Luffy was visiting her mother with a bunch of flowers that she picked herself and wearing her new hat that she wears everyday now. She was eager to tell her mother everything that had happened. She sprinted to her room with a smile on her face and heard Cordelia talking to someone.

"Garp, you can't be serious," Cordelia said.

"You know as well as I do that this village isn't doing her any good," A man's voice replied.

Luffy peered in to see what was going on.

"Mom?"

Her heart stopped for a moment when she saw her grandfather sitting on a chair across the room.

"Grandpa... You're back early," She greeted with a nervous smile.

"Hey, Luffy," The old man greeted her with a smile.

"After I heard about the things that happened here, I had to come back right away," He said with his facial expression turning more serious, sending a chill on Luffy's spine.

She quickly turned to her mother.

"How have you been, mom?"

"Heh, I'm living, dear," Cordelia chuckled.

"Luffy, I have decided to take you up on the mountains, this village is not suited for you anymore."

"Huuuhh!?"

Cordelia sighed and did a face palm.

"Really, Garp? You bring this up now?"

"But will I still be able to keep visiting Mom?"

"Sure, you will. It'll just... take a while. The mountains are the perfect place to start your training."

Luffy knew what he meant, it was to be a marine. It was something that she dreaded, but wouldn't always disagree with it openly in fear of punishment.

--

Luffy followed Garp up to the mountains, she didn't know what to expect living up there. Garp's idea of raising her was always leaving her to fulfill his duties as a vice admiral of the marines and then come back just to train her into becoming like him.

Now knowing that she had devil fruit powers, he believed it would make it easier for her to become a strong marine despite of its disadvantages. Luffy just followed his orders, saddened by the fact that she will be farther away from her mother and not get to see her as much as before.

When they reached their destination, it was a shabby shack. Garp knocked on the door loudly while Luffy was observing the new surroundings. Someone finally answered, a large woman opened the door and started yelling, startling Luffy and prompting her to hide behind Garp.

"Stop knocking on the damn door! Whatever you're selling, I don't want it!!!"

"It's me!" Garp said sternly.

When the woman realized who it was, her face turned pale.

"Aaah! Garp!!"

The other two people standing behind her, A large man named Magra and a smaller man named Dogra, had the same reaction.

"Charming as ever," Garp said sarcastically.

"Sorry for the cold welcome," She said "but I hope you don't have a ridiculous favor for us. You do realize that Ace is 10 years old now, right?"

"Is that right? How's the little scamp doing, huh?"

"He's a handful, of course," said Dogra. "We've been watching over the brat for long enough so just take him away."

"Putting that aside..."

"Don't just put it aside!" Dogra demanded.

The woman named Dadan noticed Luffy standing behind Garp.

"Take care of her too," said Garp. "Go on, Luffy. Introduce yourself."

Luffy stepped forward and was gracious and polite as possible.

"Hello, My name is Lufemia, but you can call me Luffy. Nice to meet you."

"Why is this girl here?" Dadan asked.

"She's my granddaughter," Garp replied.

"WHAAAAAAAT!? This can't be! Garp's granddaughter!!? And you want us to take her in?!"

Garp crossed his arms and had a serious look. He had to give these people a reminder.

"Well, you have two options. You either raise my granddaughter or spend the rest of your lives in jail. Pretty generous considering all of the crimes you've committed."

"No fair!!" They said in unison.

"The thing is I'd rather stay out of prison," said Magra.

"Actually, if you ask me in one of Ace's bad days, I might consider the prison option," said Dogra.

Dadan looked at Luffy. The girl seemed well-mannered and demure, even easier to handle than Ace, or so she thought.

"Grandpa, who's the old lady and the strange men?" Luffy asked bluntly.

"Old?!! Why you little..."

Luffy's attention turned to a dragonfly flew past her and started chasing it, which frustrated Dadan more.

Luffy followed the dragon down until she bumped into something big and furry. It was a dead large bison, not only that someone was sitting on top of it; A young boy with a scowl on his face.

"Who are you...?" Luffy asked.

"Oh, Ace!" Garp gleefully noticed that it was the boy that was mentioned before.

"Oh, are you back, Ace?" said Magra.

"Luffy, this is Ace, he's three years older than you. You'll be living with him and Dadan from now on," said Garp.

"Woah, wait a minute!" Dadan protested.

"Hi, I'm Luffy. Nice to meet you," She greeted.

Ace's demeanor didn't change.

"Looks like that settled," Garp said.

"We said no!" Dadan said.

Garp turned to look at them with a menacing look.

"You'll do it."

"...We'll take good care of her."

"Well, that's that. I need to be heading out now."

"How about some child support?" Dogra asked.

"Put it on my tab."

"This isn't a bar," Dadan mumbled.

"Nothing, come back soon."

"Boss, we can't take care of another kid," Magra said.

