You were 10. Your brother 14.
Kazuki finished his food, as the maid cleared his dish.
He turned to her as the sound of running water came from the sink, "Miss where is our mom this morning?"
"Your mother had an appointment, and your father is away with work."
Kazuki turned to you, then the maid again,
"Miss, can we go play outside for a little?"
The maid nodded her head and smiled, "Of course. Just no shenanigans. I don't want either of you hurt."
Kazuki smiled and grabbed your hand.
"But I'm not done," you whined as he led you outside leaving your half eaten plate behind.
The two of you played outside chasing each other in the backyard. Acres and acres of green space surrounded by thick hedges, the smell of fresh air, the warm sun against your pale skin, and the wind blowing through your hair as you chased Kazuki.
He turned around and grabbed you, pulling you to the ground in a hug as you burst into a fit of giggles.
"Kazi! I'm supposed to be the one chasing you!"
He just laughed in return, letting you go, as the two of you both lay on your backs in the soft grass looking up at the blue sky.
"Shiina?"
"Hm?" you hummed as you tried to make out shapes of the few clouds in the sky.
He turned to look at you, his expression serious.
"Dad isn't who you think he is."
You blinked not understanding his words.
Or where this was even coming from.
"Kazi, if it's about me not being their biological daughter I know that."
There was a moment of silence.
"Shiina, he's a bad man."
You sat up abruptly in the grass, not looking at him.
"Stop with that already."
"You're the only one he keeps in the dark, Shiina. It's to control you-"
"I said stop!!" you finally shouted as you looked at him.
He sat up beside you, eyes looking up at the sky as he sighed.
"I'm just warning you."
He paused.
"I'm warning you of what's to come. In case I'm not around to warn you later."
You woke up to the infirmary door being slammed open.
Clione had burst in and was walking towards your bed with an alert expression.
"There's an enemy ship, spotted, you must come with me!"
Well, good morning to me.
You were disoriented and groggy as he dragged you out of bed by the arm, and out into the hallway.
Your tired brain tried to make sense of what was happening.
Enemy Ship?
Wasn't this a goddamn submarine?
"I thought this was a submarine, how the hell are we spotting enemies?"
"We surfaced last night because we will be arriving at an island very soon," he replied, not bothering to look at you as he continued dragging by the arm down the hallway.
He pushed open a door. And suddenly, you were standing on the deck.
A deck.
Holy shit.
I'm outside.
Fresh air.
All drowsiness was gone. You hadn't breathed fresh air in so long.
The breeze blew through your long blonde hair. The smell of the sea. It wasn't sunny but the clouds in the sky looked beautiful.
Oh my god I took this for granted.
You were quickly interrupted by Clione nearly throwing a piece of clothing in your face.
"Put these on."
You held up a pair of cargo looking shorts in front of you, that were clearly mens.
Oh joy.
Whatever, at least you wouldn't be pantless.
You quickly pulled them up, and followed Clione.
Unfortunately, the shorts sagged off your hips every step you took and hung past your knees.You also felt a little strange being barefoot too.
Clione gripped your arm tightly, as he weaved through a group of pirates standing on deck, as you soon found your way to Law and Beppo.
It was almost humorous to you. The sight of you standing in the middle of a group of men. Barefoot, in a giant white t-shirt and shorts that sagged off your body. And to top it off you were literally half their sizes.
Law didn't even bother to acknowledge your existence as he spoke with two strange looking men with animal hats.
Bepo however turned to you and smiled.
"Miss Shiina! I'm so glad you're feeling better!"
Ugh he's precious.
"Shiina-ya."
You turned when you heard that deep commanding voice.
Law was looking at you with his usual stern expression.
"Hm?" you looked up at Law.
"Here's your chance to prove you're worth something."
Here we go.
What information was he going to ask for?
"We already know what we need to know about the ship we are approaching. So answer this."
He paused.
"Do you feel well enough to fight?"
Wait what-
Your eyes widened.
"Fight?"
You repeated a dumbfounded expression on your face.
You hadn't even noticed your body actually felt decent. Your left side certainly still hurt, but other than that you actually felt not horrible.
"Isn't that just plain stupid?"
A cocky grin crept up on his face as he spoke,
"I've instructed the whole crew to shoot you down or attack you the moment you act suspicious."
Oh!
How wonderful!
I should've figured.
You opened your mouth to protest but he cut you off as you continued,
"Now Shiina-ya, you are not to use your devil fruit powers. I don't want you drawing attention to yourself. The last thing I need is people recognizing you. If you tried to escape you wouldn't make it far anyways. Your body is still too weak for that."
He paused.
"So unless you want to get shot and go plummeting out of the sky and into the ocean again, I suggest you listen to my words."
Well, that certainly shut you up.
He was right. No denying that. Even if you did manage to get enough energy to use your powers, you would run out of energy before you made it to land and probably just sink to the bottom of the sea.
And it's not like you could go up against his crew. If they didn't, shoot you down, Law would. I mean you knew if it involved him and you'd be dead in the blink of an eye.
