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Chapter Text

Dragon panted, forcing himself to keep running, careful to keep a grip on the bundles in his arms.

His Observation is 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, stretching as far as it can as he weaves between the trees, dodging sight-lines as fast as he can.

𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮, whispered the instincts in the back of his skull. He glanced down at his hands, watching the claws reform his nails.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵, he promised, letting the claws remain to help him grip onto the twins easier. The one rule his father ever gave him about their other forms; 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 let a human see it. Much less anyone who's not a D. And never, under any circumstances, a 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭.

Soulars are an extinct species, erased from every Creatures guide in the world long ago. Those guides never mentioned that they possessed the ability to disguise themselves, which was his bloodlines only saving grace.

The smell of blood clouds the air, getting sharper with every second he allows the beast under his skin to inch closer to the surface. 𝘕𝘰𝘵. 𝘠𝘦𝘵. He keeps running, human form getting tired far too quickly.

His shoulder 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴 in burning sharp pain and he falls to the ground with a half-feral screech. His claws dig into the baby— 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦—?!

He glances up, watching as the woman picks up the wailing baby. The other twin is squished underneath him, hidden. He hears a distant commotion that he shouldn't be able to hear— 𝘈𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬. His ears shifted, long and pointed.

The knight is talking, raising a sword over his neck while holding the baby with her by the scruff. Whatever he can hear, it's 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺— 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴— 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳— 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘴— 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦— 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭—

Feathers sprouting across his body, scales breaking apart his skin. The woman flinches back, "What the hell— What kinda little baby Marine has a Zoan?!" He snarls back at her faintly, carefully using one of the insect-like arms sprouting on his chest to cradle one twin before whipping around.

The larger wings replacing his arms lower, talons on their ends making contact with the ground smoothly. The smaller pair by his hips flap a few times, letting him get his footing again and twist his long, feathery tail out of the way.

Golden antlers weigh heavy on his head, and he rears up, spreading his larger wings and snarling full force 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 at the knight. She grins confidently, "Oh what? You think some fancy bird-dinosaur thing is gonna be able to—"

He swings his tail around, slamming her through a few trees while carefully plucking the twin she was out of the air, holding him in his teeth by the collar of his onesie. He ducks his head to place him next to the giggling one, both cradled safely against his chest in a mantis-like grip.

Dragon's ear flicks and he turns, watching the knight haul herself out of the rubble. He drops back to all fours, keeping the twins steady as he snarls at her. The antennae on his forehead uncurl, spanning his Observation farther than it's capable of in human form.

The woman is shouting something, but he stops caring the second his senses 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦 in response to another pulse deeper towards the island center, and a massive grey shape bursts out of the treeline, large wings carrying it towards the sky as dark tendrils attempt to give chase.

Dragon 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘴, a deep echoing sound as he rears back up and beats his wings. He crouches and 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘴, four wings carrying him far out of range of the knight's next laser blast attempt. The twins squirm against his chest, one giggling and the other making adorable awed noises.

He takes another breath, call rumbling in his chest.

"𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧!"

—·–-–·—

Garp hates every second of this.

First getting assigned to help out with this stupid 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 those 𝘧𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘴 pride themselves on, only to find out Rocks showed up?! Roger being here is a bright spot, no matter how much he hates to admit it. The bastard is actually 𝘧𝘶𝘯 to fight.

(𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵)

Anyway, as if this day couldn't get worse, one of those Elder fake dragons gets fucking— possessed, transformed, whatever it is, it doesn't matter much in the face of the way it makes his skin 𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩.

His spine aches, there's a thunderstorm inside his head, he's barely keeping his Haki under control— and then the 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘟𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘤. He hears what it says, in that annoyingly posh voice of it's. Something about his rival having a 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 and 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥.

"Roger—" he half-literally snarls, seeing his m̶a̶t̶e̶ rival startle out of the corner of his eye, "Don't do anything dumber than what I'm about to." He doesn't really hear Roger's confused sputtering, too busy tossing his Marine coat aside and letting scales burst from his skin.

His transformation is quick nowadays, dark horns forming across his temple as large feathered wings overtake his arms. A bat-like set rests by his hips, balancing out the crocodilian tail that swiftly curls around his rival.

His talons dig into the ground as Roger yelps, frantically clinging onto his backspikes as he leaps into the air, wingbeats loud as he darts forward. He sees the demon's gaze snap towards him, it's freaky ringed eyes widening as he swoops past.

Garp twists to grin back at it, Rocks dangling by that stupid coat from his teeth. He flaps out of the way of a tendril, tossing the stunned bastard onto his back, right between his wings where Roger is clinging on.