"Just go and fix dinner, we'll figure it out," Dadan said.

While the adults were talking, Ace and Luffy's first time meeting each other wasn't going so well. As Luffy was about to say something to him, Ace walked past her and ignored her.

After the awkward introductions, Luffy entered her new home. There were a bunch of strange faces. Some of them noticed she was there.

"Hey, who is this kid?" One of them asked.

"Garp's granddaughter," Dogra replied.

"Huh?! What??!"

"And she's living with us for now on."

"What the hell?!! This isn't a daycare!!"

"The boss has no balls!!"

"Shut up!" Dadan yelled, "We can argue after we eat. It's dinner time!"

A large plate of meat was there for everyone. The men scampered to get their share each and some of them were fighting over the food. Luffy tried to get some but she was left with none, even the last piece she tried to get was taken by a dog.

The only meal she was given was a bowl of rice and a glass of water, which was very little compared to what she was used to. She finished it quickly.

"Excuse me. Can I have some more rice, please?" Luffy asked, politely.

"Hey, do you even know where you are?" Dadan questioned.

"No."

"Then I'll tell you. This is the den of the Dadan Family, mountain bandits that rule Mount Colubo!"

"Mountain bandits?" Luffy didn't like the sound of that, considering she was almost killed by mountain bandits before.

"I hate mountain bandits," She said bluntly.

This angered Dadan so much that she almost stabbed the wooden floor with a knife.

"Shut up, brat! We're pissed that we're forced to look after such an unruly girl like you. If you don't wanna stay here, that's fine. Go somewhere else and die like a dog," Dadan said harshly.

"Take it easy, boss," Magra said, gently trying to defend Luffy.

Luffy pouted and then sighed in defeat.

"I just want some more," She mumbled, staring at Ace eating meat.

"I wish I could have some meat."

It appeared that Dadan was going to give her. However, as soon as Luffy was going to take a bite out it, Dadan swipes it and eats it.

"This is of the Bison that Ace brought home today. He gave us the cut of the take so everyone can eat. The bandits' world is rough sailing. You'll be working hard starting tomorrow," Dadan said, sternly.

"Cleaning, Laundry, polishing shoes and weapons, burglary, fraud, and murder! You can't tell Garp what we make you do."

Dadan was clearly trying to instill fear in the little girl. She saw her as nothing as a spoiled girl who probably had everything handed to her, or so she thought.

"One bowl of rice and one glass of water, that's all I can promise you. The rest you get for yourself. You have to grow up on your own if you want to survive."

"Yes, ma'am," Luffy replied, unphased.

"What?! "Yes, ma'am"!? Why aren't you crying or begging for mercy?!" Dadan gasped, flabbergasted.

"Grandpa left me in the woods a couple of times before. When that happened, I had water to drink and frogs, snakes and mushrooms to eat. Plus, I'm going to set out to sea and be a pirate, so I have to build up my strength."

Ace had gotten a good earshot, he looked a little surprised.

Upon hearing this, Dadan realized that she had her work cut out for her.

After finishing his dinner, Ace left without saying a word. Luffy watched curiously as he left.

--

It was nighttime. It had been a long time since Ace left and now he came back. When he entered, the bandits were drinking and having a few laughs.

Dadan was heavily drinking and laughing.

"Go easy on that, boss," Dogra said.

"Why should I? I got another useless mouth to feed, I have every right to drink my sorrows away, and I don't care what happens to Ace anymore. If he dies in a ditch, We'll tell Garp it was an accident. He's a demon child, imagine what happens if the world government comes snooping around."

"You don't mean that. That's the booze talking," Dogra said.

Ace heard everything she said. He wasn't surprised, he always knew how Dadan felt about him. There were times he felt the same about himself; "Was it a good thing I was born?", That's something the 10-year-old boy asked himself countless times.

Ace was about to go to his room, calling it a night. On his way, something caught his eye; a twinkling light that came out of the open back door, he also heard laughter coming from outside.

He decided to investigate and found Luffy and Pochi the dog playing together. Luffy had the biggest smile on her face and making starlights fly out of her hands, she was laughing and Pochi would chase her.

Ace looked astonished, the girl in front of him looked so happy despite of her situation. He was amazed by her power, he looked around and saw stars all around him, never having imagined he would see them up close because he could only look at them from afar in the night sky.

His eyes went back to Luffy, wondering how she was doing this. Luffy noticed Ace was there.

"Oh, hi! You're back," Luffy greeted him, looking so happy to see him.

"How are you doing that?" Ace questioned.

"Oh... I ate a devil fruit," She replied with a silly smile.

"Huh?", Ace was dumbfounded. Despite of how goofy and strange she seems, her sense of joy was almost contagious to Ace. He felt like he forgot his troubles for a moment. It was the moment he knew his life might be a little different with her around.