Ace knew he wasn't normal from the moment he could remember.

Sure, he looked normal if he hid them. and he acted normal, to a certain extent. But if someone looked too closely to the raven-haired child, they would see something that was definitely not normal. First off, he was raised by Mountain Bandits when his grandfather dropped him off there 'for his own good'. Secondly, he was the son of the late Pirate king, Gol d. Roger, making him a devil and a curse to the world. And finally, the wings were a dead giveaway.

Ace was a half-breed. And before you ask, no it wasn't a bird. His father was a human, looked and acted normal, as far as he knew, but his mother was a Fae, basically a human with wings. Most people have forgotten about them after the celestial Dragons hunted, killed or captured almost every single one for their collection. Now he was the only one left after his mother died giving birth to him.

The mountain Bandits all knew this, of course, he couldn't exactly hide his 'extra traits' until he was four. As a baby, his wings, white and as soft as a cloud, closed around him, protecting him from the elements and kept him warm. As a toddler, his wings were too weak to fold up and hide, they had to cut holes in all his clothes just so he could wear them. But when he turned four, Ace could finally stash his wings away and look, for all intents and purposes, human. He could finally leave the forest and visit that weird place he had seen in his exploring, Grey Terminal.

On his first visit he ran into a few old and stinky men, nothing he couldn't handle, he was stronger than the average human. They didn't have a lot of money on them and were easy to pickpocket, just like the Bandits taught him, but it was a lot more then he has had before. Immediately, he started a stash, somewhere he could hide the loot he collected from the dumb humans where he could hoard it all together and buy a ship and get off this god forsaken rock of an island when he had enough.

After half a year of visiting the Dump, Ace ran into him. he looked like a normal kid, well, other then that fact that he looked like a noble. But there was no way a noble would be out here, in a dump. Other than that, he looked like a normal kid, nothing like him, an Fae hybrid, but like one of the boys who were lucky enough and rich enough to attend school. He didn't like that, the lucky bastard, and he stole his money. The kid wasn't loaded, but he had a lot more then most of the people in Grey terminal.

But the weirdest thing happened, instead of attacking him or even retaliating, the boy looked at him and smiled. For god sake, he just stole his money! Why was this guy smiling at him! Ace growled at the boy, wanting nothing more then to tear him a new one. But he held back, he wasn't sure why but there was something about this kid, something he wanted to know, but he didn't know what.

"hi! My names Sabo, what's yours?" the polite kid said with a smile on his face.

Ace stared at the kid, probably his age, he thought, for a bit. "tsk." He said with a scowl, turned around and ran back into the safety of his forest. Humans were weird.

After that he avoided Grey terminal for a bit, he didn't want to see the weird kid anytime soon. But after a few weeks, he decided he needed to go back there, he was building some stuff and he needed building materials, wood and metal mostly, but they were always easier to get in grey terminal. It was always just laying around, there for the taking, and no one would care if he did.

Ace cut his visit short when the boy, Sabo, found him again. like before, he tried to strike up a casual conversation with him and like before Ace ran back into the forest. He still didn't know why he didn't just attack the guy; he was annoying enough anyway.

little did Ace know, Sabo had followed him into the forest, trying to find somewhere to sleep without having to be wary of every person around him. Sabo followed the Raven for a few days, still hiding away while thinking of a way to approach him without startling him into running away, back into the forest.

In his stalking, he discovered that Ace was very strong, easily going toe-to-toe with the giant tigers and bears in the forest, only coming out of the fight with a few minor injuries like cuts and bruises. After a fight like this, Sabo followed the unnamed Kid to a river. It was secluded and well hidden, also no crocodiles in it unlike all the other river systems he's come across so far. He hid in a bush far enough away from the boy that he didn't attract his attention, but close enough to watch if he disappeared again. it wouldn't be the first time the boy disappeared into thin air and it was a pain to track him.

At first, he did everything one would expect from a normal kid, washed the blood off himself and the dead boar he caught, he skinned and gutted the food, started a fire and got it cooking.

And that was were the normalness ended.

The raven-haired kid scanned the surrounding forest with a scrutinizing gaze, Sabo had to hide his head so he wouldn't be spotted, looking out for anything that moved. There was a rabbit across the river from him and when the raven saw it, he scared it away with a dull rock. He really wanted his secrecy if he was afraid a little harmless rabbit was going to tell everyone his big secret.

When he finished looking around for intruders, the raven's back started twitching, and that was when Sabo noticed there was two vertical cuts in his shirt, before he though it was just a tattered and old shirt, but now he can see it might have a purpose, what that is, was anyone's guess. The kid started rolling his arms in a wide circle, stretching his back and making it crack and groan. The kid smiled in pleasure, obviously the back stretch was nice.

And then the wings sprouted.

