Archive of Our Own

Sunlight streams through the upstairs window of the Party’s bar and hits Luffy square in the face through the gap in the green curtains. His nose scrunches as he tries to turn over into the blankets, but after a moment he slips right over the edge of the bed, smacking into the floor with a thud. He groans softly and pushes himself up, blinking slowly for a moment before wrapping the warm blanket around him like a robe and letting it drag behind him. He’s careful not to step on it as he heads down the stairs. 

The smell of Makino’s coffee is strong enough that it almost covers that of the cooking bacon and eggs, but he’s used to it now. Makino had cleared her extra room out for him a few months ago, leaving a nice big place for them to sit and read, and a room to call his own. She even lets him keep a few beetles as long as they stay in the glass tank she bought him. Sometimes when Makino is too busy to talk to him, he’ll sit up there and feed them the vegetables that are too old to cook with. 

Luffy is scooped into Makino’s arms and tucked against her side as soon as he walks through the kitchen door. “Morning, Sunshine. Eggs and Bacon today, and I got a shipment of mikans from a few islands over this morning. Should I make them into a juice first or do you wanna eat some and have tea with breakfast?” 

Luffy wraps his arms around her neck and shrugs. “Dunno.”

“Hmm,” Makino pretends to think for a moment as she uses the spatula in her free hand to flip them back over. “Well, juice would take me a little longer. How about tea for breakfast and juice later?” 

He nods, smiling as she kisses his forehead and sits him down at the table. He keeps rubbing his eyes to try and get the gunk the rest of the way out. It doesn’t work very well, so he ends up sitting his head down on the table and watching Makino dance around the kitchen. 

Luffy doesn’t remember dozing back off, but he knows he must have when Makino shakes him awake and hands him a cup of black tea that smells a little citrusy. “Is it a sleepy morning today?” He just blinks slowly and takes a sip of the honey sweetened tea, happily taking the pieces of bacon he’s handed. “Then we better make sure you can wake up some sleepy-head, there’s a festival today!” She smiles brightly and starts adding food to her own plate, waiting for the words to sink in. 

It takes a moment, but once it does, Luffy is standing on his chair, leaning over the table and nearly knocking both cups over in the process. “A FESTIVAL?” The blanket slides right into the floor with the quick movement, taking Luffy’s fork with it. “Oops.”

Makino leans over and picks it up, “It’s okay, we’ll just rinse it off, and then it’s good as new.” She slides the fuzz-covered piece of egg still onto the fork into the trash, and sticks it under the water for a moment, “But yes, there’s a festival today.” She hands it back to him as soon as it’s dry again, happy to see him so excited. “Do you wanna go?”

“Mhm!” The fork nearly hits the floor again as Luffy jumps back into eating as quickly as possible, legs kicking back and forth, and Makino sits back down to finish her own meal, peeling a mikan in between bites. As soon as Luffy’s cleared his plate she sits it down. “Thanks Maki!”

“Make sure you wash your hands after, so they won't be sticky.” She presses a gentle kiss to his forehead as she passes to drop both plates into the sink, “Go get dressed, Sunshine.” 

He leaves the blanket behind as he sprints off to do just that.

-------------

When Luffy and Makino step outside together, Luffy realizes that the village has been almost completely transformed overnight. Despite the crisp March air, the streets are full of people setting up food stalls and desks covered in blank white paper that's being held down with stones to spite the sneaky wind from snatching them. As they get closer to the center, pastel streamers arc from house to booth to fence, creating twisting displays of color. Strips of the white paper were folded and tied to them with twine, concealing what’s been written inside each one. 

Luffy twists in Makino’s arms, reaching up to try and take one of the white pieces, but she gently grabs his hand to stop him, “You can’t read them.” 

Luffy’s head tilts sideways a bit, but he wraps his arms back around Makino. “Why not?” He begins to peer at each of the stalls from over her shoulder instead, eyes flickering to each one with equal interest. Despite having just finished breakfast, the smell of sugary pastries continues to flood the air and make his stomach rumble. 

“You can have some snacks later, promise,” she says as she touches the tip of her index finger to his nose, smiling as he goes cross-eyed. “You can’t read them because they’re people’s wishes. Every year on the first day of spring, we all write our wishes down and hang them up for good luck, but if someone knows what you wished for, it won’t come true.” 

Luffy nods along, zoning out once his question had been answered. The smell of all the snacks is distracting, and the history of the wish festival doesn’t interest him enough to keep listening. After a while he spots Gyoru, the man who used to give him way more fish than he paid for when he was alone, creeping up behind Makino. As he passes her, he sneaks a large pastry topped with icing right into Luffy’s hands, tapping Makino’s other shoulder to draw her attention away from the exchange.  

“Makino! How are you?” He asks. Luffy takes the opportunity he’s given to shove the entire pastry in his mouth and the taste of raspberry and strawberry explodes over his taste buds to compliment the light crisp of the pastry and sugary icing. 

“I’m doing fine, Gyoru. I’m just taking Luffy to his first wish festival.” She shifts Luffy on her hip to keep him from sliding any further down. 

Gyoru reaches over and pinches Luffy’s cheek, quickly and secretly wiping icing off of it, “I see. You enjoying it? Have you made a wish yet?”

Luffy smiles wide enough that little bits of jam can still be seen in his teeth, but Makino pretends she hasn’t noticed a thing. “It’s fun! I dunno what to wish for though.”

“Well I can’t tell you what to wish for!” He touches Luffy’s nose the same way Makino did before, “If the wish doesn’t come from your heart, it can’t come true, kiddo!”  

The statement rattles around in Luffy's head as Gyoru continues to talk to Makino, and he's not brought back to reality until something whizes right by his ear. He lets out a little gasp and nearly twists himself right out of Makino's arms to catch a glance of the dragonfly zipping around. 

"Don't go into the jungle," Makino says as she sits him down, "and try to stay where you can hear me if I shout for you!" Luffy gives her a half hearted nod as he takes off as fast as his little legs will carry him. It doesn't matter that the dragonfly is faster than him, only that he can have fun chasing it.

-------------

Dadan has had a frown plastered on her first since she first left her room this morning, so Ace has done all he can to stay out of her way. It's not like she'd snap at him, but he really doesn't want to deal with it, especially if the other bandits are behind it. That's why he zoned out enough to only catch a few words of whatever is going on inside, and the second he hears the word "alcohol" he knows they're out. 

Shortly after the voices from inside the house got quiet again, the front door is slammed open with enough force to rattle the wall. Dadan is carrying an empty crate under each arm, so she must have just kicked it open. "Brat," she greets.

"Old Hag." He's already standing up and stretching before he can be asked. "Yes, I can go hunting for the idiots." 

Dadan puts a hand on his shoulder before he can walk away, and one of the crates is dropped into his arms. "They'll handle that. You're goin' with me today." She heads right for the nearly non-existent path to Foosha village. The nature has grown over most of it and Ace is willing to bet that it looks the same that all the way down the mountain with how rarely any of them visit. The only reason he even knows it's a pathway are the carefully notched branches that guide them to the next tree. If  Ace didn't know how to spot them, he'd assume they were done by the woodpeckers instead of Dadan's careful knifework.

Ace's nose scrunches. "I thought I wasn't supposed to be seen."

