Multiple sets of eyes were currently focused on him and each and every one of them were clearly demanding an explanation.

Rosan was sipping a cup of tea at a leisurely pace and he didn't seem bothered by being the focus of everyone's attention. "Some of you have never met before," the redhead pointed out and they all gained tick-marks of annoyance.

He definitely wasn't bothered.

"Introductions can be saved for later," Maro said dryly. "You've got some explaining to do, Master," the princess finished, crossing her arms at the unfazed teen and glowering in childish anger.

Rosan was currently being glared at by quite a bit of people. Maro, Angel, Demon, Akemi and Aiko were all gathered in Maro's new castle impatiently waiting for him to explain himself.

The teen placed his cup of tea down and fixed them all with a blank gaze.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" Rosan asked softly and Angel stepped up.

"What the hell did you do to get a 500 million beri bounty?" She demanded and Rosan tilted his head.

"Ah, I killed a Celestial Dragon; Saint Jeremiah to be exact," he replied bluntly. The World Noble was asking for it. You don't just get away with attacking someone unprovoked.

Everyone there froze in astonishment.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" They all screeched in unison and Rosan decided he should just tell them the whole story.

The group listened to his story with varying reactions and when Rosan finished, Aiko was the first to speak up.

"So…you ran into the World Noble I told you about and you...killed him?" The woman said, sounding a bit dazed. The horror in her eyes, was clear as day and she was looking at her partner like he were the most insane person on the planet.

"Yes, he attacked me unprovoked and tried to enslave me so he had to pay," the redhead replied blandly.

"Master has always been like this," Demon sighed and Angel nodded in agreement.

"Everyone who attacks us, always faces retaliation and it seems that he really doesn't care who does it," the middle triplet sighed fondly, no longer upset now that he explained his reasoning. In fact, she was glad that the piece of garbage was dead!

How dare he try to enslave her beloved Master?!

"They only gave you 500 million for killing a Celestial Dragon?" Akemi asked in shock and the Shinigami nodded.

"I suspect they wanted to make it higher, but they are trying to cover up what I've done and it's my first bounty. Having one this high as your first is probably unprecedented," Rosan finished with a shrug. He picked his tea up to continue drinking and hummed at the sweetness of the honey in it.

"I'd imagine it's going to be harder to do your business with such a huge bounty on your head," Aiko muttered, cupping her chin in curiosity. Reaper was a bounty hunter but he probably had the highest bounty in the Blue Seas now...

"There's no need to worry about that. I'm retiring Reaper," Rosan said bluntly, making all but Angel and Demon gape at how casually it was stated.

"NO NEED TO WORRY?! LISTEN TO WHAT YOU JUST SAID!" Aiko roared.

"REALLY?! JUST LIKE THAT?" Maro said in disbelief. He had beaten the shit out of her just to get her up to par to be his partner and now he was just retiring the both of them in the span of two days? Master was so cruel!

"Reaper was always intended to be a disguise that allows me the liberty of messing up once," Rosan stated calmly and his clones nodded.

"Master just didn't want to draw eyes to his unique appearance and so, he made Reaper," Demon said softly.

"It was never a big deal for him. I think the world cared more about Reaper then he did," Angel shrugged with a short laugh.

"Reaper was a pastime who got unnecessarily famous," The dual eyed teen said truthfully. "I just wanted a steady source of income with bounties but then I saved Fregate and it spiraled out of control from there."

The other three shuddered at that. Reaper was one of the most famous figures in the Blue Seas and even people from the Grand Line had their attention on them. To think that this wasn't Rosan's intention made the boy all the more terrifying.

What shape would the world be in when he actually wanted the attention to be on him?

"Speaking of which, since Reaper is retired that means you don't have to give me 15% every two weeks now, Aiko," Rosan's deepening voice rang out and her gaze snapped towards him.

"What do you mean?" The woman visibly frowned at his words. What was he getting at right now?

"You made that deal with Reaper, not Rosan," he began, locking those dual eyes onto her. "Fregate is one of the powerhouse islands of the North Blue now and I would rather not jeopardize its position in the world due to you being allies with a wanted criminal."

"So we'll just give the money to Rosan, not Reaper," Aiko retorted, crossing her arms as she glared at him. "You aren't getting rid of me that easy, kid. We've been doing this for five years now and it ain't stopping. Besides, you're not wanted. Reaper is the criminal," the gray haired woman finished with a shrug.

"Awww," Maro's bubbling voice cut in, making Aiko freeze and Akemi coo. "I knew you cared about us! Someone's gotten attached to Master and just doesn't wanna see him go!" The blue haired princess teased.

"We knew your complaints were just a cover up!" Akemi gushed with a large smile on her face. "You care about Rosan more than you'd like to admit and I think you even enjoy when he visits you!"

Aiko growled lowly and put a hand to her head. "That's not what I meant!" She tried defending herself but those two were even more annoying than Rosan was.

Case in point, they immediately dived on top of her with outstretched arms. Aiko tried to fight it but Maro was seriously too fucking strong! Once that girl had you in her grasp, there was no getting out of it.

Unless the one other person who had her on a leash was there.

"Ahem," a cough rang out and Maro froze completely. Aiko raised a brow at the look of fear on her face and the 13 year old slowly put her down.

"I don't think you've formally introduced us, Maro. That's a bit rude, don't you think?" A high sneering voice came out and the blue haired girl paled dramatically.

The princess almost looked like she was gonna turn around to face the source.

But old habits really die hard.

Maro squeaked in fear and immediately ran behind Rosan. She hid her body behind the taller teens muscular frame and remained there in hopes that he would save her.

"T-that's Aiko and Akemi," Maro introduced after peeking her head out from the side. "Their sisters! Aiko is the leader of Fregate and gives Master a lot of money! She acts really gruff but she's really sweet on the inside and Akemi is a natural sweetheart!" The Goblin Princess finished.

"Aiko and Akemi, those two are Angel and Demon! They are clones of Master and are really loyal to him! Demon is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and he's training to become a doctor!" Maro gushed happily, making the purple haired clone smile in return.

"Angel is my girlfriend! She's really confident and hates a lot of people. You should have seen her when we first met!" Maro explained and it sounded like a cry for help.

"You didn't compliment me," Angel pointed out calmly and Maro thought about vanishing right then and there.

The fear made her sloppy.

Rosan, who finished his tea, decided to save his former student at that moment.

"Oh? You two are together now?" Rosan asked softly and Angel flushed. "Congratulations, you two are a good pair."

Angel forgot all her anger at being complimented by Rosan. "Thank you, Master! Your words really made me think and I decided that I really did want to be with this idiot."

"Hey I'm not an idiot—," whatever Maro was about to say was interrupted by Angel glaring at her and she wisely shut up.

"So you're Angel," Akemi beamed, with sparkling eyes. "Maro talked about you and she didn't do you justice! She said you look like Rosan, but I didn't think Rosan as a female would be this gorgeous," she gushed, closing the distance between the two immediately and eagerly shaking her hand.

Angel blushed a deep shade of red at the compliment and looked away. "I guess you're a pretty tolerable human if you can appreciate me at a glance," was all she said and the gray haired younger sister smiled brightly in response.

"Clones?" Aiko said curiously and Demon heard it.

"That's right, we were made at the same time but Angel is older than me," the youngest triplet informed the woman and she looked at the teen. He looked exactly like Rosan but he had long smooth purple hair, that flowed down his back, and blood red eyes.

Aiko whistled. "Man, Rosan really is just taking advantage of his good genes, huh?"

Demon, after all the attention he received on this island, merely smiled and said, "Thank you, I'm happy that Master used himself as a template for how we look."

Maro was still hiding behind Rosan but she watched the interactions with a fond smile on her face. "I'm happy that they get along well! They're going to be seeing each other a lot more, now that we're allied," she exclaimed and Rosan nodded.

"How have you been holding up?" The redhead asked and she hummed.

"It's been tiring but it feels really rewarding! I've got some ideas for what I want to do but I'm gonna need your help!" The bluenette replied and Rosan readily agreed.

"I can stay here for a bit to help out then," he said and Maro cheered happily. Angel also had a large smile on her face as she heard that.

"Oh! Master, can you turn one of the rooms into a workplace for me like on the ship?" the clone asked. "I really want to see if I can improve on my crafting and I don't want to do it out there!" She finished and Maro sweatdropped.

"That can be arranged, I can start right now," Rosan told his fellow redhead and he got up.

"I'll help!" Maro offered cheerfully, partially because she wanted to help and partially because there was a real chance Angel was still mad at her.

She wanted to avoid her wrath at all costs.

"We can also begin working on getting the buildings outside up to snuff, you can modify them right? I wanna make them as sleek as the White Rose! Oh, we can do it to our ships too! And I want to make greenhouses for our crops! I've already made so much since I've been here, which takes a lot of energy you know, but having a greenhouse where they can look fancy would be great! By the way, do you think I can grow all types of plants instead of just food? I would think yes right?! I want our island to look beautiful with all sorts of greenery!"

Rosan simply nodded at everything she was saying. He had been around Maro long enough to know exactly what she was talking about, so where anyone else would be confused, he was able to comprehend it with ease.

"I think you can only understand her so well, because you were the exact same," Mod said with a smile on her face.

"I disagree," Rosan replied simply and Mod's smile grew even larger.

"Whatever you say, Rosan!"

"Hmph."

"It seems I have a lot of work to do. Seeing as my schedule is suddenly free, we can dedicate the day to advancing Celadon," the Mod Mod no mi user finished and Maro jumped on him in glee.

"You're the best!" The Dokkaebi gushed and everyone there had to wonder just how Rosan managed to catch all of that.

"With Rosan personally helping and Fregate being your allies...this island is going to be terrifying in the upcoming years," Aiko muttered and Demon nodded in agreement.

"With Maro's ability to accelerate the growth of crops, while keeping them healthier than ever, we can probably establish trades with other islands of interest. Seeing as Fregate is such a powerhouse, you can set up connections with us quickly and we can became a rather dominant group," the purple haired clone mused and Aiko looked at him.

"Oh, you're good," she remarked and Demon smiled a little wider.

"I hear your not too fond of the idea of using the clones from Germa?" He asked and she nodded.

"Fregate is not one for combat and we have pretty advanced technology already. Besides...my waning moral compass would rather we not use them. You guys want them instead?"

"Yes, while Maro is a fighter, our citizens are not and that could leave us vulnerable to attacks. Clones will be useful for defending us and the technology will be good too…" the purple hair clone mused.

The two continued talking about the island's future and Aiko was refreshed to see not everyone that Rosan knew was a menace.

Meanwhile, Akemi and Angel were talking about something completely different.

"Is this really how Rosan would look as a girl?!" Akemi whispered in awe and Angel shook her head.

"Not even exactly! You should see the size of her boobs, there was no way I wanted him to put those on me," the haughty clone replied back in a hushed tone. "She looks wilder and makes it work! They're actually a total bombshell! Even though I look just like her, I'm still jealous."

"Really? But you look so amazing! I can see why Maro was so smitten with you," Akemi praised and despite her blush, Angel shot her a confident grin.

"Of course! Who wouldn't be," the teen preened. "You keep talking about me but look at you! You don't have a lucky someone waiting for you?" The clone asked, making the woman blush.

"No and I think it might stay that way," she replied honestly. "I'm not really interested in anyone right now and I think it'll remain that way. Besides, I'm enjoying just supporting Aiko right now," the younger sister replied.

"You are such a great sister! You remind me of me," Angel commented and they both laughed.

"Why do they get along so great?" Maro grumbled, remembering the first time she met Angel. It didn't look like the redhead was planning on assaulting Akemi anytime soon.

"Akemi knows the right words, if you had complimented Angel I'm sure she would have warmed up to you faster," Rosan said simply.

"My circumstances were just a tad bit different, Master," The Dokkaebi whined and the two of them departed from the room.

"That sounds like a you issue, idiot" Ram sneered and Mod laughed.

Maro held her head in defeat.