In a flurry of movement, the kids back went from completely bare to being filled with white feathers. Both wings stood up, as if stretching, they were very big, almost twice as long as the boy was tall, and looked very soft.

Sabo was so shocked by the sudden appearance of wings on someone's back, he completely forgot about keeping quiet and hidden and instantly stood up and shouted in shock. Of course, this brought the attention of the boy, who immediately folded his wings as if to hide them, grabbed a pipe he had been fighting with and point it at his face threateningly.

"what do you want." he asked angrily, a scowl on his face. When he noticed eyes attached to his wings, he wacked him on the head, getting a yelp out of the blond, and moved his wings so they were hidden behind him. Sabo met his eyes when he repeated his question, a lot madder and angrier than before. "what do you want!"

"you have wings." Sabo simply said, still not over the shock of it all.

The Raven-haired boy's glare intensified, "tsk, and what about it." He looked ready to kill him, and in all honesty, he would probably be the same boat if he was in his position. Growing up with the noble taught him some certain things, one of which was that everything that was different, was bad. So if this boy had wings, he would be ostracized by everyone in society, doomed to never have a good, or even semi decent, life. Sabo would hate to be in his shoes.

But at the same time, he can relate.

He left his family because he hates the way they operate, he hates their lifestyle and the way they looked down on everyone who has less money or social statue then them, he hates every fiber of their being. Because of this, he can't return without being looked down upon by everyone else as 'the kid who went to Grey Terminal.' His family would scold him with beatings, done by the servants of course, don't want to dirty pure noble hands, before sending him back to his 'room' to learn his lessons so he will be beneficial to the family. Otherwise known as 'someone who can marry someone richer', that's just easier if they know how to read and write.

Sabo's eyes traveled behind the body of the boy he had been following, trying to get another glimpse of those beautiful wings again. it was all in vain as the other boy noticed and whacked him with the pole again.

"you have wings." Sabo said with awe.

"you just said that." Ace said, poking Sabo roughly. He really doesn't know why he hasn't just run the kid through, end it all. maybe he was waiting for the disgust and hatred that was sure to come, let it sink into his mind more that nobody wants him and never will. Prove to him that all humans are evil, and he will never be accepted, never have a family and never know the simple things like love and kindness.

Sabo's eyes glowed with awe and amazement. "that's so cool!" he almost yelled in glee, "can I see them! can I?! can i!? please?" he all but begged.

Ace, for his part, was gob smacked, wasn't he supposed to be afraid? To hate him?

"what the hell is wrong with you?!" Ace yelled.

Sabo blinked, calming down he asked, "huh?" very intelligent, Sabo, very intelligent.

"don't you hate me?! don't you despise me for my wings?!" Ace asked, obviously confused, angry and annoyed.

Sabo blinked in realization, "umm, no?" he said, not quite sure how he is supposed to answer that.

Ace narrowed his eyes at Sabo, it was clear as day that he didn't believe it for a second, Ace grumbled something under his breath. He stood back, letting Sabo get up, but kept his eye on him as he pushed Sabo towards the makeshift camp he had created. It was like he was a prisoner.

Sabo sat down, not afraid in the slightest and drooled at the meat slowly roasting on the fire, Ace glared at him in retaliation for eyeing his food and confusing him. after a few moments of silence, while Ace stared at him as if he was trying to find out all him inner secrets, Sabo spoke up.

"well, my name is Sabo. it's nice to meet you." he said, putting his hand out for a handshake. Ace eyed it carefully, as if expecting a knife to appear in his hand to stab him. when that didn't happen, Ace slowly and wearily took his hand, not firmly, he wanted his hand to be out of reach as fast as possible.

"Ace." Ace replied.

Sabo's smile radiated warmed and kindness. "hello Ace." He said, "hey, do you mind sharing that boar? I'm starving." He said as his arm retracted from the hesitant handshake.

Ace mentally debated it for a moment before throwing a chunk of meat at Sabo's head, he caught it. For the rest of the meal, Ace let his wings out and stretched then, moving the small but strong muscles to build up strength and power so that one day he can fly… or whenever his baby feathers fell off and his wings gained color.

After that, the two boys had become fast friends, Ace was happy that he met someone who didn't care about his extra appendages, and Sabo was happy that he met someone who cared about him, even if he showed it in the weirdest ways.

A few years passed and they fell into a routine, Ace would leave the Mountain Bandits just after dawn, they would meet up at the edge of Grey Terminal to spend the day scouring around for items they can use to build a treehouse. That was their end goal, to move out of the places they were currently living to a place they can live together, deep in the woods. Ace wanted to leave the Bandits and live his own life while Sabo wanted to get out of the cave he had found, sure it's nice and cozy, but it's so dark and lonely. Not to mention damp, all the runoff after a storm came to his cave and made him very wet, nothing he couldn't deal with, but it's annoying.

