~ Jungle of Mount Corbo, East Blue ~

The sun slowly began to set. Shanks had sailedaway a few weeks ago. On the path behind Foosha Village, which led deep intothe jungle of Mount Corbo and which no one dared to enter because it was saidthat death lurked there and only the strongest would survive, walked the nowgray Vice Admiral Garp. In his hand he held the young Portgas D. Luffy by her cheek.She fidgeted like crazy, and with each step her face stretched beforecontracting back to its original shape. Her straw hat hung on a string aroundher neck and over her long hair. "Let go of me, gramps! I told you before, Iwant to be a pirate," her voice sounded a little incomprehensible. But whocould express themselves clearly when their face was drawn out? Garp stoppedand said angrily: "What are you saying?!" He continued walking,ignoring the seven-year-old's nagging. "L-l-let me down!" Now she started tohit him too, but it had no effect. "First you eat a devil fruit, then I findout from Makino that you revealed your origins to a pirate and now you'retalking nonsense. It is enough! Listen. I want you both, you and Ace, to becomegood marines." Slowly, the constant stretching and contracting of her facestarted to hurt and she let him know that. "Ah, that works. Why does it hurt somuch, I'm made of rubber? Now let me go!" "It was my mistake that I let you inthe village and now you want to become a pirate of all things?" "Yes." "Youmust be crazy!" he didn't notice Luffy leaning against a tree and even wrappedher arms around it as he continued to walk. "I won't allow you to hang aroundthese Red Hair any longer!" She stubbornly continued to hold on to the tree,but she noticed how its roots were slowly beginning to loosen and she shouted:"Look out!" The tree was ripped out of the ground along with its roots, herbody was pulled towards her cheek and Garp got the tree in his back. During thecollision he felt like his eyes would pop out of his skull and he let go of thegirl. Where the tree hit his skull, it broke in two. The lower part of the treeremained standing, Luffy was still holding on it. She had turned her facetowards Garp as she said, "I'm going to be as strong as Shanks!""Shut up!"

A long walk later they found themselves in aclearing. In the middle of it stood a large hut. There was a clothesline on atree that led to it and various items of clothing hung there to dry. Luffystood off to the side when Garp knocked on the door. She had now put the hatback on her head. "I'll take a look around," she murmured to herself and beganto walk around the hut. As soon as she passed the entrance, the door was openedby a tall, stocky woman. She had curly, orange hair and brown eyes, which youcouldn't see because she had them closed. She wore a white blouse and greenchecked pants with a thick brown belt. There was also a red pearl necklacehanging around her neck and two large earrings on her ears. There was acigarette in her mouth. She shouted fiercely: "Don't make such a noise here!What idiot is disturbing this early evening?!" "It's me, Dadan" Garp repliedjust as loudly and forcefully. Shocked, the woman, Dadan, opened her eyes andstared at him before taking a few steps back and starting to stutter, "I-i-it'syou." Behind the curtain that was stretched between the entrance and theactual room of the hut, two more people appeared. One was a short, broad-facedman. He wore a white turban around his head and a white sweater. Over these hewore pink dungarees decorated with purple dots. He had a sword strapped to hisback. The other was rather tall. He was wearing a white shirt and greenknee-length pants. He had a yellow-brown scarf tied around his waist while hewore a kind of yellow tie around his neck. Blue and white striped tights couldbe seen under the pants. He wore a brown jacket over his shirt. He had a brownbeard and a red cockscomb on his head and under his chin. The two were calledDogura and Magura. The three of them stared at Garp in shock. "You lookgreat," Garp said as the three of them walked out the door. "Stop thejokes! Isn't it about time you take Ace with you? It's enough. I mean the boyis already ten years old," while Dadan spoke, Luffy ran around Garp andmade happy noises. "Ten already?! The years just fly by. How is he doing?Hehe." Meanwhile, Dadan had noticed the running girl with the straw hat andwatched the laughing child in amazement. "Hey, what's there to laugh about?"Dogura asked, "We can't handle this boy anymore! Take him back with you, he'syours after all!" "That can wait." "That can wait? Thatbrat is a total pain in the ass!" Dadan said when she couldn't standwatching the girl anymore. Garp grabbed Luffy's collar without looking as she runpast him again and held her up so she could see the three of them. She wasinstantly silent. "You'll get another one." The three looked at Garpfor a moment, confused and speechless. "Come on, Luffy," said Garp, looking ather from the side, "say hello!" Luffy raised her right hand in greeting andsaid, "Yoh." "Who is that? Who is that girl?" Magura asked, scratching hishead. Dadan, in turn, just looked at Garp with her mouth open and blinked a fewtimes. "She's my adopted granddaughter." The three of them looked atGarp in shock before Dadan started screaming, "Another one?! Garp has...Garphas another brat?!" 

"Rejected!!!" said Dadan, Dogura and Magura at the same time. They knelt next to each other in front of the entrance and looked at Garp resolutely. He, in turn, had stood in front of them with his arms crossed and was staring down at them from above. Meanwhile, Luffy looked at the landscape and had her back turned to the quartet. "All right," he began, "you can choose. Do you want to raise her or spend the rest of your life in prison? I can no longer count the crooked things that I turned a blind eye to. Hahaha." At the last sentence, the bandits broke out in a sweat. "Oh crap!" the three cursed. Magura started talking and scratched his head again: "Of course we don't want to go in jail." "Yes, but since Ace got here we've had endless trouble with him. Sometimes I wonder if going to jail wouldn't be better," Dogura added. "And now you're pushing this child on us too," Dadan continued. Luffy now looked over at them. "The brat is definitely a monster too!" "Tell me, do you live in that hut?" came the questioning voice of the girl. Dadan shouted angrily: "Do you want a beating or what?!" But Luffy stopped listening to her when fireflies caught her attention. "She has no respect!" While she was happily running after the fireflies, she suddenly felt something wet on her cheek. She stopped in surprise, felt her cheek and tried to see something in the dim light. "Huh, what is that?" she took her hand away from her face and looked at it. Shocked and disgusted, she realized what it was. "Ah, spit! Yuck! Who was that?!" She searched the area anxiously for the spitter until she saw someone sitting on a huge, dead animal. From what she could see in the dim light, it was a boy with short, black hair. He was wearing an orange sleeveless shirt and black shorts. In his hand he held a metal pipe that was much larger than himself. He had a large plaster on his head. He looked down at her with an expression she couldn't interpret. "Hey, you there! Apologize! That was mean!" Alerted by the noise, Garp turned around and began to smile. "There's Ace," he said, walking over to the children. Magura said in shock: "Huh, Ace is back." "Didn't you hear me? You should apologize!" screamed the young Portgas D. but Ace remained silent. "Luffy, this is my grandson Ace. He's three years older than you. From today on you'll be living with him and the others up here." "Huh, I haven't agreed yet!" Dadan shouted in the background. She glared at Ace with her brown eyes before Garp headbutted her. The straw hat slipped off her head. "Be nice to him!" "No way, that we take her in!" Dadan wanted to object, but Garp simply turned to her. "What was that?" A clear threat was reflected in his eyes. The bandits also understood this, which is why they stood at attention and said: "We are happy to take her in!" "That's exactly what I wanted to hear from you. I'll stop by from time to time, but won't be leaving until tomorrow. It's already too late to walk back down the mountain." "Who pays for her living expenses?" Magura asked. "Write it on my tap!" "We're not a bar!" "Excuse me?" "Uh, we look forward to your next visit." "And now we have two of that kind. What do we do with the girl?" Magura whispered to Dadan. "Shut up, I'm hungry, let's go to the kitchen with you!" "Yes, boss," sayed the two bandits in sync. Ace jumped off the animal and walked past Luffy. "Apologize! Hey!" She put her hat back on. You remember Shanks' words: "Take good care of it!" The anger was gone when she wiped the spit from her face and entered the hut.