Everyone was so mean to her! Wasn't she royalty now? Why couldn't they have some respect!

"Because you're an idiot," Ram cackled happily.

"Fuck you," Maro replied.

"Language."

"I'm telling Auntie Angel that you want to do terrible things to me!"

She hated it here.

----------------------------------------

"So what will you do now? You can always stay here!" Maro beamed hopefully.

"That would defeat the purpose of why I wanted you to remain here in the first place," Rosan commented and she deflated a bit in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled and Rosan pat her head gently, much to her happiness.

"I'm going to look for my brother," Rosan said suddenly, making everyone there snap to attention.

"You mean Ace?" Angel asked curiously.

"You have a brother?" Aiko asked in surprise.

"Can we meet him?!" Maro asked in excitement.

"Yes," Rosan said answering all three of their questions. "I've prolonged this meeting for 10 years," the boy replied, sighing.

"I was hoping to regain some of my emotions before meeting him, but that is unlikely and I don't want to delay any longer. I've just been running from the inevitable meeting anyways, so maybe its better like this. I have no emotions to justify fleeing anymore so I'll find him," Rosan replied calmly.

They nodded at his explanation and felt a well of sadness for the teen.

"Do you know where he is?" Demon asked and Rosan hummed.

"Probably in the East Blue," he replied making them raise a brow.

"Why do you say that?" Maro questioned. The East Blue was the sea they frequented the least so for him to be so confident in that answer, meant he had a reason.

"I avoid that sea because Garp the Hero visits it often," Rosan replied frankly. "He's the one who has my brother and I'm assuming that he is visiting Ace."

They all froze as they heard that information.

"Y-you mean the Hero of the Marines?" Aiko asked in disbelief and the 14 year old nodded.

"T-that's crazy!" Maro exclaimed in surprise. Rosan's little brother was being protected by a monster like that! Even she knew who Garp was!

"Yes, he probably knows how I look too," Rosan commented idly. "I don't have any interest in testing my strength against an unwinnable battle and Garp would likely force me to remain in the East Blue," the redhead finished.

"You're much older now but anyone looking for a childish version of you, would still be able to make the obvious connections," Angel mused. Older he may be, Rosan's appearance was still unique. Anyone looking for him would be able to tell the taller teen was the 4 year old redhead.

"Well, I've done all I've wanted so far," Rosan commented with a slight shrug. "If Garp see's me and forces me to stay, as long as Ace doesn't hate me too much, I wouldn't mind."

"How can you be so sure Ace hates you?" Akemi asked softly. The redhead could be a bit...cold but she wouldn't go so far as to call him hated!

"I abandoned him," he replied bluntly and they all flinched.

They didn't ask, feeling that it was a little too personal. Even if Rosan would answer, they wouldn't do that to the teen.

"What island do you think he's on?" Maro asked curiously.

"I'm very sure that he's on Dawn Island," the 14 year old replied and he cupped his chin. "If not, then I'll have to intercept Garp himself and reveal my identity."

"Whatever it may be, I'm going to leave immediately," Rosan commented and they nodded.

"Alright, we'll stay here for now and continue to hash out details of this alliance," Aiko commented. They had been planning on visiting Celadon but news of Rosan's bounty had accelerated that tremendously and the boy had personally escorted their ship there.

"Thank you for the help, Master!" Maro bowed and Rosan waved her up. "You and I together accelerated the growth of this island by so much! We look so awesome now!" the blue haired princess commented in awe.

Celadon was practically an entirely new island because of the combined efforts of her and Rosan. While Maro handled the crop growth and the greenery, Rosan dealt with the construction.

His mastery of Modification showed because every building (with the permission of the owners, who readily accepted) were sleek and advanced, and Maro marveled at how incredible it all looked.

Celadon looked like a perfect blend of technology and nature and Maro loved it.

She was doing a great job at molding the island in her image and this was just the beginning! Already, everyone who had been homeless or struggling, were currently accounted for and as long as proved their worth, they would not be out on the streets.

What? She had learned from Rosan that you have to be useful in some capacity at 11 years old! The princess expected the same from her citizens and would not tolerate anything less.

"Will you be flying all the way there? I know you can't use Shinigami for obvious reasons but…?" Angel asked worriedly.

"I'm probably going to be changing the color of the White Rose. Not much people even know Reaper owns a ship but it was attacked by a World Noble so I'm under the assumption that the Marines know," Rosan commented, getting a nod out of them.

"I'll sail to the Red Line and then fly into the East Blue. Afterwards, I'll sail to Dawn Island and begin my search...The White Rose was badly damaged and I patched her up to the best of my abilities so it should be able to handle a voyage."

That Celestial Dragon... he had permanently damaged his ship according to a shipwright on Celadon and she wouldn't be able to handle rough waters for very long anymore.

"Sounds good," Demon nodded at the plan. They were all saddened to hear about what happened to Rosan's ship; it was important to all the people who lived on it but as long as it wasn't fully destroyed, they would be fine.

"Be careful," Angel warned softly.

"I hope you and your brother can talk things out," Akemi said warmly.

"They'll be fine, Rosan isn't the type of person to do something without a reason, I'm sure Ace will understand," Aiko commented.

"Master is the best! Nobody can stay mad at you for long cuz you're awesome!" Maro cheered and Rosan offered them a smile.

He could only hope but Rosan would hate someone who abandoned him for 10 years.

Maybe Ace was a better man than he was and would completely understand why he did what he had to do.

Somehow, he doubted that.

----------------------------------------

Rosan was sure that if he had emotion, he would hate the East Blue. Perhaps hate was too strong of a word, loathe would be a better term.

For the boy who craved action, the weakest sea was too tame for him. For the boy who was already struggling to find worthy opponents in the Blue Seas, the East Blue was the last sea he'd want to be in.

It was such a shame that he was too young to go to the Grand Line. He didn't plan on going there until he was an adult.

The 14 year old was currently on the White Rose looking out at the serene sea.

He had modified the color of his ship and it was now a shade of silver with purple on it. The purple sails were unfurled, to give the appearance that it was using the wind to sail, and his signature white rose on the side of the ship, was replaced by a black one instead.

"I'm going to miss the all black," Mod said wistfully. The purple haired woman liked the color black and Rosan had changed it to that color because of her.

"But now its based on me!" Ram beamed and Mod pat the taller, silver haired girl.

"It does look good in your colors," the woman mused and the ring grinned in response.

Upon her insistence, Rosan had changed the color of his ship to match Ram's color scheme and the silver and purple teen was pleased.

As mentioned before, Ram aged at the same rate as Rosan so she was physically 14 now. The weapon still wore her Spanish-style double breasted coat and it did a great job covering her developing figure (she did not like that she was developing at seemingly the same rate as Rosan's female form).

She opted to keep her silver, purple streaked, hair in its twintails to honor her Mother. More than once, she caught Rosan staring at her due to her startling similarities to the late Meiko.

Rosan wasn't the type of person to see another in someone though. Ram was her own person and he would not try and force the image of Meiko onto her.

Ram appreciated that more than he knew. She didn't choose her appearance and, though she loved her mother, she didn't want to be a constant reminder to her Father.

Her job was to help, not impede.

"Ah, I think we're here," Rosan said softly, staring at the approaching island. He hummed in contemplation before sprouting his Draconic wings. Touching the White Rose (should he change it to Black Rose? No, he liked the current name), the redhead shrunk the ship and pocketed it.

This left him hovering above the ocean and he flew into the clouds, to avoid catching any eyes.

The less people that knew about him, the better.

The boy soared one trip around Dawn Island and spotted a heavily-forested, low hanging mountain. He also spotted what was likely the Capital of the Goa Kingdom and deduced that Ace was probably there.

He would go inspect it later. For now, he would check the smaller village first in case his little brother was being raised there. It would be faster to get that one out the way and gather information at the same time.

The teen descended into the forested area, out of sight, and landed without making a noise. His wings vanished and he looked down at his outfit. He was donned in a long black cloak and that probably wouldn't be very good for avoiding suspicion.

It seamlessly transformed into a long-sleeved, silk red shirt, baggy white pants, and blood red sneakers.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Now he looked like a civilian (albeit with his accessories and the quality of his clothing, perhaps he looked too wealthy? He was sure it would be fine).

The redhead's hair was still in a bun and he contemplated letting it down, but his wild hair would be more noticeable if it weren't wrapped up.

Finally finished with his preparations, Rosan made his way to the small village he had seen. It didn't take him very long to make it there and the first thing he set out to do, was find a tavern or bar.

Loose lipped individuals, who got affected by alcohol, often gave the most valuable information and Rosan was only here for wanted to know about Dawn Island and see if there was anything he needed to avoid.

He wondered why people were so willing to get drunk in a public environment.

Well, it didn't matter to him. He couldn't get drunk and he wasn't particularly fond of alcohol in the first place.

"If you ever want to get drunk one day, I'll lower your bodies resistances," Mod supplied helpfully and Rosan nodded thankfully.

"I will keep that in mind when I'm of age," the redhead replied.

He didn't miss how people were staring. They always stared when he was undisguised and with his growth spurt, the eyes had increased.

Rosan didn't blame them. He towered over plenty of people now with his 5'11 frame and his age was mistaken quite often. His face was still relatively young though so it confused him but people were people.

The stares never lasted long when he actually stared back. His unique eye colors (particularly the red), the dead gaze, and his resting bitch face were all a good way to scare people off.

Finally, the dual eyed boy found a suitable location.

It was called the Partys Bar and the teen decided it would be good enough (he didn't think there was another bar in this quaint village). He stared at the discarded door on the floor and deduced that he came at a wrong time.

Oh well, he was already here and he had nothing else to do.

"Just be careful," Mod warned and the redhead nodded.

The 14 year old entered the bar and paused at the sight of what appeared to be bandits and pirates. It really was a bad time because the lead bandit had just finished swiping everything off a counter with his sword, drenching a straw hat wearing man on the floor in the process.

What an unnecessary mess.

"This place ain't worth our time if they're out of booze. Let's go!" The bandit leader said, turning around to leave.

Rosan expertly ignored it all and made his way to the only unoccupied space, which happened to be the attacked counter (all the other seats were filled with the pirates) and crossed paths with the departing bandit.

The bandit leader didn't seem to appreciate that very much.

"Eh? Don't you see me trying to move?" He paused right in front of Rosan and sized him up. "Do you know who I am? I have an 8 million bounty."

"So low," Rosan thought to himself instinctively, looking up at the man. Who even started off a conversation like that? A typical intimidation method to get people to do what you wanted.

The redhead wondered how the man would react to his own bounty.

He was a tall, tan-skinned man with black hair, a black goatee, and an X-shaped scar above his right eye. He wore a long red coat over a white shirt, black trousers, and a golden necklace.

Rosan recognized him.

Higuma, leader of the Higuma Bandits, a group so weak that he didn't even bother glancing their way past their leader's bounty poster.

If he were Reaper, they'd be dead where they stood.

Unfortunately, he came here as a civilian.

"You stepped in front of me," Rosan replied blandly, looking utterly disinterested in the conversation.

That didn't mean he'd act like some pushover. No one disrespected him. If a Celestial Dragon wasn't exempt from that, some silly Bandit was way out of his league.

"You got a problem, rich guy? Or are you a wimp like all these pirates here?" Higuma barked, letting out a laugh at his own joke.

By now, the two were the center of everyone's attention and Rosan felt that he should sigh. His appearance was unique enough, he didn't really need the added attention from this bandit's actions.

Rosan contemplated killing him but decided he probably shouldn't. It would be bad for his search if he did it without a disguise on. Rumors spread fast and he was sure talks about a tall redhead were already being whispered.

"Don't compare me to anyone, there is nobody like me," the teen responded before making eye contact with Higuma. "If you have a problem, we can always step outside to solve it," he offered politely. With his tone it came off as an actual solution, albeit in a condescending way due to the lack of emotion in it.

The Mountain Bandit, unwittingly, flinched as those heterochromatic eyes pierced into him. He was unnerved at how lifeless his gaze looked and the teen didn't even look remotely afraid of his large group.

