Warnings and canon differences:

AU: female, smart, mature, different devil fruit Luffy

AU: pirate titles actually matter. Yonko and most of pirates feel the need to actually somehow adhere to The King's wishes so the title is also a little more formal. To become The King candidate needs: a) nomination from member of previous King's crew (if alive); b) support/acknowledgement of at least 3 Yonko; c) reach the Raftel

AU: additional crew members

OOC: characters' personalities will be changing as a result of interactions with Luffy and other people

√ -√v-√ -√v—

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei and his publishers. Idea's mine

√ -√v-√ -√v—

Monkey D. Luffy has always been a strange child.

Everyone in Foosha Village, where she lived, would admit it easily.

On one hand, the little girl with too much energy would channel it freely, in sometimes disastrous amounts, whenever trying to help around the village. On the other - little Luffy loved reading. Granted they were mostly adventure books or fiction, fit for reading abilities of a little girl, but still…

The same little ball of energy that couldn't normally sit still for half an hour, was able to spend an entire day slowly reading books or trying to make Mayor Wood Slap to teach her new words or take her to the library in town…

But still…

The strangest thing in the youngest Monkey alive were her eyes.

Black as night, normally full of mischief that nonetheless sometimes got a faraway look.

Old eyes.

Old soul.

New Adventure…

While channeling her energy into non-destructive ways (mostly by running circles around the village) Luffy quickly, and somewhat painfully, learnt exactly what her 'role' as a female was in the eyes of most 'civilised' people around.

She was supposed to find a husband, take care of their home, obey him and give him as many children as he'd want…

That… was a terrible future.

She didn't want that.

She didn't!

She wanted to be free to be herself. To learn and help and be happy…

She needed to be free.

She would be free…

At any costs.

She started to read even more than earlier. Everything that had a chance of helping her to be free to be herself. Things like travel and political books. Anything that could be of use that could be found in the library in Edge Town, where the Mayor was taking her once a week. She'd spend precious hours in the Library while Mayor was taking care of taxes, politics and all the other things villagers trusted him to take care of for them. She even could borrow some of the books home. With express agreement from Mayor, since little children were not considered responsible enough to borrow the precious sheets of paper bound together. But she could. And she did.

She read about the Four Blues and Grand Line; about Marines, Pirates and Revolutionaries; Admirals, Shichibukai and Yonko; about Gold Roger (well Gol D. Roger) and his crew; Humans and Fishmen; Minks and Giants; Tenryuubito and the rest of the world.

She read books and archival papers; learnt the theory to navigation on Land and Sea; learned about the crews with the best known Jolly Rogers and the most dangerous people - the highest bounties.

From… not exactly legal pamphlet, she found in the very back of the shelf, she learned about the bloody history of South Blue when marines were looking for the child of Gold Roger.

And in even less legal pamphlets, that were hidden under one of the bookshelves, she read that the leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon, is the only child of the Hero of the Marines - Monkey D. Garp…

Monkey D. Garp. Monkey D. Dragon. Monkey D. Luffy…

The night after she read that, she laid in bed wide awake, hugging her pillow and wondering…

Have they tried to hunt her down too? Like the child of Gol D. Roger? How many died so she could live? Did anyone die in her place? Did they know about her being alive?

Her Grandpa… Grandfather was Marine Hero… Who couldn't control what he's talking about… Of course they knew about her existence. Was that why he never stayed for long? Was that why he wanted her to become either a marine or a civilian?

Did he make a deal with someone for her safety? Or was it simply so The Government would have easy access to her when the time came? Would he even try to defend her? Did he even love her? Or was that all to keep Dragon's child under his watch?

And Dragon… Did Dragon even know about her existence? Did he care about it? Would he try to protect her? Or was the Revolution worth more?

Did Mayor? Makino? Old butcher or baker? Do they care? Or is it all some kind of scheme to keep her under the watch?

…

Did she need them?

No.

She'll get out of the Dawn Island.

One day.

She'll be strong. She won't be alone. She'll be free.

Free from her grandfather's grasp.

Free from her father's shadow.

She'll find her own path.

And she'll rock it so hard people will be calling Garp 'Luffy's grandfather' and not the other way around!

Soon she started to put her first real steps on the road to freedom and safety. First she needed to be stronger.

Yes, she was stronger than the other children around her, and maybe even some adults (Monkey genes were special apparently). But she was not strong enough. She needed to be stronger, faster, more flexible… And she needed more information! More… More… More!

First she started to run more. Not only to get rid of her energy but to work on her stamina and speed. To be able to run away longer and faster if needed. She was running till her legs were heavy from fatigue and only then she was jumping into the shower and quickly running off to spend the rest of the day with the Mayor. Mayor always supported her thirst of knowledge about East Blue…

He did, right? It was not a trap, right? Please don't let it be a trap.

One adult she'd be able to trust. Just one… Please.

…

Sometimes she spent time in the bar owned by her official carer - Makino. She learned what was edible and what wasn't from her. How to cook easy dishes. How to determine if food was still good or not. How to buy good quality fruit and vegetables. And how to find good quality fabrics. Makino warned her that she won't teach her how to sew yet - she was too young for a needle but she could observe how to do it and learn when it was not worth repairing anymore.

Next Garp's visit was… hard for her.

She's seen the way no other Marines were allowed on the island. Just Garp and his right hand - Bogard. She's seen that even while Garp was trying to convince her to become a Marine ('Like Grandpapa, Luffy. Don't ya wanna be as strong as Grandpapa?') Bogard was more supporting of her learning about things that wouldn't bring her a lot of attention.

That was especially pronounced when she asked Garp to teach her how to defend herself ('Cause Grandpa's super strong, but he was sailing and catching bad people so couldn't protect the Village. So she'd protect the Village in his place!').

Garp was delighted about his little 'justice-fighter', while Bogard… Bogard was less enthused with her idea and even tried to make her promise to first try to get people to safety and not to charge and fight.

Of course even if she did promise it to the serious but kind man that she wouldn't seek a fight rather than to try and get the Foosha's villagers to safety (at which Bogard smirked knowingly. He was always supporting her in making very specific promises as to never get caught in something broader), Garp still gave her his version of 'training'... Meaning he threw her into the Forest full of overgrow animals and left her there.

When she finally crawled back to Foosha, biting back the urge to scream all those 'bad' words the village smith or woodsmen would use when angry, she was greeted by very sympathetic Bogard who gave her pair of daggers ('Since they're easy to hide and pretty good when it came to defence') and announced that from now on whenever they'd sail to Dawn Island either he or Garp would show her stances and drill her at how to defend herself with those. (In the back of her heart shy hope, that someone would actually try and protect her, started to sprout. Bogard knew what she was. He had to know… And yet he was giving her a way to defend herself. Even if the daggers weren't something that she could effectively use for a long time.)