Ace had watched everything from the moment his grandfather came into view to the moment he spit in the girl's face. He had been living with the mountain bandits for three years and it had been just as long since he had seen his grandfather. He didn't understand at the time that Garp suddenly brought him here from the village where he had lived with the mayor. But he could still remember it like it was yesterday, even though he was only three years old when his grandfather came to the village with a baby in his arms. And then, four years later, he had told him that he would no longer live in the village. He had noticed how often he had gone to visit Makino, because that was where he had placed the child. And he was sure of that. The girl was supposed to be a replacement for him! Had he done something wrong? Did his grandfather not like him anymore? The then seven-year-old had asked himself these and many such questions and he knew one thing: he couldn't stand the black-haired girl who was now wearing a straw hat! Why had his grandfather brought this intruder here? He couldn't care less. If the brat bothered him...well, an accident or two could happen in the jungle and no one would hear her scream.

Inside the hut, Luffy poked her head through the curtains and looked around the room. There were lots of boxes and barrels lying around. There was a fireplace in the middle of the room. Above it, a pot shaped like a fish hung from a hook. She went deeper into the room. There were also curtains hanging in some parts of the hut, which probably served as room dividers. She heard heavy footsteps behind her and before she knew it, she had been grabbed and a knife was being held in front of her face. "Who are you?" She screamed in fright. "Let me go!" "Give me all youre money or you'll be regret it, little girl!" "I don't have any money, forget it!" Another voice sounded behind her next to the first one: "Then your parents should bring some! They can then redeem you." "I just have gramps." "Then you let the old man come here! What's his name?" "His name is Garp!" said Dogura. The bandits looked up in shock, while Luffy just looked at them angrily from the side. "Huh? This brat is...?" "This brat will be living with us from today, boys." The band of bandits were shocked. "Why didn't you say no?" "This isn't a kindergarten!" "Boss, you're letting everything be force on you." "Besides..." Dogura wanted to continue when Garp appeared in the room behind him. "Besides, I'll be keeping YOU company tonight and because of what happened just now," the bandits turned pale and started sweating profusely, "I'll pretend it didn't happen. THIS time" Dadan came into the room with a huge plate of meat and shouted: "Now shut up, you jumping jacks! It's time to grab some food!" "Yeah!" they all shouted and attacked the meat with knives, forks or bare hands. "Wow, I want some too!" Luffy exclaimed, her eyes shining and drooling at the corner of her mouth. She was about to take a step when one of the bandits jumped on her head, made her fall and ran to the plate himself. "You already had a whole club!" "That wasn't enough!" Two bandits were arguing and had dug their teeth into the same club. One tried to push the other away but the other wouldn't give in. Meanwhile, another pushed Luffy to the ground, she held his arm with both hands and pressed his face with her foot. "Stop bunkering here!" said another robber, threatening a chubby man with a knife who had three clubs in his arms and a fourth in his mouth. One club after the other was taken from the plate. Luffy tried to reach it with her outstretched hand. But this wasn't so easy as another bandit held her arm. When there was only one club left, her arm stretched, which made the bandit say in surprise, "She can stretch her arm." With a scream, she was about to grab the club when someone did. When she looked up she saw a white dog looking at her and leisurely walking away. "Damn mutt!" she growled before jumping up and chasing after the dog. He noticed his little pursuer and began to run across the hut. "Stop and give me the meat back, you damn fool! Just wait until I catch you. Then I'll make dog food out of you!" Garp watched the whole thing with amusement. He didn't have to worry about anyone daring to steal his meat. After a while, Luffy actually managed to get the club away from the dog. Never underestimate the tenacity of a D! Especially when this D. was a little, hungry girl. She was about to bite in the meatr when someone hit her on the head. Whimpering in pain, she held her bulge and looked at the culprit, who now held HER meat in his hand. "That's one of the things I want you to learn up here, Luffy. Only the strongest manage to survive and get the good food," he said, taking a big bite. Luffy felt like crying as she watched the old man eat the meat. "While the others have to make do with smaller things." With that, a bowl of rice was placed in front of her. She looked at it displeasedly before taking it in her hand and swallowing the rice in one go. She already didn't like it here.

It was the middle of the night when Luffy wokeup. "Toilet," she murmured sleepily. She was lying in one of the rooms withAce. She was against one wall and Ace was against the other wall. The banditsand Garp were lying in another part of the hut. She got up quietly, not wantingto wake Ace, and crept to the door. She opened it a crack and slipped throughit into the main room. Since she didn't know where the toilet was, she went tothe entrance to relieve herself outside. What she didn't know was that shortlyafter she walked out, two people walked into the room. It was Dadan and Garp. Asmall lamp dimly lit the room. "What is it that's getting me out of bed atthis late hour, Garp?" Dadan asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes."It's about Luffy..." Dadan looked at him confused. "and her origins.What I'm telling you now must not be known under any circumstances,Dadan!" said Garp in a calm but urgent tone. "What could be so importantabout that little brat? Is she the daughter of a deposed noble family orwhat?" "She is the daughter of the Pirate King." 

"The...the...the daughter ofthe Pirate King?!", Dadan fell over in shock and tried not to wake thewhole house, "This is hopefully supposed to be a joke!" "No,it's not a joke. She may go by the name Portgas D., but her actual name is GolD. Luffy. Before his execution, her father asked me to take care of her sinceshe had nothing to do with his crimes." "You must have gone crazythat YOU, of all people, took HIS daughter as your granddaughter!" 

Awakened by the noise of conversation,Ace rubbed his eyes sleepily. He briefly looked over at the spot where theintruder was supposed to be sleeping, but no one was lying there. He couldn'tcare less, but what he was interested in was the conversation that was goingon. He quietly crept to the partially opened door to hear what his grandfatherand Dadan were talking about. But Luffy was also standing at the entrance tothe hut, hidden by the curtains, listening to what the two were talking about.Like Ace, she hadn't heared the beginning oft he conversation. 

"Do you know what happens if someone findsout WHO she is? There will be a panic when the world finds out HE has a child!" 

Luffy's eyes widened, they weretalking about her? Ace raised an eyebrow. Were they talking about the intruder?And if so, why? Normally there was no changing what his grandfather haddecided. What he had to learn the hard way.                                                       

"I am fully aware of that." "Then you also know in what danger me and my men are, if the government finds out about her existence and finds her here. That would be our downfall!" There was a tense silence before Dadan continued: "Your grandson is already causing us enough trouble! But to expect me, to expect us, to take care of this monster's child? To raise this...this demon child, that's really too much to ask Garp!" 

Demon child, what was that supposed to mean? Dadan also seemed to be serious about this matter otherwise she would never dare to talk to his grandpa like that. Luffy felt a pang in her chest. Her mind was spinning and she was starting to feel dizzy. She was starting to like it here less with every second. 

