Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I will still be on a definite hiatus, randomly giving you chapters when I have time.

I promised you guys that I'd write everything order when I was finished, right?

Well, maybe this will help. It took A LOT of copy-and-pasting to get this together.

Here it is! The Polaris Island arc, in order!

I don't own One Piece

"Thank you for coming, Master..."

"My name is not important."

"Alright then..."

"I need you to take care of these documents for me. Keep them safe. When the D's come, give it to them."

"I understand. But why are you entrusting this to me?"

"A women will come to live on this island. She will be a carrier of D. Look after her, and give her these papers in ten years time."

"These documents. What are their importance?"

"They have the power to destroy the world."

With that ominous statement, the figure masked with a cloak left, leaving a very confused man holding onto what would become the key to upturning the world into chaos.

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The woman walked away quietly, glancing back at the room where she had just given away the entire transcript of the 'devil's music'. She then faced forward again, and continued to walk away.

Portgas D. Rouge hoped her friend, Lianne D. Rose, would be able to make good use of the music. At least it would be better then what the government would do with it.

After all, she was one of the best musicians on her island. And it didn't take a genius to figure out notes by ear. And if one get's a crap-load of history shoved on her, what is she supposed to do? Give it to the assassin lady, duh!

Alright, maybe she hadn't thought this through very well.

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"Mom, I can't sleep." Luffia complained, reaching up for her mother, who laughingly placed her daughter into her lap.

"Well then, how about I tell you a story?" She grinned tickling the young child until she squealed.

"Yes! I love your stories!"

"This one is a story from our past."

"Our?"

"The past of the world. Now shut up and listen."

"Shutting up and listening."

"Good. It is a story from long ago..."

(A/N Sound familiar?)

"...The Void Century is a period of mystery. Not much is known about it, and it's secrets are numerous. The Will of D. The Ancient Kingdom. The Great War. The Poneglyphs. And the devil's soul tree. However, the music that we are creating here is capable of reviving the Devil's soul tree."

"What's the Devil's Soul Tree?"

"It is a tree that is the birth of all devil fruits. Contrary to what most believe, Devil Fruits do not, in fact, come from the Grand Line. They come from the devil's soul tree, which was originally placed in the Grand Line. The tree churns out devil's fruits, and when the eater dies, their fruit is put into another nearby, ordinary fruit. Thus, the fruit's spirit lives forever. No two devil fruits can be alike and exist at the same time. However, the tree can be destroyed, and so, the government did. What they did not count on, was that the tree could be resurrected. It took two people with knowledge of the devil's music, and they must be of opposite gender-"

"If they have to be in love, I'm gonna cry."

Rose laughed and ruffled Luffy's hair. "No, they don't need to be in love. But anyways, I digress. So, once there was a devil that could entice anybody to leave the sea forever, and gain an amazing power. But the sea didn't like that. So she decided to warn those that ever ate the fruit that they would be betrayed by the sea, and sink like a stone! Finally, the sea changed the devil into a tree, known as the devil's soul tree."

"WOW! That's so cool!"

"I know, right!"

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"Keep going!" A woman cried out to her daughter. Said daughter simply grabbed her skirt and pulled harder, dragging her to a cove.

"Mom..." She wheezed. "I can bend light, right? With darkness..."

"Luffy-"

"We can escape!" Her daughter smiled brightly, then pointed to the canoe near them.

"It'll tax you to cover both of us. Just fly away!" Her mother begged.

"Together or not at all." Her four year old daughter crossed her arms stubbornly. Bloody Rose cried silently, then hugged her daughter.

(A/N REFERENCES! Excuse me while I go cry in a corner over that episode now..)

Soon, they pushed out to sea in a small, invisible canoe. Clearing the line of warships in total silence, simply rhythmically beating the paddles into the water, moving forward and farther away from the nightmare that was Polaris Island being destroyed in a Buster Call.

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"YOU!" Luffy cringed when she heard that voice. It was the you-are-going-to-be-in-pain voice. She slowly turned around to see her insane mother with a knife. Slowly reaching up to the spot below her eye, where it had scarred, she gulped.

"You little pain in the ass, get over here now! I'm fucking sick of caring for your useless ass!" Ignoring her mother's ranting, she focused on the happy memories, before her mother had gone insane after seeing everyone dying.

"You're a little demon child aren't you? Congratulations! You've killed your own fucking mother!" Luffy snapped back to the present, just in time to see her mother sink the knife into her abdomen and collapse. She rushed forward and put a hand on her heart.

"Mom..." She whispered, letting her tears drip down onto her mother, mixing the salty liquid with blood.

"You promise me this. You'll stay alone, and you die alone. Got it?" Her mother narrowed her eyes, then they grew cold and lifeless. Luffy cried loudly, yanking the knife out and hugging her mother's dead body.

"Mom! You can't be dead! You.. you.. you can't..." Luffy broke down sobbing, clutching the knife. She didn't notice the door burst in, and didn't notice the concerned cries.

"Luffy! What happened?" A man asked. In Luffy's daze, she didn't remember him.

"I-I killed her... I'm sorry.. I killed her..." Luffy broke down crying, grabbing her mother's body.

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Shanks sighed as he looked around the island he had landed on. He didn't know what possessed him to take a vacation to the East Blue, the weakest of the four seas. Maybe it had something to do with it being his former captain's home. He had also heard rumors of five island there that mimicked the Grand Line's terrifying unpredictability. Well, he certainly hadn't seen that yet.

He sighed as he slumped down in the bar seat, as the kind green-haired lady poured out some more sake for him.

"Is there anything cool here?" He asked, downing his alcohol. The bar-tender paused, then put her hand to her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, there is a forest with animals that are ten times the normal size. At least, that's what Luffy says."

"Luffy?" Shanks asked, interested.

"You mean the demon who lives in the woods and preys on the idiots who come inside?" A young child asked, looking up at Makino. Makino glares at the young boy.

"You shouldn't call Luffy a demon." She scolds.

"But it's true! I heard she even killed her own mother!" He exclaims.

"And you believed it?" Makino glares. Shanks stands up.

"I want to talk to this Luffy person. She seems interesting!" He grinned. "Benn, come on! Off to the forest!" With that declaration, he and his first mate walk out, his first mate rolling his eyes behind him.

As they walk to the forest, Shanks asked most of the other children playing around about who Luffy was. He got the same answer constantly. A demon who killed her own mother. He's even heard that she was only eight. It was starting to piss him off a bit.

Finally, they made it to the beginning of the forest. A voice asked from behind them, "Who are you?"

The two pirates whirled around to find a small girl, with a deep scar under her left eye. She was eyeing them warily and was poised to run.

"I'm Shanks. Nice to meetcha!" The red head smiled, leaning down to get a better look small child. She cautiously took a step back, then took off running, vanishing from the two pirate's sight.

"Did she just..." Benn asked, casually lighting up a cigarette.

"Vanish?" Shanks asked, staring at the spot that the little girl had disappeared from. "I can't even sense her..."

Shanks turned to Benn with a wide smile that Benn immediately identified as the 'I've-got-a-stupid-idea' smile.

"Well, this trip's gunna be more fun then I thought!" He remarked, then proceeded to walk into the dark forest full of giant animals, humming a cheery tune under his breath the whole way.

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Shanks sighed as he contemplated his strategies. He had tried approaching the young 'ghost girl' as his crew had dubbed her. He got several knives thrown at him for the effort. Most people were quite afraid of threatening a Yonko. Obviously she was not.

The odd Haki-shielding abilities were annoying, too. They just made Shanks all the more determined to get her and make her tell him her secrets. Because that was pretty damn cool.

The animals in the forest kept being annoying and attempting to attack him. And by the time he was done with them, the girl was gone.

Another thing he quickly realized was that the girl constantly regenerated herself, which was also pretty cool.

All in all, Shanks chalked it up to a devil fruit. Where ghost girl had got it from, was anyone's guess.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he subconsciously noticed an unfamiliar presence. He quickly whipped around to look at the ghost girl, who had frozen in her tracks, staring at him in fear. She took a step back, fear painting her face.

"Who the hell are you, and why the hell are you following me?" She asked quietly.

Shanks blinked before squatting down. That was a mistake, because she took another step back.

"I'm Shanks." He held out his hand. Ghost girl stared at it for a bit, uncomprehending. "Do you want to be my friend?" Shanks asked.

"Friend? What's that?" She frowned, the picture of innocence. Shanks found it hard to believe she was the same person who threw deadly objects at him regularly.

"It's someone who..." How do you explain what a friend is?

"Someone who you would do anything for." Shanks decided on.

"Isn't that family?" She asked in confusion.

"No, they aren't related to you-"

"Bullshit! You don't need to be related to be a family!" She suddenly yelled out, before quickly calming down.

"Well, some friends are pretty much a family. They're called nakama." Shanks amended. "Other friends are just as important, though."

At the mention of family, Ghost girl touched her arm softly.

"What's your name?" Shanks asked. As cool of a name 'Ghost Girl' was, he doubted she would like be addressed like that.

"Luffia. Monkey D. Luffia."

As soon as she said 'Monkey' Shanks's jaw dropped in surprise.

"Monkey... As in Monkey D. Garp?!"

"He's my grandfather." She shifted weight from one foot to another, bowing her head so her bangs shadowed her eyes. Finally, Shanks burst out laughing.

"Well, you've got an interesting family!"

"You don't know the half of it..." She mumbled, and if Shanks didn't have super senses, he wouldn't have heard it. He'd question her later.

"Do you wanna go back to the Party's Bar with me, and meet the rest of the crew?" He asked.

"Crew? You're a pirate?" She gasped out, but she definitely wasn't afraid.

"Yup!"

"I wanna be a pirate!"

"Why? Isn't your grandfather a marine?"

"Yeah, he always throws me off a cliff every time I say that... and pirate have the most freedom, that's why!" Luffy proclaimed.

"Well, Luffia-"

"Luffy."

"Luffy, you're an interesting child."

He had no idea what he was about to get into.

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"Ne, Shanks! Do you consider yourself my family?" Luffy asked, holding her right shoulder.