"Don't worry about that," She responds, "An appearance every now and ain't gonna be the end of the world." 

Dadan's words tumble around in Ace's head like rocks in a disturbed river bed, and they slip between his fingers just as easily. For as long as he can remember, he was never allowed to go anywhere but deeper into the jungle. It didn't stop him from sneaking into the Gray Terminal, but the fact remained that he wasn't allowed to go where others could see him. 

For years he had wanted to know why he was supposed to stay hidden. The bandits were fond of talking about the people they'd met and the things they'd seen while on jobs for the family, and he'd listen in even when he wasn't supposed to. Every time he'd asked Dadan why he couldn't leave, the only answer he'd get was that he needed to ask his grandfather, so he asked to know why for his fifth birthday present. 

He almost wished he hadn't.

He was the son of Roger, the former pirate king, a demon of a man whose bloodline everyone believed should die out. They'd killed thousands of mothers and children on an island called Baterilla so that he would die. His own mom died because of him. 

Why was he allowed to live when he's the reason so many innocent people didn't? Because carrying the blood of a monster has has turned him into one, and the desperation to live claws at his insides, spiteful in a way Ace wishes he could smother. That's why he's always eager to go hunting for the bandits. If he brought back meat for them cook, then maybe he was doing a little bit of good in the world, even if it'd never erase his crimes. 

And if I died, then I'd be getting what I deserved. It makes no difference to me.

The sounds of the jungle were always quieter when walking with Dadan than when he was alone. The creatures register her as a bigger threat than Ace, and he can't blame them for it. Despite what the people of the Terminal think of her, Dadan is a force and a half to be reckoned with. Ace has seen her fell trees with 20 foot diameter trunks in a single swing. She brawls the bears for fun, and when it gets cold, she lets Ace use the pelts that prove it.

I'd love to see any of the Terminal bastards that shit talk her survive a single day in this place.

For all that the predators respected her, the insects did not. They continue their usual business at will, flying into and all around Dadan and Ace. He quickly looses count of how many he swats at while they make the slow trek down Mount Colubo to Foosha. The sun only reaches them through holes in the canopy, but the lack of harsh sun didn't lower the temperature much. Even the last of the winter air doesn't stand a chance against the humidity. 

The sound of chatter begins to appear as the jungle thins out around the village, and the smell of different festival foods is nearly overwhelming. The moment they step out of the tree line, Ace can see colorful streams of paper, and people hustling with more energy than he'd ever seen during the times he's snuck into the Gray Terminal and Edge Town. The wind is much sharper now that there are no trees to block it, but it can't entirely negate the noon sun bearing down on every one, not that anyone seems to mind. The adults continued to chat amongst themselves in shaded stalls, and children are running about, buying snacks and playing games that Ace has never seen. 

He's immediately uncomfortable.

Dadan sighs beside him, "I forgot it was festival day... Ah, well, we're already here, may as well join in." Something about the way she says it is off, so Ace guesses it's because she feels as much discomfort as he does. She takes his empty crate to stack on top of hers, and then reaches into her pocket. She shoves a couple hundred beri bills in to his hand. "So you can fill your black hole of a stomach while we're down here. Can't stock up on booze until the end of the night." 

She's not leaving me alone down here is she?

Dadan places her hand on his head for a moment, just barely ruffling his hair, "I'm going to head to one of the other bars, don't get into any trouble, brat." She walks away before he can argue, leaving him half frozen at the idea of having to interact with the children playing, but he stops himself from reaching out once her words settle in. They came down here to get more alcohol, and now that the task has been delayed, it's his job to not be a nuisance. He can't hang off Dadan like a toddler when she expects him to entertain himself, so how he feels about the situation is irrelevant. It doesn't matter that I'm alone. I'm usually alone anyways, so this isn't any different. I'm eight, I'm not a baby, and I need to stop acting like one.

Ace ends up standing between two small buildings and opposite the larger cluster of stalls to watch the game going on in the town center. The rules seem entirely arbitrary, and the boy leading it changes them to benefit his team every few minutes. It'd be pointless to join in, even if they'd let him. 

How many of them would try to kill me if they knew? Would the rules of the game turn into everyone hunting me instead of taking turns hunting each other?

In the end, it doesn't matter. The accents the group of children speak with are sharp, and it's obvious they're from Goa kingdom, not Foosha village. Ace wonders how he didn't pick up on it faster, and he resigns himself to listening to Sabo ramble about accents again the next time they meet. Knowing where someone is from can make them more predictable. It's a fact that he's learned and that Sabo put into words for them both. And Goans, are predictably assholes more often than not.

Unfortunately for him, the second he turns his back to walk away and find a food stall, he's spotted by a girl in a red dress, "Hey! Where are you going? Come play!" Her voice is so high pitched that it grates on his ears the same way the cicadas do in the summer months, and he can't help but cringe at it. It's clear that, she too, is Goan. Her head is held high and proud when she walks over to him, her unscuffed shoes clicking on lose rocks. "We're about to start a new game so there's room for you on the other team! And did you make your wish yet?" She doesn't wait for an answer before grabbing his arm and trying to tug him over. 

Ace doesn't budge, and she nearly falls when he rips his arm out of her hand. "Don't touch me."  

Unfortunately for him, she is no less determined. "Don't be such a spoil sport!" She shouts, "I'm Beatrice, what's your name?"

"Piss off." He ignores her shocked face as he moves past her, but laughter from the gaggle of kids causes him to glance back over. They're all staring at a tiny kid who walks along the trees, mocking the way that he chases the bug that holds his attention in a vice grip. A couple of them even begin to throw whatever they can pick off the ground at him. The sticks and rocks all fall flat, none of the Goans are used to doing something so "improper," and the kids from Foosha look to scared to try. 

The rage that's constantly simmering beneath Ace's skin slowly begins to bubble. Why the hell are they throwing shit at a toddler?

"You shouldn't pity that thing," Beatrice says from beside him. Her expression had turned sour the second he appeared. "He's a monster and deserves everything he gets." 

The word "monster" is louder than a gunshot echoing in Ace's mind.

The kid was smiling brighter than the sun as the insect darted between his fingers, and there wasn't a single ounce of the same contempt Ace held for himself in his eyes. How can such a happy child be a monster like me?

His face must betray his thought, because Beatrice scoffs at him. "Don't be fooled like the adults are. He might look innocent, but he's a little freak. When he first got here, he shattered Coco's brother's leg because he was loosing some ball passing game they play here." Ace finds it hard to believe that someone that small could shatter anything, let alone someone's bones. "He still can't walk right. Look at him-" She points over to the pair of kids in matching blue shirts that were on the team opposite to her during the hunting game. They're both glaring down the child who's chasing the bug, and it's easy to see the way the boy does favors his left leg.

The Foosha natives don't like him either...? He had thought it was just the Goans being Goan: Picky and snot-nosed and hateful about anyone who isn't Goan. The bubbling is starting to boil.

"So just let it do... whatever it's doing, and come play with us! Besides, if you can follow some basic instructions, then you could be a good villager, just like Coco!" She makes eye contact with him, smiling wide with her perfect white teeth and perfect blond curls and her perfectly spotless dress, as if she didn't imply that he is subservient to her, and the rage explodes. 

