Author's two cents:
Nine years ago the world was changed. For better or worse? That answer, even now, is left hanging in the air. We as a people are more conscious of the world around us. We no longer can walk around in a blind daze thinking we are untouchable. Terrorism did not suddenly appear on this day but maybe, for some of us, it had dealt a blow far too critical to only be pushed aside as we had done before.

No one who truly experienced this day will ever forget the impact one simple morning gone horribly wrong can have on a person, a city, a country, a world. That one day we watched as humanity sank to its lowest depths and then helping hand by helping hand we watched as humanity overcame the darkness and shined brightly in its truest colors.

I wrote this story not just as a memory to the fallen but also the survivors. The heroes of the day we all talk about and the ones that quietly slipped into the unknown. There is a country artist by the name of Darryl Worley, some years ago he wrote a song titled 'Have You Forgotten?' When I first heard this song I actually had to stop and think about it. Since then I have become increasingly worried that this day will ultimately fall by the wayside. Becoming as trivial a date as December 7, 1941. (How many of ya'll will google this date wondering what I'm talking about?) History will remember this, there is no doubt, but do we really want the only memory of this event to be bastardized in some grade school textbook? Or worse Hollywood film? We as individuals are stewards of our memories, to pass them on to the next generation so that they may not repeat our mistakes and perhaps improve on the future.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything

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Why We Can't Forget
Chapter One
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September 10
8:15 p.m.

"So how is my future son-in-law handling all these preparations?" Came the laughing voice of an older woman from the other end of the line.

"Yeah surly he isn't making you do everything?" Asked another woman's voice that spoke up on the three way call.

Nami sighed and smiled to herself as she looked out the window to the distant New York City skyline, what a tricky question that was. She couldn't possibly say that her sister was right and the idiot had dumped all the complicated planning on her lap. That would just cause her mother to possibly beat her future son-in-law to within an inch of his life. "Well, uh, you guys know Luffy. He doesn't like to think about the complicated things." She laughed nervously as she tucked a strand of her short orange hair behind her ear and closed her eyes, waiting for it.

Both older women on the line sighed in exasperation. "You really found yourself a winner there Nami, he doesn't even care about his own wedding. You could have him dressed in pink for all he knows." Nojiko said to her younger sister and somehow Nami knew she was right. Luffy never did care for the traditional way of things, if it were left up to him he would have dragged Nami to the nearest courthouse and gone straight to the I-Do's.

"You know Nojiko, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea, that'll teach him a lesson to be helpful, once in awhile." Bellemere giggled evilly.

Nami could just see her adopted mother's face, evil little smirk, dark eyes, and pitchfork included. "Bellemere, Nojiko, you guys aren't being fair. Luffy is being very supportive of the whole thing, he just trusts me to make better decisions than he would. Besides you know Luffy didn't grow up around the church, he's probably been twice his entire life. Having a big church wedding is probably making him more nervous than the getting married part is."

"All right Nami, no pink tuxedo for the groom then." Bellemere said with a chuckle then turned her attention to her oldest daughter deciding to finally stop teasing Nami. "So Nojiko, how did your date go the other night?"

Nojiko stopped laughing at the image of Nami's fiancé in a ruffled pink tux and huffed in annoyance. "Date? What date?"

"Oh, right." Nami said into the receiver. Now much more interested in the conversation when it wasn't turned toward her. "It was that cook guy that you met last week. The one with the dorky eyebrow."

XxXxX

Two men were sitting in one of New York City's cleaner bars. A little hole in the wall place but pretty respectable. Both had windblown black hair but one had a spattering of freckles across his nose while the other sported a scar under his left eye. The freckled man was wearing a pair of black jeans and a red t-shirt with NYFD on the front, he was obviously the older of the two. The younger man was dressed in much the same way with a plain pair of blue jeans and a fitted black t-shirt.

The freckled man was laughing loudly at the other. "I can't believe you Luffy. You would push all that onto Nami and think a little housework will balance it out? This is your wedding too man you can't leave it all up to her."

"Yeah but I don't know anything about that stuff. I mean the flowers and colors and table pieces, I would just screw it up." Luffy took a drink from his beer and looked over at his older brother. "It's better if Nami does it and is happy with it."

"Luffy trust me on this, she will be far happier and more sane by the end of this if you put a bit more effort into helping her plan this thing." Ace told the younger man. "Even if it's some small thing that's one less problem your girl has to worry about."

