Keep Calm and Start Grinding

The first Devil Fruit Monkey D. Lucillia finds is an electric blue peach covered in swirly white zeroes and ones. Now there's a glowing box above her head calling her the Gamer and she can't swim anymore. All Lucy knows is that her INT status is depressingly low… fem!Luffy, AceLu, different DF!Luffy, Gamer!Luffy, Zoan!Luffy

x

One morning, as watery, pale sunlight poured in through the window, a small, dark-haired figure tip-toed over the kitchen tiles. She probably didn't need to, since the old man's snores were reverbating all the way from his bedroom at the other end of the house but Lucy wanted to be sneaky about it. There were biscuits here- the good kind, chocolate and nutty and melt-in-your-mouth from who knows where- that Gramps had brought back from one of his trips. He would probably give her one if she asked but Lucy wanted more than one.

'Where, where, where… Here!' The five-year-old slapped her hands over her mouth, barely muffling a squeal of delight, as her prize gleamed on the counter. 'How do I get up there?'

There was supposed to be a stool here for Lucy to balance on when she got her breakfast ready but Gramps threw it out the window. It had been right next to the oven and one of the first casualties when Monkey D. Garp tried to make them dinner. The stool had caught aflame, which was a shame since it was her favorite bright red cherry color. Lucy loved shades of red, from sunset wine to vibrant rose to even dusky pinkish-red. She almost always wore the color somewhere on her clothes and today was no different with its scarlet shirt and matching red socks. Her shorts were made of blue denim, comfortable and well-fitting, but probably one of those other things that didn't fit in Foosha.

Monkey D. Lucillia did not fit in Foosha. It was a quiet, stolid village, full of people who had lived there all their lives and didn't particularly want to go anywhere else. They spent their days in steady, no-nonsense work like raising cattle and growing produce, and had little patience for outsiders and their strange ways or newfangled inventions. Afternoons had gossiping wives mend well-worn clothes made from sheep's wool and husbands congregating at the bar to complain goodnaturedly about their spouses. All of the children had a mother and a father and often a sibling or two, unlike herself. People didn't change overmuch, nor want to do so, and the only ones that spent any time by the sea were the local fishermen on their tiny, two-people boats. It was a peaceful, sedate, boring life and if there were any words that didn't describe Lucy, it was those.

There could be any number of reasons for the villagers to dislike her though. Maybe it was because she acted like a boy sometimes, jumping into mud puddles and catching frogs to make the other girls squeal. Maybe it was because she lived differently, with clothes and toys and such brought from all over the world by Gramps, and a house whose biggest room was filled with nothing but books. Maybe it was because she didn't have parents; she had heard the word 'bastard' once or twice and whenever she asked Gramps what it meant, the man's face had darkened and he hadn't answered. None of those reasons seemed fair. Frogs were terribly interesting and Lucy hated standing still. Her clothes were all picked by Gramps and it's not like she had a Mom to sew her anything else. And she didn't even know why they had books! Gramps didn't read all that much and Lucy didn't either.

Lucy never thought about the injustice for long. Thinking made her head hurt and it was difficult to focus on anything but food anyway.

At least Makino-neechan was nice to her. The green-haired barkeeper brought them dinner last night after the roasted-Sea-King-that-would-never-be and it had been delicious. Lucy loved Makino-nee's cooking and luckily for her, she got to eat it often since the young woman lived with her when Gramps wasn't home. Makino-nee had a house of her own but it was much smaller and didn't mind staying here, especially since Gramps paid her well.

Lucy loved it best when Gramps was home though. His visits were never long but she always enjoyed them. Living with Gramps meant bedtime stories of thrilling adventure and candies tucked into the deep pockets of his Marine coat and flying up high when he tossed her into the air. Sometimes it also meant exploding ovens and flying stools but Lucy didn't mind that either. It's not like she was in danger; Gramps wouldn't let her into the kitchen while he cooked.

Without the stool, she would need another way to reach the biscuits. Dark brown eyes scanned the room before settling on a rough-hewn table surrounded by five sturdy, oaken chairs. It was an old and familiar piece, still stained by multicolored crayon wax and scratched-on etches of dragons. Lucy dragged the closest over, making a sharp squeak on the floor, over to the counter. Taking a moment to pause and listen to the rumbling snores- thank the Buddha, Gramps was still asleep- the little girl carefully climbed onto the chair. Balancing on her toes, she leaned forward to reach the snack.