"Don't you DARE talk about her that way Dadan! And especially not when she's in the room," you could hear how angry he was. "She has nothing to do with her father, except that his blood runs through her veins. That's why I'm going to educate and train her, just like Ace, to be decent marines." Dadan, who had backed away when Garp got angry, was now a lot calmer and said: "And what if you really get the two of them to do it? Join the Navy? Even if Luffy achieved a high rank and she would have gained high reputation as a result. I doubt that if her origins were to become known, she would get off so lightly. She would probably be killed on the spot or framed for who knows what so that she could be executed without any questions being asked." "Only the future can tell. I'm going to lie down again, after all I have to go back tomorrow," Garp ended the conversation and disappeared back into one of the rooms. "The man will be the death of me," Dadan sighed, "As if I could sleep in peace now!" With that, both she and the light source disappeared from the room. 

Luffy stood there for a while, she had to process what she had just heard before she came out from behind the curtain. Ace, who until then had been standing at the door with more questions than answers, saw the girl come out from behind the curtain. Had she been listening, like him? Did she perhaps know what that was all about? In the darkness he couldn't see her face. When he noticed that she was coming towards the room where the two of them were sleeping, he panicked for some reason. He quickly ran back to his sleeping place without making a sound and pretended to be asleep. When she was back in the room, her eyes immediately fell on Ace. He could feel her gaze. Had she noticed he was awake? He held his breath. 

Did he hear anything about the conversation and if so, how much? No, he seemed to be sleeping soundly. She breathed a sigh of relief before sitting down on her bed. Dadan's words still stick in her head: panic will break out, demon child, killed instantly. Lost in thought, she pulled her legs close to her body. "Was it good that I was born?" she asked herself. The statements from two years ago in the bar came back to her mind. At that moment she felt more lonely than ever before in her life. She sat like that for a long time until fatigue overwhelmed her. She tipped to the side, her limbs relaxed and her breathing evened out. Only when Ace heard this did he dare to move again. He sat up and looked at the girl across the room. He really didn't know what to think of her anymore. But his mind was made up, if the intruder bothered him then...then...oh, whatever. He pointedly laid down with his back to her and fell asleep in a few seconds.

Garp had disappeared early when the bandits hadbreakfast. There was a similar scene to the night before, only this time Luffycouldn't get hold of any meat. She sat by the fire next to Dadan. She looked ather portion of rice again before devouring it. The bandits around them atetheir meat. As soon as she had emptied her bowl, she held it out to Dadan andsaid: "I want another. Come on pops!" "I'm a woman, rememberthat!" said Dadan after taking a bite of her meat, "You're risking apretty big mouth, do you have any idea where you are? !" "No.""Then I'll tell you. This is the hideout of the Dadan bandits. We controlthe entire area of Mount Corbo!" "Bandits? Great, I hate bandits!"she said in an annoyed tone. She had also lowered her bowl again. An image ofthe gang of the guy who almost killed her came back to her mind. A knife wasplunged into the ground in front of her. "Shut up, you brat!" Dadan shouted,"We definitely didn't care about having you with us. We really don't need you! Ifyou don't want to stay, that's no problem for us! Get away and starve in thejungle for all I care!" "Uh, get it together, boss," Magura said, trying tocalm her down. Pouting, Luffy stared at the bowl in her hand. "I'm stillhungry." Ace, who was sitting opposite Dadan, had his iron pipe lying next tohim and a plate of meat in front of him. He ate one leg after the other. Luffylooked at him hungrily, or rather at his meat. "And I want meat too."Drool was already starting to run down the side of her mouth. A leg came intoher view. She happily wanted to bite into it when Dadan, who had put on amalicious grin, pulled it away. Then she took a bite herself and said, "I wantyou to know that this is all the meat that Ace brought with him. He shares itwith us, so he can sit at the table with us too. Life as a mountain bandit ishard. From today on you will work for us. Clean, do laundry, shine shoes andpolish weapons. Steal, loot, cheat and kill!" She stared down at the girl."And you won't tell Garp about what we're making you do! A bowl of riceand a glass of water a day. That's all I'll give you. You have to geteverything else yourself. You have to be strong if you want to survive here."She couldn't see the girl's face because it was hidden by her straw hat. Dadanexpected the little girl to start crying, screaming or protesting. But shecertainly didn't expect that. "Alright," Luffy said, looking upagain. Dadan fell to the side in astonishment. "You're okay with this?! Youshould start crying!" "Gramps abandoned me in the jungle once,"said Luffy, her face beginning to light up with the thoughts of what shelisted, "Earthworms, frogs, snakes, mushrooms... If this is a jungle, thenthere's plenty of food here. Besides, I'm going to be a pirate one day, so Ihave to deal with these circumstances!" At her last sentence, Ace discreetlylooked over at her while he ate the rest of his meat. Dadan, on the other hand,seemed so taken aback that she did a headstand. Ace had heard enough so hegrabbed his pipe and walked out of the hut while the bandits worried aboutDadan. "Where is he going?" Luffy muttered to herself as she saw theblack-haired boy leave the room. She jumped up and started following him. "Andwhere are you going?!" Dadan called after her, now on her feet again. Only thendid she realize WHAT the girl had just said. "Wait...did she just say'pirate'? Damn, she isn't listening!" "Hey!" Ace closed the door right in herface. She stopped in front of it in surprise. Hadn't he heard her? She pushedagainst the door and followed the older boy out. She heard Dadan shouting butignored it: "See!? She's just too stubborn! That's why I didn't want to raiseGarp's ward!" "Calm down, boss!" said Magura.

Ace stubbornly walked on, ignoring the girlbehind him. Not even when she called out to him: "Hey! Wait! Hey!" Luffy ran asfast as she could. When Ace reached the top of a rise, he turned around,grumbling. She stopped at the bottom, gasped for air and called up to him witha big grin: "I'm Luffy! I'm no longer angry that you spit on me yesterday!"Again, her father figure, Shanks, came to mind and how he had behaved in thebar. "It's nothing to be angry about. Let's be friends!" Ace didn't say a wordand just looked down at her. "Are you going somewhere?" Ace kickedthe tree that was next to him. It broke off with a crash at the step and beganto fall over. She watched the spectacle in confusion until the tree began tomove and raced towards her. Shocked, the seven-year-old saw the tree comingtowards her before turning and running screaming for her life, the tree closeon her heels. Ace watched all this for a while before turning around andcontinuing on his way. 

In the meantime he had come to an old suspensionbridge that was stretched over a deep gorge. He was halfway across when he feltsomeone else enter the bridge. He turned around and was surprised to see thegirl standing there. She was breathing heavily and had leaves and twigs caughtin her hair. All in all, she looked exhausted. He started walking towards herand this brought a smile to her face. He gripped the iron pipe tighter andbegan to run. She just grinned at him as he swung his pipe and sent her off thebridge in one fell swoop. Luffy found herself in the air with her eyes wideopen. She could see Ace's ice-cold eyes before she fell screaming into thedepths. Ace stood on the bridge for a while and watched her fall lower andlower. Nothing had changed in the look in his eyes.

It was already starting to get dark again when he returned to the hiding place with a bunch of fish. "Hey, Ace is back!" one of the bandits shouted. "Food!" Dogura looked around in surprise and said: "Ace, you came back alone?" "What about...Luffy? Wasn't she with you?" Magura asked. Ace walked straight towards the hut and without turning around said, "How should I know?" 