They were ten now, both of them were the same age, and their treehouse was almost complete. They had finished all the walls, the floor and roof, added some things they think they would need and so forth. A few finishing touches like paint, a door and some curtain, and it would be done. They were planning to move in a week.

And that was when he came.

Garp, Ace's grandfather by choice, not blood, had come to the Bandit's hut carrying a child younger than Ace, probably by three years, if he was to guess. He was trying to attack Garp as much as he could, to no avail as every attack he threw was completely useless against him. The kid wore dirty clothes and only one sandal on his foot, he had raven hair and wild eyes.

When the Bandits came out to investigate the noise, Dadan and Garp quickly got into an argument. The kid was released and started running around the clearing, investigating his surroundings and looking for something. Every time he came across an object he didn't recognize he… wait, was he sniffing that? Ace though as he watches the kid sniff the dog. It was Dadan's pet and he knew better then to pick a fight with it, of course he could beat it in one, but at dinner time it would steal some of his food and that was not allowed.

The dog looked ready to start a fight with the harmless looking kid, its hunches were raised and it was growling and snarling at the boy, who was still sniffing it! When the boy noticed the animal was clearly not happy with his presence, the kid got down on all fours and started growling back.

What the hell is wrong with this kid!? Ace though. Was he raised by animals or something?!

To his surprise, the dog backed away from the boy, it stopped growling and looked as if it was trying to defend itself from the smaller boy, and to Ace's shock, the dog whimpered. It actually whimpered! The dog turned tail and ran, afraid of the kid.

The hell? Ace thought.

Garp picked the kid up by the scruff of his neck and showed him to Dadan. "luffy, say hi." He said as if teaching a dog to bark.

The now named luffy raised his hand and said, "Yo." He quickly wriggled out of the old man's grasp and ran around the rest of the clearing, coming to a stop in front of Ace and his boar. he stared up at ace in awe and smiled happily. His grin was as big as the sun and radiated just as much warmed.

Ace couldn't resist himself, he spat on the kid, trying to make luffy hate him. he didn't deserve this child's smile, he wasn't worth it. but Luffy didn't glare at him, instead, he wiped off the spit with his sleeve and stared back at Ace, his smile still in place.

"Hi, I'm luffy!" he said.

Ace huffed before taking his catch inside. He wouldn't get close to the new kid; it would only hurt him more when he found out about his wings. He had seen it all before, the normal kids would try to make friends with him and will be all kind and casual until they found out about him wings. Then they would attack him and throw stones at him and call him 'freak' and 'monster' and then he would hit them hard enough on the head that they would forget it all. don't want their parents involved.

He was stopped by Garp.

"Ace, my boy! Say hi to your grandpa!" he declared, bringing the ten-year-old into a crushing hug.

In an attempt to free himself, Ace yelled, "hello shitty gramps! Now let me go, asshole!" Garp didn't hear anything after 'Hello' and that was for the best, Ace didn't want a Fist Of Love, not now and never. As it was, Garp was smiling happily chanting something about his 'grandson saying hello' and how amazing that was. It was strange seeing this side of the Marine, his family side.

When Garp finally released him, Ace pick up his bear and almost ran into the hut, trying to get as far away from his Grandpa as feasibly possible. He threw the bear at the closest Bandit and ran up to his room to wait for dinner.

Dinner was an odd occasion. After Dadan gave Luffy the 'rules' for staying here, he agreed instantly, not even shying away from murder, or maybe he didn't understand it… oh well, not his problem. Luffy had stated that he had lived in hasher conditions and this wasn't so bad, he got a bowl of rice too! Or at least Ace assumed that was what his happiness was about by the way he guarded and held the bowl of white rice.

When bedtime came, ace took his pillow and blanket to sleep in the furthest corner of the room. when Luffy came upstairs, he had asked him some things that made no sense, seriously, who asks other people If they poop? That's just revolting. And of course, he didn't answer, pretending to be asleep.

As soon as Luffy backed off and fell asleep, indicated when his breathing evened out, Ace allowed himself to fall asleep.

In the morning, Luffy was awake before him, bundled up in a blanket staring at him. it would have looked creepy if it wasn't him, as it was, it was rather adorable and cute. Not that ace would ever admit that, no, he has a reputation to uphold.

"tsk." Ace ignores him and heads down for breakfast, after that, he headed out into the forest, ignoring the mountain bandit's yells for doing chores and work. He would never do that.

"hey wait!" luffy yelled as he followed ace into the forest, gaining his own shouts from Bandits. "Do you wanna be friends?" he asked from behind him.

Ace ran away from him, hitting a bunch of logs as he passed, letting them fall onto the path Luffy was heading up. Luffy somehow managed to dodge them all and sighed in relief, until he noticed Ace wasn't there anymore. Quickly, Luffy ran up the hill to a cavern with an old rope bridge dangling between in. Ace was on the other side.

