#keeps dadan's beads

[franeridan]

doodling ace and suddenly having a lil mental breakdown over him, daily occurrences and all that

[xamaxenta]

More thoughts on how unrestrainedly gay Marco is for goth cowboy Ace

—

The second time Marco meets Ace is when the crew is coming to the venur to have a look over, check the space and let him know what they can and can’t do for the show.

He’s waiting by the backstage doors, leaned up against the brick facade smoking casually when the van emblazoned with BANDIT VFX rolls into the parking lot. It’s black with fire decals and he should’ve known who owned said vehicle when Ace gets out of the passenger side seat.

He wishes in hindsight that he had worn some kind of accessory to hide his face, some sunglasses or maybe a face mask because resident hot goth Portgas D Ace happens to be shirtless.

Shirtless and jogging up to him from the length of the wheelchair access ramp, heavy pectorals bouncing distractedly, dog tags and beaded necklaces clinking together and Marco drops the butt of his cig, stomps on it particularly hard to get rid of his sudden surge of emotion at the sight of the other man.

“Hey.” Ace says without a single note of hesitation, but before Marco can reply with his own greeting, too focused on the sweat dripping dripping down the hollow of his freckled throat, Ace shoulders past him and through the backstage doors.

“S’rry bout that. He’s excited.” Dadan speaks up and Marco glances back from the swinging door Ace had just passed through to watch them walk up the stairs at a much more sedate pace than her employee.

“Can’t really keep up with you youngn’s with this bum ass knee.” Dadan grouses and she drops her own cigarette onto the butt littered floor and Marco snuffs it out for her with the heel of his shoe.

“Bum knee.” He repeats when Dadan looks down at him with a look burning in her beady eyes.

“Shut it, Yall’re beginning to sound like my quack these days.”

Marco wants to politely raise the point that maybe theres a reason for this but wisely keeps his mouth shut and instead opens the door for them instead.

“Thanks.” Dadan grumbles and together they trudge through the back halls of the concert venue until they end up on the big stage where Ace has already got to work, walking the length of the stage, whistling and tossing a tape measurer cassette up and catching it with his right hand, the repetitive clack of hard plastic hitting the metal of his many rings is ridiculously sexy. Marco mentally makes a note to go jerk off when he’s back at the hotel, must be mad pent up for that to get under his skin.

Then Ace turns on his shiny booted heel, drawing out a length of metal tape between his left forefinger and thumb when he spots them across the stage. Releasing the little tab, Ace allows the tape to whisk back inside its casing as he swaggers back across the stage, pocketing the tape as he does.

“God put a shirt on would ya?” Dadan grouses beside the singer and what Marco had initially thought was a rag looped through her tool belt was in fact a washed out yellow shirt. Marco watches her toss the shirt towards the other man, mouth dry when Ace snatches it out of the air, again that was way more sexy that it shouldve been.

Marco would happily watch the contraction and relaxation of those biceps any day when Ace shrugs on the shirt, clears his throat a little louder than necessary when said shirt catches at Ace’s elbows and he has to arch his back (those fucking tits god.) in order to shimmy it on properly.

“Can I help you?” Ace asks him pointedly when hes done, not even bothering to button up the threadbare shirt. The peek of washboard abs and the heavy shadow his pecs cast has Marco daydreaming already when Ace waves a hand in front of his face.

“Dude.” Ace snaps his fingers and Marco comes back from gay lalaland and refocuses on the younger man slowly.

“You good?“ Ace glances him once over, Marco refrains from preening or whatever that did NOT mean anything, a once over did not equal to he’s checking you out. Not at all.

“Yeah.” Marco finally grits out and Dadan cackles beside him, thumps her meaty palm against the small of his back, almost sending the singer flying off the stage from the force.

“Right show us what ya got for us blondie.”

[enjomo-arch]

okay,  ya'll  Ace's  hunting  knife.  

So  while  talking  with  my  friend  about  it,  not  many  people  actually  give  a  shit  about  Ace's  hunting  knife  but  I  think  it  has  way  more  to  do  than  being  some  crap  that  Ace  found  somewhere  to  carry  with  him.  He  had  the  knife  while  setting  sail  first  time  at  Dawn  Island  at  the  age  of  17  and  there  were  mentions  about  the  said  knife  in  the  novel  as  well.  The  weapon  itself  has  (  at  least  what  I  think  it  is  )  the  logo  of  the  Ancient  Kingdom  /  Void  Century  which  is  shown  countless  times  in  the  manga  /  anime.  The  pattern  looks  exactly  like  it  and  it  has  the  same  amount  of  "dots"  (  8  )  around  the  "sun".

