Hey guys! Crescent Rider here, and I am back with another chapter!
But before you all begin, you may have noticed a brand new picture on the book's cover. That's what Nadia suppose to look like in this series once she and Luffy grow up and leave Dawn Island together.
It ain't special if you think about it, but there is something that I do in mind and you'll find out after I've implied it by the end of this arc.
And finally, I'd like to tell you all something. If you all notice the dialogues of the previous chapters. They're actually from the Dub Version of One Piece, and why I say this is to reassure you that I'll be adding lines that belonged in the Sub Version as well.
That is all I have to say now, and enjoy the chapter!
Forest, Mt. Corvo
Though certain areas were crossed off by Nadia and her clone, the hours remain the same as the forest was vast, and where they go is always followed by a predator lurking within the tall trees.
As the sun was setting in the distance, Nadia's search had minor progress on her end of the forest. The same can be said for the White Clone, though she runs into something that Nadia found in her previous searches.
A pack of wolves, though they seem scared as they lied on the ground and whimpered at her. The White Clone somehow recalled these wolves due to her relation with Nadia, walks up to the first wolf, and bends down to rub the first wolf's head.
The wolf in question whimpers, but finds the White Clone somewhat different as its tail wags in response to her rubbing. Sometime later, the whole pack receive their fair share of pleasantries from the White Clone and became somewhat compliant as they sat up and started huffing with their tongues hanging out of their mouths.
"Good dogs," The White Clone complimented,
She then approached the first wolf from the side and mounts its back. When she nuzzled the wolf's head, and ears, the latter grew somewhat attached to her and waited for orders despite the past treatment they received from Nadia.
"Let's go," The White Clone said, and the wolf barked as they departed while the other wolves followed behind her,
A Few Hours Later...
When night rolls around, Nadia was lying against a tree branch and closed her eyes to conserve energy. She soon heard the sound of a wolf barking and looks down below.
That's when she spotted the same wolf pack she encounters, but among them was the White Clone riding onto a wolf and her eyes widen when she saw Luffy being held onto his shirt by the same wolf's teeth.
She then proceeds to jump down from the tree and drops Luffy on the ground. Nadia then slides her knees against the ground and embraces Luffy close as her worries have finally been eased.
As for the White Clone, she smiles at this scene, gets down from the wolf's back, and submerges into Nadia's shadow.
Once Nadia was finished with her worries, she backs away but her hands are still grasping onto Luffy's shoulders. Then her hair turned purple, move her hands onto Luffy's cheeks, and started stretching, "Where the heck have you been all this time?! What's with all these injuries?! And do you have the slightest clue of how worried you've made me?!"
"I was stuck at the bottom of the valley, getting chased by wolves," Luffy explained, "And I'm sorry for making you worry..."
Nadia still frowns at him but sighs as she lets go of Luffy's cheeks and stands up straight as she focuses on the wolves, "Thanks for assisting me, you guys. You can all go now,"
The wolves took the message and left the two alone while Nadia scratched the back of her head as her hair turned dirty blond. As for Luffy, he's somewhat impressed by this.
"You can talk to wolves?" Luffy asked,
"No, I just taught them how to understand me," Nadia clarified, "But enough about them, let's focus on you,"
Nadia turns around, kneels, and offers Luffy a piggyback ride, "Get on,"
Luffy seemed generous with this offer and smiled before riding onto Nadia's back. The latter then wraps her arms underneath Luffy's thighs and lifts him easily as she takes him back to the Dadan Family Den.
Dadan Family Den
As soon as Nadia and Luffy were meters away from the den, she tells him to keep quiet by letting out a shushing noise. This was meant to prevent Dadan and her men from being disturbed in their sleep.
But that was no longer the case as the Dog, Pochi started barking and Nadia was alarmed by this. What follows was Dogra, Magra, and Dadan going out of the den and finding Luffy riding onto Nadia's back.
Dadan marches toward the two, grabs Luffy by the cheeks, and stretches them as Nadia did earlier. As for the latter, she lets go of Luffy and stares at Dadan as she yells at him with the same questions.