There's a stall selling shaved ice with sticky flavoring, and beside it, all the melted ice has left a small puddle of mud for him to her into it. She screams bloody murder as her dress and hair are coated, and Ace laughs harder than he has in a long time. The sound rips out of him louder than the sound of her dress tearing on the nails holding the stall together, which only brings him  more amusement. The way she's kicking and screaming at the stall owner, who's trying to help her up, only makes it worse for herself. 

None of the other children move, unsure what to do, and the adults are more concerned with stopping the flow of tears escaping her eyes than with Ace.

And well, if they aren't gonna fight him, Ace isn't interested in sticking around. I wonder how much I can get with what Dadan gave me?

-------------

Luffy isn't blind or deaf, let alone stupid. He can can see all the rocks being tossed at him out of the corner of his eye, and he knows that anything they're saying about him is probably mean. That's why he chooses to ignore them. Makino will get upset if I get into another fight anyways...  Instead, he lets himself be entirely captivated by the way that the dragonfly's wings reflect the glittering sunlight, and how it dances between his fingers, always just out of reach.

That's why he jumps when the Goan children scream. 

When he turns around, there's a kid he doesn't recognize laughing at the noble girl that's been shoved into the mud, and Luffy wishes to everything he'd actually been paying attention. The kid walks away as soon as everyone fixates on the girl, and Luffy tries to piece together what he can from her shouting. 

"How dare he!" She screeches, "All I did was state the truth about that little monster and he had the audacity to put his hands on me?" He continues to scream something about ruined fabric and hair, but Luffy can't find it in himself to listen to anymore of it. 

Someone other than Makino defended me?

He stands completely still, repeating her words over and over in his head for a moment. It doesn't feel real. By the time he processes it, both the dragonfly and the boy are out of his sight. He starts to walk back towards Maki's bar to find her again. Maybe she knows who he is... Maybe he wants to be friends!

-------------

The food from each stall smells as delicious, if not more so, than the restaurants in low town when he and Sabo dare to venture close enough. His mouth waters at the mix of spices that make his nose tingle, hoping for some of the hotter peppers that Dadan so rarely got ahold of. It doesn't take him long to locate a stall selling cardboard bowls of beef noodle stew with decorative peppers along the sides, each very clearly marked as only 50 beri, so Ace swipes 2 and leaves one of the 100 beri bills Dadan gave him. He slurps down one in only a few minutes, letting the spices warm him from the inside out. 

The man behind the counter was frozen in place at first, an arm raised as if to stop him, but after a few moments, he gives a hearty chuckle, banishing the panic from his body language. "You must like things spicy!" 

Ace only nods, already slurping down the second bowl. The stew is easily one of the best Ace has ever had. It's spicy enough that the vegetables don't taste like disgusting mush, and the meat is tender enough to fall apart. He finds himself pulling out another 100 beri bill to get two more. 

The man seems to realize that he doesn't want to deal with small talk, but he does give Ace a not-so-sneaky wink when he adds in more peppers than before, "Not often that I get to make it with the original recipe, so enjoy the extra spice, kiddo." 

Ace's nose wrinkles at the comment towards his age, but he knows better than to be rude to someone giving him food. "Thanks old man." He takes the cups and quickly begins walking again while chowing down. A little way down the road, he sees someone tie another piece of white paper to the streamers. He's finished eating by the time he gets there, so he throws the bowls in the trash bin and reaches up to snatch the paper and see what the fuss is about. 

A hand gently grabs his from behind, only applying enough force to stop him, and he nearly punches them on reflex. Dadan's words about not getting into trouble echo in the back of his mind, and he reluctantly stops himself last second. He expects to get yelled at anyways, but the delicate looking woman only smiles at him and let's go. 

Aceglances over her quickly, trying to spot any weapons she may have, and she squats down to be eye level with him. "I'm sorry for startling you," She says softly. Her accent isn't Goan. It matches the man who was selling the stew instead, so she must be from Foosha. "But you can't take those down."

"Why the hell not?" Ace asks. He's starting to get annoyed with how many people have grabbed him today. "And who even are you?"

"My name's Makino," she answers, not batting an eye at the rude response. "And you can't read because they're people's wishes, and they won't come true if someone reads them."

Ace nose scrunches again. "That's stupid. It's just a piece of paper."

Makino reaches up to fix her green hair where the wind has knocked it loose, careful not to displace a very small and messy braid from its place behind her ear as she tries to figure out her  response. "It's okay to think that if you want to."

Ace wasn't expecting her to agree. 

"But you could also think of it this way," She continues, "The paper itself may be silly, but the things written there are important to each person. We write down our wishes and dreams every year, hoping that the wind will pick them up and set them in motion. Whether or not writing it helps it come true doesn't matter so much as believing that it might, and even if it doesn't help, it doesn't hurt anyone to try." She reaches over to one of the nearby tables and places a small piece of blank white paper into his hands, cupping them gentle in her own as she does.

Strangely enough, Ace doesn't feel the urge to pull away or punch her like he thought he would. 

The expression on her face is a complete contrast to the ones he's used to seeing in the Gray Terminal or even on Dadan's face. It's genuine and kind. Ace doesn't know what to do with it.  "You don't have to try it at all, but if you want to, this piece of paper can carry your wish to the wind." She stands up right after that, leaving Ace to make the choice on his own. Ace keeps his eyes glued to the slightly crumpled page until he can't see her in his peripheral anymore, and he ends up folding it carefully before cramming it in his pocket as he comes to his senses. He picks a random direction to start walking.

What right does a monster have to make a wish?

He's quick to lose track of where he is, but he can't have gone too far from the village. All in front of him is farmland and the massive windmills that give the village its name. The wind is louder as it spins each turbine than it was in the village streets, and Ace finds himself fixating on the sound and spinning shadows. 

His heartbeat throbs in his fingertips as he stares, but swimming among the river of thoughts that's so eager to drown him are Makino's words about their wishes. "It doesn't hurt anyone to try." the paper crumples in his pocket when he grabs it, but he doesn't bother pulling it out. he doesn't have anything to write with anyways. "This is so stupid..." he mumbles, "Whatever, she said the point is for the wind to get it, so I'm not gonna bother writing it anyways."

A dragonfly zips past his face, briefly landing on his shoulder before he shoos it away. 

He hesitates, but he doesn't believe that the wind can grant him anything but a breeze on a hot day or choose chill him to the bone in winter. He stands up straight, starting off strong and bold. "Sayin' this out loud ain't change the fact that it's never gonna happen, but—" his voice cracks, and he stops. The cool air stings the tears that come to his eyes unbidden, and the bravado he tried to wear quickly begins to crumble to dust. "I wish... I—" It feels as if his throat is clogged, as if his own body knows that he doesn't deserve to say the thing he craves most aloud. "I wish I was wanted," he eventually whispers. 

Saying those five words felt harder than killing one of the crocodiles for dinner, and Ace hates the weakness that something so selfish brings out of him. Though maybe, if he says it all out loud for once, it will never be able to escape the darkest corners of his mind again. Monsters are never wanted.

-------------

Luffy had found the dragonfly again, or at least a dragonfly, beside the stall that Gyoru's wife had set up, and he'd followed it. He knew he was getting further away from the festival as the sounds of the celebration got quieter and quieter, but as long as he can see the ocean or the windmills, he can find his way back to the port, then home. He isn't worried. The insect shoots around the back of one of the windmills, and Luffy stops just as he catches sight of the boy from earlier. He doesn't dare do more than peek from around the corner.

