There's no way he would sail out to sea!"

Luffy however wasn't so sure about such reasoning, "Bu-but Sabo, h-he hated his life with them."

Ace's fury was turned onto Luffy at those words, looking ready to pound him for speaking them. "You don't get to talk! You've no idea how anything works, so just keep quiet!" In fact, he had his armed cocked back, and had closed the distance between them at this point.

"Wake up! I know it hurts, but trapping yourself in denial won't help anyone! You know this is the truth, and no matter how much it hurts, you have to accept it! Sabo is gone! Don't turn on the only brother you have left in your grief and anger!" It was none other than Bellemere who yelled this at the ten year old, bringing his attention to her, lowering his fist as he did, as while he was still pissed, he knew she was right, as he never wanted to hurt Luffy ever again.

As the bitter truth finally suck in, Luffy broke own into sobs, tears coming down his face once again. While Ace began to actually shake in anger, he asked this, "Who was it who did this, who murdered Sabo!? I'm going to kill them!"

"You foolish brat, you can't kill a Celestial Dragon, it'll only-"

Ace didn't care for what Dadan had to say, as she had told him what he needed to know, so didn't wait for her to finish, before he turned and headed for the door. However, before he could reach it, the large woman rushed him from behind, tackling him to the floor and ramming his face into it, shattering some of the wood and causing him to bleed from his forehead once more. "Listen to me and drop it, you damn brat!" The large mountain bandit boss had to keep the ten year old's head down as she shouted this at him, as he was fighting as hard as he could, trying to the best of his ability, to throw her off of him and get to his feet.

"Get off of me!" Ace screamed as blood ran down his face. "Don't get in my way!"

"You keep acting tough, even though you don't have any real strength!" Dadan yelled as she pushed the ten year old's face further into the floor. "What the hell do you think you can do as you are now!? You'll just end up dead! You will die and everyone will forget about you by tomorrow! That is all you amount to right now! It was this kingdom that killed Sabo! It was the very world itself! What can you possibly do about that!? NOTHING! That's what! Your Father's death brought about a new era! Once you have become a man of that caliber, then, and only then, are you free to live and die as you like!"

Ace's eyes widened in anger and realization, as he could no longer deny the truth of her words. "Tie this moron up!" The large woman ordered this done, as she stood and threw Ace to her men. They quickly followed her order, beginning to tie him up in that very room, him doing his best to fight back, but unable to successfully escape the grasp of all the bandits.

Luffy was still crying his eyes out, deeply upset over his loss, his attention on no one and nothing except for the floor, everything that had happened in the past twenty four hours racing through his mind over and over again. As these events continued to flash in his mind in a repeated cycle, he spoke aloud, mostly to himself, but also partially to everyone in the room before him. "This al-all hap-happened because w-we were too weak! If we had been stronger...if I had been stronger, I could have stopped them from taking Sabo, I could have stopped them from stabbing Zoro, I could have stopped them from shooting Nami, I could have kept them all safe, I could have protected them! But I'm weak, so it doesn't matter!"

The young straw hat boy looked back to the room he had come out of, the open door allowing him to see Zoro and Nami, though he could only see the latter's face, while he could only see the former's hair. He then turned back to Garp and Bellemere, before taking a few steps towards them and falling to his knees, as he cried, he began to speak, "Dadan, Ace, Bellemere, Grandpa, I...I want, no, I have to become stronger! Stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, and even stronger than that! And then, I'll be able protect Nami and Zoro, and anyone else I want! That way, I'll never have to watch anyone disappear ever again!"

The fierce determination in the seven year old's eyes moved both Garp and Bellemere greatly. The latter of whom couldn't help but think back to something the former had said to her back when they were in the marines together...

"Bell, when do you think a boy becomes a man?"

The red head quirked an eyebrow at that question, which Garp had asked with a large smirk on his face. "If I didn't know you better, then I'd think this was the setup for some kind of sex joke."

The marine hero burst into laughter at that, not calming enough to speak for several moments. "No, no, nothing quite like that."

His smirk widened even further, as he proceeded to, without prompting, as he never needed it, or got it, to explain what he was talking about. "You see Bell, a boy doesn't become a man because he grows older, or when he's finally become intimate with a woman, or even when he gains strength, no, a boy only becomes a man when he has found something to protect."

The marine captain was genuinely surprised by her superior's words, "I see. But, what brought this up?"

Chuckling a bit, getting a few more laughs out before everything went back to business, he said, "Nothing in particular. Just thinking about a few family matters, that's all."

Upon recalling this, the ex-marine turned to look at her old friend, where she saw that the same large smirk that had been splitting his face that day, was once more upon his mug, his eyes soft and full of pride for his grandson. It only took a moment for him to notice Bellemere looking at him, and when he did, he glanced over at her, as he did so, she offered him a smile in return, as they both knew that they were thinking about the day they had spoken of such a thing as this.

Little did anyone know, that a certain green haired swordsman trainee had been awake the entire time, and had heard every word that had been said.

To Be Continued...