Luffy smiled and ran along the bridge, ignoring the fact that ace was pulling out the pegs that kept it attached to the ledge. His smile almost made Ace rethink his plan, but then the faces of other children filled his vision. No one but Sabo would ever love him. this kid would be just like them. and with that, Ace let the bridge fall into the ravine. He turned away from the scream as luffy fell and ran off to Grey Terminal to find Sabo, his only friend.

That night, Luffy returned covered in scratches and bruises but nothing major. He brushed off all the Bandits concerns and smiled at Ace every time he found the older raven looking at him. Luffy claimed to have eaten a boar already so devoured his bowl of rice in record time before disappearing into their shared room. Ace couldn't wait to leave him here and move out.

When ace found his way upstairs, he was met with a smiling Luffy. "Do you wanna be my friend?" he asked again.

Ace glared at him, "no." he replied angrily.

There was silence in the room as Ace grabbed his blanket and pulled it over himself, facing away from the kid. Just before he fell asleep though, Luffy said something he wasn't expecting.

"I know you have wings."

Ace was awake immediately; he grabbed his pipe and was quick to raise it to attack. What met his eyes was a sleeping Luffy on the other side of the room. wrapped up in a blanket from head to toe, curled up in a ball. It confused Ace; did he imagine it? No. it was too clear, he couldn't have. Luffy had spoken the words Ace never wanted to hear, and then he played it off as sleeping. He had half a mind to walk up to him and kick him awake, but he didn't on the off chance It was just his mind playing tricks on him.

Slowly, Ace calmed down and hid himself under the blankets, glancing at his back to make sure his wings were still hidden away.

A week passed since then.

Ace hasn't confronted Luffy about that night and Luffy hasn't said anything else to indicate that he actually said that. One of the key factors being; he didn't despise Ace for his entire being nor hate him for existing. Ace had visited Grey Terminal each day and told Sabo about the kid. Luffy would always follow him causing Ace to find ways to lose him in the jungle, from throwing the brat into a croc infested river, to getting him lost in a large and dangerous cave system ruled by a giant tiger.

Today was the day Ace was moving out.

"hey Dadan, I'm moving out to live with Sabo, you know, that kid I told you about." Ace said over breakfast.

The Bandit leader looked hurt at first, as impossible as that was, then angry, "NO WAY YOU BRAT! What if Garp found out! I would be killed! Or worse, imprisoned!" she yelled at the brat who was ignoring her.

Ace cleaned out his ear, "can't stop me, I'm leaving this dump." He said calmly, inspecting his finger.

After a few (read: lots) of swear words, and horrible language that should never be said in front of a child, the Bandit calmed down. "can you tell us where you'll be staying, at least?"

Ace raised an eyebrow at her question, she gained a tick mark.

"JUST TELL US, YOU BRAT!" she yelled.

He rolled his eyes but relented, "fine. I'm going to live in a tree house Sabo and I have been building for the last six years."

Luffy perked up at the mention of a tree house, "can I come?" he asked, hopefully.

Ace glared at him, "No way!" he yelled.

Dadan sighed and nodded, "You can go as long as you come back here at least once a week. Got that, you brat?!" she compromised.

"tsk, like you could make me." Ace retorted.

The bandit leader smirk, "well, I could always tell Garp his grandsons are playing pirate in the forest up in a tree house." She said rhetorically.

Ace looked affronted, "you wouldn't." He said. If she did that, their treehouse would be less then ruins and they will be forced to came back to the Bandit hut.

Dadan grinned evilly, "oh yes I would. Hehehehehe…" she cackled.

Ace gritted his teeth, "fine. I'll visit once a week." And with that, Ace grabbed all his stuff he had packed the night before and walked away. Luffy followed him, this time at a distance.

When they were out of the hearing range of the bandits luffy asked in a serious tone, "why don't you want to be my friend?"

Ace glared at him but felt he should give him an answer that wasn't just a swear word or degrading insult, he deserved that much.

"You would hate me." he said, turning away from the younger kid and stalked off into the forest. He didn't even try to shake him off, he would get lost all on his own soon enough.

There was silence for a few minutes until Luffy spoke, this time in wonder, "Is it because of your wings?"

And just like that, Ace dropped his belongings, grabbed his pipe and pinned Luffy to the ground.

"how do you know that." He growled, low and threatening. It didn't work on Luffy, he just smiled at him.

"I could smell it." He said cheerfully, oblivious to the fear he should be feeling in this sort of situation.

"you… what?" he demanded angrily.

