Descent

by JustAProblem

Scars are a sign of pride and strength. A sign of survival. Naturally, this only applies to the physical scars and not the mental scars. No, mental scars are almost universally agreed to be negative and for good reason. Physical scars merely change how your body looks. Mental scars change how a person thinks. Rosan just wants to enjoy life. He didn't ask for all this. OC! Not-Si!

20. Chapter 20: Family

Descent

Chapter 20: Family

Sabo hastily jumped over a swing and tried to retaliate with a downward swing but the figure was quick to react and their weapons collided as a result. He tried to overpower the offender but he wasn't strong enough and was launched back as a result.

He landed upright and yelped as another swing, this time from the left, came with unforgiving force towards him. The blonde tried to quickly throw up a defense but it wasn't enough to completely block the blow and he was sent flying until he landed on the floor with a tiny "oomph".

Before he could get up, the staff that had been attacking him, lay gently on his throat. A clear sign to surrender that Sabo had no choice but to take.

"You're way too strong," Sabo huffed, lying on the ground in defeat. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Luffy charging an attack for Ace and accidentally punching himself in the process.

The 10 year old brunette didn't appreciate that and immediately finished their fight up with an angry face.

The four boys were finishing up their 100 matches and Luffy was paired up with Ace, leaving Sabo to fight Rosan.

The redhead hadn't lost a single one of the matches today and he didn't even look winded in the process. Worst, he was holding back and he never used the same weapon twice in a row!

"This is supposed to be training so I will limit myself to just above your level to allow you to get maximum benefit from it," Rosan reasoned and Sabo grumbled at the logical answer.

There was no point in him finishing the fight in one hit. He gained nothing from it. Like this, he could train them while simultaneously deepening his understanding of the weapons he used. It also would add to their experience if they ever fought someone who wielded one of the many weapons he used.

"You're improving," Rosan commented to the resting boy and his bo staff transformed back into a ring. "I think you're the best of the three with that metal pipe," he said and Sabo grinned.

Ace was a physically stronger then him but Sabo was better at using their pipe so battles between them were usually really close. Today, Ace had managed to get two victories over him but there were days where he would get more victories.

Luffy never won any of his fights but that never deterred him. He was determined to catch up to the three who were much stronger than he was and it was admirable.

Battles with Rosan were only deceptively close due to his penchant of fighting just above their level.

He fought very slowly with Luffy in order to guide the young boy and if it were Sabo or Ace in the seven year old's position, they'd probably beat the redhead.

He didn't give the two 10 year old boys the same luxury. They were much stronger than Luffy was and he fought them accordingly with Ram (when they learned that his ring was the psycho Ram, their jaws had dropped to the floor).

"You think I'm the best with the pipe?" Sabo said thoughtfully and Rosan nodded.

"Luffy has no affinity with weapons and Ace relies more on brute force than technical skills. Those two are more similar then they probably want to admit," Rosan hummed and Sabo cackled at that. Ace and Luffy, if given the choice probably would just prefer to punch instead of using a pipe.

"I didn't expect you to be so good with a pipe," the blonde pointed and Rosan looked at Ram.

"I'm quite adept with multiple weapons. I don't use the staff too often, but it is one that I have practiced with," Rosan explained before transforming Ram into an array of weapons that left Sabo's eyes sparkling.

She even transformed into a sword! A real sword! When sparring with them, every weapon he used was of a wooden variety so as to not cause real injuries... which was funny because they still hurt like hell.

No wonder he hadn't been afraid of Porchemy! He probably saw real swords all the time!

"How did you even get Ram? Is she a Devil Fruit too?"

"I made her with my Devil Fruit... and some science," Rosan hummed. He idly wondered about making another Philosopher's Stone before discarding it. The redhead could only make the stone using Modification and because of that, it was only perfect for users of Modification. He had wanted to make one for Maro but it wouldn't have worked and the redhead didn't need to make another one for himself.

By now, the two brunettes had finished their argument and were listening in to the conversation as well.

"That's awesome! Mod-chan is a really useful Devil Fruit," Sabo praised. Man, some Devil Fruits were really cool! Rosan warned the boy not to compliment her too much because her ego would grow and he'd have to deal with it.

He then lightly grabbed his head for some reason.

"See? Your ability really is stupid," Ace mocked Luffy, much to the child's fury. "Rosan can do all these things and you turn into rubber. You're so useful."

"My Fruit is super cool! I've got plenty of unbeatable attacks! If they worked you wouldn't be saying that!" the boy scowled and Sabo sighed in exasperation.

"THEN THEY AREN'T UNBEATABLE, YOU DUMBASS!"

Here they go again. Those two argued about anything and everything no matter what it may be. It was up to Sabo to dissuade them from continuing because Rosan was always content to watch their squabbles (Mod-chan told him it was because Ram found it so funny.)

"You have a fat mouth for someone who lost every single match today! You couldn't even beat Rosan when he was fighting that bad!" Ace sneered.

"YOU CAN'T BEAT HIM EITHER AND HE'S APART OF MY CREW SO THAT MEANS I BEAT YOU!" Luffy roared and Sabo nearly choked on his laughter at the seven year old's logic.

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE," Ace roared back and he tackled the boy, fed up with his antics. "DON'T BE SO COCKY JUST BECAUSE YOU MANAGED TO FORCE ROSAN INTO YOUR CREW! IF ANY OF US ASKED FIRST, HE WOULD HAVE SAID YES!"

"BUT I ASKED FIRST AND NOW HE'S MINE," Luffy replied and the two were off.

"Luffy did not ask. He just demanded I join and I didn't care enough to say no," Rosan told Sabo and the blonde snorted in response. That sounded exactly like what Luffy would do, the boy was extremely demanding.

The two watched the Ace and Luffy brawl in a comfortable silence before Sabo decided to speak up.

"Who would you have picked to join out of the three of us?" Sabo asked curiously. Maybe Ace since that was his little brother? It made the most sense and Rosan did come here for the freckled boy in the first place.

"You. You're the least problematic and the most resourceful. Ace has no tact and will try to fight every single person we see and Luffy doesn't think... which doesn't bode well for me in the future. Though, Luffy's nature would probably give the most exciting adventure," Rosan commented without hesitation and Sabo beamed at the honest answer.

The redhead paused for a moment. "Don't tell them I told you that."

Sabo laughed loudly.

---

"Luffy made some friends," Rosan said and Makino looked at him with wide eyes. Really? Her little Luffy had made some new friends?!

"Don't worry, they are problematic but not as much as me," he assured and the 19 year old rolled her eyes.

"That makes me feel so much better," she replied dryly, handing him a plate of food that he accepted with ease. It was quickly becoming a routine between the two that Makino was beginning to enjoy.

He was helping her out again while the three kids did whatever it is that they did. Rosan agreed with the notion that he was too much of a handicap currently, so he chose to stay out of their business unless they asked him to come with.

When he did that, he would leave them to their own devices and visit people.

Most of the time, he was helping Makino in her bar. He didn't want to visit Maro and Co. too much for obvious reasons.

"I'm surprised you're willing to help me," Makino said happily. "Do you need the money? Is that why?"

"Money?" Rosan tilted his head at the woman and she gushed. "No, I don't need money. To be honest, I won't be lacking money for a long time," he replied and she raised a brow in curiosity at the redhead's statement.

Looking at the way he dressed, it made sense that he would have money… But did he really have that much?

"I have earned a lot of money over the years. I could reliably pass off as one of those high end nobles in the Goa Kingdom," Rosan informed her and the young adults mouth opened in surprise.

He was loaded! The teen probably never had to work again!

"So why do you come here then?" The woman asked, genuinely curious at what his response would be. If he didn't need the money then there was really no reason for him to show up and help her. Was it to get in her good graces since she had practically raised Luffy?

Rosan hummed and Makino wondered if he could sing. He had a very nice voice and even though puberty was causing it to change in pitch (he really was 14!) it still sounded good.

"This village is boring," the teen said bluntly, causing the green haired to protest a bit. I-It wasn't that bad! The quaintness of the town was rather endearing once you got used to it!

"There are not much people close to your age and I'm sure the Red Haired pirates added a spark of interest to your otherwise mundane lifestyle."

"You really don't have to be so rude about it, Rosan," Makino grumbled, sulking at his harsh assessment on her life. He had a tendency to say mean things in the most neutral voice ever and she seriously didn't know if it was intentional or not.

"You hang out with the mayor the most and that man is one of the most uninteresting individuals I've ever met."

That made Makino giggle. "Mayor Woop Slap isn't that bad!" She tried defending his honor. He was a worry wart and pretty boring but to call him the most uninteresting individual, was just him being rude!

"If you insist. If his company is enough to keep you sated, I will stop visiting," Rosan told her and she shook her head rapidly in denial.

She wouldn't defend him that much. The redhead visiting was the best part of her day! Not only was he nice to talk too, he kept the rowdy customers, man and woman, at bay! He was a blessing in disguise.

"So you visit to keep me company?" Makino asked, causing Rosan to nod. She flushed in appreciation and gave him a quick hug that he didn't return, but didn't reject.

"That's surprisingly sweet of you!" She beamed. He may have been rude and brutal, but if you looked past that, he was actually a decent person!

"Thank you," he replied, finishing off his plate and getting up to go wash it. Before he could do so, Makino took it out of his hand to do it herself and he blinked at her but conceded.

Makino looked at him with an assessing gaze for a moment, deep in thought. "You're too young right now but maybe in a couple years…" she muttered. He was already a looker now and it was likely he still had a couple more years to grow... The constant influx of woman constantly hounding him made it hard to miss his good looks.

Rosan glanced up and caught her searching gaze. "I'm not attracted to you," was all he said.

"I take back what I said about you being sweet," she grumbled at the bluntness of the boy.

"Ah, I wasn't intending to be rude. You are attractive but I'm not attracted to you," he clarified and she rolled her eyes.

"Not making me feel any better, Rosan," Makino sighed in exasperation. Honestly, he was the strangest boy ever. He wasn't the only one who patrons flirted with. She had her fair share of people who tried their luck with her but apparently his lack of interest in the opposite sex, extended to everyone.

Unknown to the green haired woman, a certain purple haired woman was death staring her so hard, it was a miracle she hadn't turned into dust yet.

"You know Auntie, Father is surely going to do the deed when he's older," Ram pointed out with a cheeky grin on her bronze face. "What will you do when that time comes? Stop him? I don't think that's very fair!"

"I-I won't stop him... I'll just cry in a corner at the thought of my boy finally reaching adulthood," Mod growled and Ram merely shook her head in amusement.

"So you won't mind if he's an adult?" Ram was surely playing with fire right now but the girl wasn't the wisest when it came to these things. Sometimes, Rosan thought she was a masochist because of how frequently she went out of her way to agitate Mod-chan.

"…" Mod grit her teeth and mechanically turned her head towards the cheeky weapon. "If... Rosan decides he wants to indulge himself in the future, I won't stop him because that is... a natural occurrence. But... he needs to be of age, otherwise I won't allow it."

Saying that sentence seemed to physically hurt her and Ram practically signed her death wish with the next statement.

"Auntie Mod, Father is good looking and hardly ever rejects anyone. If a woman makes an advance on him, isn't he just going to say yes to her? How many women do you think he'll attract? Just look at what's happening at this bar!"

"…"

"We'll probably have to cut the connection too. I for one, do not want to see Father having you know what. I'm sure you want to see it less then I do."

"…"

"Auntie Mod? Are you ther — Ow! Stawp, pleash!" Ram suddenly whined and it was clear that her cheek was being mauled by Mod's delicate hands.

"Stop trying to anger me, child!" Mod barked and Ram nodded rapidly, still pleading for the woman to let her go.

Why did it hurt so much?! It was only her cheek getting grabbed?! Why could she never break out of it no matter what she did? Auntie Mod had a freakish amount of strength!

Rosan wisely said nothing. He just sipped on his tea with a calm expression on his face.

He learned early on not to interfere with their talks. It never went well for him.

---

"You know...," Rosan began expressionlessly, looking at… whatever this was supposed to be. "...I can just use my Devil Fruit to disguise you three, right?"

He was currently looking at a "disguise" of the 3 boys and that disguise, was just the 3 of them piled on top of each other, with a long cloak covering them completely.

"Eh?" A voice from the middle called. "You can?"

"Yes Luffy, I can," Rosan confirmed slowly and, as if to prove it to them, his hair turned blonde and his eyes turned electric blue. "Look."

The cloak opened and Mod rolled her eyes in amusement. Ace was at the top, Luffy was in the middle and Sabo was at the bottom. Rosan couldn't join them because he was too tall and they would stick out even more then they already did.

"Huh, that would have been good to know," Ace muttered, looking at his, now blonde, brother. "But we've already committed to this so we'll do it next time! That'll make it even easier in the future when this trick gets discovered."

Rosan merely nodded his head at that and allowed them to close their cloaks. If it worked, it worked. Who was he to doubt their plans... His own had been rather eccentric as a child.

"Idiots," Ram laughed cheerfully.

"So if you can disguise yourself…" Sabo mused. "You can modify your height right?"

"That's right," Rosan confirmed.

"Alright! Do that and get in here!" The blonde beamed and Mod groaned in disbelief. Were they really about to add Rosan into the mix? She felt rather embarrassed to be doing something like this.

"Okay," Rosan agreed and his eyes began glowing.

"Modify Age: 10," Rosan intoned and his body shrunk rapidly, while his features softened. Soon, he looked much closer in age to the three boys and Rosan paused.

"You three are far shorter than I expected," Rosan said. He had thought he was small for his age but the three misfits were positively tiny in comparison.

"See! I told you it was natural to be so short, Rosan," Mod grinned. He had caused such a fuss as a child and now look!

"You look way younger," Ace remarked and the other 2 nodded in agreement.

"My growth spurt was very sudden and recent," Rosan told them. He stared at the disguise in contemplation before quickly coming to a decision.

"I'll get on the bottom," the redhead said and they nodded in agreement. After a short struggle (Luffy forgot where he was supposed to go), the tower of four dragged the crocodile corpse into the city.

"How stupid are these people for this to be working?" Ram gaped in confusion. Seriously? No one was doubting them? No one had decided to stop them even once?! She knew there were tall people in the world but c'mon! They had such a suspicious cloak on!

Rosan mentally shrugged. Despite the few odd looks, they had managed to make it into Edge Town, a place where thugs stayed, with only one person stopping them, that person being the guard.

After showing them the crocodile, the scared guard had quickly let the very tall man through.

As they walked, a group of thugs surrounded the four.

"Hey pops! You should leave your package here," a man smiled smugly at the "lone" individual.

Ace, who was at the top, said nothing which only served to aggravate the group of men.

"Hey, why don't you say something?!"

"Shut the hell up, punk," Ace finally replied before Sabo slammed a pipe on his leg and tripped him up.

The man let out a yell of surprise and the boys finally decided to reveal themselves.

"When you mug somebody, be careful who you pick!" Ace declared, pulling the cloak off and revealing the four hiding underneath it.

The three local menaces were immediately recognized, though Rosan was sure they were trying to figure out just who he was.

What followed next, was a beat down on the idiots who tried to rob them. Rosan, with his smaller body, fought like he used to which involved maneuvering around his opponents and crushing them with momentum and flexibility.

"The animals are more of a challenge," Rosan muttered at the broken bodies before him.

"This is why we tell you to stay out of the fights," Ace tsked, but he was impressed at how quickly Rosan changed his style to fit his smaller body.

Was that how he fought when he was younger? It was an ideal fighting style for someone his size but he would still need some power behind his blows... Not that he was lacking any.

"My apologies," Rosan commented, already getting ready to get back into their disguise. "They would have no benefit to you all growing stronger so I chose speed over experience."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just sell this damn thing," Ace grumbled jumping to the top and wrapping the cloak around their body again.

It didn't take long for them to enter High Town and find someone that was willing to buy the crocodile skin. After some choice words from Rosan, they got even more money then was offered!

"I'm glad they paid so much for the skin! Rosan, who knew you were so good at haggling?!" Sabo exclaimed in awe. The redhead had been relentless, adding information that had managed to sway the greedy merchants and showing a clear willingness to sell to someone who would be more interested.

It had worked like a charm!

"Rich people don't often pay attention to how much money they are spending. Spin a tale and they will be eager to pay for it."

"I'm hungry!" Luffy whined like the glutton he was.

