【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Idiot!" Ace gently placed his chin on top of Luffy's head and whispered softly, "You shouldn't worry about your brothers."

"Hehehe! Sorry." Luffy smiled embarrassedly.

Ace stared at the fire in front of him silently, feeling the warmth of Luffy's body pressed against his side, it wasn't that cold, it felt warm in comparison to his other side somehow.

"Hey, Luffy?" Ace knew Luffy would respond to him in an idiotic way, but he was still nervous about what he was about to say.

"Huh?" Luffy turned and looked at Ace.

"You want me to be by your side, right?" Ace asked.

"Yeah," Luffy replied, looking confused.

"No one else feels this way" Ace continued "You know nothing about your parents, right?"

"I don't think I have parents" Luffy said.

Ace rolled his eyes "That's not the case, but whatever, I know my parents and I don't want to talk about them, so don't interrupt me ok?"

"My father is the Pirate King" Ace said softly, he knew that this title would excite Luffy, Luffy's goal was the same, but for Ace this title only meant a person's notoriety and selfishness, which would always haunt him.

He sensed Luffy's excitement, and he turned Luffy's head and carefully glanced at Luffy's expression, and suddenly he burst into laughter. Luffy's eyes were wide open, but he bit his lower lip hard, forming a funny big pout. Ace knew that this was Luffy's way of coping to prevent questions. But as soon as he saw Luffy's face, the anxiety and pressure of revealing his darkest secret disappeared without a trace.

"Stop laughing," Luffy couldn't help himself and frowned in annoyance, "I tried not to interrupt! You said not to interrupt, and, ah! I interrupted!"

Ace pulled Luffy closer and hugged him, laughing loudly. Luffy pouted more obviously, but he hugged him back with his rubber hands.

"I'm sorry," Ace chuckled, "I just...hate having anything to do with that guy."

"Those people said bad things about him before, you want to beat them up, right?" Luffy said in a serious tone.

"Yeah," Ace replied, "but not because I care what they think of him, but because if they knew who I was, they would hate me just as much."

"Oh, but Ace is Ace and Roger is Roger. No matter what, we will always be your brothers. You never have to worry about loneliness or sadness. Lucci, Sabo and I will never hate you!" Luffy nodded and said with a frown.

Ace looked at Luffy, seeing the sincerity in his eyes "I know, Luffy, I know now."

"Can I ask questions now?" Luffy said excitedly.

"No."

"But I want to know about your father!" Luffy protested.

"I don't want to talk about him. I don't even know anything about him." Ace sighed.

"Hmm!" Luffy muttered, "But Ace..."

"Luffy, this topic is over!" Ace said angrily.

"Ah! Looks like we came back just in time!" Sabo asked, interrupting Luffy's mumbling complaints about wanting to know Roger's story.

"Yeah! Shut him up, I know it's a bad idea to tell him" Ace complained.

Lucci was amused by Luffy's behavior. "Luffy," Lucci said to Luffy as seriously as possible, "Don't bother Ace about this, otherwise you will make Ace unhappy."

Luffy pursed his lips and sighed, then sucked his lower lip back in, he managed to hold back his question. Ace, Sabo, and Lucci wanted to laugh at Luffy's performance, but had to hold it back, otherwise Luffy would be angry with them again.

……

Ace barely remembered what they talked about during the meal, and after they finished eating, they packed up and went into the tree house to rest. Because the winter nights were much colder, they huddled close together, and Luffy fell asleep between them.

"Are you okay?" Lucci asked as he tucked one of Luffy's sleeping arms under the blanket.

Ace moved Luffy's other arm so that he rested it on his stomach "Yes, I am."

"Well, you have to know that he will be more interested in this than anything else," Sabo said with a smile, "You don't have to worry about him commenting on it."

"I know, I know" Ace sighed.

"Well..., I think there's something I should tell you," Lucci said hesitantly.

"Huh? What's the matter? Is there any secret between us?" Sabo said in confusion.

"How can there be any secrets between us brothers? Tell me, Lucci!" Ace said seriously.

"Well, actually I know who Luffy and I's father is." Lucci said softly, looking at the ceiling of the tree house.

"What!?" Ace and Sabo shouted in a low voice, looking at Lucci in surprise.

"Keep your voice down, don't wake Luffy up!" Lucci said nervously, and then he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Luffy was still sleeping soundly.

"Monkey D. Dragon is the name of Luffy and me's father," Luffy muttered.

"Dragon?" Sabo said in surprise.

"Sabo, do you know who it is?" Ace asked in confusion.

"Well, I know he's a revolutionary, dubbed the 'world's worst criminal' by the World Government," Sabo replied.

"Well, yes, I heard from the old man that the World Government regards Dragon as the biggest threat, which is more serious than Roger's threat. If this secret is exposed and known by the World Government, Luffy and I will be in danger. That's why I haven't told you." Lucci continued, "Luffy doesn't know about this either. I don't plan to tell Luffy. He trusts others too easily. I want you to help me protect Luffy."

"Of course! Luffy is our younger brother, Ace, Lucci, we have to become stronger for Luffy. Luffy and you will have many enemies," Sabo said seriously.

"Yeah, although I'm still a little angry that you took so long to tell us, Lucci!" Ace said to Lucci angrily.

"Hahaha! I forgot!" Lucci's eyes turned to the other side.

"Liar!" Ace and Sabo muttered together.

"Okay, good night, Ace, Sabo," Lucci said.

"Good night, Lucci," Ace and Sabo yawned in response.

When Ace and Sabo fell asleep, Lucci opened his eyes and lay on the mat, thinking about what had happened recently. He turned his head to look at Luffy who was sleeping next to him. He looked at him with amusement as he continued to mumble about meat in his sleep. He pressed the quilt that Luffy had kicked away and left quietly.

Lucci stood under the tree, looking at his own shadow, remembering the other ability of the Shadow Fruit that he had accidentally discovered before. Lucci stared at the shadow illuminated by the moonlight. Slowly, something seemed to be struggling to stand up in the darkness. Slowly, Lucci saw a black figure breaking out of his shadow. Lucci looked at the clear figure formed by the shadow in front of him. It looked like him, with the same height and appearance as him, just like his twin.

Lucci looked at the figure in front of him. He discovered last time that the shadow he split out not only looked like him, but also had the same strength as him. He could even make better use of the shadow to travel around, probably because he himself was a shadow.

I just don't know how many I can split. With his current strength, he can only split one. His intuition tells him that there can only be one shadow clone that can exist forever. But for what he wants to do, one should be enough. Thinking of this, Lucci stared at the figure in front of him and asked, "Do you have a name?"

"No," replied the figure who looked like Lucci.

"Then your name will be Qi from now on." Then Lucci looked towards the tree house and said, "You were born for Luffy. Your mission is to stay by his side and protect him. Before he becomes strong, protect him from any harm." As he said this, Lucci suddenly thought of what would happen if Luffy