The only question that he didn't answer was how he got to the bottom of the valley in the first place. But Dadan took the silence as a response and proceeded to take him to the room where he will be sleeping for the night while Nadia just followed the two.
As soon as the door was open, Dadan tosses Luffy and his straw hat into the room while Nadia enters the room carrying some bandages and medicine she had prepared, "Get some sleep while you can. We're putting you to work in the morning!"
Dadan shuts the sliding door and goes back to sleep. With her gone, Nadia puts the bandages and medicine on the floor and tends to Luffy, "Now hold still, Luffy. Once I've finished tending to your injuries, then you can sleep for tomorrow,"
Luffy remained silent, though he occasionally hisses whenever his injuries stung as Nadia applied some ointment onto the affected area. After that, she applied some bandages to seal the cuts all over Luffy's face and right arm.
"And... There, all done," Nadia declared as Luffy's injuries were treated, "Now get some sleep, you'll need it first thing tomorrow,"
"Alright," Luffy said and was fast asleep a second later,
Nadia was a tad bit surprised by this, then she sighs to herself as she stood up, "I can't believe you..."
Nadia grabs her sleeping mat, blanket, and pillow laid down the mat next to Luffy, and lay down next to him with the blanket over herself and her head against the thin pillow.
But before she sleeps in for the night, she took a moment to stare at Luffy as he snored in his sleep.
"He's a handful, Don't you think?" The voice questioned,
Nadia blinks as she remained quiet toward the voice but then scoffs before throwing half of her blanket over Luffy's body. She then sleeps in for the night after she places her right arm over Luffy's body. Unaware that Ace glanced at the two before going back to sleep.
The Following Day
Nadia was helping the bandits with today's chores. As for Luffy, he opens the door and calls out for Ace as he started walking away, "Hey, Ace! You going somewhere fun today! Take me! I know I was gone for a while, but I still want to be friends!"
Ace scoffs at this before making a run for it, and Luffy gives chase.
"Boss, he's running after Ace again!" Dogra said,
"Hey! Get back here, you still have chores to do!" Dadan yelled in the middle of oral hygiene,
Luffy turns to Dadan, lowers one of his eyelids, and stuck his tongue at her, "I'm outta here!"
Luffy runs cheerfully while Dadan yells out, "I am gonna wring your rotten neck, you twerp!"
Magra tries to calm her down but was loudly ordered by her to bring Luffy back. Magra complies as he chases after Luffy.
As for Nadia, she approached Dadan, "Dadan, what are Luffy's chores for today?"
"It's not of your damn business, those are his chores, not yours," Dadan said,
"We may have known Luffy for a little bit of time, but I get the feeling that he isn't going to do his chores since he's more interested in chasing Ace than a single chore," Nadia presumed,
Dadan may try to object to this, but Nadia may have a point. Even if Luffy is just a bratty kid, he's still Garp's grandson, and there's no telling that the apple hasn't fallen off when comes to laziness.
Hence Dadan decides to go with her logic instead of her complaint," Fine! You can take his chores for all I care. Unless you know how to be in two places at once, you've got a long day ahead of you,"
"Two places at once..." Nadia turns down to her shadow, then back at the den door,
With that term in mind, she smiles and proceeds to do some practice with her Devil Fruit Powers...
One Hour Later
Dadan was in the middle of smoking a bunch of cigarettes by the window to pass the time. Though amid her smoking, Nadia approached her, "Dadan, I finished washing the dishes, what's next for me?"
"Go sweep the floor or do some laundry," Dadan said,
"I'll start sweeping then," Nadia goes to get the broom and started sweeping the floor while Dadan went back to her smoking,
But that's when another question was asked from outside the window, "Dadan, I've finished gathering the dried clothes and hung new ones. I'll be polishing some shoes now,"
"Huh? Oh, sure. Go ahead," Dadan replied to Nadia's White Clone,
The White Clone then goes out to polish the shoes while Dadan just stared at her as she left. she blinks a few times, then rubbed her eyes before blinking a few times more, "That's strange, I must be seeing things... Whatever,"
Dadan returns to her usual smoking but was interrupted once more, "Dadan,"
Dadan turns to the voice, and sees Nadia's Black-Haired Clone, "I've finished sharpening the blades and cleaned the barrels of your firearms. However, I noticed that you're running low on firewood. Would you mind if I use one of your axes to make more?"
