【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"We can go to the town today and sell the crocodile skins and other things we hunted. It should be able to fetch a lot of money." Sabo lay on the ground to rest.

"Then we need three people to go together, but what about Luffy? He is too small," Ace said, turning his head and looking at Luffy who was studying the beetle not far away.

"Now we can let Luffy go back to Windmill Village. Luffy hasn't been back for a long time and Makino misses him too." Luffy said hesitantly.

"Will he come?" Sabo asked

"I promised him that I would take him to Waste Terminal when he turns 7," Ace said with a frown.

"Well, we can also go to the Windmill Village to see him. The main reason is that Grandpa said that Luffy will come here before he turns 7. Now there are only a few months left. It will be troublesome if the old man finds out that Luffy is not in the Windmill Village by then." Lucci scratched his head.

"It's been a while since we last reserved pirate funds. I don't have to go to Maginot anymore and can go to the Waste Terminal with you guys more often. We can take advantage of this time to reserve more and make up for what we had before," Lucci said happily.

"Okay! That's it," Ace said.

"Alright Luffy we are going to explore the forest" Sabo shouted to Luffy.

"Hey, hey! Sabo, look, that's the Golden Atlas." Luffy ran over and excitedly raised the beetle in his hand to show Sabo.

"Wow! Luffy is so awesome, this is very rare," Sabo said to Luffy lovingly.

"Sabo, don't pamper him too much," Ace said, looking at Luffy with his arms crossed.

"Slightly" Luffy made a face at Ace.

"Luffy! Come here!" Ace shouted angrily with veins exposed.

Luffy ran away with a grin on his face, trying to avoid being captured by Ace, while Lucci and Sabo chased after them with a grin on their faces.

……

"Luffy, we are going back to Windmill Village and we will be able to see Makino soon. Are you happy?" Luffy said to Luffy with a smile.

"Are we going to see Makino?" Luffy said excitedly.

"Yes, Makino misses you very much. Luffy needs to stay with Makino for some time recently," Lucci said happily to Luffy.

"We'll find you in the village," Ace said.

"Okay! Then Ace, you must come find me. I want to go on adventures with you," Luffy said excitedly.

"We're here. The Windmill Village should be ahead," Sabo said, looking at the village ahead.

"Ace, Sabo, I'll take Luffy there first, and then we'll go to the town together," Lucci said to Ace and Sabo.

"Luffy, don't walk so fast," Luffy shouted at Luffy's back.

"Sabo, let's go wait for Lucci on the rocks over there on the coast!" Ace said as he walked towards the cliff on the coast. From here he could still see the backs of Luffy and Lucci on the road. Watching Lucci grab Luffy and tickle him, and watching them laugh happily, Ace fell into deep thought.

……

A week later, Makino looked at Luffy with a bored look and a trace of worry flashed across her face, "Luffy!" Makino called Luffy with a smile.

"What's wrong with Makino?" Luffy sat up and tilted his head to look at Makino.

"Luffy, can you help me wipe that table? I'll give you a piece of meat as a reward later, how about that?" Makino said to Luffy with a gentle smile.

"Oh! I want a large portion of Meat Makino" Luffy raised his hand excitedly.

"Hi hi" Makino responded with a smile.

"Hahaha! Miss Makino, we need a lot of drinks!" A hearty voice came from the door of the tavern. The person who came was wearing khaki cropped pants, a white shirt with a red belt, and a yellow straw hat with a red ribbon that held down his red hair and slightly covered the three scars on his left eye.

"Boss, it's a party!" The people who followed behind rushed into the tavern together, and in an instant the tavern was filled with pirates.

"Hi! Captain, did you have a smooth voyage?" Makino greeted the captain sitting at the bar with a smile and poured wine into the captain's glass.

"We've harvested a lot of treasure on this voyage! Let's have a party to celebrate!" said the red-haired man wearing a straw hat, laughing.

"Hey, hey! Are you pirates?" Luffy said excitedly to Shanks beside him.

"Luffy!" Makino shouted worriedly.

"Oh! Who are you?" The red-haired pirate looked at him curiously. The boy in front of him was wearing a white T-shirt with an anchor pattern and a big smile on his face.

"My name is Luffy. Hey, what's your name? Are you really pirates?" Luffy stood on the chair excitedly, looking at the red-haired pirate curiously.

"Hahaha! My name is Shanks, I'm a pirate, and these are my crew members and my friends," Shanks introduced to Luffy happily.

"Then you must have a lot of adventure stories, tell them to me!!" Luffy said excitedly while pulling Shanks' sleeve.

"Let me tell you about the giant goldfish we encountered on that trip..." Shanks said to Luffy in a mysterious tone.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Luffy shouted excitedly.

The pirates laughed at Luffy's performance.

Luffy pestered Shanks to tell him adventure stories for 4 hours. "Luffy, have you always lived in this village?" Shanks asked curiously while looking at little Luffy.

"I've always lived here," Luffy replied while eating the meat on the table.

"Luffy was playing at his relatives' house some time ago and just came back recently, so Captain has never seen Luffy before," Makino explained to Shanks.

"Oh! So that's how it is." Shanks laughed.

"By the way, Shanks, please take me with you on your next voyage. I really want to be a pirate," Luffy said to Shanks excitedly, raising his hand.

"You can't be a pirate, you're too young," Shanks said with a laugh.

"I'm not a child anymore, I'm almost 7 years old and I'm already a man," Luffy shouted angrily.

"Hahaha, okay, okay, don't be angry, I'll treat you to meat," Shanks said to Luffy with a smile.

"Wow! That's great, thank you"

"See! It's just a little kid!" Shanks pointed at Luffy and said to the crew with a laugh.

"How despicable! Shanks!" Luffy shouted angrily. Luffy left Shanks angrily and walked to other pirates to ask them for more adventure stories.

"Luffy, you haven't heard the story of my son yet, right?" Jesus Bu greeted Luffy.

Luffy sat down in front of Jesus Bu and looked at him expectantly.

Luffy replied after he got tired of playing and returned to Shanks, looking at Shanks' straw hat.

"Shanks your hat is so handsome" she said as she climbed into Shanks' arms and tried to take his hat.

"Luffy, this hat is very important," Shanks said with a smile while dodging Luffy.

"This is an important hat that has accompanied me through several battles. Even if it's you, Luffy, I can't give it to you," Shanks said softly, looking at the hat in his hand.

"Is that so? Okay then." Luffy sat back in his seat disappointedly.

When the Red Hair Pirates sailed back to Windmill Village a few times later, there was always a happy little boy standing on the dock waiting for them. Every time Shanks returned to Windmill Village, he would play with Luffy every day, accompany him to realize his various weird ideas, take him on adventures, catch fish, and teach Luffy to swim.