"Nah, killing you would ruin the appetite I worked up," Higuma decided, shoving past Rosan, who didn't move from the contact, and making his way out of the establishment.

"Later cowards," the man grunted and he left the bar, followed by his group.

Rosan didn't even look back at him.

"Coward," he remarked and he sat down in a seat, next to, who was probably, the bartender's son and the redhead actually raised a brow at what was very obviously a Devil Fruit being consumed by the kid currently.

How he was able to just eat that horrid tasting fruit casually? Rosan would never know.

"Which fruit is that?" Ram asked curiously and Rosan ran through his memories of the Devil Fruit encyclopedia.

"The Gomu Gomu no mi," he replied quickly and Ram hummed in disinterest. She didn't ask anymore questions about the fruit and instantly deemed it as worse then his own.

He couldn't blame her, Mod was much cooler.

"Oh you little flatterer!" She gushed with a smile on her face.

The redhead ignored the curious gaze of everyone there, used to it by now and patiently waited for the bartender to be done with what she was doing.

Said bartender, a young, green haired woman who wore a yellow kerchief, an orange blouse with black sleeves and a long light blue skirt, was currently attending to the man on the floor.

Rosan didn't care enough to get a good look at him, but he did note the straw hat and the red hair that was a tad darker then his own.

Hm. It wasn't often he met someone with red hair.

"Are you alright, Captain? Are you hurt anywhere?" The woman asked, wiping the Pirate Captain with a rag and he just waved her off.

"Oh, I'm fine. No problem at all," he replied good naturedly.

Then the whole bar erupted into laughter.

They all began making fun of their captain and Rosan idly wondered how anyone could handle being disrespected so easily. Even the captain himself was laughing at the altercation that just took place.

The black haired kid next to him seemed to agree.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!" He screamed and Rosan shot him a side glance at the volume of it.

Wow, that kid sure had a set of lungs.

"That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them?!" The child demanded with a look of pure anger on his features.

"No matter how many there are or how strong they seem, you're not men— or pirates— if you laugh after something like that!"

Was this bartender ever going to get up and speak to him? He was pretty sure he came here as a customer and he was watching her fuss over a grown man. The service here was pretty bad and he wondered why she was the only employee.

Maybe that mountain bandit had a point about this place not being worth his time…

Guess he had no choice but to listen. He was already in too deep to just get up and leave. Besides, he wanted to see their reactions once they realized the child had eaten the Devil Fruit they had carelessly left lying around.

"I can understand how you feel Luffy, but he only spilled some booze on me. It's nothing worth getting mad over," the red haired man assured and Rosan noted that he had a triple set of scars over his left eye.

How did he get a scar like that without inflicting any sort of visible damage on his eye? He seemed to be using it just fine. Actually, he looked kind of familiar...

"He has a point…" Mod added in amusement.

"What if Father was the one who got booze spilled on him?" Ram asked curiously.

"He no longer has a point."

The weapon chortled at that.

"Whatever, this guy is way cooler than you!" The kid said, pointing a finger at Rosan, who ignored him, and prepared to walk away from them all.

"Rosan, you and this kid would get along well," Mod laughed, remembering the circumstances of how Rosan had obtained her Devil Fruit.

"Your Devil Fruit looked much tastier," Rosan said dismissively.

The red haired man grabbed the kid, Luffy was his name, and froze in disbelief as the boy kept walking and stretched. Every pirate, and the bartender, gasped at the bizarre sight and the green haired woman let out a tiny yelp.

Who even leaves an open box with a Devil Fruit in front of a kid? At least Rosan found Mod-chan by complete accident. It's not like Mom dangled the fruit in front of him and said, "Don't eat it, my little Rose!"

That was a great way to get him to eat it. Little Rosan was quite a menace now that he thought about it.

"You have no idea how true that statement is," Mod sighed tiredly and Ram sweatdropped at the look in her eyes. Rosan was going to disagree, but he didn't want to test his Devil Fruits patience right now.

What ensued after the realization that the child had eaten a Devil Fruit, was utter chaos and the captain, Shanks, informed Luffy of his inability to swim.

"He's being dramatic, Father turned out fine after eating a Devil Fruit," Ram said, rolling her eyes at the scarred man.

"Swimming is irrelevant when you can fly," Rosan agreed.

"It also helps that you never knew how to swim to begin with," Mod pointed out. "It's not like you lost a super important skill and I think the payoff was worth it!"

"I can't argue with that," Rosan said, fully agreeing with her statement. Modification was completely worth losing the ability to swim.

The whole bar was in a frenzy; he really wasn't sure what the big deal was. Maybe Mom was just too cool headed because her reaction was nowhere near this bad. She had actually been kind of glad that he had eaten a Devil Fruit and just warned him of the dangers of falling into the sea.

The teen let out a quiet sigh.

This bar really had terrible service.

----------------------------------------

"I'm so sorry for the wait," the green haired woman bowed and Rosan just stared at her with a blank, unimpressed, gaze.

The pirates had gone back to partying and the Luffy kid had gotten over the fact that he was rubber pretty quickly.

Rosan was honestly surprised they remembered his presence.

"My bad!" The man named Shanks apologized to his fellow redhead. "I got Makino all worried so she couldn't get to you!" He finished sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't care so think nothing of it," Rosan said bluntly, taking his eyes off the man. "It was an unnecessary hold up though, considering you're a grown man who doesn't need to be babied, but what's done is done."

Everyone listening flinched at his emotionless tone and Makino bowed again shamefully at completely ignoring him. They all distinctively remembered how the unique stranger stared Higuma in his eye without a hint of fear and made him back down after proposing they settle things outside.

He was a potentially dangerous variable.

"Are you ready to order?" Makino asked kindly and Rosan simply stared at her with a tilted head.

"What do you think?" He replied. He had been ready since he sat down but she wouldn't know that.

"R-Right!" He sure had a way to make her feel guilty without a hint of emotion in his tone!

"Something to drink and fried rice with shrimp, please," the redhead requested and the green haired woman's brows furrowed.

"I'm sorry, but were all out of alcohol," the 19 year old repeated, preparing for a repeat with Higuma. People really did not like being told there was no more booze and threw quite the tantrum.

"Is that all you have to drink, Green?" Rosan asked and he somehow managed to successfully convey how unimpressed he was.

"For someone who doesn't care, you sure do have a lot of bite right now!" Mod said with a giggle. Everything the bartender said, Rosan had a snide response in return.

"They wasted my time and I'm not getting any valuable information out of them. This was a waste of a visit."

Makino blushed and said "We have other drinks like…juice or milk?"

"Juice is fine. If you have lemonade, I'll take that," he said simply and the woman nodded hesitantly.

Rosan's attention was grabbed by the kid with black hair and a scar (how did he get that?) laughing at him.

"Only kids drink juice!" Luffy pointed out, with a cup of juice next to him. "Real men drink alcohol!" He declared and Shanks rubbed his red head at the idiot of a kid. The man was getting ready to apologize for Luffy before Rosan decided to speak up.

"That makes sense, I'm only 14" Rosan commented calmly, making everyone there freeze.

This guy...was 14 years old?!

Shanks observed the new figure with a rather calculating gaze.

Luffy's jaw dropped in surprise. "No way! But you were so cool before! You aren't much older than me?!"

"How old are you?" Rosan asked, deciding to entertain the kid until he got his order.

"Seven!" Luffy replied.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I'm seven years older than you, that's quite a bit," the redhead pointed out.

"I've never seen you before!" The seven year old said in excitement, plopping himself right next to Rosan and invading his personal space without a care in the world. "Are you new here?! Are you a pirate too?! Oh wait, are you a mountain bandit?!"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to talk to strangers?" The teen chided. Rosan could tell that at a glance, this kid was too trusting and more than a bit dumb.

Or, he was purposely ignoring all the obvious issues with the 14 year old but Rosan somehow doubted that.

"Nope! I don't know my mom! I only have Gramps and he just throws me in the jungle," the kid rambled on before shuddering in fear at the mention of his grandpa.

Ah, so bartender wasn't his mom. Just a caretaker.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" the boy suddenly introduced himself and Rosan paused as he heard that. "Wanna be my friend?!" He asked excitedly, happy at the chance to finally have someone around his age to talk to.

"Luffy," Makino hissed at the child. "Stop bothering him!" She demanded but the rubber boy was already to enraptured by the idea of making a friend his age.

The dual eyed teen actually took a look at Luffy after he introduced himself. Someone else with the D. initial? How interesting.

Robin hadn't told him much (because she didn't know much herself), but he did know that his middle initial was a topic of interest for her. She wanted to know more about people with the D. initial because two of her best friends had them.

Not to mention Ace, Mom, and Roger were some too. Rosan was also sure one of his biological parents had the initial as well, considering he had it.

And now there was another one sitting in front of him.

Just what did this initial mean?

"I'm Rosan," he introduced eventually, seeing no harm in it. "I am new here, I am not a pirate, and I am not a mountain bandit," he said, answering all the kids first set of questions.

He deliberated the final question and eventually, he truthfully said, "I'm not a person worth being friends with, so I think I'll pass."

"Eh? No way. Be my friend," Luffy demanded completely ignoring his response.

Everyone there sweatdropped at how casually Luffy ignored Rosan's statement.

"...Okay," Rosan eventually replied.

The listeners face planted at how easily Rosan gave up and Luffy beamed cheerfully at his acceptance.

If the kid wanted to be his friend, let him. He was probably going to be here for a while looking for Ace and he'd probably run into the seven year old more than once. Best to just accommodate him.

Besides, he'd eventually see why it was a bad idea to be friends with Rosan. Anyone who knew him for long enough understood in time.

"Awesome!" He cheered, as Makino held her head and Shanks let out a loud laugh.

"Wow Anchor, you actually managed to make a friend!" Shanks teased and Luffy glared at him.

"Yeah! And he's way cooler than you! He was actually going to fight back," the seven year old retorted, turning away from the redheaded man to face the redheaded teen.

"Even his hair is cooler!"

Mod snorted at the childish claim and Shanks held his heart in mock pain. The surrounding pirates laughed at Luffy's anger and began teasing their captain.

Rosan watched it all with a lazy gaze.

If only they knew just what he was capable of. They would be far less willing to let a seven year old be in his company.

----------------------------------------

Rosan didn't miss the fact that Luffy had many similarities to himself as a kid. It was actually quite startling to see.

All those similarities were just enhanced tenfold by the fact that he lacked any type of common sense.

The boy was a complete moron.

"You two are so similar," Mod gushed, already liking the rubber boy.

"That's an insult to Father! He was never this bad!" Ram argued.

It was true. Luffy was like a version of Rosan who had removed all thought processes.

Rosan was intelligent. Robin learned very early on, much to her annoyance, that the redhead wasn't an idiot that just did whatever he wanted to do.

No, he put a lot of thought into what he did, that was why despite his schemes appearing to be so crazy, they mostly worked out in the end. It was just that Rosan wanted to do fun things and his definition of fun, made it look like he were an idiot in the eyes of his old companion.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Luffy wasn't like that at all. Rosan was positive the boy didn't even think. Like in general.

It was rather fascinating to witness.

If Rosan used to be an agent of chaos, then Luffy was chaos incarnate.

"You two are a great fit then!" Mod beamed, not even trying to hide her intentions.

Shameless woman.

The boy had attached himself to Rosan way too quick, reminiscent of how quickly he attached himself to Robin.

But Rosan had Mod-chan to tell him if that were a good idea or not. He was pretty sure that bartender, Makino, was telling him how bad of an idea it was to hang out with the redhead. He respected her for that. She was smart.

Hm. Rosan suddenly felt bad for Robin if this was her perception of him.

The pirates didn't mind his presence and Rosan would have considered that a mistake, but he wasn't stupid.

The group was far stronger than him.

They were the Red Hair Pirates after all.