It was already pitch black when Dogura and Magura stood on the lookout and searched the area with telescopes. "Where is she and what is she doing all the time?" Dogura asked no one in particular. "Maybe she's dead!?" "If she is, Garp will kill us!" Just thinking about it made the two of them shudder. "The boss won't be happy about it either," Magura added. Inside the house, the bandits drank to their hearts' content, including Dadan, who already had a red nose from all the sake. "Pull yourself together, boss!" said Dogura. "What did you say?" "Listen to me. Wouldn't it look bad if she disappeared on her FIRST day here?!" "Leave me alone! If she dies, then she dies. We have nothing to do with this!" Dadan snapped. "Garp would kill us!" Magura interjected. Dadan took another sip of her sake. "Why do we even have to take care of this child? This isn't kindergarten, damn it! He should rather look after his brats himself." "Then why didn't you tell him?" Magura wanted to know. Dadan looked at her angrily and said before she took a long drink from the bottle, "What was that!?" 

In a small part of the house, Ace was sitting in a barrel of hot water, bathing. He remembered the argument between Dadan and his grandfather. Why did she so insist not to accept the girl? Well, she wasn't that keen on him living here back then, but he had never seen or heard her go to such extremes. What was it about the girl that made her seem so afraid? He shook his head and ducked briefly. Why was he so worried, the problem was solved and if she survived she would certainly be smart enough to stay away from him! He came back into the room, hidden by the curtains and a towel around his shoulders. Then Dadan's voice rang out: "Besides, we already have enough problems with Ace! We don't need such a monster with us! In my opinion it would be best for everyone if she never appeared again and died somewhere in the jungle. Then we could tell Garp it was an accident without feeling guilty." Ace stopped. Were they talking about that girl again, Luffy? He knew Dadan was a mountain robber but...she had never said anything like that before. Although she always seemed so uninterested, deep down she was a good person. "But you know what people say: 'A devil's child also has devilish luck!' After all, she is the child of a devil in human form! Just think what would happen if the government found out! What do you think would happen to us?" Ace's eyes widened. What did it all mean? "But, but boss," he heard Magura's voice. Followed by Dogura's voice saying, "Don't you think you've drank enough?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ 1 week later ~

It was the middle of the night when Dogura was woken up by the dog's yapping. "Mmmmm...just shut up..." Tired, he got up and went to the entrance to tell the dog off. "Be quiet!" He opened the door and rubbed his eyes sleepily. But what or who he saw made him wide awake. "Boss, Boss Dadan!" he shouted. Said person woke up and came to the door tired. Magura, who was there first, pulled the curtain aside and asked: "Who is..." The shock was written on his face. Now Dadan came too. "Who is there?" Her eyes almost popped out of shock and her mouth took a detour south. Standing in front of the door was a heavily breathing, slightly injured and disheveled Luffy. She was covered in scratches and the claw marks of an animal could be seen on the shoulder. Her top was completely torn on one side and had a few holes in it. Her right eye was slightly swollen and her undamaged straw hat hung around her neck. "It's you!" "Luffy has come back." "This kid," Dadan stepped out, followed by Dogura and Magura, pulling Luffy's face with both hands, "is still alive?! Where the hell have you been?!" "Well, well. Where have you been and what have you been doing?" Magura also asked. Luffy answered, her face still drawn out: "I was chased by wolves at the bottom of a ravine." "The bottom of a ravine?! How did you end up there?" Dogura asked. Sweat began to run down Luffy's forehead but she didn't say anything else. In Dadan's case, a vein in her forehead began to throb suspiciously. Dogura tried to calm the situation a little, "Well, at least she's safe." Dadan let go of her face before she screamed, "What's the good in that? That just means that the person who caused the problem is back." She grabbed the abused girl by the arm, brought her in, opened the door to the room the children were supposed to share, and threw her in. She groaned softly as she hit the ground. "Now go to sleep! Tomorrow you will begin your tasks!" With that, Dadan pushed the door closed and the room was in complete darkness again. Luffy was so exhausted that she instantly fell asleep. Dadan, who as soon as she closed the door heard steady breathing noises, pushed it open again and saw the girl sleeping peacefully. "That was quick." Awakened by the noise, Ace opened his eyes and briefly looked over his shoulder. The brat was tougher than he thought.

It was a beautiful day, the birds were chirpingand Luffy ran out the door happy and wearing a new top. She had some plasterson her face and a bandage tied around her right upper arm. "Good morning.Are you heading out again today, Ace?" He continued into the jungle withoutpaying attention to her calls. "Let's be friends!" He turned to herbefore starting to run. Didn't she understand anything? She looked after him insurprise before running after him. "Wait!" Dogura, who was standing on a ladderto hang up the laundry, called out, "Hey, boss! She's running after Ace again!"Dadan came to the door. Still brushing her teeth before she called after Luffywith toothpaste in her mouth: "Hey, stayed there! Today it's time to clean thehouse!" Luffy stopped briefly, turned around, stuck her tongue out at Dadan andpulled on her lower eyelid. "Forget it, you old fool!" Then she turned back andran after Ace again. "The half portion just won't listen to me.""Easy, boss!" "Bring her back, Magura!" "Okay."               

Meanwhile, Ace was still running from Luffy. He was faster than her and knew the terrain better. He led her to a river, jumped off and hung on the lianas to the other side and then jumped up the stone wall like a grasshopper. After an impressive sprint, she finally reached the river. She now stood at the other end of the river, breathing heavily, and looked up at Ace. Fierce determination burned in her eyes as she called out to him, "Hey, Ace. Let us be friends!" With that she jumped from one stone to the next in the river. But suddenly the stones began to move. She was shocked to discover that they were crocodiles. Screaming, she barely managed to avoid both being eaten and falling into the river. Ace looked at the spectacle for a moment before heading further into the jungle. She also ran after Ace on the eighth day. "Hey, the house cleaning is waiting!" "That's no use, she..." "You stay out of it, Dogura!" "You're not leaving me behind today!" Ace jumped up a rock face, just like the day before. "I can handle this!" Luffy shouted and started climbing the wall like Ace. "Let us be friends!" She was halfway up when boulders flew towards her. With difficulty she was able to escape the avalanche of rocks, but she had lost Ace again. 

Ten days passed. "Luffy!" "She's already back on the move, boss." "Then look for her!" Luffy kept losing sight of Ace and kept escaping smaller and larger disasters. But she remained tireless. Two months passed like this. Whether in rain or storm. Luffy pursued Ace with all her might. "Ace!"

In the hiding place, Dadan, Dogura and Magura were sitting by the fireplace. There was a well-filled ashtray in front of the leader. "Luffy ran after Ace again?" Dadan asked, taking a drag on her cigarette. Dogura says: "I can't believe she still hasn't learned it. After she got into so much trouble." "I wish she didn't worry me so much!" "You're worried?" Dogura asked, grinning broadly. Dadan now noticed what she had just said and tried to explain herself out of it somehow: "Of course not! Don't be silly!" In the next moment, many of her eyes almost blinked out again. Dogura was no better. Luffy stood there and her head was swollen red. It could have been mistaken for an oversized red football. "I got hit by a beehive," the girl said, giving a small, innocent smile. The three of them stared at her in disbelief and, not quite believing it, asked, "Who are you?"