The boy looks like he might cry. 

"I wish I was wanted," he whispers, and Luffy feels as if his blood has gone ice cold. "I want to be wanted, not just needed, because that's different. The bandits are dumbasses and would get themselves killed the second they tried to hunt the stuff I bring back home. They'd starve without me and Dadan... And Sabo... Sabo's a moron and would get killed in the Terminal without my help. They need me, but they don't want me." 

The crushing loneliness that once plagued him rears its ugly head, creating a hollow core in his chest. In that single instant, those few words had carved out his insides like a hot knife through butter, and Luffy first thought is that he has to stop it from consuming the other boy the way it once had him.

His second thought is that he overheard someone else's wish, and now it can't come true.

Luffy steps backwards carefully until he's back on the main road, then he runs back to Party's Bar as fast as he can manage. The cold air burns his throat, and his mind is moving even faster than his legs. It doesn't take him long to realize that there's an easy solution. He nearly trips over his own two feet while trying to stop at one of the tables, and the piece of paper he grabs is the last one there. 

In large, shaky letters he writes out "I wish for the boy who helped me's wish to come true even though I heard it." The paper folds end up being crooked, and the hole punch is off-center, but Luffy cradles it to his chest as if it's more precious than gold. 

When Luffy turns around, a few of the children who were playing in the square are staring at him. Some are from Foosha, but others are Goan, so Luffy doesn't know all their names. It doesn't matter when there's disgust plastered on their faces. He holds the paper tighter to his chest, hating the sinking feeling that comes when two of the larger boys begin to smirk. 

If it was just his wish, he'd let them have it so he could beat them up.

But it's not just his wish.

Luffy turns and runs, not giving them a moment more to debate taking the wish from him. He makes sure to take a few odd turns on the way to the bar, and when he gets there, he goes in through the broken kitchen window, launching himself all the way over the counter in the process.

Makino nearly jumps out of her skin, but she scoops him up without a word. Luffy's face is rosy red as he tries to gulp down air, but he holds up the piece of paper nonetheless. "You figure out what you wanted to wish for?" 

He nods, and hands both the paper and the piece of twine to her, "Will you tie it up for me so the other kids don't rip it down?" A tinge of guilt courses through him when he sees her face pinch the way it always does when he mentions the mean kids, but he shoves it down. It's not just my wish. I can't let them have it.

"Of course I can, Sunshine." Her arms squeeze around him, chasing away the cold. She kisses the very top of his head as she sits him down. "Go sit down and I'll bring you something to snack on when I get back."

A smile begins to stretch across his face, and he speeds out of the kitchen and behind the bar. One of the old stools makes it easy for him to climb up onto the counter and sit in his usual corner spot on the bar counter. None of the regulars say anything about him being there, so the new faces don't comment on it either. None of the strangers speak with a Goan accent, and they sit mixed in to everyone else, calming sharing food and drink. That doesn't fully stop Luffy from distrusting them. 

Many of them are easily identified as bandits. Their clothes are just a little too bulky in the places that his Gramps taught him weapons can be hidden, and they all carry themselves the same way. Well, almost. There's a large older woman with the poofiest curly hair he's ever seen sitting all the way in the back corner, observing the crowd the same way the predators of the jungle do, but something about the way she's sitting tells Luffy it's defensive. She won't finish anything unless someone else starts it. He doesn't understand why no one else can sense the way her eyes are scanning them.

So he makes eye contact with her, holding himself firm just in case she does actually plan to do something to Makino's bar. She stares right back at him, and after a moment, she raises her mug towards him and grins almost ferally, a sign of peace and an acknowledgement that she was noticed. Luffy relaxes a little. 

Makino comes back inside once the wish paper was tied up with the others, and she gets right back to handing out what was ordered. It's taking her a little too long to pour drinks, so Luffy wiggles himself off the counter, trusting the villagers up front to point out which drinks they wanted from the shelf. They never seem to mind, even when he has to ask twice or thrice to be sure, because he always pours a little too much. 

"Careful, Sunshine." Makino pats his head as she passes behind him, and she leaves a plate of little pastries and finger foods in Luffy's spot. "So you can pop bites in between pouring." She never tries to stop him from helping, even when it proves to make a bit of a mess. She won't let him drink any of it though. Not that he wants to. It was really yucky when one of the bandits snuck me a sip.

Luffy barely manages to say, "thank you," before she's back into the kitchen. The next mug he needs to fill belongs to Woop Slap, the mayor who took over after the last one. He's much kinder, and he doesn't consider Luffy to be more problem than person. "Hey, Woop Slap...?" The bottle he pours from is nearly full, but he's careful not to drop it.

"That's the one I wanted, Luffy," He reassures.

Luffy touches the end of the bottle to the rim of the glass to help keep it balanced, nose scrunching a bit as he focuses. "Do you think Makino ever gets mad at me for accidentally pouring too much?" Just as he says it, the drink goes a bit over the line in the mugs that Makino tells him to aim for. He barely stops pouring in time to keep it from overflowing. 

All of the older people people sitting by the bar laugh. The booming sound startles him, and he looks back and forth between them all. Woop Slap takes a sip of his drink without lifting it to prevent spillage, and he grins widely, "No, kiddo. I don't think it's possible for her to be mad at you... Besides, she did the same thing when her dad ran this place. You should ask her about it sometime." 

The door slams open before Luffy can respond, and the sound silences the room.

The boy from earlier is standing there, but none of the raw emotion from earlier is visible in his demeanor. His eyes are as cold as a steel blade as they glance around the room, and his knuckles audibly crack as his fists tighten. "Oi." 

One of the fisherman is one of the first to get his bearings back, "What's got you all worked up kiddo?" He sets his mug down and turns almost all the way around to face the boy, but he freezes in place when those silver eyes pin him to his seat like a dagger. Luffy can't tear his gaze away.

"If Gold Roger had a kid, what would you do?" the boy asks, and the quiet of the room shifts from startled to strained. The mention of the former Pirate King throws their moods headlong into some kind of negativity, but as the rest of the question registers, their distain fades. The expression on the adult's faces are usually reserved for Luffy when the other children say awful things to him.

The curly haired woman has gone entirely still in edge of Luffy's vision, but she continues to watch the other patrons, not the boy. Her hand slowly slides to the handle of a weapon that Luffy can't see all of, but her demeanor is protective, as if one wrong word will have her starting a fight on the boy's behalf.

Makino, who had come back just in time to hear the question, carefully sits the plates she was holding in front of the bandits who ordered them. "Well that's an easy question to answer," she begins. The boy's feet shift slightly apart, shoulders tensing while he waits for a reason to start a fight, but none of his anger appears to be directed anywhere but himself. Her voice remains steady and barely louder than a whisper, but it carries throughout the whole room, "You'd love them just as you would any child, because their parents don't determine their worth." 

The boy's eyes widen slightly, and he takes a step backwards. Confusion ripples across his face as he watches Makino closely, but he tenses right back up as several of the villagers lift their mugs towards her and cheer an agreeance. He quickly begins to backpedal, shoulders hunching as he gets closer to the door, making him smaller and smaller. His eyes desperately flicker from person to person, as if he's waiting for the punch line to the joke and a reason to punch them one by one. He doesn't appear to find any of the malice he's looking for, so he responds the anyone would.