"Fine," Dadan said as she waved the Black Clone, "Just do it if it's important,"
"Much obliged," The Black Clone thanked with a bow, and goes to make some firewood,
Dadan just watched the Black Clone go before smoking another cigarette. But as she places the used cigarette onto the ashtray, Nadia had disposed of the pile and placed it before Dadan unintentionally drops it on the floor.
"I disposed of the used cigarettes, Dadan," Nadia said, "You wouldn't want the ashes to stain the floor,"
"Sure, Thanks," Dadan thanked and planned to light her cigarette,
But she hesitated as Nadia continues to clean the den floor. Then she stands up and pops her head out of the window. On the right, Nadia's White Clone was handling the laundry and on the left was Nadia's Black Clone chopping up logs for firewood.
When she pulls her head back and turns to Nadia, that's when she started to hang her jaw and bulge her eyes as she was seeing not one, not two, but three copies of Nadia working with today's chores.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Dadan screamed in utter shock, and Nadia turns to her, "Why are there three of you?!"
"Huh? Oh, I forgot to tell you," Nadia said, "You see, I ate a Devil Fruit not long before I was adopted by Grandpa. I haven't determined what kind of Devil Fruit it is, but I'm still trying to find out by browsing the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia,"
Dadan gapes a while, then the two clones appeared behind her from the windows.
"Dadan, I've finished hanging the clothes," The White Clone said, "Shall I polish the shoes next?"
"Dadan, I've finished making some firewood," The Black Clone followed, "Is there any more work that you'd like me to do,"
Dadan whips her head left and right, then shrieks out the following as the den comedically shook from her voice, "JUST ONE OF YOU IS ENOUGH!"
Nadia giggles at this, and continues her side of the chores as usual. The same can be said for her two clones as they decided to do some work of their own.
By the time everything was done, Nadia decided to put everything down and find Luffy after her clones return to her shadow. And compared to her previous searches, Nadia seem to have found Luffy in a single day, though he did suffer a bit of injury when admitted to falling into a river infested with crocodiles.
On the following day, Luffy would chase after Ace, Dadan would yell for him to come back, and Nadia just watched as she do some chores with two of her clones present.
"So persistent of him," The White Clone remarked,
"That he is," Nadia clarified, and goes to take his chores once more,
When left with nothing to do, Nadia would search for Luffy alone and drag him back to treat his injuries. But these injuries didn't deter him from his goal as he would chase after Ace on the next day or the day after that.
When it went on for weeks, Luffy shows no signs of stopping despite Ace's possible attempts to discourage him such as leaving him in the woods with a predator, kicking him off a cliff for the birds to peck on him, having him fall into the river infested with man-eating fish, and once he had a beehive drop onto him and have his head swollen by the bees constant stinging.
But in the end, Luffy persists as he continues to chase after Ace for a few months regardless if it rains or gets windy when Luffy was sent flying that one time. Nothing was stopping him from becoming Ace's friend especially when he slowly adapted to the wild environment of Mt. Corvo.
Nadia, on the other hand, spent those days studying her Devil Fruit Powers by allowing her two clones to remain in their physical form for long periods, determining her fruit's strengths and weaknesses, and often including her clones in her nightly training.
What she learned of her Devil Fruit was vast, but she thinks that this was merely the tip of the iceberg. Especially when she learned that the hair color of her clones' is based on the host's emotion or personality.
The White Clone represents her Honest Self, and The Black Clone represents her Prestigious Self. Though the latter is something that she doesn't have, it claimed that it manifested within her after doing so many chores between her residence on Garp's Ship and now.