"Well, yeah, I guess. Why, ya little chibi?" Shanks asked, poking her. Luffy responded by pulling up her short sleeved shirt, revealing two tattoos.

"These tattoos symbolize my family. I though I should add you." Luffy explained, tapping the area under the second tattoo.

"Why does a little chibi like you have tattoos already?" Shanks laughed, and Luffy pouted.

"I'm not a little chibi!" She protested. "Will you be part of my family or not!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I can have Benn do the tattoo. He does 'em all." Shanks waved his hand to his first mate.

"So you want a tattoo of our symbol?" Benn asked as he looked at the five year old girl.

"Yep! Though can you do it in that special ink that gets bigger when you get bigger?" Luffy asked, rubbing the area where the tattoo would be placed.

"You mean Seicho(Growing) Ink?"

"Yeah, that stuff!"

"Sure, I can mix some into our normal ink. I assume you want the tattoo under the second one?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Let's got to the ship, all my supplies are there." Benn took Luffy by the hand and they walked over to the place where the pirate ship was docked.

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Ace stared at the girl who had just spent a week out in the forest and came back without a scratch on her. That was practically impossible. That had to be impossible. Yet here she was, and the only evidence that she had been out in the woods was her slightly torn dress. Dadan took one look at her, grumbled about how she was alive, then threw her into the same room as Ace. She backed up against the wall, staring down at her shaking hands, then clenched them into fists. Using the back of one hand, she wiped away a tear that had started leaking.

"WHY DOESN'T IT WORK!" She cried, sinking down to the ground. "Why can't I get hurt? Why do I always fix myself? Why?" She questioned, putting her hands on the floor to steady her shaking body. Ace didn't know what to do. She was too loud to go to sleep with, but he didn't want to hear her self-pity.

"This stupid body of mine... all it does is get in my way!" She growled as she grabbed the skin of her right bicep, obscuring her strange tattoos. "Whatever I do, it never works! Crushing my bones doesn't work. Stabbing myself only dirties the knife! Whatever I do, this stupid body fixes itself without my consent!" She cried.

Ace stared at her. A body that fixes itself no matter what? What kind of body was that?

Luffy cried again, tears dripping down her face as she extended her fingers, changing the nails into claws that could cut steel. She swiped them through her arm, letting the cuts bleed profusely. Ace stared. What was wrong with her? Why did she have claws? Why was she harming herself?

With each strike of the claws against her own skin, the wounds healed, sealing over as if they were never there.

"Why? Why? Why!?" She cried out desperately. "WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE!" With a final sob, she fell to the floor, caked in blood from injuries that were no longer there.

"What am I?" She whispered to herself. "I've lived with this devil's power for as long as I could remember... so what am I?" With a shuddering gasp, she pushed herself up and walked over to the only window in the room, near Ace. She was dripping blood all the way as she gently pulled herself onto the ledge. Slowly, black mist appeared, twisting itself and solidifying into a pair of bat wings.

"I guess I'll never know." She resigned herself in a whisper before taking off to the skies.

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"I give my life up for the continuation of Ace and Sabo's."

Ace hate that little girl, Luffia. He hated her, how she kept following him, and never took a hint. And now, he hated her even more for killing herself to keep him safe.

"How do you know I'll keep my word, girl?" Bluejam sneered.

"I've eaten a devil fruit. I'll sell for money. Plus, the government will do anything to keep me quiet." She put her hands on her hips.

"Oh, and why's that?" He looked down at the midget girl in front of him. Sabo had to restrain Ace from doing anything rash.

"I know things. I know what happened to Bloody Rose two years ago. I know what happened to Polaris Island." She smiled. "I lived there."

"And how do I know this is true?" He glared down at the girl. Luffia raised her arm, letting a small gold bracelet with a red gem glint in the light. "This bracelet used to belong to Bloody Rose. It was only made on Polaris Island."

Bluejam's eyes turned greedy. "And Bloody Rose?"

"Who's Bloody Rose?" Ace whispered to Sabo.

"Bloody Rose was a feared assassin. Vanished two years ago." Sabo explained, watching the scene in front of him.

"Bloody Rose's real name was Lianne D. Rose. Ask anybody on this island what happened to her. They'll tell you the same thing."

"What happened to her?" Bluejam seethed in impatience.

"I killed her." Luffia smirked. "And everybody will say it's true."

Bluejam looked at the honest expression on her face, and nodded.

"If this is true, we'll be back tomorrow for you. Don't escape or we will make good on our plans."

They turned and disappeared. Luffia looked to the bush that Ace and Sabo were hiding in.

"Find a family, will you?"

Those were the last words they ever heard from her.

In the morning, she was gone, dead or in living hell.

Ace and Sabo never forgave themselves.

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"There." The bar owner placed a bouquet of flowers on the grave, then backed away, drying her tears with her sleeve.

Ace stared at the grave silently. He never really knew her, but her death hurt him so much.

"Ace-kun?" Makino placed her hands on his shoulders. "Do you want to come to the bar and hear her story?"

Ave quietly nodded, and together they walked down to Fuusha village. Luffy's grave, despite never having found a body, was situated on a cliff overlooking the sea. Makino was insistent they put it there. She and Ace were the only ones attending the funeral.

They sit down at Makino's bar, Makino making some food for Ace.

"She and her mother washed up on our shore three years ago. Never told us what happened before that. But anyways, her mother left the island often, so she was left on her own quite commonly."

Ace nodded and slowly took the juice Makino offered him.

"They were quite fun-loving, and quick favorites among the villagers. But one year later, her mother was found dead, and the blame was put on Luffy, since she was found holding the knife."

Ace choked on his drink. "She killed her own mother? Why?" He never knew his own mother, she died in an effort to keep him alive. He couldn't fathom why Luffy would get rid of the person who brought her into the world.

"No, she didn't. What she told me was that her mother killed herself. She told me that she was repeatedly abused, and eventually her mother snapped. Her mother was actually mentally disturbed, and it had started when they arrived on this island."

Ace quietly lowered his eyes. What would it be like to have a mother who tried to hurt you, and then killed herself in front of you, blaming you. No wonder she didn't care about Ace's several murder attempts.

"Nobody believed her, and she became known around here as the 'Demon Child'. She never seemed to smile anymore, and the fact that she was almost always present when somebody died didn't help."

Another demon child? So she was a lot like him then. "Present whenever somebody died?" He asked.

"Yeah, she liked to wander around the island. Somehow she always noticed when someone was about to die of unnatural causes. Whenever they did die, she'd come in and bury them, then visit their graves on the anniversary of their death. There's a lot of those graves scattered everywhere on this island. If you want, I can take you to one of them later." Makino explained, cleaning a glass.

"Yeah." Was all Ace could say.

"Well, anyways, this all went on until a year ago, when Shanks and his pirates came to this island for a vacation. Shanks brought Luffy out of her shell and the two became friends. He even left her his hat and told her to return it when she became Pirate King. I guess she won't be able to now. I wonder how he took the news..." Makino trailed off, looking out the window, which Ace assumed was a habit of hers.

"Anyways, after her grandfather realized that Red-Hair had been here for a year without him knowing, and he dragged her off to live with you. You know the rest." Makino finished, glancing at Aces face. He had tears slipping down his cheeks without him noticing. She quietly put a hand on him, and slowly said. "Nobody blames you, Ace. She died of her own accord. It's not your fault."

Ace disagreed. Another person had died for the sake of someone as worthless as him.

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"I think I'll get that little spit-fire over there! Fufufufu!" The tall man, who was probably certifiably insane (Even by Luffy's standards), gestured to Luffy, who was glaring at him.

"Do what you like." She spat out, not shifting from her position.

"Fufufufu! Ototo, come here!" He laughed, gesturing to a tall boy with a nodachi. He hesitantly made his way to the Shichibukai, then walked over to Luffy from the pirate's prompting.

"I'm Trafalger Law." He said to her.

"Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy." She stated, making eye contact.

"Oh? What's this? A 'D'? How interesting!" Doflamingo, or, as he would later be known as, flamingo bastard, cackled. "I definitely want her now!"

"A 'D'? I don't understand what that is." Law frowned at the thought of not knowing.

"Only a few people know what the 'D' means. I'm not one of them, and I highly doubt anybody else in the room does either." Luffy looked at the older boy, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Fufufufu! Quite, quite interesting. Ototo, the 'D' is a bloodline passed on through will rather than actual blood. Most usually end up changing the world in some way or another. Like Gol D. Roger for instance!" Flamingo Bastard had a rare 'explanation' moment, which was quickly shut up.

"A bloodline passed through will? Strange..." He muses, before looking at the quiet girl in front of him.

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"My daughter's name was Monkey D. Luffia." Dragon quietly. "She vanished off the face of the earth three months ago."

Sabo took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Well, you see, the reason she's gone," Sabo refused to say dead. "Is because she gave up her life to save me and my brother Ace."

Dragon looked at the letter Sabo gave him one more time before handing it back to the boy.

"Thank you for informing me of her fate." His cold mask slipped on again, and Sabo nodded quietly, looking back at the letter they had found the day after Luffy vanished.

Dear Ace and Sabo,

I have never been allowed a family. I killed my own mother, and her last words were for me to stay alone, forever. I never knew what it was like to be loved, or have a place to belong. I guess I never will. I'm not a fool, despite how I act. I know what being sold into slavery means. I'll probably be killed in the next few months. So, as my final request, I want you two to do what I never could. Find yourself a family and a place to belong. Live on. Find nakama that will love you for who you are.

-Luffy

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It's only been two years. Two years since I gave my life up for those two boys. I wonder how they're doing now. I'm stuck in hell, with my only way out being the kind boy with the nodachi. Law, he said his name was. He told me that the Doflamingo guy, the guy who decided to buy me, made him his younger brother.

This is Ace. He's three years older than you, and from now on, he's your older brother.

I suppress the memories. I can't risk losing concentration. It's do-or-die out here, even worse than with the mountain bandits. Those guys weren't so bad, but here...

I've been forced to compete in tournaments for the watching noble's sick pleasures. Kill or be killed, live life on the edge, pray you'll make it out alive to see the next day.