Luffy smiled as he started fidgeting under his hold. He started scratching his arm for some reason, like he had some unquenchable itch that just wouldn't go away. Ace had noticed that he had been doing this all week, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. It didn't look like he was lying, but Ace didn't know how well he could lie, for all he knew, Luffy was waiting for the perfect moment to go tell the world his secret just for the laughs.

"mmhm." Luffy nodded, "I could smell it. I have very good sight, hearing and smell because…" Luffy parted his lips and looked to the side, he was so lying now, "no reason that's important." He lied.

Wow, he was a bad liar.

"anyway, I could smell birdy coming off you and figured you had wings. I knew a friend who smelt like you… well not really, you smell dirtier. But I guess you have wings cause you smell like him and he had wings." Luffy bluntly stated.

Ace narrowed his eyes, "your friend…? where is he?" he asked. he had calmed down from the initial outburst, but he was still suspicious of the kid who suddenly knew his secret.

Luffy's face turned sour and he looked ready to cry, but he didn't. "he died. The people in his village killed him after they found out about it, he was sick and needed help and he couldn't fold his wings up. I was dumb and took him into his town and begged them to heal him. the doctor refuse when they saw the wings. they tried to kill him. I ran out with him on my back and into the woods. They hunted us down and then Jerry died because of his sickness because I didn't know what to do a-and them Garp came and I tried to defend us, but he hit me. then h-he took me away from my m-m-mountain c-cave and brought me here and said I was his g-grandson now." by the end of it, luffy was a crying mess.

Out of surprise at what Luffy said and horror that he has no idea what to do, Ace got off him and punched him on the top of his head, "stop crying, you idiot! I hate cry-babies!" he yelled.

Luffy instantly sucked up all his tears and held his tears and snot back by biting his bottom lip. Ace couldn't help but think, that was easy. As the kid stopped crying instantly. luffy climbed up to a sitting position but didn't stand up.

Now that Ace had a moment to think it through, he looked back at luffy, "so… you don't hate me?" he asked almost timidly, he wont never admit it, but he was warming up to the kid, it was like Sabo, he just couldn't bring himself to actually hit him or cause him too much harm… maybe he was growing soft… damn.

Luffy shook his head negatively, "nope!" he popped the 'p'.

Ace continued, "… and you don't want me to die?" he asked hesitantly.

Luffy continued to shake his head, "na-ah! I want Ace to live!" he said surly.

Ace looked at the kid in front of him. without any hesitation, he had declared that he was someone who wanted Ace, Ace of all people, to live. The curse upon the world, the devil son, evil incarnate, fake human, he didn't deserve to live but here luffy was, stating that he wanted Ace to live. He couldn't believe it.

He shouldn't believe it.

He would believe it.

Because this boy, this kid, had just stated in a cheerful and happy manner that he wanted Ace to live! If he was any other kid, he would have broke down crying. But he won't, because he is Ace and he was strong.

"fine. Come on, I'll take you to the tree house. We'll grab your stuff later." Ace said after a bit of deliberating.

Luffy smiled sadly, "no need. Don't have any stuff. Garp wouldn't let me take anything from my home."

Ace huffed as he grabbed all his stuff, there wasn't much, a blanket and pillow, a telescope he found In Grey Terminal, some spare clothes and some coins he stole off the Bandits. "hmm, well, follow me, the tree house is this way."

They walked in silence, but Ace couldn't help but feel happy that he met another person who didn't hate him for what he is. It was nice, to be loved like a normal person for a change. Ace wanted to keep this feeling, to experience it whenever he wanted and enjoy the warm feeling it brought.

For the first time in a very long time, a smile graced Ace's face. It was smile but genuine.

Sabo was already at the treehouse when they got there. After spotting him, Sabo climbed down the rope ladder.

"hi Ace!" he said before turning to Luffy, "I'm Sabo, nice to meet you." he said.

Luffy looked up at Sabo, who was a head taller than him, blinked and smiled massively at him. "hi, I'm Luffy!"

Sabo smiled back at him, "welcome to our humble aboard, luffy." He said cheerfully. He looked at ace, "Does he know about that?" he all but whispered. Ace nodded in reply to his question.

Luffy looked up at Sabo, he pulled on his shirt when he didn't look down. Giving the kid all his attention, Sabo asked, "hmm?"

"what does 'aboard' mean?" he asked innocently.

Sabo ruffled up Luffy's hair, "it means home." Luffy's mouth created an 'O' shape in realization.

"cool!" he yelled. Luffy ran to the rope ladder and quickly climbed up it to explore his new home.

It's been a week since the three moved out and life couldn't have been going better. They had food just outside their home, a stash of gold each of them added to that Luffy would stare at longingly for some reason, a place to call home and belongings they found in Grey Terminal to call their own.

The only problem was that Luffy wouldn't stop scratching.