Nadia may as well label her as her arrogance, but it didn't look the part as the Black Clone was quite an elegant individual. Hence, she deemed it as her Prestigious Self instead. There are more than exist within her, but she couldn't bring them out as she presumed that two was her current limit.
The reason behind her acknowledgment of other existing personalities is because of her Honest Self, as she revealed that they indeed exist within her. But she advised her not to bring them out as there were possible consequences should she attempt to do so.
Until she gets a better grasp of her power, she will stick with these two clones for now. But when it came to maintaining their physical existence, that was another problem she had encountered.
For her clones can't stay indefinitely and are required to return to their host within six hours. If they don't return to Nadia's body in time, they become intangible phantoms corresponding to the hair color they have, lose the ability to speak or interact with physical objects, and their travel distance is greatly reduced.
These forms hold no potential use, but she had them remain in this form for a much longer period to see what comes next. The total hours were three, and the phantoms submerges into the ground and merges back into Nadia's shadow.
The side effect of this reemergence causes headaches for Nadia as she was quickly seeing what they see from their point of view in a span of a few seconds. These headaches were enough to bring her down to her knees and pant excessively.
These headaches would die down in just one minute, but it prevents her from bringing out the same clones as they explicitly stated that they're tired and require rest before they can be brought back into action again. This lasts for about two hours before they can be brought back again, and Nadia chose not to abuse it under the assumption that it lengthens the charging time of her clones.
And lastly was physical training. When she absorbed a clone back into her body after a sparring match, she could faintly feel the area of inflicted injury for a few seconds and felt nothing afterward. An expression of 'Phantom Pains' but she couldn't explore this part of her power since she doesn't want to inflict any excessive injury against her clone.
Thus, she will learn it should she face a strong opponent in the future...
The Following Day
Today marks the third month of Luffy chasing after Ace.
Nadia had finished today's chores and passes the time by reading the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia in search of her Devil Fruit. Even though she had finished reading it before, she couldn't help but read it slowly and thoroughly to not miss anything minor detail on the pages.
Having done this for months, she grew somewhat frustrated as she couldn't find anything similar to her Devil Fruit. Not even its name, its appearance, and known abilities were written.
Once she threw the Encyclopedia against a wall so hard that it broke a large hole as well as disturbed everyone's sleep that night. Though they dismiss this incident after all things she's done for the Dadan Family and fixed the hole themselves while Nadia gets her book back.
After reading half the Encyclopedia, Nadia closes the book, lets out a sigh, and puts it on the floor before leaving the room to get some fresh air.
As soon as she steps out, she takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky. There wasn't anything in her mind as the wind breezed through her. She could try training, but doing the same thing against a tree wasn't anything new.
She could ask Dadan for any extra work, but she assumed that whatever she had in mind is already finished especially the minor ones.
That's when Luffy comes into mind...
Despite showing signs of adapting to the dangers of the forest as well as his running speed almost matching Ace's. She assumed that Luffy may have gotten himself into something else other than the dangers of this forest.
Hence, she made a decision and momentarily went towards the window, "Dadan!"
"What do you want now?" Dadan asked,
"I'm going out to the forest to find Luffy. Do you mind if I borrow a weapon in case I run into predators?" Nadia asked,
"Sure, and see if you can drag the little brat back here if you can," Dadan permitted,
"Thank you!" Nadia thanked, goes to get a pair of daggers, and run off into the forest,
Though when she wanders into familiar territory, she does encounter a couple of predators that sought to eat her. But she wasn't worried as she handled the scenarios rather well such as evasion, intimidation, and even force when she manages to hurt when they could not.
But along the way, she did encounter something that forced her to hide rather than face it head-on. Right now, she climb a tall tree, hid behind the trunk, and held her breath to not give away her position.
She was sweating all over her face as the thought of getting spotted by this predator was terrifying. If she does get caught, then it's all over for her as this predator would kill her before she'd even get the chance to fight or flee.
Sometime later, she slowly peeks out of the trunks and huffs out air as she felt somewhat relieved now that the predator was gone. She took deep breaths to calm herself down from the pressure and proceeds to climb down from the tree to resume her search for Luffy.