He runs.

The chatter returns to normal the second he's gone, and Luffy vaults himself over the bar top before he's fully thought through his plan. Both Woop Slap and the bandit seated adjacent to him try to stop him, but it's Makino who manages to grab his wrist right before he can leave. "Let go!" It rips out of him much louder than he means it to, catching all the nosey adult's attention again. "I have to go- I have to help him! He's like me!" Tears unwillingly well up in his eyes, and he only hopes that Makino understands, "He's alone." 

With his eyes locked on Makino's, and thoughts racing far ahead of his body, he nearly misses the distressed whisper from the bandit woman, "Ace..." 

That must be his name.

Makino's grip on his wrist slackens, so Luffy yanks his hand away and sprints through the door, hoping that he's not too far away to catch up with Ace.

-------------

The thumping of Ace's heavy footfalls is drowned out by the pounding of his heart. He can feel his pulse in his throat as it tightens and threatens to stop him from breathing. He pushes forwards anyways, ignoring anyone who tries to stop him from reaching the trees.

Ace had seen the hatred for Roger rise to the surface the very moment he said the man's name, but it was as if rest of the question erased it. They had focused on the word "kid" as if a child of the Pirate King was just an ordinary child. There had to be some sort of ulterior motive for lying to him. It just doesn't make sense otherwise. 

He'd made a habit of going to bars to ask once people were too drunk to remember his face. They always said the same things that confirmed what Ace knew in his heart, "He wouldn't even be allowed to be born. He'd be the devil." He's heard at least a hundred ways to say the same two sentences in the three years that he's known who his father was, and even Gramps had his own phrasing on the list. I'm not just some kid. I'm a monster.

He changes directions for the Eastern mountain pass almost unconsciously, heading for the Gray Terminal instead of the bandit house. If anyone can pick apart what Ace saw to find the truth in it, it's Sabo, and even if he can't, Ace wants to see him. The comfort being in the jungle brings him is minimal, and that's because its familiarity and isolation can only do so much. Not that Sabo needs to know that.

The scavengers that prowl the fringe gaze lazily at him as he speeds past them and through where jungle turns into forest, but none of them bother to chase him into the less dense undergrowth. It gives him plenty of time to make mental note of any details he thinks Sabo would find useful without having to worry about a potential fight. After all, the only real threats in the Midway Forest were human, and Ace knows he can beat any person who tries to stop him.

The putrid smell of the Terminal starts to creep into his nostrils, growing exponentially worse as the mounds of trash come into view. The garbage mountains stretch for miles in all directions but it's almost impossible to miss the tall walls that encase Goa kingdom's capital in the center. The metal pieces of the Eastern Great Gate reflect the sunlight in a way that could be considered beautiful if its purpose wasn't to keep the people of the Terminal from entering Edge Town. He's listened to Sabo rant about the segregation of social classes too often not to hate it on principal. 

He walks along the creek that separates this part of the forest and dump, careful not to step close to the ones without large bases. If he's right, Sabo's little hut should be nearby. He'll never understand how his friend lives like this, but it's not his place to ask him to change it.

A familiar top hat hangs off a metal pipe stuck into the ground, and beneath it is a pile of tattered cloth that's been tied together to make a blanket. It's an ugly thing, but it does its job of keeping Sabo off the cold ground where he lies. He appears lost in thought in a way that Ace rarely sees, so he waits before approaching. "We've got to work on your awareness." 

Sabo scrambles to his feet, a feral grin ripping across his face. "Ace! I thought you weren't coming today!" The barest hints of sadness have vanished from his face entirely. "You're usually here around midday... Did the old hag make you do more chores than normal or something?" Three years in the terminal still can't fully disguise his Goan accent, but Ace wouldn't dare bringing it up lest he lose Sabo in the process. He may have grown up within the walls, but he's always been the exception to the rule. 

"She drug me down the mountain with her to get more booze, but there was a festival goin' on so we had to wait." Ace shrugs, but Sabo's enthusiasm lessens as he takes in the state Ace is in. "And some people lied to me. I wanna figure out why."

"Give me every single detail," Sabo responds. He pulls out a broken pen and a little notebook with burnt edges to take notes, determined to find what Ace needs him to. His face morphs from determined concern to exasperation throughout the story, and towards the end he stops writing entirely. 

The corners of Ace's lips turn upwards, and there's the smallest undertone of revengeful malice. "You've already figured it out?"

"I have." Sabo closes the notebook and tucks it back into his coat pocket, not letting Ace see a single thing he's written down. "It was really easy, actually."

Ace's nose scrunches, and he flips Sabo the bird. "Not noticing everything people do doesn't make me stupid."

"No, it doesn't," Sabo agrees. "The things that make you an absolute moron are the facts that you're still walking into bars and asking that question while trying to hide who you are, and that you think your own self loathing controls other people's level of antipathy towards you for your lineage." He places his precious top hat back onto his head, and pulls his weapon from the ground to jokingly point it at Ace. "Do I need to beat sense into you again?" Movement from a spot just past Ace catches his attention, and in one smooth movement, his grip on the pipe changes to an defensive one.

Ace whips around, fists already raised in lieu of the pipe he left at the bandit home, but rather than attacking first, his confusion leaves him unmoving. "You're from Foosha."

The little boy jumps, but he he doesn't have an ounce of fear in him when walks out of his hiding place behind the trash. The sunshine filled smile from earlier is present as he waves at Ace, and it adds to the pile of disbelief that the boy is the monster the other kids claimed him to be.

There's no way this brat is like me.

"From Foosha?" Sabo lifts his pipe higher, distrusting, "And you said we had to work on my awareness. How did he follow you for that long?" 

"I didn't feel like I was being followed." Ace shrugs. I don't really like that, but it's probably because he isn't a threat. He's just a kid.

The boy walks right over to them, unfazed by Sabo's pipe, even when it ends up being only a few inches from his face. Sabo doesn't waver, but even Ace can tell that he's unsettled by how comfortable the toddler is with a weapon so close. "I wanted to talk to you and say thank you."

Ace has more questions about this situation than patience, so he settles for the most obvious one, "Why?" 

"You defended me!" There may as well be stars in his eyes as he looks up at Ace, and an absolute floodgate of rambling opens, "No one ever does that, but I was so surprised that I lost track of where you went until I saw you in the bar. And then you looked really sad, so I thought you might be lonely too, so I followed you here to see if... if you wanted to be friends." 

Ace finds himself frozen yet again, but rather than the chill of discomfort, he can only heat of his cheeks burning. He can see Sabo trying to choke down his giggles out of the corner of his eye, and he throws a quick elbow, sending the blond sprawling on the dirty ground. The cackling rips out of him at full volume, and the echo off the metal scraps distorts the joyful sound into one that sounds far too similar to a crowd collectively mocking a target.

The hope that the kid was radiating starts to vanish, but even though his bottom lip wobbles, he doesn't cry. It's what makes Ace realize that the kid doesn't know that Sabo is laughing at Ace's discomfort, not him. The fact he can keep himself from being a crybaby earns a bit of respect from Ace. "...It's okay if you don't want to. I know they told you, and you were probably just annoyed with her or something."