One  possibility  is  Ace  finding  it  but  it  doesn't  suit  right  to  me  because,  if  he  found  it  I  don't  see  a  reason  for  him  to  actually  chain  the  knife  to  his  belt  so  it  doesn't  come  off.  Naturally,  Ace  has  few  memorial  items  that  he  doesn't  take  off  /  let  go  like  the  red  beads  necklace  in  memory  of  Dadan.  If  this  was  just  a  hunting  knife,  I  see  no  reason  for  Ace  to  chain  it  to  his  belt  to  keep  a  close  watch  on  it  so  it  doesn't  get  stolen  or  he  loses  it  somewhere.

It  has  to  be  something  he  received  after  growing  up.  Maybe  it  being  a  heirloom  after  Rouge  or  Roger  which  may  connect  the  knife  to  the  Laugh  Tale.  Something  Roger  found  on  the  island  and  gave  it  to  Rouge  and  then  it  was  then  given  to  Ace  most  likely  via  Garp.  I  really  do  think  the  knife  has  a  very  significiant  meaning  for  him  one  way  or  another  and  if  this  is  the  only  thing  Ace  has  after  his  mother,  obviously  he  won't  let  go  of  it.  

[acepedia]

HUNTING KNIFE.

So  while  talking  with  my  friend  about  it,  not  many  people  actually  give  a  shit  about  Ace's  hunting  knife  but  I  think  it  has  way  more  to  do  than  being  some  crap  that  Ace  found  somewhere  to  carry  with  him.  He  had  the  knife  while  setting  sail  first  time  at  Dawn  Island  at  the  age  of  17  and  there  were  mentions  about  the  said  knife  in  the  novel  as  well.  The  weapon  itself  has  (  at  least  what  I  think  it  is  )  the  logo  of  the  Ancient  Kingdom  /  Void  Century  which  is  shown  countless  times  in  the  manga  /  anime.  The  pattern  looks  exactly  like  it  and  it  has  the  same  amount  of  "dots"  (  8  )  around  the  "sun".

One  possibility  is  Ace  finding  it  but  it  doesn't  suit  right  to  me  because,  if  he  found  it  I  don't  see  a  reason  for  him  to  actually  chain  the  knife  to  his  belt  so  it  doesn't  come  off.  Naturally,  Ace  has  few  memorial  items  that  he  doesn't  take  off  /  let  go  like  the  red  beads  necklace  in  memory  of  Dadan.  If  this  was  just  a  hunting  knife,  I  see  no  reason  for  Ace  to  chain  it  to  his  belt  to  keep  a  close  watch  on  it  so  it  doesn't  get  stolen  or  he  loses  it  somewhere.

It  has  to  be  something  he  received  after  growing  up.  Maybe  it  being  a  heirloom  after  Rouge  or  Roger  which  may  connect  the  knife  to  the  Laugh  Tale.  Something  Roger  found  on  the  island  and  gave  it  to  Rouge  and  then  it  was  then  given  to  Ace  most  likely  via  Garp.  I  really  do  think  the  knife  has  a  very  significiant  meaning  for  him  one  way  or  another  and  if  this  is  the  only  thing  Ace  has  after  his  mother,  obviously  he  won't  let  go  of  it.  

[whirlybirdwhat]

Prompt: ASL give Dadan a father's day card. (She threatens to kill them but she keeps the card)

hehehehe this is late BUT HERE WE GOOOOOO

bear hag tiger bandit dad mom

read on ao3 here

“Hey guys.” Ace started out of nowhere, as he and his brothers laid down, staring at the sky from their usual cliffside spot. “What even… is Dadan.”

A beat of quiet.

“A hag!” Luffy said delightedly, giggling as he rolled over to stare at Ace. “An ugly one! Or even a bear! Oh she’s a bear-hag! A bear-hag-tiger-bandit!” He then gasped dramatically, stars in his eyes. “DO YOU THINK SHE CAN HAVE CLAWS! AND FANGS!”