Unfortunately, it was at the very edge, and just barely grazed her fingers. They had a wide counter in the Monkey house, to better fit the Sea King meat that Gramps liked to prepare. The biscuits were lined against the wall and the only way for Lucy to reach it was to slowly crawl up there herself. She did so, and soon had chocolate smears and nutty crumbs lining the outside of her mouth. It didn't take more than a few minutes for the ravenous girl to devour her treat.

'Yummy.' Lucy patted her tummy in satisfaction before looking down woefully at the empty box. She was still hungry. Where else could she find food? 'There are dinner leftovers in the fridge, right?'

Intent on securing those steamed snappers for herself, the dark-haired girl almost missed the flash of vivid blue. But Lucy had sharp eyes and a dangerously short attention span, and shortly forgot her plan when she saw the fruit hanging covetously by the window. There was a peach tree planted outside but instead of the reddish-orange fruit she snacked on in the summer, this one was an electric blue color covered in swirly white ones and zeroes. There was a little leaf sticking out of its stem that was pure white, with dark blue concentric circles. Lucy hadn't ever seen it before but damn, if it didn't look delicious.

'I wonder what type of fruit it is?' She briefly wondered before mentally shrugging and pushing away the thought. 'Mystery fruit!'

The mystery peach was closer to her than the fridge, hanging right outside the window, so Lucy grabbed it. She had the sense of mind to wash it quickly in the nearby sink, having to scoot over twice to reach it, and remembering Makino-nee's stern warnings to do so. Impatient, Lucy then brought it to her mouth and eagerly took a bite.

"UGH, THIS IS EVEN WORSE THAN GRAMP'S COOKING!"

It tasted like charcoal Sea King liver doused with a liberal dose of sour vinegar pureed right over her tongue. It was, by far, the most disgusting thing Monkey D. Lucillia had ever put into her mouth and she ate Marine field rations once. She promptly spit out the fruit, little bits still managing to get into her throat, and loudly gagged. Any intention of keeping quiet was quickly thrown out the window along with the evil mystery peach.

"THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST PEACHES EVERYWHERE," Lucy wailed, "HOW CAN ANYTHING TASTE SO BAD?!"

Thinking about it, she added. "AND I'M STILL HUNGRY!"

Her screams woke up the exact person she had meaning to sneak around. Not that she noticed until Gramps was crashed into the kitchen, missing the door entirely and creating a not-unfamiliar shape in the wall, with his fist raised. The Marine Vice-Admiral scanned the room for threats, before settling his eyes on his distraught granddaughter. Garp stomped over in his typical forceful way, scooping the little girl up to his chest and growling at the air around them.

"What's wrong, Lucy? Did someone try to attack you?" Garp demanded, critically eyeing her pale skin for any bruises. "...Is that chocolate around your mouth?"

"...No." The dark-eyed girl hiccuped, pointing accusingly out the window. "I ate the most disgusting fruit ever, Gramps! It was awful!"

"So you threw it out the window?" The man briefly grinned. "That's my girl!"

"I still can't get the taste out of my mouth," Lucy lamented. "It's worse than field rations."

"No such thing," Garp rebuked, laughing. "Not unless you count…"

He trailed off, a thought suddenly occurred to him, before he rushed to the window. Lucy had to hold tightly to his arms not to fall off, when the old man leaned over to get a look outside. On the sandy Fooshan soil was the same evil mystery peach as before, glittering in all of its dark and malevolent mystery ways. Lucy made a face at the electric blue fruit and then another one, when she was settled roughly on the counter again.

"Monkey D. Lucillia, did you eat from that fruit?!"

"Yes?" Lucy grabbed her head, suddenly wincing when a Fist of Love hit it. "YEOW! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR, OLD MAN?"

"STOP CALLING ME OLD, BRAT! YOU JUST ATE A DEVIL FRUIT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS?" Garp roared back, matching her decibel for decibel. "YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE, YOUNG LADY!"