A sharp hit to the face jars me into reality. I retaliate with some crackling energy, which, with a little effort, I direct at my opponent. He falls over, dead or knocked out. I couldn't care less either way. I never even knew his name. Hopefully, that'd be the last round I'd have to fight. If I was boring enough, I wouldn't be called back. But on the other hand, if I didn't provide enough entertainment, I'd be whipped for putting on a poor show. To the disgusting nobles, it was all some show. They probably didn't even realize that real people's lives were at stake, instead betting on who would make it out alive.

Another reason to hate them.

Those seem to be piling up more and more, now.

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"Nii-chan!" Luffy gasped as she ran up to him. Law smiled briefly before bracing himself as she ran over and hugged him tightly. He ran his fingers through her hair, then looked at her arm, where there was bandages wrapped around it. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked over at the injury. Luffy laughed and undid it, much to his displeasure, before revealing that no it was not an injury. Instead, Law found that she had added a tattoo to her arm, the pirate mark that he had decided he would be using.

Law grinned as he touched the tattoo. He knew what the ink on her skin meant. It meant she had accepted that person into her family. There was only four tattoos there. The first was what she had said was her own personal pirate mark, what with the straw-hat and all. The second was her mother's symbol. The third was that of the Yonko, Red-Hair, whom she said was almost a father to her. So the fourth was that of her brother's crew. He smiled and hugged her back.

He was her older brother now. No question about it.

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The small eleven year old girl wheezed as she clutched her parasol tightly to her chest. She opened and pulled it above her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

Now or never...

She would be punished harshly if she was caught. So would the friend who helped her escape. She turned to the older boy next to her, who gave her a reassuring glance. He nodded, and she smiled.

"I'll find you." She promised. He just grinned and ruffled her hair.

"I'm sure you will."

She slowly turned her back on the only person she could consider family, despite not being blood related, and unfolded her wings. Jumping off the roof, she streaked through the sky, quickly bending the light around her, rendering her invisible.

Promise me this.

Tears streaked her eyes as she remembered his kind actions, and her promise to him.

Never look back.

And so, she didn't turn her head to catch a final glimpse at her savior, partner, guiding light, helper, care-taker...

...Brother.

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"Law-san! What happened!" A woman asked as Law looked up at his so-called 'Older Brother'.

"Luffy committed suicide." He explained.

"WHAT!" The woman, Kihone, her name was, yelled. "But she's one of the most entertaining fighters there is! She can't die!"

"She jumped off the roof and into the water. She's dead." Law announced coldly. It was half of the truth.

"Oh well! I'll find another like her sometime!" Doflamingo cackled, and Law felt his insides clench. Luffy was a special person, and she was his sworn sister. They were talking about her like some curious oddity.

"If that is all, may I go?" Law asked, annoyed.

"Oh, yes, of course!" Doflamingo waved his hand. Law took a sharp intake and walked away.

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A name. She needed a name. She couldn't use Monkey D. Luffy, that would set the government, Celestial dragons, and her tormentors after her in seconds. Lianne D. Luffy was out of the question as well. But she needed a way to capture the attention of her father, the Dragon. But it has to keep everybody else from getting it...

What did only she and her father know?

Bloody Rose was her mother, but she didn't know what she could do, since Rose was so famous.

Polaris Island? No, still too famous. Wait, no. Polaris Island itself may be too famous, but it's secret was well-kept and... well... secret.

Rikōru D. Kyoku.

That was her name now. Not Monkey D. Luffy. Not Lianne D. Luffy. Rikōru D. Kyoku. Perfect.

World look out, Rikōru D. Kyoku was coming.

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She'd been flying for months on end and dammit it hurt. PAIN. It was all worth it once she caught the first glimpse of Dawn Island. She was so glad that she could have dropped right then and there, but she managed to stay up for a bit longer, right up until she touched ground. Then she fell flat on her face, embracing the ground.

She'd done it.

She'd done the impossible.

She had flown all the way from New World to East Blue.

It had taken a year, a hard, painful, grueling year, but she had done it.

It was sheer luck that she managed to get to the island. She had noticed an eternal pose on a merchant ship leading to Dawn Island. Upon seeing that, she broke down and cried, since she would be able to go home. Although her navigation skills were hopeless, she managed to get to her island.

But right now, she was HUNGRY dammit, and she was going to get some food, tiredness be damned.

Slowly groaning and getting to her feet, she retracted her wings. She couldn't let anybody know who she was, since Doflamingo had eyes everywhere.

But then again, so did Dragon.

Let it never be said the Luffy could not concoct a plan. She just needed to be in a hopeless situation before she would think up anything.

She squinted her eyes and then realized something. It was probably midnight. Luffy had given up keeping track of time somewhere along the way.

Maybe the Party's Bar was still open? No, Makino always closed it at ten.

"Hello? Are you okay?" A quiet voice asked her softly.

Luffy looked up to see a boy around her age. She recognized him. He was one of the boys who used to call her the demon child. Ah, irony.

"I-I think." She didn't know she could get her voice to work. She had no need of it during the year she had been flying to the East. The only human contact she ever made was sneaking onto ships and stealing supplies. She had to thank whatever deity out there that she didn't fall sick.

The boy helped her up, and she dusted her cloak off. It was long and encompassed her whole form, and the hood kept people from seeing her eyes. Her hair was long and wild, since she tended to cut it with a knife. It was at her shoulder, jagged and roughly cut.

"C-Can you take me to Party's Bar, please?" She asked, attempting to get her voice to work again. It was rougher then she remembered, and scratchy.

"Um, sure. Why?"

Luffy hacked wildly, probably a repercussion to not using her voice for so long. "I want to see Makino again." She pulled the last remaining water from the pouch on her belt and drank it greedily.

"Here, let me help you walk." He slipped her arm over his shoulder.

"No, I'm fine. Just tired." She wiped the excess water from her mouth. "You would be too if you were flying away from the Grand Line without a break."

"You're from the Grand Line?" He asked in shock and slight curiosity.

"No, I'm from East Blue. But I was taken to the second half of the Grand Line, New World. I've been flying for a year to get back over here." Luffy rubbed her shoulder blades.

"Flying? What do you mean, flying?" He asked in surprise.

"Have you heard of Devil Fruit's?"

"Yeah. There was a girl in our village with one. She's dead though." He looked away in guilt. Luffy also felt guilt rip at her insides. Did they really think that she was dead?

"Well, I have one, I can fly with it." She squashed her feelings. Looking up from where they were walking, she noticed the familiar building. Knocking on the door, she looked up at the sign. "By the way, what time is it?"

"It's five in the morning." The boy answered. Luffy had forgotten how dark the mornings were in Fuusha. What else had she forgotten?

"So, what's your name? Most people aren't out at five in the morning." She attempted to make conversation.

"I'm Henry. Also, I was checking the fish traps, and I wanted to get there before the Lord of the Coast woke up." Luffy nodded.

"I'm Rikoru D. Kyoku. Who's the Lord of the Coast?" She asked.

"He's this giant sea-king, really scary! He's been terrorizing our coast for years!" Henry exclaimed.

"Really? Have you heard of the Calm Belt? It's a breeding ground for all these kinds of Sea Monsters, and they're way bigger than normal! Normal Sea-kings are the size of their fangs!"

Henry's eyes widened. "Really?" He asked in shock.

"Yeah! I had to get around them to get here! No matter how high I flew, they always seemed to get higher out of the water. It was terrifying!" She held out her arms. Luffy had missed having a friend to talk to.

"Probably! They could crush you in a second!"

The door swung open, and then Makino looked down at the two twelve year olds.

"Hello? Who are you?" Makino asked as she looked at Luffy.

"I'm Rikoru D. Kyoku." She smiled brightly. "Do you mind if I get some food here? I'll be gone soon."

"Oh, no, come in!" Makino smiled brightly. "What do you want?"

"Food. I'm not picky." I state. Makino laughs.

"Sure, coming right up!" She gets behind the counter. I reach into my cloak and pull out some money. It felt weird to pay for a meal, considering how much she used to do eat-and-run's.

A plate of fresh steaming food was placed in front of her, and as soon as they blinked, it was gone.

"My, you were hungry!" Makino laughed. Luffy nodded.

"Thank you for the meal!" She smiled, then ran out the door. She felt so much better now that she'd gotten food in her stomach. However, she had a lot of flying ahead of her.

She made it to the outskirts of the village, right next to the forest. There was a small cottage there, overgrown with vines. Slowly opening the door, she walked into the house which she had not stepped foot in in seven years. It was just as she'd remembered, every single piece of furniture in the same place it always was. The dried blood pooling the floor from her mother's suicide. The photographs on the wall. The set table. Slowly, Luffy walked into her mother's room.

The memory that she had been counting on flashed through her mind.

See this? This is a special device. If you're in a hopeless situation, the needle will point towards you father. Use it wisely.

She knew now that it was an Eternal Pose to Baltigo, the base of the Revolutionary's operations.

She had a lot more flying ahead of her.

It also didn't help that she had no idea where Baltigo was.

She was so screwed.

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Why the hell did Baltigo HAVE to be in the Grand Line? Again? It made the trip to Fuusha feel redundant, even if she did get to see Makino, although Makino probably had no idea that Rikoru D. Kyoku was the girl who she had raised as her own. She opened her parasol and retracted her wings, falling silently down with a tiny THUMP, Eternal Pose in hand.

The man in front of her turned around, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Hey, Dad." She smiled, hoping that she got this right.

"Luffy?" He asked, walking slowly towards her.

"Yeah. But I'm using a different name. Rikoru D. Kyoku."

Dragon smiled. "Of course. I assume you need a refuge?"

"Yup." Luffy nods.

"Welcome to the home of the revolutionaries. Baltigo." He took his daughter inside, and she felt like she had a place to stay, finally.

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Sabo walked into his room, expecting to be greeted with the familiar sight of his dorm room. He did not expect to see a girl sprawled on the floor, sleeping soundly. Looking closer, he noticed that she was wearing a ragged and torn red t-shirt and jeans, not the standard Revolutionary Army clothing. A tattered straw-hat hung from her neck via a grimy cord. A pile of black fabric was gathered up and used as a makeshift pillow for her, while in her left hand was an eternal pose. Sabo couldn't see her face, since her black hair covered it. Looking closely at the body, Sabo could tell that it was abused and pushed past the girl's limit. Her skin and hair was caked with blood, and her muscles were quite obviously strained. Her breathing was ragged, and she seemed to be half alert, straddling the line between sleep and wakefulness. Sabo had spent enough time in the same conditions as her to know the symptoms. This girl was on the run.