“No! Idiot!” Sabo thumped Luffy on the head without even moving from his position on his back. “Dadan isn’t a bear. Or a tiger. She is a hag though.” He nodded, as if he had made an excellent, proper point.

Ace groaned at his brothers. “No! I mean what even is she to like… us. Not anybody else.”

“What do you mean?” Sabo rolled over as well to look at Ace, who was staunchly refusing to look at anyone else and whose face was turning a brilliant shade of red.

“I mean… like she kinda watches over us right? Does that make her kinda like a parent?”

Sabo cocked his head to the side, thinking. “I mean… maybe? She does give us food and medicine sometimes.”

“NO! THAT’S NOT DADAN! THAT’S –“ Luffy was quickly cut off by a hit to the head from Sabo.

“The Mystery Doctor isn’t real, Luffy, its just Dadan in a shitty mustache.”

Luffy looked to the side disgruntled. “Hmph.”

“GUYS! Focus!” Ace finally rolled over to face his brothers, so now they were finally all looking at each other. “What is Dadan? A Parent? A Mom?”

“I never had a mom before! Or a dad! Is Dadan a dad? Or a mom?” Luffy chattered, jumping on the possibility.

“Neither have I. That’s why I’m wondering.” Ace ignored the latter half of Luffy’s comment. Sometimes it was better to allow him to ramble than to try to make sense of it all. “Sabo you had parents right? What were they like?”

“Shitty.”

“Well, duh. No shit. What else?” Ace prompted, Luffy finally having quieted about Dadan being a tiger-bear-dad-mom beside him, and both staring attentively at Sabo.

(Because, well. They were children who never really had a home beside each other. Dadan was the closest thing Ace ever got, Luffy never had more than spare moments when the bar wasn’t busy, and both never knew anyone that could have been called dad, or mom, or anything of the sort – no one who stayed that is.

Ace hated his dad, and loved his mom (and hated himself, for all that he did,) and Luffy simply didn’t think he had any parents to feel anything about.

Still, Ace wondered, and things that his brothers wondered about, Luffy wondered about.)

Sabo placed his hand on his chin as if to think better. “Well. If we’re figuring out what Dadan was closest to, my mom was kind of like… Eh. She just cared about appearances and looking pretty and shit like that.”

Luffy and Ace nodded as one. “That’s not Dadan.” Dadan might wear make-up and beads, but she was a mountain bandit who was never really seen by people other than her clan or her victims. She didn’t really care about stuff like that. Even if she did get pissed when they stole the lipstick she kept hidden in her back closet for war paint.

“And she cared about other kids more than me, and didn’t really bother me until I did something she or someone else didn’t like.”

“Definitely not Dadan.” Luffy and Ace nodded again. Dadan didn’t have any other kids and yelled at them all the time. (Though, that may be because they never did anything they were supposed to do. What did she expect? Chores were boring! )

“What about your dad? What was he like?” Ace prompted, tossing out the idea of ‘mom.’

“Shitty. He always yelled at me and called me names. He was mean about it though. Dadan just looks like she’s about to cry.” Sabo finished, still thinking hard. “I mean… my parents aren’t what everyone else says parents are like though? At least for the kids in Edge Town.”

“Yeah… dads are supposed to protect you right? And be big and strong? And leaders?” Ace questioned, bitterness tracing into his voice.

“And moms are suppose to like take care of you and bring you stuff! Like the Mystery Doc-“

“THAT’S JUST DADAN!” Both Ace and Sabo this time hit Luffy’s head, cutting him off.

“She just comes to check on us, then trips up all our traps! It’s not a Mystery Doctor! Just! Dadan!” Ace spit out.

Luffy whined as the three of them quieted, thinking over everything that they had just said.

Then, Sabo spoke the words that would seal Dadan’s fate.

“If Dadan is kind of like a dad…” She protected them, or tried to in her own way, and was the leader of the Dadan bandits. “And kind of like a mom…” She was the Mystery Doctor, as Luffy called it, and checked up on them while cursing them out in all sorts of nasty ways. “Then… is she a mom and a dad? Is that how that works?”

“Well. We only have one of her. She can be both.” Ace decided. Jungle life left no room for society to state who could or could not be what and… well…

Besides. Maybe mom’s were the protectors sometimes and the leaders, and maybe dads were the caretakers. Ace was pretty sure that could happen. Did happen. Roles were stupid anyway. Just do whatever the fuck you wanted. That’s how Ace and his brothers lived, anyway, how everyone should live.

