Chapter 4: Lost...

Where is she?" Ace asks out loud as he paces back and forth in front of the other two boys. "She should have been back by now! It's been an hour!"

Sabo sighs, "I knew Ace or I should have gone with Dev...her sense of direction is horrible! You could tell her to go right and she would go left."

Ace lowers his head in shame, "It's my fault."

Sabo gets to his feet, "This is nobody's fault. But what do we do now, Ace? Should we look for Dev ourselves again or should we go back to town and get help?"

Ace thinks about it for a moment then turns to Luffy, "Luffy, go back to Party's Bar and tell Makino that Dev's gone missing. She can put a search party together while Sabo and I continue to look."

Luffy quickly jumps to his feet, "Okay, Ace!" He takes off running in...well, let's just say in the general direction that the village is in.

Ace and Sabo look at each other in exasperation. "That was a really good idea, Ace. Now we only have to find one lost person instead of two."

Ace nods, "We'll meet back here in a hour. By then Luffy should be back with more people."

The two boys head in separate directions, each calling Devlin's name then listening carefully in hopes of hearing a reply.

Dev wakes up several hours later in a daze. "What happened? Where am I?" Then everything comes back to her and she begins to pout. She looks around at her surroundings and sees the strange jewel not far from her. It's still glowing brightly, allowing Dev to see enough to crawl over to it. She picks the gem up and carefully examines it. It doesn't seem to have been damaged during the fall, but something is definitely different about it. That's when she notices exactly what it is; a red glow is now emitting from the center of the jewel. Dev's eyebrows furrow in confusion and her mind is running around in circles trying to figure out how this is all possible.

First, she survives two falls that should have killed or at least injured her. The first, being over seventy-five feet, definitely should have killed her; a huge pile of dead leaves at the bottom to break her fall or not. The second fall should have at least broken several of her bones, but as she sits there wiggling her arms and legs she realizes that she isn't hurt at all. She stares down at her hands with a frown and thinks to herself, 'Maybe my family was right...Maybe I really am a monster.'

Second, is this strange jewel, which not only glows, but also contains several traits from different gemstones: the deep blue of a sapphire, the pristine green of an emerald, and the unbreakable nature of a diamond.

Dev shakes her head then stands up. She could sit here thinking about these strange things, but doing so wouldn't get her out of this cave. So, using the light from the gem to illuminate her way, Dev begins to walk deeper inside the cave looking for a way out.

With the sun setting on what is now the third day of searching since Devlin's disappearance, the group of villagers looking for the lost girl decide to call it a day. Some of the villagers have begun to lose hope of finding her. However, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy refuse to give up on Dev. Determined to find her no matter what, the three boys have only taken a break from looking by force, usually by Makino who, literally, has to have them carried to her bar at the end of each day.

Today is no different than the previous days; three of the men from Foosha Village carry the resistant boys back to Party's Bar and place them down at the counter. Makino starts to make dinner for all of the exhausted men and women of the search party.

Sitting on a bar stool behind the counter, Luffy keeps his head down with tears in his eyes. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't eaten Dev's sandwich, she wouldn't of wandered off." He begins to sob, his barely contained tears now flowing freely down his cheeks.

Sabo places his hand on Luffy's shoulder, trying to comfort the younger boy. "It's not your fault, Luffy. I never should have let her wander off by herself. I knew how horrible her sense of direction is yet I didn't try to stop her." Sabo tells Luffy, his own tears starting to leave twin trails down his face.

"Quit being crybabies. This isn't anybody's fault...stuff like this always seems to happen to Devlin. You'll see...tomorrow we'll find her and it will turn out that she fell asleep or she was chasing butterflies again." Ace reassures the other two boys, but can not hide the deeply worried look on his face.

--2 Days Later--

"Land, ho!" The crew mate up in the Crow's nest of The Red Force shouts as he catches the first glimpse of Dawn Island.

Captain Red-Haired Shanks rushes to the dragon head masthead in excitement and looks at the small black dot of the island on the horizon. He's grown rather fond of this interesting little island and, especially, to the two little rugrats that seems to have latched onto him. He rests a hand on the masthead, which is little Dev's favorite spot on the ship.