"WHAT FOR? IT WAS HANGING OUTSIDE IN OUR TREE," Lucy screamed. "What's a Devil Fruit?"

She received another Fist of Love for her troubles. Then Garp grabbed the chair next to the counter, dragged it over to him, making another squeaky sound on the tiles, and gracelessly plopped down. Rubbing his forehead, the still dark-haired man, though there were a few strands of silver present, looked a lot older than he normally did. Lucy wiggled on the counter, feeling guilty.

"A Devil Fruit is a mystery fruit from the sea that gives you a special power," Garp lectured. "But it also takes away your ability to swim. Not that you could swim before, little one, but you'll never learn how to do it now."

Lucy was aghast. "But Makino-nee promised to teach me this summer!"

"I'm sorry, Lucy, but you can't risk that. The second your body touches the ocean, it'll start to sink."

Ire softening at the dismay on Lucy's face, Garp adopted a more upbeat tone. "Devil Fruits do give you special powers! You're not a Logia, since I could hit you, so it's either a Zoan or a Paramecia."

She perked up. "I'll be as strong as you then?"

Lucy didn't feel any stronger but something felt… different now. That itch in her head, to always look around, to always find something new, something novel, had disappeared. Her muscles didn't thrum the way they always did when she was sitting still for too long.

That sent the man roaring into laughter. "Not a chance, Brat! You're one hundred years too early to fight me, Devil Fruit or not. But at least having special powers will help you as a Marine!"

Lucy nodded, absently filtering out Gramp's certainty on her future career choice. The old man hadn't wanted her to enlist in the Corps at first- it was dangerous, and his cute little granddaughter was better off at Foosha, where she could live a peaceful life as a civilian- but he amended that plan when he saw her thirst for adventure. Wanderlust was a common quality in the Monkey family and the moment he saw his Lucilia stare longingly out at sea, he knew a peaceful life wouldn't be hers.

"What's a Para- para- that thing? And a Zoan? And Logi?"

"Logia fruits turn you into an element, Zoan into an animal and Paramecia is everything else." Garp eyed her speculatively. "Not sure how to activate those darned things. Never ate on myself."

"Uh… boom?" Lucy pointed at the tree outside, disappointed when nothing happened. "Whoosh? Activate? Do something? Start?"

It was at that last word that everything around her flashed the same electric blue as the Devil Fruit. Lucy blinked rapidly, trying to wash out the spots in her eyes, and stared uncomprehendingly around her. Everything looked the same… except for Gramps.

"There are glowing letters on top of your head!" Lucy squinted at them, ignoring the faint hum of surprise from her Gramps as she read them aloud. "Monkey D. Garp. Title: The Hero. Level Unknown. Observe?"

At the last word read, more letters popped up. Lucy made a face but read them aloud dutifully. Strangely it was easier to keep her concentration on the words now.

"Reputation: Loved (50/100). Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp is one of the strongest men in the world and a former rival of Gol D. Roger. He has deep faith in the Marines but will follow his gut, even when it goes against the law." Lucy blinked, taken aback. Even a quiet town like Foosha had heard about Gol D. Roger. "Wow, Gramps! You're really strong!"

"Bwahaha, of course I am, Lucy!" The Vice-Admiral flexed his massive muscles, a speculative gleam in his eye. "A fruit that gives you information on other people, huh? Sounds useful."

"How am I supposed to use this to fight though?" Lucy complained. "All I can do it look at people and Observe!"

As she was glaring at the countertop then, the dark-haired girl had more letters pop up there.

'A basic countertop made of cedar and reinforced steel. Wider than average to hold Sea King meat.'

'Okay, so I can use it on people and things. Still not as cool as breathing fire or turning into a lion or something,' Lucy sulked. It was an unexpected benefit of her fruit stilling the rapid buzzing inside of her mind, that Monkey D. Lucillia didn't immediately discard her new power. Instead she had an epiphany. 'I can use it on the fruit and see if I have something more!'

Garp only watched interestedly as the messy-haired child scooted over to the window and peered outside. She whispered Observe under her breath.

'This is a surprisingly logical thinking for Lucy,' Garp complimented, one finger stuck in his nose.