Sabo considered waking her up, but judging from the dark circles under her eyes, this was the first time she had been able to sleep in days. He wasn't a cruel person, and he decided he could let her keep sleeping. He also noticed that she was clutching a parasol in her right hand, which made him wonder if she was nobility. But he could tell from the small signs, like the way the blood was splattered, the way she had collapsed, and her build that she was a skilled fighter. Looking closer, he picked up the Eternal Pose in her hands, turning it until he could see the writing on it. Once he made out the words, he froze.

This girl had an Eternal Pose to Baltigo.

That was impossible. Baltigo was hidden to anyone except the Revolutionary army. Not even they had an Eternal Pose to it. Hell, Sabo didn't even know there was even a map with Baltigo on it, let alone an Eternal Pose! Quietly, he took the pose in his hand and slipped off to Dragon's office.

"Yo! Sabo! Back from your mission?" Koala calls out. Sabo smiles and nods politely before looking back to the Pose in his hand. There was no doubt about it. It lead straight here. Suddenly, he was halted by bumping straight into a beefy man who's name he didn't care to remember.

"What'ya got there, pretty boy?" He growled. Sabo readjusted his grip on his staff before bringing the Pose up in front of him.

"An Eternal Pose to Baltigo."

"Where the hell'd a runt like you get something like that?" He cracked his knuckles in an attempt to look intimidating, and it probably would to an ordinary person. However, Sabo was not an ordinary person, and therefore was unfazed.

"A girl. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out why the girl has an Eternal Pose here." With that, he pushed past the guy and walked straight down the hallway, stopping at the end where Dragon's office was. He knocked on the door and listened for the words.

"Come in."

Sabo complied, silently shutting the door behind him. He held up the Eternal Pose and looked straight into his leader's eyes.

"It's an Eternal Pose to Baltigo. Why?" Sabo asked, placing it on Dragon's desk. Dragon picked it up and turned it to inspect the base. He then turned it around to show Sabo a symbol on the base. It was a red rose and a knife, crossed to make an X shape. The symbol of the assassin, Bloody Rose.

"I gave this to my wife, if she ever needed to find me." Dragon explained, handing it back to Sabo.

"That doesn't explain why there's a girl in my room with this thing in her hand. And why she's in my room." Sabo kept staring at the symbol in his hand.

"That is your new room-mate. I can't tell you any more about her, since she requested that she be the one to explain to you what was going on." Dragon picked up his pen and resumed doing paperwork. "Although she doesn't want to give you her real name, she will be going by the alias of Rikoru D. Kyoku for the next few years. Please greet her nicely. She's been through a lot to get here."

Sabo clutched the Eternal Pose in his hand before nodding and walking back to his room. A room-mate? Maybe she woke up and he could ask her what was going on. And why was she hiding her name?

He open the door to his room to find the girl still snoozing on the floor. Sighing, he pick her up and place her on the bed next to his. Then he noticed her tattoos. The first one, and largest, was on her shoulder, and had been obscured by her short sleeve. It was a standard pirate mark, but instead of a skull, there was a straw-hat much like the one hanging from her neck. Black lightning crackled from the edges of the bones, forming a circle around the mark. The one under it Sabo recognized from the Eternal Pose. It was a red rose crossed with a knife. The third one under that was the symbol of the Yonkou, Red-Haired Shanks. Why she had that symbol, he had no idea. It was obviously made by them, however. You could tell from just the way it was drawn on, that it shared the same characteristics that all Red-Haired pirates with the mark on them had. A little known fact was that all pirate crews had small distinguishing characteristics when they tattoo the mark on their body. Ones that couldn't be copied anywhere else.

So she was affiliated with the Red-Haired pirates? And somehow with Bloody Rose and the Revolutionaries. Sabo's eyes traveled down to the last tattoo on her arm. It was the mark of the Heart Pirates, a fairly new crew on the seas. He wondered why she had that mark. It looked pretty old, and those pirates were around for a year, at best.

Sabo was snapped out of his thoughts when the girl sleepily opened her eyes. Then she noticed that Sabo was looking at her tattoos, and he sheepishly turned his head.

"Sorry, I was just curious." He apologized.

"It's okay. I know it's not normal for a little girl to carry around pirate marks." She assured. "You must be my new room-mate, Sabo."

"And you're the girl that calls herself Rikoru D. Kyoku." Sabo greeted. She scrunched her face up.

"It's hard to respond to that name. Feels weird." She rubbed her tattoos.

"Why do you have pirate marks on your arm, anyways?" Sabo asked, pointing at the tattoos.

"These tattoos symbolize my family." She rubbed at the permanent additions to her skin.

"Family? You're related to those people?" Sabo asked in surprise.

"Some of them I'm related too, some are bonds stronger than blood." She explained, then dropped her arm.

"What's your real name, anyways?" Sabo asked, sitting on his bed, across from her.

"Can't tell you."

"Can't or don't want to?"

"Both." She answered honestly. "I can tell you that you will probably recognize my name, though."

"Why? You famous?"

"Nope." With that, she got up. "Is there any food around here? I haven't eaten in weeks."

Sabo nodded and led her out of the room. There were a bunch of question floating in his mind, though. Why did she have an Eternal Pose to Baltigo? Why would he know her real name? What did she mean, family? Why was she on the run? Why couldn't she tell anyone about herself? What was her real name?

This girl was a mystery. And Sabo was going to solve her.

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Sabo was polishing his weapon when Luffy burst in, smiling and laughing and generally acting like a bouncing ball of energy. Sabo rolled his eyes until he noticed bandages covering her right arm, just over the elbow and under her last tattoo. He gazed at it sharply until Luffy noticed where he was staring. She laughed and plopped down on the bed next to Sabo.

"I'm okay." She assured him before tugging the white bandages loose. Sabo looked at her arm, expecting to see a grievous injury, but instead, a tattoo greeted him. A new tattoo. He reached out slowly and touched it.

The mark of the Revolutionaries was now permanently inked on Luffy's skin.

These tattoos symbolize my family.

She had accepted them as family. She had accepted him as her family. Luffy smiled and rubbed her left hand over the new tattoo.

"Does this one need explaining?" She asked, smirking.

"Not at all." Sabo grinned. Luffy smiled back and bounced over to her bed, picking up her parasol with it. Over the past year, Sabo had discovered more and more marks on her skin, some inked on, and some scarred on. He asked her about each and every one of them, and she never explained.

There was a tattoo wrapping around her left ankle. It was several music notes, wrapped around her in such a way that it was impossible to tell where it began or ended. He had managed to get her to play the notes on the flute that she always carried around with her. Surprisingly enough, they were a real song, and a strangely familiar one at that, although Sabo couldn't figure out where he had heard it.

There was a prominent scar under her left eye, a curved half-moon with two stitches in it. She never told him about this either, but she always rubbed on one the tattoos on her arm when he talked about the scar. He never got close enough to figure out which.

Once in a while, he'd accidentally walk in on her getting dressed. She was never embarrassed when that happened, just treating it like a normal situation. It was there when he saw the faint scars marring her back, long and merciless. On one of her shoulder blades, there was a strange blemish, like she had gotten rid of a tattoo or scar. In it's place, there was a small black dragon, flying with it's wings outstretched. It was barely bigger than his fist, but it looked majestic. It was poised flying down to her lower back, spitting out flames.

He always wondered about those marks and tattoos. She never told him. Her only response.

"You'll see."

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"The world is corrupt. Evil. Disgusting. I want to fight it." A raven haired thirteen-year old girl proclaimed, looking over the barren landscape.

"Of course you do." Her companion replied.

"I want to fight it as a pirate, though. I still have that promise to fulfill, after all."

Sometimes, the thing we need most is a hand to hold us.

"Shanks still needs his hat back." She continued.

A hand to pull us up and keep us going.

"I still need to find a family." She slowly took the hat from her head and turned it over.

A hand that you'll only find with the people who'll never question you.

"A family?" The man next to her was visibly surprised.

Your family.

"Yes. One that's stronger than blood." She smiled brightly.

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"Whatcha got there?" Kyoku asked, looking over Sabo's shoulder.

"Oh, nothing. It seems my brother's gotten his first bounty."

"That's not nothing." Kyoku corrected as she took the bounty poster out of Sabo's hands. "Wow! 50 million! That's pretty good for Grand Line!"

"Yeah." Sabo smiled fondly.

"You should totally go visit him!" Kyoku grinned, handing the bounty poster back.

"Well, actually, he kind of thinks I'm dead..." Sabo trailed off.

"If it makes you feel any better, most of the people I know think I died as well." Kyoku frowned, rubbing her tattoos.

Oh, the irony.

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"I assume you do understand what the devil's music does." Dragon raised an eyebrow at the small girl in front of him who happened to be his daughter.

"It brings the devil's soul tree back." She stated simply

"And you know what the tree does?"

"Create more devil's fruits." She gave him a 'Duh' face.

"And?" Dragon pressed.

"That's it." Kyoku/Luffy fiddled with the tattoo on her ankle, the one with the music of the devil printed on it forever.

"No." he stated simply.

"That's what mom told me."

"That's not all it does. I believe she forgot to mention that when it is revived, all devil fruit users lose the ability to use their powers for the next 24 hours."

"What? Do they need to eat their fruit again or something?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"They still retain their weaknesses. And afterwards, the power is once again restored to them. However, we need to use this information to our advantage. The government doesn't know about this part themselves. They just know that the tree is dangerous. So, if we create the tree, then launch an attack on main sites of the government, we will have the advantage in knowing what is happening. They will not."

So that was the part of the devil's music in the Revolution.

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Thatch was worried. His friend, Ace was holed up in one corner of the Moby Dick, not talking to anyone, and keeping his head down. Thatch also noticed his shaking shoulders, and the tell-tale signs that he was trying not to cry. Slowly, the pranks-loving man walked up to his nakama.