But…

“Why were you really asking Ace?”

Sabo knew him too well.

“Some of the kids in Edgetown were talking about how they were getting their dads’ shit for Father’s Day or something.”

And Ace wanted to know if he should be making something for anyone (or just wallow in the hatred he had for his dad.)

If he had anyone to make something for.

Luffy doesn’t even question why Ace was lurking around Edgetown kids without them, and sits up with stars in his eyes.

“WE NEED TO MAKE A CARD FOR –“

“SHUT UP!!”  Twin fist slammed into a rubber head as Ace and Sabo cut Luffy’s idea off.

“HEY!”

Or maybe…

“Maybe he has a point.” Sabo hummed, thoughtfully, as they had all settled into the ground.

“What?”

“Maybe we should make a card for Dadan.” Sabo rolled out of the way of Ace’s fist. “No! Think about it! We get to tell her thank you for all the shit she tries to do for us and maybe she’ll stop yelling at us so often!”

Luffy and Ace looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Sabo felt vaguely insulted.

“It’d be super funny to see her face when we give it to her too.”

Luffy and Ace looked at him as if he were a genius.

Now, there was only one question left.

“How the fuck do you make a card anyway?”

-

Dadan woke up peacefully that morning, which was an immediate cause for her to reach for her knife under the bed and spring into action.

She never woke up peacefully anymore. Not since those three brats had taken to crashing the hut in the morning. Either something was wrong, or those brats were playing with her.

She was going to get more gray hairs than Garp at this rate.

Fuck.

Quickly, she scanned her room for any oddities, any thing that would tip her off to whatever the fuck was going on this morning.

Dresser. Mirror. Weapons. Window. Card. Window. Wall. Wea- Wait.

Card?

Dadan stepped closer to the piece of folder thick paper, lying on her dresser, and peered at it closely.

Hapy Father’s Day! It read, in the misspelt handwriting of a child who had previously learned to write well then gave up. It was in black ink, fancy looking, with a smear along the exclamation point and drifting off into the side.

Around it was jungle trees in crayon and something that might have passed as Dadan, if not for the lack of face, and the only visual characteristics being orange curls and red beads and sharp teeth and a angry look.

Curious.

Wait.

SHE WAS A WOMAN!

Damn BRATS!

She ignored the tears at the edge of her eyes and opened the card, knife set to the side.

Dear Dadan, the same handwriting as the front said, this time in dark blue, thickly pressed crayon. Hapy Father’s day. Thank you for taking care of us. Beside the note was a scribbled jolly roger, an S surrounded by crossbones as its signature. Besides that was another scribbly orange blob, this time marginally closer to looking like a person.

Beneath that, on the same page, was careful red print, again in crayon. The words were spaced out, as were the letters, as if the writer didn’t particularly know how many letters were in the word and was waiting for someone to tell them. It read Shitty Old Hag. Thank you for taking care of me. You are stupid but you are strong sometimes. Happy Fathers Day. – Ace

Besides that was some suspicious wet spots, hastily wiped away.  Dadan dabbed her own eyes as to not add to them.

Ace’s artistry skills were slightly better than Sabo’s at least. His version of her was most definitely a person, apparently sitting atop of a bear. She laughed at that, a little.

Her eyes skimmed to the next page, where a monstrosity of black and orange was red was scribbled out. She was vaguely sure it was human. Vaguely. It might have been a bear.

The yellow crayon writing had been outlined in careful strokes by someone clearly not the original writer. DADAN, it seemed to screech, YOU ARE THE BEST BEAR HAG TIGER BANDIT MOM DAD. MOUNTAIN BANDITS SUCK BUT YOUR COOL. – FUTUR KING OF THE PIRATES

Then, on the opposite side of the drawing, in bright orange, LUFFY.

These stupid, stupid kids.

Dadan wasn’t crying. She wasn’t.

Oh how she loved these kids.

She turned the card around one last time, to the message on the back.

This handwriting, graceful and in black ink, was one she recognized. Makino.

Dear Dadan,

I hope this gift doesn’t insult you too bad, the boys were so excited to do it that I just had to help them with supplies! They really do love you, even if they don’t quite grasp the difference between mom and dad. They told me they just decided you could be both. Isn’t that great?

Thank you for being there for our boys Dadan! Happy Father’s Day.