At first Sabo and Ace disregarded it as a minor tick or he got bitten by a mosquito or something, but it kept getting worse. Now it's to the point where Luffy was pealing skin every time he scratched. Sabo was forced to use the limited medical knowledge that he had to bandage up luffy's arms, but it never stayed for long. Luffy declared that they were irritating and didn't like them and took them off. When they offered to take him to the doctor so they could see what was wrong, Luffy had refused very quickly, going as far as to shout angrily, which for Luffy they quickly found out was rare. Ace and Sabo decided that they would take him if it got too serious, no matter what he says.

Which brings them to today.

Luffy had woken up restless and tired, he was fidgeting and scratching every piece of skin he could, it was annoying. He just wanted to transform and be himself, not this fleshy weird human form Garp forced him to be. He didn't like it, but he was too afraid of Garp and too afraid of what his new friends will think. His other Fae friend, Jerry, the one who died, didn't even know about it, so he didn't even have a basis of what would be their reaction, well, other then fear.

They couldn't know, they would hate him for lying and they would fear him because of what he is. Then he will be lonely and will have to leave. Luffy didn't want to leave, he liked it here and he liked his friends. But he couldn't get away for long enough to transform and relieve this itch he gets from staying in him human form, but he couldn't tell them that.

Ace and Sabo had taken it upon themselves to keep him safe, they make sure at least one of them has an eye on him at all times and that he doesn't go off into the jungle alone. While touching, it is annoying when he's trying to get away for a bit. the first time he escaped at night when the itch got too much for him to bare, Ace had found him not ten minutes later. It was infuriating but there was nothing he could do except tell them, and he couldn't do that.

Luffy pinned his back against the corner of the tree house, he really like the place, it was high and comfy, it had blankets and was warm but not too hot, it was windy but not too cold, it reminded him of his cave, the one he used to live in. that thought brought back memories of his younger childhood; his kind mother who taught him everything she knew before giving her life for his, his only friend who was also ostracized from society, and the humans who were kind to him until they knew what he was. They hunted him then, wanted him gone from existence or sold to the highest bidder… whatever that meant.

They were weak though, luffy kept them away, but didn't kill them. injuring them wasn't a problem but he was taught not to kill unless absolutely necessary, so he didn't. the town had called the Marine people to join in and a passing ship came in to help. Up until then, luffy could easily defeat the villages while keeping his distance, slowly retreating back to his mountain. But he couldn't defeat Garp, not him. he was too strong.

Luffy was curious how a Human could get that strong, but at the same time he fears for him death. He did the only thing possible at the time: he ran.

It was completely useless, as the Marine Vice-Admiral chased him down to his home. He had burrowed his way into the treasure pile he had created, closed his eyes and hoped all this never happened. He should have fought instead of run and hide, but he still didn't want to attack humans and he was still just getting over the fact that his only friend, Jerry, had died. He was sad and just wanted to disappear into a hole so he could wallow in sadness, the opposite of his usually cheery personality.

Life just didn't agree with him.

Garp reached a hand into his treasure pile and dragged him out by the scruff of his scaly neck. He looked at the dragon, slightly smaller than him, and sighed.

"I know you can transform, hurry up and do it before I change my mind." he said gruffly. Luffy had flinched and started to wriggle, trying to get out of his grasp, to no use, his grip was just too strong.

When he couldn't escape, Luffy started curling up into a ball, trying to hide from the big scary man. He was shaken again and thrown into his treasure pile. The big scary man pointed at him.

"I'm Vice Admiral Garp of the Marines! I know you don't know what that is, and I know you don't know me. but I know that you know how to transform into a human! Now do it so we can have a conversation!" he yelled at the young red dragon.

Luffy stared at him for a moment before shaking himself, the first process of his transformation. Keeping his eyes on the now named Garp, he folded his wings and pressed them into his back, he grew smaller and his scales became softer. If he was attacked now, he would surely die, but Garp stayed a good distance away, watching the young dragon change. Luffy's tail disappeared into his lower back at the same time his wings did, his face grew flatter and his sharp fangs disappeared into stubbed human teeth, and his short and stubby legs, all four of the, lengthened and changed into arms and feet. He didn't have any clothes on, but then again, why would he? He's a dragon.

In his place stood a kid, no older than seven, with Black hair and a scar under his eye. His skin was naturally tanned and had a few small scar littered around the place, all of them practically unnoticeable.

Luffy frowned as Garp sat down in front of him. the kid, now that it was obvious that he was a kid, was no threat to the Vice-admiral, no matter what form he was in. Luffy shivered as a draft came into his cave, he ducked down into the treasure pile to keep warm but that was just colder, to his disappointment. Human forms got so cold, this is why he liked his other one better, it didn't get cold.

Garp took off his cape and threw it at the kid, to his bafflement.

"don't want you catching a cold." He said simply, answering the unspoken question. Luffy wrapped the parchment around him as he eyed the scary man.