"Feeling alright?" Thatch asked in a rare show of gentleness.

"No. I think I need to be left alone for a bit, do you mind?" Ace was still polite, but Thatch could detect the faint sadness in his voice. Thatch moved over to where his other friend, Marco, was resting.

"Something's wrong with Ace." Thatch poked Marco.

"Just leave him alone and hope it's just one of his quirks." Marco advised. Then he blanched and yelled out. "POPS! It's Garp the Fist!"

Ace's head snapped up so fast, Thatch swore it broke the sound barrier. He then turned to the rapidly gaining ship and ran to the railing. "GRAMPS! GO AWAY! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS?!" He screamed out, shoulders heaving.

Garp the fist suddenly appeared in front of Ace, punching him in the head. "Of course I know what today is! That's why I'm spending it with my only living grandchild, pirate or not!"

"GRANDCHILD?!" Everybody on the Moby Dick yelled out in surprise. Ace glared up at the Marine Hero.

"Don't hurt them. They're my family."

"Your family?" Garp blinked then nodded in understanding. "That was her last request, wasn't it? For you to find a family?"

"What are you two talking about!?" Haruta yelled out impatiently.

"Today is the anniversary of the day my granddaughter, Monkey D. Luffia, sacrificed her life to protect Ace." Garp stated. Ace looked away, a tear dripping down his cheek.

"Story. Now." Thatch ordered, motioning the two inside a room, where several of the commanders were waiting, and so was Whitebeard himself.

"I don't think I can..." Ace refused to make eye contact with anybody.

"Then I'll tell her story." Garp pulled Ace into the room, and they sat down.

"No, I'll do it." Ace swallowed.

"When I was ten, Gramps brought his granddaughter to live with the mountain bandits I lived with. I thought she was a weak, spoiled brat at first, and I spat on her and walked away. She didn't do anything, and she looked at me like she was expecting something worse. She always followed me through the forest, and I kept trying to kill her. I never managed though."

Several commanders chuckled when they remembered Ace's 100 day streak of attempting to assassinate Whitebeard. They quickly sobered when Ace glared at them.

"Eventually, she learned of a plan to kill me, take away the only person I considered my family, and burn down our home. All because I was stupid enough to steal from some pirates. So being the selfless idiot that she is, she let the pirates sell her into slavery so that they'd get the money to leave us alone and not burn down our home. It worked, and we never saw those pirates again. After being told what being sold implied, we now know that she most likely died." Ace choked on the last words. "Her final request was for me to find a family."

"You know, that was her dream. To find a place to belong and a family, just like a normal person." Garp rarely showed negative emotion, but it looked like his hard walls were cracking.

"I thought her dream was to be Pirate King?" Ace asked, rubbing the wood near his feet.

"No. She told me once that being Pirate King was her goal. To quote her words, 'A goal is something that you can achieve with enough hard work. A dream, on the other hand, won't come true no matter what.' She truly believed that she'd never find a place to belong. And she never will."

"Why didn't she think she'd find a family?" Marco asked, leaning lazily against the wall near Shirohige's chair.

"Well, according to Makino, that's the bar owner that Luffy made friends with, Luffy's mother, her only living relation, killed herself and the blame was put on Luffy. So she was always shunned, and never got a person to be her family. And when I could have been her brother, I turned my back on her."

Ace was obviously putting a lot of blame on himself. Garp lay a hand on his adoptive grandson's shoulder.

"She was a lonely child. All she ever wanted was a family to belong in. I think I failed my duties as her grandfather more than you failed yours as a brother."

Whitebeard ruffled Ace's hair with his finger. "You say that she was sold into slavery? Then she might still be alive."

"She was sold seven years ago. Most slaves are dead within a year, and she was only seven, too." Ace looked away. "She's dead."

"She died protecting what mattered to her most, Ace. Her family." Garp showed a rare display of gruff affection, before walking away. "And for the record. Dreams can come true, despite what Luffy says."

The strongest man in the world couldn't help but agree.

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"It's Red-Hair!" Was the cry of many aboard the Moby Dick. Ace internally winced at the thought of meeting Luffy's childhood hero.

"Dahahaha! Oi, Shirohige! I brought some sake!" Came the cries of the famous pirate.

"Let him on board!" Their captain laughed.

The other Yonko got on board, with some of his crew members in tow. They partied a bit, and when Whitebeard was done talking to him briefly, Ace gathered his wits and prepared to confront one of the most powerful people on the seas.

"Is it true you were Luffy's childhood idol?" He asked. The deck felt unnaturally quiet to him, for some reason.

"Oh? You know the brat?" He laughed. His first mate, Ben Beckmann, smiled fondly as he lit up a cigarette.

"Knew." Ace corrected. "She's dead."

Red-hair's grin dropped incredibly fast. "Anchor? Dead?"

"Yeah." Ace swallowed thickly.

"How?" Shanks demanded, accidentally letting a bit of Haki loose. That got all of the other pirate's attention.

"Oi, brat. What are you doing to my son?" Whitebeard asked from his chair.

"He-he's just asking me about his friend." Ace clenched and released his fists. Taking a deep breath he faced the shocked and slightly angry Yonko.

"Luffy sold herself into slavery to protect me and my friend." There. He got that over with. Maybe when Shanks killed him, he could properly thank Luffy for her sacrifice.

"When?"

"9 years ago." Ace squeezed his eyes shut.

"Did she find a place to belong?" That was unexpected. Ace slowly opened his eyes to look at Shanks's questioning gaze.

"No." Ace relied honestly. "She didn't find a place to belong, or her family. She never achieved her goal or her dream."

Well, might as well be candid in the face of death.

"Thank you." Shanks looked away. "For telling me." He added. He walked away, fixing a smile onto his face, but Ace could see the sorrow in the expression.

Ben slowly exhaled some smoke, then looked over at Ace. "You know, Luffy was like a daughter to Shanks."

Ace nodded slowly. He was just surprised that he was alive.

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"So, you're setting off?" Sabo asked, well, more like yelled up to, Luffy.

"Yeah! Kuma-san's sending me to East Blue!" Luffy yelled over to Sabo.

"Why take a boat when you could be thrown painfully across the oceans?" Sabo laughed.

"Eh, you get used to it after a while." Luffy shrugged. Sabo smiled again and waved goodbye.

"We'll see each other again, Kyoku!"

"Definitely!"

Sabo grinned and left, and Luffy turned to Kuma, who was silent during the entire exchange.

"Where too?" He asked.

"Dawn Island in the Goa Kingdom, East Blue."

If Kuma had any surprise, he didn't show it. Well, it wasn't like he really showed any other emotions...

"Alright."

Luffy was sent flying off to her chosen destination. She closed her eyes and opted to let herself go to sleep. It was going to be a long three days.

When she finally woke up, on the ground in the forests of Mount Corbo, she stretched and sighed in happiness. "I'm back home." She grinned, then picked her way out of the woods, making her way to the coast. She glanced over at the shops, then shrugged and went up to Gyoru, the fishmonger.

"Sir, I got shipwrecked here. Do you have a fishing boat I can use to get off the island?" She asked, looking at the old man.

"Oh, dear, why not? We have one of those old things in the back, and you were going to sell it anyways!" His wife, Chiken put in. Gyoru shrugged.

(A/N Gyoru and Chiken are actual One Piece characters)

"Fine, go ahead. I'll warn you though, there's a beast near here, called the Lord of the Coast."

"Eh, I've seen worse." Luffy or Kyoku smiled, waving her hand dismissively.

"Ookay..." Gyoru said, motioning Kyoku/Luffy around to where Chiken was pulling out an old fishing vessel.

"Thank you!" Luffy smiled, then pulled it out. "Put it on my treasure tab!"

And with that, Kyoku, who may or may not be Luffy, began dragging the old ship over to the docks.

"Eh?" Gyoru asked in confusion. He could have sworn he remembered a little kid telling the local bartender the exact same thing...

Luffy closed her eyes and smiled peacefully as she set out, thinking to herself, 'I've been through so much, and now, I'm finally setting out to become a pirate!'

And then the annoying Sea King decided to be annoying. And threaten Kyoku's very existence.

(A/N I'm switching between Luffy and Kyoku an awful lot, aren't I?)

Luffy/Kyoku cracked an eye open and glared at the King.

Sea King decided that it like sleeping, and immediately flopped over, unconscious.

"That was easy." Kyoku grinned.

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"Shanks?" A certain pirate asked, looking at the feared Yonko dead in the eye.

"What is it, Mihawk? You come for a duel?" He laughed boisterously.

"Actually, I have some interesting news. From a certain rookie in East Blue." Mihawk was satisfied to see Shank's ears perk up slightly at the mention of the sea in which he had met the strange little girl he had told the other swordsman about so many times.

"What makes you think I care about that sea?"

"At the Baratie, I found a man named Roronoa Zoro. He had much potential, and maybe could be my successor given enough years of training."

"I don't care about some swordsman captain, Mihawk." Shanks grumbled irritably.

"He wasn't the captain. The captain was a girl named Rikoru D. Kyoku."

"I still don't care, 'D' or not." 'Hawk-Eyes' still had no idea what was so special about the 'D' in some people's names.

"Well, she said some rather odd words to me. I think you'd be interested-"

"Get to the damn point already, Hawky!" Shanks was beginning to lose patience, but Hawk-eyes was having quite a bit of fun teasing him.

Mihawk held out a bounty poster. The girl in the poster had her back to the camera and a parasol leaning against her shoulder, covering the upper left portion of the picture. Her face was turned to the side, so one could see her profile, but the hood of her long cloak hid her eyes. It was still easy to see the mischievous smile gracing her features.

"She told me that you better expect that hat of yours back soon." Mihawk stated, then gave it to his rival as he made a one-armed grab for the poster.

"Luffy?" He whispered out, almost not daring to believe.

"Well, she WAS wearing a straw-hat when I saw her."

Shanks looked down at the name on the poster

~WANTED~

Dead or Alive

'Death Princess'

Rikoru D. Kyoku

45,000,000 beri

"MEN! LUFFY'S ALIVE! LET'S THROW A PARTY!" Shanks yelled out, and the people around him immediately complained of a hangover.