'The Devil Fruit Geemu Geemu no Mi. It is a Zoan-type fruit that makes the eater a Gamer-Human and is unique amongst Devil Fruits for coming with an instruction manual.'

It took a minute or two to sound out the longer words- she was five-years-old and not particularly studious- but Lucy figured it out eventually. Instructions were those things Makino-nee followed to make a cake. Following them perfectly meant a delicious double-glazed chocolate with vanilla icing and not following them meant no yummy cake and wasted batter. So if Lucy followed these instructions, she would have the chocolate cake of Devil Fruits.

Made sense to her.

"Gramps, I'm going to go to my room and learn how to use my mystery powers," Lucy announced cheerfully. "Can I take breakfast with me?"

It's not that she wanted to keep this a secret from her beloved Gramps but… well, she did. He was an adult and adults did adult things, like make her return Skippy the Frog outside. Lucy just knew that the poor amphibian was all alone and missing her now that Gramps made him leave. And it would be just her luck if she got cool powers like laser beams and then Gramps refused to let her use them.

"Alright but since you ate my biscuits, you have to eat an extra banana today." The man that the glowing letters proclaimed a hero was unmoved by her pleading expression. He put three entire bananas into her hands and sent her off with a glass of warmed milk and six pieces of buttered toast. Lucy had to walk carefully to avoid spilling it all, even though she really hated that stupid banana.

The only banana this Monkey liked was the one squashed under her fist and thrown into the trash.

Lucy's room was her favorite one in the house. It had three-paned windows that looked out into the winding path to the beach and let in plenty of sunlight. There was a window seat inset there with crimson and white pillows and a trailing red-flowered vine design on either end. One wall was painted a deep crimson and had pictures of all the amazing places that Gramps travelled to. A name stenciled in white for Monkey D. Lucillia hung above the white canopy bed and matched the white curtains, dresser, desk and bookcase. Only the bottom was filled with study books, the other shelves had jars of sand, shiny rocks, pressed flowers and all of the other pretty things Lucy had found outside. The closet was overflowing with beautiful, girly clothes that she never really wore and all of the projects that Lucy didn't have the patience to finish.

There was that half-finished ink drawing from the child's calligraphy set from Wano…

The child-sized violin from Toroa that she could play maybe half a melody on…

The unfinished puzzle of birds in flight from Swallow Island…

The Make-Your-Own snow globe with a wilting stick Lucy from Holiday Island…

Th tropical themed building blocks and fake tarred teeth from Briss Kingdom…

'I wonder if I'll finish Gramp's gift this time.' The child-proofed chemistry set from Torino Kingdom had looked interesting but everything was interesting to her… until it just suddenly wasn't.

Not bothering to pursue that line of thinking, Lucy settled her breakfast on the desk and plopped down. Nibbling on a slice of toast, she wondered how to access this instruction manual. "Instruction?"

'Huh, that was easy." The entire room had flashed electric blue again, making the little girl grumble while rubbing her eyes, but a long, ceiling-to-floor length, glowing box appeared. On the top were the words 'Geemu Geemu no Mi' and below that, a picture of… herself?

Player: Monkey D. Lucillia

Title: Hyperactive, Monkey Bastard (-40% to Reputation, -20% to Academics)

Level: 5

Exp: 0/2500 to next level

Gamer Mind: Passive

Stats Closed

Aspects Closed

Skills Closed

Reputation Closed

Inventory Closed

'Gramps said I'm not a bastard,' Lucy pouted. It was upsetting enough that people whispered it behind her back, she didn't need her Devil Fruit to be against her too. 'Okay, so I'm the Player, probably cause I ate that yucky fruit. My level is five and that's… not good? Probably not good. I have to get exp or something to get to the next level. And what does Gamer Mind: Passive mean?'

Lucy thought about it… for about twenty seconds. It was fairly impressive for her but she couldn't find the answer and decided to move on. "Stats Open?"

The box promptly did so. Useful box.

STR: 5 (+1)

VIT: 3 (+1)

DEX: 3

INT: 1

CHM: 3 (+1)

WIS: 2 (+1)

Unclaimed Points: 5

'What does STR mean? And why is my INT so low?!' Luffy scowled. 'I feel like that's an insult.'