Ace kicks Sabo in the side, ignoring the way he squawks, "Yeah, they told me you were a monster, but I'm worse. So why would you want to be friends with me? They'll all just hate you more for it. They'll keep throwin' shit at you and one day they're actually gonna hit you with it."

He's little, so there's still a chance for people to start liking him again. Especially because he's nicer than me.

The kid glances at Sabo, who's now rubbing his side but watching them carefully nonetheless, then back to Ace. "They'll do that anyways, but I don't care." The sincerity in his eyes has Ace hanging onto every word he's said, "Besides...It's so much worse to be alone that to be hurt."

His words hit a little too close to home, and instead of telling the kid that he's stupid for believing that, he finds himself speaking his thoughts out loud, "So if I were around, it would be better?" The kid nods. "And if I were gone it would be worse?" He nods again. Ace's tongue sticks to the roof of his dry mouth. He doesn't know when Sabo stood up, but his hand is squeezing Ace's shoulder. "Do... you want me to live?"

"Of course I do!" The kid is so sure of his answer, and Ace has to swallow the lump in his throat.

"....Okay," he swallows heavily one more time before the heat of the blush return to his cheeks, the embarrassment of being vulnerable overpowering all the other emotions. "But I hate soft little crybabies, so you better be tough." 

The blinding grin from earlier is back yet again, and Sabo takes that moment to throw an arm around the kid, "Ace is a big grumpy asshole, so if you can deal with him, I hope you can deal with me too. We come as a set, you see." His smile somehow gets brighter, and Ace feels like he will burn to a crisp under the force of that much cheerfulness. "I'm Sabo." 

"Oh! I'm Luffy!" He shakes Sabo's hand when it's offered, "It's nice to meet you! I'm glad Ace wasn't as lonely as he looked."

Of course the moment he thought he was done blushing like a school girl, the toddler had to make it worse. He can't be real. No one is that...Pure...

Sabo snickers. "Oh, by the way, Luffy," he says, "I wasn't laughing at you; I was laughing at Ace, because he's embaaaaaraaaaassed." The last word is drawn out in the sing-songy tone that Sabo uses when he wants to be a particular brand of teasing, and Ace doesn't hesitate to punch him. This time though, it doesn't stop the giggle fest, "He did the same thing when I asked to hang out with him."

"Shut it, 'Bo," Ace hisses. 

Sabo finally returns the middle finger he was given earlier. "Nah. You need to lighten up. Also don't you have to get back to the old hag?"

"Ah shit." His nose scrunches, "that means going all the way back to Foosha and finding her... Screw that, I'm just gonna go back to the bandit house."

"Um." Luffy is looking up at them both, mildly panicked, "I don't know how to get back to the village."

Both Ace and Sabo stop and look at each other for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them before Sabo decides he needs to be verbal impulse control for Ace. "He's just a kid, Ace. We can help him back."

"That doesn't mean we can't make it fun," Ace spits back. His own feral grin tears across his face, "Hey, Luffy. Think you could keep up in a race?"

"I managed to follow you, didn't I?" Luffy's whole body tenses, and he shifts his weight as if he expects Ace to start without calling for it.

He's ready for the unexpected. I can respect that too.

Ace and Sabo take a similar stance, and they trade the call back and forth. 

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"Go!" 

Ace takes off the second the word leave's Sabo's lips, easily keeping pace with the blond. He half expects to see Luffy left behind in the dust, when he checks, but he's barely a step behind despite being much smaller. 

"I meant to say something before we started running." Sabo's words are calm and measured, even while in a dead sprint, "But you're well spoken for a toddler."

The huff that comes from Luffy is most definitely annoyed, and not from any sort of fatigue. "I'm almost five."

Ace busts into cackles so hard that he ends up a step behind Sabo while trying to regain his breath control, "So you're just a pipsqueak then!"

"Am not!" Watching Luffy's face light up red in anger only makes Ace laugh harder. It's starting to get to Sabo too. 

"If we can both mistake you for a three year old, then yes you are!" Sabo calls out, and it elicits another angry grumble.  "If you wanna prove you're not one, then beat us back to the bar you came from."

"You're on!"
-------------

Makino is nearly knocked over when Luffy yanks his arm away and runs away too fast for her to snatch a second time. She manages to catch herself, but she's left staring at the door, brow furrowing with worry. Several of her patrons are watching her, unsure of what to say, and the quietis unbroken until Dadan decides to fix it.

"Let him go, Maki." Dadan reaches over to her and pats her shoulder awkwardly. She knows she's probably not the best person to be comforting anyone, but she can try.. "Ace won't kill him."

Makino sighs as the ambient chatter of the bar starts to rise again, and she jerks her head in the direction of the bar. "That's the boy Garp left with you, right?" Dadan nods to her, and she refills the tankard with the sweet mikan mead that Dadan knows she's been trying to get just right. "Tell me about him."

"I'll share some stories if you do," she offers, "The little one you've got running around now seems way too strong for his age. Reminds me of the bastard himself." Dadan takes a slow sip and nods her approval. Sweet, but not sickeningly so. She's close to gettin' it how she wants it.

"Luffy's his grandson, and he is very strong," Makino agrees, "and he's even stronger emotionally, Dadan." The expression that stretches across her face goes from proud to bitter as she recalls the reason why. "And I—" She cuts herself off glancing around the bar probably making sure there are no children running around, "Damn it, Dadan, all the other kids are so fucking mean to him." 

Dadan sits the tankard back down and looks right at Makino. "Children are cruel, Maki. You know that, I know that, and so does everyone else. And they're always gonna be, 'cause they don't like what they don't understand."  

Two shot glasses are sat on the table, and Makino fills them with something unlabeled and clear as crystal. She shoots hers as if it's water, but the burning in Dadan's throat and nose tells her it isn't. It doesn't surprise a single person there either, because Makino has been stealing mouthfuls from people's drinks since she was eleven, and she's been running the bar by herself since twelve. She used to say she needed to know what things tasted like to recommend them, but all of Foosha know the truth is that she saw enough people drown their grief in alcohol that just maybe, she could drown her father's death too.

Needless to say, the kids back then didn't like her very much either. I'm willing to bet that's why she took to the kid in the first place.

"You know what everyone else in this room knows, Dadan?" She pours herself a second, not even offering the borderline paint stripper of a drink to Dadan a second time. "That acting like that isn't okay." The bottle gets tucked back under the counter as she swallows the second shot. "Kids don't know any better, but all of us do. If we don't get them to stop, then they're going to turn into mean, bitter adults, and it'll be too late."

Dadan sighs deeply and chooses to down her entire drink before speaking again, "You're right. People oughta pop 'em in the mouth a few times before your kid decides to do it himself." Her throat still burns from whatever Makino shared with her. "That's what Ace has started to do...And whatever the hell that was earlier." Her hand slides slowly down to her hip, where her smaller axe hangs freely. The warn handle in her palm is a comforting reassurance, but not as much as her larger one would be. It's a silent threat to anyone listening to the conversation.

Whoop slaps sighs from beside her. "Look around you, Dadan," he says, "Everyone here is a Foosha native. No Goans." His own mug has been empty for some time, but he makes no gesture for a refill. "If you think Garp didn't ask us to help cover up any rumors about Ace, then you're a damn fool. He's lucky that none of the actual nobles decided to grace us with their presence." He spits out the last sentence with a venom that he very rarely reaches towards. 

