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Ace, Luffy, and Sabo try their hardest to sneak back into the mountain bandits’ hideout following a day of mischief and mayhem in both the forest and Windmill Village, only for a creaking floorboard and Dadan’s excellent hearing to give them away.
“What in the hell have the three of you been out there doin’ today?” Dadan shouts, catching all three boys dripping with mud in the entrance of the doorway.
A cold shiver snakes its way down each boy’s spine, every one of them knowing just how dangerous Curly Dadan can be when she’s angry. Most of the world doesn’t know she can match the famous naval hero Monkey D. Garp for power when she really is in the correct mindset for it.
“How did you know we were doing anything we weren’t supposed to?” Ace, the best sweet talker of the boys, inquires, a small smirk spreading across his freckled face.
Dadan closes the gap between them, a fearsome look in her brown eyes and an unlit cigarette clamped between her teeth.
“We were just…” he continues, casting his gaze downwards at his shoes, knowing he can’t keep the ruse up with Dadan in such proximity to him, too afraid of disappointing the only caregiver he’s known.
“Look me in the face and answer me,” Dadan demands of the trio of troublemakers, crinkling her nose in agitation.
“We wanted some sweets from Makino’s bar, but she told us we’d spoil our dinner, so we set up a heist to distract her and grab some!” Luffy laughs hysterically, earning him a bonk on the head from Sabo and Ace.
“Don’t you ever shut up?” Ace shouts at Luffy, having half a thought to ring his youngest brother’s neck, but knowing that wouldn’t do any good due to his newly acquired Gum Gum abilities.
“You look more and more like little charmers,” she sarcastically comments, noticing a bloody nose and torn shirt on Ace, a chipped tooth visible in Sabo’s mouth, and various smaller abrasions dotting Luffy’s skin. “To the bath with the lot of you,” Dadan commands, dragging Ace forward by the collar of his torn shirt while simultaneously pulling Luffy by his previously unnoticed sticky hands, Sabo trailing behind them with a triumphant grin on his face.
"Luffy, why are your hands sticky?” she practically screams in horror, wiping her larger hand on her skirt before doing the same with Luffy’s much smaller ones.
“We had some of Makino’s sweet honey rolls!” Luffy giggles, happiness shining in his chocolate-brown eyes.
“Do I even want to ask where these matching shiners came from?” Dadan sighs, shutting the door to the bathing room and beginning to strip the boys of their filthy clothes, tossing each boy one by one into steaming bathwater.
“We were practicing our fighting skills!” Sabo announces triumphantly, puffing out his chest before Dadan soaks him with a bucket of water over the top of his blonde head.
“You three are gonna be the death of me.”