【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Hearing this answer, Lucci opened his eyes wide in shock, his heartbeat kept accelerating, but suddenly he thought that if what his brother Ace said was true, it means that he might have abandoned his brother one day ten years ago. When he thought of this, his guilt kept rising. Lucci looked at Luffy and hesitated, "I'm sorry... I... I'm sorry for forgetting you. I lost my memory, and now..."

"It's okay!" Luffy interrupted Lucci's apology. He never thought it was Lucci's fault for forgetting them. He grinned, although tears could still be seen in his eyes. "I'm glad you're alive!"

"So how many brothers does Luffy have..." Usopp muttered softly. Only Qi, who was closest to him, heard what Usopp said, but he just smiled.

Lucci looked at Luffy's joyful eyes and felt a little guilty, because he couldn't confirm whether he was really the Lucci that Luffy was looking for. He knew that what he was about to say was hurtful, but this needed to be made clear. He didn't want his ignited hope to end in disappointment, just like he once did.

"Brother Ace, are you sure that you found the real Lucci? It's not that I don't believe it, but..." Lucci was still talking, but suddenly noticed the sad look on the boy's face, and slowly stopped talking.

The next second Lucci looked at Luffy in panic as tears instantly filled his eyes, "Hey, wait, don't cry!"

"It's not Ace, it's Luffy!" Luffy's voice was choked with sobs, and he asked with sobs, "I want you to call me Luffy, Lu is also okay!"

"I get it, Luffy, you're a man, and men don't cry, right!" Lucci said in panic as he reached out and skillfully comforted Luffy from behind, completely unaware of how naturally this action was.

Luffy tried hard to hold back the tears that were about to come out. He was a pirate now, a man, and he would not cry anymore. But he was still sad to hear his brother ask him like this.

Although he had learned from Ace that Lucci had lost his memory, he felt sad when he saw the strange look in Lucci's eyes. His brother no longer recognized him and only treated him as a stranger. "You are Lucci. Only Lucci can be so gentle."

Luffy held Lucci's face, his expression gradually firmed up, "You are my brother. You are always smarter and stronger than me, but you like to explain everything to me and make sure I know that you love me forever. It is you who told me that I will never be alone, and it is you who taught me how to protect. You always make sure I get the biggest piece of meat because Ace is always stealing. You don't like to study either, but you will learn more from Makino so that you can teach me. Every night you will read me all kinds of adventure stories and sing pirate songs. You said you want to explore the world, to become stronger, and to protect the people you love no matter what!"

Lucci blinked, not realizing what Luffy was talking about, then realized, was that him before he lost his memories?

Luffy laughed again, tears still visible in his eyes "And you always say I'm your most important treasure, even though I'm your brother, not a treasure!"

Nami and the others looked at Lucci in shock. From his appearance, this man was nothing like what Luffy described. He looked like the kind of indifferent person who didn't care about anything.

Lucci listened to Luffy's words and instantly felt hopeful about finding his memory again. He had tried before but always ended up disappointed. He also thought that he was sometimes very familiar with Ace's behavior, which might mean that he knew him before, but Ace didn't show that he knew him before, and they joined the Whitebeard Pirates together, so he gave up the idea. He didn't expect that they actually knew each other before, and might even be brothers.

He was a lost soul for a long time, belonging nowhere, without a sense of self-identity. He just lived for the sake of existence, until he met Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates, which taught him to bury all his feelings, let go of his obsession with past memories, and focus on the present.

He was surrounded by his family, who also accepted him completely, and they were all very strong, so he had nothing to worry about. He had rarely felt that way in the past two years, although he still didn't care much...

Qi frowned slightly as he looked at Lucci, why did he feel that something was a little bit wrong with the main body's condition, but with Luffy around he wasn't too worried, but he needed to give them some space.

Qi looked at the dark sky. They had to start preparing a place to rest for the night. He looked at Luffy and said with a smile, "Luffy, you guys should have a lot to say. I'll leave this to you. Let's go to the lake and set up camp. We'll camp there tonight."

"Well, it's time to prepare dinner," Sanji agreed.

"Well, I'm going to have a bonfire party!" Luffy shouted excitedly to his friends, but he still didn't let go of Lucci.

Lucci looked at the backs of everyone leaving. In fact, he was a little nervous about the upcoming conversation. Of course, he sincerely hoped that everything Luffy said was true.

But his current self might disappoint him. After all, he is no longer the person he was before he lost his memory, and his actions or reactions might make Luffy feel that they do not meet his expectations of his brother.

He no longer knew everything about him, even though he had heard of him from Ace, but to be more precise, the two of them were actually just strangers who had never met before. Lucci thought nervously, he didn't know who he was or what he was like when he was a child, what if Luffy didn't like the way he is now?

What if he did something that made Luffy realize that he was no longer the same Lucci as before? And he would never be able to change back, what should he do?

For a moment, panic took over his heart. For some reason, he was suddenly a little scared. He was afraid that even after knowing the story between them, he still couldn't remember it, and his behavior and thoughts were still not what Luffy expected.

"Lucci, what's wrong with you?!" Luffy frowned and looked at Lucci seriously, wondering why he just felt the breath of fear from his brother.

"No, nothing... nothing." Lucci forced a smile at Luffy, still immersed in his own panic.

"No way!" Luffy held Lucci's face, stared into his eyes and said seriously, "Ace and I are very happy that you are still alive. I am also very happy that you and Ace have become brothers again and found friends. Even if you have lost your memory and don't remember me, you will always be my most important brother. If you want, we can create more new memories."