After five drafts, this is the end result. Figured I'd just post it now before the word count for the rewrites of this single chapter gets longer than the fic itself. Sorry for the hiatus. orz

Someone said the trio+1 could set sail right now and train by themselves, but I couldn't imagine bro-con-to-the-extreme!Ann allowing that… thus, separation arc.

Luffy always amps up his cuteness factor near Ann. That isn't necessarily a good thing.

Mood whiplash! Whooo!

Ah, if I had finished this and then gone on hiatus, I'm sure people would have cursed me for being horrible. Horribler. Sorry again. Orz

Also… I was supposed to be writing chapter 18, but YoI happened and suddenly I have posted two Victuri WiP fics? Like, why.

-Separation-

-o-
Little Brother
-o-

Why is it that he's never around the action? He's strong! His punch is stronger than a pistol!

…he's getting there anyway.

Still.

Annie almost died.

He wouldn't even know anything was wrong if he hadn't overheard grandpa talking with Makino.

It was late and he really should be sleeping, but grandpa hadn't returned to Dadan's place yet, and something just felt wrong. He gulped; suddenly his throat was very dry. Annie always left a cup of tea on the nightstand, where was it?

Ah, that's right, he was all by himself.

Luffy got up, swinging his feet around until he found his sandals. On his way to the kitchen, he heard voices. Quietly, he sat down behind the counter.

Grandpa's furious face was scarier than normal. No, that wasn't it. Was that… fear?

There were things that scared even grandpa, invincible as he was. Luffy shivered.

"They went to the Gray Terminal, of all places. It was a splendid rescue mission, I'm proud of those brats. But then, a heap caved in." Grandpa's hands covered his eyes and he leaned both elbows on the table. "I- I saw those spikes going through—"

Makino gasped, trembling in horror. Garp tried to console her, but he was shaking too much. He downed the bottle of rum and carelessly wiped the spilled droplets with the back of his hand.

"Fortunately, it was hot enough to cauterize the wound before she died from blood loss." He furrowed his brows and opened another bottle. "By the gods, what has become of this world, that I'm relieved my only granddaughter had her internal organs fried."

Luffy ran to the bedroom and buried himself in the blankets, taking large gulps of air as the scent of his siblings soothed him.

Annie was—

Big sister was—

Ever since the time those bandits almost took Sabo, Luffy never felt completely safe. He still had nightmares of waking up alone, helpless, as motionless bodies drifted away from him in a sea of red.

The smell of wrongness still clung to the bar, almost one year after that day.

Luffy had seen Lucky Roo carrying something. Then, he had pressed his face to the window, and couldn't look away from the odd angle of Shanks' arm. Limp like a ragdoll, so much stuffing spilling out from broken seams.

He never spoke of that with anyone; it's not like people ever told him those things either. No one ever included him in anything important. They all thought protecting and hiding was the same. They kept him in the dark.

But the dark was a scary place. Half-ignorance was like a clean canvas. His imagination painted all kinds of monsters, as it filled in the blanks between the few clues he could hear when no one was paying attention. Who would get hurt next? Ace? Makino?

He wanted to cry, kick and scream until they understood. But that wouldn't help anyone, so he didn't.

And what could he, a little kid, have done?

Luffy shook his head. No! He couldn't think like that!

'Next time, no one will get hurt! I won't allow it.'

Until then…

He opened the door and tackled his older sister, pressing as close as he dared, mindful of the bandages sticking out of her button-up shirt and what they meant.

The warmth helped ease the pressure in his chest, and he clung tighter.

Luffy vowed to himself: he'd grow strong enough to protect his family.

-o-
Recovery
-o-

"Annie!"

Ouch!

"Lulu darling, I'm glad to see you too. My ribs are still a bit sore, though."

"Oh, sorry." Then, his face scrunched up. "Idiot Annie! You were the one who told me to pay attention to where you were going!"

"…pardon?"

Luffy stiffened momentarily and his hold tightened again. "You stopped right under falling trash!"

"…when you put it that way, that's really dumb."

'Does that help if I say I was hearing voices no one else did? No? Dang it.'

A shiver ran down my body and I momentarily froze in remembrance. The feeling of all the victims as they—

'Nope, not thinking of that now. Or ever.'

After derailing that train of thought, I tried to reach the jar of water on the nightstand, but Luffy caught my arm and shook his head sternly.

"If you do it again, I'll punch you!"

"With your pistol punch?"

"Yeah!" Luffy stuck his lips in an exaggerated pout—which was only possible due to his powers… Ah, his punch was much better after Sabo helped him.