"To think a crew like this would be in the East Blue," Mod hummed in contemplation and Rosan nodded. It would be in his best interest to not antagonize them.

He was currently making his way back to Foosha Village after scouting out the Capital and finding nothing interesting about Ace there.

Luffy had demanded to come with him, but Rosan needed subtlety and the boy was anything but so he went without the little troublemaker.

Huh, he really owed Robin an apology. He must have been such a headache when they were together.

"That is an understatement," his Devil Fruit said seriously, not a hint of a smile on her features, and Ram began laughing uncontrollably.

Rosan hummed as he made his way out of the forest. He had been sleeping in his Pocket Dimension the past few days and due to not wanting to be spotted, he opted to enter and exit on the top of a tree (he left one of his earrings on it).

He was wearing a short sleeved white shirt and some white shorts and underneath the outfit, was a black bodysuit. To finish off, the redhead had some black sneakers on and his usual accessories in place.

Truthfully, it was his fault that the rubber boy was so attached. Rosan just went along with everything he wanted to do and the seven year old was probably ecstatic at that fact.

The 14 year old wasn't sure why he entertained him so much, but he chalked it up to some type of sympathy that stemmed from having a similar childhood.

They had both been rather lonely.

"I think this is a good thing for you," Mod said softly. Maybe hanging around someone that was so similar to how he used to be, would be help the boy in unlocking his heart.

"Alright, I'll stay around him longer then," Rosan said, making the woman smile gratefully. If Mod-chan saw potential in the little boy, then he would trust her judgement and follow what she wanted.

The teen was about to make his way to where Luffy was located, which was probably the bar, only to run into the bartender, Makino, herself. She crashed into him and Rosan easily steadied the panicking woman.

"You seem rushed, is something wrong?" The redhead asked and she finally seemed to register just who she crashed into.

"P-please! It's Luffy, h-he got taken by the mountain bandit's a-and—," Makino began but Rosan held a hand up.

"Breathe slowly, you're hyperventilating and it's causing your thoughts to go awry," Rosan explained patiently and the woman forced herself to calm down.

"You said Mountain Bandits had Luffy? Are they the same ones that caused a ruckus in your bar the other day?" The redhead asked softly, and she forced herself to look into his strange, lifeless, dual colored eyes.

She had to remind herself many times that he was only 14; that thought made her feel rather sick though because what happened that caused someone so young to adopt a seemingly permanent look like that?

"Y-yes! They were talking about Captain Shanks and Luffy tried to defend him…" The woman said and Rosan closed his eyes.

Such an idiot. That was another thing about the seven year old. His total lack of fear and self preservation.

He was going to get himself killed like that.

"I understand," the redhead replied. "Lead me to them, I'll deal with it."

The rubber boy was interesting and Mod liked him, so Rosan would not let him die here.

"Y-you will?" Makino asked hopefully, but unsure. He was only 14 after all and it was a group of mountain bandits. One of them even had an 8 million bounty! How was he going to deal with all of them?!

"You don't want me to help?" Rosan asked, tilting his head as he eyed the visibly nervous woman.

She was about to protest but she stopped herself. Like it or not, Luffy needed help and this boy was readily offering it.

Makino didn't approve of their friendship, due to her protectiveness over Luffy, but right now that friendship might be what saved his life.

"This way," the woman said, running off without hesitation.

Rosan followed her easily and just thought to himself,

"How did the search for my little brother turn into this."

----------------------------------------

True to Makino's words, Luffy was currently being assaulted quite harshly by the leader of the mountain bandits, Higuma.

"No one can save this brat now. I won't spare anyone who's attacked me..." Rosan arrived in time to see a diminutive man pleading for Luffy's life and Higuma denying the request.

Rosan decided now was a good time to announce his presence.

"Bullying children now? Mountain bandits really are pathetic," The redhead intoned quietly, catching everyone's attention there.

"Rosan!" Luffy called in glee, despite being stepped on by a large boot currently.

Higuma raised a brow at the redheaded teen. "He deserves it, he called me names so now I'm gonna kill him," he explained with a smug smile on his face.

"No you aren't," Rosan replied calmly and the whole crowd was watching the exchange with fearful eyes. "He called you names and you got upset? What, are you 12? Grow up you little manchild," the redhead admonished coldly, much to Higuma's fury.

"What did you just say?" The mountain bandit snarled but the 14 year old ignored him. That only served to make Higuma more upset.

Was Luffy's new friend seriously about to face up against all these mountain bandits? That was suicide!

Rosan's thoughts were rather different.

"If I use an energy blast, will Luffy die?"

"It's best if we don't test that."

"Fair."

"You won't ruin my appetite today so I have no qualms killing you brat," Higuma growled.

"Did you actually manage to convince yourself that the reason you didn't fight me that day, was because it would ruin your appetite?" Rosan asked, tilting his head. "Well, no matter. I'll show you reality soon enough."

Unseen to all, Ram seeped into his gloved hands and the teen prepared to take Higuma's head off with one precise energy blast —

Only to be interrupted by the presence of another.

"Nobody came to greet us at the harbor; I was wondering what was going on…" A voice called, making the mountain bandits and Rosan pause.

The teen shifted his head slightly and was greeted to the sight of the entire Red Haired Pirates in their glory. They were watching the exchange with cool and confident gazes and didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

"Looks like we won't have to do anything," Mod remarked calmly and Rosan nodded, draining the energy out of his glove.

"Awww that's lame, I wanted to kill them!" Ram complained with a frown and Mod just patted her soothingly.

"It's better this way; I can hide myself for a bit longer," Rosan said softly. It would benefit him more if he didn't reveal what he was capable of at the moment. If he did, then he'd have eyes on him.

"I thought your punch was as strong as a pistol, Luffy?" Shanks mocked, casually walking up to the bandits. This had the added effect of placing him right Rosan and the man nodded at the teen.

Rosan ignored him.

"S-Shut up!" Luffy stammered with the boot still on his head. This was just a setback! If he could land a punch, Higuma would be dead!

"Taking a break from your cleaning duties?" Higuma mocked with a sneer on his face. He took his attention off the irritating redhead and instead locked it onto an easier, in his eyes, target. "I don't know what you want, but take another step and we'll kill you, cowards."

Rosan tilted his head, as Shanks did just that and the cocking of a gun finally stopped him.

"Didn't ya hear him, dumbass?" A bandit chuckled, holding a gun to his head threateningly. "Don't come any closer or I'll blow your head off!"

"What are you doing, goon?" Rosan thought blandly. "You're far too relaxed for what you're doing right now, just shoot him. I don't understand why everyone does this."

"I wish I could tell you, Rosan. Arrogance is far too prevalent in this world," Mod sighed with a shake of her head.

Unfortunately for the bandit, Rosan didn't say this out loud.

"You're putting your life on the line by pointing that at me," Shanks said. The captain had a carefree grin on his face and his demeanor screamed 'relaxed'.

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"He's dead."

"I'm saying it's not safe to point guns," the man smiled, pointing directly up at the firearm.

Before he could even blink, a large man with a round body, eating a rack of meat, put his own gun to the bandit's head and shot, killing him instantly.

Everyone watching gasped in shock at the sight.

Rosan didn't even flinch at the sight of the man's death. No, his thoughts were elsewhere.

"Fast," he thought simply, staring right at the big man who had done it. "I was right to be wary of this crew. If I provoked them, I'd be dead in seconds," the teen stated.

Shanks didn't miss the sight of Rosan not even batting an eye and his curiosity piqued.

To not even blink at the sight of someone being killed in front of them?

The 14 year old was a complete oddity.

Truthfully, since meeting Luffy, the captain of the Red Haired Pirates had been keeping a close eye on his fellow redhead to see what his deal was and if he were a threat to the people here.

Except he couldn't tell at all.

There seemed to be no ulterior motive as to why the teenager was hanging out with Luffy. Whatever his favorite kid asked of Rosan, the teen would follow along and it made Shanks suspicious of what he was up to.

But Rosan hadn't done anything.

He was strange.

But what was definitively the strangest thing about him, and the thing that made him so hard to read, was his complete lack of emotions.

That lifeless gaze was not for show. Rosan was filled with ice and never reacted to anything other than tilting his head, or humming. He was unfazed by a majority of things around and Shanks was sure the teen knew who their pirate crew was and the threat they posed.

Yet he never acted differently.

Even now, watching someone getting their brains blown out, was not enough for him to react in the slightest. He just watched it all with those strange eyes of his and was instead focused on the pirate crew of all things. There was no trust in his stance and he was positioned in a way that would defend himself against both parties if needed.

Shanks had to wonder just what happened to turn him into this. The 14 year old seemed more machine than boy.

Rosan didn't miss Shanks sizing him up but he didn't bother acknowledging it. He wasn't interested in the pirate captain at all, beyond being impressed by the strength he and his crew wielded.

"What've you done?! That wasn't fair!" A bandit screamed out and Rosan heard Mod scoff.

"Fair?!" One of the pirates cackled in the background, clearly amused by the bandits shock.

"Cut the crap! Did you think you were dealing with saints here?" Ben Beckman, the first mate of the Red Haired Pirates, drawled.

"We're pirates! We don't play by the rules!" Shanks finished with a confident grin.

"A criminal trying to talk to another criminal about what's fair," Mod said, voice tinged with amusement. "Isn't that funny?"

"The pot calling the kettle black," Ram laughed and the purple haired woman giggled at that.

"You got nothin' to do with this anyways" A bandit growled.

"Listen, Bandits," Shanks said. "Whether I'm splattered with alcohol or food or even spit on, I'll just laugh that stuff off. But! No matter what the reason, anyone who hurts a friend of mine, has to pay!" He finished seriously, glaring at the bandits.

"How noble," Rosan thought, utterly unmoved by the words coming out of the captain's mouth. While he agreed with the second part, the redhead disagreed completely with the first half of the sentence.

Allowing yourself to be disrespected?

Ridiculous.

"Friend?!" Luffy said in shock, looking directly at Shanks.

"Hahahaha!" Higuma began laughing. "Nice speech, very intimidating," the man mocked.

"Lousy pirates! Kill 'em, men, including the rich boy!" Higuma roared.

The bandits roared and began charging and Rosan prepared to jump away, content to let the pirates deal with it. Anyone who came his way, would die but he doubted it would come to that.

"Rosan," Shanks suddenly said, making him pause to regard the man.

"How about you deal with them?" The man requested. His fellow redhead was smiling at him and it was obvious what he wanted.

Rosan was about to deny his request, but the pause caused the bandits to reach the two and the redhead was dragged into the fight.

"You're not as clever as you think you are but I'll play your game, Shanks," the redhead said, grabbing a swinging arm and casually breaking it. He would make him regret dragging the teen into the fight.

Everyone took a step back in surprise at the scream of agony that erupted from the bandit.

"He wants to see what we can do," Rosan said coldly.

"So we'll show him as little as possible," Mod said, with a calculating eye.

"While giving them a show they won't forget," Ram grinned psychotically.

Rosan held onto the very broken arm of the bandit, hoisted him up and used him as a living weapon to slam into the other opponents. One bandit was battered repeatedly by his ally's body and by the time the redhead was done, they were both knocked unconscious.

He discarded the body in the path of a swinging saber and was satisfied to see it used as a successful meat shield. Blood sprayed from the poor bandit and Rosan stared into the fearful eyes of the offender with a cold expression. The shocked bandit tried to withdraw his bloodied blade, but he was far too slow.

Rosan quickly closed the distance between them, grabbed the Bandit's head and kneed him three times in the nose. The first hit broke it instantly, the next two was just the redhead being unnecessarily brutal.

He grabbed the falling man's saber and swung behind him, clashing with steel (he had to actively tell Ram to not devour the weapon in the process).

His opponents eyes widened at watching his own blade crumble from the force of Rosan's blow and the momentum of the swing, meant he was not spared from damage. The saber cleaved into him with unforgiving force and the bandit collapsed on both knees as blood began gushing out of his chest.

