𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈| 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐃. 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜

𝟷. 𝙻𝚎𝚝 𝙶𝚘

He was a soldier, a good one at that. He was considered to be the best of his generation. Son of a vice admiral and himself about to be promoted to one. He did his job without an ounce of hesitancy. He followed orders to a tee, and because of that, he was called a hero.

A hero who put the criminals in their place and protected the innocent and vulnerable.

The successor in the ultimate fight of good against evil is winning every time.

Even though it was just a job, he made it his life. It made him happy despite the hideous parts he had to turn a blind eye to. He told himself that things had to be done to maintain peace. He had to take children away from their mothers. Put fathers in prison for stealing food to feed their families—murder almost-mother for possibly caring for the spawns of devils in their wombs.

It had to be done; that's all there was to it.

Even though it broke him daily, he did his job despite everything.

Dragon looked down at the newborn that was desperately crying in his arms as he had heard from the other villagers that this one child was just a weird being to have in their home. He can't tell the difference between their words or thoughts about the baby being boarded alone without supervision. They only left it alone to die under the cold, wet, heavy rain as he felt his blood boil to think they didn't even help. 

Hearing the wails, he bent down on his knees to pick them up and held them in his arms as he shooshed them to soothe their crying. The only thing now was to find somewhere to crash for the night since he had a baby to keep them nice and warm, for god's sake. He searched around the city and found one place that could keep them warm for the night. No one lived there, and it was a little old and overused. He prayed that it wouldn't collapse on them, so he went inside, and luckily, he had matches light up some candles around for him to see. It was perfect for him and the baby to settle for the night until they could leave around the morning. 

"Alright," Dragon started removing his green cloak to set it on the sofa, still in good condition. "I guess this will be it for tonight." Dragon looked down at the baby that was looking up at him with curious eyes. "We will have to leave early in the morning, and I will have to take you back to Baltigo." 

She made a slight noise as he sat on the couch staring at her. 

"I don't know why no one wanted to help you since you look normal to me. I don't see anything wrong." He said, looking down at as she raised her tiny hand as he lifted his index finger to let her grasp it. 

He chuckled as she held onto his finger making her smile at him.

"Do you have a name? I bet no one left a name for you, did they?" He said, looking at her as he thought of any names that could fit her. He remembers the day Luffy was born and thought of the name even though he had to let his father raise him. 

Dragon looked down at the baby girl only to see that it was a girl and she had these adorable eyes and soft hair, and she was relaxed in his arms. 

"Lia. I think your name should be Lia." He said as she smiled up at him, nuzzling her head against him and earning a low chuckle. "Better get plenty of rest since we're going to leave early in the morning."

Outside, the sky was already dark, and the streets were emptying. Dragon headed for the first grocery store he could find. It wasn't particularly well-stocked, small, likely a family business selling the yield of their farms. They were already in the middle of closing up and eyed Dragon with displeasure when he picked milk from their shelves. However, any further annoyances went ignored when he put more berries on the table than needed and left as quickly as he had arrived.