"I think your natural hair color suits you much better."

"Oh? Sabo, are you complimenting me?" I looked at his reflection in the mirror, still struggling with the tangled mess that was morning hair. I had tried a new hair dye, and it was finally the same brown-so-dark-I-should-call-it-black-and-leave-it-at-that as Ace's. No, really, that was what Makino had called it.

"Nope. It's just, now I can't get the image of Ace frolicking around in a frilly skirt out of my head." Sabo shuddered. "The horror."

I beamed at him. "That's exactly my intention!"

"…"

I was finishing the braid when the hair band slipped. Before I could even complain, Sabo crouched under the dressing table and retrieved it. "Thank y—ouch!"

Sabo had decided on a better way to return it. As in, right on my forehead. "You should have seen your face! It was… haha!"

I, as a perfectly mature person, responded in kind. He shouldn't have initiated a fight against a better armed opponent: inside my drawer, there were dozens more elastic bands.

"Ouch!" Instead of retaliating, though, Sabo's expression turned pensive. "Hm… rubber stretches."

"Figured that now, did you?"

"Quiet, you're obfuscating my genius!" He shushed me distractedly. After a few more moments, it was as if a lamp had lit over his head. "Luffy's punch. I know what's wrong with it. Probably." To demonstrate, he shot another rubber band on my head. Then another. And—

"You!"

Back in the present, I pinched Luffy's cheeks, pulled and released. The smacking sound was adorable.

"Hey, what was that for!?"

"So cute!" I moved to hug him. "Gah!" And was painfully reminded of my healing torso.

"Ugh… huuuuurts…"

"Stupid Annie." Pouting, Luffy filled my glass of water.

000

"On that shelf over there, you can find my lesson planners sorted by subject. There are a few template books you can fill with whatever else you want. Everything is color-coded, and there's an index attached to the wall in case you forget anything.

"I ordered a shipment of assorted supplies at that shop in High Town, you just have to show these papers to the shopkeeper. It's paid already, and everything should arrive next week. We're a bit low on bandages, so get a few first aid kits while you're there. Actually, there's a list of everything you should get, I put it on the desk.

"Also, I wrote down all your favorite recipes, there's a personalized copy for each of you. Don't forget to—"

I gasped, only then noticing the complete absence of air in my lungs. Nervousness. Ugh.

"Stop. Breathe. We'll be fine." Ace tugged at my braids.

"Besides, you already threatened us with unspeakable horrors if we don't write every month." Sabo whispered, "Mother hen."

I was asking for monthly updates, not daily, overly-detailed reports! How did anxious people deal with long distance and no phones or emails?

"Bu-but, you'll have to do almost everything by yourself!" I turned to Ace. "No offense, but..."

Letting Ace teach a class full of young, impressionable minds by himself was usually a bad idea. The kids loved him, and he could make the most boring topics sound fun, somehow. However, no one had managed to remove the scorch marks on the wall from that time he set fire to the roof, and the very odd stains that no one could remove from the (glass!) windows, that failed biology class of horrible evils (Makino, thank her amazingness, intervened before the kids arrived), and, and… No. Just… no.

"I can't help it. It doesn't matter if it's only temporary; leaving you behind is just-!" I sat down, absently doodling on the fine layer of chalk powder on the desk. "The mail ship only comes to Dawn Island once a month, if you miss it, I'll spend an entire month worrying! Besides…

"I don't want to wake up without a numb arm because Luffy couldn't let go; or make green tea, only to remember Sabo isn't there to drink with me, and that Ace won't complain about our old people tastes because he isn't there either! I don't want to find out Rourou spoke only weeks after she did."

"Well, guess what? As annoying as you are, we don't want you to go either! But that was your decision in the first place, and I, at least, will respect that. So, you should go through with it without complaint." Sabo then slapped my head. And again for good measure.

I was too drained after packing to properly thrash him for that.

"We're lucky Luffy wasn't here to see that. One crybaby at a time is more than enough. Go wash your face, Ann. You look like hell." Ace patted my back and smirked. "If Rou sees you like this, she'll cry."

"Thank you for those kind words." I usually couldn't say things in such a dry tone. 'I suppose I'm all dried up from all those spilled tears. Wow, I'm getting the hang of this dry tone shtick, even mentally!'

Ahem.

"Whatever. After all this drama, I'm hungry." Ace stopped by the door. "Are you coming?"

Grooooowl

"That's Ann-speak for yes."

I punched Sabo's shoulder. I had that much strength left, at least.