"Dahahaha! It's a special occasion! Now I feel a little sorry for that Ace guy!"

Mihawk rolled his eyes.

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Nami awoke with a strangled gasp, sweat pouring down her face. Immediately, she felt a reassuring presence next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Nightmare?" She heard her captain ask, concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah." Nami knew better than to lie to her.

"You know, I was a slave once too." Luffy offered. Nami whipped her head around to face her captain. Luffy NEVER spoke about her past.

"Really?" She asked. Luffy took Nami's hand and they opened the door to step outside into the cool night air. Robin was on watch, looking at them, but then opted to butt out, letting the eyes near Luffy and Nami's area disappear into a shower of petals.

(A/N THERE ISN'T ANY LuNa, even though I support LGBT and I'm a fan of the pairing)

"I gave myself up to keep two other people safe, and ended up going on a wild adventure to get out." Luffy smiled, looking out at the horizon. The sky glittered with stars, and the ocean reflected them beautifully.

"I got myself sold to the Shichibukai, Doflamingo, and found a friend in his so-called 'Younger brother', Law. He's another of the Eleven Supernovas now. We're sworn siblings now."

Luffy turned so that Nami could see her right arm. She pointed to the five tattoos on it and gestured to the fourth one. "That one's his mark."

"Ahh." Nami smiled. It seemed that she and her captain had more in common then she had thought at first.

"So, how'd you get out of slavery?" She asked.

"I faked my death, then flew from New World back to East Blue." Luffy smiled weakly. "It took about a year, and I was lucky enough to have stolen a Log Pose from some merchant ships."

"Eh? You flew all the way back? That's impossible!"

"Nami, we define impossible. Anyways, after I spent about two years flying from ship to ship, attempting to follow Log Poses,I made it to my father, Dragon. Stayed there until I turned seventeen, and then went out to sea. You know the rest."

"Ah. What was it like for you? Being a slave, I mean."

"I had to fight to stay alive."

"It makes my past seem easy in comparison, doesn't it?"

"No. I would much rather live as some sick show for a noble than be forced to go through what you had to for eight years. At least with me, I had hope that eventually I'd be able to get out of that situation." Luffy leaned heavily on the railings and then smiled her characteristic, carefree grin.

"You sure are strong for having to put up with all that!" Luffy laughed, and Nami smiled back.

"Thank you for Arlong Park. And for believing in me."

"We're nakama! There's no way I'd let you go!" Luffy laughed again. Nami smiled back and fingered her own tattoo.

"Our tattoos symbolize our family." Nami pointed out.

"Yep! Mine's all over the sea, though!" She grinned, and they both unconsciously touched their tattoos.

"Come on. Let's go back inside." Luffy suggested.

"Agreed."

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"Hey, guys, can you keep a secret?" Kyoku asked her crew, who were gathered around the table. She got mixed responses.

"I'D DO ANYTHING FOR YOOOOOOOOOOU~ KYOKU-CHWAAN!"

"I'd take it to the grave! But I'm already dead... Yohohoho, SKULL JOKE!"

"A true swordsman can keep a secret."

"What's the secret? I can keep it for a small fee... say 600 Beli."

"That reminds me of the time a woman once asked me to keep a secret and it turned out that she was a princess!"

"SUGOI! Kyoku, are you a princess?"

"That would be SUUUPER!"

Only Robin remained silent. Kyoku sighed.

"GUYS! I'm not a fucking princess!" She yelled. That quietened everybody down. "Thank you."

"Well, whatever it is, we can keep the secret." Zoro announced.

"Alright. It's about my name." Luffy started.

"Rikoru D. Kyoku isn't your real name, is it?" Robin smiled knowingly. Kyoku stared in shock at her.

"How did you know?" She demanded.

"The way you sometimes don't respond to the name, and act like we're addressing someone else." Robin explained. Kyoku sighed and nodded.

"My name isn't just a name anymore." Kyoku looked directly at Robin. "Your dream is to find out what happened in the Void Century, right?"

Robin nodded, wondering where this was going.

"To find that out, there will be many secrets for you to uncover. I am the key to one of them." Luffy looked directly at Robin.

"What're you going on about? What does the Void Century have to do with your name?" Nami asked irritably.

"Everything and nothing." Before Nami could punch her over the head, Kyoku quickly added. "I don't have anything to do with the Void Century. I simply hold a secret that's key to unlocking it. My real name is Monkey D. Luffy. I died thirteen years ago, on Polaris Island. Do you know what Polaris Island was destroyed over?"

Everybody shook their heads. Kyoku/Luffy sighed. "The people of Polaris Island developed a way to distort and warp reality with the use of music. They called it the devil's music."

"I've heard of the devil's music. It is rumored to be able to destroy the world." Robin mused.

"I still don't see what this has to do with your name." Usopp grumbled.

"Alright, back-story time. After Polaris Island was destroyed, me and my mom fled to Dawn Island, which was nearby. Mom died a year later. When I was seven, I sold myself into slavery to keep everybody I knew alive. Four years later, with the help of my friend and sworn brother, I escaped, and he told everybody that I committed suicide. I adopted the name Rikoru D. Kyoku, and boom, that's the story of my name."

"But what does you being sold into slavery have to do with the Void Century?" Zoro asked, looking interested for once.

"Noting at all. I never said my name was the secret. I am the secret. I am the last person alive who can play the devil's music. And also, for the record, Robin's wrong. The devil's music alone cannot destroy the world. It can give the world back something that the World Government destroyed in the Void Century, however."

"Something that the World Government destroyed?" Brook asked, interested as soon as he heard the name devil's music.

"800 years ago, during the Void Century, the ancients created a tree. The Tree of the Devil's Soul. Which, while destroyed, could always be called back to the world with the use of devil's music. And if used correctly, it could, potentially, plunge the world in chaos."

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This sucks. Sucks, sucks, suck, sucks. Sucks. Ace was so fucked. Not only did he have to be caught, by that bastard Teach no less, he was about to be used as bait to start a war with his captain, Whitebeard. He hated this so much. Knowing he might cause the death of several of his nakama was worse than Sadi-chan's torture. Though he refused to scream during the whole of it. He sighed inside as he heard the sound of footsteps down.

"Hello there." An unfamiliar voice sounded through the darkness. Ace looked up in surprise to see a girl dressed head to toe in a cloak, hiding her facial features from view. She was wearing finger-less gloves and clutching a black and silver parasol against her shoulder.

"Need some help?" She twisted the handle of her parasol and pulled out a long thin sword, shaped slightly like a claw. Ace frowned a bit.

"Why are you here, Death Princess?"

She simply smiled. "I'm here to get my crew back."

"Then why are you freeing me?" Ace growled out slightly.

"I don't feel like letting you die." She lifted her head, allowing Ace to see a slight smile grace her lips. With that, she let her sword arc through the air, slicing through the bars easily. She made quick work of his handcuffs as well.

"Stay here, Portgas."

"Whatever you want, Kyoku."

Death Princess Kyoku stopped outside and smiled, then lifted the front of her sleeve slightly. Ace swore he caught a glimpse of gold.

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"Don't you know about pirate rules, lady!" Ace yelled, scrambling after his savior. "I have my own crew to get me!"

"Screw the rules." Was his companion's eloquent reply. "I save who I want."

"You baka!" He yelled as he caught up with her. "I don't even deserve to live!"

"Join the club." Kyoku smirked as she walked forward.

"Why you little!" Ace lit up a hand threateningly. Kyoku simply kept moving.

"My cloak's fireproof." She commented, then looked up at a hole in the roof where she fell through. Painfully.

"Oi! Kyoku! We took care of the rest!" A call rang out from above. Death Princess smiled and grabbed Ace's hand.

"Hold on tight!" She warned as she opened up her wings and zoomed up through the hole.

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Luffy arrived at Marineford in her stolen warship right after Whitebeard. She sailed up to him then flew onto the deck, dragging Ace with her.

"I got Ace." She stated while the Whitebeard pirates gaped in shock. She then walked to the front of the ship and observed the assortment of Marines in front of her. Then she lifted a flute to her mouth. Sengoku was getting redder and redder as he realized he had been duped and there was no prisoner coming.

Slowly, Luffy played a melody, seemingly repetitive, but there were slight variations each time. Everybody gasped as the air became saturated with what most would assume was the smell of memories. Musty books, the faint smells you associated with your earliest recollections. As abrupt as she began, she stopped.

Sengoku narrowed his eyes, then pulled the broadcasting Den-den mushi to his mouth. "You, Death Princess. You're a threat to the world. You possess the power to destroy it. The power to make the world decent into chaos."

Kyoku laughed, then yelled into a broadcasting Den-den that nobody knew how she acquired. "The power to destroy the world? I can't destroy anything. That's just a rumor of the unenlightened. However, I can give it back what you have taken away."

Sengoku cursed. Revealing that information could convince several people to rebel against the government. He had thought all witnesses were dead, however. This tidbit needed to be covered up. However, the pirate had no qualms about revealing it.

Sengoku and Kyoku locked eyes from across the battlefield.

"Thirteen years ago, an island existed. The people there were peaceful by nature. However, they learned a way to distort reality using music. This made the government believe they could become a threat. They slaughtered millions of innocents, and made sure that that island became only a rumor. All in the name of Absolute Justice. Don't make me laugh! You have created a world in which a child is judged by their blood, a world where simply learning something makes you a threat, a world where corruption is ignored. You marines have no idea what true justice is." Kyoku glared.

"You, Kyoku, are a threat to the stability of the world. Will you admit it?" Sengoku spoke.

"I am not a threat because of my bloodline. I am not a threat because of my knowledge. I am a threat because I chose to be free. Is that correct?" Kyoku smirked.

Sengoku REALLY wished that this execution wasn't being broadcasted across the world. He cursed Kyoku's way with words.

"Choosing to be free does not mean you must become a pirate." Sengoku decided to play her battle of words.

"Really? Because I think that had I not become a pirate, I'd still be a wanted criminal. I know how to read and play the devil's music. Rikoru D. Kyoku. Remember the melody. A fitting alias."

"The devil's music is something that according to rumors, you must hone for years. You obviously knew what you were doing, and your profession implies that you are against the world, and therefore, a threat to it."

"The world is not my enemy. The government is. And now that our debate is done and all of our allies are ready to get away, I bid you goodbye."

Kyoku cut off the Den-den mushi and threw it into the sea, then walked back to where her crew were waiting. Chopper had already got out some bandages and she attempted to wave him off, only for him to go into human mode and convince Zoro and Sanji to help pin her down. Chopper bandaged the sharp lines of blood trailing around her arms, then let her go. The downside to using devil's music was that it tended to injure the user. That and it took forever to learn how to use.

"So, what was that about?" Ace asked the sitting Mugiwara crew as they went to catch up with the other half of them, who had Coup-de-bursted the Sunny out of there while Sengoku and Kyoku were conversing via loud broadcasts over the battlefield.

"Which part?" Kyoku asked, absentmindedly pulling at the bandages.

"Everything." Almost everybody on the Moby Dick chorused.

"I'm surprised that a brat like you knows about the devil's music." Whitebeard commented on his throne.

"Eh, I grew up on Polaris until it was destroyed." Kyoku answered. Ace shot up.

"Did you just say Polaris?"

"Was wondering when you'd get it." Kyoku smiled a bit.

"I've heard that before. When I was young. I don't remember though..." Ace trailed off. Kyoku sighed.

"You're hopeless. Do I need to spell it out for you?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Ace asked.

"Want to guess my real name?" She asked, offhandedly.

Ace looked to her crew, who all shrugged in an I-don't-know-what-she's-going-on-about way.

"Uh, how should I know?"

"You're a dumb-ass, aren't you." She stated bluntly.

"Yes he is." Marco was watching the conversation with interest.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy." She grinned, while Ace simply stared back, shocked, and then was about to scream before Kyoku, Luffy, whatever, she slapped her hand over his mouth.

"And I'd appreciate if the world did not have to find out, thank you very much." She continued, giving him a glare.

After she pulled her hand away, Ace stared at her. Then he glared at her.

"How could you do something like that? Me and Sabo thought you were dead! We never forgave ourselves! Why were you so selfish?"

"I'm an impulsive person. Deal with it."

"You-you're..."

"Impossible?" The remaining Mugiwaras chorused.

"Yes, yes I am." Luffy grinned.

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"500 MILLION!" The Tenyrubito yelled out. The crowd exploded in noise. Then the roof exploded. It seemed like a lot of things were exploding today.

"Excuse me, but Caimie is not for sale." A girl floated down from the hole in the roof, clutching a parasol to slow her decent. She was wearing a long black cloak with the hood up, covering her face. One could see the brim of a straw-hat under it, however. Shoulder length black hair spilled out of her hood.

"Death Princess?" Kid questioned under his breath. He had turned to leave, but things looked a hell of a lot more interesting now. Law simply smirked at the sight.

"Kyoku!" A girl with orange hair called from the back, near Kid. Kyoku smiled and waved over, then stepped aside as another figure came falling out of the hole.

"And Zoro!" She called over to the orange haired girl, whom many identified as Cat-Burglar Nami. Pirate Hunter Zoro got up, no thanks to Death Princess, and shook himself off.

"Geez, couldn't get a better landing?" He grumbled.

"Nope!" She responded cheerfully. "See, told you the umbrella was awesome!"

"No matter what you say or do, there is no way I'm going to carry one around with me." Zoro rolled his eyes.

"Suck it up."

"Oi, Caimie's been sold to the Tenyrubito!" Cyborg Franky called out. Kyoku nodded and turned to the glass bubble Caimie was in. She disappeared and reappeared right next to it, then place her hand on the glass.

"Oi! What about the bomb collar!" Zoro called out.

"Don't worry, I got it!" She called back. Most of the audience were shocked into silence by the infamous Mugiwara crew's appearance. Her fingers glowed bright purple and bolts of black and purple energy raced around the cage, and then shattered it. Quickly, she reached the bomb collar and placed her hand on it, arching energy all over it, and then pulling it off. Caimie quickly reached up and hugged her, which the other girl was happy to return. Caimie got up, and Luffy twisted the handle of the parasol in her grip. She pulled out a long, thin, curved sword from the umbrella, and quickly sliced through the chains holding Caimie. Returning the sword to it's sheath, she turned to look at her first mate.

"Not. One. Word." He growled out.

She just laughed.

"THAT WAS MY PET! Mine, mine, mine, mine!" The Tenyrubito stomped his foot childishly.

Kyoku frowned. "The hell is wrong with this world." She closed the parasol with a snap, then pointed it at the Tenyrubito. Suddenly, the entire Tenyrubito family fell forward, knocked out. Death Princess lowered her parasol and grinned. Another man walked out on the stage.

"My, my, Death Princess. I guess Shanks was right after all!" The Dark King, Rayleigh laughed.

"Shanks? You know him?" She turned to Rayleigh in surprise.

"Ah, yes. We worked on the same ship together." He smiled. Kyoku nodded and hopped off the stage.

"The Marine's should be here by now." Law pointed out.

"I'll take care of it as thanks for the show." Kid smiled.

"OI! Ever heard of ladies first!" Kyoku yelled before disappearing and reappearing right at the doorway. Law simply smiled and walked off with her.

"Just like old times?" He asked.

"Just like old times." She responded and they both walked out the door, a confused Kid trailing right after them.

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Kaido dethroned!

The mysterious Death Princess, former Warlord and Supernova, Law together defeated the Yonkou, Kaido. Death Princess also beat the Shichibukai, Doflamingo. In the process, Death Princess's name was revealed to not be Rikōru D. Kyoku, but Monkey D. Luffy. Why she hid her name became obvious, as she was hiding from Doflamingo. She also has a sibling-like relationship with Trafalgar Law, possibly due to both of their connections to Doflamingo. Doflamingo's Shichibukai status has been revoked due to his dealings with slavery, and enslavement of Death Princess. The World Government has suffered the loss of two of it's Shichibukai, and the dethronement of a Yonkou. It is unknown how they will fix this, as Death Princess has declined an offer to become a Shichibukai after her defeat of former Shichibukai, Crocodile. Their bounties have also received a rise in price, and the World Government has updated Death Princess Kyoku's poster to now say Death Princess Luffy.

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Sabo couldn't believe his eyes as he read the paper. Rikoru D. Kyoku, the girl who he had shared a room with for four years, the girl who was like a sister to him, was the same girl who had given up her life in order for him to live. He just refused to believe it. But the evidence was staring him right in the eye, laughing at him.

Of course.

Why didn't he ever realize it?

The wounds, obviously gotten from beatings. The age. The strange tattoos.

Monkey D. Luffia was in fact Rikoru D. Kyoku.

Sabo stared at the paper before breaking down. Whether he was laughing or crying, nobody could tell, least of all him.

"Luffy..." He whispered to the paper in his hands. "I guess you got your wish. You found yourself a family."

His mind wandered to the time when they had first met, when she had explained her tattoos.

"I guess you were wrong. Dreams do come true in the end." With that, he smiled and tacked up the article and updated bounty poster to the expanse of articles and posters concerning Ace and Kyoku/Luffy.

"That explains why you saved him at Impel Down and Marineford." Sabo grinned as realization dawned on him. Monkey D. Luffy was a mystery. And Sabo was going to solve her.

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Garp the Marine hero had seen a lot in his life. However, this was taking the cake. His own granddaughter, who went missing twelve years ago, was now standing in front of him, wearing a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of her head.

"Hi, Gramps." She uttered quietly.

Now, by no means was Garp a very emotional man. But his mask was cracking, as a tear began sliding down his face.

"Lu.. Luffy?"

"Who else?" She asked with a small smile. Suddenly, without warning, Garp's fist came crashing down on her head.

"DON'T EVER, EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" The vice admiral yelled.

"I'm not promising anything..." Luffy squeaked as her grandfather raised his hand threateningly.

"What happened to you, Luffy?"

"Lots of shit, some slavery, WAY too much flying, Revolutionaries, parrots, and then I started my own crew. That about sums it up."

"I want the full story. Now."

"We're gonna be here for a LONG time then..."

"WAIT, PIRATE? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU A PIRATE!"

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It had happened so quickly. He had been laughing along with them, and then, the next moment, he was dead. None of the Haki users even had the time to react.

Standing behind the Straw Hats was the man who had just murdered their cyborg shipwright. The shipwright of the King of Pirates. Well, Queen. Let's not get technical.

They all looked at him with murder in their eyes, while the innocent doctor kept crying asking Franky to 'live dammit, you can't be dead you bastard'.

Franky had been killed with a simple blast of light from an admiral. Such a simple, ordinary death. And that was the worst of all. Franky was flamboyant, flashy, quirky, talented, extraordinary, unique. He deserved a heroes death, one that people would remember forever, maybe a sacrifice to save the world or something. But no. He was shot in the back by an Admiral, simple as that.

Despite the fact that the Straw-Hats took the life of that Admiral in return for their precious shipwright's, the hollow spot in all of the crew's hearts would never be replaced. The entire crew found it hard to stay alive, and the only reason they did so was for each other. If one of them dared commit suicide, the others would never forgive them for that.

The only consolation was that Franky had achieved his dream, and the Straw Hats were determined to keep the Sunny alive to keep part of Franky with them, forever. But the Straw Hats were never the same. Each of them had dealt with pain and suffering through death, but that was different.

Zoro remembered the girl who would never achieve her dream because of her gender, the hero who died in a completely ordinary way, and how painful that was.

Nami remembered how her mother, her savior, her light, how she was extinguished with a simple shot, and how terrible that was.

Usopp remembered his mother, the one who believed in him, and how she was defeated by a simple sickness.

Sanji remembered the pain of seeing his entire adopted family die on that ship, and that he could do nothing about it.

Robin remembered watching Ohara burn while feeling despair at the fact that her enemy was to large to defeat, in this case, death.

Brook remembered his old crew, and how they all eventually died, leaving only him, and feared that that would happen again.