"Just a little longer. We'll have great ramen noodles!" Ace assured.

"I am quite fond of ramen," Rosan said suddenly and Sabo raised a brow at that. "They are not as good as pasta, but they are very good and I learned how to make them a while ago."

"I don't know what ramen is but if Rosan speaks highly of them, then it must be good!" The blonde exclaimed. "You can make it too?! If it's really good you can cook it for us when we want some!"

"You can cook?" Ace asked curiously. That explained why he never ate with the bandits.

"I can," Rosan confirmed. "I can show you all one of these days on my ship. I have many ingredients in stasis."

"...You have a SHIP?!" Sabo eyes bugged in surprise.

"I do. Her name is the White Rose and she has been my ship since I was 4."

They were about to grill him more but Luffy's stomach grumbled loudly.

"I'll show you it after we eat," Rosan finished and they voiced their agreement.

They arrived to the restaurant and entered without haste, only to be stopped by one of the employees.

He made a hassle about how they weren't supposed to be there and Sabo showed him some gold medallion that had them immediately identified as nobles. They were then escorted into the VIP room and given 4 servings of ramen to indulge themselves in.

"So this is ramen?!" Sabo asked in excitement, popping his head out of the cloak.

"It looks good!" Luffy drooled, popping his head out of the other side.

"Try it!" Ace grinned and the three dug in.

Rosan watched them for a moment before taking a bite of his own. It was good, but he had better. They didn't have to come back here, the redhead would make them ramen whenever they wanted some.

Ram snorted as the boys asked for more and more plates, heedless of the poor lady that was being run ragged due to their demands.

The redhead wasn't even remotely surprised that it was Luffy that blew their cover. He watched the youngest idiot stretch his arms out to grab a plate out of the ladies hand and she screeched in disbelief, collapsing on the floor before running off to, no doubt, inform someone of the situation.

"We're gonna have company soon," Rosan said, as he did a quick Scan and sensed multiple people heading to their direction.

The door burst open and the head chef came through in a rush. "Sir, we need to talk!" He said and the 3 other boy's eyes widened.

"Damn, they found out!" Ace yelled.

"Let's go!" Sabo yelled back.

Rosan watched the three idiots burst through the window that was very high up and shook his head. After a moment, he dashed after them and neatly jumped through the created hole.

"Thank you for the meal," the redhead told them, before gravity did it's job and dropped him.

"Someone catch them! They didn't pay!" A voice screamed and the four children took off.

"You know, I could have paid for that," Rosan commented idly, as he stayed behind the boys to ward off potential danger. "Surely it would have been easier then this."

"Yeah, but this is more fun!" Ace commented with a wild grin, sliding between the legs of a guard.

"You do have a point, it is more exciting," the teen replied, conceding.

Rosan made note of every person they ran past, in case they tried something and so he caught a wealthy looking man's eyes widening in recognition.

Oh?

"Sabo!" The black haired man called, making the blonde look back in surprise. Rosan didn't miss the look of horror and recognition that crossed his features before he wiped it from his face.

"Sabo! Wait! You're alive! Come back home!" He demanded but Sabo kept running.

Ah, so that was his secret.

Interesting.

"Sabo! He's calling you," Ace noted.

"Who is that guy?!" Luffy asked with his mouth still full of noodles.

"He must have mistaken me for someone else! Let's go!" Sabo replied, trying to appear dismissive and they kept running at his words.

Rosan slowed down to look the man directly in his eyes and he was seemingly satisfied to see him avert his gaze.

Then, he turned around and kept running, deftly dodging anyone that stepped in his way.

---

"What? I'm not hiding anything!"

"Really?"

"Of course he is, Luffy! Tell us, Sabo!"

Rosan remained silent.

Sabo looked at the three other with a nervous gaze. Ace and Luffy were hounding him while Rosan just stared with a blank, knowing gaze.

"We can't have secrets among us!" Ace declared and Rosan looked at him for a moment.

"We can't?" He asked with a tilted head. He didn't know about that rule... Was he next?

"Shut up for a second, Rosan," Ace grunted before turning back to Sabo.

"Okay," he replied and Sabo could have sworn he saw Ram glow for a second. Knowing the weapon, she probably didn't appreciate Ace telling Rosan to shut up... but she wasn't that crazy...

Yeah, it must have been nothing.

"Who does he think he is!" Ram barked, eager to show the little brat how much she appreciated him telling her Father to shut up.

"It's not a big deal, Ram. You can be calm," Rosan instructed, banishing the glow from his ring. Honestly, why was his weapon so unhinged all the time?

"Fine," she grumbled. Ace was in for a world of it when he got into the mindscape.

"Tell us," Ace and Luffy demanded at the same time.

Sabo was content to remain silent and Ace took that as a sign to step up his interrogation.

He, along with Luffy, grabbed the blonde boy and began violently throttling him. "Tell us, you bastard! Or I'll beat it out of you!" Ace demanded with a scowl and Sabo tried to desperately fight them off before giving up that plan.

"Agh! I'll talk! I'll talk," the choked boy said, tapping out.

"Such a violent way to get answers!" Mod mock gasped.

"I like it!" Ram beamed.

"Of course you do."

"...Why does that sound like an insult?"

Rosan would rather they not get this violent with him. All they needed to do was ask and he'd probably tell them. He trusted the three.

Not Luffy though. Luffy had no clue how to keep a secret.

"The son of a noble?!" Ace said in confusion.

"Who is it?" Ace and Luffy asked at the same time.

"Bless their dumb souls," Mod said fondly.

"I am!" Sabo exclaimed in annoyance and he watched in disbelief as the two stuck their fingers in their nose and said, "And?"

He felt his annoyance spike and roared, "YOU TWO ARE THE ONES WHO MADE ME TELL!"

"Luffy and Ace are way too similar," Rosan hummed and his two companions snorted in agreement.

"The truth is, both of my parents are alive. So I'm not an orphan and I didn't grow up in the Gray Terminal," Sabo began in a somber tone. "The man who called me today... was my father."

Ace's eyes widened in surprise at that.

"I was lying to you guys. I'm sorry."

"He apologized so it's okay with me! I forgive you," Luffy said simply and the boy smiled, anger forgotten... if it was even there in the first place.

Rosan had plenty of his own secrets so he didn't harbor anything. This only seemed personal to Ace and so he'd let the freckled boy dictate the conversation.

"I don't get it," the freckled boy said suddenly, facing away from them all. "Why would you do it? Why would a noble run off to live at Gray Terminal?" The 10 year old wondered. He was living a life of wealth and would never have to worry about being ridiculed or going hungry... so why?

Sabo's eyes wavered a bit and Rosan was sure he was reliving some memories, because that's how he used to look when he was younger.

"All they care about is wealth and status. They don't give a damn about me," Sabo began with a grave voice.

"If I can't marry a girl from the royal family, I'm no better than trash. So they forced me to study and take lessons every single day. Then they'd fight if I couldn't learn fast enough… I was just a nuisance in that house," the blonde muttered. Living with his parents, was its own kind of hell and Sabo would replace it with anything else, so long as he got to make his own choices.

"It seems that whenever I meet someone of royal heritage, their life is anything but good. Being born with royal blood doesn't always equal a pleasant life," Rosan said quietly, thinking back to Sanji.

"…" Mod had an unreadable look in her eyes as Rosan said that and if he had seen it, he would have questioned her.

Ram did see it, however.

"Auntie, what's with that look in your eyes?"

"It's… I'm just thinking about the past," Mod said vaguely and Ram just nodded in acceptance.

Rosan was very perceptive though. He always was when it came to his Devil Fruit. "I wonder Mod-chan, are you thinking about your past… or are you thinking about mine?"

"…"

"Hm," Rosan hummed but dropped it. He didn't care enough to delve deeper and if Mod wanted to tell him, she would tell him. If it was important, she would not hide it from him. His surrogate mother would not go out of her way to endanger him.

Besides, he didn't particularly care about his birth parents so he wanted nothing to do with them. If she knew about them, she could keep it to herself. As far as he was concerned, his mother died giving birth to his younger brother and his father was the dumbest man on the planet.

"If…" Mod began hesitantly. "If it's of significance, I will always tell you. But I don't think you would care about this information so I didn't bother mentioning it."

"I'll leave it up to your discretion. Whether you tell me or not, is completely up to you. I trust you," Rosan replied bluntly, ending the conversation between the two.

Mod frowned slightly at that and bit her lip in contemplation. Maybe she should tell him what she knew?

"I may not be an orphan, but I've always been alone," he said sadly.

"Nobles have a low opinion of the Gray Terminal but it's better than the stifling High Town where your life has been arranged for years to come."

"I'd rather be in danger and loved, then safe and unloved." The words he declared to Garp, whispered in his ears at Sabo's declaration.

"So that's how it was," Ace mumbled in thought.

"I think you made the right decision," Rosan said softly.

Unlike him.

"Ace! Luffy! Rosan!" Sabo suddenly stood up and pointed out to the expansive blue ocean. "We gotta set out to sea someday! Let's get out of this country and live freely!" The boy exclaimed in excitement and his eyes were full of wonder, as he gazed at the beautiful sea.

"I wanna see the world out there and write a book about it! Let's become stronger and become pirates someday!" He yelled to the heavens and he pumped both fists into the air at the prospect.

Ace and Luffy grinned.

"I'm gonna become one — you don't have to tell me to!" Ace declared with a confident grin. "I'm gonna become a pirate and defeat others and become infamous! It'll be the only proof of my life!" the freckled boy exclaimed, looking up at the sky.

"It doesn't matter if all the people in the world reject me or despise me, I'll become a great pirate and show them what I can do! I won't run from anybody or lose to anyone! Because I'm feared or hated or whatever, my name will be known all over!" The boy finished and Rosan stared at his brother.

He cursed Roger for placing such a burden onto Ace but at least the boy was taking matters into his own hand. His little brother shouldn't have to feel like his existence was worth proving, but everyone else had hammered that idea into him and this was the result.

Hopefully, he achieved his goal. Rosan would be rooting for him the entire time.

"I got it! Alright then…!" Luffy said excitedly running up to Ace. The 7 year old took a deep breath before he screamed to the world "I WANT TO BE…!"

Ace and Sabo gawked at his declaration and even Rosan raised a brow at it. This was why he believed that Luffy would do everything in his power to become King. Because he genuinely believed it.

To the boy, it may as well have been a statement for the future.

Ace scratched his head in exasperation. "You fool… I was wondering what you'd have to say…" he sighed and Sabo laughed heartily at the youngest boy's antics.

"You're funny, Luffy! I can't wait to see how you turn out in the future!"

"You all have good dreams," Rosan said softly, looking up at the sky. "Don't ever forget them. Sometimes when things get hard, that will be the only thing pushing you forward."

"What about you, Rosan?!" Luffy asked his scout curiously. "What's your dream?!"

Ace and Sabo looked at the mysterious redhead with equal amounts of curiosity. Come to think of it, Rosan had never actually shown interest in anything! They knew he had come here to find Ace and ended up joining Luffy's crew, but his ambitions were lost to the three boys. He was more than strong enough to set sail already but he seemed content to watch, and sometimes join, their antics.

They wondered why...

The redhead blinked at them, dead eyes glowing dimly. "Me? I have no dreams anymore," he said quietly, much to their surprise. "I just want to find a reason to live now."

Rosan was no dreamer. His dreams had died with Meiko.

The three looked at Rosan rather somberly and he sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the mood," he apologized. This was why he had opted to remain quiet. His bland nature gave him quite the serious air and it could dampen the mood sometimes.

"Tell us what your goal was and why you don't have it anymore!" Ace demanded. His brother had been making an effort and the freckled boy could begrudgingly admit that he was beginning to appreciate it, so he wanted to know more about the enigmatic redhead.

"Yeah! You said we would exchange secrets and since I've told mine, it's time for you to pay up!" Sabo grinned cheekily.

"Tell us since I'm your captain!" Luffy declared childishly, beaming happily.

"Seems like you can't deny them," Mod said fondly.

"They've got you cornered, Father," Ram laughed.

"They do. I'm completely trapped."

Rosan trusted them. They were good kids and far too honest to ever betray him.

"When I first met Mod-chan, she told me about how much people were going to come after me to get their hands on her, so I wanted to be the strongest in the world," Rosan began softly, grabbing their undivided attention.

Even Luffy was serious!

Rosan remembered the day vividly. He had been only four when he made up his mind to do everything in his power to protect Mod-chan. If it meant becoming the strongest, then well he'd just have to do it. There had been no doubt in his mind and it had remained that way for a long time.

"If I became the strongest, no one would ever think about messing with my loved ones and I'd be able to keep them safe from harm. I wouldn't be able to feel the pain of losing them because that's a pain I can't handle," he admitted and the boys could sense that something had gone terribly wrong.

"But, even after all my years of training... I wasn't able to keep the one I loved most, safe and she died in my arms because of it, while I was utterly helpless to stop it. I was supposed to be strong for the both of us because she couldn't be strong but in that moment, I felt like the weakest person on the planet."

Desperate tears landing on the face of the person he loved. A soft, loving smile meant just for him. How that love had not wavered for even a second in her last moments. How even with her dying breath, she was still able to keep firm in her beliefs.

How she could so confidently say, "I love you," to a failure.

Meiko was weak, but she was so much stronger than him.

Sabo gasped in horror at the knowledge and regarded the teen in a new light. That explained the lack of emotions and the blonde couldn't even blame Rosan for becoming like this. He felt a well of pain surging inside of him at the agony Rosan must have been put through and he admired the redhead for still being able to continue.

Ace already knew this but to hear Rosan go into detail, made it sting all the more. His older brother had been dealt a terrible hand and this was the result.

"When my lover Meiko, died in my arms, a big piece of me died with her. It sapped me of all of my ambition and right now, I'm no different then a ghost hanging on to one last thread. Her last thread. Her last wish for me, was for me to live for the both of us until I could find a new reason to live and so, that is what I will attempt to do until I die," he told them, voice a near whisper.

For Meiko's sake, for Mod-chan, for all the people who relied on him...

"That's no way to live…" Sabo whispered sadly. It was torturous. Rosan wasn't even properly living! He was just passing the days by right now! "Are you okay?" He couldn't help but ask.

Rosan closed his eyes momentarily. "I have not been okay for a long time."

"I'll help you," a tiny voice declared and Rosan looked at the source. Luffy's hat was being hidden by his, too large, straw hat but he looked up at the redhead with pure determination. "I'll help you, Rosan!"

"We'll go on the biggest, best adventure ever and I'll make you say you found a new reason to live! You'll become the strongest, just watch!" Luffy declared with the utmost confidence and the three just stared at the boy with varying reactions.

"That's going to be hard to accomplish," Rosan informed the boy. "I've been trying for two years with little to no success."

"I don't care! I'll do it because you're my nakama and I'm your captain and we're friends!" The boy said simply, leaving zero room for argument. Rosan was apart of his crew so Rosan was his responsibility until their journey was finished!

"Well if you put it that way, I guess I have to help too," Ace grinned. His brother may have left him in the past, but it had been with good intentions. He just wanted the infant to be safe and that was not something he could guarantee him. It hadn't worked out, but his brother had been four, there was no way he could have predicted this outcome.

"Alright! Count me in! I'll help you get better because I like you, Rosan!" Sabo joined in and the redhead looked at them all with his dead eyes. It used to bother Sabo how expressionless they were, but after learning about his past, it only filled him with determination.

Rosan stared at the three, digesting their declarations before bowing his head (he never bowed) and saying, "Thank you all, I appreciate it. I'll put my full trust in you all."

Before they could say anything else, they watched with dropped jaws, as Rosan's hair turned purple and he gender swapped into his Devil Fruit!

They didn't even know he could do that! What the hell?!

Mod stared at the three with tears brimming in her eyes and she scooped the boys up into a bone crushing hug. "You three have no idea how much I appreciate your words," the woman choked out. She had been about to burst into tears when Rosan had told them of his former dream but she actually did when the three showed their unconditional support.

She loved these little menaces! They were all so kind!

Ace and Sabo flushed at the proximity. T-They had not been expecting to be in such close proximity to the purple haired woman... ever!

"G-Get the hell away from me! Y-you're crushing me in your huge boobs," Ace said crudely, struggling to get out of the deceptively strong woman's grasp. She looked dainty, why was she so strong?!