"He told me no one else knew," Dadan responds. She knew the second that everyone looked at Ace with pity instead of rage that Garp had lied to her about that. "Means I could have brought him down here well before now to actually talk to people instead of whatever the hell he does in the Terminal."

The face Woop Slap pulls is almost comical. "Why are you letting that boy the Terminal? That place is a crime filled disaster—"

"I know, Woop." Dadan grumbles to herself for a moment, not particularly wanting to deal with the high strung man. "But there's not a damn thing I could do to stop that boy. Ace is a force of nature all on his own." 

Makino flitters between people to place plates and refill mugs, but the glances in their direction let Dadan know she's still listening. "Only brought him down this time 'cause of Dogra and Magra."

"What did those two fools do now?" Whoop helps himself to another glass of cheap whiskey, unwilling to bother Makino for it when it's right in front of him.

Dadan lets out another sigh as she glances around the room again. The older folk are people she grew up with, so she knows she shouldn't feel uneasy about being here, but her worry for Ace has controlled her for the past eight years. "They're the ones who reminded me about the festival today and told me I should drag Ace down here."

He snorts, "So they actually did something smart for once. Good for them."

"It's damn near impossible to lie to that boy, Woop. I had to pretend I'd forgotten, and I ain't no actor."

Makino drags the stool that Luffy uses to reach upper shelf liquors in front of them. "Luffy's the same way. I swear he sees through to your soul." She wordlessly offers more of the mead.

Dada passes her tankard over. "You think that's why he knew about Ace?" 

"I do. You should bring him down here again." She overfills the mug just a little, but Dadan isn't going to complain about it. "It'd certainly help with my wish."

Woop Slap's eyes go wide, "You haven't made a wish during the festival in years if I recall."

What remains of Makino's anger had dissipated while she worked, but her expression remains bittersweet. "It may not have helped me growing up, but I don't think it's wrong to hope Luffy can make a friend."

A bark of laughter escapes Dadan, "He can try, but Ace is such a little shit. It won't be easy." She lifts her mug in a silent cheer of luck for Luffy. 

It'd be good for Ace to have someone closer to his age to talk to.

"I can agree with that," is shouted from across the room. Stewart, a man who's run a little restaurant in the center of the village for as long as Dadan can remember. Like most Foosha natives, he only looks about thirty-five despite the fast that he's pushing sixty. "He called me an old man earlier! Do I look like an old man?" 

A friend of his shouts an agreement, and it starts a fight that Dadan doesn't even want to bother listening to. She tunes out the moment Stewart tries to use his poetry hobby to help him win the argument.

Makino gives her an even better reason to ignore them. "Tell us about Ace." 

She knows alcohol has loosened her lips considerably more than she's usually okay with, but it doesn't keep her from blabbering on about everything. Ace has been a menace since the day that she got him, and she spares very few details about the insane things he's chosen to do as well as well as the incredible things he's achieved. The beasts of the jungle are not easy to fight, even for those who have been doing it for years. By the time she starts talking about the trio of gators he brought home the week before, much of the buzz had worn off, and she was starting to realize that she had no idea how long she'd been talking for. 

Sure Makino had interrupted a few times with small stories about Luffy and his apparent bug obsession, but for all Dadan cared, she'd basically been rambling on for what had to be hours. 

Seeing Luffy run out of the kitchen and climb Makino like a ladder to get onto of the bar counter proves that point. Makino nearly dropped a glass before realizing what was happening, but Luffy keeps his gaze fixated on the door rather than addressing her. He's breathing as if he's run an entire marathon. Ace and a blond boy Dadan's never seen before burst through door in the same state, nearly collapsing on the floor. 

Luffy's face splits into a grin so large and feral that Dadan can imagine it on the wolves that lurk in the darkest corners of the jungle. "I win."

"No you didn't," the blond counters, "We touched the corner of the building right before you touched the window."

Ace sends a scathing glance to the blond, "Sabo's right, though I touched it first—"

"You said we were racing to the bar!" Luffy pats the countertop, "This is the bar. You're standing in the dining area." The little gremlin begins to giggle, and both Ace and Sabo's face pinch in anger as they realize they've been outsmarted. 

Ace's nose scrunches up even more than it normally does, leaving his eyebrows so furrowed they could be a single line across his forehead. "You knew how to get here though, so you cheated!"

Luffy shakes his head. "But you two knew how to get back to Foosha, so you knew more of the way back than me. It's even." 

Sabo rubs his faces, clearly trying to wipe away the annoyance he feels, "He's right, Ace. I don't like it, but he's right."

Luffy busts into more giggles as Ace screeches loudly in rage. "I won, so now you can't call me a pipsqueak again!" He proudly lifts the middle fingers on both hands in their direction, smirking the same way all kids do when they're doing something they know they shouldn't. 

Makino grabs both of his hands from behind him. "Don't do that." 

"Why not?" She gently forces his fingers back open and holds his tiny hands in hers for a moment. Ace and Sabo have both stopped to watch, quickly picking up on the fact that they're about to watch him be scolded.

"Because it's very rude—"

"Oh let the boy be a bit rude, Makino," Woop Slap interrupts, "He's earned it with all he puts up with, and you're no better." Most of the bar busts into raucous laughter, and Makino's cheeks turn a bit pink. "One day you're gonna stub your toe in front of him and he's gonna hear worse than he ever will from a sailor."

Makino desperately tries to wave him off, "I am not that bad."

"She already has!" Luffy says it as if it's something to be proud of, and Makino flushes darker. She lets go and tries to hide her face with both hands. "But she also says not to repeat any of it because kids shouldn't say them, but some of the Goans have said stuff like that to me too. So I don't think it matters that much that she sometimes calls the big pan that always falls out of the cabinet a fucking ba—" Makino quickly covers his mouth.

"That's enough!" She shouts. "Good grief Luffy..." Despite her exasperation, she smiles gently for him, and pulls him closer to kiss his forehead. She looks over to the other two children in the room with the same expression. "Do you boys wants something to eat?"

Both Ace and Sabo nod as they creep closer, and Dadan shuffles to the side a little more so Ace can sit on her other side and right in front of Luffy's corner spot. He only uses half the seat, choosing to share it with the blond. It warms Dadan's heart to know that he sees anyone as an equal, even if it's the boy she's briefly heard about being a massive trouble maker. It's not as if Ace is much better. Maybe they're right. This really could be good for him.

The plates Makino sits down are piled high with rice and meat, and Ace looks like he might drool. "Eat up. And if you're anything like Luffy, there will be seconds ready for you after." The speed they choke it all down at is concerning, especially the blond. He eats as if he hasn't had a hot meal in a month, and a quick glance to Makino tells Dadan that she noticed it too. 

Dadan decides to bite the bullet. "So where did your blond friend come from, Ace?" 

"Oh, My name's Sabo. Apologies for the terrible manners." He holds one of his small hands out to shake with Dadan, and she has to be careful not to crush his fingers completely. She'd already noted the barest remnants of a Goan accent, but his word choice practically cements it. "I live in the Gray Terminal." 