The 14 year old jumped back to avoid the spray of blood and, in the process, he flung the saber with pinpoint accuracy to a surprised bandit, impaling him through the heart and killing him instantly.

He eyed the rest of the bandits without a shred of worry on his features and took in their nervous expressions.

Rosan and Reaper, naturally, fought different.

Reaper was immaculate in what he did. He was controlled, precise and their feet rarely touched the floor, content to constantly change the field that wouldn't impede him. The Angel of Death, with their signature scythe, was like a puppet master, high above his subjects, controlling the battlefield and anyone on it.

Rosan was a performer in a different way. He was unrelenting, stylish, and constantly modifying his style so as to overwhelm whoever he fought. A battle with Rosan was like an always changing, never ending performance where he was the leading actor.

Due to his growth spurt, the style he adopted as a child had to be changed. No longer could he use his shorter height to his advantage against larger foes. That wasn't a negative though because now, he had the strength to go toe to toe with them.

He had always been a rather brutal child and it now translated into his older frame.

Case in point, he wrapped his hand around a flailing bandits neck, body slammed him onto his stomach, and stomped harshly on his back, crushing the bones in his body as if they were made of paper and making him squeal in agony. Another stomp on his head, shattered his skull effortlessly and the redhead wiped his sneakers with the man's body.

"I missed your stomps," Mod said, sighing fondly. He rarely fought as Rosan and Reaper didn't use stomps in his style.

When Shanks told Rosan to deal with them, he had been expecting a bit of a struggle and for the pirate crew to intervene. The boy, for all his muscles, was still only 14 and he didn't seem to have a visible weapon.

Clearly, he didn't need one.

If he knew Rosan was going to be this brutal when dealing with the bandits, he would have just let Beckman handle it. The redhead was completely merciless and he didn't spare a single soul! Did he even care that he was doing this in front of civilians?

"I'll play your game," his cold voice sounded in Shanks head.

Ah...so he was doing this to prove a point.

The crowd was rather green in the face at the sight of Luffy's new friend demolishing the bandits and more than a few had to look away from the sight.

Makino and the Mayor had a look of terror in her eyes at the fact that this monstrous boy had been hanging around little Luffy this whole time.

He wasn't at all friendly like Shanks was. No, he was a real monster and he was not afraid to show them. It was no wonder he had said he was not a good person to be friends with! He had been trying to warn them of what he was capable of.

Luffy gasped in awe at the strength of his friend, completely unperturbed by the brutality he displayed. "You're so strong, Rosan!"

"So much for being subtle," Rosan thought, turning to face Shanks. The crowd looked rightly terrified of him but the redhead didn't care about the opinions of others. It had never mattered to him before and that wouldn't change.

"Satisfied?"

Shanks looked at him with an unreadable look and merely nodded. The pirate captain turned towards Higuma.

The leader of the mountain bandits looked terrified. Watching his group get utterly dismantled by some rich kid, was a good way to shatter his confidence at the moment.

"Do you see now? This is reality," Rosan told the man calmly, reminding him of the first part of their conversation.

"But…the brat started it," Higuma stammered, looking left and right.

"He's trying to flee," Rosan said immediately, eyeing the man. His entire body was poised to make a run for it. He knew because this was exactly how a person looked when trying to flee from Reaper.

They never got away.

"Are you going to stop him?" Mod asked curiously.

"No, the pirate captain thinks he's in control so let's see how he handles this," Rosan finished, taking a step back to lean on a building and letting Shanks take charge.

"Doesn't matter," Shanks began, smiling at the man threateningly. "There's a price on your head isn't there?"

Higuma flinched before gritting his teeth.

"Damn it!" He growled and the mountain bandit grabbed a smoke ball —

And dropped it.

"C'mere Kid!" A voice growled.

"HEY! LET GO!" That was Luffy.

"LUFFY?!" Shanks called through the heavy smoke.

The smoke cleared and there was nothing there.

Chaos ensued.

"Oh no! I let him escape! We've gotta save Luffy!" Shanks panicked with wide eyes. He had gotten way too lax!

Mod snorted at the look on his face.

"This is why I trained you to never let your guard down until the battle is over," the Devil Fruit explained.

"A valuable lesson, he's stronger than me by a large margin but far more careless."

Higuma would not have escaped him because Higuma wouldn't have had the chance to think of escaping. The redhead would have killed him right then and there.

Perhaps that was the difference between him and pirates.

----------------------------------------

Luffy really hated mountain bandits.

They really sucked and the fact he couldn't land a hit on them sucked even more.

That stupid bandit had thrown him in the water and now he was drowning because he couldn't swim because he had eaten that Devil Fruit thing.

To make matters worse, a Sea King was currently looming behind the stupid bandit, with Luffy drowning.

This sucked.

The seven year old flailed about in a frenzy and that only increased as the Sea King ate the petrified Higuma in one bite.

"Somebody help me!" Luffy screamed with a mouthful of water. He frantically tried to stay afloat and the Sea King looked directly at him with those massive red eyes.

The Sea King charged swiftly through the water, opened its mouth wide and prepared to eat Luffy whole.

The seven year old felt his life flash before his eyes as the Sea King chomped down —

But something pulled him out of the way.

Luffy looked up to see a shock of red hair and he felt the tears brimming in his eyes start to overflow.

"Shanks!" The boy said, voice shaky from the near death experience.

The Lord of the Coast reemerged and assessed the new target. It growled lowly and prepared to repeat the process.

"Get lost!" Shanks intoned in a low tone, staring directly into its red eyes.

The Lord of the Coast froze in terror as a pressure washed over him and, after what felt like an eternity, it went back to its home underwater.

"I'm in your debt, Luffy," Shanks said with a kind smile on his face, as he rubbed the child's head. "Makino-san told me everything, you fought for us."

Tears streamed down the seven year old's face, as he clutched Shanks tightly.

"Hey, don't cry! You're a man aren't you?!" The captain joked with a placating grin on his face.

"B-but... Shanks —!"

"WHAT ABOUT YOUR ARM?!" The boy sobbed hysterically.

Shanks smiled softly at the kid and pat him soothingly with his good arm. "It's only an arm. No big deal. I'm just glad you're okay," he replied truthfully.

"WAHHHHHH!" Luffy sobbed as the floodgates fully broke.

----------------------------------------

Rosan watched Shanks swim back to shore with a tilted head.

That was a lot of blood.

Narrowing his vision a bit, he soon saw the reason why.

"What was out there that caused you to lose an arm?" Rosan asked the soaked captain.

Luffy was currently clutching the man, sound asleep after clearly crying his heart out and Rosan assumed that the missing arm had something to do with him.

"A Sea King," Shanks answered sheepishly and Rosan stared at his fellow redhead.

"A Sea King did this to you?" The 14 year old asked, clearly not believing him.

"Someone as strong as you, would not lose an arm to some Sea King," he said bluntly and Shanks let out a laugh.

"Maybe, but I'm betting it on the new era," the man replied easily enough, inclining a head towards Luffy.

"You allowed yourself to lose an arm for this child?" Rosan asked softly. "Off of a hunch?"

The foolish went unsaid.

The man let loose another chuckle. "If you hang around him long enough, I'm sure you'll see why."

The redhead simply hummed as a response, which caused Shanks to sober up a bit and get serious. "Just who are you, Rosan?"

The teen leveled him with that never changing gaze of his and asked, "Why do you want to know?" in return.

"Closing your heart off at such a young age, is pretty concerning and your lack of emotions is even worse," Shanks commented in a friendly manner. He wasn't trying to push the teen into becoming uncomfortable (if he could even feel that) but he was curious about it.

"A pirate is concerned about me? How amusing," Rosan said blankly, closing his eyes.

"If you lived the life I was forced to live, you'd probably kill yourself," the redhead told him softly.

"Tell me about it," Shanks requested, curiosity piqued.

"No. I don't feel like divulging into my life with a pirate," the teen said bluntly and the captain laughed sheepishly.

"That's fair! How about I introduce myself and we go from there?"

Rosan said nothing, those empty red and purple eyes just gazed at him. He didn't see the point of this. The redhead wasn't going to tell him anything.

Shanks figured the best way to get him to open up a bit, was to reveal something interesting about himself. But what exactly could he tell the redhead... He wasn't at all impressed by his crew or his bounty...

"I'm Shanks! I'm the captain of the Red Hair Pirates and I was an apprentice for the Roger Pirates," the man introduced. Now he'd verify if he was talking about the Pirate King and they could start talking from that!

It was genius!

"Oh no," Mod whispered in dread.

"Roger Pirates?" Rosan repeated, tilting his head. "You mean Gol D. Roger's crew?" The teen asked and Shanks paused in disbelief.

How... How did Rosan know his real name? The newspapers had done a great job at hiding the D. in his name and the redhead was too young to have heard about him before they did.

"If that was a way to get me to open up," the boy began coldly. "It failed. I despise that man and you telling me you were in his crew, doesn't make me warm up to you at all."

So the kid held a vendetta against his former captain.

That made him all the more interesting.

"What did Captain do to you? Kill your family?" Shanks asked, voice full of curiosity and wariness. He didn't want a fight to break out right now, he was losing a lot of blood and there was a sleeping child in his good arm currently.

Something told him Rosan wouldn't care about any of that.

Rosan normally wouldn't divulge this information, but a part of him wanted to see the shock on his face. The dread at learning just who he was.

"As a matter of fact, he did. Roger was the reason my mother died and my mother happened to be his wife," Rosan informed the Red Haired Captain, dual eyes staring into black. "I'm sure you can already guess, but that man is my father."

His expression was exactly what he had been hoping to see.

Shanks went pale at the revelation and his mouth opened. A bead of sweat rolled down his head and he wasn't sure if the dizziness was only from the loss of blood.

This kid…was… What?

"Captain!" A voice called and Shanks forced himself to break eye contact at the sound of Makino making her way over.

Her eyes widened in horror at seeing his missing arm and she immediately began fussing over and questioning him.

"It seems that Luffy is safe and sound," Rosan told the woman, who flinched at the teen. "If that's all, I'll be going now."

Shanks watched the redhead depart but his mouth was too dry to say anything.

Rosan didn't bother looking back at him as Shanks crew started converging on the man.

----------------------------------------

"How did you find me?" Rosan asked softly. The night sky was gorgeous tonight and, as he stood on the top of a tree, he gazed up at the pale moon.

"What you told me earlier today... Was that true?" Shanks demanded. He had managed to break away from his crew to seek out the teen and it had brought him to the top of this rather tall tree.

"I am not a liar," was all Rosan said. "Though, he is not my biological father."

"Would you like me to explain?" The redhead asked, already knowing the answer.

"If I think you're lying…" Shanks warned with a dangerous gaze.

"If I were lying, you wouldn't be able to find me," the redhead replied truthfully, still staring up at the moon.

"When I was two years old, Gol D. Roger appeared on my home island, Baterilla and managed to woo my mother, Portgas D. Rouge."

Two years old? That would be 12 years ago if the boy really was 14… Right when the Roger Pirates disbanded.

Shanks felt a sense of vertigo at the fact that Rosan could very well be telling the truth.

"I don't remember him much because he got my mother pregnant and left. Unfortunately, Roger isn't a very subtle man, huh?" Rosan asked, finally turning to look Shanks in his eyes.

Shanks noted that the boys eyes were dimly glowing and wondered what that was about, but he answered, "Yeah… Captain wasn't a subtle man at all."

"I know. He let Mom suffer for two years because of it," Rosan said bluntly, making Shanks flinch slightly. "The Marines speculated Roger got someone on my home island pregnant because of how he acted there…"

The red haired captain's eyes widened at the implications.

"...So to prevent the Pirate King's bloodline from continuing, they began killing all children born around that time. For two years."

Captain was going to have a child? The Marines knew about it? So much was going on right now and Shanks didn't know how to properly react to the influx of information.

"Mom was one of the strongest people I knew," Rosan said blankly. "She held the fact that she was pregnant for two years and she lived everyday in pain because of it. When the time came for her to give birth, she couldn't handle the stress and I watched her die moments after."