Sabo was too embarrassed to say anything and decided that staying frozen, was the best course of action.

Luffy… hugged the woman back as best as he could, completely unbothered by the proximity. "Modi!" He squealed before freezing as a realization seemed to hit him.

"DID YOU KILL ROSAN?! WHERE IS HE?!" Luffy screamed in horror. That realization made the panicking boy struggle even harder than Ace currently was.

The purple haired woman sweatdropped at the sheer panic on the seven year old's face and the two ten year old's wanted to slap their heads at his antics.

Ram looked at Luffy with a nervous expression on her bronze face.

Was this idiot really gonna be the one to save her Father?

---

"I just realized that all of us want to be Captains," Sabo muttered.

"I wasn't expecting that," Ace said truthfully. "Sabo, I thought you'd wanna be navigator on my ship."

"If not for my shift in personality, I'd likely be a Captain too," Rosan hummed. "I can't stand taking orders from people and it leads me to doing my own things when I disagree with them."

"I guess it's a good thing you joined Luffy's crew, I don't think he has a brain to give out orders," Ace mocked with a grin and Rosan nodded in agreement.

"You can all just join my crew!" The boy in question declared happily, not even realizing he was being insulted.

"NO THANKS!" Ace and Sabo immediately roared to the younger boy.

"Huh?!" The boy gawked in disbelief before stomping around. "I said you can join so you have to join!" He complained. Didn't they know they'd be sailing with the Pirate King? Rosan knew! Ace and Sabo were so stupid!

"That'll never happen, idiot!"

"Yep, never!"

"What did you just say?!… But that's okay. I already have Rosan!"

"You gave up way easier on them then you would have on me."

"Eh? You asked to join!"

"...Don't just make things up, Luffy. You didn't give me a choice."

The two ten year old's laughed at Luffy's confusion.

---

"Well, let's just leave it until the time comes," Ace remarked, as he walked up with a bottle of sake. "Maybe we'll go our separate ways."

"Oh, you stole that from Dadan!" Luffy pointed at the bottle in recognition.

"Aren't you all a bit too young to be drinking sake?" Mod remarked, though she made no effort to stop it. There was probably a good reason for this so she'd let them indulge themselves. She was still beaming with happiness at their willingness to help Rosan, so she'd let them get away with it.

"Did you guys know?! We can become brothers if we exchange this cup of sake!" The freckled boy grinned, removing the top from the bottle.

"Brothers? Really?!" Luffy beamed in excitement.

"When we become pirates, we might not be on the same ship but our brotherhood will always be with us!" Ace explained.

"There's four cups," Rosan pointed out and the three looked at him like he was stupid.

"There's four of us," Luffy explained slowly and Rosan was honestly surprised he could count.

"You're including me?" The teen wondered, tilting his head to the side. The question seemed like it was for everyone but the redhead was staring intently at Ace.

The other two followed suit and Ace was subjected to the gaze of three people. He shuffled a bit at the attention before coughing lightly.

"I meant it when I said I don't consider you my brother," Ace said bluntly and Rosan nodded at the reminder of their conversation. "But… we can become proper brothers now."

"You... mean that?" The redhead asked softly.

"...Yeah, I wouldn't offer to help you if I didn't," Ace replied with a shrug.

"And you two? Do you also think I should be apart of this?" Rosan asked the other two boys.

"Of course!" Sabo exclaimed.

"Duh, stupid," Luffy beamed.

Rosan paused for a moment before a burst of warmth flooded his body.

Mod and Ram gasped in wonder at the sensation.

The three boys watched with wide eyes, as Rosan flashed the largest smile they had seen on him yet. It was nothing impressive, not even showing teeth, but it was completely visible.

"That… makes me happy," he eventually said and as quick as it came, it was gone again, leaving Rosan empty. He idly touched his heart at the feeling vanishing, before letting his arm hang limp.

"You smiled!" Luffy cheered and the two other boys grinned.

Mod felt tears well up at the sensation and she couldn't stop herself from letting out a happy sob.

Ram wasn't even hiding her tears. She had never met her Father with emotions after all.

"Maybe it's not as impossible as I thought it was," Rosan said blandly, thinking of that feeling. It felt... nice. He had forgotten what it was like to be happy. He wouldn't mind feeling like that all the time...

He wondered how he was able to feel momentary bursts of his emotion with the castle sealed so shut. Maybe the chains weren't as tight as they appeared.

Maybe the problem was that he needed to be willing to accept all his emotions. Even the negative ones.

"Alright! Let's drink already!" Luffy said impatiently and the four boys grabbed their cups.

"Wherever, whatever, we'll always be bonded together!" Ace said happily, grinning ear to ear.

"So from now on, we're brothers!" He declared and they all toasted their cups together to solidify it.

---

Rosan was currently on Celadon, explaining everything that happened so far to his old travel companions.

"Brothers? So all three of them are your brothers now?" Demon asked, looking very interested in his tale. He never expected Master to be... doing this honestly. It was surprising to hear about his numerous adventures but he was happy that their former leader could actually relax now.

"So Ace forgives you?" Angel asked and Rosan nodded. She beamed at that information. It placed one less burden on Master's back and that was a huge win in her book.

Maro was deep in thought, which was becoming a more common sight due to her royal duties, after listening to Rosan explain everything.

Finally, she slammed a fist against her palm, attracting the gaze of all of them. "KANNA!" The princess screamed suddenly.

Demon looked at the princess with a raised brow and Angel let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Screaming for people is rather unprincess like, don't you think?" Demon asked in amusement, as tiny rapid footsteps made their way to the door.

"Y-yes, Princess?" Kanna squeaked, opening the door and the girl turned red, at all the eyes suddenly looking at her.

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you speak," Rosan commented and the girl almost fainted at seeing her Princess' master there. S-she had not been expecting to see the redhead.

"Kanna doesn't really speak often! Angel thought she was mute for the longest," Maro cackled and the female clone rolled her eyes.

"It must be because Master and I look so similar," the redhead scoffed, lazily staring at Maro's assistant and successfully intimidating her. "She should be more like Rin, he isn't as annoying and knows how to tell people apart."

The black haired girl squeaked and hid behind Demon, who pat her in response.

"She's not scared of Demon," Maro pointed out and the purple haired clone snorted.

"Most of our citizens prefer me over Angel because I don't go around terrorizing them with death glares," he laughed. Angel really needed to get herself under control sometimes. She didn't even pretend to like people and very blatantly showed her disgust. It would definitely bite her in the ass one of these days.

She was lucky that she was dating the ruler of the island.

"Don't care! None of them are Master so their opinion doesn't matter to me," she shrugged uncaringly.

"What about me?! Do I just not exist anymore?!" Maro asked in shocked confusion.

"You have no choice but to like me," Angel replied with a wave of her hand, dismissing her completely.

"Aren't we getting a bit sidetracked?" Rosan questioned.

Kanna watched in awe at how quickly they snapped to attention from his words.

"Oh, right!" Maro exclaimed and the Goblin Princess turned towards her hidden assistant. "Kanna! I'm going out for a few days! You and Jin are in charge!" She beamed.

Jin was the 33 year old son of Jun, the old man who had requested Maro's assistance. He was competent enough that, outside of Angel and Demon, the princess could trust him to not mess anything up!

The eight year old blinked owlishly and pointed at herself nervously. "M-Me?" She sounded fearful as she asked that and Maro nodded without hesitation.

"You don't gotta be afraid! You watch me like 24/7, you got this!"

"I'm pretty sure she actually does watch you 24/7," Angel grumbled in amusement.

"Well of course she does, silly! She's my assistant," Maro beamed like the social idiot she was.

Angel wasn't intimidated by the fact that some tiny eight year old was harboring a crush on her girlfriend but if she were, she'd have nothing to worry about because Maro was a moron. A loyal moron, but still a moron.

"You're absolutely right, Maro. Sometimes, I can't compete with your intelligence," the redhead clone said, voice monotone and she began exiting the room. "I'm going to go pack."

"I should probably do that too," Demon said, getting up and leaving as well. He would have to let the hospital know that he'd be gone for a bit too... and Rin. The boy was still as attached to him as ever and he probably wouldn't react well to the knowledge that the doctor would be gone.

"Hey, wait for me! You guys have no respect for your princess," Maro complained, dashing out of the room.

Kanna paled at the realization that it was just her and Rosan left. She looked left and right, looking for anything to distract herself with and realizing that the room was impeccably clean.

For someone so carefree, Maro sure was neat... she wondered how much Angel had to do with that before quickly discarding that thought. Thinking of Angel scared her...

"You're afraid of me for all the wrong reasons," Rosan said suddenly, not even looking at the girl due to his eyes being closed.

She flinched at his words but remained silent.

"You should stop comparing me to Angel, that's one of the reasons she hates you," Rosan informed the girl. "You're afraid of me because you're afraid of her and you see how much she looks up to me. That's stupid and it offends her deeply. Also, have you ever actually apologized to her for stealing her purse?"

The girl's eyes locking onto the floor, was all he needed to know.

"If you want her to tolerate your presence, learn to separate the two of us or she really will get fed up with you. Maro can't and won't protect you forever," the redhead finished.

His words were harsh and she felt herself tearing up but he was right. Kanna couldn't avoid Angel forever because the girl preferred to stay in the castle and if Maro had to pick… Well, it was a no brainer.

"What should I do?" Kanna asked quietly and Rosan hummed.

"Stop being so afraid of everything and stop comparing us. That's all you can really do and eventually, Angel will warm up to you if you're sincere enough."

The girl nodded and remained deep in thought until the three returned.

"I'm ready to goooo!" Maro exclaimed excitedly and the two behind her, rolled their eyes at her energy.

"Okay," Rosan replied.

"I won't be gone for long, Rin," Demon assured, patting the shorter boy on the head. The twelve year old looked unconvinced but he nodded reluctantly.

Rosan glanced at the boy attached to the youngest triplet. He looked much better now and seemed to be recovering well from the knowledge that he wouldn't be seeing his dad again. He was never going to reveal the man's true fate for his own sake. It was unfortunate that his father was such a problem, but that's just how the world worked.

"Princess Angel…" A squeaky voice called, grabbing the middle triplet's attention. She regarded Kanna with curiosity, surprised that the child was directly addressing her and the girl took that as a sign to continue.

"I'm s-sorry for everything," she bowed lowly, hoping the haughty clone would accept it. "I've never apologized for all the things I've done and I really regret that."

"Oh, you're forgiven," Angel replied bluntly and Kanna blinked owlishly.

"Huh?"

"Did you think I was gonna not accept your apology? You realize your mistakes and you're sincere about it so I forgive you! I'm not someone who's gonna keep a grudge for no reason, not my style," the clone replied with a shrug of her shoulder.

"I will keep a grudge though if you keep delaying my trip with Master!" She glared.

"R-Right!" She bowed again but the little assistant had a smile on her face. Kanna was wrong about Angel, she may have been scary and mean, but she would tolerate you as long as you didn't give her a reason not to.

"If that's all," Rosan said quietly and the three clambered around him.

"Thank you Rosan-sama!" Kanna said with a large smile on her face and the redhead nodded.

"Think nothing of it," he replied.

"Rosan-sama...?" Maro muttered with a glinting eye. "Look at you Master! I knew Kanna had a crush on you!"

"You really are an idiot sometimes, Maro," Rosan said, gently patting his student on the head. Maro's mouth opened in outrage but Angel's low growl of impatience, successfully silenced her.

With that, they vanished.

---

When Dadan walked outside, she had not been expecting to see the four brothers interacting with three extra people. Her jaw dropped in confusion and she rapidly looked between them.

"Rosan, who are they?!" Luffy asked curiously. Ace and Sabo looked just as curious and they didn't miss how two of them looked very much like Rosan himself.

"Do we have siblings that you didn't tell me about?" Ace demanded, looking at Angel and Demon in confusion.

"Ace. Sabo. Luffy." Rosan began pointing at each one in order. "These are Angel, Demon and Maro."

"These three are my brothers," Rosan told his old travel companions, pointing at the boys.

"These two are my clones and this is my student," he in turn told his brothers, pointing at Angel and Demon, then Maro.

"C-Clones?!" Sabo asked in shock. He had his own clones?!

"Clones?!" Luffy asked in excitement.

"You can make clones?" Ace wondered in surprise and Rosan nodded.

"I use clone in the loosest terms. They simply look like me but they are very different," Rosan informed the trio. Besides appearance, there were actually not much similarities the three shared. To call them clones of himself wouldn't be doing the two justice.

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Angel," the female clone introduced herself and they all shook her hand. She decided to be on her best behavior today because Master acknowledged these people as his brothers! That automatically made them good in her books.

Maro pouted glumly at the attention the two clones were receiving and Rosan simply pat her on the head.

"So this is where you stay," Demon stated, looking at the bandit's home. He noticed Dadan and waved politely at the surprised leader.

"You must be Dadan, it's nice to meet you," The purple haired clone said kindly, introducing himself in the process. She waved back dumbly, not sure how to respond to the fact that she was looking at 3 Rosan's.

"These three used to travel with me before we went our separate ways," Rosan explained to everyone listening. "I made Angel and Demon when I was nine and I met Maro when I was twelve."

"We're not accepting three more, there's no way we can do that," Dadan shook her head rapidly in denial. Rosan was already bad enough and didn't listen to a thing she said. Adding more to her already cracking plate was going to destroy her mental.

Angel looked over at her and sneered. Master only barely mentioned this one so the redhead felt no qualms about being her usual self.

"Who'd wanna live in this crappy shack anyways?" The redhead scoffed. "I can't believe this is where you're letting Master sleep! Garp was it? I need to speak to him about this," she sneered and Dadan looked this close to throttling the teen.

"Ah don't mind her!" Maro immediately jumped in the conversation before Angel could make an even worse first impression. "And don't worry, we won't be staying here! We are just visiting and once we're done, we'll go back to the castle!"

…

"CASTLE?!" Dadan asked in shock. W-What was she talking about? Just who were the people that this redhead knew?!

"Huh?" Maro tilted her head in confusion. "Master, do you never talk about me? How don't they know I'm a princess?! Why aren't they interested in me?! I'm the coolest one here! I'm hurt! I won't forgive you for this!" she whined, childishly pounding her arms into Rosan's chest.

The redhead patted her apologetically but let her throw her little tantrum.

"PRINCESS?!" Dadan screamed.

Rosan tilted his head. "I told you this before, Dadan. Remember when I told you I was visiting a princess?"

"YOU WERE TELLING THE TRUTH?" She roared in disbelief.

"If I don't have to lie, I won't lie," he responded bluntly.

"You're his student?" Ace asked curiously, sizing the kimono wearing princess up and down. Today, her kimono mostly hid her lithe figure so she didn't look like much of a fighter to them.

"Yep! I was Master's right hand and I was a pretty damn good one," Maro flaunted with a cocky grin, hand on her hips, as she puffed her chest out. Ace's eyes widened in recognition and the girl's mouth opened in surprise at that. Did he perhaps know that Rosan was Reaper?

Wow, Master really did trust these squirts!

She made eye contact with Rosan and a quick conversation seemed to happen between the two.

Eventually, she nodded and said, "You guys like to fight too, right?! Let me show you what I'm made of! Master and I haven't sparred in forever."

The three boys grinned in excitement.

---

The boys had quickly learned that Maro was a monster and Sabo meant that literally!

She even had a Devil Fruit too, just like Rosan!

After hearing Maro's words, the four brothers led their guests into their sparring clearing with varying degrees of excitement.

Luffy wanted to see more from his future crewmate! Rosan didn't try very much when fighting either of the boys and since Maro was his student, he was bound to show something new!

Sabo wanted to see what his fellow noble could do! She definitely dressed like royalty and so he was finding it a little hard to believe that she was a fighter.

The blue haired princess was dressed in a simple white kimono, with floral motifs all over, that hid her tall frame and she had a pure silver tiara on the top of her head. To finish off, she had dangling sapphire earrings that were very similar to Rosan's own ruby ones.

Ace wanted to see just what Reaper's partner, Grim, was capable of.

He didn't know anything about the Shinigami's Demon besides the fact that they didn't always have a partner. Grim had shown up out of nowhere and even less was known about them then the already elusive Reaper.

Now he was about to see the both of them fight?

That would be fun!

"Master, it's been too long so I hope you don't mind if I let loose a little!" Maro grinned eagerly. Her dumb Master had gotten her this strong and left her with no one to spar with! How utterly inconsiderate of him!