Early Evening...
The sun was setting and Nadia still hasn't found Luffy in this forest. What's more, she seemed concerned knowing that Luffy isn't anywhere to be seen. Then she heard running footsteps nearby and hides in some bushes.
What she spots was a distressed boy with a chipped tooth, wearing blue tattered clothes, a tophat with glasses, and holding a long pipe running in a certain direction. In Nadia's opinion, he looked like Ace's age and assumed that he was a friend of his.
Thus, Nadia followed him in hopes of finding Ace and possibly finding Luffy with him. Though she kept her distance to not act his attention.
After some time, Nadia hides behind a tree, but remains within earshot as she overhears a conversation between Ace and the boy, "I'm back!"
"I moved everything, what happened? Are they poking around the old place?" Ace asked,
The boy was panting, then continued, "No, that's the thing! Bluejam's guys are still out looking for us!"
"And what does that mean?" Ace asked,
"I'm telling you, it's Luffy!" The boy specified in distress, which earned Nadia's attention, "All that time and he still didn't rat us out!"
Nadia opened her mouth, but said nothing as she continues to listen, "I thought he would since he's such an idiot. That, and he was crying when we left him. But you know what this means, don't you? They're torturing him right now,"
This caused Nadia to bit on side of her lip and caused it to bleed as she bit hard. Also, her hair was turning red over time.
"What if he still doesn't talk?!" The boy assumed, and Ace grits his teeth in anger while Nadia remains hidden as her hair has turned red entirely.
Before long, she saw the two run off to save Luffy from these Bluejam Pirates. That's when Nadia follows them, but with her daggers at the ready as she faces these pirates. But following them had brought her to a place filled with junk.
A place that was unfamiliar to Nadia, but she casts this sight aside as she follows the two to save Luffy. Her search ends when the two break into some ruined house and yell, "LET HIM GO!"
Rather than join in on the charge, Nadia waits for the right opportunity to catch the enemy off guard. That's when the battle starts as Ace jumps toward the large pirate with his pipe above his head, but failed as the pirate caught him with one hand.
But that was truly Ace's plan as the boy he calls, Sabo, attacks the large pirate from behind and whacks him on the back of his head. Long enough for Ace to pick himself up, and grab his pipe.
As for the pirate, he was bleeding from the hit but it wasn't enough to knock him out. When he turned, Nadia saw the large blade he wields. But despite these odds, the two didn't back down as Ace ordered Sabo to help Luffy, who was tied in the air with a battered face.
Ace fights the large pirate while Sabo confronts three other pirates and steals a knife from them. He used to cut Luffy's ropes and carries him underneath his arm. Sabo tells Ace to make a run for it, but the latter refuses as he doesn't run from his enemies much to the former's doubt.
But Sabo would drop Luffy on the ground and joins Ace's side as they face the pirate together. In doing so, Luffy watched as the battle goes on.
However, Sabo was so focused on the large pirate, that he didn't notice one of the pirates had his blade above his head and planned to strike him down when he least expected.
But the blow never came as someone struck him from behind and falls flat on the ground for everyone to see the one responsible for this pirate's downfall. Everyone gasped at this sudden appearance, but Luffy expresses joy at the mere sight of the culprit," Nadia!"
"Who?" Sabo asked as he turned to Luffy,
"She's his older sister, but let's talk about it after we deal with these guys!" Ace yelled,
"Right!" Sabo said,
Ace then turns to Nadia, "You, take Luffy and go!"
Nadia remains silent for a time, then gives a chilling response to all, "... No..."
Everyone yelps at this response, and it looked like Nadia was ready to kill. Especially when she raised her head and reveal a pair of red eyes, "Until the blood my brother lost is paid by the one responsible. I won't leave..."
Ace and Sabo were in utter disbelief at this statement while the pirates present seemed more concerned as they were the ones behind Luffy's condition. But the large pirate was having none of it as he shifted his attention toward her instead of Ace and Sabo, "So you want to make me pay? Is that it?"
