Their stage

Sunset, Fuschia village

With the orange light covering everything, the three kids made their way back to town.

"Shanks is sooo strong"

"He is~" Jack casually answered Luffy. He agreed for a different reason, because he, as a haki user, can feel a person's haki unless the user is skilled enough to hide it.

"Huh? You've never seen him fight. I know him like you don't." Uta quickly protested. She didn't like how the two kids are acting like they know her dad when they haven't been around for long. "He may not look like it but he has a childish side~ "

"Hmm... that's so uncool, shishishi" Luffy laughed while skipping on broken slabs of stones and heading towards a tower.

"That's the cute part of him" Uta protested with a smile.

"Cute doesn't sound like a pirate" Frowned Luffy back. The image of pirates in his mind are rough, strong and always having fun.

"But I like it" Interjected Jack. "I'm cute and I'm going to become a pirate so naturally, pirates are allowed to be cute"

"Wakaranai, but I like it too! I wanna get on board his ship!" Luffy agreed laughing then ran forward leaving the two behind.

"What? We're not done talking yet!" Uta ran after the hyperactive Luffy with Jack choosing to leave the two alone to go explore on his own.

---

After climbing the dilapidated tower, the two made their way to the balcony that's at the topmost part of the tower.

Just as they looked and stared at the sunset,

*Clatter*

"What took you two so long?"

"Eh?!" Luffy, being the closest and was sitting on the edge of the balcony, was the most shocked at Jack who was hanging upside down with the help of the plant life that's attached to the walls. "Huh?" Due to his surprise, he found himself losing grip of the edge and falling.

Luckily, Jack caught him by the shirt just in time. He easily pulled Luffy up, "Waaaaaaaaaa! I thought I *sniff* was gonna die! Ariga *sniff* tou Jackson!!!"

"Sure, just stop rubbing your snot all over me"

Jack said trying his best to keep Luffy's snot away from his clothes with a blank face.

"This idiot... he's the one who made you fall in the first place" Uta just looked at the crying Luffy with superficial disappointment. The truth is she was relieved nothing happened and was impressed at Jack's calm rescue of the idiot.

Looking at Jack's face, she followed his line of sight. That's when she also saw the beautiful sunset whose orange hue covers the entire town.

"This is my stage" Uta proclaimed with a smile.

"Yi!" Luffy climbed the edge again and laughed , totally forgetting how he almost fell down earlier.

"It's not bad, but since I've been to so many places, I've seen lovelier scenes than this." Uta smiled, looking at both Luffy and Jack.

In response to this, Jack sat at the edge, spread his arms, sported the biggest smile he can and said, "I want to see it too! I want to see everything this world has and I won't let anyone stop me!" He proclaimed, lacking the laziness he normally has as if he was saving his energy all for this moment.

"Hehehe, ore mo! I can't wait to become a pirate and go to sea too!" Luffy made his proclamation as well, trying to one-up the two by sporting a bigger smile and shouting as loud as he can.

Both Uta and Jack looked at the Luffy who seemed to overlap with the setting sun giving justice to the boy's bright nature with a smile.