Rosan's response was to modify the field around them. The floor turned into an arena with a barrier and the spectators seats were placed up high in a way that would protect them from collateral, while allowing them to still watch with little issue.

"Awesome!" Luffy gasped in awe.

"We should keep it like this," Sabo said and Ace nodded in agreement. It looked pretty damn cool right now and would make their training feel more... serious!

"Today is the day I finally get a win!" Maro grinned savagely, and her sharper than normal fangs, seemed to glisten. It may have been a trick to their eyes, but it looked like the white streaks in her hair were growing more numerous.

"She's never beat him?" Sabo wondered and Angel snorted.

"Nope not even once. Maro-chan hasn't been fighting for as long as Master. She's may be a prodigy but he is too."

"Mhm," Demon nodded in agreement. "Even with her Devil Fruit, Master still manages to comfortably beat her without issue. We have to listen to her whining all the time as a result."

"Devil Fruit? She has one too?" Ace asked in surprise before he noticed Maro's entire form changing.

"WHOA!" Luffy gasped with starry eyes at the transformation.

She grew a solid foot and now towered over, the formerly taller, Rosan. Her skin turned a light shade of green and her lithe figured grew much more muscular. The Princess' azure blue hair with pale streaks, turned fully white and her pupils vanished, showing her pure orange sclera.

"What is that?" Sabo asked in awe. He had never seen a monster like that before! What type of creature was it?!

"A Dokkaebi," Demon informed them, telling them about the mythical goblin.

"Wow, every time I hear about a new fruit, I realize how lame Luffy's is," Ace remarked smugly, much to the seven year old's outrage. If not for the prospect of the fight sufficiently distracting him, he would have jumped on Ace (to lose handily).

But Maro wasn't done.

Her earrings glowed and transformed into a white and blue battle dress with sleeves that stopped at her elbow and a skirt. She wore long, knee length white boots and long white gloves that met where her sleeve ended.

Seeing such a massive and intimidating monster wearing a battle dress, was actually very funny.

The Goblin Princess roared and summoned a massive wooden club.

"Hm. Not using your hybrid form?" Rosan asked curiously. His armband expanded and wrapped around his body, seamlessly forming into his own raid suit. The black coat moved in time with the wind and Ram transformed into a set of familiar black gloves. The redhead began idly stretching and his dim gaze began glowing slightly.

"Gotta ease into the performance, Master!" She rumbled and Rosan nodded along.

"I've taught you a little too well," he hummed and the two sized each other up.

Everyone watched with bated breaths at the two staring each other down, waiting for some unseen signal that would begin their battle.

A single leaf floated gently down and the moment it hit the floor —

The two burst into action.

A gigantic wave of blue flames shot towards Rosan, that was countered by the teen raising the floor into a wall. The flames began bathing the makeshift wall but didn't pierce them due to the redhead modifying its sturdiness.

He tensed his legs and vanished behind the wall, unseen by Maro, only to appear behind the giant goblin. He was about to take a swing with his left leg, but he suddenly pivoted on his right and delivered a strong punch behind him.

The crowds confusion, turned into surprise at hearing flesh connect to flesh and the image of the hulking Dokkaebi wavered a bit, before disappearing.

The grinning Dokkaebi suddenly appeared where Rosan punched and swiftly grabbed his outstretched arm before he could pull it back. She hoisted the smaller teen up by that one arm and tried to ruthlessly slam him to the ground.

Rosan wasn't going to let it be that easy though.

A massive tail burst from behind him and wrapped itself around Maro's neck mid fall and he slowly halted his downward momentum, due to trying to pull her down while she resisted. Rosan's tiny pupils turned into slits, as he opened his mouth, showing off his razor sharp teeth.

A burst of draconic fire made Maro instinctively release him, despite her raid suit being fireproof and she leapt back from the teen, after forcing him to unsummon his tail to avoid it getting grabbed by her unforgivable grip.

She cursed herself from the mistake but didn't dwell on it for too long because Rosan was already on the move again. Fighting him was such a pain because he hardly ever stopped moving.

The Dokkaebi squeaked, which sounded more like a roar, as a massive blast of energy nearly collided with her. She cracked the ground beneath her when she jumped high over the blast, only to gasp at seeing Rosan already there.

His gloves transformed into a pair of giant gauntlets and he delivered a double axe handle to the skull of the Goblin Princess.

Maro went careening towards the floor at rapids speed and crashed with a thunderous thud.

Rosan floated down gently, still on high alert, and transformed Ram into a bo staff just in time to block a tremendous strike from Daisy.

"Done messing around?" Rosan asked calmly and Maro, in her hybrid form, grinned.

"I can say the same to ya! Things are gettin too excitin for ya to be holdin back!" The green skinned hybrid grinned, slipping back into her old dialect and they broke off, leaping back a safe distance from each other.

Maro's entire outfit ignited in blue flames and Daisy followed suit.

"This is just sparring you know?" Rosan hummed before activating his boost. "If you want to go all out, either we fight in the mindscape, or my Pocket Dimension."

Maro ignored him and vanished from her spot.

The most annoying thing about fighting Maro, Rosan learned, was her tendency to abuse her invisibility with her ability to reposition herself with those blue flames.

"Modify: Vision," Rosan intoned calmly. It was not wise to fight Maro like this unless he modified his vision to view heat signatures.

The only issue, was that Maro had finally thought up a counter his eyes. That made ending the fight a tad bit more difficult.

The entire arena was engulfed in blistering flames and Rosan heard Ram suck her teeth in annoyance.

"Who told her to fight smart?" the weapon snarled and she transformed into a brilliant silver and black bow. "Take to the skies, Father."

Rosan was already moving. Without even thinking about it, he activated Shinigami and his Angelic wings burst from his back, allowing him to take to the skies with one flap.

Right now, the ground was Maro's domain but it was impossible for her to take the sky from him. He was much more mobile then she was and his wings allowed him to be more aerodynamic then her, in comparison, stiff flames. His former partner was well aware of that and if she came up here, it would be very bad for her.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be giving her a choice in the decision.

He aimed his silver bow, as if he already had an arrow drawn, and was satisfied to see energy beginning to form. The redhead began condensing it greatly, turning it into the shape of the ammo he was imagining.

His bow didn't actually have arrows to use and creating them would be a hassle, so he used the energy he gained from Germa combined with modification to form his own ammunition for the bow.

All the spectators gaped in awe at the battle they were currently watching. These two were amazing! They were putting on one hell of a show and the familiarity in which they fought, spoke of countless battles with and against each other.

"Those wings…" Sabo muttered, staring intently at Rosan's feathery appendages. Beautiful obsidian wings, that seemed to devour the light around them. That sounded oddly familiar.

Maro let loose a string of curses as it began raining destruction on the field in an attempt to hit her hidden form. She was forced to dodge arrow after arrow and she just knew Rosan could, and would, keep this up all day.

Curse her Master! This was cheating!

She would be playing right into his hands by doing this but she had no choice and that irritated her beyond belief.

That's what he was probably thinking at least. Too bad the princess wouldn't make it that easy for him.

Rosan blinked as flames suddenly appeared around him and above him, preventing him from going higher. He was forced to descend lest he get hit by them and they followed him, intention's made loud and clear.

They wanted him back on the ground.

Clever girl.

He was not aware Maro could control the location that her flames spawned so adeptly. She must have been keeping up with her training.

Good. Celadon needed a powerful queen.

The moment Rosan's feet hit the floor, he was attacked by Maro. The teen turned his weapon back into a bo staff and blocked the wild swing from the hybrid Dokkaebi. The ground beneath him began crumbling from the force of the blow and she began grinning wildly. To make matters worse, the flames from above were speeding up to crash into him.

The redhead was about to divert the force of her swing so he could gain distance but he lost some of his balance as Maro suddenly released her hold on the club and dove in to grab him. He caught himself and leapt back but the slight delay, gave her enough time to propel herself forward with her flames and wrap her arms around his waist.

Before he could react and find a way to break out, the bluenette hoisted him up and body slammed him into the ground with tremendous force, once, twice and three times before slamming him a fourth time and at the same time, her flames reached their destination, crashing into them both with a loud boom.

Maro blinked at the lack of sound the body should have made when hitting the floor before she realized that Rosan wasn't in her grasp anymore. Almost as soon as she made that realization, the ground itself began attacking her and the floor began moving to restrain her completely.

"What a bullshit Devil Fruit," she complained.

The Goblin Princess tried to make some distance, but a gauntlet covered hand grabbed her foot from underneath the ground and a previously shrunken Rosan burst upwards from the dirt, back to his original size. He took the flailing Dokkaebi and began flying with her in tow, dangling her so she couldn't properly hit him with full force.

As they reached a sufficient height, Rosan suddenly angled himself downwards and started plummeting with Maro still in his hand.

Maro groaned in defeat and tried to transform into her full zoan to throw him off a little but Rosan's grip was unforgiving. He didn't even seem to register the added height and weight and kept flying unimpeded.

This was gonna hurt.

A resounding boom reverberated throughout the clearing.

"Owww," Maro whined as the dust cleared. She had reverted back into her human form and Rosan had dispersed his wings.

"I think this is a good place to call it," Rosan commented calmly, stretching his body. Maro hit hard and his back did not appreciate those body slams.

"You only say that because you would be the winner," she groaned but didn't argue against it, glancing at him pleadingly.

Rosan picked the Princess up and she lazily sagged into his arms with a happy sigh. The redhead adjusted her a bit and palmed the floor so that he could repair all the damages.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" A voice screamed and Rosan watched two rubbery arms wrap around his neck. Luffy crashed into him with excited glee and the redhead glanced at him with a tiny smile.

"You two are so strong! That was so cooool!" The seven year old awed and Maro beamed.

The other's approached at a much more moderate pace.

"You've both improved," Angel praised. It was always impressive to watch how much stronger those two were than her.

"I'm proud Master, I thought I'd have to patch up Maro after you guys were finished," Demon smiled softly, eyes roaming the two to make sure they were perfectly in tact.

"H-HEY don't you mean the both of us?!" The princess whined.

"I've been learning restraint," Rosan hummed. He couldn't go around killing everyone in his normal fashion with the children watching.

"You literally slammed me from the sky, jackass!" Maro said in disbelief. That had not felt good at all! Did he think he could just slam anyone from that height and they'd survive?!

"You're durable. At worst, you have a small headache. You sure weren't complaining when you body slammed me four times with that monstrous strength of yours," the redhead pointed out and she crossed her arms.

"Still hurt and you're durable too. Do you know how hard it is to take you out of a fight? You're literally insane." she grumbled. She was convinced that unless you killed him or thoroughly incapacitated him, Master would continue to fight to his last breath.

"Rosan," Sabo suddenly called. "You're Reaper, right?" He asked and Rosan simply nodded, not seeing a reason to keep it secret from them any longer. Ace already knew anyways and they weren't allowed to hold back information from each other.

"That's right. Out of habit, I summoned my wings but there's no reason for me to hide it from you all," he told the blonde, who could only stare in wide eyes as he digested that information.

"I am Reaper and that is Grim," the redhead said, pointing at a grinning Maro.

Sabo looked between the two with wide eyes at the revelation. Ace's older brother was actually Reaper?! That was insane! No wonder he didn't care whatsoever about Bluejam and his crew!

The teen had been hunting pirates for years now as a sport! They really were nothing to him and he had a bounty of 500 million!

The redhead was incredibly dangerous. Sabo was glad he was their brother!

"What's a Reaper?" Luffy asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side.

"A mystery person," Rosan replied instantly, satisfying the boy. It was imperative that Luffy not know much about Reaper. The little boy absolutely would reveal his identity by mistake.

"Ah, okay," he replied with a nod and they all sweatdropped.

"So you are Grim," Ace muttered, looking at the princess in a new light. Despite looking like royalty, she acted anything but and she took Rosan's attacks like a champ.

"You're Ace right?!" Maro asked excitedly and she got close to the boy to shake his hand rapidly. "Nice to meet you! Master has told me so much about you!"

"He has?" Ace blinked before an embarrassed blush overtook his features. "I didn't say you could talk about me, Rosan!" The freckled boy grumbled in annoyance.

"Sorry, Angel and Maro are demanding." Rosan didn't sound sorry whatsoever but the two he mentioned, had the decency to look sheepish.

"I like to know anything and everything about Master!" Angel beamed and Maro nodded in agreement.

"We can tell you about ourselves!" The bluenette exclaimed excitedly. "Let's get food! I miss Master's cooking!"

Luffy immediately started salivating at the thought of food. "Let's hunt a deer! I want venison," the boy demanded and his brothers nodded.

"Hunt?" Angel and Demon blinked. They never expected her Master to so comfortably live like this but he had been wild as a child so this probably didn't bother him.

"Hunt?! I wanna come, lemme come!" Maro demanded, grinning eagerly at the prospect of chasing an animal. That sounded really fun!

"I can make a feast then," Rosan hummed. "I'll be using the White Rose to cook everything in that case. I should have extra food in there too. Angel, could you help me prepare everything while they hunt the food?"

"Of course!" Angel gushed. She got to spend time with Master and that was always a reward in her book!

"Demon, there is a capital over there and the 4 of us are not allowed in," Rosan began, taking out a large amount of money and handing it to the youngest triplet.

"You want me to buy drinks?" The purple haired teen asked, not even phased by hearing that the 4 brothers were banned. Based on what Master had told them, he was surprised that they were not outlawed on the entire island.

"No alcohol. If there's anything that catches your eye, feel free to buy it"

"Right, I need the walk anyways. I'm always cooped up in the hospital," Demon nodded. He just hoped the nonstop flirting didn't hold him up. He was much too nice to abruptly end conversations.

"PARTY!" Luffy exclaimed in joy, jumping at the thought of all the food.

"Oh right! We never got to see your ship!" Sabo exclaimed in excitement. He was gonna see an actual ship! He wondered how Rosan's ship looked? Knowing his oldest brother, there was no way it was going to be a normal ship.

"How much deer's do you think we'll need?" Maro asked Ace, who thought about it.

"A lot. We'll give one to the bandit's too so they don't bother us," he replied and the princess nodded excitedly.

"You're a lot different then most nobles," Ace pointed out, causing Maro to snort.

"Well for most of my life, I was actually homeless!" She exclaimed and his jaw dropped at the revelation. "Master found me around 2 years ago and I just became queen a few months ago because of him!"

Ace and Sabo's eyes bugged at that.

"I reacted the same way!" Maro gushed.

---

"Your ship isn't like anything I've ever seen before," Sabo commented through a large bite of food and Angel batted him gently on the head.

"Manners," she chastised the blonde but there was no point in trying to reprimand them really.

They were like wild animals and they barely listened to boot!

The three boys were violently stealing food from each other despite having their own hefty portion and it left Angel sweatdropping in exasperation.

Something told her these three were far too stubborn to be changed. Though, that wouldn't stop her... She needed to at least beat some manners into them.

She glanced in appreciation at Maro for not being as bad as she used to. The three boys had tried stealing from her and she almost retaliated but the Princess held onto her wits and just warded them off.

Demon smiled at the chaos going on, already finished with his portion and just watched the boys cause an absolute tear. They were even worse than Maro was when they first found her!

"I've modified it extensively," Rosan told them, effortlessly blocking the grabby hands of Luffy. "I don't think a ship like mine exists because no one has changed theirs as much as I did."

"It's pretty cool in here…" Ace admitted. It made him want a ship more than ever and he couldn't hide his anticipation for the day he became a pirate.

"We're sleeping in here tonight," Angel informed Rosan. "There's no way I'm sleeping in the same area as those damn bandits."

"Sleepover!" Luffy cheered and Ace was deep in thought.

"We've been meaning to move out of there anyways. We were gonna build a new hideout so we'll sleep here in the meantime," the freckled boy explained.

"Oh we can help! Angel and Master are good at stuff like that!" Maro beamed.

"They don't want me to use my Devil Fruit but I am still decently well at it," Rosan hummed.

"You're good at stuff like this?" Sabo asked Angel in wonder. Nothing about the girl screamed that she was good at building.

"Yep! I did a lot of the work on the ship and I got interested in it so I learned with the help of Master," Angel grinned. Demon had busied himself with medicine so she had often did his physical labor (much to his discontent) and Master was always moving about, never staying on the ship for too long until he was forced too. "I bet you didn't expect someone dressed like me to do things like that huh?"