Even though he's excited to be returning to the island sooner than expected, for the past few days he has also been feeling that something is seriously wrong. As he ponders on what could possibly be wrong, his smile fades from his face. His first mate walks up beside him with a lit cigarette between his lips. "What's the matter captain?" Ben asks the red headed man.

"Hmm?" Shanks turns to his First Mate, "Just a gut feelin'."

Ben narrows his eyes, "Good or bad?"

"Bad."

"I'll go and tell the men to be on the alert," Ben says before turning around and leaving the young captain alone.

The sun is just starting to sink below the horizon as The Red Force begins to weigh anchor at Foosha Village docks. When Shanks sees that the docks are empty of two certain hyperactive children he instantly knows that his gut feeling was right. Something is wrong. Even if they are returning a few days early, Luffy and Devlin should have spotted the ship and been at the docks dancing, singing, and celebrating the return of their favorite pirate crew. But instead the docks are empty and eerily quiet.

Shanks steps onto the dock with Ben, Yasopp, and Lucky Roo close behind him. "It would appear that your gut feeling was correct, captain. Something is seriously wrong." Ben says while putting a cigarette between his lips and lighting it.

Yasopp then chimes in, "I can understand Luffy's absence; it's dinnertime and he wouldn't pass up the chance for food. But Dev..."

"She has a huge crush on the captain," Ben bluntly states. "There's no way she would ever miss the chance to greet him."

Shanks puts his hand on top of his straw hat, "Let's go see if Luffy is at Party's and find out what has happened ta our hyperactive blonde." He starts to walk towards Party's Bar in a hurry and, without saying a word, the entire crew quickly follows their captain. Everyone of them worried about Luffy and Devlin.

Shanks walks through the swinging double doors of the bar and a depressive atmosphere immediately falls over him and his crew. Making his way to the counter at the back of the bar, his ears pick up the sounds of crying children.

Makino is the first to see him through her tears, "Shanks."

Luffy's head snaps up to look at the red head, rivers of tears running down his face. "Shanks!" The young boy jumps off of his bar stool, runs over to Shanks, and clutches the man's legs. Luffy is now sobbing into Shanks' pants leg.

Shanks wraps an arm affectionately around the crying boy before turning his attention to Makino. He asks her, "Where's lil' Devi? What's happened?"

He's expecting Makino to answer him, but instead it's his former captain's son, Ace. "We were exploring the forest in the southwest part of the island when Dev just disappeared." Ace's voice is shaking and it's obvious that he's trying his hardest to keep from crying.

"When did she go missin'?" Shanks asks while gently rubbing Luffy's head.

"Five days ago," replies a blonde haired boy that Shanks has never met, but assumes is Sabo based on Devlin's description of the boy. Tears are freely running down Sabo's face as well as Luffy's.

"We've sent out search parties every day since, but as you can see there's not a lot of hope left..." Shanks' left hand goes into his pocket and clutches the gift he got for the blonde hair girl. "The mayor actually called off searching for her anymore, just before you arrived." Makino breaks down crying and Shanks walks over to comfort her, Luffy still clinging to his right leg. He holds Makino as she cries into his chest.

Ace jumps to his feet and yells, "No! I don't care what that stupid mayor says! Dev isn't dead! I know she's still alive! She's too stubborn to die! I refuse give up on her!"

Shanks looks over at Ace and sees his former captain, Gol D. Roger, full force. He looks back at Makino and tells her, "It'll be okay, lass. We're here now and Ben is one o' the best trackers in the world." Makino's crying slightly subsides and Shanks looks at Ben Beckman. "Ben, is there a chance that you can track her?"

Ben takes a long drag on his newly lit cigarette, "Maybe." Ace's face lights up and both Luffy and Sabo's sobbing is reduced to sniffling as they try to stay quiet so that they can hear better. "Has it rained since she went missing?"

Makino pulls away from Shanks and nods, "It rained the other night."

Ben shakes his head, "It's not looking good...The rain alone I could have delt with, but combined with the fact that there's been people moving around out there for five days and that it's dark out...But at least Dev will have fresh water to drink, so there's a chance that she's still alive."

"There's a full moon tonight," Shanks informs Ben.

Ben nods, "That will help. Well, captain, I'm up for the challenge." Ace, Luffy, and Sabo start to cheer, but Ben quickly stops them. "I can't guarantee that I will find anything, but I will certainly try my best."