"what do you want." He said in his most threatening voice, it didn't work much as he was about to burst into tears… stupid human form.

Garp looked at his seriously, "I want to know why your attacking Humans." He said simply, sitting up straighter as if he owned the cave, "Also, where are your parents? I thought dragon children stayed with their parents until they're twenty-five." He looked around for the second question, baffled by the lack of presence of a larger, scarier beast.

Luffy looked at him, trying very hard to ignore the water tying to leak out of his eyes. "My parents are dead and I'm attacking humans because they're hunting me." he said, pulling the cape around him tighter.

Garp stared at him, making him fidget, "why are they hunting you?"

"because I asked them to heal my friend, but they refused because he had wings. They killed him because he was a 'monster' then hunted me down by association. When they found out I was a dragon, they wanted me dead, So I ran. They've been attacking me, and I've just been running away. I don't know what I'll do when they fine my home." A tear ran down his face and Luffy wiped it off with the Marines cape.

Garp 'hmmed', "I noticed you haven't killed anyone yet, in fact, the worst wound inflicted was a broken arm. Can I ask why?"

Luffy's eyes hardened, "I didn't do that! He fell and tripped into the ravine all by himself! I didn't do it!" he yelled, standing atop his large treasure pile that he sleeps in. A few loose coins fell down the heap and landed at Garp's feet.

Garp blinked before laughing, "feisty brat, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically. "how about you come home with me? become my grandson?" he offered in a tone that made it clear that it wasn't going to be argued. "I have two other grandsons who I know you will just love." And with that, Garp stood and picked the terrified dragon up. Luffy shouted at him to put him down but the Marine wouldn't listen.

Before they got back to the Marine's ship, he asked, "what's your name, brat?"

Luffy pouted, he still didn't want to go, "… luffy."

Garp smiled as he kidnapped the dragon.

"-ffy! Hey luffy!" Ace said while shaking him, clearly worried, or annoyed, he couldn't tell the difference.

Luffy looked up at his friend, nope, he was definitely worried. Sabo stood behind him, also worried. At first, Luffy couldn't figure out why they would be worried, had their food gone cold? But then he felt the stinging on his arms and the tears on his cheeks, he must have been crying and scratching his arm. Damn.

"you okay, luffy?" Ace asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Ace knew he wasn't, but it was a standardized Question for the distressed.

Luffy nodded while biting his bottom lip, the two older boys instantly knew he was lying.

"why were you crying luffy? Does it hurt?" Sabo asked, gesturing to his scratched-up arms.

Luffy looked down and shook his head: more lies.

Sabo crouched down and put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. The older boys shared a glance, they were worried about the reaction, but didn't say anything about it. "luffy, it's okay to admit it hurts. We can go see a doctor an-" he was cut off by luffy.

"NO!" he yelled, fire in his eyes. "I don't wanna!"

Ace punched him in the head, "well we don't always get what we want! If your hurt, we need to see a doctor! You got that!" Ace yelled angrily.

Luffy nursed the bump that was forming on his head. "no!" he said as he curled up into a ball and clutched his knees tightly his fingers started going white, "they wont be able help." He wimpered.

That made the older two pause, Sabo was the first to speak up, "luffy, do you know what's going on?" he asked.

After a moment's hesitation, Luffy nodded, he still didn't take his head out of his knees though.

Sabo continued, "do you know what needs to be done to get better?" he asked hopefully.

A longer hesitation, but a nod, nonetheless.

Ace gritted his teeth and blew up, "THEN WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T YOU DONE IT YET!" he yelled into the air, startling some of the birds in the neighboring trees.

Luffy flinched. He mumbled something into his knee that both older boys missed.

"can you repeat that?" Sabo said. Luffy grumbled something into his knee again, they didn't catch that either.

Sabo sighed, "can you look up so we can understand you." he said dryly.

Luffy lifted his head up high, his eyes clenched shut, "I said, I DON'T WANT YOU TO HATE ME!" he yelled before opening his eyes and staring at them in the realization of what he said. He looked afraid of then two startled boys, they hadn't expected that, and clenched his jaw in horror. He hid his head back into his knees as fast as he could, as if that simple action would hide him from the world and set him free.

Of cause, it doesn't work like that and he was still here, in the tree house, in front of his two friends.

After Ace and Sabo got over their initial shock, Ace clenched his jaw and sat down with his hands on his knees, he knew he would be no help in the upcoming conversation, and so he decided to let Sabo handle this. He had skills in this sort of thing.