Nadia glares at the pirate and showed no fear of him. Even when the large pirate raised his sword above his head, "Then die!"
"Hey! Get out of the way!" Sabo yelled while Ace tries to intervene,
But when the blade was closing in on Nadia's head, she brought her daggers above her head and stopped the blow before it reached her. What's more, the sheer strength of this pirate meant nothing as she held her ground.
The large pirate yelped in utter shock knowing that a little girl would stop his attack despite his weight and size. What's more shocking was for her having the strength to push him back, leaving him wide open.
"ACE! SABO!" Nadia yelled,
Ace and Sabo snaps out of their surprised expressions and proceeded to hit the large pirate with their pipes. As for the other pirates, Nadia took care of them as she cut them down with her daggers.
Once the battle was over, Nadia hoists Luffy onto her shoulder and all of them ran off to safety. Leaving the pirates' fate to their Captain.
Forest, In between Mt. Corvo and Gray Terminal
After they arrived in the forest, Luffy started crying again while Nadia, having her hair back to light blond, was in the middle of patching up his injuries. She even had her clones appear and helped with Ace and Sabo's injuries with bandages and medicine that the two boys stole from town.
Though the two were initially surprised by Nadia's clones. But after she stated that it was her Devil Fruit. They seem to have understood, talked about the Bluejam Pirates amongst themselves, and Ace was finally getting tired of hearing Luffy's crying.
"ARG! Would you shut up?! You're not hurt that bad!" Ace yelled, "So stop crying already! When are you going to stop being a baby?! Don't you want to be a pirate!"
"Hey! You do realize that he's been beaten to a pulp and almost killed?" Nadia argued, "Leave him alone,"
However, the term 'pirate' was enough to silence him, "Huh? That was quick,"
Luffy sniffed his tears then bowed at the two, "Thank you,"
The two were quite taken aback while Nadia recalled her clones and stared at Luffy. Who proceeds to weep out some tears, "You saved me,"
"Stop it!" Ace yelled,
"Calm down, he's just happy, okay," Sabo reasoned,
Luffy was still sniffing his tears while Ace was annoyed at him, "Alright, what gives?! Why didn't you tell them what they wanted? Do you think they wouldn't kill you cause you're a kid? Those guys don't give a damn!"
"I was afraid... That... you wouldn't be my friend," Luffy admitted,
"Yeah, and so what? That still beats dying, right?" Ace pointed out, "Besides, why do you want to be my friend, that's dumb. Also, you have a sister, don't you? Why not make her your friend instead of me,"
"Because..." Luffy muttered,
"It's not like I've been nice to you," Ace pointed out, "In fact, I've been giving you hell ever since we met. It's been months, why haven't you just given up?"
"Well... Cuz... Cuz I've got no one else to turn to!" Luffy admitted with teary eyes, "I can't go back to Windmill Village, I don't like the mountain bandits, and Nadia is always busy with chores. I'd be all alone all the time if I didn't follow you. Getting beat up hurts, but being alone hurts more,"
"Luffy..." Nadia muttered, and placed her hand on his head, "If you wanted to spend time with me, why didn't you just ask? I'm always done with chores while you're away, you know..."
Ace, on the other hand, was a bit conflicted, "Alone? Why?"
"Gramps is all I have," Luffy responded, "And I don't know much about Nadia,"
"You feel better around me?" Ace asked,
"Uh huh," Luffy replied,
"Otherwise, you'd feel lonely?' Ace followed,
"Uh huh," Luffy replied,
Ace went silent as he lowered his head and gathered his thoughts around the matter. This went on for a couple of seconds, then came a question out of his mouth as he sternly stared at Luffy, "Do you think... I deserve to live?"
"Of course I do," Luffy responded, while Nadia seemed curious as to why Ace would ask such a question,
"I see," Ace declared, then turns away from Luffy, "But you're still annoying. Weak little crybabies still piss me off,"
Luffy then jumps off of the rock, "Nuh-uh! I'm not weak! I'm really strong,"
"Hah, You think you're really strong? You were crying your eyes out the whole time you tied up," Ace pointed,
"Have you ever gotten hit by a spiky thing that big?! I'm just seven years old!" Luffy yelled, "Wait til I turn ten years old like you guys! And then I'll be stronger and won't cry anymore!"
