A/N: Aaaaaahhhh, yeah. So, here's this. The shame of all fanfiction. The dreaded OC self-insert. I have to admit that I've always had a fondness for these kinds of stories so long as they were well written. And I've always wanted to write one. So, when the idea for this latched on and refused to let go I finally figured 'what the hell' and went for it. Hopefully it's not too bad.

So, the first thing I want to establish is that, in this fic, Makino raises Luffy and Lily. She's not their mother but she is their guardian in Garp's absence. I decided this because we really have no idea about Luffy's mom at the moment and I'd rather not write her character just to have it completely jossed later on. One major OC is enough for this fic, I think. And besides, someone had to take care of Luffy as a baby and as much as Garp loves him I doubt our favorite Pirate Captain would've survived infancy if left in the Marine's care. So, Makino.

Second, there will be no ships in this fic. Like seriously. None. The closest you'll get is the way Sanji flirts with literally everything with boobs and that's only because it's an integral part of his character. If you wanna look for it, go for it. Any and all ships are bound to be implied at some point given the fact that I absolutely thrive on close relationships and I don't mind if you see more into it. But I will never explicitly write a ship into this fic. So if you're only here for OC romance you're sadly out of luck.

Lastly, this is an AU. Lily will know plot points, and her knowledge and the actions she takes because of it will change the course of events accordingly. Certain things will still happen, certain things will not, big and small. At this point I only have the vaguest of outlines planned out so even I can't say for certain exactly what's in store.

So, now that that's all said and done, onto chapter one! I have the second and part of the third already written and depending on the response this gets I'll post it asap.

Rated T for canon typical violence and swearing, though for anyone who's read my writing, I have a tendency to go a bit overboard on gore and angst. Don't know if it's destined to happen in this fic as I'm hoping it will have a more hopeful tone. But hey, it pays to be careful, I guess. If there's ever a need for trigger warnings, know that I will post them before the chapter in an A/N. And if I ever miss one, please don't hesitate to let me know. The mental and emotional safety and comfort of my readers is worth way more than any fic could ever be.

PS: For those waiting on an update to Time Is On Our Side, it's coming, I promise. My muse has abandoned me at the moment, though it feels more like it was violently shoved aside by the one for this fic instead. But I am working on it and I will get it to you as soon as it's finished, you have my word.

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"Little islands are all large prisons; one cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow." - Richard Francis Burton.

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My name is Monkey D. Liliana. It wasn't always, though, and that's where this story begins.

You see, to everyone else, I was Lily. I was born on May fifth in a small home in Foosha Village just twenty-seven minutes after my brother, Monkey D. Luffy. We were raised together on Dawn Island. Our father is considered the World's Most Dangerous Criminal and our grandfather is considered the Hero of the Marines.

But I hadn't always been Lily. In fact, I had lived almost twenty years of an entirely different life. I hadn't been surprised when I died, as much as I wish I could've been. I was, however, surprised to find myself waking up. Though, it honestly felt much less like waking and more as if I was suddenly aware of myself once more.

And if I hadn't been before, I sure as shit was aware now. And what I was aware of was noise and cold and light, so loud and so bright compared to the warm darkness I had just been violently ripped from. I had no idea what was going on and no way to find out. My sight was nothing but a confusing blur of shapes. I could hear voices but couldn't distinguish what was being said. I was aware of being lifted and carried, of being gently but thoroughly wiped down before being wrapped snugly with a soft blanket. I was placed on what felt like a padded table beside a warm bundle that a part of me instinctively recognized as important.

I racked my brain to try and figure out just what the hell was going on while wriggling uselessly, desperately trying to get my limbs to listen to me. But it was like they had no idea how to work, had no idea just how to interpret and then carry out the commands my mind was sending. Each theory I came up with just made my stomach sink deeper and deeper in dread.

Had I been wrong and, instead of dying, I'd ended up seriously injured? Had I suffered brain damage? Able to think but unable to connect to my body? Was I going to spend the rest of my life like this, trapped and helpless? Or was I really dead, and this was the hell I was to spend the rest of eternity in?

The thought terrified me. I'd spent all of my previous life feeling like a helpless prisoner. What I was experiencing now was probably my greatest fear.

In my panic I did the only thing I could do. I cried. I cried until I exhausted myself. And when I woke again, I cried some more. I screamed and wailed at the world because it was the only thing I was able to do. It was the only way my body seemed capable of dealing with the all-consuming terror that I felt.

This went on for what must've been weeks, possibly months. The warmth that I would later learn was my brother never left my side and was honestly the only thing that could comfort me and quiet my constant wails for any length of time. Years later I would learn that I'd nearly driven Makino out of her mind with worry. She'd thought for sure something was wrong with me no matter how often the doctor assured her that I was perfectly healthy. She couldn't understand how anything could be fine when I sounded like I was in so much pain. And she had been right, I was in pain. It was just emotional, not physical. If I hadn't gotten better when I did she had been prepared to contact Garp through Marine Headquarters and who knows what would have happened then.

You see, when babies are born, their eyes are extremely underdeveloped. This was why my surroundings remained a blur. But after weeks of panic and confusion and grief for the freedom I thought had been placed forever outside my reach, I was finally able to slowly focus on things, though only on close objects at first.

The first thing I saw with perfect clarity was my brother's sleeping face. I stared for what felt like hours but was surely only minutes, drinking in the sight of his chubby pink cheeks and the shock of dark hair on his head, savoring the fact that I was looking and actually seeing something.