Luffy looked thoughtful for a moment staring down at his bottle. "I suppose your right Ace."

"Course I am." Ace laughed drinking the rest of his Coke and sitting back on the barstool. Looking at his watch the older man knew he would have to call it a night pretty soon. It was harder to have these brother's nights out with Luffy since he had joined the New York City Fire Department. Which was also why he had a soda in front of him instead of a beer. He was supposed to be at the station bright and early the next morning and having a hangover on the job was definitely frowned at.

"So have you talked to Gramps lately?" Luffy asked noticing his brother look at his watch. He finished off his drink and stood up with Ace right behind him. Luffy knew his brother's schedule and while he didn't have to work the next day Ace did. Not to mention Nami would be ticked at him if he stumbled into bed past midnight again.

On his way out the door Ace turned to the barkeeper, an old friend of his by the name of Sabo. "Hey I'll see ya later Sabo and by the way your calendar's wrong, it's 10 September today, not the second." The curly haired blonde man frowned at his long time friend then looked over at his seriously out of date countertop calendar.

With a final wave over his shoulder Ace turned back to the conversation with his brother. "Nope, haven't seen the old man since your birthday party. You know how backed up it gets in his office. With all his meetings and stuff it's amazing he has any time to get caught up with it. Ah wait, you have told him about the wedding right?" Ace asked as a sudden thought came to him and he looked over at a nervous Luffy. "Don't tell me…"

Laughing a bit Luffy hurried out to his brother's car trying to avoid the accusing gaze. "Well I thought maybe you could tell him or he'll find out when he gets the invitation, right?"

XxXxX

September 11
6:45 a.m.

As usual for this time of day the many halls and offices of the Pentagon were busy with both civilian and military personnel coming and going to their designated work spaces. Air Force, Navy, Marine, and Army uniforms mixed in together with the occasional suit and tie. High ranked officials of all branches were already preparing for their day filled with meetings, paperwork, briefings, paperwork, reviews, and you guessed it- paperwork.

"Vice Admiral, are you paying attention?" One of the Navy's top officer's secretaries asked with a small smile.

The grizzled gray haired old man grunted into his second cup of coffee. "Yeah. Yeah. 9:00 meeting with the other vice admirals and admirals." Garp repeated the last line she had read off his schedule to show that he was indeed listening.

The secretary nodded though she knew the vice admiral couldn't care less. She had long smooth black hair that reached past her shoulders and striking blue eyes that always seemed to give off an air of calm. She had actually heard some people say that she was much too beautiful to be an ordinary secretary for anybody. Robin had to laugh to herself at that. Looking back to the vice admiral she noticed that his gaze was looking down at one of the few photos that were on his desk. She had seen the said picture before, it was the one with both his grandsons and his youngest grandson's soon to be wife. "Luffy called," Robin said deciding to see if the old man was really paying attention to her. He grunted, "they decided to move the wedding date up." A nod was her answer. "They actually decided to elope to Vegas." The blue eyed woman said seriously.

"Good. Good." Garp murmured.

Robin hmm'd before going further. "They wanted to have the wedding before the baby came." She told him hiding her growing smile behind the clip board.

"Well that's…" Garp paused finally registering what his secretary was telling him. "That little ingrate did what!" He was halfway to the door before Robin's light laughter reached his ears. Huffing he plopped down in his chair trying to ignore the still chuckling woman. "Not funny in the slightest, Ms. Nico." Garp scowled.

Now finally having his attention and being able to stop her laughter Robin read off the rest of the vice admiral's daily schedule. He grumbled at the number of briefings with different officers he had. Garp got up from his chair and walked over to refill his cup making it the third coffee he had this morning. Robin frowned down at the photo of Ace, Luffy, and Nami. The happy couple was turned toward each other while the freckle faced young man was leaning against his younger brother's shoulder. "I still don't understand why you're against the marriage Vice Admiral. Nami seems like the perfect match for Luffy." Robin said still looking down at the picture.

Garp huffed returning to his chair. "It's not like I don't want them to get married. I want my grandsons to be happy but those two are moving much too fast. I was engaged to my late wife for two years before we got married that's not counting the five years we dated. How long have they waited, hm?" The Navy officer answered his own question. "Dated for only a year before moving in together. Now after only two years they think they're ready to get married?"