"I do not have a low INT," she declared aloud. "Whatever that means. And what do I do with Unclaimed Points?"

More letters scrolled across the glowing box now.

Would Player like to use Unclaimed Points?

"Yes!"

Which Stat would the Player like to add an Unclaimed Point to?

Since the Devil Fruit had the nerve to say she had a low INT, Lucy responded without a second thought. "Put all of them in INT!"

INT immediately shot up to six and Lucy's head felt dizzy for a short moment. When it cleared up, she looked around and everything felt… crisper somehow. It was like that sudden clarity she got when she first ate the Devil Fruit and the itch in her mind disappeared.

The dark-haired girl eyed the stats again, suddenly certain that they were abbreviations of some other thing. 'STR would be strength. INT is intelligence. I can't believe the fruit said I had only one INT. WIS would be wisdom and CHM probably Charm. I don't know the other ones yet. VIT is…'

Her newfound intellect proved itself a moment later when Lucy got the idea to check a dictionary. A few minutes later, and she rummaged through the pages looking for a word that would fit. 'Vitamins, vitriform, vitelline, vitrify, vitality… Vitality, the state of being strong or active. That sounds about right. It sounds much cooler than INT too. I should have put my extra points there.'

Still without having a higher INT, Lucy probably wouldn't have learned what it meant in the first place.

It took a little more effort to fight that DEX stood for dexterity, or how skilled she was with performing tasks with her hands. This sounded about right too. Lucy always ended up abandoning her projects because they bored her, not because she couldn't do the delicate and careful work with her hands.

Ding! The noise of a bell made her look upwards but it wasn't the wind blowing the silver chimes by her window. Instead a smaller glowing box appeared, announcing that INT had been raised one.

'Yes! Thinking gave me a higher INT!'

Now to find the other ones. "Aspects Open."

The glowing box complied.

Monkey Family Strength: Lvl. 1 (+1 per 5 levels STR, +1/5 VIT)

Conqueror's Haki: Lvl. 1 (Blocked, +2/5 STR, +50% Exp. Active)

Will of the D (+25 Exp. Always Active, +2/5 CHM)

Daughter of the Dragon (+100 Rep. Boost with RA, -100 Rep. Boost with FES, +1/5 WIS, +1/5 CHM)

'Oh, that explains why some of the stats had two numbers,' the dark-haired girl deduced. 'I'll get more extra numbers when I hit… uh, level 10. Then five more added to ten makes fifteen. Some of the Aspects have levels, so maybe I'll get more extra numbers if I'm in a higher level?'

So far, the Geemu Geemu no Mi wasn't giving her any laser beams but it didn't look all bad. Lucy hadn't ever heard of the Will of the D or Conqueror's Haki before but they gave her extra points and extra exp. Exp meant that she could level up faster and be strong enough to fight Gramps!

'And Daughter of the Dragon…' Lucy looked at the last Aspect, a little starry-eyed. 'I had no idea my father was a dragon!'

Maybe… maybe one day Lucy would become a dragon too? Then she could fly and breathe fire and be even stronger than her Gramps!

Monkey D. Lucillia hadn't ever been educated on the finer aspects of bringing children into the world, beyond the knowledge that most children had a mother and a father. Since she didn't have either, it didn't seem too far-fetched to think that her father was a dragon. And dragons are supposed to kidnap princesses and hoard gold, not raise children, so it made sense that Gramps raised her instead.

The Rep. Boost stuff made sense too. Some people knew that dragons were awesome and strong and other people were princesses.

"Skills Open."

Reading/Writing/Math: Poor (10/100)/ Poor (40/100)/ Adequate (70/100)

Cooking/Cleaning/Sewing: Awful (70/100)/Poor (10/100)/Awful (0/100)

'...Now that's just mean,' Lucy moped inwardly. "Reputations Open."

Foosha Town: Unfriendly (20/100)

Five Elder Stars: Unfriendly (0/100)

Revolutionary Army: Friendly (0/100)

Marineford: Neutral (0/100)

The Foosha Town didn't come as a surprise to her, even if it did make the slender girl wilt a little. Neither did Marineford, since Gramps worked in the Marines and probably at least one person knew her there. It was the second and third that puzzled her, until she looked back at Aspects.