"And that's Ann-speak for 'I love you, most awesome brother of mine.'"

"I want to eat something refreshing. That's Ann-speak for low fat, low sodium, low sugar, completely unprocessed food."

"NO!"

000

"Annie! I w-won't miss you at all, so you can go and stud-d-dy with-without—"

I wiped Luffy's cheek with a handkerchief and patted his hair with the other hand. And promptly stuffed it in the dirty clothes basket before the snot could seep through the fabric.

"I'll be back for the New Year, so we can make a huge birthday party to make up for all the others! And you'll have one less person to share the cake with." I sat on the bed and pulled him onto my lap.

"But I want to bake them together."

"We can do that when I get back, and I did write all your favorite recipes so you can practice with Makino."

He buried his face on my shirt and mumbled something unintelligible.

"Ann, are you ready?" came grandpa's voice from the door.

"Yeah, just give me a moment."

"Lulu, I have to go now."

He shook his head.

"Look at me, please."

He lifted his head.

"Promise you'll look after them for me?"

"…I promise."

"But don't forget to take care of yourself first. Otherwise, you won't be able to help anyone else."

He straightened, took a deep breath and spoke again, more firmly, "I promise."

We shook hands.

Luffy was the first to let go, but his hand hesitated and lingered half-way through, fingertips still connected to mine. He took a deep breath and put on a wobbly smile. "Don't go crying in a corner when you miss me!"

Before I could reply, he continued, "instead of crying, use that time to write more stuff in the letter, until it gets so big they charge extra for ex… exci…exceeding weight!"

'No… be… strong… no… glomping… the… cute…'

"Ah! Who cares!" I glomped him again, but miscalculated and we toppled over the laundry basket.

"Mm-hmph! Pfft—" Luffy made a face. "Ew, Ace's sock. Tastes as gross as it smells."

I peeled the still-wet piece of cloth from my hair and had to resist the urge to bawl again. Snot dribbled from a few strands. There wasn't time to wash it off before departure. I'd have to face a ship full of strangers with… with…

There are no gods in this world.

000

"Don't overdo it. Sleep. Drink water. Don't skip meals."

I nodded vigorously.

"Be polite. Tie your shoes. And that's it, I think." Makino unfurrowed her brows, folded the sheet of paper—the list—and put it in my pocket. In her normal voice, she said, "Mandatory nag list recited. Time for hugs." She extended her arms.

I hugged her. Resisted for five seconds… and snorted. "The hell was that?"

Makino started giggling so hard she crashed her chin on my right shoulder. "Oooow…"

Instead of stopping at the pain, the guffaws only got louder.

"But seriously, wha—hahaha—what was that?"

After Makino stopped, she took a deep breath. "That was what he did. Went and wrote this list by himself, and told me to be a good girl in his gruff voice. Said, 'be a good girl and you can come with me when you're older.' Of course, with no hugs. He was never one for much for physical displays of affection. Or verbal, actually."

He?

"You're the one going away, but I thought it was appropriate."

He?

"By the way, he told me to give this to you. A gift from your aunt."

Who's he? Him. Whatever. Why am I even correcting myself in my head?

Waitaminute. Aunt.

In my shock, I unwittingly said that last part aloud.

"Yes, aunt. Ruby. Unless you have aunts from your father's side? Petite, blonde, Luffy's mother?"

"You… met her?"

Makino made a strange expression. Before I could wonder what it was all about, she said, "Your aunt has been dead for years. I thought you knew…"

That made sense. But then, how did she even leave a gift with Makino?

She passed me a single earring. The design was simple: a small hibiscus with a ruby in the middle.

I gasped.

It felt… familiar.

"Dragon told me to give this to you. It was your mother's."

Before I could ask the thousand questions in my mind, grandfather approached us. "Ann, we can't delay the ship anymore. Give your brothers one last hug and we'll leave."

I stopped by Rouge's crib and kissed her forehead. Tackled my brothers in a group hug with Makino and even grandfather in our people pile. Checked my luggage yet again.

After removing my shoes, I walked towards the small boat that would lead us to the ship. Under grandfather's shadow, larger in the early hour, mine was invisible.

The small boat rocked on the calm waves—the same waves that consumed the remains of our sandcastle.

Stepping on the ship, the light breeze cooled our damp feet.

The water finally won against the crumbling sand.

How long would it take for my shallow footprints to fade from this island, forever?

000

I see through the rail:

The blue horizon of doubts.

Uncertain, set sail.

000

End of the Beginning_