After awhile my brain finally thought it relevant to try to piece together what I could now see to maybe shed light on my situation. I found it odd that a sleeping baby would rest so close to me. If I was injured I would be in a hospital and the chances of an infant randomly snoozing at my bedside would be exactly zero. However, if I was dead, and this was hell, there still would be no reason for a baby to be there. I wasn't afraid of children and honestly had no real opinion one way or the other about them. The only torture I would get from this would be from the confusion.

I had plenty of time to try to puzzle it out, seeing as how my only other real option was to sleep until the young green haired woman that was our caretaker came back. My thoughts were more or less just going around in circles by the time she returned, just minutes after the infant had awoken, and I was grateful for the distraction.

She started with the baby first, which I guess made sense. She grasped his little feet gently as she led his legs through a series of stretches, pushing them up and down in a marching motion, all while endlessly cooing. The baby cooed back, clearly overjoyed with the attention, it's tiny arms flailing about in it's excitement. After a few minutes of this she gently turned it over onto it's tummy and presented it with a selection of soft toys before moving onto me.

It was at this time that I noticed how large she truly was in comparison to myself, even though she'd looked like a small woman while standing by the infant. But that didn't make sense, not unless -

Not unless I was a baby, too.

...Huh. There was an idea.

I'd never really put much thought into what came after death, far too wrapped up in trying to live to worry about dying. But I had heard of reincarnation. I'd always thought it was a cool, if far-fetched, theory.

But I'd already ruled everything else out. And trust me, being trapped inside yourself for weeks on end, unable to really focus on anything else, definitely gave a person time to think things over very thoroughly. Given that it seemed to be the most logical conclusion and the only one supported by what I'd seen so far, I decided to embrace it but keep my eyes open just in case.

With that question finally answered for the moment I moved onto other thoughts as I contently let my caretaker stretch my legs before plopping me onto my stomach next to what must be my brother, if our relative sizes were anything to go by. Instead I focused on the fact that being a baby meant I was going to grow into a child. Which meant that I was not, in fact, a prisoner of my own body. It would take a lot of effort and a lot stubbornness but realistically I could be crawling by six months and walking by nine. Thank God I had stubbornness in spades.

With this information firmly in mind I became much calmer. I went from crying near constantly to hardly ever even whining, content to just sit and watch the world go by as my level of awareness grew. When I got older Makino would often joke about the fact that the reason I'd cried so much for so long must have simply been because I was bored to tears. But every time she said it I could see the relief in her eyes and the thankfulness she had for the fact that I wasn't sick or worse.

With the goal of freedom in mind, I pushed my little body to the limit and by six and a half months old I was crawling around like a pro. The moment my brother realized this meant I was no longer a constant by his side he brought forth just as much effort and mastered it just as quickly, determined not to let me out of arm's reach. We quickly became bored of it, however, and within three more months we were toddling about like we'd been doing it since the day we were born.

Life continued on this way. My brother and I were on the move constantly, Makino a shadow that followed diligently behind our every step. We both shared a boundless curiosity for the world around us, though mine was more about cataloging all the differences to the world I had once known. Because of this we rarely stopped for anything less than food and trying to get us down for nap time became an absolute nightmare no matter how tired we were. I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for our caretaker.

At first I'd hesitantly thought of her as our mother but she'd never referred to herself as such. And as we began to learn to speak, little words spilling out from around clumsy tongues, she began trying to cajole us into saying "Makino". Something about the name combined with her dark green hair and pretty, kind face made me think I recognized her from somewhere. But no matter how long I dwelled on it, or the name of the bar she owned, or the strange snails I'd seen that acted as telephones, I could never quite put my finger on what it was, no matter how obvious I felt it had to be.

I'll admit that it took an embarrassingly long time for me to figure it out. In fact, it took until my brother and I were a little more than a year and half years old. One day Luffy'd somehow gotten into Makino's makeup bag in the bathroom. Before she or I even knew what happened the room was covered in a selection of blushes, with lipsticks smeared all along the walls in what was probably meant to be a very compelling piece of art. Luffy himself had become entranced with the brightly colored eyeshadows, rubbing them onto the skin of his arms and legs. When he saw that we'd found him he ran straight up to me with a grin and started to babble excitedly, determined to share this new-found treasure. I thought it was utterly adorable but I wasn't the one that was going to have to clean up the mess.

I could see Makino from the corner of my eye, first still in shock and then quickly beginning to tremble in rage. Her face turned a dark red and she honestly looked angrier than I'd ever seen her before. She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but it clearly wasn't working. And Luffy just babbled on, grinning at me endlessly as he gestured towards each separate color, showcasing each of his favorites, completely oblivious to the rage building within our caretaker that was about to explode solidly in his direction.

I couldn't help but crack a smile when he gestured with particular enthusiasm to a shade of deep red just above his elbow, his favorite of them all. This small action seemed to be what finally pushed the poor woman over the edge.

"Monkey D. Luffy, what did you do?" She demanded, the sudden noise causing Luffy to startle and turn wide eyes her way. Her face softened at the clear confusion on his face, showing he truly had no idea he'd done anything wrong. She remained firm as she reprimanded him though, making sure he understood, and once he looked suitably chastised she swept him up into gentle arms and declared it bath time before holding out her hand towards me with an simple, "Come along, Lily."

I followed after her in a daze, my mind stuck on the words she'd yelled out, my thoughts grinding to a halt. For long minutes I couldn't truly comprehend what I'd heard. Once I did, I truly felt like smacking myself. Of course. The talk of pirates I'd overheard in the tavern, the Den Den Mushi I'd seen around, Makino, Luffy.

My twin brother was Monkey D. Luffy, Strawhat Captain and future King of the Pirates.

And I'd been reincarnated into One Piece as his little sister.

Shit.

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And there you have it! Favorite, follow or review, anything to let me know what you think and if you'd like to read more! And as always, thanks for reading!