Her defensive stances got pretty good, pretty quickly.

What with Garp's version of drills, his survival training, her own determination and all the hours she spend practicing her stances rather than sleeping like she probably should…

She was seven, small, fast and armed with sharp blades.

She was getting better. Closer to freedom.

It was fine.

(It wasn't fine.

She still was waking in the middle of a night with the image of herself on a scaffold and Garp the Hero doing the ceremonial beheading with a sea of people watching and cheering him on.

Those days weren't pretty.)

…

One of those days, while she was training and doing everything possible to not think about the future. She saw something that made her both perk up in excitement and grab onto her daggers in worry.

There was pirate ship docking in.

What's worse there was pirate ship with Jolly Roger she did in fact recognise…

What was Akagami no Shanks doing in East Blue of all places?

(Why would a Yonko come to remote island which only achievement is being the home of Monkey D. Garp?)

While the ship was docking, the people of the village were visibly sending children away and gathering together near the docks. There was a tense conversation between the Mayor and who had to be the Emperor himself (holy… those hair were RED) following.

Said pirate was strange. He was strong, she could tell even from her position on the hill, though she couldn't say why did she felt that way. (Other than obvious - he's a Yonko. And she knew by then what it meant.)

She watched the pirates go to the Party Bar with Makino and worried her lips with indecision. She knew everyone would rather if she'd go to sleep at the Mayor's that day, but she wanted to find out why were they here…

(Get it over with if it was supposed to be an attack at Garp.)

Though she didn't think they would hurt her… Somehow she knew that they were good men. (Or was it simply hope?) But Makino would worry… And so would the Mayor…

That day, with a somewhat heavy heart, Luffy ran to the Mayor's house to sleep at his place.

He even complimented her for being reasonable and not going near drunk pirates. Even gave her some strawberries with cream for that! (He cared.)

In the morning tough, she told the Mayor that she was going to Makino. That she was worried about her and the pirates better not have hurt her or she'll tell Gramps and they'll be hit by his Fist of Love.

Surprisingly, (or maybe not) Luffy and the Red Haired pirates easily hit it off. They were indeed good men. Patient and ready to share their tales from the Grand Line. All of them of course child friendly (which was good, she really didn't want to know that her new friends were probably murderers and surely thieves). They told her about their adventures, crazy islands, life on a ship, about nakama. (She liked that concept. She wished she'd have nakama one day.) Then they asked about her life, so she told them about going to library and learning how sew and that a marine she met one day after involuntarily spending two days in the Forest gave her knives so she could try and protect herself…

When one of them… Yasopp, the sharpshooter told her about his dream - to be able to stay with his nakama and then asked her what her dream, she hesitated for entire second before sighing softly and saying that she wished to be free. There was some laughter and some assumptions about her not wanting to be a housewife and she thought she got out of the hook.

Unfortunately that wasn't a case, as was proved when both Shanks and Beckman confronted her about her dream two days later.

When the 'concerned adults' tried to find out why exactly little girl in East Blue would dream about freedom, Luffy herself gave them long, hard look. Something told her they wouldn't hurt her. That they'd protect her. That they'd help her get strong enough to survive… To be free,

So she sighed and introduced herself properly ('My name is Monkey D. Luffy. And my grandfather - Garp sired only one child.')

Luckily both pirates proved to be quick on the uptake and immediately connected the dots. Or Monkeys in this case.

Redhair put suddenly heavy hand on her head and wordlessly comforted her, while she with tears in black eyes explained haltingly. That she wanted to be free from the world's expectations. That she wanted to be big enough, strong enough that when marines catch her, she won't be executed just for a crime of being Dragon's daughter. That she would be strong and known enough that when people, even those that would know about her family tree, would never think 'Garp's granddaughter' or 'Dragon's daughter'.

That they would see Luffy.

Just Luffy.

She told them that she just didn't want to die.

That she almost never sees Garp around. How she was worried if he really wanted to take care of her. How she was scared he took her in just to be able to monitor how strong she was and what she could do. That the moment the Fleet Admiral gave the order to execute her, Garp would be the one to swing the sword.

(Crying in a muscled shoulder, surrounded by smell of Ocean and having only red hair in her field of vision…

It was the safest she felt in her whole life.)

When Luffy finally stopped crying, she found herself sitting in Shanks' lap and having her back stroked slowly, calmingly. And then she heard the words that she just knew would change her world forever.

Shanks announced that they would be in East Blue for few months, maybe around a year. Just long enough to have a vacation from Grand Line but to still be feared there. And to be able to run away in case Garp would come. He even promised that every time they'd land in Foosha he would personally supervise her training (or send Benn to do so) and when they would go to the sea, he would leave one of the other members of the crew to watch over her and the village. That they wouldn't leave her vulnerable.

That it'd be hard work, but they'd make her able to survive on her own.

And so they did.

Every time they would dock, Shanks would either grab Luffy by the scruff of her neck and teach her how to use a sword… well a stick he found for her to train with, or would party in Makino's bar, leaving her under Beckman's eye to be trained in using staffs (longer sticks were found for this) or to polish her dagger wielding skills.

When they were leaving she was either left with Yasopp who taught her how to shoot properly or Lucky Roo who taught her how to protect herself from a club and fight against those bigger and stronger than her, seeing as she was even with all those exercises rather small for her age and it didn't look like it'd change. Sometimes other members of the crew (Sallee, Zen, Demi with Monstar…) stayed with her and helped her polish her hand to hand or taught her how to sail small boats and how that's different from sailing or even commanding a ship. Sometimes they made her do exercises that were meant to hone her reflexes and allow her to sense her surroundings. (They called them 'basics of Haki for dummies'.) After a year of really intense training and constant learning both she and the Crew thought she should be able to stay safe pretty easily.

And then it happened.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

The sudden loud bang of the bar's door being kicked open immediately silenced all laughter and teasing in the bar as everyone turned to look at the newcomers. A tall, thin man walked in with an ugly smirk on his face, carefully regarding the pirates partying in the bar. On his right hip hung a menacing saber that his right hand rested on lazily.

"Arara? So these are pirates? They don't seem like much to me." He spat as he walked into the bar with his men, not even sparing a glance at the seated pirates. He approached the bar where Makino was standing, slamming a palm on the counter top. "I'm not looking for trouble, just give us 10 barrels of sake and we'll be on our way."

"I'm really sorry, but we're all out of sake now…" Makino held her hands up in front of her in a placating gesture but anything else she could say was ignored by the man

"All taken by these bunch of useless pirates huh?" He huffed and turned to the Red Hair Pirates, squinting his eyes at them as though regarding them for the first time.

"Ara, I'm really sorry about that," Shanks turned to the man, his hand holding up a bottle of wine. "Here, this bottle is still new, you can have it as an apology from us."

The thin man swiped his right hand in an arc, smashing the bottle into Shanks. The whole bar held its breath as the broken pieces of glass clattered onto the floor.

"Don't make me laugh pirate," the man spat, pulling out a wanted poster from within his cloak. His wanted poster. "I'm a wanted bandit in this town worth eight million berries, a bottle of wine won't be enough for me."

Said pirate however, was looking at the spilled wine on the ground with something akin to anguish, not paying any attention to the bandit.

"Aww, now the floor is wet…" He crouched down on the floor and began picking pieces of the glass with his hands. "Hey, Makino, you have a mop?"

"Ah! It's alright, I'll do it!" Makino waved frantically to Shanks, but was ignored again. (Fate of the women in Foosha it seemed… Was it any wonder why Luffy wanted out?)

The bandit spat at Shanks one more time before taking out his sword to slash at the bar, sending the plates and bottles crashing on to the floor.

"You like to clean so much, you can clean all this up as well." The bandit turned his back and sheathed his sword, heading out to the door. "Come on guys, let's find somewhere else to go, forget about these chickens."

The whole bar was silent as the bandits exited the bar.

Shanks let out a hearty sigh and all the pirates started laughing.

"They sure got you captain!"

"Dahahaha, yep, they sure did!" Shanks scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Why are you laughing? Why didn't you kill them?!" Luffy screeched at them.

"It's alright… it's really no big deal. Really." Shanks raised his hands to show that it was just that - no big deal.

"Of course it's not big deal. After all you'll leave the island and we'll be left with a very angry bandit in here and a village of vulnerable people. Good job Shanks." She sneered as she spoke those last words, got up and left the building in a huff.

Makino smiled sadly knowing why Luffy would react like that (there were few bands that did indeed come around and made even more trouble after someone beat them up and left), while some of the pirates were looking at each other hesitantly.

No one should attack such a little town, right?

They did not just sign death sentences for people living here, right?

After all this is village under protection of Vice-Admiral Garp.

Then Shanks muttered about 'girls not knowing how precious life is', causing another wave of laughter and they started party again.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

"Get your foot off of me you filthy bandit!" Luffy screamed, trying without avail to push the bandit's foot off her.

"That's what you get for insulting us you little bitch. Don't think just because you're a kid I'll let you get away with what you did!" The bandit leader spat at the ground near Luffy.

"Wait! Please!" The Mayor ran towards the bandits and knelt on the ground. "I don't know what Luffy did but please spare her! She's just a kid! We're willing to pay!"

(He cares…)

"Huh," the bandit turned to regard the kneeling Mayor. "Too late old man, this kid managed to piss me off too much." He slowly unsheathed his sword, bringing it down near Luffy in a slow arc. "And I won't be satisfied until I kill her."

"So that's why no one was waiting at us at the docks" a voice was heard from behind the bandits. Shanks stood impassively with his crew, staring down the bandits.

"And here's the little pirate captain. Had fun cleaning up the town?" Higuma mocked, causing chuckle to ripple through the crew of other bandits.

"Oi Luffy, what happened to all those self-defense lessons? Shouldn't you be able to protect yourself by now?"

"I'm a child asshole. And that's the mess you've caused" Luffy managed to sneer from her position. She was seriously pissed off at red haired pirate. First he got the bandits nice and angry and then left them alive and well and went back to the Sea…

Without even leaving one of the pirated to protect them.

He promised!

And now he was mocking her rather than helping?

"I don't know what you're here for. Why don't you run along now before you get hurt again?" The bandits laughed mockingly "If you come any closer I will blow your head off, coward!"

"That's my friend you got your foot on over there, mind if you let her go?" Shanks remained motionless as he stared down the bandit.

"Tch, who do you think you are, telling us what to do?" A bandit walked haughtily towards the Yonko, his pistol drawn. He stopped within a few steps of him and pointed the pistol towards the redhead. "He told you not to come closer. Or you'll get your head blown up"

"...Bet your life on it."

"Huh?"

"With that pistol, will you bet your life on it?"

"What the hell are you talkin' 'bout?"

"It's not a toy," Shanks closed his eyes. The bandit didn't even have time to ask what Shanks was talking about before Lucky Roo shot the bandit in the head, all the while still munching on a piece of meat. The bandit hit the floor with a soft thump as the other bandits watched with their jaws dropped and their eyes filled with shock.

"You killed him!" Higuma gritted his teeth, moving Luffy so that she was standing between him and pirates with a dagger pointed at her eye.

"What unfair bastards…"

"Unfair?" The Captain of the Red Hair Pirates started

"Don't be naïve. You're not fighting against holy men." with his first mate finishing the words casually.

"The ones before you are pirates." aaand back to the Shanks. (Luffy trusted them to keep her safe at least until she could do so herself… And there she was, with a dagger near her eye and the only ones with actual strength in the village were bantering with measly bandit.

She closed her eyes resigned… At least it was not because of what she was, wasn't that nice?)

"Shut up! We don't have any business with you!"

"I don't care what you do to me, bandit," Shanks stepped closer to the bandit. "You can spit on me, laugh at me, and even ridicule me. But if you hurt my friends, I'll make you pay." ('friends' he says… what a joke.)

"You won't forgive me? Fucking pirates! Men! Kill them all!" The bandits yelled their war cries and charged the pirates in unison. Beckman stepped out beside his captain, rifle in hand.

"I'm enough to take care of them" In a blink of an eye, the charging group of bandits were on the ground, unconscious. The bandit leader widened his eyes in fear as the pirates advanced towards him. "You're dreaming, bandit. If you want to fight us, you should bring a warship with you."

"Wa… wait a moment. This kid started it all!"

"Don't you have a price on your head?" Shanks inquired curiously.

"Tch, don't mess with me!" The bandit screamed as he flung a smoke bomb at his feet, dragging Luffy with him as he made his escape. Or at least that was his plan. When he was escaping, Luffy tugged to break free of his hold and stifled yell of pain she could feel when the dagger broke the skin under her eye. Then she ran in the direction she remembered Beckman to be. (Closer than the Mayor and able to protect himself, when Mayor was just an old man.)

"Luffy" Beckman sighed relieved seeing girl running up to him. He caught her and raised her up to check that awfully bleeding injury. "Doc, she needs stitches!"

"Got'cha Beckman, sir. Get the youngin' in 'ere" He took good look at Luffy's injury, leaving Beckman to keep Luffy from crying in pain. He didn't need tears mixed with blood while stitching. "Well lass, you gonna get nice scarrin' 'ere. And we'll be sewin' you up soon. But you'll still be able to see normally, like nothin' happened."

"Thank you, Doc" Luffy murmured lowly, listening to sweet nothings being spewed by Beckman and smiling at doctor with tear brimmed eyes.

"Well, now that Luffy's fine, let's have a party to celebrate her health!" Shanks cheered, receiving cheers from his entire crew with the exception of Beckman, Doc and Yasopp who were frowning at him. And of course Luffy who was scowling murderously.

"And Higuma?!" She asked sharply, scowling at Red haired captain.

"Not a danger anymore. Let him run." Shanks shrugged at them and made the first few steps to the Party Bar before Luffy's next words compiled with villagers solemn faces made him shiver.

"You mean 'till the next time you're not in the village? He almost hurt Makino this time. Almost took my eye out. And you're letting him out, while still having a gall to call us friends? What kind of man are you?" She spat at him, turned her head and hid her face in Beckman's neck crook causing the doctor to let out a curse and order her to turn around again to let him clean the blood properly. "You're just like him. Forgetting that it doesn't matter how strong you are. What matters is how strong those that need your protection are." Luffy added bitterly, turning again and showing her eye to the doctor. Her eyes filled with tears again and she winced repeatedly when the stitches were being put up, but didn't say anything and refused to even look at then-almost-hovering Shanks.

"Permission to go bandit hunting, captain?" Beckman casually asked after the stitching was finished, carefully putting Luffy on her feet.

"I'll go as well..." Shanks sighed admitting to himself that the girl had a point.

The pirates quickly divided themselves into groups that took off in random directions to take care of the bandits living on the island.

They came back in the morning reporting to both the Mayor and Luffy that there were no more bandits on the island bar one group that had a child with them and were ready to sacrifice themselves to keep the boy safe. Though they will not bother the village either. That earned Shanks's full forgiveness and even a smooch from Luffy, before she ran to their doctor to pester him about teaching her first aid and about the most common illnesses at sea.

They stayed another two weeks just fooling around, getting Luffy to forgive Shanks (it took some groveling) and teaching Luffy stuff and letting her take off with multiple things to remember them, sometimes simply 'forgetting' something in her room at Makino's when they were reading her to sleep, or just straight up giving her things she would later find useful.

Beckman was horrified when she admitted to not having any proper nightgown, which left her with handful of his shirts to wear as pyjamas. She stole one of Shanks's capes to use as additional blanket when it was getting too cold to sleep under the thin blankets that were available in the village. Yasopp sacrificed one of his yellow sashes to keep her bangs out of the way when she was helping them to load their ship. She managed to beg off them a nice bo staff and a new set of daggers, a rifle and a couple of flintlocks and she tried to get them to part with one of their swords but Shanks stopped her promising to send someone to teach her proper swords-wielding and that her Shishou will be the one to decide what kind of sword she would use in the future. So she should be patient and wait for them to come.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

The day before the pirates were scheduled to move out they spent time in Party Bar drinking, having fun and talking for the last time few locals they befriended at their stay.

"You gonna miss us Anchor?"

"Stop calling me that, tomato head!" Luffy huffed at the hated nickname. It's not her fault she couldn't swim! It was obvious that Shanks just couldn't teach properly! It was all his fault!

"Who are you calling tomato head, you little brat?"

"Who here has 'Red Hair' on their bounty poster, ossan?"

"I'm not old!"

"You're what? 40 by now?

"You brat! Not even 30!"

"Ooold~!"

"Shut up brat."

"But weren't you asking me a question just earlier?"

"Grrr…Smartass."

"It's called wit."

"Educated insolence."

"At least it's educated," she sniffed making her best impression of a noble meeting a pirate for the first time.

"Don't torture the captain, Luffy" Beckman said, coming to rescue his captain from the 'evil' seven years old.

"But it's sooo much fun Benny~"

"Brat," the first mate of the Red Hair Pirates murmured affectionately and flicked her forehead.

"Yes, Shanks I will be missing the crew…Some more than the others..." Luffy added the last part with a smirk, enjoying the shocked expression on Shanks ever-expressive face. "But I won't ask you to take me with you."

"Oh? Decided to stay put?"

"Nah. One day, I will set sail, gather the best nakama and become Pirate King." She declared with finality that made entire bar quiet.

Something in the air shifted and Pirates and Marines alike, who had their Haki polished enough, jerked their heads sensing the shift. The announcement of a New Era.

The eyes of every person in the bar turned to her and all those New World veterans, officers on the Yonko's crew and simple villagers alike could think just one thing - she will do it.

"Not the Queen Lu?" Beckman inquired knowing very well that Luffy knew difference between sexes by then.

"The Queen still has to listen to the King. I will not have anyone control me. I will be the freest! And strong enough so no one can be able to contest my freedom. Mine or my nakama!" The pirates around her cheered, Beckman smiled proudly… and Shanks was sitting there looking at her with hard stare, trying to see into her soul. And then he smiled, seemingly coming to the decision.

"Come with me Luffy. If you're going to be The King, then I have something for you." He stood, taking Luffy with him and waving away questioning looks from his crew and villagers. Fast pace, he insisted on, brought both of them to the captain cabin on the Red Force. In the cabin, there was everything. Maps, poses, sake bottles, etc. "Sit here for a while Kinglet" He murmured sitting her on his bed and turning to the closet. Completely ignoring the way she startled at the new nickname. With a few quick moves he took out his clothes and reached for the chest hidden in there. "Kinglet, Benny told you already about devil fruits, right?"

"Yes. 3 types, can't swim, use sea stone to weaken them, use haki to hurt them. Children with fruits and generally people with rare abilities are sought as slaves" She confirmed reciting the shortened version.

"Correct. Before he died, Captain Roger gave me a last order - to find the next one to take the throne and to give them something to help. To be honest I expected to find someone older, but you have a will to do so… The Will. So…" He paused for a moment and looked into her eyes again conveying his seriousness and sheer importance of situation. Then he bent both his knee and his neck. "Monkey D. Luffy I hereby nominate you to become the next King of Pirates and swear to acknowledge you as the one to rule The Sea and every one of Her children the moment you prove to be worthy of my late Captain title." Then he raised his head to look her into eyes again, seeing the exact same intensity in her own eyes. "The King is dead… Let us hail you soon, Kinglet." After finishing the ceremonial words, he rose up, sat next to her and started opening the chest he had with him. "Before you ask your question, Kit, the Fruit inside is the one chosen for the next King by Captain Roger. Of course you're free to not eat one at all or eat something else. Anyway the fruit is called Youko Youko no Mi, it's a mythical Zoan. Everything Captain found out about it is written in that journal, along with pointers to training and suggestions you could use while going on your journey. And that…" He paused reaching up to take off his prized straw hat "was his own before he conquered the entire Grand Line and got himself a new Crown. It will show everyone who remembers those times that I nominated you. Do not show it to Garp or other Players until you're ready to protect yourself and your crew from the really big Players. Remember, killing you will be considered a big success and one more step to being crowned. Yonko and Shichibukai (you remember who they are, right?) will try to kill you. I will understand if you won't wear it before you'd reach The New World, but…"

"Stop," she interrupted softly. "You're rambling. I will be The King. And the Straw Hat Pirates will be the crew of The King. I'm proud of your nomination. I will not hide it. And if that means more asses to kick? We will do it!" The sheer confidence in her eyes and smile made Shanks let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and relax as he returned the smile to her.

"We will wait for you there. When you're carving your way in The Grand Line, remember that at least one Emperor is on your side. You just need two more. Do us all proud Kit."

"I will" She promised.

"Now your question Kinglet"

"Why the change in nicknames?"

"Well I can't really call my king an Anchor, can I?"

"That explains 'Kinglet', why 'Kit'?"

"I was curious and read what is the form of the one that ate that fruit. You'll like it."

"Okay then," she easily accepted the explanation and hugged him tightly.

"What is it Kit?" He asked pulling her closer and tugging her into his chest. He widened his smile and hid his face in her hair.

"Thank you," she said. And in those two words there was a myriad of emotion. 'thank you for helping me protect myself, even if I'm the granddaughter of an enemy; thank you for going so far for me; thank you for believing in me; thank you for being here.'

"You know… I always wanted to have a daughter..." He murmured into her strands, unconsciously tensing when she didn't answer immediately.

"I love you too papa!" She murmured after few seconds of stunned silence and burrowed herself deeper into his arms.

The next day, the Red Force left the docks in Foosha Village for the last time. And while Luffy didn't came to the docks to bid them goodbye, all of the pirates noticed the figure of a girl in white dress and straw hat on the hill close by, seeing them off.

Right after the Red Force disappeared over the horizon line, Luffy rushed to hide everything that the pirates left for her. Including her precious, oh so precious hat and the chest. She checked everything to be sure she didn't left anything in sight and went off to find someone that could help make her straw hat not too big for her. She did remember what caused the pirates to set off from Dawn Island and decided to gauge what Garp's intention were by mentioning how pirates saved her when he wasn't there.

Again.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, Luffy was eating strawberries and licking the juice off her fingers in the Party Bar talking and laughing with Makino. Life was good… Or not, she quickly decided when an oh so familiar person walked right through the wall and with a cheerful denseness, ignoring the glares everyone present leveled at him.

"Lu-chan! Where is my princess? Come give Grandpa a hug~!"

"Grandpa, when will you stop destroying Makino's walls? I like them."

"Bwahahaha… It's cooler that way!" Garp declared, grabbing his granddaughter and pulling her up to hug her properly. With cheeks rubbing and stuff.

"It's not! We have to fix it and the wall has a different color and it doesn't look good. And it's all because of you Grandpa!" Luffy pouted at him, not even trying to escape his clutches. She knew better than that.

"What's under your eye, Lu-chan?" He suddenly asked utterly serious. (Someone dared to hurt his little girl!)

"A mean bandit tried to take me ho… hosts… hostage! and ra… ran… ranas… destroy the village, but then nice pirates came and dealt with the bandit. They also promised to make sure there won't be any more attacks on the village if only we'd help them to re… res…" She started babbling tale Mayor and Makino devised together, as to hide Luffy's new Dream from Garp.

"Resupply Luffy" Makino cut in with patient smile as she was used to little girl's temperament.

"Yes, that! And their captain had that old straw hat and he said that it was his treasure and so now I have a straw hat too!" With every other word Garp paled a little. Bandits? Pirates? Near his princess?

Wait… Straw hat?

"And did that pirate captain have red hair?" He asked faint, fearing the worst.

"Yes! How did you know it? He also had that long, long cape! It was a cool cape, but it's too hot for me to wear a similar one," Luffy babbled cheerfully seemingly ignoring the clear anguish on Garp's face but both Makino and Mayor noticed mischievousness in her eyes and smiled serenely. They agreed with Luffy that Garp deserved the fright for leaving her alone for so long. "And he was very strong… Do you think I could become as strong as him one day?"

"My Luffy… My princess wants to emulate that good for nothing pirate?! Oh no, no, no…My princess will not be anywhere near those outlaws. If you want to be strong then the Marines are the way to go! I even know just the place to make you strong" Garp declared firm, turned around and marched into the forest. His single minded determination made him miss the face of utter concentration on Luffy's face when she did everything she could to remember way back to Foosha. Whatever Garp wanted he could stick it in a sock for all she cared! She was content there!

After a long walk filled with his chatter about how strong of a Marine his precious granddaughter will be one day, they stepped out into the clearing with a hut in it.

"What is this place?" Luffy asked Garp but was ignored so she in turn ignored everything and started petting that nice doggy she found lying around. That is until something wet hit her cheek and when she moved her hand to get it off, she found out what it was.

Disgusting!

That little barbarian on the bison spat on her! Now in another world maybe she'd decide to follow Shanks example and go with pacifist route and try to befriend him. But in this one? She had her target and she was not going to waste time on a brat. She looked at him with disdain.

"If that's how Marine in training behave Granpapa, then I'd rather stay with Shanks and his crew" She announced making Dadan and rest of the bandits pale rapidly, recognising Shanks name as the name pirates that came to them not so long ago used.

"No, no, not! My little princess will not get anywhere close to pirates! Ace will protect you here and keep you safe and healthy."

"And who will protect me from him? Did you let animals raise him?"

"Bwahahaha… You two will be such good friends" He just laughed her off and turned to leave the forest. Ace waited till Garp was out of sight, 'tched' and left Luffy with the bandits.

"Now listen here girly…" Dadan started threateningly only to be cut off by the surprisingly cold voice of the little girl.

"No, you listen to me bandit," she spat at her with burning eyes. "The only reason you're even alive is because you tried to protect that boy rather than doing cowardly thing and try to run from my friends. I absolutely hate mountain bandits and will not be staying in here. I'll try to come here the moment Grandpa sets foot on the island. If he comes and I not here, you're to tell him that I like to roam the Forest and took off in the morning. The Red Hair Pirates' threat about Foosha Village still stands of course. You are aware who they are, right?"

"Yo-yonko..." One of the bandits whispered scared.

"Correct. Now I'm going back and you will not even try to stop me," she turned on her heel and got back thanks to the remembered earlier path to Foosha Village, with a feeling of a job done well. Seriously, screw the bandits. And screw what Garp wanted.

Back at home she trained, read and learnt stuff useful to have on a pirate ship. (Makino helped her wholeheartedly, remembering how Luffy had declared, with conviction, to be the next Pirate King. Mayor Wood Slap tried to convince her to become a Marine or even just a merchant from time to time but soon gave up seeing that the girl was working hard to realize her dream. The fact that she went straight to him to get some 'leadership lessons' didn't hurt either.)

Months came and went and thanks to regularly doing exercises to help her 'sense' her surroundings, Luffy managed to actually dodge some big animals whenever she went to the Forest. Either to train with one of her weapons or to work on her strength and speed in there. After all what are good reflexes for when she couldn't run away from danger? One of those days when she was running in the forest she sensed someone strong… Incredibly strong on the mountain. And going straight in the place she knew Dadan's hut was, so safe with the knowledge that it was Garp she stumbled her way back there to try and survive whatever training session the Vice-Admiral decided on this time. On her way up she found a small fox about to be mauled by a falcon so she jumped to get him away from the bird and dragged it with her to show how fluffy it was and have an excuse for whatever lateness he'd be angry about. She stumbled her way through the forest just when the freckled boy Garp was adamant was her brother on their last meeting stopped introducing.

"...Sabo, kuso-jiji," She took good look at blonde boy that was standing there. Sabo was wearing blue clothes very similar to the ones nobles in High Garden liked to call casual wear, had blue top hat, goggles and sunny smile with missing tooth.

"Grandpa~ Why are you here?" Luffy asked making sure there was nothing of trepidation she felt in her voice.

"Lu-chan! I'm here to train you of course my little princess!" Garp immediately turned around and opened his arms "Give your Grandpa a hug!"

"Shishishishi! Look how cute the foxy is Grandpa~!" She singsonged moving to the Marine, planting a kiss at his cheek and presenting the caught fox to him.

"That it is. When I was your age I had a pet tiger, it was always following me" Garp boasted to the children and gave them a thumbs up.

"You sure it didn't want to eat you, kuso-jiji?" Ace sneered the words while Luffy squealed something completely different.

"How cute! Shanks told me, his captain allowed him to keep a domesticated Sea King but I guess a tiger is pretty impressive too" She chirped enjoying the way Garp's smile fell a little before it came back in full force.

"Of course that pirate would tell you that…Why did you decide on a fox Lu-chan?"

"It's cute" She promptly answered with deadpan look and then turned conversation around again "Speaking about Shanks, did you find him yet?"

"I did not. Brat's as slippery as his old captain." Garp said aloud and then grumbled "Thinking he can go and make my little princess look up to the pirate he is. Preposterous!"

"Don't worry Grandpa. I'm sure that even if you'd find him Senny-san would not allow you to start a war with a Yonko. Especially if he saved me when you were doing your… duties," she smiled innocently with a tone designed to make its recipient feel guilty.

"Oh well! We're going to train today kids, so put the fox down Lu-chan. This way kids, this way!" He started herding them in the direction every child could see was a really deep ravine. When they got close to it he burst with laughter again and threw them all into it yelling about them becoming strong Marines in the future.

Kids landed in the bottom of the ravine in bundle of limbs and muffled curses when they were trying to untangle themselves.

"So I guess I should properly introduce myself now that the danger is gone. My name is Sabo miss, it's nice to meet you," the blonde smiled and stuck his hand out for her to shake it.

"The name's Luffy. It's good to know that at least one of the boys have some manners in them," she smiled, shaking his hand and taking a few steps to retrieve her straw hat from the flower bed. "And don't celebrate yet. The mission as it is, is to get out of here in one piece. There are wolves living in there."

"Wolves? How are we going to get out of here?"

"Tch, we'll fight our way out, of course. Little princess can do whatever she wants, she's useless anyway," Ace interrupted their conversation and tugged Sabo with him.

Seriously, boys…

Luffy smiled mockingly and used the blonde turning around to scold the freckled boy for his remark to make her escape and take to the trees. She climbed one of the trees and started climbing up using the closest vine ladder she prepared beforehand.

The moment she stumbled upon the ravine she just knew that Garp would use it to 'train' her at least once so she decided to cheat as hell. After all that's what pirates do and with what she managed to read, in the journal Shanks gave her, already - she should train her body to get physical strength safely by doing repeats and by methodical working out. Not the periodic harder sessions with Garp.

Not that climbing up for so long wasn't hard anyway. She could hear growls of both the wolves and the boys that decided that frontal attack would be best idea when the only weapons they had were lead pipes. And she felt some amount of satisfaction on not only evading that pack (they had young not so long ago so they'd be even more vicious) but also being able to safely climb out while the boy that called her useless suffers that fate he brought onto himself.

After climbing out she set off to finding Garp to wait with him for both the boys. Eventually she found him (and she got lost only twice!) thanks to the fact that his aura was shining brightly in the jungle.

"I'm hungry Granpapa~" She whined stumbling on high roots of the trees Garp was sitting close to.

"Oh?! And how did you manage to get out of ravine so quickly, princess?" He asked passing her basket with berries. Where he got it… She decided she didn't want to know.

"I cheated of course" She laughed and explained before Garp could decide whether he should throw her into it again. "There was no need to become violent enough to fight off the wolves like how boys decided to get to it and so I decided to climb up. My arms are killing me Grandpa~" She whined starting to stuff herself with the fruits.

"You don't want to fight back?"

"I want to be able to avoid fighting if necessary, but I do know there will be times I'll need to fight back to defend myself and those close to me. Doesn't mean I should become like one of those pirates you told me about - trying to pick a fight with everyone and making others suffer." She explained primly sitting herself up and looking at him challengingly. She made her decision earlier. She will make Garp, and whoever else knows about who she is, think she wants to stay civilian. Or at least something akin to one. That way she could protect herself better if only because their surprise would give her additional time to make her escape or to win against whoever attacked her.

"You would be such a good Marine," he sighed but after looking at her pout admitted that maybe letting her near some of the officers would be a really bad idea. Even if only in his head. "I'll still expect you to know how to defend yourself."

"That's why you're teaching me Grandpa," was her cheerful answer.

She spent next few days with Garp in forest being taught how to fight in hand to hand and working on her daggers skill. Garp even insisted on her being able to attack as well as defend so he was giving her lessons from both standard marine program and specialised techniques. That's how Ace and Sabo found them. They came to the campfire dirty, bloody and with clothes in shreds, just to find them chatting about daggers techniques with Garp correcting Luffy's postures when sparring and laughing together.

"How the fuck did you get here before us?!" Ace demanded glaring daggers at the girl, noticing she was in a different dress and had a pair of long knives in her her hands. No doubt only because kuso-jiji knew she was weak enough to need them, he decided quickly stamping down on envy he felt at easy atmosphere between them and the sole fact that Vice-Admiral actually helped her rather than throw her in danger to toughten her up.

"I decided to think a little rather than going against entire pack and risk bruises and bitemarks 'nii-chan'. You could try it sometimes too" Lu answered cheerfully, with innocent smile that somehow still showed the boys exactly what she thinks about them. It made Ace glower at her and Sabo smile sheepishly admitting to himself that maybe going alone with the 'beat 'em up route' wasn't the best idea ever.

Garp decided they should spend the night and next day as a family and so they went to hunt down a tiger, from which Luffy bailed out citing her not wanting to dirty her new dress as a reason and asked Garp to bring the fur for her. It was starting to get chilly at nights and she couldn't admit to him to sleeping under Shanks' cape all the time. After coming to an agreement with herself, she grabbed a few baskets and made her way to where Garp earlier told her about berries bushes and started collecting them.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

She went to get out the chest with the devil fruit from Shanks almost straight after one of Garp's visit which usually ended with Ace trying to pick a fight with her by calling her a weakling or a spoiled princess, Sabo trying to play the peacekeeper and scolding Ace about manners and Luffy scoffing about how animals shouldn't pretend to be humans and leaving them to get to Foosha. It was quite easy for her to guess that the boy was lonely as hell and generally a little ball of rage and maybe she should help him… But she was selfish by nature and decided not to waste time that she could spend on getting better by trying to break through the brunet's shell and happily left that task to Sabo to deal with.

By that time, she read that people who ate devil fruits were generally more durable that their non fruit user counterparts, that generally all devil fruits were giving their users heightened stamina, speed and strength even if at the highest level of competition that little bust won't matter at all. It would be still something that would help her at the start of her future pirating career. She also read everything she could about how to recognize sea stone and some creative use of haki she decided to try when she'll finally unlocks it. Unfortunately, Roger decided not to put instruction on how to achieve such a feat so she was left hanging with just information that Haki is a willpower and the exercises the Red Haired Pirates taught her.

By then, she had also read everything about what she can safely expect. About how Kitsunes in legends are tricksters and temptresses so after puberty she can expect a nicer figure that she probably normally wouldn't have and how she would have something called 'sexual aura' (she spent few trips to library trying to find out what could that mean before giving up and asking Mayor what 'sex' is… His face was hilarious, but after a lot of splutters he did explain to her what it is and what kind of dangers young girls could be in) and how she could weave illusions, control fire (well… kind of at least) and heal herself on top of having standard Zoan benefits - heightened senses, better regeneration, stronger muscles, better reaction time… and a mate.

Apparently for all kitsune's behaviour (one, Roger called 'being cock-tease' - she had to research what does that mean too) they are incredibly loyal and possessive over what they consider theirs. Their family, their friends, their lover. Kitsune can have only one mate at the same time and only death itself can break that connection on their side but connection in itself can exist on both side only for the other with fruit enabling them to have a mate. Namely other Zoans and even then it's not always possible.

So kind of knowing what she can expect she brought the fruit to her mouth and before she could decide against it bit it…

And promptly choked on the awful taste of the thing. Still… she forced herself to chew it properly and swallow, gagging multiple times. She contemplated for a while if she should eat the entire thing to hide all the 'evidence' of the deed or go the easy road and just throw it away. But then she reminded herself of her goal and decided that The King can't go the easy road. That it's time to start earning Shanks' nomination and his faith in her.

And she ate it whole.

Very soon, she started to feel like her own skin didn't quite fit her anymore, that she should have a different form… Her instincts took control over her, she felt a strange tingling sensation all over her skin and suddenly her eyes were definitely closer to the floor than earlier.

She briefly panicked before her mind cleared a little and she understood that this was something called the full animal form that Roger wrote in his journal about. So she trotted to the big mirror in the room (the only thing in the room that couldn't be called 'necessary') ...or so she was going to do before she managed to fell over her own now 4 paws and land nose first in the floor. Immediately stifling a pained whine that threatened to break free, she quickly pulled herself up to sit and decided to try and actually control all those new, strange appendages she found herself with and raised her front paws, one after the other, then got up and did the same with her back ones and then raised her tail. Trying very hard to keep it in the air she trotted to the mirror and dropped her tails in shock.

Yes, tails.

Rather than one tail she was ready for and expecting to see, she saw nine foxy tails kept stiffly in the air.

She looked at herself with awe. Her fur was as dark as the hair in her human form though it seemed even darker than her hair thanks to the somehow reddish tints on it. Other than her unusual coloring and additional tails she could see someone mistake her for a big fox kit.

A really big fox kit, seeing how in her fluffy form she was still too big to get under her bed while standing. She yipped in excitement and immediately put her paws over her muzzle, remembering that she needed to be quiet as to not wake Makino up.

She could not show her that she was now a Devil Fruit user, much less a Mythical Zoan. She could not put her in danger like that. So first things first - she needed to learn to how to walk and control her tails as to not stumble upon them, then she had to morph back into human and go to sleep. Then she could spend next days on learning how to hide additional tails so even if she'd actually screw up and morphed somewhere people could see they would just see a fox. Admittedly big fox, but still - a normal Zoan.

It took her months of careful meditation and exercises before she could feel somewhat confident that she won't transform uncontrollably. Or that she would instinctively put illusions on something. She still had to work on purposely casting her illusions but at least she wouldn't hurt someone by accident… Or so she hoped. Garp was due to visit after all and she needed to be in control as to not show him that she ate a Devil Fruit or in worst case scenario, hide exactly what kind of the fruit she ate.

√ -√v-√ -√v—

Luckily it seemed that she was lucky since she managed to survive his 'training session' without morphing even once, though when that tiger was thrown at her she was half expecting to find herself in her furry form from the sheer panic she felt in that moment. Luckily Sabo was close and yanked her from the way of the projectile, sparing her embarrassment at becoming so small and fluffy anywhere near both boys. Thanks to that Garp left the island without further harassing them and they had their traditional interaction where Ace was trying to put her down with how weak and useless she was. Also traditionally, she ignored his remarks and left though not before smirking toothily knowing by now that she should be strong enough to actually hurt the older boy by now. Especially if she'd cheat and bring out the claws her form should have.

Speaking about…

She scowled at the thought of her so far unsuccessful tries to morph just one part of her body and resigned herself to more control training. She really, really wanted to be able to walk on two paws with her tails out.

Like in legends!

Other than that she decided to train her fighting abilities in her fully morphed form (with one tail morphed!) in the forest. Although maybe she should start by observing other foxes… She had truly no idea how to go about it. Oh well… She'll wing it!

Week later, after getting her little foxy ass kicked by smaller wild foxes and getting almost eaten by tigers on the mountain numerous times, she obediently trotted to the only place on the entire island that could actually help her - the Library.

There she poured over books on the animal kingdom in general and foxes in specific. Everything - from the diet and ways of hunting to their anatomy and body language, since her instincts were still different than those of regular foxes and she was constantly messing up body signals. Few times that she knew of and gods only know how many times that she didn't know of.

Only after intense studies on foxes in general she braved herself to go back to the forest. Then she spent few weeks in just her furry form staying close to the pair of foxes who recognized her as a kit… and from the way female immediately accepted her, Luffy thought she could be that small fox she grabbed before she got mauled year ago. Both adult foxes taught her how to hunt and fight as they would for their own kits, how to hide properly and escape from bigger predators, what to eat and what to avoid. Hell, she learned more in those weeks than in any of Garp's training sessions ever and so when she came back to Makino, with intense need for a proper shower and a bed she was not happy to hear that Garp send the letter to the Mayor about coming back soon. She barely managed to get used to sleeping in her human form again rather than curling with other foxes when she heard a warning scream about a marine ship coming and she had to grab the basket with fruits and run into the forest to pretend to be staying with her so called 'brothers' again.

She run straight to Dadan's hut and demanded to know where those two idiots are, just to learn that the boys made their tree hut somewhere and did not come back other than to use the tub in a while. After quick warning that Garp is coming and officially she decided to stay with Dadan's bandits for a tub she run off into the direction one of the bandits… Modra? Morda? doesn't matter, bandit pointed her the boys to be in. By then she started to feel the enormous aura of her grandfather on the mountain. She managed to get to the tree house just as Garp himself was coming into the clearing and started to loudly complain about how her 'brothers' were mean and if they don't want to get sick then they should also eat fruits and not just meat.

(Were there any acting prizes in Grand Line? 'Cause she deserved one for simply being able to convince Garp that she cared about their health.)

"Bwahahaha! Listen to your sister boys, even I couldn't survive just on meat" Garp laughed aloud, which caused both boys to stop staring at her incredulously and move their heads to where the voice came from.

"What are you doing here?! Kuso-jiji!" Ace hollered with his face paling from the fear of the numerous Fists of Love he had already gathered for his backtalk.

"Grandpa~ You're back!" Luffy singsonged enjoying her own immunity from being hit. Or at least from being hit as fast and hard as boys - Garp enjoyed making it a game for her to train her reflexes. And even that was only because the boys were complaining about her never being hit with them.

"Of course I'm back princess!" Garp crooned happily and lifted her to hug her properly. "Did you miss your grandpa Lu-chan?"

"I did," she giggled looking evilly at the rapidly paling boys in the tree house window. "And the boys missed you too Grandpa. They're just too shy to tell you it." Another happy giggle escaped her lips at the look of absolute wonder in the old marine eyes and absolute horror etched at Ace's and Sabo's faces.

"Hiding their love, are they?" Garp growled menacingly, putting Luffy down and turned to face the tree properly. "Get down here you little brats!" He roared and jumped up to get them down. A few clumsy traps and two punches later, both boys were sitting between the roots of the tree with big bumps. Luffy smiled mischievously at that and got up.

"Strawberry?" She asked them offering the basket with fruits to them. Before Garp managed to burst in happy laughter again, the basket was torn from her hands and the little ball of rage was up in her face.

"We don't want your fucking strawberries! We don't want anything from you, you fucking weakling! How dare you come here and pretend to be one of us! How dare you cause the fucking geezer to hurt us! Get the fucking hint! Jump off the fucking cliff and die already!" Ace screamed at her and tried to punch her when her own patience finally snapped as well. She caught the boy's fist and moved letting his own moment to tumble him behind her while twisting his arm and falling herself on his back.

She was working her ass since she was just a little girl (not that she was much bigger now, but still…)

She was taught by both Marines and Pirates how to defend herself and how to survive.

She was a fucking Nominee for a King of Pirates title… (She was the only child of a highest bounty alive.) and that stupid brat dared…

"Listen here Acey, darling… MY grandfather adopted both you and the little noble from the city. That means we're family. Oh believe me, more than reluctant on my side… But family. You do NOT attack your family. Even animals know that." She sneered at him and put more force to her knee on his spine. Then she raised her head and looked at surprisingly solemn look at Garp's face. "I think I'll let you spend time with your grandsons Grandpa, I'll go back to Foosha." Even she heard her voice quaver a little and she couldn't lie to herself that her suddenly worsened vision wasn't because of tears.

She turned around and fled the clearing and straight to Foosha village morphing into a fox around the road and back before transforming back while coming out of the woods. No, she didn't like them. No, she didn't want to be with them. Yes, she knew exactly what he thought about her… And still having it spat in her face broke her heart a little. The moment she came back to the village she run straight to the Party Bar and next to worried Makino, grabbed her bo staff and got back out of there to the little clearing close to the village where she normally trained with any weapon. There she started to work her anger and pain out.

After that incident she didn't even pretend to be anywhere near close to the boys and when Garp came to Dawn Island she waited for him in the docks and obediently trailed after him to do her part of the 'training'. Completely ignoring the existence of the boys, not talking at all, neither to them nor Garp, just getting out of whatever trouble Garp threw them in. When they were all exhausted sitting around the fire and eating whatever Garp caught for them she always ate her portion quickly and then got up to grab her daggers and do her katas. Often times with a guilty looking Garp getting up straight after her and correcting her posture sometimes, more often than not to grab his own daggers and 'spar' with her.

And while she noticed them few times either stealing in Edge Town on her way to library or loitering around Foosha Village with increasingly guilty expressions she ignored them and set to working herself to the bone learning how to sew, cook (Makino finally cawed and decided she's mature enough to start learning both parts), give proper first aid (from the village doctor), sail and navigate. Along with other… useful skills. She was constantly working on her speed, strength and flexibility and weapons.

To do all of that she was waking up and going to sleep with the sun.

With just one target in sight - to be the strongest.

To be the freest.

To be The King.