-Makino

Okay. Maybe Dadan was crying right now.

Oh, she hated the fact that she loved these boys.

“Shishishi!”

“Luffy! Shut up!”

THUNK!

Oh, she was going to kill them.

Dadan turned to the window where a top hat, a straw hat, and a quite obvious head of black hair was peeking out over the window sill.

“BOYS!” She raged, setting the card down with care before running to the window.

“RUN!” Came the terrified call, followed by laughter and joy as three boys sprinted away into the woods.

Dadan debated following them, before deciding she would rather they not see her teary-eyed face.

Ah.

She might not be the best parent, but she did alright at least. Enough to get a card on a holiday.

Dadan loved her boys.

She really did.

[midnightluck]

Prompt MarcoAce where Marco terrorizes the bandits for neglecting/abusing Ace during his childhood.

I’ve been sitting on this for a while because I couldn’t figure it out. Marco doesn’t seem the type to be vengeful enough to do something like that, and regardless of whether or not Dadan and the bandits’ care was abusive, I can’t imagine Ace thought it was.

So here, have a different way Marco could have met the bandits:

~@~

“Oh, you don’t want to go upthere,” the woman says. “There’s bandits in these woods.”

“Bandits,” Marco repeats, andthe woman nods.

“Yeah, bandits. A rough gang,and they’ve been here for years. Don’t bother the town itself, not really, sowe let it go, but they’d catch a stranger walking into their woods.”

“Good,” Marco says, setting offinto the forest. The woman yells something behind him, but his hand clenchestight around the item in it and he sets his chin and steps forward.

The woods are light to startwith, but the trees get denser as he heads further in. It’s dark, here, butthere’s just enough light to see by. It’s hearing, though, that warnshim—there’s animal noises until there aren’t anymore, and Marco keeps his headup and his shoulders down.

Something moves behind him andMarco sidesteps easily.

“Well, now, what have we here?”a large, ugly person says, casually reeling back in an absolutely massive club.“You lost, stranger?”

“On the contrary, yoi,” Marcosays, and raises both hands in surrender. “I think I’m exactly where I need tobe.”

The bandit’s eyes go to hishands to check for weapons and stay there. “What—” they get out, and, “Isthat—”

Marco’s fingers tighteninstinctively around it. “I’m looking for Dadan,” he says. “I think she’ll wantto see me.”

“…yeah,” the bandit says. “Yeah,I—I think she will.”

Marco follows the bandit up thepath, towards a small clearing. There’s an array of similar people there, alllarge and perfectly arranged for maximum intimidation, and the woman in thefront has red curly hair and an axe as big as she is.

Marco swallows on memories andfocuses on keeping his pace steady.

“Well, well,” she starts, thenlooks up and catches the look on her subordinate’s face. “Magra. Somethingwrong?”

“He—Boss, it’s…”

Marco steps forward and asks,“Are you Dadan?”

Her eyes narrow and she haulsherself up to standing. “Who’s askin’?”

She’s not the tallest personhe’s ever seen, but she’s the tallest he’s seen recently, and that hurts too.He brings his hand forward and forces his fingers to uncurl around the necklacehe’s been carrying for far too long. “He,” Marco says, and his voice cracks,just a bit. “He said this was yours, yoi.”

She stares at the red beads, andeveryone else does too.

“He wanted to give it back,”Marco continues into the silence. “Said he was sorry he couldn’t carry it allthe way, and that it, at least, should come back home.”

Dadan, the mighty woman, sinksto her knees, right there in the clearing in the middle of the woods. “How dareyou,” she says blankly, but they both know she means how dare he.

But that was the problem withAce, even if he came by it honestly; the Gol men were always at their cruelestwhen they were trying to be kind. It was unintentional, probably, andthoughtless, but that never made it hurt less to those they left behind.

“I’m sorry,” Marco says, and hemeans for everything.

“Leave,” she says, and he nods,takes a step forward, and offers her the necklace. She lets him drop it intoher hands without looking up at him.

Marco turns and walks away, backthrough the forest. A wail rises behind him, and his shoulders hunch in as heputs his hands in his pockets and stares down at the path.

He’s getting real sick ofwalking away from grief.

[creative-type]

Dadan, please?