Sabo nodded because truthfully, she was right.

The teen was dressed in an expensive, all white outfit. She had on a silk shirt that flared at the bottom and a skirt plus thigh high combo.

The female clone of Rosan was dressed in a way that would suggest the complete opposite of her interests. She even had on all white! That was so easy to get dirty!

All of Rosan's companions were really strange!

The three brothers liked them!

---

"Master! Luffy! Some woman and her grandpa, or very old boyfriend, are here for you!" Angel called out and Mayor Woop Slap spluttered at her casual rudeness.

"Actually, he's neither," Makino said kindly, looking at, what could only be described as, a female version of Rosan. The pretty redheaded girl eyed the two with disdain and looked Makino up and down in particular.

"What's your relation with my Master? Are you trying to seduce him?! He's too young for you, old lady!" she sneered, getting close to the shorter woman with a look that promised pain.

She was tall. Much taller than the duo standing before her.

"Old lady? I'm only 19," Makino muttered. Was it because of what she wore? Maybe she should update her wardrobe in that case...

"Have some manners for your elders, young lady," Woop Slap tried to reprimand and Angel sneered at him.

"I'll show you some fucking manners, you dirty, short, ugly old man," the teen growled. Woop Slap's eyes bugged at her choice of words and his face turned red in anger. Before he could open his mouth and cement the beating Angel was certainly going to give him, a blue blur quickly got in front of her to prevent the redhead from causing even more problems.

"Who decided that it was a good idea to let Angel greet them?!" A tired voice asked and Makino took in the sight of a kimono wearing, blue haired girl grabbing and placating the rude redhead.

The blue kimono was short and it showed off her strong, yet feminine, arms and legs. The other pretty girl had azure blue hair that was streaked with white, a tiara on top of it, and sapphire earrings that reminded her of Rosan's own set.

"I'm sorry for Angel," she told the two, with a strained smile on her face. "She takes a while to warm up to people and can come off as... difficult due to that. I'll be sure to talk to her about her bad manners later."

She held out a hand and said, "I'm Maro! You're here for Rosan, right? I'm his student!"

Makino smiled and took the offered hand in her own. "I'm Makino and this is Mayor Woop Slap! We met Rosan a while ago when he first came to our village!" She explained to the beaming bluenette.

"Woop Slap is a stupid name," Angel muttered and Maro put a hand over her mouth, only to yelp at the feeling of being licked. She rounded on the redhead with a glare and the middle triplet stuck her tongue out childishly.

The Mayor looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel and Makino had to stop herself from laughing.

"Makino!" A voice called excitedly and she held out her hands to catch the hyper Luffy. The boy crashed into her in glee and a much calmer Rosan followed suit.

"Greetings, Makino," Rosan nodded to the woman and she moved over to hug him, much to Angel's outrage. "I see you've met Angel and Maro."

"I have! You didn't tell me you knew such pretty people," Makino commented idly. "Is Angel your sister?"

"She is my clone but yes, I do like to refer to her as my little sister," Rosan commented and Angel couldn't help but glomp him in joy. He deftly caught her and she began snuggling him.

"Clone…?" Makino wondered.

"Yes. She is a clone of me. I have another one named Demon but he is not here due to having to attend to urgent matters back home."

"Maro's a Princess!" Luffy exclaimed. "That's why she can't join my crew!"

Maro sweatdropped at that but nodded her head. "Luffy please don't tell everyone that the first time you introduce me. It could get me in trouble in the future when you become a pirate."

Now she understood why Rosan didn't want him to know he was Reaper.

"You're a princess?!" Makino gasped in awe, appraising the girl before her. "Is that why you said you don't have to worry about money? Is Maro-san funding you?" Getting money from a princess would probably stop anyone from worrying about running out of it.

Maro and Angel both snorted in unison. "Hell no," the princess replied rather crudely.

"Master has had a ton of money long before we met!" The bluenette beamed. "Though, do you want me to give you money in the future? We're already pretty wealthy now, you know!"

Makino eyed Rosan in curiosity. Just who was the mysterious boy really?

"That won't be necessary, Maro. I want you guys to develop as much as possible in the coming years. Anything you want to give me, spend it on Angel or your island," the redhead responded, making his fellow redhead blush bashfully.

"Hmm. Alright but this isn't over! I will be useful to you in anyway possible and that includes collecting any money I want to give you!"

"Oh you!" Angel gushed to her face triplet and the green haired woman couldn't help but gawk at the complete 180 in personality.

"Master has her completely whipped," Maro whispered into her ear, shaking her head in confusion. "I don't get it! I'm her girlfriend but I can never get her under control like he does. She'll fight tooth and nail with me but once Master says something it's all "Yes, Master!" and I'm just grumbling in my corner about how unfair it is..."

"You two are dating?!" Makino whispered back in shock, looking between them. "That's so adorable!" She gushed and Maro blushed bashfully.

"We have to talk more about it later but for now..." the bartender tapered off, pulling out an array of clothing.

"I figured Garp didn't think about things like this so, I brought new clothes!" Makino beamed and Luffy laughed in excitement at the prospect of clothing.

"I got some for all four of you," the green haired lady said, looking at Ace and Sabo as well.

The two hidden boys looked confused for a moment but Sabo eventually grinned and made his way out, shooting a teasing grin at Ace all the while.

Ace eventually followed after Makino beckoned him and Rosan eyed the woman.

"I don't need clothes," the redhead said blandly and he pointed at his long sleeved red shirt as if to prove his point. "I have more than enough. Angel and Akemi made sure of it."

"But I went to the trouble to get you some…" Makino mock frowned at the tall teen. "You might as well add some more to your wardrobe!"

Rosan tilted his head at her and nodded. "Okay. Since you already have it, I'll accept it."

Makino and Maro both beamed, though the bluenette had a rather unsavory gleam in her eyes.

A few minutes later, a now shirtless, Rosan asked, "Is this part really necessary? Even if the clothing doesn't fit, I can make it without having to do unnecessary parts like this."

"No, I think this is perfectly fine," Maro said shamelessly, staring at Rosan without a care in the world. She idly checked around her mouth to make sure she wasn't drooling and gave herself a thumbs up at a job well done.

"I agree with Maro," Angel joined simply, also staring shamelessly. What? She could appreciate her master's good looks! He looked like her after all and she was damn good looking!

"You two are dating," Rosan pointed out flatly. "Mod-chan if you take over my body, everyone is gonna see you half naked," he informed the fuming woman. She had been rather inactive lately, but leave it to her to always want to protect his chastity.

"I don't have to transform."

"Down girl," Ram cackled, successfully holding the woman back.

Mod grumbled in annoyance but conceded.

"Exactly! We can both comfortably appreciate the sight because we're dating," Maro finished smugly and Angel nodded again. It was a win-win in their books.

"Can you blame them?" Makino giggled. She was personally giving him the clothing so that gave her the benefit of being the closest, a gift she didn't mind taking advantage of.

Years of harsh training, that Mod-chan reinforced, had ended up benefiting Rosan greatly. His body was honed from exercise and it translated into a muscular swimmer's build that Maro and Angel seemingly appreciated. Even Makino could admit that she was going a little slow on purpose.

"You're always wearing long sleeved clothing," Maro sighed sadly. "You should just go full shirtless some days. Reveal some skin!"

"We used to shower together."

"That was before your growth spurt! You were adorable then, not hot like now!" She complained. Damn it, she should have pretended to still be afraid of bathing alone...

"You two bathed together?" Makino asked in surprise.

"Yes. Maro was afraid of being left alone and she didn't know how to bathe properly so I bathed with her until Angel took my place. Then when she got her Devil Fruit, she began showering instead so she had to do it alone," Rosan explained and the green haired woman blinked at that information.

"Those days were chaotic," Maro mused fondly. "Angel remember when you hated me because you thought Master wanted to date me?! Look at us now!" she snorted and Angel had the decency to blush in embarrassment.

"I was angry and stressed and thought that Master could do way better," she said flatly and the bluenette laughed loudly.

"Well, it turned out for the best!" She gushed, hugging the taller girl and Angel rolled her eyes but returned it. That was until Maro registered the second part.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU THINK MASTER COULD HAVE DONE WAY BETTER?!" She gaped.

"Exactly what I said," Angel grinned mockingly.

"You are so full of it! How can you say that so confidently when we're dating?!" Maro glared at the redhead.

"I was just showing you pity!" Angel glared back.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CONFESSED!"

Their lover's spat was broken up by Ace assaulting Luffy and Sabo for making fun of him being so embarrassed at the ordeal.

The two offenders were laughing as they ran away from the infuriated 10 year old and the watching girls giggled at their antics.

"...Why haven't you put a shirt on me yet?" Rosan asked.

"Just a second," Makino reassured.

"Just be some eye candy for a little longer! The only times I see you shirtless are when I "accidentally" walk in on you changing," Maro demanded.

"I decide his outfits most of the time so I don't have that problem," Angel shrugged before pausing. "Wait. Why did you put so much emphasis on accidentally?! Maro you're such a shameless pervert goddammit!"

"Pervert?! Me?! I'm just a person who can appreciate clear beauty!"

Rosan nearly sighed. They were so ridiculous.

---

Makino cooked everyone a meal that night and all was going well. Rosan had offered to help her cook, but she had insisted that she could do it on her own and for him to just relax. The redhead had simply nodded and went to go do just that.

Luffy, Ace and Sabo were talking about becoming pirates, when Rosan suddenly tensed up.

The redhead's gaze snapped up to the entrance and Ram let loose a snarl.

"You again," she growled. The silver haired teen remembered vividly how effortlessly he had dealt with Rosan and her glare deepened.

No one toyed with her Father like that.

"Master…? What's wrong?" Angel asked, noticing his shift immediately and getting everyone's attention.

Rosan's only response was for Ram to transform into his gloves. That action put everyone who knew about his gloves, on edge. They knew just what he was capable of doing with the black combat gloves and Dadan dearly hoped he didn't destroy the entire hideout this time.

"You're still talking about crap like that?!" A gruff voice called out.

Luffy and Ace paled.

Rosan stared but didn't move. Angel moved over to make sure he was alright, as the teen watched everything that was happening.

"Outside," The 14 year old said suddenly, standing up and making his fellow redhead pause in worry. "Go outside so we can continue from last time or else this whole building will be caught in the crossfire."

The onlookers gaped at the insanity displayed by the redhead. Did he have no fear?! Garp had taken him out in two hits last time and he was still this hellbent on fighting him?

Garp looked at the redhead with an unreadable look in his eyes. "You're still trying to kill me, brat?"

"Of course. I will never forgive you for what you did until your name is written on a tombstone, or mine is," Rosan replied but he wasn't displaying any obvious anger this time.

The teen stepped past the giant man and made his way outside.

Makino was confused. Last time she saw the two, Rosan displayed no interest in fighting the old man… He was only interested in seeing his… brother, who lived with mountain bandits, for 10 years.

Ah, now she understood.

Garp grumbled something about being 10 years too early and unruly brats before he lumbered outside.

Everyone else followed suit. They would not want to miss this.

"Save us Rosan!" Luffy begged with tears in his eyes.

"Rosan's strong but the old man is a monster…" Ace muttered. He didn't think Rosan was going to win this.

"Do you need help, Master?" Maro asked, already prepared to summon Daisy. Monkey D. Garp was a monster of a Marine, even if the two of them teamed up and fought him with everything they had, it wouldn't be nearly enough but that didn't mean anything. If her Master wanted to fight, then she'd join him no matter what.

"No. Stay out of this. I'm the one Garp offended me so I'm the one who will deal with it," Rosan said blankly. Maro hesitantly nodded and anxiously spectated the upcoming fight. She hated seeing him get hurt while she could potentially help but it was his orders and she would obey.

"He lost so decisively yet he's talking like he doesn't care at all about that fact," Dadan thought in surprise. There was something wrong with her oldest brat and she hoped Garp didn't hurt him too badly... not that she cared about him or anything.

Ace explained the situation to a confused Makino and her mouth opened in surprise.

"Rosan… was trying to kill him?" The 19 year old asked in shock.

"Yeah, he was out for blood but he lost pretty one-sidedly," Ace muttered, staring intently. Rosan was fighting Garp because of him and he didn't know how he felt about that.

On one hand, Rosan was justifiably angry at the fact that Garp didn't properly take care of him. On the other, Ace didn't need anyone to defend him and despite his living conditions, he was fine.

But this was of Rosan's own volition and it was clear that he barely did things on his own accord now.

Ace would let him have this then.

"I'm not going to let this training drag out for long this time, brat," Garp grunted. "I've still got to train the other brats."

"Duly noted," Rosan said and a massive pair of reptilian wings burst from his back.

Without signal, Rosan took to the skies and his whole form began changing.

"Modification: Ragnarok."

"Seriously?!" Maro gawked at the sight of Rosan activating his draconic transformation. There was so much shrubbery and grass around! Was he trying to start a fire?!

"W-What's happening?!" Makino panicked, stepping back, despite the paralyzing fear trying to restrain her, at the sight of Rosan transforming into something overwhelmingly menacing.

Ace, Sabo and Luffy grinned eagerly. Rosan had told them he could transform into a dragon and now it looked like they'd finally be able to see it!

Garp only looked confused.

Just what exactly was this brat's Devil Fruit? What type of fruit allowed him to do all of this? Did he have a Mythical Zoan? That's what it looked like to the Vice Admiral. It's not like Kaido was the only Dragon in existence... perhaps this was just another type of mythical zoan that granted a different array of abilities...

Wouldn't Sengoku have mentioned a fruit like this though...? Ugh, he should have payed more attention to what he had to say.

A massive black dragon loomed above them all and a primal sort of terror ran through all but Garp's body.

Makino began to shake, as she instinctively tried to look for an area to run to, desperate to hide from that massive monster. He was huge, blocking their vision of the night sky and his obsidian black scales were streaked with red. Glowing, heterochromatic, eyes were focused on Garp but it felt like he was watching them all.

The 3 brothers stared at the dragon with wide eyes. This was nothing like the giant tiger in the jungle.

Rosan reared his head back and let loose a terrifyingly loud roar that they were sure all of Dawn Island could hear. There would probably not be anyone lingering outside for much longer.

"RAOGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"It's smaller than normal," Angel muttered and their gaze snapped to her in surprise.

"It's probably so he can maneuver easier," Maro reasoned and she nodded in agreement.

"He can get bigger?!" They screeched and the couple nodded.

"I think his max is like 40 meters," the redheaded clone said and they gaped at that information.

Rosan opened his maw and let loose a condensed amount of flames, solely wanting to target Garp. It wasn't his intention to burn down the forest so he'd need to exercise control of his flames while increasing the power behind them.

As the fire began to form, he concentrated on focusing the power into one precise point. This would reduce its area of effect but it would do much more damage to a target. Once he gathered the required energy, the dragon let the attack fly.

His laserlike flame shot out at massive speed towards the Vice Admiral like it had been shot out of a cannon. It seemed like the old man didn't have enough time to dodge the attack and it connected squarely with him causing an explosion of dust to shoot up.

Once the smoke settled, Rosan could only stare blankly at the utterly unharmed form of Garp. It's not that he had been too slow... he just decided to completely tank his attack with barely a grunt.

"What the fuck?" Ram said eloquently, staring at that monster with wide eyes. His outfit hadn't even been affected! What was this guy?! Was he... was he really this out of their league?

"That attack could pierce through steel and he just took it?" Rosan hummed. This was going to be bad. Unless he wanted to burn the forest down (this island was so lucky his brothers resided here), Ragnarok wouldn't be very useful right now.

As if to prove that he was more than fast enough, Garp vanished from his spot and appeared right on top of the Dragon. He was about to punch the flying reptile but the swipe of a tail momentarily distracted him.

Rosan tried to turn so that he could attempt to gouge Garp with his claws, but the old man prevented that by grabbing his swinging tail and, in a monstrous display of strength, the Vice Admiral jumped off the Dragon, appendage still in hand, and launched the creature into the ground with bruising force.

"Hm, so Ragnarok is a no go too," Rosan thought as he crashed into the unforgiving floor. It cracked beneath his weight immediately and the dragon instinctively snarled.