You could also try to escape to the enemy ship if the Heart Pirates lost. But the likelihood of that was 0. And what good would that do? You'd either be a prisoner again or just get thrown into the sea.
You went over every option of escaping in your head, and every single one resulted in you sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Goddammit.
You sighed. A few of the pirates eyeing you as Law awaited an answer.
With that stupid grin on his face, because he knew damn well you had no other option.
"Right, well since I have no other option, I'll fight."
"Smart girl, Shiina-ya."
You scoffed.
"So what. What is this ship? Pirates? Marines? How close are they?"
Bepo then spoke up, "Pirate ship. But no worries there's no big names on board."
You sighed.
Of course they wouldn't give you an ounce of information.
"Right."
You looked at Law, as you realized.
Your weapon.
Your katana.
You needed your katana.
Was your weapon gone? Had it sunk to the bottom of the sea when he found you?
You hadn't even thought of it.
You felt your anxiety start to build.
"I need my weapon. To fight. When you found me did I have it?"
He rose an eyebrow.
"Yes but you're not getting that right now. I can give you a regular sword."
"But-"
"Or, I can give you no weapon if you'd prefer."
Asshole.
You huffed in frustration.
"You're unbelievable."
"And you're lucky you're not right back in the infirmary cuffed to that bed. Or better yet just thrown overboard."
The words left your mouth before you could stop them,
"And you're lucky I don't smack that stupid smirk off your face!"
A few of the surrounding crew members looked at you like you had a death wish as you snapped back at their captain.
But Law just looked at you with the same stupid smirk.
"Shiina-ya,"
He leaned over so his eyes were level with your narrowed ones.
"Shut your mouth, before I make you."
You didn't say another word.
—
A few more orders and commands from their captain and then before you knew it, the enemy had engaged.
Pirates jumping, swinging weapons, yelling everywhere around you.
You had chosen a sword as your weapon, although relying on your physical strength without your devil fruit kind of scared you. You were 5' 3" and a little below 110 lbs. One smack from one of these giant thugs and you'd be sent flying into the ocean.
Though, you certainly had some things on your side. Intelligence. Stealth. Speed.
But you were also still slightly injured.
You shook your head and tried to focus on the task at hand. Fighting
However, in the midst of all the chaos, one thing caught your eye.
Law.
You had heard of his devil fruit powers, the Ope Ope no mi, but seeing in person was something completely different.
The blue orb that appeared. He was gone suddenly, and then he had reappeared cutting enemies down with ease. He didn't even look like it took any effort at all.
You were snapped back to reality as a creepy looking man with pink hair and a long nose charged at you.
Your body snapped into action immediately.
You gripped the sword in your hand tightly, and pushed off the deck jumping to dodge his attack.
The man was twice your size, and looked at you like you were a delicious piece of meat.
Man, it creeped you out.
You dodged the attack and landed swiftly on the deck.
"Mmm the pretty lady's got skills."
Oh god ew.
"Mmm the ugly thug's too slow to land a hit."
His smirk quickly turned to a frown.
"Oi, I'll rip you in half bitch!"
He charged at you again. And this time so did you sword gripped tightly in your hands as you charged full speed at the giant beast.
And then, you slid underneath him between his legs, as the beast halted and looked around confused, at what the hell you just did.
You may have been smaller, but you certainly had speed and intelligence on your side with these brainless thugs.
In the meantime you jumped into the air, grabbing hold of the back of his shirt, and with one swing of your sword, the man was groveling and falling over while his neck leaked blood.
In a strange way, it felt kind of good knowing you could still fight well without your devil fruit. It made you feel like all the training you did growing up was worth it at moments like these.
A slight grin crept up on your lips.
You had a few eyes on you now.
Of both the enemy's men and the heart pirates.
A few of the enemy's seemed to recognize you, despite not using your powers, as they turned to you with wide eyes.
I mean it wasn't hard to. Your wanted poster was everywhere. Shouga made it practically impossible for someone not to recognize you. And your appearance was distinct. Your pale skin, long blonde hair, red eyes. You were breathtakingly beautiful. It was hard to miss you, even now, dressed in baggy mens clothing.
You soon found yourself quickly weaving yourself between pirates fighting, as something caught your attention.
A girl's voice. You turned to see a girl with brown curly hair in a Heart Pirates Uniform, surrounded by 3 men from the Enemy Pirates who had to be twice her size.
You hadn't known there was another girl on board.
Instinct kicked in again.
You charged at one of the men who had his back turned to you, jumping up into the air as you plunged your sword into his back.
The large man let out a blood curdling scream as you used all your body strength to pull your weapon out of his back. The wound spurted blood, as he fell to his knees, writhing at the pain of the giant gash on his back.
The other two turned away from the other female and now both faced you, with angered expressions, surprised by how a girl your size managed to plunge your sword into their crewmate with such strength.
But when their gazes fell on you they both raised their eyebrows before they grinned.