Dadan wasn’t typically a morning person, but this day was an exception. She woke in the time between darkness and twilight, when the world was quiet save for the breeze rustling through the trees. Even Luffy—rambunctious, rubberskulled, ball of seemingly infinite energy that he was—was sprawled in a heap on the ground, having fallen asleep before he could find his bed.

She lit a smoke and leaned back on her old rickety chair. Garp never did pay her enough to justify replacing it, the cheapskate, and she filed that fact away in the back of her mind to use as ammunition the next time he visited. 

Not that it would do her any good. Dadan was a bandit, the old coot the Hero of the Marines. She didn’t have any choice but watch over his disgustingly danger-prone grandsons and pray they didn’t get themselves killed under her watch. 

It used to bother her how Garp could foist his problems onto other people without consequence, but she understood better now. And, in any case, the brats had grown on her, though she’d rather have died in the Grey Terminal fire than say so out loud. She was a bandit, dammit. She had some standards.

Besides, the burn scars she still wore said more than words ever could. Dadan thought her little brats understood the point. 

At least she hoped they did.

The floorboard creaked behind her, and Dadan turned to see Ace duck into the house. Whatever he’d been doing at this time of day she’d never know, but it was plainly evident that was nervous. Excited too, to be sure, but with a healthy dose of reality to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground.

“I’d have baked you a cake if I thought you’d be around to enjoy it,” Dadan drawled. “I figured you’d be gone the stroke of midnight as eager as you were to leave.”

Ace smirked. “That’s okay. You can’t bake worth a shit anyway.”

“Sounds like you need to go back to Makino for another lesson in manners. A mouth like that’s begging to be smacked.”

“Not if I smack them first.”

Dadan grunted and put out her cigarette. A comfortable silence set over the small house like an old, familiar blanket. Without rousing Luffy, Ace gathered the belongings he packed the night before. Dadan knew he wouldn’t leave without telling his beloved brother goodbye, but having something to do, no matter how menial, seemed to settle him. 

“It’s going to be strange having to go hunting after all these years,” Dadan said. 

Translation: I’m going to miss you, you snot-nosed brat.

“Luffy thinks he can pick up the slack.”

Translation: I’m worried about him.

“He better. Your idiot grandpa will kill me if he gets himself eaten alive. Better hope all those ridiculous training sessions pay off.”

Translation: He’s gotten stronger, but I’ll do my best to keep an eye on him.

“I guess,” Ace said softly. He straightened himself, a look of awkward indecision on his face. “Say, Dadan, d’you mind if I practice, one last time?”

“Practice what?” Dadan asked.

“Being polite. First thing I’m gonna do is hunt down Red Hair and tell him thanks for saving Luffy. I don’t want my mouth to get me into trouble.”

Dadan had no idea what had gotten into him, but stressed as he was about going out to sea she wasn’t too surprised if a few screws had gotten a little loose. “Sure, kid. Knock yourself out.”

A look of grim determination settled over Ace, which might have been funny if not for how serious he was. No one in Garp’s ridiculous family did things by halves, and that included those who were adopted in. He came to face Dadan properly, his arms locked in by his sides. Bowing down, he said, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I know I’ve cause you a lot of trouble, and not just ‘cause of who my bastard father is. Maybe with me gone you can have a little peace and quiet. I know you’ve earned plenty.”

The world went silent. Dadan stared at Ace shell shocked, which was hard to do as her vision went blurry. The little beast was going to make her cry. A lump formed in her throat that made it impossible to shout at him for being stupid, but somehow she managed to say, “I don’t think you’re supposed to cuss.”

He offered her a shaky grin. “I guess I need more practice then.”

“Yeah, I guess you do.”

From his corner Luffy began to stir, and Dadan knew that once he woke up the moment would be broken. Without thinking about what she was about to do, she stood from her creaky old chair a pulled the red beaded necklace from her neck. 

Gently, tenderly, she placed it over his head, and said with her voice thick, “It’s not a cake, but it’s the best I’ve got.”

The look of genuine surprise on Ace’s face was worth the price of admission. He touched one of the beads reverently, as if they might break if he pressed down too hard. His smile came back, the one that made him look like a boy of seventeen rather than the man he so desperately wanted to become. 

“You know, I may have a shit father, but as far as moms go I’ve had it pretty good.”

It was a good thing Luffy chose that exact moment to wake up, and Dadan was able to exit the house for a good, long cry, because while actions spoke louder than words, there were just some things that needed to be said.