Sabo smiled at Ace, recognizing the action for what it was, and turned back to Luffy, putting his hand back on his shoulder and trying to convince Luffy to look at him again. "luffy." He said, "can you look at me? yeah, like that. Now, can you tell me why you think we would hate you? because I can promise you, we would never do that, not to you, okay?" luffy looked at him with hopeful teary eyes, and for once, Ace didn't demand that he stop being a cry-baby. The young dragon in human form looked at his friends, his instincts told him that it would be fine, and he wouldn't be hurt, not by them, but something held him back. It was fear.

He was afraid of humans and he was afraid of what they would do. He didn't want to be hunted by his friends and he didn't want to be killed by them either. But something inside of him told him it would be okay, they wouldn't judge him for what he looked like, they would look past that, to who he is. They would see him as luffy.

With that in mind, the dragon took a shuddering breath and looked at his friends with a wishful gaze, "I'm a dragon." He said honestly.

Ace and Sabo didn't respond immediately, instead they shared a glance and Ace shrugged. The message was clear: he was as confused as he was. Sabo looked back at the youngest whose eyes had dimmed after noticing the disbelief in their actions.

Sabo squeezed the shoulder he was holding and looked luffy in the eye, "and why do you think we would hate you if you're a dragon?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

Luffy instantly perked up when Sabo didn't immediately shoot him down, but them dimmed when he thought about why, "cause everyone else hate me." his grip on his legs loosened as he moved to scratch his itchy leg.

Ace crawled over to the two of them and grabbed Luffy's hand, stopping him from scratching all his skin away. "bad luffy. No scratching." He told him off without any heat in the words.

Sabo sighed, "and since when were we everyone else?"

Luffy looked down at his knee and thought about it. When his head started going red and steam began to come off it, Sabo was about to interrupt Luffy's thoughts so he doesn't overheat, but didn't get the chance to as luffy rocketed out of his ball shape and barreled into the two of them with all the force he could muster.

"s-so you d-don't want me d-d-dead?" he asked though tears, Sabo and Ace dragged him into a big hug pile.

Ace smirked and Sabo smiled, "Never." They said in unison.

Luffy cried harder into their shoulders, pulling them as close as his little arms could. The older two boys wrapped their own arms around the smaller boy and hugged him back, they were finally all on the same page, they finally understood. Ace let his wings out and encircled all three of them in his own dome of protection. It was like a big warm and fluffy hug. It was comforting, to have friends like these, he could even say brothers.

After a good few minutes of tears, Luffy calmed down and sat in front of them, still fidgeting and obviously trying not to scratch.

"So, how does you being a dragon relate to your itchiness?" Sabo asked tactfully.

Luffy looked down at the ground in shame, "When I stay in this form for too long, it gets uncomfortable and my skin get itchy. I can do little things like change my skin to scales to take away some of the pain, but it doesn't last very long. I can really only hold this form for three weeks before it becomes horrible, then I can only hold if for another 2 if I ignore the pain. I've been holding it for the last 4 and a half weeks."

Realization lit up Sabo's and Ace's faces, they understood that. After all, Ace had similar problems with his wings, he has to let them out at least once a week before it becomes unbearable.

"I have the same problem." Ace voiced.

Sabo nodded, "so all we have to do to get rid of your itch is to let you transform, yes?" he clarified.

Luffy nodded.

A smile lit up Ace's and Sabo's face, "then what are you waiting for?" they said.

Luffy's face lit up and he smiled back, big and genuine, just the way it's supposed to be.

'omake'

Sabo sat on the side of the riverbank with Ace. Hat on his head as he dosed in the shade of the tree, the sand soft under his back.

Ace had his wings out, flapping them around in the sand, giving them a sand bath, pulling out all the old or injured feathers so they can be replaced with newer ones, and pruning them all so they're back to their soft and fluffy state. He did this by running his fingers through the feathers slowly, loosening sticks and leaves that get caught in them, that later become uncomfortable. The feathers where still white but were slowly changing colors to a deep red, it wasn't there yet, it was still a light pink, but it was getting there.

Luffy was in his dragon form in the deep river, all the crocodiles were avoiding him, only his head was visible. He was blowing bubbles in the water while eating a giant fish he caught just before, he would have eaten one of the many crocodiles, but they were all hiding on the river banks, stay well away from the river's edge, and he just didn't want to climb out of the cool water.

It was moments like these that all three of the boys appreciated the small things in life. It was moments like these that made then all think that maybe, just maybe, there was someone out there who didn't want them dead, maybe the world wasn't as bad as it seemed. And maybe they were allowed to have a place to call home, somewhere.

somewhere in the grand line, an old yonko with a crew of children got an itch: there was someone out there in need of a family.

a grin spread across his face at the thought.

"are you okay, Pops?" the first division commander asked with a raised eyebrow.

Whitebeard nodded with a grin, "I'm fine, just had a feeling."

"a feeling?"

"yep. a feeling."

and with that,, the first division commander left the captain to his thoughts.

I hope you like the first chapter.

With that done, see you in the next one.

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