【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

The way up the mountain was difficult, although not as dangerous as most people thought. Makino looked at the path ahead. She adjusted the basket on her arm, which did not help her much in terms of weight. It had been a long time since she had taken a long walk like this, but she couldn't wait for Luffy and Lucci to return to the village on their own. She missed them and she was worried about them.

Next to her, the village chief muttered angrily, "Bandit! What on earth was Garp thinking?!"

"I'm sure they're not all bad people. After all, his methods may be...harsh, but he loves his grandson," Makino said soothingly.

"Bandits! They're no better than pirates!" the village chief shouted loudly.

Makino smiled and shook her head. She noticed a house in the open space ahead, and her eyes fell on a group of people sitting near a tree not far away. One of the women was tall and excited, with her bright orange hair pulled back in a large bunch of curls.

"Shut up!" Dadan slammed his fist to the ground. "I can't take care of them anymore! Let's kick them out!" Dadan said excitedly.

"But Mr. Cap..." The other two bandits tried to comfort her.

"I don't care about the agreement with Garp!" Dadan shouted excitedly.

"Hey!" The village chief stepped forward to talk. Unexpectedly, the woman in front of him suddenly turned around and threw herself on the ground, shouting, "Sorry! Sorry! I was just impulsive just now!"

"Excuse me, I heard that Luffy and the others are living here now." Makino stepped forward and asked.

"Makino!"

"Hi! Makino!" Lucci greeted Makino from behind Luffy and gave her a hug.

Makino turned around and saw Luffy holding her waist tightly and smiling at her. Makino felt relieved when she saw the bright smile on his face. In fact, his smile was brighter than the last time she saw him. Except for the fact that he was wearing a shirt that was obviously too big for him, he looked very good. Makino looked at Luffy standing in front of her. He looked much older, but he smiled a lot more than the last time she saw him, and he was more lively at his age.

"You look good!" The village chief grinned at the two young men in front of him. "It's been a few months, so we were worried and decided to check in to see how you were doing."

"Village chief!" Luffy turned his bright eyes to the village chief, but still held on to Makino.

"Hi! Village chief." Lucci looked at the village chief. "The old man won't let us go back to the village. Does the old man know that you are coming here? He doesn't seem to let us see you."

Makino smiled, then put a finger to her lips, winked and said to Luffy, "Don't tell Mr. Garp about this."

"Okay, that's what Dadan always says anyway," Luffy chirped.

"Hey, Luffy, I have a gift for you!" Makino said to Luffy with a smile.

"Hmm? Gift?" Luffy became excited.

"Mr. Cap shouldn't have noticed this." Makino squatted down and opened the basket she brought.

Luffy looked at the basket on the ground curiously, wondering what was inside, and he saw her pulling out a shirt.

"Da da! New clothes." Makino picked up a simple T-shirt with a star pattern printed on it and showed it to Luffy.

"Wow! New clothes!" Luffy raised his hands and cheered.

Makino held the clothes in front of Luffy to see if they fit. Makino saw two boys standing at the door of the house and she called them over.

"Come here too, you should be about the same age as Lucci. I have some new clothes that will suit you," Makino said as he took out a new T-shirt and gestured to them.

Lucci watched Ace and Sabo's reactions with amusement. He introduced them to Makino, "Makino, this is Ace, that is Sabo, they..."

"They are my brothers! Our brothers!" Luffy interrupted Lucci and said excitedly to Makino.

"I see. I'm very happy to hear that news. I was worried that you two would be lonely," Makino said with a warm smile.

"Now, we will never be alone again!" Luffy told Makino seriously.

Makino felt a warm current in her heart, and her heart softened instantly. She could see that the boy who had just acted indifferent blushed when he heard Luffy's words.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Makino." Makino looked at the two boys with a smile.

"Nice to meet you," Sabo said politely, taking off his hat subconsciously and smiling. Ace blushed and crossed his arms over his chest, humming in response to the introduction.

……

Lucci, Sabo, and Luffy sat together. Lucci pointed at Ace who was being tried on by Makino and said with a smile, "Ace is shy!"

"Oh! Ace is blushing!" Sabo pointed at Ace and laughed.

"Hehehe! Ace is shy!" Luffy held his stomach and laughed at Ace.

"I didn't! You guys" Ace looked at the smiling brothers angrily.

"Don't move." Makino said to Ace.

"You'll be in trouble later!" Ace shouted angrily with a red face.

"Hahahahahaha!" Lucci, Sabo and Luffy sat on the ground, holding their stomachs and laughing.

……

"It would be great if it suits your taste!" Makino said to everyone while looking at the table full of food.

"Ahh! Delicious! Makino's cooking skills are still great!" Luffy and Lucci ate the food in front of them with big mouthfuls.

"As expected, sailing is inseparable from delicious food. When I go out to sea, I must first find a chef with the best skills to be my partner." Sabo said while eating.

"I will become a pirate first, so your plan will never come true." Ace said while eating a piece of meat.

"Then Luffy must be the one who finds the best chef in the world first! Ordinary chefs can't satisfy him." Luffy argued with Ace and the others while chewing on the meat in his hand.

"I will definitely be the first to become a pirate!" Luffy shouted.

Suddenly, the bandits stared at the four brothers in horror, and Garp suddenly appeared and punched the four brothers in the head.

"It's Ace and Luffy, Lucci's grandfather!" Sabo stared at Garp in surprise.

"Kid, you just said you wanted to go out to sea or something!" Garp said to Sabo with a gloomy face.

Sabo was so scared that he took a step back, "Uh..."

"Sabo is not a brat! He is our brother now! We will become great pirates in the future!" Luffy said loudly while standing in front of Sabo.

"So I have one more kid to teach a lesson to!" Garp rubbed his hands with a grim smile.

"Run!" Lucci, Ace, Luffy, and Sabo ran quickly towards the forest.

"Don't even think about escaping, little brats!" Karp laughed and caught up with the four brothers.

"Ah!!" There was a huge noise in the forest, and countless trees were broken by Garp's iron fist.

"That's great, Luffy and Lucci have made two good brothers!" Makino said with a smile as he watched the noise coming from the forest behind him.

"Ah!" Lucci, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo kept running away, but they still couldn't escape Garp's iron fist.

"Don't try to escape!"

"This old man is a monster!" Sabo thought in horror.

The four brothers had huge bumps on their heads, lying on the ground, not knowing whether they were dead or alive.

.......

"If we continue like this, we will definitely be killed by the old man tomorrow!" Ace said to Garp who was sleeping behind the door.

"Even if we're lucky enough to survive, the result will be the same as long as we don't give up on becoming pirates!" Sabo said seriously.

"I don't want to die!" Luffy said in horror, holding his head.

"There is only one way. It's time to make up your mind, brothers!" Ace said to his brothers.

"Let's escape!" Lucci said firmly.