"Would the fight have been different if we weren't in the forest?" Ram mused. A lot of Ragnarok's options were limited due to watching out for the surrounding area and not wanting to cause a forest fire but she doubted a change of scenery would close the gap between the two of them.

"It would grant us more freedom to fly, but he can fly too and I'm sure he can keep up with us before we get out of his reach," Rosan replied, looking at the old man rocketing towards him. He experimentally tried to shoot a massive wave of flames upward but the man literally batted it aside and continued his course unimpeded.

Luffy's grandpa was a real monster.

Rosan could just accept his defeat here but that went against his character. He would never accept defeat until he was truly incapacitated or someone whose life he care about, was in danger.

Garp crashed onto nothing due to Rosan reverting back into his human form and the redhead launched himself backwards. Mid leap, Ram transformed into two double barrel pistols and he began firing a burst of bullets at the man.

The Vice Admiral looked impressed that Rosan was able to react so quickly and he began to tilt his body side to side to dodge every shot from the teens gun.

"You don't have to attack me every time you see me, brat," Garp commented in annoyance. He still had to train the other three brats and this one was taking up a lot of his time.

Rosan's response was to let loose a salvo of enhanced bullets on him. The old man dodged every single one and he tutted.

"How is he able to consistently do that?" Rosan did not have bad aim. On the contrary, he was quite adept at hitting things with his various artillery weapons, so it made no sense at all for Garp to have dodged every single one of his bullets.

The Vice Admiral sighed as the bullets stopped so that the redhead could transform it into a double barrel shotgun in order to continue his assault in a different way. Fighting this brat wouldn't get anything done. Garp could knock him out hundreds of times but he would continue to attack him until he was dead or stronger than him.

"Why didn't you come with us that day?" The Vice Admiral asked because this wouldn't be happening if Rosan didn't run away in the first place. The redhead was upset at him for not properly raising Ace but he was the one who chose to run away from that responsibility.

"I would rather die then put my trust in a group of people who would condemn a newborn for the sins of their parent. I was 4 and I had to watch my innocent mother die because of your organization. You think I don't know the cause of my mother's death? You think I don't know who caused it?" Rosan berated him quietly.

The ones who didn't know about Rosan's past, froze in shock at the revelation. They looked to Garp, hoping that what the boy said was not true, but the man was uncharacteristically silent.

Maro stepped back in surprise and tears brimmed in her eyes at the depressing information. Angel grabbed her shoulders and hugged the Princess as grief flooded the two. The middle triplet knew everything about her Master's past but it never stopped hurting when she had to think about his mother's fate.

Makino felt tears falling at the words Rosan said and how empty he sounded saying them. At only 4… he watched his mother die? She couldn't even fathom how much pain the boy must have been in and she wanted nothing more than to give him soothing words.

Sabo didn't have a good relationship with his parents but that looked to be the complete opposite with Rosan. He looked at the 14 year old in sympathy at the trials he probably had to go through and felt his determination to help him, deepen.

Ace had been told this already but that didn't make it easier to hear. His mother was a fantastic person who his older brother loved dearly and there didn't seem to be day where he wasn't thinking about her. The knowledge that he had failed her so completely, really didn't make his feelings to gramps more positive.

"Gramps, is that true?" Luffy asked sadly and the question seemed to take all of the fight out of the man. To hear his grandson ask that question... it was too much for even Garp.

Garp understood why Rosan felt that way perfectly and it made filled him with a weariness that truly showed his age.

He needed to approach this differently. If he didn't nothing would ever get done until Rosan achieved his goal or died trying. The redhead was surprisingly vengeful and it seemed like he was bad at letting things go.

Rosan watched as the old man got on his knees and bowed his head until it touched the floor.

Everyone witnessing had their mouths open in disbelief at the sight of Garp groveling near the teen.

"I'm sorry," Garp said gravely, not raising his head off the floor.

"You're... sorry?" Rosan asked softly and he tilted his head. Did he think... an apology was going to make up for what he had done? For what the Marines had done to him? Was he supposed to forgive all of them now for this one man's apology?

"Monkey D. Garp," the redhead called coldly. "All I ever wanted, was to spend my days with my loving mother and my baby brother in peace. All I wanted, was to be a big brother and to have the safety of my mother."

No one else said anything, afraid of interrupting the redhead, but emotions were high at the moment.

"But for 20 months, my mother, Portgas D. Rouge, was forced to endure the hellish process of pregnancy. Through sheer will. All because of you morally inept Marines. All because you wanted to kill my little brother. All because my little brother's birth was considered a sin to the entire world. My same little brother who was condemned to death the very moment he was born."

"I never wanted it to be like this," Garp said quietly.

"Bullshit," he snarled in a burst of anger and everyone reeled back in surprise, not expecting to hear genuine anger in his, normally neutral, tone. "You only knew about Ace because he told you right? Before he got killed, he must have asked you to save him and that's how you knew. But you only came 20 months after his death," Rosan said and his pressure began unintentionally leaking.

Mod's eyes widened in a staggering amount of dread, as a realization hit her like a freight train.

"Why didn't you come earlier? I was two when the Marines announced their presence and you came on the day Mom was giving birth. How did you know she'd be giving birth that day? You knew about our existence, Garp. You are one of the strongest and most respected Marines in the world, yet you condemned my mother to death when you could have saved her."

"...I couldn't. This was a direct order from the Fleet Admiral and not even I could do anything about it," Garp replied truthfully and the redhead stared at him. "I never agreed with the idea that they should be killing newborns on that island but my hands were tied so all I could do was sneak over when she was finally ready to give birth."

"I had no idea you watched your mother die that day," the Hero of the Marines told him gravely.

"Of course I did. How do you think I knew to run away from you?" The redhead asked rhetorically. "While my mom suffered, I could only think "Why do the Marines want my little brother dead so bad?" and that made me realize I couldn't ever trust them. After all, how could I ever put my trust in the same group of people that played such a strong hand in my mother dying?"

"But despite my hatred for you all, Ace didn't have any of that hatred," he said softly, getting a gasp out of his freckled brother. "Ace was a newborn and I was four years old. I had the knowledge of who caused Mama to die, but he didn't. Not only that, I would never be able to properly take care of him while sailing the dangerous seas because truthfully, I couldn't even properly take care of myself. But, I would never go with you."

Garp understood that and so, he said nothing. What could he say? There was nothing that could come out of his mouth, that would make the situation more favorable for him and honestly, he deserved this because the corruption of some Marines was something he could only watch as a reluctant bystander.

"Mama's last wish for me, was to help Ace grow into an amazing person," Rosan reminisced. He would never forget her last words. He had vivid dreams about them, he replayed it in his mind every time he laid his eyes on his younger brother, and the guilt of failing her, made sure they would remain with him forever.

"I couldn't do that in the condition I was in. I was four and I just lost my mother. I would never have been able to properly raise Ace into the man she wanted him to be," he concluded. It would have been impossible. A little baby was not meant to sail the seas with someone completely unfitting for it. Rosan's life was already dangerous without the child but with him? They'd both have died and not even Mod would have been able to prevent it.

Hearing it like that, Ace understood Rosan's points completely now. He couldn't find it in himself to blame his older brother for doing what he did because the freckled boy would surely react the same way. The only difference is that he'd have taken his little brother and gotten them both killed... something Rosan wanted to avoid at all costs.

"So against all my better judgment, I chose to trust you despite what you were apart of. Trust that you could raise Ace better than I could because Mom trusted you. I trusted that you could honor Mama's words better than I could because I already failed to remain with him."

Rosan spoke quietly but everyone could hear every word he said. They hadn't missed a single word he had said and some couldn't even hold back their silent tears.

"But you failed."

They winced at that statement. Rosan's voice was flat and to the point and it conveyed none of the suffering he had been through. The burst of anger that had momentarily appeared, vanished without a trace.

"My mother spent 20 months of agony making sure Ace was able to live, but my ten year old brother is questioning whether he should be alive or not."

Dadan flinched in guilt at that, remembering vividly all the times she had spoken so cruelly about the freckled boy. Of course he was a troubled child, every single day someone was telling him the son of Roger was better off dead but she still went out of her way to say those things. It was a small miracle that Rosan had chosen not to kill them when he had caught them that day.

"Whatever happened to me, I deserve because this is the life I chose. But Ace never chose this life and you're the one to blame for forcing him to live like this," Rosan finished and the pressure suddenly vanished.

"I'm a failure and that's why I trusted you with him. I just never expected you to be a bigger failure than me."

The teen was done talking and he stared at the unmoving Garp. The Vice Admiral still had his head connected to the floor and it had remained that way throughout his entire speech.

"I thought just guaranteeing his safety would have been enough," Garp suddenly said and he truly did sound his age at that moment. "As long as he's safe and away from the World Government's eyes, he can have a semi normal childhood. That's what I thought but it wasn't enough."

"You're right, Ace deserved to live his own life, free of his Father's sin but he wasn't able to escape it." The Vice Admiral sounded grave and there was no mistaking the guilt. "If I could do something different, I would but it's too late to change what's already done."

"But that doesn't mean you aren't right. I spit in you and your mother's face and I truly am sorry for that. I know that's not enough for you to forgive me so if you want to attack me, do it. I won't try and stop you or resist. It's the least you deserve," the old man said and that was that.

Rosan stared at him with a tilted head, as he digested that information. Then, he pointed his gun at the man.

"If I shoot you here, you'll just accept your death?" The redhead asked quietly and he heard a few gasps in the background.

"That's right."

A truth. Garp was fully prepared to die right here at his hands.

He truly did regret his actions. Perhaps he always had and the redhead was the only one willing to call him out on it. Rosan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His grip never loosened and some of the onlookers were already getting prepared to look away from the no doubt gruesome sight.

Meiko would have given him another chance without any hesitation. If he truly did regret his actions, then the blonde would have let him prove it. She was incredible like that, always willing to allow a person to become the best version of themselves.

He would know that best.

Besides, Ace was getting better now and he was seeing the value in his own life.

Makino let out a breath she didn't know she was holding at the sight of Rosan's double barrel shotgun transforming back into that beautiful amethyst ring that he never took off. At least she knew the reason he always had it on now.

"I won't try and kill you anymore," Rosan spoke softly, turning away from the groveling Vice Admiral. "There's no point. You understand the gravity of what you've done and you have a proper amount of regret. Besides, despite everything, you're still two of my little brothers grandpa and I wouldn't want to execute you in front of them. No one deserves to watch family die."

They flinched at that last statement, knowing that he was speaking from experience.

"I'm going to sleep. The events of today have left me drained," Rosan said blandly and he walked off to where he kept his ship. He hadn't spoken for that long in a while and on top of that, he had spilled his heart to them.

Angel and Maro quickly chased after the teen, but not before the bluenette left him some words.

"Master has given you an opportunity to earn his forgiveness! I've never seen him spare anybody!" Maro whispered encouragingly and she patted him on his back. "He's actually pretty understanding so just don't screw up like this again and he'll eventually warm up to you!"

With that, the bluenette rushed off to catch up to the other redheads.

"Are you okay, Garp-san?" Makino asked, rushing over to the groveling man and forcing him to stand up.

Garp remained silent for a moment and then stuck a finger in his nose and simply said, "Man, I really thought I was gonna die!"

They face planted at his nonchalance but just chalked it up as Garp being Garp.

The old man looked at where Rosan disappeared and let loose a sigh.

He doubted their relationship would ever get better than that but at least he was past the homicidal part. That was probably the best the Hero of the Marines could ask for.

That was one brat dealt with at least.

"What were you three saying about being pirates?" Garp rumbled threateningly to the remaining brothers. They looked like they were about to go pursue the oldest boy but Garp's voice, froze them in their tracks.

"RUN!" Ace said and they took off.

"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN TEACH YOU A LESSON, BRATS!" Garp roared and he pursued after them.

---

"Rosan, how do you feel?" Mod asked seriously.

"Nothing," Rosan responded. "I felt a burst of anger but it vanished quickly."

"At least we're making some progress," she smiled softly.

"You're speaking again. You've been quite silent these past few days," Rosan pointed out. She could speak to him about anything and his partner knew that. If she didn't talk to him about it yet, that meant she wasn't in the mood to do so and he'd leave her be.

"I... I was just preparing my thoughts. There's something that I want to talk to you about and I'm almost ready so be patient with me until then," the woman explained quietly. She had wanted to discuss something with him, but there was new information that was far more urgent.

"Of course. Take your time."

The redhead didn't miss the nervousness in her tone but he wouldn't point it out.

"Master!" He heard Angel call and the clone crashed into him in worry. He steadied her easily and glanced at the jogging Maro behind her.

"I… I didn't know you went through that," the princess said quietly. She realized that she didn't know a lot about her Master's past besides some information about his deceased lover, Meiko.

It didn't feel good.

"My past is not one I'm proud speaking of," the redhead told his student truthfully. Him and Maro were very close but she didn't know much at all about what he had been doing before meeting his future right hand. It wasn't necessary for her to know and she had never prodded him, probably due to Demon telling her how sensitive it was.

"I-I can understand why," the bluenette said, but she still looked upset. "No one should ever have to go through what you did, Master," Maro whispered and she joined the hug.

"I appreciate your words and I agree. What I went through would break many people but I had Mod-chan to worry about that kept me steady enough and then I met Robin and she really helped me," he explained.

"Robin? You mean Nico Robin?" Maro asked, recalling the highest priced bounty poster of the Blue Seas. She had always wondered why the two had never hunted her down considering how much she was worth but her Master had just mentioned that it was very likely she had already relocated to the Grand Line and they would not be going there yet.

"Yes, we traveled for 4 years together before getting separated. Sometime after that, I created Angel and Demon and traveled with Meiko."

She really didn't know anything about her Master.

"Master, could you tell me more about yourself?" She asked curiously.

Rosan hummed and nodded. "You deserve to know more about me. Let's go talk on the ship."

Maro grinned happily at that.

She loved her Master!

---

Rosan had to wonder how he always ended up at the bottom of these sleep piles.

"It's getting cold and you radiate a lot of body heat," Mod supplied helpfully. She would know best, Rosan was a fantastic teddy bear in their always freezing mindscape (even if she regulated her own temperature like him).

"You're comfortable to cuddle and you're tall," Ram added.

It had started since the four brothers began sleeping on the same bed. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were horrendous bed partners and it almost looked intentional the positions they ended up in while they slept.

Rosan always got the short end of the stick due to it too. It was probably because he was the tallest.

Now Angel and Maro were added to the mix and the teen once again suffered for it.

Maro had always been clingy since the moment he took her aboard the ship. She slept in his room near nonstop and used the excuse of wanting to enter his mindscape, for more training, to get away with it.

Not like Rosan would have denied her anyways.

Though, with her Devil Fruit it became a lot harder to break out of her grasp when she got particularly hug happy in her sleep. Due to Dokkaebi's being fantastic wrestlers, the bluenette had acquired quite the grip.

Angel never slept with him but apparently, she was just as clingy. Rosan's left arm was completely trapped due to his face triplet and he thought to himself that her and Maro really were perfect for each other.

She didn't even need sleep.

Coupled with the fact that his brothers were laid haphazardly on his body, Rosan found that he wouldn't be moving anytime soon.

If he did, he'd wake all of them up and he didn't want to do that.

"Come in the mindscape so we can cuddle you instead!" Mod beamed.

"Yeah! Auntie and I are way better!" Ram grinned.

"You are not better, Ram. You nearly suffocated him one time."

"He lived!"

"He can't die in the mindscape!"

"So I can do what I please!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

This repeated back and forth until Mod grabbed Ram's cheeks and Rosan simply closed his eyes.

He was going back to sleep.

---

"We should use this tree to make our hideout," Sabo mused, looking at the massive tree in awe. It was easily the biggest tree in the forest and it would suit their needs perfectly.

"Good choice!" Angel praised and she looked it up and down. "Do you have materials? I know you don't want Master using his Devil Fruit because that would take the effort out of it and I agree! There's nothing like crafting something with your two hands."

The redhead clone was the only one still here due to Maro having to attend to her royal duties. The bluenette had complained nonstop about it but one kiss on the cheek, had been enough to assuage her.

That just left Angel to help with the construction of their hideout.

The brothers decided on making a hideout after Garp decided to discipline them with "training" which was really just him beating the three boys down.

"There's a whole area where we can get them!" Sabo beamed and Angel hummed in contemplation.