Damn it, Captain. What the hell were you thinking?!

"…," Shanks couldn't think of anything to say to the teenager. What could you even say to a person that just admitted to watching their mother die. How could he even defend his Captain when it was so unfavorable against him?

It would only lead to negatives and he was quite sure Rosan didn't care how strong he was.

"You don't need to say anything. I've grown past that," Rosan told him and it was truly unnerving how his tone had not shifted even once since they had met.

Naturally, he wouldn't tell the red haired man anything about Ace, or anything about what he had done after that. He had no reason too because it had nothing to do with him. Only his connection with Roger had made the redhead tell the captain this information.

The redhead looked back up at the sky.

It really was a beautiful night. Maybe when Shanks left, he'd go for a fly.

Shanks was conflicted.

On one hand, he was looking at one of the few remaining connections to his late Captain. On the other, that one connection made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with Roger.

At all.

Shanks respected Roger with all his heart and that would never change. If Rosan had emotion he'd probably not like him due to their vast difference in opinions on the Pirate King.

"Did captain's actual child survive? Where are they?" Shanks couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know."

It was clear he wasn't getting anything more relating to his past out of the teen and Shanks just sighed. So Rosan didn't even stay around his little sibling. Whether it was by choice or the child didn't survive, Shanks didn't know.

He really needed a drink.

"Your life must have been hard," the man commented to his fellow redhead. His demeanor, his eyes, and the way he fought… Shanks was curious about what happened in this kids life to have him end up like this.

"...Yes, I suppose it has," the 14 year old replied. The scarred man didn't even know the half of it.

"Everything about you screams lifeless but you still move with some sort of purpose... Why?" Shanks asked curiously and Rosan looked at Ram for a moment.

"I move so that I can find a reason to live."

----------------------------------------

"You're leaving, then?"

"Yeah. It was a long stay, but now we part ways. Bet you'll miss me huh?"

Shanks and Luffy were sharing one last conversation with each other, as the crew prepared to set sail. The seven year old had made sure to drag Rosan with him and the boy was sitting at the dock, looking out at the ocean.

Luffy smiled at the man and said "Well, yeah, but I won't ask you to take me anymore. I've decided to become a pirate on my own now!"

Shanks turned around and stuck his tongue out childishly. "I wasn't gonna take you anyways! You'll never be a pirate!"

Luffy's face immediately shifted into one of childish indignation. "Oh yes I will! One day I'll have a ship and crew better than yours! And we'll have the biggest hoard of treasure in the world!"

"I'M GONNA BE KING OF PIRATES!" Luffy declared boldly to the world. Everyone watching, looked at the boy with fondness at the claim.

Rosan glanced back at the seven year old with a piercing gaze.

"Hmm… You're gonna be better than us, huh?" Shanks remarked with a smile on his face.

"Well then…," Shanks began softly, removing his straw hat from his head and placing it on the upset Luffy's head.

"Do me a favor, keep this hat safe for me?"

"?!" Luffy looked down as tears began streaming from his eyes. The implications of what Shanks was currently doing, were not lost on the boy and it began to overwhelm him with emotion.

"This hat means a lot to me. Promise that you'll give it back to me someday…when you've become a great pirate."

Shanks made his way over to Rosan as Luffy cried, clutching his hat tightly.

The redhead didn't even glance up as Shanks took a seat next to him.

"What are you gonna do now?" The captain asked.

"As if I'd answer that."

Shanks let out a chuckle and said, "I saw you staring at Luffy after he made his declaration. Are you mad that he wants to have the same title as Captain?"

Rosan momentarily looked at him. "I do not hate my father for his accolades, or his accomplishments. Being the son of the pirate king means nothing to me. I hate him because he was the reason the woman who raised me, died. That is a sin that I will never be able to forgive."

That was understandable.

"I won't ask you to forgive the Captain," Shanks said seriously. "But know he probably never wanted it to turn out like this."

"I didn't either but only one of us is alive to deal with the consequences."

A silence washed over them for a moment before, surprisingly, Rosan broke it.

"You asked why I stared at Luffy? It's because his dream will be a difficult one to achieve."

"You believe him?!"

"Who am I to doubt a person's convictions. I just hope the world doesn't tear him down before he gets to that point."

"Like it did...to you?"

"…"

Shanks smiled with a shake of his head. "Luffy is a strong kid and with you watching out for him, I'm sure he'll be able to do it."

"Who says I'll be watching over him?"

"Call it a hunch, he's a really interesting one and if you stay around him you might find that reason you're searching for."

"…" Rosan didn't say anything for a moment and Shanks was content to let him think. Eventually, the teen said,

"How unlikely."

----------------------------------------

"First, we're gonna need a musician," Luffy decided resolutely and Rosan glanced at him.

"We?" The teen asked curiously, looking at the much shorter boy.

"Yeah! You're apart of my crew now!"

"When did I agree to this?"

"Eh? Don't be stupid, Rosan! You agreed long ago!"

"I think he's talking about when you agreed to be his friend," Mod giggled.

Rosan thought about arguing, but he learned much about Luffy. There was no point in trying to disagree with the boy because things either went his way, or no way.

"Okay," the redhead replied simply and Luffy shot him a beaming grin. "But don't tell me what to do, I'm not fond of taking orders."

Luffy nodded happily.

"You agreed way too easily to being a pirate," Mod pointed out, but the woman was smiling.

"I hold no personal grudges against pirates, I just had no interest in being one."

"Great, you can be our musician!"

"I can play the piano, but I refuse to do so."

"Chef!"

"No."

"Navigator!"

"Too much decision making, no."

"What can you do?"

Rosan could do everything that Luffy asked him to, but he didn't want to. Still, he should at least be a little cooperative since he had been forced to join the crew.

"I can scout," he informed and Luffy beamed.

"Awesome! You do that then," the seven year old finished and Rosan nearly sighed.

He should have just disappeared.

----------------------------------------

It seemed like everyone always wanted to speak to him.

Today, it was the bartender girl, Makino.

"Stop hanging out with Luffy," the, normally kind, woman requested firmly.

He expected this.

"Did my fight against the bandits scare you?" Rosan asked softly, already knowing the answer. The 19 year old, or any of the villagers really, had barely been able to look at him.

"I'm not asking you," Makino threatened bravely, despite the fact that it was just her and this…monster.

She was not shaking.

Rosan could see right through her.

"I don't take threats lightly," Rosan told her politely. "They are the prelude to an attempt on my life, and an attempt on my life means I can't accomplish my goal. Anyone who wants to kill me, has to die themselves," he finished emptily and the woman flinched back, doubt on her face.

"Stop tormenting that woman," Mod chided. She didn't like that this Makino person was trying to impede on a potential way for Rosan to unlock his emotions, but antagonizing her would make it more difficult.

Killing her was out of the question too.

"I… I'm not threatening to kill you," Makino said meekly, unconsciously taking a step back. "It's just you're not a good influence for him."

"I'm not the one who gave him the dream of becoming Pirate King, which is the title of a criminal by the way. You should have had this talk with Shanks instead because he's the one who has fully influenced Luffy," Rosan reprimanded her and she flushed at being scolded by someone 5 years younger than her.

She was lost for words, unable to refute his argument and Rosan decided to throw her a bone.

"I've already agreed to join Luffy's crew and I'm not a liar," the redhead informed the green haired woman. "But, if you can convince him to remove me, I'll stop hanging around him. I don't care either way," he replied truthfully.

"I respect your concern for him but something tells me you took too long to take action."

Makino stared into his eyes and nodded.

Rosan watched her resolution with a tilted head. She would try to convince Luffy and she would fail. The boy marched to the beat of his own drum and once he decided on something, it was next to impossible to change his mind.

"Sounds familiar."

"Indeed it does."

----------------------------------------

Nothing Makino attempted, changed Luffy's mind. He was absolutely set on Rosan being his first friend and crewmate and there was nothing she could do about it. The woman had actually been taken aback by how strongly the rubber boy had rejected her.

"It was a good effort," Rosan told the woman, while drinking a cup of tea. "There's no point being upset about it. Rid yourself of that animosity or you'll go gray early."

She glared at him before releasing a resigned sigh. "I guess you're right," the 19 year old muttered and the 14 year old decided to ease her worries.

"I am not fond of hurting children unless they plan on harming me and Luffy has made it clear that all he wants is a friend. You are worried that I will hurt him but if I wanted to, I'd have already done so," he explained bluntly and she nodded at that.

He had a point, Luffy dragged the teen off everywhere (sometimes with her not even there to oversee) and he had always come back in the same condition...mostly but when he was hurt, it was never Rosan's fault.

"You're right…," Makino sighed. "I'm sorry for being so harsh to you but, I worry about Luffy. He's so…"

"Trusting?" Rosan offered and she nodded rapidly.

"Yes! I don't want him to be taken advantage of due to his nature," she said softly and Rosan rubbed her on the shoulder, making her relax.

"I understand how you feel, he's a good child in a cruel world and that makes you worry."

She nodded and Rosan hummed.

"I respect you. You just want what's best for Luffy and what makes him happy," Rosan eventually said. The seven year old was currently sleeping so he was not here to hear the words.

Makino felt herself relax even further at his words. She smiled gently at the younger teen and said "I was wrong about you. You're not as bad as I thought you were."

"I'm far worse," Rosan thought to himself, looking at the woman he had easily manipulated.

She was important to these people. With her easing up on him, it would allow him to move more freely.

"I'm glad, I thought I was going to have to sick Luffy's grandpa on you," Makino said, with a small smile on her face.

Rosan simply blinked.

"His grandpa?"

----------------------------------------

"Oh," Mod said in clear surprise.

Rosan, as he stared into a set of eyes that very clearly recognized him, couldn't blame her.

Luffy didn't tell him that his grandpa was Garp the Hero.

Garp looked at the teen in front of him with clear surprise. Was this who he thought it was? After all this time he had just appeared on his own?

"What's your name boy?" Garp asked bluntly and Rosan contemplated lying to him.

"That's Rosan!" Luffy replied obliviously, grinning. "He's the first member of my pirate crew!"

"Okay, maybe the comparison between you two was a bit harsh," A sweatdropping Mod said.

"He is such an idiot," Ram sighed.

"I should not have given him my real name," Rosan thought blandly. There was no way Garp wouldn't know who he was now.

"Rosan…" The Hero of the Marines said gruffly, scratching his beard. "Where did you go that day, 10 years ago?"

Makino looked at the two in confusion. Did they know each other? She wondered what their connection was...

"I ran away," the redhead replied truthfully.

"Where?"

"Out to sea. Where is my brother?" Rosan asked in return. He had no interest in playing 20 questions with the Hero of the Marines.

Any doubts Garp had about who this person was, were instantly wiped away at that question.

He raised a brow at the redhead, not quite believing that he was sailing the seas alone and lived to show for it, but the look in his eyes showed that he did go through something.

"I was about to take Luffy here to him right now but your coming to stay too," the old man decided and Rosan gazed at him.

"Past the surprise, he is utterly unfazed at seeing me again," the 14 year old thought blandly, wondering if this is where Luffy got his eccentricities from.

"It's true, you'd think his reaction would be worse than Shanks considering he knows about your existence… Perhaps he's hiding it very well?"

"Everyone always hides something. Even then, there is always a reaction to gauge outwards."

Even if he was hiding something, he wasn't as bothered as he should be.

Oh well.

"Garp-san?" Makino said, sounding unsure but Garp ignored her.

He looked towards his grandson and grabbed him by his cheek harshly. "What was it you just said about being a pirate?!" Garp barked and Luffy yelped.

The Marine's eyes bugged as Luffy's cheek stretched out farther then it had any right to.

"WHAT?!" Garp roared in disbelief at the sight. "Luffy, did you eat a Devil Fruit?!" The man asked in shock.

"Yep!" Luffy chirped. "I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi and now I'm a rubber boy!"

The man showed more reaction to his grandson eating a Devil Fruit then to practically seeing a ghost. This was definitely who Luffy inherited his oddities from.