"Not to mention that little brat hasn't even told me about the wedding yet, I have to go and find out from that blasted woman, Dadan." The vice admiral grumbled moodily.

Robin just shrugged she knew by now it was hopeless to try and talk him out of his rant. "Times are changing for these younger people." Was the only thing she could argue with.

XxXxX

7:05 a.m.

"Nami. Nami, wait up." The orange haired young woman turned at her name being called and smiled toward her friend hurrying from the elevator and running to catch up. "Good morning Vivi, late again today?" She asked the blue haired secretary.

Vivi grinned as she caught up to the other woman. "Oh, yeah, I overslept this morning. Hey is that a new blouse?" Vivi asked lighting up at the prospect of any new fashion around the office.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it is." Nami grinned looking down at her new shirt. Luffy had bought it so of course it was red, which was his favorite color. It had thin darker red stripes going down that blended in perfectly with the lighter color red. With it she wore a short plain black skirt and regular high heeled shoes. The two women continued to walk down the hall towards their office talking about their latest shopping finds.

Nami couldn't help but smile as they passed the other office workers that occupied the seventy-first floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Her life had really picked up since two years ago when she dumped her loser ex, Paulie. She and Luffy had been best friends since high school but it was only after the whole thing that he finally told her how he felt and well, the rest as they say is history. Her and Luffy were getting married in three months. She had gotten a great job, had her own office, and was looking to be the first twenty-six year old to make office manager in the company's history.

"Well, why don't you two ladies take your time?" A large black haired man frowned as Nami and Vivi walked into the office. Arlong stood outside his office door. His crisp business suit, as always, didn't have a string out of place. His somewhat longish hair was tied back in a neat pony tail and his sharp eyes lingered on the two younger women as they entered his sight.

Vivi frowned worriedly, Arlong always made her nervous, but Nami just smiled. "Geez Arlong, you're so uptight." The older man just frowned.

"You're a smart mouthed woman you know that." Arlong mumbled before turning away. "Where's Kalifa?" He asked louder addressing the other people in the office. The blonde haired woman was usually the first one at work in the morning so it was unusual to not see her.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Kalifa had that doctor's appointment this morning. She won't be in till later. Don't you remember?" Arlong huffed in annoyance whirling around and disappearing into his office. The young orange haired woman shrugged carelessly and made her way through the many desks around the large room towards her smaller office while Vivi broke off from Nami and went to her own desk.

An older pink haired woman grinned and sat back in her chair as Nami passed by. On her desk were a few little pink pig figurines and some pictures. "Don't let that old blowhard get to ya girlie. He's just nervous that you're movin' up so fast."

"Don't worry about me Lola. It'll take more than that grump to scare me off but can't say so much for Vivi." Nami grinned back to her old mentor. Out of everyone Lola had been in this office the longest and she had seen dozens of new people be brought in and pass her up. She had actually been the one to show Nami the ropes when the orange haired girl started this job. The old woman always said that she was happy right where she was though.

XxXxX

Zoro sat in the airport terminal a newspaper opened in front of him. In one hand he had a Starbucks coffee and the other held the paper up. He had gotten up extra early to make sure he wouldn't be late and miss his flight. Even though he traveled through airports a lot for his job, he always managed to get lost in them. Thankfully today he made it and with plenty of time to spare.

He had just started to read up on the sports section when a small voice could be heard in front of him. "Hey mister, mister." Zoro tried to ignore the child hoping she would go somewhere else. There was a slight tug on his pants, no such luck. "Hey miiister." The little girl whined. Growling in annoyance Zoro lowered his paper to see a little blonde haired girl looking right back at him.

She didn't seem to be affected by the scary look on Zoro's face. In her arms she held a blue rabbit. Her hair was pulled back in long pigtails and her wide innocent eyes looked back up at the older man in awe.

"What?" Zoro growled hoping to get rid of the brat.

"Your hair looks weird." She said pointing to Zoro's green topped head. She giggled as he nearly fell off his chair at her statement. "Gonbe thinks so too." She said pointing to the stuffed bunny rabbit.

The green haired man glared down at the child. "Well you shouldn't talk about weird looking hair." Zoro smirked pointing to her pigtails.

The girl's lips poked out in a pout as she frowned up at him. "You're also a mean old man." She told him loudly and then her little foot connected to Zoro's shin.

"Ouch, damn it brat." Zoro bent down to rub the sore spot on his leg then looked up to yell at the annoying kid. She wasn't there anymore. Looking around he saw her running off towards an older heavyset woman who looked to be coming out of the bar area nearby.