"Hey Xebec, how's it hanging?" The cheerful bastard chirps, before promptly yelping as Rocks probably smacks him, "WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS, HUH?!" The captain barks, clinging onto Garp's spikes as he flies over the island, trying to make distance between them and the Celestial demon fucker.

"Uhhh, Garp. Apparently. I know it's not a Devil Fruit, I've seen the guy swim, so I'm not entirely sure?" His rival chuckles nervously as Rocks damn near snarls at him. Any further arguing is cut off when Garp has to barrel-roll between another set of tendrils.

The trio collectively turn their heads, glancing back at the furious monster, "𝙔𝙊𝙐—! 𝙈𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙩, 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬?!" It screeches, more tendrils lashing out as the Soular weaves and dodges clumsily, 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴.

A loud roar reverberates through the air, storm clouds forming swiftly as a dark shape darts through the air, weaving faster and smoother than himself. There's an odd whistling sound as the storm settles over the island and Garp's ears flick.

He tucks his wings, plummeting out of the way before swiftly 'parachuting' to avoid crashing into the trees as the smaller shape divebombs past, sparks crackling off it's skin.

There's the deafening crash of lightning, accented beautifully by that monster screaming in rage mixed with agony. Garp grins, beating his wings frantically to get above the cloud layer. He can hear Roger laughing and Xebec's startled yelling, which is just 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴.

With one more wingbeat, the sky above is clear, storm clouds crackling beneath his talons as he catches a good wind and begins to glide smoothly in no particular direction. His passengers pant, and there's a startled yelp of pain.

"Why the hell did you smack me?!" ; "I deserve a better explanation from you bastards! GARP— The hell is 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?!" ; "I'd actually like an answer to that too, for the record. You've never done anything like this before."

The duo had managed to crawl their way up his spikes and towards his feathery mane, now clinging just behind his ears. He snarls faintly, sparks of Haki pouring from between his teeth. He briefly considers just dumping them in the ocean, they can swim back to their crews for all he cares.

Before Garp can ponder a dive any further, the storm beneath them fades away, revealing a large expanse of open ocean. 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, the Marine considers, flapping to the side to let the smaller Soular soar up beside him.

The little shit at least has the decency to look sheepish as he snarls at him, not even caring that both his rivals have Voice of All Things and therefore can hear his next sentence—

"𝘿𝙍𝘼𝙂𝙊𝙉! 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜?! 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙖, 𝙬𝙝𝙮'𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙣 𝘾𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨?!" He lectures, tail lashing so violently he has to beat his wings to keep steady.

His hatchling winces, ears flattening a bit as his antennae curl, "𝙎𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧... 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧! 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙮." His brat smooths the feathers on his chest, revealing two small shapes cradled in his freaky bug arms.

Garp squints, catching the wind under his son in order to get a closer look. He feels his passengers scramble forward too, and there's a three-way shout of— "𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙎𝙀 𝙁𝙐𝘾𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘽𝘼𝘽𝙄𝙀𝙎?!"

Dragon winces again, flapping his wings to weave out of way, allowing Garp to roll back up onto the same wind. "𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙢. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙— 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨."

The elder Soular huffs, "𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩. 𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙢𝙗 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨! 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚, 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙤𝙩𝙨." He flicks an ear to nudge the duo back to a more secure spot.

His hatchling nods, flapping a few times to glide above before flying as close as he can without crashing into him. The mantis arms uncurl, slowly lowering the twins down, dropping them onto the soft expanse of Xebec's coat.

Dragon trills fondly, undignified of a Soular, but Garp's never been that strict about that stuff. The younger beast barrel-rolls back onto the same level, both gliding along the same wind carefully.

"Soooo..... Are we getting that explanation, or...?"

~

Dragon's ear twitched as he slowed to fly closer to where the pirates and babies were situated on his father's back. The older beast just huffed, offering no explanation, so he spoke up, "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬?"

The pirate with the cloak— Rocks D Xebec if he remembers correctly— scoffs loudly, arms crossed with a snarl twisting his face, "Your damn father hasn't offered anything since he grabbed us, so 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩. A fucking 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 would be 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦." He hissed, glaring at the back of Garp's head. Roger nodded absently from where he was cradling the twins.

He sent his father a questioning look, but the elder just nodded with an eye-roll, so he elaborated, "𝙈𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙨. 𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙚."

"𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙙𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚. 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣." He explained carefully, reciting what he'd read in those scrolls Garp had brought him.

"𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣." He takes that moment to glide above his father's back and 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵, dropping into human form and landing smoothly between the towering pirates, who blinked at him in shock.