Garp looked fed up with the boy and began dragging him away. "I knew leaving you in this peaceful village was a bad idea," the old man grumbled, recovering amazingly.

He was so strange.

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!" Luffy demanded and Garp merely pinched his cheek harder. The boy actually squeaked in pain. "But I'm made out of rubber, why does it hurt?!" He whined.

Why did it hurt? Rosan was reminded on how Maro was able to feel pain on her left side from Judge.

"You two are moving! This village is too soft," Garp said bluntly and with that, he dragged the flailing seven year old away.

"You and Garp-san have history?" Makino asked questioningly and Rosan nodded to the shorter woman.

"I saw him when I was 4 but this is his first time meeting me," he said softly and Makino's eyes widened in horror.

Didn't he say he went out to sea? W-why was he traveling the sea at only 4 years old?

"Brat," Garp called, referring to Rosan. "Come on," he said gruffly and Rosan merely stared at his back.

"It seems that's my cue to leave," the redhead said softly and he regarded Makino with a nod. "Bye, Makino," the teen waved and he walked off, behind the man.

"Bye, Rosan!" A confused Makino waved. She would have tried harder to stop Garp from doing whatever it was he was doing, but she couldn't stop the old man.

At least Rosan was there to support Luffy.

She hoped.

----------------------------------------

Rosan was surprised to see a house in Mt. Colubo but in hindsight, it made sense to hide Ace here.

He would need to be as hidden as possible so people didn't make any type of connections.

Garp had dragged Luffy the entire way and Rosan had to give it to the stubborn boy, he had not stopped spouting about being Pirate King even once. Even with the clear aggravation blooming on Garp's face.

Rosan shot the Vice Admiral a glance at hearing him mention Ace needing to become a Marine.

He wanted his little brother, the actual son of the Pirate King, to become a Marine? Not only that, he wanted Rosan to become one too.

Garp was hopelessly optimistic. Rosan wondered how he'd react if he knew that the redhead already had a bounty.

The Hero of the Marines banged on the front door of the lone house and yelled "DADAN! GET OUT HERE!"

Luffy had began running around the clearing and Rosan kept one eye on him. The teen was leaned against a tree, red and purple eyes staring holes into the house.

10 years. It had been 10 years since Rosan had seen his little brother and now the time was finally about to come where they'd meet face to face.

"I hope it goes well," Mod said, voice filled with a little dread. If Ace hated Rosan, all the negative reinforcement the boy had given himself would come to the forefront again and she wouldn't be able to talk him out of it.

Ram gave the shorter woman a hug and said "It'll be okay, Auntie Mod!"

She forced herself to calm down and hugged the teen back. "Thank you Ram, I needed that."

"Of course!"

The door to the house opened and out came a tall, overweight, middle aged woman with long, orange, curly hair and a big, masculine face. Behind her were a group of people all holding weapons.

Rosan identified her immediately from her bounty. Curly Dadan. Bounty of 7,800,000 and leader of the Dadan Family.

A group of mountain bandits.

Why was Ace with mountain bandits?

"…," Mod could feel the impending doom already.

"Stop it! Whoever you are, do you really wanna get killed?" The woman roared, and the cigarette in her mouth jostled.

"It's me," Garp said bluntly and it was like a flip had been switched in the lady.

The woman's eyes widened in horror and she practically flew back as she said, "Garp-san!" and the other bandits squeaked at her declaration.

"You're looking good," The Marine said conversationally but Dadan wasn't having it.

"Garp-san you gotta give us a break!" The woman begged. "Ace is already 10 years old!"

"He's already more than we can handle! Can't you take him off our hands?" Dogra pleaded.

Ace was a problem child? He really was his little brother.

It was then that Dadan noticed little Luffy shooting around the clearing.

"What the… Who's that kid?" The mountain bandit asked and she noticed another person leaning against the tree.

He was much taller then the first boy, with a striking shade of red hair, bronze skin, and the most unnerving set of heterochromatic eyes she had seen. His dead gaze bored into her own and she flinched at the empty expression on his face.

"This is Luffy, my grandson," Garp said, grabbing the boy with one hand. "Say hi, Luffy, they'll be watching you now."

"Yo."

"YOUR GRANDSON? WATCH HIM? WHAT?!" Dadan gaped in shock.

"That's Rosan, he's the one I told you about 10 years ago," The Marine informed her .

"Greetings," the redhead said politely, with a short nod, still eyeing the leader of the mountain bandits.

Dadan recalled the conversation they had when she was first tasked with watching Ace and her eyes widened. "This is the 4 year old boy that went missing?! Your telling me he's only 14?!"

"Yea, you'll be watching him too," Garp said and the woman's eyes bugged.

"Don't worry, I've been taking care of myself for years now," the 14 year old said softly. He noticed something move out of the corner of his eyes, and finally took his gaze off the bandits.

"We can't!" They denied in unison and Garp grunted.

"Alright then, here's your choice. Do you wanna spend all your life in prison or raise them?" He asked with his arms crossed.

"You realize how many of your countless crimes I'm turning a blind eye to?!" The man laughed boisterously.

"Well I don't want to go to jail, but sometimes I think I'd be better off!" Dadan moaned sadly.

"We already have our hands full with Ace! Now you want to throw your grandson and this other kid into the mix?! I bet they're probably monsters too!"

"Crappy shack," Luffy muttered.

"You wanna fight?!" Dadan yelled but Luffy just ran off without a care in the world.

"H-he's not listening to me!" The leader of the mountain bandit face-planted at the lack of attention Luffy gave her.

Rosan said nothing. The boy was currently rooted to his spot while Mod and Ram tried to whisper soothing words to him.

Luffy kept running and then a glob of spit connected to his cheek. "Agh! Spit?! Yuck!" The boy squeaked as he grabbed his cheek.

"Hey! Who are you!?" Luffy demanded, running up to another child.

"Oh, that's Ace!" Garp said.

It was a short boy with curly black hair and freckles on his face.

Freckles like Mom.

He wore a plain red t-shirt, black shorts, and brown sandals and the sheer anger in his eyes, was enough to stagger even Rosan.

This… was Ace? His little brother? Why… Why did he have that look in his eyes?!

The only reason Rosan had so confidently left his little brother in the care of the Marine, was in order to keep him safe and so that he could grow up with a semi-decent life. The risk of traveling with a four year old on the dangerous seas was just too risky.

"Rosan, it's okay!" Mod tried to soothe. It really wasn't but she didn't want Rosan to do something stupid. It was clear that he really didn't care who you were and the Devil Fruit didn't want him to fight this man.

"I'm sure there's an explanation for this," Ram said nervously. Even she understood that this was bad and the battle hungry ring was trying to assuage him.

It was not okay.

If Rosan knew Ace was going to end up like this without him, he would have fought tooth and nail to get his little brother back.

"Luffy, this is Ace. He's three years older than you. You're gonna live here with them from today," Garp said and Rosan mechanically turned his head towards the Marine.

Mountain bandits were one thing, Rosan had only adopted a similar look in his eyes after being tortured for six months straight. For his little brother to have it now, meant that leaving him behind... was the wrong choice.

It was as if every decision he had made, was being spat back in his face, as he looked at his angry little brother. Why did he even leave him behind if this was the end result? Why had he been forced to make such a difficult decision at just four… and that decision ended up being wrong?

Mom made a mistake trusting this scum of a Marine. At the end of the day, none of the people in the organization that had killed her, were trustworthy.

Garp needed to die.

Rosan's eyes glowed brightly, as Ram transformed into into a pair of black gloves —

— And all hell broke loose.

----------------------------------------

One second, everyone was watching Garp introduce Ace and Luffy, and the next, a massive blast of red energy forced the man to jump back. It crashed into a tree and reduced it to nothing.

Garp looked towards the source and was surprise to see that it was Rosan who attacked him.

"Rosan, what's the matter?!" Luffy asked in surprise at seeing his first crewmate attack his Grandpa. That was outta nowhere!

Everyone watched with a surprised expression at how bold the redhead was to attack the monster that was Garp. They felt a bead of sweat as they looked at the smoky area that used to be a tree.

D-Did they really have to raise another monster?!

Ace watched with wide eyes at the power behind that attack. The boy was preparing to walk away, but curiosity dictated that he see how this ended.

"What are you doing?" Garp asked with a raised brow and for the first time in a long time, there was an emotion in Rosan's eyes.

Pure hot rage.

"I'm going to rip you to shreds," the teen snarled and Mod's eyes went wide at his tone.

So they had been right, a powerful enough emotion was able to seep through the castle and into Rosan.

She had to wonder how angry he would actually have been if the castle wasn't there.

Probably enough to raze this entire island to the ground.

Rosan bent his knees and cracked the floor beneath him, as he flew towards the Hero of the Marines. He crashed into nothing as Garp jumped over him but he rebounded admirably.

"Boost x2," Rosan thought immediately and he looked up at the still floating Garp.

The ground beneath the teen crumbled as he jumped to reach him and Garp raised a brow, impressed by his power. He was currently using Geppo to stay afloat and the boy had managed to reach him with one push.

The Marine blocked a punch to his solar plexus and nodded at the strength behind the blow. He held the fist in his hand but Rosan would not be deterred.

In an impressive display of flexibility, the boy twisted himself and delivered a kick that would have forced Garp to release him but the man used Haki to tank the blow.

Rosan grunted as Garp launched him to the floor with an abnormal amount of strength. The boy momentarily lost his breath at the force of the landing but he immediately recovered to continue his onslaught.

Garp landed in front of him and said "What's the matter with you, brat?"

Rosan spat out a small amount of blood and stood up without a hint of pain.

"He's made of tough stuff," Garp thought.

"You… I should never have trusted you," Rosan said lowly, dual eyes glowing and Garp's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't leave Ace in your care so he could end up with that look in his eyes. I left him with you because I thought you'd be a much better choice than me. A safer choice."

Ace froze as he heard that. What the hell was this guy talking about? Left him behind? Who the hell was he?

"I was wrong," Rosan finished coldly and the ground erupted as soon as he finished his sentence.

Only Garp's Haki was able to prepare him for the surprise of the fact that Rosan had a Devil Fruit. He deftly dodged the sudden spikes that used to be the ground and ducked under another blast of energy from the redhead.

"Woah! Rosan, you have a Devil Fruit too?!" Luffy asked in awe. He had never seen anyone take it to his Grandpa like this and his eyes sparkled in excitement.

He was so strong!

Ace was surprised for another reason. Was this teen… related to him somehow? What did he mean left him with Garp?

Was this…his brother?

He desperately needed answers.

Garp could have ended the match instantly, but a strange guilt was holding him back due to the impact of Rosan's words.

He had been able to instantly spot the troubled look in his younger brother's eyes and he was rightfully upset. Ace's life had not been an easy one.

"He might not have been as safe with a 4 year old..." Rosan began and his armband transformed into his default Raid Suit. The long, black and red coat was left open to show the red shirt underneath and his baggy black pants were tucked into his red sneakers.

"...But at least he would have been loved," the 14 year old snarled. "I'd rather be in danger and loved, then safe and unloved," Rosan finished with barely restrained fury.

With that, he was off.

Luffy was wondering just what Rosan's Devil Fruit was. He had been hanging out with his crewmate for weeks and he didn't know he even had one!

Ace was practically petrified at the blunt declaration that someone would have loved him of all people. He couldn't believe his ears. He had a brother? A brother that willingly left him in the care of someone else so he could be safe?

He couldn't wrap his head around this at all!

The Dadan Family looked at the redhead with a terrified gaze. They didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to attack Garp but this kid didn't care at all!

Worst of all, he was strong. Did Garp expect them to be able to watch a monster like this? If he got annoyed with them, they would all die!

Mod was worried. Rosan was throwing out all subtlety in his quest to kill Garp and the teen was out for his blood. He had been preparing for Ace to hate him but this was far worse.

What are you supposed to feel, when you entrust someone with something dear and they fail. Completely.