It was raining like crazy when Luffy ran afterAce that day. She soon lost sight of him in the undergrowth, but she didn'tgive up. Ace stared down at her from atop a rock. "She followed me all the wayhere. What a stubborn brat." Then he saw a large shadow approaching the girl."Not good." He quickly hid in a nearby bush. "Damn, I lost him again, Aceis too good," Luffy muttered to herself, still searching the area for theblack-haired boy. She didn't notice something gigantic approaching her frombehind. A crack made her spin around. "Ace is that you?" she asked, smiling. Aflash of lightning lit up the dark jungle and Luffy saw a gigantic tiger infront of her. She stumbled back in shock before losing her balance and falling.Fear rose in her as the straw hat slipped from her head and dangled from thestring around her neck. The beast looked at her. Was that how her life wouldend? Would this monster now eat her? Ace watched everything tensely from hishiding place. "The King of Mount Corbo!The girl won't have a chance on her own!" Trembling, she stared fearfullyat the monster with her big, brown eyes. "Whydon't you run away?! You'll be eaten!" "M-m-my legs... don't wantto obey," Luffy stammered in fear. Why couldn't she move? She had to getout of here, she knew that. Ace didn't know what to do. Should he leave her toher fate or intervene? He bit his thumbnail nervously. The tiger let out astomach-shattering roar. Just as Ace was about to intervene, lightning flashedacross the sky and another giant emerged from the thicket. A bear with a scararound his right eye. The two shouted at each other. Luffy finally managed tomove and crawled out between the two before jumping to her feet anddisappearing screaming into the jungle. A satisfied smile formed on Ace's faceonce Luffy was gone. She ran for quite a while before she stumbled and laythere. She rolled over onto her back, breathing heavily. The rain stopped and thesun came out. Luffy opened her eyes and saw a beautiful rainbow in the now bluesky. She couldn't help but laugh. 

She continued to follow Ace for the following days. She became better and better at avoiding deadly obstacles. Neither could stop the combined strength of Dogura, Magura and Dadan. It had taken three months after Garp had brought her to the mountain bandits before she finally found out where Ace always went. Exhausted, she threw herself onto a stick when a bright light blinded her. "I'm out of the jungle!" She threw the stick aside and ran to the edge of the jungle. There she saw a huge area made up of garbage. "I know that," she murmured. Then she remembered. She had come through here with Garp two years ago when they went into town. What did he call it? Gray...Gray...something about Gray. But that couldn't matter to her now. Now it was time to find Ace!

This place is north of Mount Corbo, where the Dadan family lives. Fog continued to rise from the mountains of discarded trash. Things that were no longer needed were stored there. The residents were all outcasts who were expelled from the kingdom. Of course, this was an outlaw zone. Without adequate medical care, both crime and disease were rampant. This was the Gray Terminal. 

Luffy ran through the piles of trash looking for the older boy. "Ace!" shouted and jumped onto a pile. As soon as she stood on it, it gave way under her weight and she fell to the ground. Something hard fell on her head and next to her. "What is that?" she looked closer and recognized a skull. Creepy. A shiver ran down her spine. She continued running and began to climb a fallen pillar. When she reached the top, she looked around but couldn't see anything. She jumped down and continued searching on the ground. She came across a wall with a hole in it. She stopped and poked her head through. "He's not here." With great effort she managed to pull her head out again, her neck stretching briefly. "Hey, where are you?! Ace!" During her search she came to a place where there were many self-built houses. She looked at everything with fascination. She was so distracted that she didn't hear someone shouting, "Thief!", nor did she hear said thief running straight towards her. He held a sack in one hand and a knife in the other. "Get out of my way, lessie!" said the man who had to stop because of her. Luffy just looked at him with her dark brown eyes. "Hurry up! If you don't move soon..." he held up his knife pointedly. Voices could be heard in the distance: "He ran this way!" The thief looked hastily behind him before running past her. What was that supposed to mean? Shaking her head, she resumed her search. She looked behind every mountain, into every object that was big enough to hide in, into every hole, even if she partly fell in herself. She walked around for a long time until she came close to the jungle again. There, between the trees, she could see someone running. This person had a metal pipe in his hand and a sack tucked under his arm. It was Ace! Grinning, she tugged on the brim of her straw hat. She had finally found him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~The forest between Mount Corbo and Gray Terminal~

Ace ran through the forest, looking around forpossible pursuers. He stopped in front of a tree and shouted: "Sabo! Sabo, areyou there?!" "Oh, Ace," said a voice from one of the branches of the tree."I'm sorry I'm so late." "You're reliable. I've already donewith my business in the city." The figure stood up and stepped into thelight. It was a boy, the same age as Ace. He was wearing a black shirt andlight blue shorts. In the loops of his trousers he had a black belt with a goldbelt buckle with a picture of a flower on it. He wore a dark blue jacket overhis shirt and trousers. He had a white, perforated cloth tied around his neck.He had short, blonde hair. He wore an oversized black top hat with glasses ontop of his head of hair. What was striking about him was that a tooth wasmissing from his upper row of teeth. The boy's name was Sabo and he lived inthe Gray Terminal. The two grinned at each other. "Oh yeah? Well, I didtoo." 

Both were sitting on one of the branches of the tree and each had a sack with money, jewelry and other valuables in front of them. Astonished, Sabo said, "Wow, you collected a lot! Much more than me. That's a lot of money. How did you get that?" "I robbed some criminals near the main gate," Ace said, holding up his pipe. Between them, in the middle of the branch, there was a small hole in which they had hidden the loot they had collected so far. "Damn, you won again," Sabo said, going through a bundle of money. "It doesn't matter whether you win or lose. It's been five years since we started saving for our pirate life." Ace looked from the treasure to Sabo. "We worked hard for this." "Yes, we did," Sabo said with a smile before standing up and looking at the distant sea, "We're going to leave the East Blue and go somewhere people have never dreamed of. It's exciting just to think about it!" Ace also looked at the sea with a grin before he became serious again and turned to the blonde: "Now put it away. We can't let anyone see it." "I wonder how much we need for a pirate ship," Sabo said, throwing the last bundle into the hiding place. "I don't know. 10,000,000 or maybe 100,000,000? There's definitely still a long way to go." 