"The disguising ability, along with the importance we place on names, and our preference for wilderness— that's all things associated with Fae that Soulars also possess." He leans back, allowing his form to drift a bit at the edges, tail curling around human legs as his wings flicked on his back and antennae curled around his antlers.

Dragon shrugs, "So yeah, that's what Soulars are. Fae dragons, if you want to be insulting basic." He inches forward, holding a clawed hand towards the babies, letting the giggling one mess with his scale patches. Xebec and Roger hum, both clearly processing the buckets of information.

Garp's snarl snaps them all out of the calm, "𝙊𝙞, 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥'𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙬, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙊𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡." They all scrambled over, peeking around the massive grey wings to see the Oro Jackson down below, just out from under the shadow Garp was casting over the sea.

Roger winced, handing the babies over to a startled Xebec as he frantically pulled out a Transponder Snail, "Fuck. Completely forgot to tell 'em I was safe. Rayleigh's probably freaking out—" Before the man can even start dialing, Garp's feathers shift, tail steadying behind them as the bat-wings on his hip angle carefully.

Dragon's eyes widen, "Uh— you two might wanna hold on tight." He mutters, wrapping his arms and tail around a couple of back spikes. The duo blink in confusion before they spot the feathered wings tilting and frantically cling on for dear life as the massive Soular 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.

Thankfully, his father 𝘥𝘪𝘥 remember to fling his wings open before they got close, slowing them down enough that deck simply creaked under his talons instead of shattering. The Marine thumps onto all fours, feathers brushing the ground while the bat-like wings fold on his hips.

The Roger Pirates raised their weapons, all visibly on edge as the beast scanned over them— before Roger popped his head up, grinning like a mad man, "Woo! Talk about a wild ride, huh? Anyway, how're you guys? Everyone get off the island okay?" He chirps, cheerful as ever.

Dragon facepalmed, glancing over to find Xebec giving the other captain the most disappointed look physically possible. Garp snarled incoherently, shaking himself until the trio tumbled off his back before shifting back into human form. He kept his wings, tail, and horns out, probably for comfort. That's the reason Dragon left his out.

The vice-admiral yawned loudly, flashing dangerous fangs, "Welp, I'm stealing your bed, Goldie!" He shouted over his shoulder, already storming off, completely uncaring of the crowd. Roger made an upset noise, "That's not my name— oh whatever."

Dragon got up from where he was sitting on the deck, awkwardly speaking up, "Actually— in Soular culture, calling someone exclusively by a nickname is a sign of respect. Using someone's real name is very— uh— intimate? It's only supposed to be done by family, partners, or close friends."

Xebec snorted while the captain lightly blushed, blinking a few times. "Huh. Thanks for the fun fact, kiddo. You and Rocks go find a place to put the babies, I think I have a very angry partner to deal with—" Speak of the devil, Silvers Rayleigh slammed open a door, storming onto the deck.

Rocks' annoyed groan was the only warning Dragon got before he was promptly scruffed, being carried off towards one of the doors leading inside. He shifted his horns, tail, and wings away, tilting his head to stare at the babies.

One tilted his head back at him while the other giggled. Dragon grinned and Xebec scoffed, all of them ignoring Rayleigh absolutely 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 Roger for being a fucking idiot.

~

Garp trills low in his chest, more of a purr but he'd never call it that, stretching out on the bed-turned-nest. Turns out his rival actually has a lot of spare blankets and pillows hidden away, who knew.

His Observation pings softly and he cracks open a still-reptilian eye, wings and tail twitching as the door to the cabin opens. Roger and Rayleigh step half-way in, Shakky right behind them.

"Stop fucking staring." He grumbles, rolling over and curling his tail out of the way to make room. Roger takes that for the invitation it reluctantly is, happily skipping over to thump into the nest. The other two glance at each other uneasily.

He groans, wings twitching in annoyance as he sits up a bit, "For the moons' sake, get in the nest already!" He snarls, pointed ears tilted back. Roger reaches up and runs a hand through his hair gently, causing the Marine to huff and lay back down.

Shakky shrugs, grabbing Rayleigh's arm and dragging him over, the captain and soular shuffling a bit to let them in on the pile. Garp shifts until he's able to curl his tail around the others, tossing his feather wings over them like a blanket.

There's a few a seconds before a low rumble starts and the Marine flushes. The pirates pause before slowly turning to stare, "Are— are you 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨?" Roger coos, getting a growl in return.

He's a whole vice-admiral, and here he is, purring in a nest while three pirates laugh at him. A gentle hand brushes over his feathers, coaxing him to relax.

𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘥.