I do not own One Piece

Please enjoy!

Chapter 7: Disappointed

An eight year old played with a sharp knife, on top of a stone building as she watched the setting sun, waiting for a little girl to show up. She familiarized herself with the new knife, with each swish and swoosh, the clicks and movements. It felt satisfying to not knick herself each time she tried to hold it.

"Chiko-chan, sorry I'm late!"

Chiko looked down below her from where she was sitting and saw a huffing Makino below her. Chiko laughed, "What are you talking about? You're right on time! Come on up!" Makino nodded with childlike determination and climbed the uneven wall with practised ease. Soon she sat next to Chiko.

"What took you so long?" Chiko asked, since if there was someone that was usually late, it'd be her. The younger girl swung her legs a bit and shrugged, "Julia-san was teaching me some stuff." The delighted smile on the girl's face showed just how much she loved learning from Julia. Chiko suppressed the snicker and looked at the horizon.

"You are six years old now. About time you learned a thing or two," Chiko teased, only to receive a soft punch to her shoulder and a fuming child next to her. "I've learnt more than two things!" she complained, making Chiko snap her switch knife closed with a raised eyebrow. "I'll believe it when I see it."

The older child continued teasing the younger one until the sun laid below the seas.

XXX

To say the least, the switch knife was much better than Julia's silverware knife, which she used prior to her beautiful switch knife. As an eight year old, her strength was not the best. But that did not mean it was damn good. She now sat on a fallen log in the dense forest of Dawn Island, eating a boar she had hunted down. It was a small one, but hey, small victories.

Months had passed since she bought the switch knife, and even longer since she left Roger's crew. Foosha island was as uneventful as ever, and Julia and Makino were always at the bar. Chiko would help when the bar was generally full, but having so many people work at the bar would usually be overkill so she would train in the forest meanwhile.

Every few weeks, she'd see that she built more muscle here or there, and was glad she could see the progress. From both Roger's crew training and Garp's training, she had a very good base to start from, and a good idea on how to continue to challenge herself to become stronger and better. Of course, the experience and knowledge from a life ago helped tremendously.

One day, when it started raining pretty badly, Chiko made her way back to the village from the forest and was soaked wet when she was walking through the main street of Foosha Village. With a grand idea of hugging both Makino and Julia, she could almost picture their disgusted looks, she was about to open the doors of the bar.

However, she noticed how the hinges of the doors were a bit off. As well as how the doors in general seemed crooked.

The smile that was sprawled on her face was quickly replaced by a straight line. She silently entered the bar. Inside were a few customers, but they were all eerily quiet. Julia stood behind the counter and didn't seem much different, aside from that small downward pull on her lips. Chiko scanned the bar once more, before going up to Julia.

"What happened and where's Makino?"

Julia looked away from her work and saw the newest girl she's taken in, soaking wet, sitting on the tall stool that was right in front of Julia. The elder woman stood her ground for a bit more, but knew that there was no need in that so let out a silent sigh.

"The mountain bandits came back."

Hatred filled inside Chiko.

"What did they do?"

Julia silently set the dried glass back in it's correct place.

"Don't pull that look. They were annoying customers, that's it. They came, drank, was a hassle, broke a few glasses and chairs, paid for their drinks, then left."

Chiko crossed her arms and scowled deeply.

"Was curly hair there too?"

"With her goons."

Chiko nodded and bowed her head.

"Makino's at the back?"

Julia nodded. Chiko slipped out of the chair and went to the back room. Inside, Makino was sitting on a chair with a blanket around her, holding a hot beverage close to her body. "Hey Makino-chan," Chiko said softly and Makino looked up and smiled. "Hey Chiko-chan- oh! You're soaking wet, you need to-"

Chiko snickered and patted Makino's hair.

"I'll be fine for now. Now you tell me, are you alright?"

The younger girl opened her mouth, about to say something, but then hesitated and looked back down at her warm drink. "I'm… ok now. It was just very scary to see those bandits like that," she admitted and frowned. Chiko let out a sigh through her nose and nodded with furrowed brows. "I bet. But you did well... I… I'm sorry for not being there." Chiko bowed her head again, breathing in deeply.

"No, don't be sorry! It's alright, it's just- … yeah..."

Chiko smiled sadly, "I understand."

Chiko had dragged Makino to get a warm shower with her, and put the younger girl in bed. Makino fell asleep instantly. So when the bar was still open and more people that prefered drinking at night littered in, Chiko went behind the counter next to Julia, stood on a small stand and went to wash dishes, she started talking.

"Who exactly are they?"

Julia should've known that the girl would ask this. Chiko did not even need to specify who she was talking about.

"They are bandits, just like any other. They are up to no good and they steal from people around Dawn Island," Julia started and started to pour beer for a person. "They were always here, near Foosha, but recently they became much more active."

As they both worked, Julia told Chiko of these mountain bandits. They were nothing new, but their new leader was. Dandan, she called herself. Immediately, memories burst into Chiko's mind and was slightly stupefied that the 21 year old Dandan, who was now slim and somewhat beautiful, would turn into a hag (one that she is admittedly more familiar with).

This Dandan was up to much trouble, always coming up with schemes and bothering people. They lived in the mountains, surrounded by the forest, but no one knew exactly where they lived. Julia told a couple more stories about who, what, where, when they have stolen, or told stories about certain bandits from the group.

Chiko hadn't realized how much of a hassle they were. In the series, they were no big deal. If anything, they were mildly annoying to Foosha village. But now they posed an actual threat to the village, which seemed very bizarre to Chiko. So she pondered about the bandits until she and Julia closed the bar and called it a day.

Ever since that day, Chiko would return much earlier. She noticed how the bandits would usually come around an hour before the sun set, so she made sure to come a bit before that everyday. Makino was very happy to see her older friend more often and Julia, while not showing it, also seemed to like the change.

During the time she spent helping at the bar, she trained her observational skills. To see the people around her, to know when they would be done with a dish or meal, when a person would almost spill their drink, so forth. It was more draining than she thought, which she liked before it meant that it was worth investing this skill.

Two months had passed since the bandit mountains came to the bar, and that evening, Chiko heard unfamiliar voices from outside. She stepped towards Makino and smiled at the girl, "Hey Makino-chan? Do me a favor and stay at the back until I tell you to come out?" Makino, who was cleaning some cups, tilted her head.

"Why?"

"Just because."

Makino frowned softly, but nodded nonetheless, hopped off the stand and went to the back room. Five seconds later, the doors slammed open.

"Hah! Look at these morons!" laughter followed soon after. Chiko looked and saw a certain ginger curly haired woman, with some of her bandits goons behind her as she stepped inside. Chiko, trying to show how unbothered she was, smiled at a customer that had been waiting for their order.

"Beer with fries on the side, here you go! Can I get you anything else?"

Her words cut through the silence in such a contrasting way that Chiko almost burst out laughing. The man she served to shakily shook his head, making her grin and nod. "Alright, have a nice meal!" and she stepped back and, with a skip to her heel, walked back to the counter to set a few dirty dishes to the sink.

She knew she made a certain mountain bandit chef mad, but- oh my, what is that? Oh. Oh, that is all the fucks she gives for this woman, flying far, far away.

Dandan somehow managed to ignore Chiko and ordered from Julia. Chiko simply went on with her duties, carefully mindful of these new customers. She noted how the bandits did not have any sort of etiquette when drinking and were flailing around, like idiots.

Ah, a glass pint fell to the ground.

Looking from the bandits' face, it didn't seem not intentional.

"Oops," the dumbass bandit had to add.

Since Julia went to the back to get Dandan's ridiculous order, she had to be the one to clean the mess up. So with all the time in the world, she took the tray with a small broom and merrily hummed her way to the table of bandits. They were all laughing (at themselves, Chiko liked to think as a smile crawled on her lips) which did not deter the child and she quickly cleaned up the mess.

"Hey brat, you forgot to clean this up!"

She saw a bandit lift his half full cup from her peripheral.

With the instincts of when a snake had lunged at her three days ago, she snatched the deliberate falling cup mid air. The tray of residue glass fell to the ground and she smiled a far too happy smile at the bandit.

"You almost dropped this."

The bandit could only dumbly take it back, "Right. Uh, thanks."

Chiko beamed, "No problem!"

And then went back to cleaning, stood, walked to the trash to throw the broken shards away, and went back to cleaning the dishes behind the counter.

Slowly, Julia was rolling a barrel to the bar as Chiko kept an eye on the bandits, and mostly on Dandan, who seemed tame for some reason. Which seemed weird. Chiko has been acting innocently annoying for the whole time, which should have aggravated Dandan to action, but the woman was simply glaring at her ever so often.

Chiko glanced at the bandits that were seated at a table, acting like idiots and drinking. There were only three of them. Significantly less than before. Why would there be so little bandits this time around? And how come Dandan was so well behaved now?

This… couldn't be a coincidence… right?

…Ah.

Of course, recon. They're doing some recon. They're bringing attention here so that other bandits would not get as much attention. Chiko then stretched and huffed, quickly coming up with an excuse. "Julia, I need to take a dump. Imma tell Makino to take over me for a sec!" she called out, which made Dandan react hilariously for a second as she went to the back.

There, Makino stood, scared.

"The mountain bandits," she whimpered to Chiko. Chiko nodded and put her hands to Makino's shoulders. "Also known as dumbasses. Listen Makino, I need you to just do what you normally would do, ok?" Chiko looked at Makino's eyes, who trembled lightly. "I won't take long. I just need to check something. Can you do that for me?"

Makino frowned and her lip quivered.

"Just imagine if they were wearing pink tutus," Chiko started with a grin, "And some too tight white leggings." Makino giggled at that and Chiko's grin widened. "Well they are wearing that, they just don't know it." Makino giggled and looked up at Chiko, "That's not how it works," she whispered. Chiko winked at her, "Well it works for me, so that's how it should work."

They two smiled at each other for a few more moments, until Makino nodded. "Ok, I'll… do that. Please come back soon though..."

Chiko ruffled her hair, "Of course."

XXX

Chiko saw Dandan and her goons walk off, into the forest, as she sat on a roof. She was glad she listened to her guts, because they were right. The bandits had been walking around the village, inspecting a few houses and buildings. And since they are bandits, they were obviously looking if these places were good to steal from.

She found a few as they littered around the village.

With thoughts developing in her mind, she stepped back into the bar.

"Chiko-chan!"

The breath was knocked out of her lungs as a body lunged itself on her and embraced her tightly. "Where were you!?" Chiko, with an eye open, looked down and saw an almost crying Makino. Chiko smiled and patted her hair, "Just doing some sightseeing."

XXX

Dandan and her bandits did not come to the bar after that. However, for the next two months they would often come and harass people from the village. Pressuring them to give booze or money, or just being a general menace.

During that time, Chiko's 9th birthday passed. It was nothing big, just how she liked it. Julia had bought a chocolate cake and it was celebrated with her and Makino. From Makino she got a book about sea creatures, to which Chiko thanked her for. The day was well spent and she was very glad it was just eventful enough to be fulfilling.

A week later, Dandan's goons crossed the line.

Chiko had just returned from her daily outing from the forest when something felt wrong. Which was bizarre, because the village looked as it always did. But there was a feeling that something was wrong. So, littered with scratches of baby bears' claws, she ran towards the bar. Feeling like entering from the front would not be the best idea, she ran to the back of the building. And right enough, a man that wore the same clothes as the mountain bandits, was angrily talking to who she knew is Julia.

Then he pulled his hand back and a loud smack was heard.

Chiko tensed up when she heard a thud soon after. Her whole body seemed to be filled with energy for just a second. Each inch of her skin was hyper aware of itself. Something akin to cold water swept over her. Her pupils narrowed dramastically. No thoughts invaded her mind, just pure instincts and muscle memory. She could see nothing but that man.

She ran to him. With all her force, she jumped and slammed both feet to his side. He fell with a grunt. She also fell but braced herself for the fall. With no hesitation, she stood, pulled out her switch knife and when she heard the click she dove for the man again. He dodged fairly quickly. Her eyes narrowed to the now broken wine bottle he held in his hand.

"You- you crazy brat!"

He swung the bottle at Chiko but their height difference was to her advantage. He missed her by an inch. She went to his left and swung her knife to his side. He let out a gasp of pain and touched his side.

Blood.

"You… YOU BITCH!"

Chiko scowled and crouched when he swung at her again, making her get a scratch on her forehead. She quickly went between his legs and kicked upwards, right to his crotch. He fell to his knees. She was about to put her knife to his neck but he swung backwards. She just had enough time to step back to just get a cut to her arm.

She eyed the bottle that flung out of the bandit's hand and smashed against the wall. Her eyes locked back on his and without waiting, kicked his neck so he would fall to the ground, stomach down. He grunted and stopped all movement when he felt a sharp, cool piece of metal to his neck.

He didn't think he'd be taken down by a kid today.

Or ever, period.

"You're part of Dandan's group, aren't you?" He heard the voice of a child above him.

"Yeah, so what?!"

There was a cool silence and he could feel the knife press itself harder on his throat. Ok so maybe the kid was not fooling around.

"So tell her to stop. This is embarrassing."

The bandit flushes bright red. How dare this brat just humiliate his boss and him?!

"LISTEN-"

A drop of blood fell from his neck.

"If you think you can treat me like a child, think again," he could hear her just right next to him. He could ever feel her breath. He shivered.

He didn't think he'd be scared by a kid today.

Or ever.

"Tell your boss that by doing this, she angered a marine."

Then he no longer felt a press to his neck. He scrambled to his feet, and turned around as he stepped backwards. He only saw a smiling child, the same one he saw giggling at the bar a few months prior, with a switch knife tainted with a drop of blood.

He heard a click to the right and saw the old barista holding a gun to his face.

"Leave."

He didn't need to be told twice to run off.

Both Chiko and Julia watched the man scurry off back to the mountain before the child let out a sigh and the sounds of stretches. Julia lowered the gun and looked at the child. The child who just now clicked her knife closed and smiled peacefully, looking off to the distance of the mountains. Was she even a child? What just happened…? Julia did not know what to worry about more. The mountain bandit that was trying to steal from her, or the child that did not seem to mind hurting people.

And then Julia saw the wounds on the child's small form. "Chiko," she said warningly, making the child grin up at the older woman and Julia could not help but worry even if she tried to look stern. "I'll dress to your wounds as you tell me what happened."

Chiko shrugged and followed the older woman, but not before glancing behind her twice and locking the backdoor firmly.

Chiko simply told the woman, as she undressed to get a shower, that she was used to fighting like this in the forest. Not the truth, but Julia did not need to know that. After subtly changing the subject, Julia told her that Chiko just arrived when the man was getting aggressive when Julia said no to giving booze. Chiko frowned softly at the news and then thanked Julia for the help and went to wash herself as Julia went back to tend to the bar, where Makino was alone, unknowing of what happened.

XXX

"If you're gonna do nothing, Imma tell Garp."

There really was no other way.

The major looked at the small child in front of him, who wore a bandage on her forehead, jawline, forearm and two on each leg. He has bumped into the kid many times in these last couple of months, and she tended to be harmless.

Sometimes she would actively try to help around the village, asking who needed help and then she would try her best to help. When he bumped into that, he didn't mind. But when she was climbing houses, playing with that knife of hers, or pranking the civilians, he did mind.

He still is not over the fact that she faked spilling milk to him by the docks, such that it surprised him so much that he fell to the water.

He could still hear her laughter at him as he yelled at her.

"I am not doing nothing," he responded. He did not need to explain himself to a brat.

"Then it's close to nothing. If you don't want me to tell Garp and you're still doing nothing, then I'll go to their base alone."

He squinted his eyes.

He did not know what to believe.

On one hand, this is a brat. Brats often tell lies.

On the other hand, this brat came from Garp. And she apparently has a bad past, from what Julia and Garp told him. And the brat always goes to the forest.

"I'm dealing with the bandits. I told some fishermen to help me fend them off," and he's explaining himself to a brat. He scowled deeply.

"Not working. Why try to stop a bullet from entering the skin when you can break the gun altogether?"

Are nine year olds always like this? This reminded him much of Garp's own brat.

"We fended off five bandits," he said, as if proud of that fact and both warning the kid in front of him to not get too cocky. But the brat just sipped her orange juice, set it down, and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Out of fifteen. Miraculous, your 'fending' off."

His eyes twitched. Did she have to do those movements with her fingers as she said 'fending'? "In any case, this is none of your business," he tried to wave her off but she did not budge one bit. She calmly looked at him, with patient eyes that he had never seen in a child before. "Ok," she finally said and hopped off the chair, "But only because I believe you."

She smiled at him as she headed to the door and waved, "See you later, geezer!"

"I'm not that old!"

She walked towards the stone building, where Makino and her would now simply sometimes sit there. With pure muscle memory, she soon found herself looking at the setting sun. Maybe she was just stressing over nothing. These bandits were nothing, and even in the original One Piece timeline they were nothing. From what she remembers, Garp will eventually teach them their place.

But when would that be?

She also distinctly remembers a lack of Julias in the series. Was it because of the bandits? A scowl she would not openly show to others appeared. She had to be more careful. If the encounter with the bandit from the other day said anything, it shouted how she definitely was not strong enough to fend off an adult. Not yet. So she had to trust the mayor and his lacking tactics.

With a soft sigh, she put her hands to her forehead and could feel the plastor Julia put on her. Also, she had been running on pure adrenaline when she fought against that bandit. Sure, the forest helped her in dodging and swiping her knife, but she never fought against a human before. Her hand trembled. She cut a person. She did not even care if the bandit died, she wanted to simply get a message across.

She could feel herself shaking, as if she was shivering despite the warm beams of the falling sun.

Peeking through her fingers, she looked at the warm colors of the setting sun.

Her adult mind can keep up with what is happening to her, but her child body can not keep it up. The feeling of flight or fight activated, and she chose to fight. She did not regret it. Nor did she regret wounding the man. But despite that, her body seemed to be petrified. She was ok, she was sure. So why are her hands trembling this much?

She gulped. Breathe in deeply… and exhale.

So she admits, what she did was abnormal. But to One Piece standards, it seemed pretty normal. Nonetheless though. How could she get tunnel vision after getting angry over a person? It never happened before. And how come that anger converted itself so well to a sort of fighting energy? Is this because she was essentially living in an anime? Or was it because of her upbringing?

She shook her head immediately and put her hands to her eyes as she bowed her whole body forwards.

Fuck she did not want to be reminded of her upbringing- of those memories-

Whatever the reason may be, it happened. No need to dwell more into that.

Scar. Hand. Cell.

She squeezes her eyes shut. No need to dwell more into that.

Rotten hand. Throw away. Nephew, uncle.

She clenched her hands tight, feeling like she could rip her face apart.

"Be a good girl Chiko-chan."

"Chiko-chan?"

She flinched harshly and looked to the side to quickly hide her face.

Makino looked up, as she stood on the ground, below from where Chiko was sitting on the stone house. "Y-yeah?" Chiko shakily replied. The green haired girl tilted her head in confusion, why was Chiko looking away and why did she sound like that? "I need to help Julia-san with some cleaning. Is that alright?"

Chiko sat shivering all over, thinking about what Makino just asked her. It took a few seconds to fully register it, before she fully dulled out the previous thoughts with Makino's wonderful question. Chiko just had to snort. Was the girl really asking Chiko permission to help their tsundere grandma figure?

"Of course it is shorty. I'll catch you later."

"Hey! I'm not short! But ok, see you later!"

The girl ran off, back to the bar as Chiko had a gentle smile.

So, she realized, she can get strong. Strong like the main character of the series she used to watch. If she can get that strong, she will be.

XXX

The places that she used to dodge in the forest before, she ran into now.

Wielding her knife, she eyed the big snake in front of her, and it eyed her back. Her heart was beating rapidly against her chest and she's almost sure that the snake could hear it. She stood on a big tree and had been resting there, until this snake slithered towards her.

She expertly played with her knife and tilted her head with a small smile, "Lovely skin you have." The snake lunged, as if it understood what she said. She jumped up and landed on its slippery body. The snake went to bite her again but she jumped back. The snake looked up and saw no one.

It slipped its tongue out once and suddenly it stopped.

Chiko pulled out her switch knife from the snake's head and the snake's dead body fell from the tree and fell to the ground, quite a few meters from the top. As she eyed the fallen snake and then her blood covered knife, she was reminded of a certain man.

She cut a piece of the snake skin, and since it was still pretty early, she set off the Goa Kingdom. It was a faster ride than when she was with Julia and Makino, even if they did have a carriage back then. She had a bit of trouble finding the store she bought her fine switch knife, but eventually did and came in with no finesse.

"Hey Raf-san!"

"Who the hell- how dare you enter my store like that!"

Chiko looked around and saw no customers, so she grinned and walked up to the man that stood behind the counter, his face becoming a bit red with anger. So she merely grinned. "Good morning-"

"Afternoon," he corrected despite how angry he looked.

Chiko hummed. Already afternoon?

"You remember me?" she asked, semi curious and semi for business. He crossed his arms and huffed, "It is most unfortunate, but yes." She grinned at him, "Wonderful! And do you still have no snakeskin provider?"

"You smile at my misfortune-"

Deciding that that was a positive, she dropped the chunk of snake skin she gathered this morning. From the snake that she completely wrecked. Rafael, the salesman of the weapon's store Chiko bought her switch knife from, eyed the poorly cut but definitely snakeskin piece. "Where did you get this?"

Right to business, as she likes it.

"Got it myself, killed the beastie all by me."

The man eyes the skin more closely, humming, before looking up at Chiko again.

"It is crudely cut," he mentions as if it offended him but Chiko shrugged. She was no professional cutter, so it was to be expected. "However, I am in need of a snakeskin provider, not a snakeskin handler," he mumbled. Chiko had to process his words for a few more seconds until she grinned and slammed her hands to the table, he grimaced at that, and laughed a bit, "So I take it I'm in?"

Rafael sighed, "Yes."

And ever since that day, when she would come across a snake, she would dive for it and try her hardest to kill it. And she got bit more often than she'd like to admit. She was glad that more snakes on the island was not venomous, thankfully or else she'd be dead.

However one day she did get bit by a venomous snake and she was bedridden for a couple of days. Thankfully the venom was basically a bad case of the cold. Through each snake she gave to Rafael, she got some bellies. It depended on the quality of the snake though and how much there was.

Nonetheless, sometimes she came back holding 50 thousand bellies.

Things were looking up.

And today, she grinned, things were really looking up. Two months had passed since the bandits attacked Julia and a bit less than a month passed since she got hired by Rafael to give him snake skin, and now she finally achieved her goal.

Finding where the bandits live.

Night had fallen and she knew she would need to apologize to Makino and Julia for coming home late, but this was more important. She could hear their boisterous laughter and Dandan's one too. She knew she hit the jackpot. She climbed off the tree she was sitting on previously and crept her way to the bandit's house. She tiptoed around the house and eventually saw an open window.

She crept towards it and listened.

"Wow Dandan, did you- you got fatter!"

"Shut the hell up bastard!"

Aright, looks like there may not be a lot of important things that were discussed that day.

XXX

Now that she finally found their hideout, she changed her schedule. She would stay with Makino and Julia at the bar until lunch, and then she would head off to the forest and stay somewhere near Dandan's hideout, and would eavesdrop on them until most would go to bed, then she would head back.

She realized how much that improved her instincts, stealth and observation skills, after she played hide and seek with the mayor and Makino.

Another two months had passed when finally, something interesting came up.

"So, in two weeks we take over Foosha! How about it boys?!"

A loud cheer ran out and Chiko scowled.

"What a good idea boss!"

"That's our boss!"

"But why?"

Dandan seemed to stop laughing for a second, gulped something down, sighed, and then laughed again. "Cause they're idiots!"

More laughter. It was not discussed some more that day, but nonetheless, Chiko's heartbeat fastened. Time to do something now.

XXX

As the days passed, their plan to invade Foosha seemed to get more elaborate. They talked about the mayor and how the mayor organized some men to fight them off. But against them all, it would be an easy win, they said. And while Chiko didn't want to agree, she did.

Then she was brought up. The kid that almost cut off a bandit's head.

Dandan really did not like her, if the sound of crashing glass against the wall said anything when someone uttered 'brat' near her. Chiko wanted to grin, feeling like she accomplished something grand.

Nonetheless, this was worrying.

She called Garp the morning after she first heard of their full plan. And he said that he'd come when he can. Mayor said he could handle it but Chiko was not naive and when she said they would be bringing more than a dozen people, he had a look that clearly showed how he underestimated them.

Well to be fair, she also underestimated them.

XXX

Chiko gulped unsurely, as her feet were no longer touching the ground.

In all fairness, the day had started off pretty well. 13 days had passed since she called Garp, telling him about Dandan and the mountain bandits. The mayor thought he had it under control, but Chiko knew he was shitting bricks internally.

Chiko knew which day they would be coming and tried to be as prepared as possible.

But then again, how much could a nine year old do?

When they barged in the village, she tricked a few to come by themselves in alleyways and he knocked out a good three of them. But when three bandits saw what she was doing, she was kinda-probably-maybe- ok no, she was screwed.

One man? Do-able with the element of surprise.

Two men? Very hard to knock 'em both out, but should be fine if fast enough?

Three men is just not gonna go well. And that is exactly what happened.

Chiko managed to cut one of them, a gash to their upper thigh, until she was picked up and slapped so hard she fell to the ground with a loud thud. "You- the damn brat chief was talking about!" one of them grunted and picked up the trembling kid. "Damn, did you have to slap her? Look at her, she's shaking like a leaf-"

Chiko bit the arm that picked her up, causing her to be dropped to the child. She was about to sprint for it, but she was immediately kicked before she could do anything else. With the air knocked out of her lungs and the burning sensation to her cheek and the pain blooming to her stomach, she stayed quivering on the ground.

"-Yeah, ok- let's get her to chief."

Then she felt her wrists being grabbed and someone pulled her up. "C'mon kid, I ain't picking you up."

Chiko mumbled something under her breath, making both bandits glance at each other,before looking down at the kid. "What did you say?" One of them said, as the other inspected the pile of his comrades Chiko knocked out.

"Damn boomer, your hearing's as bad as your brain? I said..." she looked up. Even if her whole body was trembling, her eyes were not, "You basic bitches are a damn bore."

Half of the vocabulary flew over their heads, but they understood one thing very clearly. The brat that was literally at their mercy, was insulting them. They both got tick marks and unsheathed their swords again.

Until- "Group up!" -their leader's voice.

The bandits 'tsk'ed, sheathed their sword and dragged Chiko to where they heard their leader. Chiko, meanwhile, was not scared. Somehow she could not help trembling, but there was an eerie calmness within her. She thought the trembling calm more from the adrenaline, the fact that she has been fighting people physically stronger than her, and also her child body not keeping up with her mentality.

Her body may be trembling, but her eyes held an intense curiosity.

What exactly was Dandan going to do to her? Slap her? Lame, that already happened- yes she could still feel the stinging. Kill her? Double lame. And Chiko knew Dandan was not going to torture her or something like that, so Chiko was mighty curious. But she was prepared to be disappointed nonetheless.

Soon Chiko was dragged to the docks, where the mayor also was and a few other civilians and bandits. And Dandan of course. Chiko could not help but smile at how Dandan looked at her with much anger. Dandan's gaze snapped upwards to the two bandits that were with Chiko. "I'm missing five bandits, where are they?" she snapped, not cutting corners.

Five? That's interesting, she remembered taking out four.

"Ch-"

Chiko looked to the corner of her eyes and saw Julia was among the civilians. Chiko calmly gazed at the older woman, as if nothing important was happening, before looking back at Dandan curiously. The bandits were explaining how they found a few knocked out, probably because of the brat they said, and Dandan had been a bit silent ever since.

"Are you telling me..."

Dandan looked like she was going to transform into a giant, going from how animalistic she appeared right now. Chiko could only stare in amazement as her smile widened.

"That brat knocked out most of my men?!"

The bandits could only sputter, "W-well, uh-uh, we-uh think so-"

The world seemed to roll over a couple of times for Chiko as she felt a strong pulling sensation to- ah, Dandan is holding her collar.

Chiko gulped unsurely, as her feet were no longer touching the ground. Her smile dropped a bit, because she was not feeling that suicidal. "Long time no see, chief," Chiko let out, her neck very much hurting by how she was being suspended by her collar at the moment.

"You little shit," well that's not very nice, "how did you know we'd be coming?"

Who spilled the tea? Chiko gazed at the civilians and honestly could not pinpoint anyone, so she looked back at Dandan and shrugged. "Found your base. Apparently you're gaining weight. I heard drinking hot water helps." Chiko suppressed the flinch that wanted to act out. Damn she should watch her mouth. But she so does not regret it. Looking at the various expressions Dandan is pulling is almost too satisfying.

"Please take me instead!" the mayor shouts just as Dandan looks like she'd snap. Dandan does not take her eyes off Chiko though. "Fuck no."

Dandan pulled back her arm that was not holding Chiko and clutched the free hand into a tight fist. Ah, so Dandan's gonna punch, then? Chiko couldn't suppress the disappointed pout that appeared. Man she was really hoping for something better, but a punch?

Dandan almost dropped the punch. What kid would not look at least a bit scared at this situation? The moment Dandan laid her eyes on the brat, the brat dared to smile. Smile. As if nothing was happening. Then she would continue talking and talking- as if she did not even know the gravity of the situation. Sure kids are dense, but this dense- No.

Dandan had observed the brat for long enough. This kid was not dense. In fact, probably the kid is the opposite of dense. So why was she acting this way?! Dandan literally has no other option but to hurt the kid. So why the hell does the kid look disappointed, before she's about to get punched. It almost halts Dandan's actions. Keyword: almost.

Chiko can feel air swoop in front of her face and is immensely surprised to not feel pain.

She is even more surprised to see a familiar hand, right in front of her face.

"Huh? These are the mountain bandits? Don't look like much..."

Chiko's collar gets ungripped and she lands to her feet. She goes behind the tall man that wore a marine uniform, a man that is best friends with a certain captain that wore a straw hat. She beams and almost laughs to Dandan's face.

"You were almost late, old man!"

Garp punched her head, "I'm not an old man- oh wait I am..."

She gets punched again, "I'm not late!"

XXX

Julia put a bandaid on Chiko's cheek as Chiko drank juice out of a straw, sitting on a bench swinging her feet back and forth. She could clearly see Garp scolding the mountain bandits from her view, and while she would love seeing Dandan get humiliated, that stuff was too much for her secondhand embarrassment so she consoled Makino instead.

"Why- why- why did you do thaaat?" Makino cried heavily by Chiko lap, making Chiko smile and pat her head with her free hand. "What else would I do?" Chiko returned, only to wince when Julia rubbed disinfectant at a bleeding cut. "Stay indoors and let the adults take care of it," Julia glared at Chiko but the kid shrugged.

"Naw."

Julia pressed the cut harder than needed, making Chiko flinch even more and Makino cry even more. Chiko sighed and rubbed tears away from Makino's face, "listen, listen Makino," Chiko started quietly and Makino sniffled and looked up at Chiko with teary eyes. Chiko grinned, "I knew Dandan's personality pretty well, so I knew what she was going to do. And I was not scared. Besides, everything turned out fine."

"You got beaten up, Chiko," Julia glared. Chiko gazed over to Julia as she sipped on her juice.

"And that was very careless of you."

Chiko silently set the drink to her lap and let her eyes move to Garp, who was having a one on one talk with Dandan now, and then gazed back to Makino, who was no longer crying, but still seemed extremely worried. So she may have created unnecessary panic. But she wasn't scared. Not one bit.

She looked down at her hands. Was it normal for her to not be scared? Is it because of her past life? Or is it maybe because of her current life's childho-

STOP.

...Stop…?

Ah...

Ah, ok.

"I'm sorry," Chiko admitted softly. She should have been more careful about it, rather than purely listening to her curiosity, instincts and guts. She knew better than that… perhaps it's her child's body's natural curiosity? She shook her head. She should stop analyzing herself before those thoughts come in.

"I'll be more careful in the future, I promise."

Julia's gaze softened at the girl as Makino now hugged Chiko tightly, babbling about worries and sunsets.

XXX

Garp laughed whole heartedly, "you're a dumb kid!"

Chiko could only both smile and feel very attacked at the same time, "thanks!"

"Shut up, now listen, that was pretty dumb."

Chiko internalized the sigh and nodded. Night had fallen and it looked like Garp did not throw the bandits in prison, but they were nowhere to be seen anymore. Makino was exhausted and went to sleep as soon as they went back to the bar and Julia went back to her duties at the bar. Garp and Julia had already spoken to each in low voices, before Garp went up to Chiko at the counter, as the girl was finishing her dinner.

"If you want to pull that off, you need to be strong. Much stronger."

As if that was not obvious.

"So I made a deal with the bandits." Chiko perked up and looked at Garp curiously. He, on the other hand, did not seem interested at all and had his face propped up by his hand. "I won't send them to prison for a lifetime if they don't bother anyone anymore." Chiko squinted her eyes… she's… pretty sure it was not completely like that in this original story. But she's also pretty sure Garp won't tell her more about his and Dandan's deal.

"Ok…?"

"Nothing."

Chiko could only tilt her head in confusion. She could have sworn that he was going to continue talking.

XXX

Chiko gulped and held her switch knife tightly.

So that's what was running in his mind.

She could hear too many noises around her, and it was dark and wet. The sun was barely hitting where she stood, the trees covering much of the everywhere above her. Trinkles of water passed her feet and she grew paler by the second,

He dropped her in a deep ravine the next day, somewhat near to the mountain bandit's base.

She almost got killed by the mountain bandits, so he decided to throw her in a wild ravine?!

What the hell?!

Lmao it's been some time guys.

So I think I said last time that this chapter's gon be the last of her childhood. Well, actually fake news. Next chapter's gonna be the end of her childhood, if all goes according to plan.

Also, next chapter, there's gonna be a pretty nice character that's gonna shooww uppp~~

nice nice

Yall stay safe, wash your hands

See ya