"If you mean the Grey Terminal… I'm not going there." The redhead recoiled in disgust at the thought of that place. It smelled terrible and there was a lot of creeps there who kept leering at her.

Maro had almost put someone in the grave when they attempted to get grabby with the two.

"R-right," Sabo said, remembering the man's head embedded in a wall very well.

Maro hadn't even transformed to deliver that blow…

"Master you and I can refine this layout that Sabo drew while they go collecting," Angel hummed and Rosan handed her a pencil.

"Yes! We're gonna make the best hideout ever!" Luffy cheered excitedly.

"We need traps too," Ace grinned.

"Lethal?" Angel asked curiously and they sweatdropped.

"N-no. They don't need to be lethal."

"Kay," she chimed and began jotting on the piece of paper. Rosan, knowing his brothers well, would occasionally input some info that had her quickly editing her plans.

Angel was dressed in a white tee that exposed her midriff and some comfortable black sweatpants. It was the most carefree they had ever seen her dress so far!

"You're actually pretty toned," Ace praised, looking at the tall clone up and down. He hadn't expected the dainty clone to have a fit figure but then again, he hadn't expected her to be interested in carpenting either.

"I'm just stealing Master's hard work," Angel dismissed, looking at her own frame. She wasn't as fit as Rosan or Maro but she still had the look of someone that regularly kept up their hard work.

"Rosan's hard work?" Sabo asked curiously.

"Angel's appearance is based on how I would look as a girl," Rosan said softly and Luffy looked at the oldest brother.

"You're a girl?" He asked dumbly and Angel snorted.

"Are you sure about having Luffy be your captain, Master? I think Sabo is a safer choice," the clone said dryly and Sabo beamed happily at the fact that he was seen as the best choice by Angel too.

"I'm a boy, Luffy but when I'm helping Angel out, I turn myself into a girl to make it accurate to her needs," he said slowly and he was sure the seven year old didn't fully get it but at least he got an idea.

"You'll see it eventually. Since I'm still a growing boy, I have to actively change Angel and Demon as well so my female form will make an appearance," he said and the three nodded in curiosity.

"Now go get us the materials!" Angel demanded, still jotting sketches on the paper. She wasn't planning on making anything advanced, but she did want it to be comfortable and durable.

The three saluted and they took off in excitement.

"I've never seen you so excited to help someone that isn't Demon, Maro or me," Rosan remarked and Angel glanced at him in confusion.

"Well if they're your little brothers, then that means their basically mine! What type of older sister would I be if I didn't help my little brothers out?" she scoffed and Rosan simply stared at her for a moment.

"U-unless you think otherwise. I-I mean I am just a clone of you a-and I'm not the one who drank the sake with them…" Angel mumbled in embarrassment.

Rosan simply patted her on the head in a reassuring manner.

"Stop being silly, Angel," Mod soothed. Honestly, she had no idea why they had such random bursts of being intimidated by Rosan. He only wanted their best interests.

"I've called you my little sister on multiple occasions, why are you suddenly having doubts? You are my sister," Rosan stated, leaving no room for argument.

Angel teared up a bit at that and smiled brilliantly.

"Of course, silly me!" She beamed and the haughty teen tried to wipe her eyes.

"Alright, enough of that let's get started! Get everything ready for me!"

"Okay."

---

What would have normally taken them two weeks to build their hideout, only took one with Angel assisting the boys.

The clone didn't want to interfere too much with their vision so she kept it simple and just instructed them on the proper way to do things, with a little physical assistance here and there (mostly when it was Luffy doing something). With her help, what would have been a shoddy hideout turned out to be something much more comfortable and stable!

Their new base sat high in the tree, nestled comfortably in one of the branches, and it was large enough to house a good amount of people. It was made of wood and on the inside was the large bed that the four used at Dadan's.

On the very top of the tree, a flag said ASLR and Angel couldn't resist smiling at how childish it was.

It had been a long time since their former leader had deigned to act childish and she was glad that the kids were forcing him to do so. He deserved to be the kid he actually was every once in a while.

"Thank you, Angel," Rosan told his clone softly and he grabbed her into a hug. She flushed happily and returned it, only to yelp, as two tiny figures and a reluctant Ace, crashed into her too.

"Thanks, Angel!" The three chorused and the 14 year old's face turned as red as her hair.

"I-It's nothing," she stammered in embarrassment. "That's what big sisters are for!"

"Big sister?" Luffy tilted his head, before nodding rapidly. "Oh yeah! You're Rosan's sister so you're our sister!"

"That's true!" Sabo laughed and Ace nodded along with the two.

Ah, Angel didn't think she'd ever like other humans but these three had managed to prove her wrong.

"I see why you're so fond of them now, Master," the girl mumbled and Rosan pat her head.

"They are all pretty unique aren't they?" He hummed before they broke off the hug.

"Let me take you back to Celadon. Maro probably misses you terribly and knowing her, she's about to push Demon to his limits," Rosan said and Angel cackled.

"Good! Rebellious little squirt has been out of control lately! I swear its the attention he's been getting from all our citizens…" the redhead paused and a look of horror crossed her face.

"Does... Does he have a girlfriend?!" The middle triplet gasped. Was she the one telling Demon to disrespect his twin like this?! Oh when Angel got her hands on that broad, she was so dead, regardless of what her adorable little brother had to say!

"I doubt it. Demon is focused on his career and doesn't have time for that," Rosan replied but she wasn't listening anymore.

"I need to interrogate him! Take me back!" Angel demanded. "Bye you three! I'll have Master bring you all to Celadon one day and I can show you around!" The clone waved before dragging a compliant Rosan away.

"You don't have to drag me... I can just teleport us you know?" Rosan informed her.

"Then hurry up! I've got to tell Demon he's better than whatever he's dating!"

"But he isn't dating anyone."

The three brothers watched as Angel ignored everything Rosan said and they vanished from sight.

"We should check to make sure Angel didn't make those traps lethal," Sabo mused.

"She wouldn't do that… I think," Ace replied.

"Angel definitely would!" Luffy laughed and the two sighed at that.

Yes, yes she would.

---

Rosan was at the Party Bar again, helping out the sole bartender there and giving the aggressive patrons their orders.

"Angel and Maro left? I liked talking to them," Makino sighed sadly.

The 19 year old really was lonely. She had been spending a lot of time with the couple and the three seemed to get along fine.

"Maro has her duties to attend too and she doesn't like being too far from Angel," Rosan said softly and he took a bite out of his pasta. "Next time they visit, I will be sure to tell you."

"Thank you!" The green haired woman smiled in appreciation. "But I didn't know you had a student, or that she was a princess!"

There was a lot she didn't know about him. He didn't talk about himself very much, content to let her lead the conversations.

"She was my student first," Rosan informed her. "But, she was too attached too me and it was getting unhealthy. A situation arose where I could make her a princess, so I took it."

"You made her a princess…?" Makino blinked at that. The teen before her was becoming more and more mysterious as the days went by. His life was shrouded in darkness and she didn't think anyone knew much about it besides Angel and Demon.

She was reminded of the conversation he had with Garp and the woman bit her lip sadly.

"Rosan… Was everything you said to Garp-san… Was that true?" She asked hesitantly and his empty gaze looked up to land on her. There was no shine or emotion at all in Rosan's gaze and it felt wrong. Now that she knew some of what he had gone through, she wanted nothing more for those uncanny eyes of his to have something.

"Of course. I would never make something like that up."

"N-No I didn't mean it like that!" She waved her hands in a placating manner despite knowing he wasn't actually upset. "I just… I can't believe some of the things that happened to you because t-that's so sad."

Her voice turned shaky at the memory. When Rosan was just four, he had been forced to watch his mother die? The thought made Makino want to throw up and she was beginning to understand why the redhead always seemed so lifeless.

That night when she had made it home, she had cried herself to sleep because of the altercation between Garp and Rosan. The redhead had lost so much in such a short span and to come back and realize none of it was worth it...

Well, she would be angry too.

"It's been ten years, I appreciate the concern but you don't need to be upset on my behalf," Rosan dismissed and he took another bite of his food.

She wanted to protest but she felt her throat lock up and just dropped it.

They remained silent for a couple of minutes and Makino was the one to break it again.

"You're not a failure," she said suddenly.

"Hm?" Rosan tilted his head and he regarded her with those hauntingly beautiful eyes.

"You called yourself a failure when you spoke to Garp-san but... I don't think you're a failure. I think you tried to do what was best for everyone and it didn't work out," she said firmly and Rosan stared at her.

"Makino, with all due respect," the teen whispered and his dual eyes locked her firmly in place. "You don't know anything about me to decide that on your own. I appreciate your words but to my ears, they sound hollow and hold no value at all to me."

She flinched at the harshness of his words but she knew that he was just speaking his mind. He didn't actually mean anything rude by it.

"Even so… I know enough!" She said. "You came here just to make amends with your little brother and it's working! You got angry on his behalf and you made Garp of all people apologize! I've never seen him do that!"

"You might have failed before, but that doesn't make you a failure, Rosan. I don't think a failure would be able to do the things that you can!" She encouraged and the 14 year old stared at her.

"Thank you," he eventually said and he closed his eyes. "You've given me a lot to think about."

"She's right Rosan… You're anything but a failure," Mod said quietly.

"You can never be a failure because you made me!" Ram agreed solemnly.

"…" Rosan said nothing because there was nothing he could say that would change their minds.

He let his anger get the best of him and because of it, Meiko died. If he had been even a little more rational, he would have prioritized getting her out of there and then dealt with all the enemies.

But he didn't. In his anger, he sought to satisfy himself immediately.

Because he was selfish. That cost him. He always talked about how his emotions got in the way of things and time and time again, he let them interfere regardless.

Makino didn't know what she was talking about because she didn't know anything about him. She didn't know who Portgas D. Rosan really was so how could she ever decide what he was?

His allies could say whatever they wanted but that wouldn't change the truth of the matter. Twice now, he had to watch someone he loved died and it was because of his own incompetence. His goal had been to keep his loved ones safe and he couldn't do it.

Of course he couldn't do it.

He was a failure.

---

"You wanted to talk to me, Mod-chan?" Rosan asked quietly. It was currently just the usual three inhabitants of his mindscape, due to his Devil Fruit wanting to discuss something with him.

She was trying to hide how nervous she looked but Rosan and Ram could see right through her. The redhead had shot his weapon a look to see if she knew anything but she simply shook her head no, just as lost as he was.

So they were both in the dark...

"Y-Yes I wanted to t-talk —" she coughed a bit to gather herself and let loose a deep sigh. "Rosan... as you probably realized, I haven't been very... active lately," Mod began nervously. He wasn't used to seeing his long time partner so shaken up so whatever she wanted to talk to him about, it must have been urgent.

"Well, I was actually... looking into the castle," she explained quietly, not making eye contact with either of the teens there. "Do you remember the burst of anger you felt when confronting Garp a few weeks ago?" Mod asked softly.

Rosan simply nodded, choosing not to say anything and only making her more anxious as a result.

Ram was much more merciful. "Auntie...? Are you alright? I've never seen you so shaken up before and it's making me nervous. It's like you've seen a ghost!"

Mod forced herself to calm down and smiled slightly at Ram, assuring her that she was fine. She looked back at Rosan again and sighed wearily. There was no way to sugar coat this...

"There are two versions of me," she told them bluntly, choosing to rip the band-aid right off instead of skirting around it.

Ram's jaw dropped at the revelation. W-What the hell did her Auntie just say?! When she said two versions... did she mean Father? Surely that's what she meant, right?!

"Two versions of you? Like an alter ego?" Rosan questioned with a raised brow. "How is that possible? I've known you since I was four and you've never even once indicated that you have another —"

The redhead paused and Mod's dread only grew as he seemingly came to a realization. His piercing gaze landed on her and he simply said, "Explain."

She wondered what revelation he had come to but he likely wouldn't tell her until she finished explaining herself.

"Alter ego used to be accurate... but things have changed. It requires me to tell you more about my past," Mod explained wearily. There was a reason she didn't like talking about her past with her son... it wasn't something she was proud of and she was much too happy with Rosan to ever think about the life she had without him.

Ram and Rosan both nodded, allowing her to continue unimpeded.

She let out a deep sigh.

Sometimes she was thankful that Rosan had no emotions. If he did, he'd be rightfully furious with her.

"Last time, I told you all how I was given a will of my own due to Vegapunk's tampering with my Devil Fruit. He combined me with some sort of A.I to make up for the fact that the blank zoan had no consciousness."

They nodded, remembering well what she was talking about.

"What I failed to mention was that the A.I had... a virus connected to it," Mod explained gravely. "I don't know if it was intentional on his part, but that virus is my alter ego. They are... nothing like me at all."

The silence after her statement was deafening. Not even Ram had anything to say and she opted to look at her aunt with a wide eyed gaze.

"So this virus is what's been killing all your previous wielders," Rosan concluded intelligently. Mod had admitted herself that she had no emotions before meeting him. But somehow, she was capable of deciding whether her wielders were worthy or not? He had not pressured her because it was her place to tell him but he always knew something was odd about it.

"Yes, that's right," Mod nodded, seeing no point in hiding it anymore. "I... didn't want the virus to get their hands on you because I wanted you to survive at all costs, so when I was making the mindscape, I forcefully separated the two of us and sealed them away."

"It failed," Rosan pointed out and the purple haired woman frowned.

"Being the majority of the Devil Fruit, I'm stronger than they are by a fair margin. I don't know how they managed to escape..."

The redhead simply hummed. "How did they kill your previous wielders?"

Mod shuddered a bit. "They... the virus begins to poison your mind with insidious thoughts. They make it seem natural but eventually, it gets more and more bold. Then, when you are at your most vulnerable, they whisper sweet nothings to you so that you may give up to them and then wreak havoc with your controlled body, heedless of the damage your body is taking in the process."

The redhead digested that information and it confirmed some of his hunches. "This virus... they were never sealed in the first place. You were fooled," he explained to her bluntly. He wasn't sure how Mod-chan never noticed but it was possible that the virus knew how to avoid her. They were the same person after all.

The woman's eyes went wide at that. "I was... fooled? But how are you so sure?" What did Rosan notice that she didn't? She wasn't privy to every single one of his thought processes because that was just too intrusive, even for her.

"I could be wrong, but I'm sure that I've been dealing with those same insidious thoughts since I was four," Rosan told her and her heart dropped to her stomach. "It was seemingly natural at first considering my circumstances... but when I got captured, I'm assuming this virus got more bold due to you not being there to detect them."

When he was on Daybreak, those insidious thoughts grew more and more rampant. Some of it was natural but that's what made the virus all the more dangerous. They had snuck in their own influence into the natural thoughts and he had been none the wiser. In fact, it was probably the virus that had directed his ire towards Robin in the first place. It had taken that one small piece of doubt he had towards his best friend and, knowing how much he loved her, used it as the forefront of his hatred.

That was unforgivable. When the redhead found this virus, they would pay. Using Robin against him proved that they would never be an ally, because that meant they knew how much he had cared about her.

Mod felt her heart breaking at the revelation that her virus had always been free. Had it been waiting for the perfect opportunity to corrupt Rosan? Daybreak was the greatest chance they would have due to the purple haired woman being incapacitated so why didn't they?

The Devil Fruit had never resisted the impulses of the virus but when it came to Rosan, she would absolutely make sure they never took over.

Unless... maybe their goal wasn't to kill Rosan? They may have been restrained by the seastone... but Mod could see no logical reason why the virus had opted to go inside of the castle.

"It needs my emotions to successfully take me over," he concluded, interrupting her thought process. "You've never found it? Where is it?"

Mod closed her eyes and her feature turned weary. "It's... it's in the castle. I'm sure of it," she replied quietly. When Rosan had let loose that burst of anger against Garp, she had felt them. She couldn't mistake that destructive familiarity.

"That's... problematic," Rosan hummed. "Why did you take so long to tell me about this? If you had informed me of your alter ego before the castle formed, I could have told you about those insidious thoughts much sooner. They've been plaguing me since Mom died."

"You had too much on your plate already," Mod immediately replied. "The virus... they're not someone I ever wanted you to meet. I was hoping to find a solution to them without ever dragging you into it."

"But look where that got you," Rosan reprimanded her and she flinched guiltily. "They've been hiding this whole time and they snuck into the castle when it formed. Now if I want my emotions, I'll have no choice but to confront them. When that time comes, I wonder what you'll do because I already know what I'm going to do."