"Age has nothing to do with it, you brat!" Ace yelled as he pressed his forehead against Luffy's, "Hell when I was 7, I was tough!"
The two proceeded to argue with one another while Nadia joined Sabo's side as she watched them snarl at each other. She giggled even as the two were angrily pressing against each other.
Then, Sabo came in between and separated the two, "Okay, enough of that. Geez, now listen in case you guys forgot. We got a problem here,"
"A Problem?" Luffy inquired, and Sabo nodded,
Then he turns to Ace, "Bluejam and his buddies are bound to come looking for us after what happened back there. And like you said, they don't care if we're kids. They'll kill us without a second thought,"
"Yeah, probably," Ace agreed,
"This forest where I've been living is awfully close to their hideout, The Cove of Pirates," Sabo explained, "What if one night I'm a little too tired, sleep a little too hard, and they sneak up on me,"
"You're dead," Ace bluntly said,
"Hm, Yeah, You're dead," Luffy added,
"Right, so I need your help," Sabo requested, then turns to Nadia, "Same goes for you,"
"Sure, what do you have in mind?" Nadia inquired,
The four of them huddle up and discussed the details in mind. At the end of their discussion, they all agreed with Sabo's request and planned to head back to the Dadan Family Den.
However, there was something that Nadia recalled, "Before we all go back, there is something I'd like to bring up real quick,"
"What is it?" Ace asked,
"Well..." Nadia made a bone-chilling look on her face and causes Ace and Sabo to get chills down their spine, "I distinctively recall that you two were the reasons why Luffy was battered this way. If you had watched Luffy instead of letting him get caught by pirates. None of this would have happened,"
Nadia then made a closed eye smile at the two, "That's why I'm punishing you two as well,"
Ace and Sabo squeaked in fright while Luffy came in their defense, "Hey! You can't do that! Besides, they saved me, can't you just forget about it already?"
"You're right, they did save you. Which is why I'm lessening it with just a single punch to the head," Nadia simplified, "That sounds fair now, doesn't it?"
"No, it isn't! If you plan on hurting them. Then you're going to have to hurt me too!" Luffy yelled,
Nadia hummed at the thought, then gave the same smile to him as well, "Well... You were the one who provoked them. So I don't see why not,"
The three were visibly alarmed by this, and both Ace and Sabo felt someone stopping them from behind. The ones that appeared were none other than Nadia's Honest Self, and Prestigious Self.
"You three should accept this punishment," Prestigious Self said,
"And she's isn't lying about what she said. So be nice and accepted the way things are," Honest Self followed,
The two turns back to Nadia and paled as they saw her cracking her knuckles before walking up to the three. They all whimpered as soon as Nadia raised her fist, and brought them down as hard as she could.
*Thwack!* *Thwack!* *Thwack!*
Afterward, she dusted her hands a few times, while the three were holding bumps on their heads. But all four of them leave the forest and rest at the Dadan Family Den.
When they reached the den, they just shared a blanket and slept in for the night. Though Nadia sleeps next to Luffy with her arm over him.
That is it for this chapter, everyone! But before you all go, I will provide some important details regarding Nadia's Devil Fruit as well as her strength when she went up against Porchemy.
First off, The whole gimmick about Nadia changing her hair color and whatnot? That is temporary as her hair from the book cover will be permanent. The only thing that will change color based on her emotion will be her eyes.
Second, the production of Clones is a part of the Devil Fruit's Power. They make seem overpowered, but they aren't as they can't stay in their physical form indefinitely, become intangible phantoms, and causes headaches once they return to the host.
And lastly, her strength in battle comes from her brief training when she boards Garp's ship. Of course, she doesn't possess or know Haki. She did, however, gain physical strength from Garp's training.
That is all I have to say, let me know if you all have questions and I will answer as best as I can, stay safe from the virus, and I will see you all in the next chapter!