"Would you look at what we have here?"
"This is an interesting turn of events. Shouga's daughter on the Heart Pirates ship!"
The other one started cackling,
"You sure are worth a lot of money little bitch!"
Worth a lot of money?
You felt the anger start to boil inside you.
"What do ya say we return her and get our money's worth of this puny little whore?"
Return me? Puny Whore?
"Better yet, what do you think Shouga would do if we fucked his daughter before returning her?"
That was it.
You snapped.
You charged at the one who made that comment. Your jaw clenched so hard with anger.
Fuck this.
You dropped the sword on the deck with a clatter as you ran at him.
You knew you weren't strong enough to fully transform, and Law would probably throw you overboard if you did anyways.
But using a few techniques wouldn't hurt though, right?
Who the fuck even cares.
These men need to drop dead.
You charged at him, closing one eye to focus your aim. You made one swift motion with your hand, there was a flash of gold, he had a hole between his eyes. Like a bullet had hit him.
He stopped, the smirk dropped from his face as he started stumbling backwards. Blood dripping down his face, from the hole between his eyes, muttering nonsense as he finally fell backwards.
You then turned to the other beast, as he looked at his crewmate in utter shock at what had just happened.
Surprise motherfucker.
You were then charging straight at him, head on. This time, you moved both your arms in an X motion, there a flash of gold and then-
the big burly creature had a giant X shaped gash on his chest. He screeched out in pain as blood sputtered from the wound and out of his mouth, as he fell to all fours, gasping for air.
But, he wasn't dead.
So you weren't satisfied.
You walked over until you stood right in front of the gasping beast. Walking towards him as he groveled in pain.
You spoke through gritted teeth, as you pointed your fingers at his neck,
"Go. to. Hell."
In the blink of an eye the giant fell silent, his neck severed as he bled out on the deck.
You let out a few shaky breaths as you stared at the body that lay before you, feeling your rage and adrenaline dissipating.
It suddenly hit you like a ton of bricks how utterly exhausted you felt from using your devil fruit powers. Your powers used a lot of energy, and you knew that. But the fact that you already were weak and not fully healed up before, was hitting you even harder.
You hadn't even transformed, just used a few attacks, and you felt like death.
But still, you knew using your powers at all took an extreme amount of strength. And in the already weakened condition your body was in now, that amount of strength and power it took was too hard on your small body.
The curly haired girl was staring at you with wide eyes, as you stood before her. She didn't speak, but she quickly nodded her head, as if to say thank you.
You were just focused on trying not to collapse to the ground.
But you soon realized something. It was silent. There were no more shouts of pirates brawling.
The ship had fallen silent.
What the hell?
You looked around the deck. The few of the enemy's crew that were left, and the other Heart Pirates.
They were all looking...
Up?
So you did too.
...
There was the enemy's pirate ship.
In the sky.
In the FUCKING sky.
That now made an ear splitting creaking noise as it was sliced in half, coming pummeling back into the sea in two pieces.
Holy fucking shit.
The Heart Pirates started cheering.
You looked around the deck at the pirates in their white jumpsuits all screaming out and cheering, while the few left of the enemy's crew were either frozen in terror or were jumping overboard.
The Heart Pirates were cheering for their captain.
It was weirdly, kind of sweet.
Though the cheering ended when the impact of the two giant pieces of ship falling back into the sea hit, causing the submarine to rock violently.
You held tightly to the railing, fighting for your life not to get launched into the sea.
You clutched the railing with the little strength you had left, as you felt your vision start to blur.
No no no no.
You felt so weak at that moment. The world around you starting to fade, as your grip fell loose on the railing.
And then you were again.
Limp body falling towards the sea.
Goddammit.
I chose the only option I thought wouldn't result in me being launched into the sea.
But here I was.
Your body froze with shock and it was plunged into the icy water.
Fuck no.
Not yet.
I'm not ready to go yet.
You couldn't move. You were helpless. Sinking deeper into the sea.
No.
It's not my time.
Somebody.
Please.
You felt your vision start to fade to black, as you started to pass out.
But then as soon as everything started to turn dark, it was light again.
You gasped for air.
Coughing the salty water out of your lounges.
It stung so badly, but you could breathe.
You could breathe.
You were alive.
You were shivering, gasping for breath, after your second time in the face of death.
But you were fucking alive.
You were finally coming to your senses.
Your brain processing where the hell you were.
There was a man looking down at you, as he held your small, shivering figure in his arms.
That man was Trafalgar Law.
And for the first time he wasn't looking at you with that stern expression of his, but a slight look of worry as he quickly carried you inside and down the hallway of the submarine.
You smiled weakly as you muttered out,
"I did what you told me to, and still ended up in the sea."
He shook his head as he walked through the door to the infirmary.
"Shiina-ya. Now is not the time to be making jokes. I asked you to fight. Not be reckless and almost get yourself killed."
Those were the last words you heard before your eyelids drifted shut and you lost consciousness.