"A pirate ship?!" The boys stared in shock at the source of the voice and Sabo slammed the flap of the secret hiding place shut. A brown-eyed, seven-year-old, black-haired girl with a straw hat stood below and waved happily at them. "Hey guys! Do you want to become pirates?! I'm going to be one too!" Sweat began to run down the two boys' faces. They looked at each other and knew what they had to do, while Luffy just grinned widely. In just a few seconds they had climbed down the tree, which would have made any animal jealous, ran towards her at top speed, shouted at the same time: "Be quiet!" and gave her a headbutt. She fell to the ground. "Ace! I didn't know you traveled this far every day" said a broadly grinning Luffy. She didn't seem to mind that the boys had tied her to a tree. The boys in question had lined up in front of her. Both was holding an iron pipe in their hands. "Shut up!" said the annoyed black-haired boy. "Is that this Luffy you told me about?" Sabo asked with furrowed eyebrows. "Oh, you told him about me?!" "I told him how ANNOYING you are." "He also told me that you have nothing but air in your head." Luffy had to laugh. "Oh, yes?" "You realize that this wasen't a compliment, right?" "She followed me here even though I didn't take the easy path." "Are you a friend of Ace's? Be my friend too, buddy!" "Shut up! You can't call me 'buddy'!" the blonde shouted at her. "What's your name?" "Sa...I won't tell you!" he shouted. Sweat dripped from his forehead again. The girl was just incredible! He looked sideways at Ace before speaking again: "That's why I told you to live here with me. Those daily round trips – training on the mountain trail must have turned out to be bad. What should we do now?" With a very calm voice and a serious look, Ace began to speak: "She found out our secret. She might tell someone if we don't do anything." The wind blew across the silence that had fallen. Why did she have a feeling that she wouldn't like what was going to be said next? Nevertheless, she grinned broadly at them both to hide her nervousness. "We should kill her." "Alright, let's do it." Eyes wide, she stared in shock at the two boys in front of her. She screamed at an impressive volume: "What?!" The boys were frightened by this loud reaction. Tears streamed from her eyes as she screamed in panic, "Please don't kill me! Help me!! I don't want to die!" She kicked her legs wildly, even though it didn't help her much. Sabo pushed her head against the tree by pushing against her stoner and said forcefully: "Shut up, you idiot!" "Sabo, kill her!" "What?! YOU do that!" "I've never killed anyone!" he replied in a panic. "Do you believe I did?! I wouldn't even know how!" "Don't throw me in the water!!" "Okay, let's bring her to the river!" "Why did she tell us that?" How stupid was the girl?! "She's stupid!" "Help me!!" Now Sabo and Ace had enough and shouted: "Shut up!" Luffy fell silent for a moment before she started screaming again: "I don't want to die!!" Unfortunately, someone heard her screams. Someone who was looking for the two ten year olds. "I heard a voice from the forest." "Sounded like a child!" a voice suddenly rang out. Luffy had gone quiet again and Sabo and Ace looked nervously over their shoulders. "Oh no. Someone is coming." "Let's untie her for now!" Luffy's face brightened again at Ace's words. "If we don't leave quick, they will find our treasure!" The two quickly untied the girl and dragged her into a nearby bush. 

Just in time, because a small group came directly to the spot where they were just standing. One of them was a lot taller than his companions. He was very pale and had a tattoo on his upper left arm. He had gray-white hair, wore an earring in each ear, and had a sword in his left hand. He wore light brown pants and a dark red vest that he wore over his bare torso. He had a yellow and brown striped cloth hanging around his waist, which was held in place with a belt. He and his companions belonged to the Bluejam Pirates. From their hiding place, the three children saw the men approaching. "Damned! "Those crooks were Bluejam's underlings?" Ace growled quietly. "Crooks? Does that mean the money is from THIS guy?" Beads of sweat began to form on Ace's forehead again as he watched the newcomers. "We got our hands on a lot of dangerous money. The guy carrying a real sword is one of Bluejam's subordinates, Porchemy," Sabo informed Ace. He also began to sweat again. "He's absolutely crazy, you hear me. He skins the people he has killed while they are still alive!" Luffy, who had heard this, had to swallow. Sweat ran down her face. What should she do? She didn't want anything to happen to the boys. Then she had a brilliant idea...not. 

Ace and Sabo retreated further into the bushes and said: "We can't let ourselves be seen." Then Sabo noticed that the girl with the straw hat was no longer next to him. "Eh, where did she go?" Then the two eyes, wide in shock, saw the girl in question hanging a few meters above the ground, held in Porchemy's hand. How the hell did this happen!?! "Let me go! What are you doing?" the black-haired girl shouted and struggled in his firm grip. "How did she get caught?!" the boys asked themselves silently. "Let go of me, you idiot!" Luffy hit and pulled but just couldn't get away. Should she try to slip out of her shirt? No, the gorilla certainly wouldn't allow that. "Who is this child?" Porchemy asked. Luffy did the only thing she could think of, she called out to the older boy: "Help me! Ace!" The boys jumped and took cover. Why did she call for him? "Please save me, Ace!" Porchemy looked at the struggling girl for a while. "That idiot! She said my name!" the said boy cursed quietly. The Berry dropped fort he pirate. "Did you just say Ace?" "Yes, why?" "Do you know Ace?" his voice sounded threatening, but Luffy didn't seem to be listening. Ace looked tensely through the leaves of the bush and thought he had misheard when Luffy said: "He's my friend! Although, he tried to kill me earlier." Ace was shaking with anger. "She never shuts up either!" "I don't know if you know. I heard Ace stole money from us today and ran away. Do you know WHERE it is right now?" She became quiet. She found the boys' secret hiding place above their heads. She knew it, but she certainly wasn't going to tell these guys! There was only one way to get out of this situation. 

"Oh no! They'll take all our treasure. I hope the idiot doesn't tell them!" Ace muttered. Silence fell over the clearing until Porchemy broke it with his urgent voice: "So, do you know?" Sweat ran down her face, her brown eyes avoided his and she began to whistle after saying: "I...I know nothing!" The pirates looked at the girl in surprise and shock. How could someone lie SO badly?! Porchemy's hand holding the sword trembled before he rested it on his shoulder. Evil grins and laughter came from him and his men. She looked from one to the other, confused and tense. Why did she have such a bad feeling again? "Alright. If you don't know," the sword-bearer began, his face contorting into a sinister mask, "I will help you remember it. Don't worry." He and his men then began to leave with their little captive. "What the hell?! Let me go! Where are you taking me?! Damned! Idiot! Let me go!", her voice became quieter and quieter as the boys watched helplessly. As soon as the group was out of hearing and sight, Sabo turned to Ace: "What should we do?" "What we should do..." They both looked up at their hiding place. The spoils of five years of hard work were hidden up there. They couldn't allow themselves to lose it!

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~ Bluejam's Underlings Hideout, Gray Terminal ~

Inside a small, homemade, crooked hut in the Gray Terminal, the screams of a little girl could be heard. "Let me go! I'm not going to tell you anything!" Luffy shouted, tied to a pole and kicking like crazy. Why was she tied up again? Once a day was enough for her! Porchemy stood in front of her, holding a gigantic wooden hammer in his hand. The other three subordinates stand in the background and watch what is happening. He took out the hammer and brought it down with full force on the black-haired girl's head. He shouted: "You damn brat!" The hammer hit with a bang and the men in the background gasped in shock. But he didn't get the desired effect. He had already released the hammer when it somersaulted from her head to the ground. She stared angrily and said: "I tried to tell you, I'm a rubber man who ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi!" In the background, the men quickly went crazy until Porchemy reprimanded them: "Quiet! A devil fruit, huh?" A nasty grin spread across his face as he stepped closer to her. "You're truly a devil fruit user alright. Fetch with my gloves!" "Y-yes, sir!" A third time that day, the familiar feeling surfaced. She didn't liked it! 

"Hurry! Hurry! When Porchemy and the others come back we have to be gone!" Sabo urged. The boys packed their treasures into a box as quickly as they could. "We have to hide the treasure somewhere else and quickly!" Ace added. "It's only a matter of time before Luffy tells them! If they find this, they won't just take what we stole from them. They're going to steal all the treasure we've accumulated over the last five years!" 