Ram had to constantly soothe the Devil Fruit nonstop because of her worry.

The brat — Rosan's words affected Garp more than he would have liked to admit. In the eyes of the 14 year old, The Hero of the Marines had failed spectacularly in raising his baby brother and Garp couldn't even fully refute it.

Besides keeping Ace safe from the eyes of the Marine, Garp really hadn't done anything else to make his life easier. That's why Rosan's statement felt so true.

Would he have enjoyed his life more if he was with the more endangered redhead?

Probably.

"I'm sorry," Garp said suddenly, grunting as he tanked a punch right to his gut.

Rosan would not see reason.

"I'll forgive you in 10 years, after you die today," the redhead promised and he leapt back to charge a truly gigantic beam of energy. One of his hands were outstretched and the red laser-like attack began to charge rapidly.

Nothing against Garp was working. Rosan couldn't modify him for some reason and that reduced his options by a lot.

Garp had to wonder just what his Devil Fruit was. The old man sighed wearily and decided to end the battle here.

That attacked looked dangerous for the surrounding area and so he couldn't let it be released, lest someone (it wouldn't be him) got hurt.

Rosan couldn't react in time, as Garp vanished and appeared directly in front of him with a fist reared back.

The Mod Mod no mi user was momentarily knocked unconscious as the blow connected to his face and he soared through the air. The only thing that managed to snap him awake, was his raw hatred for the World Government.

Garp had watched Rosan's eyes roll to the back of his head. So he was surprised to see the boy suddenly right himself in midair and skid to a stop.

The Vice Admiral was surprised at just how resilient the boy was. He had put a sufficient amount of force in the blow to knock him unconscious but the boy woke himself back up.

The teen spat out a tooth and everyone watched in awe as another one grew back into place immediately.

...What.

Just what was this brat?!

Rosan snapped his nose back into place and his body handled the rest. It was times like this, that he was grateful for consuming the Philosopher's Stone.

The teen, in a last ditch effort, let loose a massive amount of Pressure on the Marine, hoping to at least slow him down so that he could properly charge his attack.

Garp was having none of that however. His eyes had widened in recognition at the pressure washing over him but it didn't affect him at all. The old man vanished again and Rosan tried to react, but he was too slow.

"What a monster of a man," Rosan thought as another fist connected firmly with his skull.

The teen finally fell over, knocked unconscious from the attack.

He did not get back up.

Garp hadn't felt this tired in a long time and he didn't mean physically. The mental drain of today was staggering and the guilt he felt was a rare feeling.

"Put him to sleep in one of the rooms," Garp instructed to the terrified Dadan and she nodded shakily, instructing some of her bandits to go pick the tall teen up.

He was a complete monster, the fact that he was only 14, was terrifying.

Garp looked at his sleeping face and let loose a sigh. Despite the anger he fought with earlier, he looked almost peaceful. If his eyes were open, it would be a far different looking reaction but right now, the boy seemed like he was actually sleeping.

He didn't think Rosan had some variation of conquerors haki, but that pressure was unmistakable.

Luffy followed after Rosan, worried for his friend and Ace remained rooted to his spot, overwhelmed by the events of today.

"That's all from me," Garp rumbled, getting ready to depart. "I'll come visit when I have the chance."

No one said anything, too surprised by what just transpired and Garp vanished into the forest.

"All things considered, I expected that to be way worse," Mod sighed, relieved that it was over.

"That punch was strong, Father will be out for a while," Ram remarked, thinking about the fight that just took place. Currently, the weapon and Devil Fruit were sitting in their home.

"We don't lose often but that man is a monster."

"We'll be stronger than all of them one day and when that time comes…" Ram muttered with a deep frown.

"...We'll make all of the World Government pay," Mod finished coldly.

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Misadventures of Robin and Rosan – 11

Robin and Rosan are nine and five respectively.

Robin tries to think of a birthday gift for Rosan.

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When Robin really thought about it, she wasn't sure what type of gift Rosan would really like.

The boy's birthday was fast approaching and Robin had no clue what to get him!

The recently turned nine year old had never given anyone a gift before and Rosan was the first person to ever give her a gift.

Robin wanted to return the favor because the thoughtful gesture had brought her to tears and she had hugged the younger boy for dear life.

But the brunette was stumped.

Rosan didn't show an explicit interest in anything! Everything was fascinating to the little boy but there wasn't that one definitive thing he seemed to want above all.

Robin wanted to get him the best possible gift so she needed to consult an expert.

That's what brought her to the mindscape sitting across from Mod herself.

The purple haired woman was looking at Robin with a curious gaze, as Rosan trained some ways away.

"I saw that you wanted to talk to me, so I sent Rosan far enough that he can't hear," Mod said softly, voice a near whisper.

"Thank you, Mod-chan." Robin smiled at the thoughtful woman. She didn't even need to tell her anything and the Devil Fruit knew something was up!

"So what do you want to talk about? Are you feeling well? Nightmares acting up? Is your body changing in ways you don't understand?" Mod asked and Robin blushed.

"N-No!" She stammered in embarrassment. "I wanted to talk about Rosan's birthday! I don't know what to get him as a gift," the nine year old said, feigning a calm air but actually being more than a little nervous.

"I don't know what the best gift for him would be! What if he hates it…? I've never had to do anything like this and I don't wanna mess up!"

"Robin."

The child froze at Mod's tone. It was gentle but firm and it helped calm the panicking girl down.

"You're overthinking it," Mod informed her with a small smile on her face. The woman shook her head and said "Rosan doesn't want anything specific unless you've got a way to give him a Dragon."

Robin sweatdropped at that. That sounded about right. "So...what should I get him? What if it's not good enough for him? I don't wanna let him down…" she whispered.

"Oh Robin you have nothing to worry about. Rosan doesn't care about that! Just the fact that someone he loves is willing to give him a gift is enough for him," Mod assured her and Robin blushed at the casual dropping of the word love.

"You think so?" The Hana Hana no mi user asked, sounding unsure.

"I know so! He won't get mad at you, I promise," Mod said soothingly and the little girl smiled up at her, feeling a bit more confident.

"Okay! I'll think of something," Robin said with a determined gaze.

"Roooobin-nee," Rosan's voice called and Robin looked at the bronze boy curiously.

"Let's go play! I'm done training," Rosan beamed and she let out a small laugh.

"Are you really done?" Mod asked with narrowed eyes and the child shrunk a bit at her crimson gaze.

"Y-yes Mod-chan! I did everything you wanted me to do! I'm not gonna avoid getting stronger!" The boy whined, glaring at Mod.

"Sorry, sorry, Rosan," Mod placated with a smile, scooping the boy up and patting him on the head. The effects were immediate and he began purring in content.

"Didn't you want to play?" Robin asked in amusement.

"In a minute," Rosan sighed, burying himself in the older woman's bust.

Robin and Mod laughed at the pleased boy.

Rosan really was silly.

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Rosan hummed a jaunty tune as he made his way into the island they had docked by. Robin had sent him off the ship, due to having something important to do, and the boy had agreed easily enough.

She told him to come back after a couple of hours so that's what he would do!

Mod-chan was radio silent too and that meant she was doing somethin, so the boy wouldn't bother her!

It was just him and his… his thoughts.

Oh, that wasn't very good at all.

Rosan hated being left alone with his thoughts.

The boy's cheerful mood immediately plummeted at the revelation and he tried hard to bounce back.

Today was his birthday! He couldn't feel sad on his special day! He was five now and that meant he was getting much closer to being an adult!

Since it was his birthday, he would have to celebrate it with Robin-nee when she was done with her business! Normally, he celebrated his birthday with his… with his…

Ah dammit, there went his mood.

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"I really hope this makes him happy," Mod said worriedly and Robin quirked a brow at the woman.

It was just the two of them communicating (Robin did not know Mod could do that!) and so the words caught her a bit off guard.

"What's the matter? Is Rosan okay?" Robin asked, looking inside of the oven momentarily before getting up and using her Devil Fruit to tidy up the area.

"No, he's sad right now," the Devil Fruit informed her and the nine year old frowned at that.

"You should speak to him, I think I'm good here," Robin said. She had never baked a cake before, but the cookbook was straightforward enough that she could do it.

"...No, I'll stay here," Mod said, surprising the brunette greatly.

It was no secret that Mod was protective of Rosan. She was practically in charge of raising the boy and she took that job very seriously. For her to deny helping him, was a much different outcome than Robin expected.

"?"

"Don't misunderstand, I'm worried sick for him but I think what your doing will help him more than what I can say," Mod explained and Robin was suddenly unsure of herself again.

"Do you really think so?" She asked quietly.

"I know so."

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No matter what Rosan tried, once he began thinking of his mother, it was impossible to stop.

The boy had since secluded himself in an isolated area and he was curled in on himself now. It was taking everything for him to not burst out crying and as such, the birthday boy had been rooted to this spot for a while now.

After what felt like hours (it was nighttime now), the boy was snapped out of his daze by a familiar voice.

"Rosan…?" Mod called quietly.

"…" Rosan didn't reply, his head was currently resting in his knees and he was acting rather unresponsive.

Mod sighed.

"I'm taking control of your body and bringing you back to the ship, once we get on, I'll give you control so you can find Robin, okay?" She instructed and Rosan shuffled a bit.

"...Okay."

The boy didn't resist and soon, the red eyed five year old made his way to the White Rose.

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"It's quiet," Rosan thought, as Mod gave him control of his body again.

The boy blinked a bit and realized he was really hungry.

Some way to celebrate his birthday huh? He was really pathetic...

Robin probably made something for him to eat and went to sleep. He would go eat and then check up on her to make sure she was okay and to let her know that he was okay.

Decision made, the five year old made his way to the kitchen —

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

—And yelped at the lights suddenly being switched on.

Rosan's jaw dropped in surprise at Robin's cheer.

"H-happy wha —," the redhead gaped, sadness gone in favor shock.

The dining area had been decorated with party supplies and there was a large cake along with other assortments of food.

The boy's eyes widened in awe at the purple ROSAN on the strawberry cake and he felt an emotion welling up in his chest.

His lips began wobbling as Robin said, "I heard you were a bit sad today...so I hope this cheers you up! I don't know what flavor of cake you like so I just made strawberry!"

Rosan tore his eyes off the cake and turned to regard his travel companion. "You did this all by yourself…?" The five year old asked quietly and Robin nodded rapidly.

"Yes I did, with some help from Mod-chan… What's the matter? Are you okay?" The 9 year old asked worriedly, noticing the shaky lips of the child. "Did I do something wrong?" The girl asked quietly.

Maybe this wasn't a great idea. Mod-chan should have just went to soothe him because the boy was definitely about to cry right now. Ah… Robin was beginning to feel really bad —

The boy crashed into Robin, startling her and it took her a moment to realize he was hugging her.

"Thank you so much!" Rosan sobbed into the girl. "I-I was having a really bad day and I was about to c-cry sad tears and I hate crying sad tears because t-they make me think of how weak I am b-but, now you're making me cry happy tears a-and that's way better then crying sad tears!"

Robin's eyes went soft as the boy blabbered into her body and she immediately hugged him back.

"You like it…?" The nine year old asked softly and Rosan nodded feverishly.

"I love it!" Rosan squealed, hugging her tighter. The boy stepped back in excitement and kissed Robin right on her cheek.

"You're the best, Robin-nee!" The redhead exclaimed and the sheer emotion in his teary eyes, floored the Devil Child.

Robin touched her cheek in surprise and stared at the source. Rosan was wiping his eyes with the largest grin on his face and he stared at her with pure adoration in his glowing purple eyes.

It felt...nice.

Robin decided she liked how he looked at her with those eyes.

"C'mon Robin-nee! I wanna eat the cake! Is it strawberry? I love strawberry!" Rosan said, dragging the older girl to the table.

"Wait Rosan we can't eat dessert first! I made you your favorite pasta as well," Robin informed and the birthday boy cheered loudly.

"You seriously are the best, Robin!"

She liked it a lot.