Ram froze in disbelief. "...Father? W-What are you implying?" Surely he wasn't... surely he wasn't doubting Auntie, right? She had never seen him doubt her. Not even once! Those two were always on the same wavelength so this was absurd!

"Mod-chan, would you so willingly get rid of your alter ego if it meant saving me? Would you let me get rid of them if those were my intentions?" Rosan asked curiously, never once taking his eyes off of his surrogate mother.

Mod froze completely at that accusing question, not expecting Rosan of all people to doubt her. It hurt so much more than she expected it too, despite knowing this was a possibility. "I... I would never betray you, Rosan. You are my life a-and I just didn't want to add more to your already full—"

"Answer the question, Mod-chan," Rosan interrupted coldly. "Would you let me get rid of them? Can you say with confidence, that you wouldn't interfere if I tried to eradicate the virus? Because that's what I'm going to do."

"Eradicate...?" Mod whispered in surprise. Rosan had already written the virus off as a lost cause...?

"You chose to seal the virus away instead of completely getting rid of them, despite knowing the threat they pose to me. Why is that?"

Nobody knew his Devil Fruit better than he did, not even this virus. But he was sure that the virus knew one thing.

Mod-chan couldn't get rid of them. Not because she was weak, but because they were connected to each other. It was very likely, that the woman who raised him, cared for the virus.

Rosan knew she loved him, that was never in doubt. But would Mod-chan get in the way of him trying to eliminate this virus? If she did... then not even he could tell you what would happen.

"I... I don't know," she confessed guiltily. She truly didn't know the answer to that question.

No matter the situation, she would always choose Rosan, but would she allow him to kill someone who had been with her for as long as she could remember?

"Then let me ask another question," Rosan said softly. "Will you deal with them?"

The woman blinked in shock and he pressed on.

"Will you handle the virus? Even without my interference? Can I trust that you have this handled despite past mistakes?"

Rosan never once questioned his trust in her. Mod had always had his unconditional trust, so to hear that question, brought her to tears.

But she deserved this doubt. She hid crucial information from him after all.

Mod hardened herself and nodded strongly. "I will. You don't have to worry. I'll deal with the virus and you deal with getting your emotions back. Once that castle opens, we'll deal with both the issues inside of it."

The virus was undoubtedly a threat to her son. But... it was clearly not trying to kill Rosan. When the time came to confront them, Mod would try and glean it's motives before coming to a decision. If she let the redhead deal with it, he'd do everything in his power to destroy her. He was already near her in strength and in the upcoming years, he'd surpass her with adulthood.

Her alter ego would stand no chance... Mod needed to be the one to deal with it and not involve Rosan.

Dual eyes stared into blood red for a long while before Rosan stood up and approached her. He looked down at her and Mod was starkly reminded that he was beginning to tower over her now. They stared at each other for a long time and even though the purple haired woman had gotten used to his empty gaze so long ago, it felt like the first few days she had seen him like this again.

The heavy tension was broken, as Rosan pulled her into a hug and said, "Okay. I trust you."

She felt herself sag in relief and tears resurged at that simple statement. The woman clutched him as tight as possible and buried her face into the crook of his neck.

Ram let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. If an argument ever genuinely broke out between the two, the silver haired teen wasn't sure what she'd be able to do. It was impossible to pick sides but if it ever truly got to that point, she'd have no choice but to side with her Father.

Unknown to the both of them, Rosan stared down at Mod with an unreadable look in his eyes. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking behind that lifeless gaze, but he never once took his eyes off his longest partner. Eventually, he hummed and she looked up.

Mod-chan smiled determinedly at him and the redhead formed a smile too.

---

Misadventures of Robin and Rosan - 13

Robin and Rosan are 10 and 6 respectively

Robin and Rosan navigate to the North Blue!

---

Robin, Rosan and Mod were currently in the boy's mindscape discussing their next course of action.

Namely, what sea they should relocate too.

Rosan was tucked neatly in Mod's lap, content to let the two girls mostly dictate the conversation. He sighed in bliss at the feeling of his Devil Fruit idly rubbing his head and snuggled even deeper into her.

"What brought this on, Mod-chan?" Robin asked curiously, wanting to understand the adult's motives. "It won't be easy to travel between the Blue Seas, you know?" She pointed out. It was actually exceedingly difficult unless you had special connections.

The purple haired woman nodded. "Normally, we'd have to go through the Reverse Mountain or the Calm Belt. I'd like to go to one through the Calm Belt because Reverse Mountain can be potentially lethal with only you two."

"The Calm Belt has no wind currents and it's a feeding ground for Sea Kings though," Robin mused. There was a reason that method was hardly ever used, it was almost certain death.

"But the White Rose doesn't need wind!" Rosan chimed and Robin's eyes went wide in realization.

That's right… Rosan's (Their!) ship was mostly powered by Modification so it didn't need wind!

"Are we faster than Sea Kings though?" the brunette asked hesitantly and Rosan hummed in contemplation.

"I can speed us up with Modification! The more power I put into it, the faster we'll go! I just need you to tell me where to go."

The brunette nodded, it was reckless but she was used to his antics by now and they had been running amok in the South Blue for quite a while.

"Alright, I'll do some research then and we can get a compass too," Robin hummed. "But what Sea are we going too? I absolutely refuse to take you or myself to the Grand Line right now and the West Blue is also out of the question."

"Yeah even I know the Grand Line is a bad idea right now!" Rosan replied with a sad smile on his face and his companions sweatdropped at the look on his face.

The boy sure was eager to go the Grand Line one day in order to get stronger.

Robin said they needed to wait until they were adults and Mod wholeheartedly agreed with her, so adulthood it was.

"Let's go to the North Blue," Rosan said, after a moment and they both raised a brow at him.

"Is that because it's hailed as the strongest of the Blue Seas?" Mod asked suspiciously, causing the boy to shake his head rapidly.

"I didn't even know that! Now we definitely have to go!" he beamed and they both sighed at their careless mistake. Sometimes, it was impossible to tell what was going on in Rosan's head.

"Why North Blue then?" Robin asked in curiosity. She personally wanted to go to the East Blue because that was known as the weakest sea and it would give them a lot of liberties.

"Garp, the Marine that took Ace, goes there a lot and I really don't want him to find you or me," Rosan said seriously and her eyes widened in understanding.

If the Marine found Rosan, then he'd find her by extension and the both of them would be separated due to her high bounty. Considering that Rosan didn't have a bounty, they'd either arrest him for colluding with her or Garp would take him and only she'd be arrested. Either way, it would end up with them being separated.

She was touched that the redhead wanted to keep her as safe as possible.

"That's smart of you, Rosan!" The 10 year old praised and Rosan grinned happily.

"Alright, let's go to the North Blue!"

---

The two children had prepared everything they needed for their voyage.

They actually had quite a lot of money thanks to their escapades and so they had been able to stock up on a lot!

With Robin and Mod's guidance, Rosan would use Modification to power the White Rose through the Calm Belt. By doing that, he would circumvent the issue of there being no wind and it would be as if a normal ship were sailing through the normal ocean.

That problem was now eliminated and that left the next one.

Sea Kings and not just any Sea Kings, but some of the largest ones in the world!

The Calm Belt was where especially huge Sea Kings nested and that was why you could not just paddle past it. It was almost certain death if they caught you and seeing as both her and Rosan were Devil Fruit users…

They would need some more insurance.

"Rosan, I need you to modify the ship and give it a propeller," Robin instructed the shorter boy. "We need as much speed as we can get and we can't be sure if Modification will be enough."

The redhead had nodded eagerly and immediately went to go steal a book on how to best make one. Once he finished, he bragged about how he couldn't show it to her yet because it was super amazing!

"He told me not to tell you," Mod sighed apologetically and Robin giggled, used to his antics. He was always trying to surprise her with whatever it was he learned and more often then not, it was crazy but she had grown rather fond of it.

She sighed at how quickly he had picked up the trick and muttered something about geniuses.

"But Robin-nee, you're a genius too!" Rosan exclaimed with a confused gaze. "You can read those Poneglyphs with no effort when no one else can! That's incredible!"

She flushed at his praise and mumbled out a thank you.

Robin had once asked Rosan if he wanted her to teach him how to read Poneglyphs. She was sure the boy was smart enough to learn it but he had steadfastly refused her offer.

"No way! That's your special gift and I don't wanna take your special gift from you," he grinned and she smiled at his thoughtfulness.

Truthfully, she wouldn't have had a problem passing on the knowledge to her favorite person but he was stubborn like that.

Robin's gift was her gift and Rosan didn't want to take it from her.

The offer was always on the table though but she doubted Rosan would ever accept it.

She was happy that he considered her talents so special!

But she digressed, the two were sailing at a moderate pace towards the Calm Belt now and Robin couldn't fight the stab of worry.

What? One of them had to be rightfully paranoid! Rosan didn't even look remotely afraid at the prospect of being Sea King lunch and he was humming a jaunty tune. She couldn't help but laugh as he began dancing terribly in place.

Good singer he may be, the boy definitely couldn't dance but that didn't bother him at all! His carefree spirit was infectious and she instinctively felt herself calming down.

For once, the sails were doing their job and the wind moved it steadily through the blue ocean. Rosan was glancing at the endless ocean with an excited look in his eyes.

He wasn't powering the ship at the moment because they wanted the redhead to conserve his energy. The 6 year old may have had way too much stamina for his own good but they'd need to approach this as carefully as possible.

When they finally arrived, they didn't even realize at first until the ship abruptly stopped.

Robin paused as she verified that there was no wind blowing at all and this time, it wasn't a fluke.

"Rosan, I'm furling the sails now," Robin said urgently, summoning a multitude of hands to do just that. "On my mark, I want you to go!"

"Kay!" Rosan chirped, grinning eagerly and his eyes began to glow brighter, doing their best to try and mimic the sun.

The Devil Child worked at record speeds and the moment she finished, she said, "Go!"

The White Rose blasted forward as Rosan focused Modification into it and it was just in time too, as a Sea King burst out of the water near them.

It was massive.

The blue creature looked vaguely serpentine with large bulging eyes and a massive maw of teeth.

Rosan whistled.

"It's huge!" The boy awed, as it looked at their retreating ship in confusion. "I think you could fit 500 Rosan's in its mouth!"

"500 is too low, you're a tiny kid," Robin mused much to the child's outrage.

"I'm 6! Just you wait, you big bully! I'm gonna be taller than you," the boy growled, puffing his cheeks adorably.

"Maybe one day," Mod giggled.

Rosan grumbled and Robin was so glad that he was her travel partner. The boy was casually assuaging her concerns by not even regarding the Sea King that was trying to eat them.

It really helped cool her own nerves, how unfazed the child was.

All of that flew out the window, as Rosan let out a terribly large shriek.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The tiny boy screamed.

Oh no…

"W-w-w-why are there WATER versions?!" Rosan screeched in terror and the ship began moving faster in response to his sudden fears.

Why?

Because a giant Sea King, that looked very much like a lizard, was eyeing the two lazily.

"Now you're worried?" Robin asked with disbelief at the insane child. She had nearly forgotten that the boy was deathly terrified of overly large lizards. Why? She would actually never know, considering it was the strangest thing to be afraid of and that he wanted to turn into a dragon but that was just Rosan. A walking, talking, overly excited, enigma.

"YES!" He screamed and he yelped, at the sight of the lizard getting closer to them. "ARE WE GOING THE RIGHT WAY? PLEASE SAY YES!" He begged because there was no way he was stopping for even a second.

"We are!" Robin confirmed and as the Sea Kings (there were at least 5 chasing them right now!) got closer, the White Rose suddenly shifted and rocketed forwards.

Robin gaped at the sight of the propeller shooting them forward like it were a cannon instead.

Was this Rosan's secret?! He made a juiced up propeller instead of a normal one? The blast was so powerful, that it sent the ship airborne for a few seconds!

They sailed through the sky before landing with a massive splash and the ship was off again.

There were still some Sea Kings chasing them but thankfully, the lizard one was gone and Rosan let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally lost it," he murmured and she sweatdropped at the fact that he was only avoiding that one.

"Rosan I didn't realize you made the propeller so strong," Robin said slowly and he beamed.

"I know! It's awesome right?!"

She opened her mouth, before shutting it. It... was useful. But she couldn't say that out loud because Rosan would try and do something this dumb again. You had to wisely compliment the redhead or else he would make you regret it.

"Please run it by me next time?" The 10 year old requested instead and Rosan nodded rapidly.

"Kay!" He grinned before looking out at Sea again. He didn't even look bothered by the sight of the other gargantuan Sea Kings and instead sighed wistfully.

"When I turn into a Dragon, we won't have to run from them anymore," Rosan said to her and Robin smiled at his confidence.

"I look forward to it."

"Yeah, just you wait! I'm gonna come back here and burn them all! ESPECIALLY that lizard."

"You can barely look at the lizard, how do you expect to be able to aim at it?"

"...My flames will just be big enough to burn the entire Calm Belt!"

"You really believe that don't you?!"

"He does."

"What?! You guys don't believe me?! Have some more faith in me!"

"No."

"No."

"I don't deserve this treatment…"

---

They needed to utilize their propeller at least 3 more times to safely escape from the Sea Kings and because there were no lizards, Rosan laughed all the while. The rush of wind was doing wonders for his adrenaline.

"Is this it?" Rosan asked as he suddenly felt wind again. His messy hair moved in time with the breeze and Robin contemplated cutting the boy's hair down to it's shoulder length again. She much preferred when the spikes stopped at his shoulders and right now they were just above his mid back.

"Yes, we're in the North Blue now," Robin smiled in relief. Now that it was over, she had to admit that it was pretty fun.

"Awesome! We did it!" Rosan cackled. "We can go to any sea like this now. Like the Grand Lin —."

"No."

"No."

"Eh, it was worth a shot," he shrugged, completely unbothered by the double refusal. He was expecting it but they hadn't even let him finish his sentence... They were so rude sometimes.

"We can stay in the North Blue for a while. I don't think my heart can handle another journey like that for a good bit," Robin told her best friend and he nodded.

"Wait. Robin-nee, how did you get into the South Blue?" Rosan questioned with his head tilted. She told him that she was from the West Blue... Born on Ohara.

"I dyed my hair and put contacts in my eyes, then I snuck onto an important ship that was being escorted by the Marines until we made stop at one of the islands to restock and I slipped away. It was risky but I figured it would be worth it, if I made it to the South Blue where little to no people would suspect me," Robin answered. It had been going pretty smoothly but somehow, Rosan brought even more attention onto her with his escapades.

The boy deserved her bounty more than she did!

Rosan frowned and unexpectedly grabbed her into a hug. "Well, no more sneaking around and putting yourself in super danger! You have me now and I'll keep you safe!"

She smiled a true smile at the boy and readily returned the hug.

"Of course, Rosan! What would I do without you?"

"Nothin cuz I'm the best!"

"Of course you are!"

"YOU MADE THAT SOUND LIKE AN INSULT!" Rosan roared and his two female companions simply laughed at him.

He held his head and sulked.

He got no respect around here.

---

Height Chart!

Angel, Rosan, and Demon – 5'11 (180 cm)

Mod – 5'8 (172 cm)

Maro and Ram – 5'9 (175 cm) (Maro is slightly taller than Ram)

Luffy – 2'11 (91 cm)

Ace – 3'4 (103 cm)

Sabo – 3'3 (100 cm)

Garp – 9'5 (287 cm)

Makino – 5'5 (166 cm)

Dadan – 7'3 (221 cm)

---

Hello! Nice to see you all again. I had a lot of fun with this chapter!

So to address probably the most notable part of this chapter. The virus. They've actually been in the story since chapter 2! I've added them into multiple chapters but the most notable one would probably be Chapter 5 if you're curious. To those who payed attention you might know just what I'm talking but I'll freely point it out to those curious about it. There's quite a few.

They are a very integral part to the story as you can imagine buuuuut that's far into the future and honestly, I wasn't even going to originally add them to this chapter but I decided to do it.

On a side note, I think I've run out of things to add to the Misadventures bonus at the end. Maybe I'll add Rosan and Maro's adventures now as Grim and Reaper? It's a food for thought so we'll see.
That's about all I've got to talk about for now. I'll answer any questions as usual. The ASL arc should be done in the next two chapters for those curious.

Happy reading!

Chapter 21: Resentment