"Grandma Kokoro I just met this really funny looking guy!" The little girl called out. Her blue rabbit was being dragged behind her as she ran.

The old woman turned at hearing the child's voice. "Oh Chimney there you are." Her words were slightly slurred and she was a bit unsteady as she grabbed onto the girl's hand and the two disappeared in the crowd.

Zoro sighed. No wonder that brat was so annoying if that was her role model. He couldn't believe the old woman, it wasn't even nine in the morning and she already looked wasted. He didn't even know the bar was open so early.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a woman's voice speak up from over by the entry gate announcing that Flight 93 to San Francisco would begin loading now. Zoro grinned, finally he was going home. He hurriedly grabbed his bag and ticket then walked over to stand in the line that was forming.

A petite, flighty looking pink haired woman was taking tickets. Even in the standard airline uniform her look just screamed goth girl. 'Perona' was the name on her nametag and Zoro chuckled at this, somehow the name seemed to fit. He handed his boarding pass to the young woman and walked onto the plane. He found his seat easily and after stowing his carry on in the overhead compartment he sat back ready to enjoy his flight.

XxXxX

Luffy blinked, the sun streaming in through the windows getting into his eyes. Groaning the young man sat up and rubbed his hand over his face trying to wake up. Last night he and Nami had stayed up late again, not that it wasn't fun, but the black haired young man briefly wondered how his fiancé could still wake up so early in the morning. He looked over at the clock sitting on the nightstand. 8:32, Nami had left for work already. He grinned, luckily working as a freelance photographer meant making your own hours.

Throwing the covers off, Luffy stood up and stumbled into the bathroom for a shower. A few minutes later a clean and more alert Luffy strode out and dressed for the day. This meant a pair of comfortable blue jean shorts and a red t-shirt.

He walked into the kitchen ready to dig up some breakfast. Luffy stopped in front of the fridge and smiled, there was a small yellow post-it note stuck at eye level so he would be sure to see it. Nami must have left it for him this morning before she left. 'Have a good day, Love You' was written in her neat handwriting.

His grin turned softer as he reached up to take the note from its spot on the fridge but then he noticed that there was a little arrow in the corner of the paper. Turning it over he saw she had added something else. 'Do the shopping' Luffy sighed before he chuckled. He would have to be sure to leave her one later. Luffy grinned remembering that it was him who had started this little note passing game in the first place.

He turned on the small kitchen TV and changed the channel finding an interesting talk show to tune in to while he made breakfast. Luffy had just cracked open some eggs over the skillet when the show was interrupted by a news broadcast. Luffy was only half listening to what the news announcer was saying, after all it was New York, it was probably just some accident or something. The black haired young man just kinda tuned it out that is until the words World Trade Center came out of the guy's mouth.

Luffy jerked around looking, for the first time, at the television screen. There was a wide camera shot of the New York skyline and the Twin Towers, only on the screen one of them was billowing huge clouds of smoke. It was Tower 1 if Luffy remembered correctly though from the camera angle it could be Tower 2. The camera zoomed in for a closer shot and he saw a gigantic hole in the side of the building. What the hell could've made that? The scene then changed back to the newsroom and the announcer who was recapping the recent events. "Again, we are getting reports that a plane of unknown origins or size has just crashed into the side of the World Trade Center, Tower 1. Police are asking people to avoid the area for their own safety."

Listening to the man Luffy sighed in relief. Tower 2 hadn't been affected and wasn't being evacuated. Nami was safe over in the South building. The newscaster said they'd keep people updated on what was happening and then the talk show came back on. Probably for the first time in his life Luffy voluntarily switched the channel over to the 24 hour news station, they were also covering the story. Now that he knew Nami was safe Ace came into his mind, would his brother's fire station be sent to handle that?

=O=O=O=

A bit long winded at the beginning wasn't I? I'm not sorry for it. Just something that needs to be brought to people's attention every now and again.

Also since I know some of you are wondering. I decided to make Nami's family religious because simply put, it goes with the story. Also during the Skypia arc Nami was the only one to actually pray to 'god' Enel (before he tried to kill everyone). Sure it was a gag but I take what I can get…

Sorry I never meant to post all this at once but today is just about the only time I'll have access to the internet anywhere close to this date. And it really wouldnt make sense any other time, would it?