'The Revolutionary Army must be a dragon fan club,' the dark-haired girl concluded, nodding her head in satisfaction. 'And the Elder Stars are a group of princesses.'

Finally, last but not least… "Inventory Open."

A glowing box appeared next to her, pale blue and filled with white lines bisecting it vertically and horizontally into boxes. The one at the bottom right had a beli sign on it with the number zero.

The Inventory is empty.

Lucy poked the box. Her finger went through, feeling cold and uncomfortable, and she jerked it back out. 'What the heck?'

Inventory was another word for stuff right? Makino-nee had to 'catalogue inventory' sometimes, and that just meant counting up all of the stuff she had in the bar. Lucy had a piece of toast. Maybe she could add that to the inventory?

Slowly and carefully, the dark-haired girl slid the bread into an empty box. It disappeared from her hand and a little drawing, brown and gold and buttery and delicious, appeared. Mouth-watering, she reached for it and came away shocked when her hand reappeared… with a piece of toast.

'A backpack… that no one else can see…'

There was only one thing that could be done here. Monkey D. Lucillia gleefully grabbed her untouched bananas and threw them into the inventory. She could throw them away later when Gramps wasn't around to catch her banana peels.

'The tyranny of the banana is over! The Geemu Geemu no Mi is an awesome Devil Fruit!'

Ding! WIS +1.

x

Player: Monkey D. Lucillia

Title: Hyperactive, Monkey Bastard (-40% to Reputation, -20% to Academics)

Level: 5

Exp: 0/2500

Gamer Mind: Passive

HP: 100/100

WP: 75/75

STR: 5 (+1)

VIT: 3 (+1)

DEX: 3

INT: 7

CHM: 3 (+1)

WIS: 3 (+1)

Aspects:

Monkey Family Strength: Lvl. 1 (+1/5 STR, +1/5 VIT)

Conqueror's Haki: Lvl. 1 (Blocked, +2/5 STR, +50% Exp. Active)

Will of the D: (+25% Exp Always Active, +2/5 CHM)

Daughter of the Dragon (+100 Rep. Boost with RA, -100 Rep. Boost with FES, +1/5 WIS, +1/5 CHM)

Skills:

Reading/Writing/Math: Poor (10/100)/ Poor (40/100)/ Adequate (70/100)

Cooking/Cleaning/Sewing: Awful (70/100)/Poor (10/100)/Awful (0/100)

Reputation:

Five Elder Stars: Unfriendly (0/100)

Revolutionary Army: Friendly (0/100)

Foosha Town: Unfriendly (20/100)

Marineford: Neutral (0/100)

Beli: $0

x

A few things to be clarified. This is my first One Piece fic and my first Gamer fic, so there may be some technical difficulties to run through in this story. I'll try and focus on plot instead of the Game itself but the first three or four chapters will be the pre-Ace, Lucy learns about her Gamer abilities Arc. I've also decided that the pairing will be Lucy and Ace but that may be a while off. There will be three pre-canon arcs, followed by my glossing over the Strawhats time in East Blue, since I really want to reach the Grand Line. I haven't decided yet if I'll go for an expanded crew but it's open to debate.

For the Game, I've set Health to VIT*Lvl*5 and WP to WIS*Lvl*5. WP stands for Will Power and decides how much Haki Lucillia can use. Conqueror's Haki will be a drain on WP when first used but that can be mitigated somewhat through training. Exp. points for levels is decided by Lvl squared*100. Since it's an exponential growth equation, each level will become progressively harder than the last by a certain degree. She gets five Unclaimed Points every time she passes a multiple of 5, so when she reaches Level 10, she'll get five more points. Finally, there are brackets for reputation and skills.

For Reputation: Hostile - Unfriendly - Neutral - Friendly - Loved - Exalted

For Skills: Awful - Poor - Adequate - Good - Accomplished - Exceptional

Last but not least, I've decided on a simple conversion rate of 100 B for $1. This lets me keep to standard American East Coast prices for most goods, with adjustments considering the local geography and economy, and the beli currency. An example would be a gallon of milk costing 400B.