【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Can't sleep?" Lucci smiled gently at the smile on Luffy's face, then made a seat for Luffy and let him sit next to him.

"Well, I'm so happy that I can't sleep." Luffy sat down next to Lucci and gave him a bright smile. "Tomorrow we will have another adventure together. I thought this would never happen again."

Lucci subconsciously raised his hand and ruffled Luffy's messy black hair, and smiled softly, "I'm happy too, Luffy, I'm glad you found me."

"I'll find you eventually." Luffy grinned.

"Well, okay, isn't it time to go to bed now?" Lucci said with a smile, "Staying up late is not good."

"Lucci has to sleep with us too, we can't stay up all night!" Luffy said with a grin. He then slid down and lay down, happily pulling the blanket up to cover his face, trying to calm himself down and rest.

"Okay." Lucci looked at Luffy burying his face in the blanket and found it a little funny and cute at the same time.

After a while, Lucci hesitated for a moment, then reached out and carefully tidied the blanket for Luffy. After doing all this, Lucci lay down next to Luffy and fell asleep.

……

Luffy poked his head out from under the blanket, and although he tried hard to rest, he was too excited to fall asleep, so he sat up cross-legged.

Looking at Lucci who was sleeping soundly wrapped in a quilt beside him, he looked completely different from usual. Now Lucci looked very relaxed and seemed to have a gentle smile on his face. This was not like the coldness he showed when they first met in the tavern, nor was it like Lucci's usual smile. Although Lucci would usually smile, he always felt that this moment was different.

The expression on Lucci's face at this moment was very familiar to him, just like when they were children. After all, he was not always the first one to fall asleep.

Luffy hugged his knees to his chest, quietly looking at his sleeping brother. He could feel the extremely warm feeling bursting out of him at this moment. It was really incredible.

Although he knew that Lucci was still alive when he was in Alabasta, it was not until this moment that he truly felt the reality. The brother who had been with him since he was born was indeed alive, within his reach, and the smile on Luffy's face continued to grow.

"Hey." Luffy couldn't help but poke Lucci's cheek with his hand.

Feeling the itching sensation on his face, Lucci's consciousness slowly woke up from his deep sleep. He knew who it was without opening his eyes. Feeling Luffy poking his cheek with his fingers, Luffy opened his eyes helplessly and looked at the innocent boy. "Luffy, what do you want?"

"I still can't sleep, Lucci!" Luffy blinked and looked at Lucci innocently.

"I can fall asleep." Lucci muttered, covering his eyes with one arm, trying to avoid Luffy's innocent eyes like a puppy. After a moment, he put down his arm in a compromise and asked, "How do you want me to help you?"

"I want a story!" Luffy became excited.

"A story? Can I go to sleep after listening to the story?" Lucci pushed himself up a little, rubbed his eyes and frowned.

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded with a smile.

"Okay." Lucci half leaned against the tree, thinking about the story he knew. "What kind of story do you want?"

"It's adventurous and fun!" Luffy said hurriedly.

"Interesting, adventurous?" Lucci repeated, his eyes unconsciously looking at the vines not far away, thinking, "Do you know the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk?'"

"No." Luffy immediately replied, shaking his head.

"Then let's talk about this." Lu Qi nodded. "Once upon a time, there was a boy named Jack. He lived with his mother..."

"That doesn't sound like an adventure!" Luffy interrupted.

"This is just the beginning of the story." Lucci rubbed his temple, somewhat helplessly, "Luffy, you have to wait to hear about the adventures that follow."

"Oh." Luffy nodded and changed his position. He slid down a little and half-lay under the tree, looking for a suitable position to listen to the story. "Then let's get to the adventure part. We can skip all the boring stuff."

"You have to listen to the whole thing!" Lucci sighed, making the telling of the story even more difficult.

"Oh, alright," Luffy agreed, though he would have preferred to just hear the adventure part.

Lucci looked down at Luffy lying on the ground. He was constantly shifting in his position. Well, in order to make him fall asleep as soon as possible, Lucci sighed angrily, "Luffy, come here. Maybe I can lend you my legs to lean on, but I hope you can go to sleep after listening to the story."

Luffy's eyes widened in surprise and he immediately took action, moving his body so that his head rested on Lucci's thighs, and conveniently placed Lucci's hand in his hair. Noticing that Lucci didn't object, his smile grew wider, and he relaxed his body, grinning at Lucci "I'm ready!"

Lucci stared at Luffy's actions in amazement, but in the end he said nothing. He stroked Luffy's hair as Luffy wished, and continued to tell the story. "One day, Jack's mother asked him to take the family's only cow to the town to sell it. On the way, he met a strange old man who offered to exchange his cow for a strange bean. It was a magical bean that could grow as high as the sky overnight."

"Miracle beans?" Luffy interrupted. "Sounds like they'll be delicious."

Lucci looked at Luffy helplessly and said, "Don't interrupt me, Luffy." He now began to doubt whether this story could be finished tonight?

Without waiting for Luffy to answer, Lucci continued, hoping to finish the story as soon as possible. "Jack exchanged the cow with the old man for the magic beans. When he returned home, his mother was very angry, so she threw his beans on the ground outside. As a result, the next morning, the magic beans grew a huge bean vine, and it grew as high as the sky..."

"That's all?!" Luffy asked confusedly "Don't they eat magic beans? Even though there's no meat!"

Luffy ignored Luffy's question and continued, "Jack and his dog climbed up the bean vines. After going through untold hardships, they finally succeeded in climbing to the top of the vines, above the clouds. There, there was a road that stretched down. Following that road, Jack soon found a huge castle. Standing at the gate of the castle was a fat old woman..."

"Wow, this is just like Sky Island, also on the clouds!" Luffy said in amazement, "But at the entrance to Sky Island is an angel that looks like a pickled plum."

"How did you get in touch?" Lucci said with amusement, then stroked Luffy's hair unconsciously and continued, "Jack followed a princess who was imprisoned here into the castle. Jack found a lot of gold coins and a golden chicken that lays golden eggs, a talking harp, and a dangerous giant that eats children..."

"I met giants two weeks ago and they were friendly!" Luffy argued.

"Not all Titans are the same." Lucci stroked his hair gently.