Luffy remembered a kind red-haired captain, who taught her how to open her heart again, and wished, for a brief second, that she had remained emotionless, and wouldn't have to deal with this terrible pain.

If only they knew what was in store for them.

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With the pain of Franky still fresh in their minds, disaster struck again. This time, it was with the man Luffy had saved, the second division commander, Ace. The fleet admiral, Akainu, had decided to finish the job when Sengoku hadn't. He decided that the Pirate Queen and the son of the Pirate King were too dangerous to have contact with each other. So, on one of the many times that the two crews met up, he went after them personally.

He sent a magma covered fist hurtling towards the Queen, thinking she was the bigger threat. Suddenly, the fire pirate shoved her out of the way, taking the blow for her. Immediately, the Whitebeard Pirates were upon him, and Whitebeard himself finished him off, not without a little difficulty, as the man was getting on in age.

"I... I... guess this is a repayment for what you've done for me.. Luffy... I just want to say... to you all... that I found myself a family, just like you asked... and even though I have the blood of a demon in my veins... Thank you! For loving me!" Ace gasped out with his dying breaths, and as the magma that had punctured his gut began to eat away at the rest of his body, he collapsed completely in Luffy's arms, while she attempted to hold back tears.

"Baka... not you too..." She whispered into his corpse, hating everything about him at the moment. The way that they never got to get close as kids, the way that he still didn't think he deserved to live, the way that his damn smile was still on his face.

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After Ace's untimely death, fate dealt a double blow to the Straw-Hats. The former Yonko, Kaido, wanting revenge for his defeat, and Akainu, who couldn't stand the pirate scum, killed both the cook and first mate of the Straw-Hats. They fought bravely, beating hordes of enemies, but they accumulated too many bullet wounds, and finally, were stabbed through, in the gut, by the fleet admiral himself. They died back to back.

Soon after, Akainu died from the wounds Sanji gave him, and Kaido had fallen to Zoro's deadly swords. But the Mugiwaras, who had been forced apart by a large wave to the Sunny, courtesy of the two themselves, had felt no justice in death. Luffy herself had attempted to fly to them, only to realize that the time she had spent flying over the world had taken a larger toll on her wings then she had originally thought. She had irreparably taken away her ability to fly.

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Usopp had always been a coward. Slowly taking a breath, he lifted his arms and leaned backwards, feeling the wind on his back before feeling the perfectly preserved railing under his feet give way to nothingness. A simple second before impact, less then that, the feeling of water swirl underneath him, and then there was nothing.

While he was a coward in death, he embraced it like a true hero.

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Robin had betrayed, double crossed, assassinated, and killed everyone in matter of time. Only now did she understand how it was to have a family. And now, the family was falling, one by one. She decided, that it would be much better to end it, quickly and simply. She only wished it wouldn't hurt the others. However, she couldn't keep living like this. Her dream had been achieved, and she wanted only to keep living with her family. In life or in death, it made no difference.

Slowly, she took the pill and waited as the effects began to take place.

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Chopper was a miracle doctor, capable of curing anybody. However, as the crew fell into a downwards spiral, he chose not to cure anymore, staying in his medical bay and crying, his childish innocence completely shattered. Finally, the rest of the crew, along with Luffy, gave him permission to die in peace. He chose to go out the way his father figure had as well, taking a preserved Amidake mushroom, and taking with him an entire fleet of Marines.

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Everyone was dying, one by one. The powerful crew, the Mugiwara no Kaizoku, the ones to reach the end of the Grand Line, were broken beyond belief. The crew famed for doing the impossible.

One of such impossibilities was the skeleton. A living skeleton, who could not bear to watch his beloved family die before him. So, with Luffy's consent, he put on a sea-stone bracelet. Luffy had smiled bitter-sweetly, and told him to wait for her, as she still had something to do in the world of the living. And so, Brook finally rejoined the world he had a brief taste of over half a century ago, dying next to his old friend, Laboon.

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Her map was complete. She could finally rest in peace. Giving it to the last person on the crew besides her, Luffy, she bid her farewell, and rejoined East Blue, and Cocoyashi village. She died protecting her beloved tangerine farms when the remaining Admirals came to kill her. She went willingly, dying happily, and with the knowledge that her treasures were safe.

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Every 'D' committed some sort of suicide, Whitebeard reflected. There was his cherished son, Ace, who had taken a fatal blow for a girl who could have been his sister in another time. His longtime friend, Gol D. Roger, had given himself up to the Marines, as he was dying anyways. Rouge had sacrificed her life to give birth to Ace. Rose had DID, eventually letting her other side take complete control, and end her life. His former son, Blackbeard, when faced with a humiliating defeat, had opted to kill himself rather then admit it. Jaguar D. Saul, a friend of a crew member of his unofficial daughter, had known what he was doing when he was destroying those ships, leading to his death.

And now, his unofficial daughter was about to help her father achieve his own dream, by playing the devil's music.

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"The system is hooked up, sir." A revolutionary reported to the famous Dragon.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked his only daughter.

"I'm the only one who can." She smiled.

"But the song was meant for two people, a boy and a girl. It'll kill you if you do it alone." He reasoned to her.

"There isn't another child of Polaris alive, and I'm the only one who can do this. And as you said, it'll ensure your victory. I'm willing to do this, and I want to. I don't have a reason to live anymore."

"Very well then."

Slowly, she brought up the Den Den Mushi, which was currently connected to every other Mushi in the world.

"The era of dreams lives on for as long as you still have dreams. I have hidden the One Piece where nobody alive but I have ever been. I dare you all to find it. Challenge the world, let nothing stand in your way, and dare to dream. ONE PIECE IS OUT THERE! FIND IT!"

A message the entire world received. A message that would mark a new era of dreams. The first act of this new era? The revolution that would overthrow the corrupt government of old.

Slowly, she began playing the music on the old flute that her mother had given to her. Each note was broadcasted across the world, letting everyone hear the strangely familiar tune.

Slowly, drops of blood ran down her back, cutting into the tattoo of a dragon on her back. The tattoo meant to mask the image of the brand Doflamingo had burnt on her. The music notes wrapping around her ankle, playing in an infinite loop, mirrored the song she kept playing.

Sabo, having heard the music, rushed to where he knew she would be. Outside, in the windy, barren planes. He attempted to bang open the doors leading outside, however, they were made to resist even his super strength. Slowly, Dragon came to him and placed a hand on his shoulder rather awkwardly. He was never good at emotion.

"She chose this." He clarified to the poor young man.

"Why?" He asked, tears dripping down her face.

Dragon couldn't answer that. Only she could tell him why.

As the song progressed, blood began flowing outwards more. Each drop of blood was drunk in greedily by the ground. Slowly, tentative buds came out of the ground, quickly thickening and strengthening as the twined around her ankles, finally obscuring the tattoo of the music. Luffy ignored this in favor of constantly playing her song, smiling serenely. Her blood was treated as a strange for of water to the tree that contained the soul of the devil.

Sabo had broke down crying as the girl who he treated as a sister was sacrificing herself for the sake of the Revolution.

The vines had reached her waist as she continued playing, reaching the final stretch of the song. In a burst of strength, the tree grew over her, molding to her form. The final note echoed across the entire world as Luffy's insides were completely atomized. Her smile was the last thing anyone ever saw of her.

Finally, Dragon opened the door with his key, letting the two outside. He turned to Sabo, who was crying his eyes out at the loss of his sister.

"Come. We have a Revolution to lead."

The final note had set off several attacks against many Marine bases. Many admirals had been killed, Luffy and Law had gotten rid of a good half of the Shichibukai by themselves, many of the others didn't want to fight them anyways and they didn't have to worry about any of the Yonko besides Big Mom. Shanks and Whitebeard were fine with what they were doing, if only through the connection to the late Pirate Queen. Kaido had been killed, and the Yonko who took his place, Trafalgar Law, would never oppose them, because of his adopted sister's sacrifice. Several Admirals were also gone, which drastically decreased the Marine's firepower.

Luffy had just ensured the Revolutions success, and Dragon was going to make sure that the sacrifice was not in vain. She'd probably claw her way out of hell and punch him in the face if he did, anyways.

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Lying on one of it's shores was an amazing ship with a lion (or was it a sunflower?) figurehead. If one dared to step on board and explore it, they'd find a myriad of priceless things. Four swords, three of which belonged to the greatest swordsman in the world, the fourth being that of the former greatest. Another would be a recipe book of all the dishes the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates made with creatures from All Blue, which lay in the kitchen.

A map plotting the course that the famous Straw-Hats had taken through the Grand Line, as well as a map of the world, the very first in the world. The great arsenal of weapons that used to belong to the greatest sniper in the world.

In the medical bay lay a comprehensive guide to curing every single type of illness in he world, and many drug recipes that would be unable to be found anywhere else.

If one decided to go to the library, they would find millions of books, as well as the translated versions of every single poneglyph, including the Rio poneglyph. There were also stories about the devil's soul tree, and the lyrics written down. A history of Polaris Island was also put there. There were several Tone Dials down there as well, which played the song called 'Binks Sake' if pressed.

In short, it was the treasures of the Mugiwara no Kaizoku, all placed on the ship that would see eternity before dying, at the end of the world.

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So that is my story.

A story of an island of music, burned down by a dragon of the skies.

Of a mother, cursed to have two faces.

Of a kindly captain, who inspired a dream to take place.

Of two brothers, one who joined the revolution against his own kind, and the other who found a family on the seas.

Of a flamingo who chained me down, only to have the locks broken by a brother.

Of years spent with a father I never knew before.

Of finding others, just like me.

Of reuniting with the boy with a hot temper and a cold heart, only to find that his family had warmed it.

Of achieving dreams, but sailing on to find new adventures.

Of death, suicide, and depression, but it was all right in the end.

Of leaving a legacy, and another era to be followed.

Of a lifelong dream of abolishing the dragons who burned down my home, to come true in the end.

And finally, of love, adventure, and happiness.

Done! I think this was the first multi-chap fic I've ever completed! This was a really fun arc to make, and I think the one notable thing I should point out is that Marineford is BEFORE Shaboady here. I know I promised an Arc 4, but I think it'll be better as a different story.

~Nivena