In the "Hideout" Luffy was pulled up on a rope. What fore? Porchemy put on black spiked gloves as he said, "Listen, you brat! The money your friend Ace stole was the valuable money of our pirate crew." He grabbed her head and pulled her closer to him. "And you know where it's hidden. I'll make you tell me!" He raised his fist at the last sentence. Luffy could see the gloves with their dangerous extra. Fear crept up inside her but her resolve was stronger. "Never!" She wouldn't reveal anything, not a single word! Porchemy pushed her backwards and lashed out as she swung forward again. Blood splattered the ground as he hit her. The men in the background flinched. "That's got to hurt!" "You shouldn't make a pirate angry! Our captain, Bluejam, is inhumanly brutal!" Luffy trembled and bit her lip as Porchemy talked. Blood began to flow from the wound on her forehead and tears began to pool in her eyes. She began to kick and scream out of fear, but her will was not broken: "That hurts! I'm scared! Someone, save me!" He lashed out again. People outside could hear everything. "You, go and look for Ace and Sabo! We don't have time to stand around here stupidly!" Porchemy ordered before turning back to the little prisoner. "Yes, sir!" Stumbling, the three set off. Meanwhile, Ace and Sabo were running through the forest with two boxes each. Without knowing what happened to Luffy.

"You want to know where Ace and Sabo are? You're criminals from the city, aren't you? You'd better not mess with them." "You shouldn't underestimate them just because they're children!" "They're like mad dogs that could kill even a tiger!" "I didn't see Ace and Sabo. But more importantly, buddy! Why don't you give with your valuables?" "P-please don't! Let's look somewhere else!" Sabo appeared behind a small hut, he had heard everything. "They still don't know where we were? I really thought we would have been exposed by now," he muttered to himself. Then the realization hit him. There could only be one reason! "That can't be right!" He had to tell Ace that and quickly!

The sun was already beginning to sink below the horizon when Ace crawled out of his new hiding place. "Before I knew it, the sun started to set. Alright, I'm done!" he shouted the last part and stretched his clenched fists towards the sky, a broad smile graced his face, "I've re-hidden all the treasure!" Suddenly Luffy's grinning face came to mind. His smile faded and he lowered his arms as he looked at the setting sun. "What's wrong with her?" he asked himself quietly. Sabo came running out of breath with his pipe in his hand. Excited, almost panicked, he shouted: "Ace!" "Sabo, what's wrong? Were they at our old hiding place looking for the money?" "No, they didn't. It's impossible that they would know where to go!" Ace looked at Sabo in surprise. "What do you mean?" "That the Luffy girl still hasn't told them anything!" Ace stared at his friend in shock. That couldn't be right, could it?! But why would Sabo lie to him? "There is no doubt that she is being tortured. I thought she'd spilled it out already because she's a crybaby and an idiot. That doesn't make any sense at all!" Ace was shaking, why didn't she say anything?! "At this point, she will..." Ace's eyes widened in shock. That couldn't be! 

The regular beating could still be heard from the hiding place. "Just tell me!" Porchemy demanded, his gloves already dyed red. More blows rained down on Luffy. "Porchemy," said one of the subordinates, who was wearing his arm in a sling, "it's no use." The person being addressed looked at him, breathing heavily. Tears streamed down her swollen and bleeding face. Whimpering, her whole body convulsed with each sob. "She doesn't even have enough strength to scream anymore. She won't tell us anything anyway and to be honest it's too brutal to watch any longer. Just let her go!" A shadow rose above him before he was kicked and sent flying into one of the walls where Porchemy's sword stood. This fell clanging to ground. "If you have time to speek for this child, you might as well look for Ace and Sabo! Our lives are in danger! Didn't you get that!? The planned time for us to bring the money to Captian Bluejam is long past!" 

Outside, some residents felt sorry for the girl when they heard the beating again. "Poor lassie...shouldn't we get the sherif from the town?" "It's pointless. State laws don't count for anyone out here. By the way, the guy is one of Bluejam's men. They are paid by the nobles. No matter what crimes they commit in this country, even if they kill someone, it is useless! No matter how many bodies there might be here, no one would care." 

Another blow. "Answer me!" Luffy's voice sounded faintly in the room: "I won't!" "Damn brat! Stop trying to keep it to yourself so stubbornly!" He was slowly losing his patience. "Tell me!" "I won't! I won't! I won't tell you anything!" The tears fell harder to the floor. "I won't tell you anything!" Several veins began to pulsate on his forehead. He stood still in front of her with his fists raised. He had enough! This brat and her stubbornness were really getting on his nerves. "Good. I'm no longer interested!" He took off his gloves and carelessly threw them on the floor. He took his sword and slowly walked towards Luffy. His sword dragged on the ground and made an unpleasant noise. With much effort Luffy tried to look up. Her eyes met Porchemy's icy and murderous ones. "Die!" He lashed out and to slay the girl. So that was it. Her life ended when she was just seven years old. At least she would die knowing that she hadn't revealed Ace and Sabo's secret. Would they have become friends with her, if she had survived? 

Ace and Sabo raced through the Gray Terminal at incredible speeds. Trailing a cloud of dust behind them and their pipes in their hands. Pure determination was written on their faces. Their mission was clear: stop the idiot from being killed! With a huge crash, the two broke through one of the wooden walls. Porchemy paused in his swing. "Stop!" shouted the boys. Luffy turned her head as best she could. With a jump, Ace hit one of the men on the head with his pipe. "Out of my way!" He stared coldly at everyone as he stood in front of Luffy, who was still hanging on a rope in the room. The guys he had excepted recognized him. "That's him, Porchemy! He's the one who stole our money, damn it!" "What?!" "A-Ace!" Luffy said with a shuffle. Ace jumped towards Porchemy with a shout and raised pipe. But he simply grabbed him by the neck with his big hand. "The fact that you show up on your own makes things a lot easier." Ace struggled in his grasp and tried in vain to get free. "I didn't know what to do. Your friend wasn't exactly talkative." "Ace!" "L-let me go!" Ace managed to say with difficulty, "Sabo!" He hit Porchemy's head from behind, forcing him to release Ace again. He fell face down on the ground. "Porchemy!" the other pirates shouted in fright. Sabo didn't take his eyes off Porchemy. "Ace...Sabo," Luffy was worried about the boys. Still, she couldn't quite believe it. They had come to save her! Porchemy spoke angrily: "That hurt quite a bit, you know." He turned to the blonde. "You know what happens when you make fun of adults!" Ace pushed himself back to his feet and shouted, "Your opponent is right here! Sabo, help Luffy!" "Ace!" Sabo nodded. "That guy has a sword! Be careful!" Once again Ace attacked Porchemy and skillfully dodged his sword strikes and attacked himself. Likewise, Sabo dodged the other three and managed to steal a knife from one of them. With a clean cut he freed Luffy and carried her under his arm. "Let's get out of here, Ace!" Sabo shouted, already running towards their improvised entrance. "You go ahead!" Sabo stopped in shock and stared at his friend. He couln't be serious?! "Idiot, come on!" "Once I make up my mind, I won't run away!" "What, you brat!" "Don't! He's on a completely different level than the criminals we usually take down!" "You still don't understand? Playtime is over! You stole our money! You'll give it back nicely, you impudent brat! I'm sure you've already noticed that you've done something bad. I won't hurt you if you give us the money back." Ace slapped Porchemy's sword aside. "We'll have a much better use for it than you!" "W-what did you just say?!" "You...wait a second!" Sabo dropped Luffy and stood next to Ace. "You're too careless! Why are you always like that?!" "I won't back down!" Porchemy lunged and shouted: "Don't be ridiculous!" Ace blocked the attack with his weapon, but he received a wound on his forehead. Luffy saw everything while lying on the ground. "If I lose to a bunch of kids, I'll stop being a pirate!" "Then we'll make you do it!" Ace and Sabo shouted at the same time and attacked together. "I will slaughter you!" She watched the fight in disbelief, unable to say anything. 

