Barto:

He simply stared at her, the look of confusion growing on his face even as she gazed back at him.
It was only after her arms wrapped around him, fingers in his hair, that he understood and the confusion gave way to the vulnerable child that he had kept quiet about.

“…I ain’t useless, yeah?”

His voice, hushed only in these instances, never did outgrow the fear of their father. 

         Her pale fingers got lost in the strands of his hair. Half lidded eyes staring at the wall in front of her but seeing nothing, focused as she was in her brother.

His words hit her painfully, even if she had been expecting something like that.

      Would they ever get rid of those memories? Memories that rentlessly hunted them, and some days they were impossible to ignore.

— ❝ You’ve been a mafia kingpin for years and now you are a feared pirate with a high bounty.      Barto, you’ve proved to everyone that you are not useless.❞ 

                      She said calmly, caressing softly his hair.