There are a hundred questions Dadan could ask, but she knows he's unlikely to answer them. She takes the safe route instead. "I suppose he tried to fight you? or was it the other way around? I've heard a few rumors about you being just as much a hellion as he is. A good for nothin' brat."

Sabo shrugs, "We did fight... and then we fought someone else together, so I supposed you could say the rumors are factual. But I can also say the rumors I've heard about you carry the same truth."

"And what have you heard about me?"

"That you're a good for nothin' old hag." Ace snickers from beside Sabo, and Sabo looks up at her smugly. Dadan decides to let it go this once. More plates are sat down and just as quickly devoured. 

"How can such a shortstack eat so much," Ace grumbles. "He's less than half my size."

Luffy pouts at them adorably, "I won the race, so you can't call me that."

"No, we can't call you pipsqueak," The smug expression on Sabo's face turns devious. He's figured out how to get revenge for Luffy's use of semantics by taking advantage of it himself. "We can call you shortstack, half-pint, fun-sized, or anything else we want to."

Luffy's nose scrunches up almost the exact same way that Ace's is known to, and Dadan has to hold her tongue to keep from making the comparison out loud.  "Then what would make you stop?"

Without a single moment of hesitation, they both speak in sync. "Fight us and win." 

"I don't wanna, and I'm not supposed to," Luffy grumbles. He crosses his tiny arms and looks down, almost as if he's accepting the reality of the nicknames. 

"Well," Sabo starts, "If you're gonna be our friend, then you're gonna have to be strong enough to fight along side us."

Ace stare sat him for a moment, curious. "You followed me all the way to the Terminal to thank me for shoving that rude bitch. Why didn't you just do it yourself?" When he doesn't get an answer fast enough for his impatience, he lets out a groan of annoyance, "I don't wanna be friends with crybabies who are too afraid to punch an asshole."

The threat of loosing Ace's friendship forces Luffy to blurt his answer, "Because I hurt them a lot worse than they hurt me when I hit them." His lip wobbles just a little, and Dadan knows that Ace will latch onto that weakness and abuse it for all it's worth until Luffy stops doing it. "So I'm not supposed to, and it makes them be meaner to be anyways."

"Too bad," Ace growls out, "If you're gonna be out friend, then you have to stop taking shit from people like that. You're almost five right? So you can definitely start sparring with us. And in the future, you better knock people like that out."

Luffy nods, refusing to back down from the challenge, but Makino's hand on his back causes a moment of panic to flash through his eyes. "I think," Makino utters softly, "That five is a bit young to go all out with things, but you can spar with them if you're careful, Sunshine." The determination returns with an even hotter flame behind it. 

"Five's not that young. I was fighting people at five," Ace says.

Makino sighs, "Well how old are you two now?" 

"I'm eight, and Sabo's seven," He answers, but Sabo interrupts them before she can make her point. 

"We're both eight." He ignores the look Ace sends to him. 

Makino places a gentle hand on each of their shoulders, "Then that means you have three years more experience with fighting, and it wouldn't be very fair to Luffy, who has 0 years, if you're really mean right off the bat."

Sabo grimaces, "Will all due respect, ma'am, we didn't have people going easy on us, and if he learns that way, then he'll fight that way." He shrugs her hand off his shoulder, still refusing to make eye contact with Ace for whatever reason. 

Makino sighs and pulls away. "I suppose that's fair, but just so you both know... You deserved better." She leaves another plate of snacks as she heads back into the kitchen.

They both pull faces at that, and the second she's far enough away, Ace yanks Sabo in close to whisper to him. They're not as quiet as they think they are, and Dadan isn't drunk enough to miss what's being said right underneath her nose. Luffy appears to be too focused on the food. 

"Eight?"

"It's March 20th,"Sabo clarifies," I'm Eight now."

Ace stares at him for a moment, "Is that why you were so upset when I didn't show up earlier? Because it's your birthday?"

"No, of course not." Sabo shoves him lightly, "We agreed we wouldn't celebrate birthdays. So of course not."

"We agreed we wouldn't celebrate my birthday because I hate it." Ace is staring Sabo as if he's a fool, "I don't care if we celebrate yours."

"And I refuse to celebrate mine unless you celebrate yours, so until I find a way to make you hate it less, I have no birthday."

Ace punches him in the shoulder. "Fine."

"Fine." Sabo punches him back. "Jerk."

When Ace looks away from Sabo, he makes direct eye contact with Luffy by mistake. Those large eyes stare right into his soul, and after a moment, Luffy hands the last of the small pastries to Sabo, "Happy Birthday."

Sabo groans in frustration as he shoves the pastry into his mouth. Ace cackles and ruffles Luffy's hair. "Good job Luffy!" His smile is genuine in a way it so rarely is, and Dadan finds herself smiling along with them.

I'm so happy that he's had someone kind all along. I hate that I have to break this up.

"Not to interrupt, but it's about time to start headin' back up the mountain." She regrets the words almost as soon as she says them. Ace's face falls so fast that someone watching could have gotten whiplash. "It's already late."

Sabo and Luffy look almost as distressed as Ace, but Dadan doesn't have the slightest clue how to fix it. They're all looking back and forth between one another, likely trying to figure out whenthey'll meet next. 

Makino clears her throat to get their attention. "They can stay here for the night. There's plenty of space in Luffy's room, and I don't mind watching them."

Thank fuck Makino is the saint that she is.

It completely undoes the damage from Dadan's words. and the bandit woman sighs softly in relief. "If you're sure you can handle them all, be my guest."

"I'll be fine, Dadan," Makino winks up at her and makes a shooing motion. "Now go on home. Let them have a little fun for the night."

Dadan places a sturdy pat on ace's back, then Sabo and Luffy's. "Don't be awful to Makino, and she might feed you in the morning." It pulls snickers out of all three of them. "And Maki, don't be afraid to knock them around a little if they're being' brats."

Dadan doesn't turn back around once she's headed for the door, but it doesn't make her deaf to all that happens behind her. All three boys have figured out that Makino will give them food anyways, and Makino would rather they have fun then be worried about any of the damages they could cause. She's worried, even though she shouldn't be. I may not have wanted to be a mother, but I sure act like one on the inside, don't I? Ace is more my boy that he ever was Garp's. And Makino seems to be the same way with Luffy.

Dadan refuses to let herself turn around and take Ace back up the mountain where no one will find him. She had spent years refusing to let Ace anywhere near the danger of being known, but maybe it would be for the better to let him stay here every now and then. If he could connect to people, then maybe people would start to view him as Ace instead of just Roger's Son. He might be able to break free of the chains that bound him so tightly to his self hatred. 

The chilly air sobers her fully in seconds, and the light of the moon bounces off the white papers en masse, creating the illusion of little lights all throughout the village. It's peaceful for a place that could be filled with turmoil in seconds if the wrong person overheard anything they shouldn't.

The boy's laughter escapes through the window upstairs and fills the quiet road, and Dadan wishes with all her might that nothing comes to ruin this for any of them. Not for Ace, who's crushed under a list of crimes he didn't commit, not Sabo who befriended him against all odds and had clearly been through something traumatizing to end up in the Terminal, and not for Luffy, who's never had anyone but Makino around him. 

Those kids deserve better, and as long as they want to stay by each other, I think they'll get better. Even if they have to take it while kickin' and screamin'.