The moon was high in the sky when the loud cry of a child was heard in the middle of the jungle. Luffy was crying her eyes out, her entire body was wrapped in bandages. Ace also had bandages on his knees, arms and head and also wrapped one around his iron pipe to repair it. Sabo only had some bandages wrapped around his arms and a bandage on his cheek. "Listen, you really shouldn't do something like that. You just said to a real pirate: 'I'm not running away!' Do you have a death wish?!" Ace looked closely at his work before muttering: "It's cracked but I'll manage it!" Sabo sighed , Ace apparently didn't listen to him. "We have to do something, Ace. We've done a lot to Bluejam and his people, and they certainly won't let us get away with it. They'll hunt us down!" "I was so scared. I thought I was going to die." Luffy said, whimpering. Ace had enough! He jumped off the stone and shouted at her: "Aaah! That's enough, you baby! You annoy me! Shut your trap and stop crying! I hate sissies and crybabies!" Luffy suddenly fell silent. She bit her lip and you could still see tears in her eyes. The boys looked at her in surprise. They hadn't expected that. "Thank you, boys," she said, bowing to them. Sabo and Ace looked at each other. They had no idea how to react. Her face was obscured by her straw hat as the tears began again and she trembled again. "You saved me." "Stop it!" shouted Ace, who was back on 180. Sabo tried to calm him down: "Take it easy. She's just saying thank you." But his anger couldn't just be turned off like that. "Tell me, why didn't you say anything to the Bluejam Pirates?! These guys have no problem killing women and children!" Silence. Only the sounds of the jungle could be heard as Luffy said, "Then we...couldn't have...become friends." "But that's still better than dying! Why do you even want to be friends with me, Luffy?" Ace didn't understand! Life was more important than a possible friendships! So why didn't she betray them? "Because I..." "Just think about what I've done to you in the last three months! Still, you followed me here?" "Well, because I..." Luffy clenched her hands even tighter before raising her head "B-because I have no one else in this world! I'm not allowed to go back to foosha village and I hate mountain bandits! If I hadn't followed you, I would be all alone. And being alone is worse than being hurt!" You could clearly hear her sadness and vulnerability in her voice. Her statement surprised the boys, but especially Ace. "Where are your parents?" he continued to ask. The wind blew and caused her hair to blow to the side. "I do not have any. I am a orphan. Your grandfather took me in at my father's request. Since then he has been saying that I was his granddaughter." "And if we were friends everything would be okay?" "Yes," Luffy nodded. "You'd be lost without me?" "Yes!" Ace remembered Dadan's words when he overheard them three months ago. "Do you know what happens if someone finds out WHO she is? There will be a panic when the world finds out HE has a child!" - "I think it would be best for everyone if she never appeared again and died somewhere in the jungle." 

For a long time he had the feeling that he was no longer wanted. That HIS grandfather wanted to replace him with this girl. He also had this feeling with the bandits, even though he regularly brought food with him. But she, Luffy, she seemed to want him, need him. "Do you want me to stay close to you?" The grip on his pipe tightened. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Of course I want!" she almost shouted. What was this question about? Hadn't he listened to her? She didn't want to be lonely anymore and with him she wasn't lonely! At least until he found out who her father was and she wouldn't let that happen! "Okay." He turned his back to her and started scratching his head. "But you know what? I can't stand weaklings like you!" With new energy, she jumped up and landed directly behind him. "I'm not a weakling! I'm strong!" she shouted at him. Sabo watched everything quietly from the sidelines. "Strong? Where are you strong? You're crying like crazy all the time!" "Are you get hid by an iron thorn glove?! I'm seven years old and when I'm ten like you, I won't be crying anymore! Then I'll be much stronger and tougher!" "I didn't even cry when I was seven! I wasn't such a wimp like you!" Their heads banged against each other. "I will be stronger than anyone else on the Grand Line! I promised the Red Shanks that I would become a great pirate!" "YOU, a pirate?!" "Yes!" "You'll never become a pirate! "I do!" You could practically see the tension between them until Sabo took pity and intervened. "Okay, that's enough now. Besides, I have a problem." "A problem?" Luffy asked confused. What kind of problem could Sabo have? "Because of today's action, Bluejam will look for us and surely kill us!" "Yes, I think so too." "I live in the forest but it is near their base. What do you think would happen if I was sleeping and they found me?" "You would be dead." "Yes, you would definitely be dead," Luffy Ace agreed. "That's right. So I want to ask you something. Listen close!" The three of them stood in a tight circle and Sabo began to explain his idea.

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~ The Dadan Family Hideout – The Next Morning ~

The birds chirped as Dogura and the dog looked down in confusion at the sleeping children in front of them. "Where does these injuries come from? They're covered in bandages." Ace was lying with his head facing him and Luffy was lying the other way around on the other side of the blanket that lay between them. "Hey, what's that?" Magura pointed to the person, the blonde child, who was lying under the blanket and between the two black-haired kids. All three seemed to be sleeping peacefully and were not disturbed. However, the boy, unknown to them, pulled the blanket over his head while he was sleeping. Freed from his paralysis, Dogura shouted: "Boss! Boss! It's unbelievable!" "Why so noisy in the early morning?" Dadan grumbled. Behind her the other bandits also came into the room. She stared at the sleeping kids in shock, "What the hell is that? One, Two,..." her eyes kept moving back and forth between Ace, Luffy and the person under the blanket. "One, Two,... Ace, Luffy, huh. Ace, Luffy, huh. Ace, Luffy, huh. Ace, Luffy, huh. Ace..., Luffy..., huh..." With every round, the anger inside her increased until one of her veins began to pulsate. "Ace, Luffy, huh. Ace, Luffy, huh. Ace, Luffy, huh." She got faster and faster until her patience ran out. „ACE! LUFFY! WHO IS THAT?!" Luffy stood up and asked before falling back again, "Who's who?" Ace did the same. "You're so loud this morning...Do you know what time it is?" The third member of the group sat up briefly, said nothing and lay down again. "Why is there a third child? Who are you?!" The blonde rubbed his eyes sleepily and asked: "Who, me? I'm Sabo!" He grinned friendly at the bandits. "Hi, you're Dadan, right?" Dadan came towards him. "Sabo? I've heard the name somewhere before." "Really? That makes things easier for me. To a good together lifing and that we understand each other." With the last sentence, he took her hands in his. But Dadan slapped hers away. "Understand each other? Don't tell me you think you could live here!" She had her hands on her hips. Sabo then farted, still with a smile on his face. "Don't answer by farting!" Sabo just laughed awkwardly and farted again. "You're kidding me! If you're the Sabo I heard about, then you're supposed to be a devilish brat!" "Really? And I heard that you're an old heg!" He farted again and the smile didn't want to disappear from his face. Dadan looked at him in disbelief as the other robbers fell. "You really shouldn't say things like that! I don't feel like taking care of another child!" "But you're supposed to be a nice old heg that can't turn anyone down, no matter who, right? I heard that you're an old heg who acts like the manliest man" "'Manliest man...I'm a woman! Can't you see that?!" Sabo smiled and laughed while Dadan looked down at him nervously. This went on for a while until she gave in with a sigh. The other two had now gotten up. "Ace! Luffy! Sabo! Since you're all under my care, you better hurry up and get to work!" "Thank you, Dadan!"