A large bird speedily dove down from the stars, aiming for the fishy ship below. Once ten meters above, however, it expanded its wings to slow down before quickly dodging the course of bullets. A small figure on the bird burst with excited laughter as she watched men clamber up to deck to join the fight—or currently, the hunt. Though to an outsider, it might be quite unclear as to who the prey and who the predator was. Finally after a good amount of pirates was on deck, the girl jumped off from the bird, yelling one order to it,
"Cause as much chaos, Chaos!"
Chaos saluted with a wing before diving down as well, using Haki to protect its wings. It carefully watched the little girl as she descended, slicing the bullets or deflecting them out of her way. Once the girl's feet touched the deck, Chaos began its destruction on to the humans while swiping at them with gusts of wind from its powerful wings. Yes, Chaos was going to enjoy this hunt as well.
Meanwhile the girl landed on deck and began taking out the multitude of mobs with Haki-enfused martial arts, saving the best moves for last. She snaked through the crowds, taking them down one by one with uncontrolled glee. They attempted to shoot her or attack her or even block her attacks, but she was simply too fast and efficient. And admittedly small. But size meant nothing because she could pack a punch and kick through metal with her immense strength.
With caution and all her skills, she was already through more than a hundred of the crowd by now. After all, she wasn't his granddaughter for no reason. After feeling her exhaustion coming a bit sooner than expected, she reached down her back and yanked out her hidden bo-staff, bashing a couple of tandem pirates in the head with the momentum. Once adjusting to the familiar feel of metal, she attacked them with deadly accurate swings and thrusts with Haki to make sure that they landed and they hurt. Surprised by her sudden weapon and even more sudden longer reach, she took down another dozen easily with her always present grin showing just underneath the hood of her long silky cloak.
Finally, someone decent decided to fight her and she found herself locking weapons with a swordsman—
A large hand yanked her in the air and he shook his head with amusement, "Reina, what are you doing here? Where's your mother?"
Reina sheepishly grinned, "Me and Chaos, the emperor crow up there, decided to sneak out and play."
And then, the man rumbled with laughter and placed the little girl on his shoulder. The crow, seeing that the gig was up, safely and softly landed.
Whitebeard patted the large black bird, still amused by the whole situation, "Nice to meet you Chaos. Thanks for taking care of her."
He turned to head back to sleep, but was stopped by his crew of pirates. Haruta blinked and pointed to the cloaked figure, "…um, pops, who is she?"
Then, the old man blinked, finally noticing the many men on deck were either lying on the ground or holding weapons.
Reina sheepishly rubbed her neck, "Wait, jii-chan, I can explain this. They attacked me first when I wanted to visit. I'm totally innocent~"
Whitebeard nodded with a hint of mirth and pride in his smile, "Well, that seems to be the story. And this is my granddaughter, Reina Newgate."
Wavy yellow hair fell down as she lifted back her hood. She smiled while blue eyes twinkled under the silvery moonlight, "Nice to meet you, dear uncles of mine. (yawn) And good night."
With that, they left the shocked pirates on deck and went to captain quarters.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?! Pops had a granddaughter?! WHEN?!"
Ace got off the ground and whispered furiously to Thatch and Marco, "Wait. Who is Pops's wife? Who are her parents? When did this happen? Why have I never heard about this?"
Marco just absent-mindedly shook his head, "I… I don't know either, Ace. I'm just as clueless as you…"
Thatch just yawned as he started back downstairs as well, "Reina-chan is about nine years old, dummies. Her and Pop's family all live on a spring island in the Grand Line. You never heard about it since… you never did?"
That stopped all the chattering as they stared at the normally-idiotic commander leave nonchalantly as if he knew all along. Maybe that's why he was smirking at the fight the whole entire time…
"Anyways, I need some sleep too. Catch some fish for me tomorrow, Namir. Reina-chan likes fresh fish and probably the emperor crow too. Good night."
There was total silence before Ace commented, "…so how the hell does he know and you don't when you're the first mate, Marco?"
"…you know what, Ace. Shut up. Just shut up." And Marco left as well, wondering if this was all just a dream.
…
"Mm, you're getting better, Reina-chan. Might become a great chef one day~"
The girl laughed as she sliced the vegetables perfectly and precisely, "You wish, Thatch~ By the way, thanks for not telling anyone. That was so fun~"
"Naaah—I enjoyed their reactions as well~ But since when did you use a bo staff? Wasn't it twin daggers last time?"
"Weeelll, I can't exactly use sharp weapons on family—bo staffs make knocking out easier~ After all, I got you, the very best, as a teacher…"
Thatch grinned, "Thanks, girl. I'm honored to be able to teach you—gah!"
Reina blinked, but giggled when she saw Thatch gone from the kitchen.
…
Meanwhile, the fire duo were holding on to Thatch along with many of the pirates including commanders.
The chef sheepishly offered a smile, "You know… I have breakfast to cook and Reina-chan to watch over so…"
Ace shook his head, "Sorry, Thatch. But really? How did you know and we didn't? You traitor! I thought you were my best friend! I hat-"
Thatch sweat-dropped at his mock drama, "Alright, alright. Pops wanted me to teach her self-defense so I helped her out. She's my apprentice."
Marco blinked, "…you don't mean that long term mission five years ago, do you?"
A nod. "That one. She's a quick learner and has a talent for Haki. Her real weapons are twin daggers though… and I have no idea when she got that crow or where; I never saw it before."
Haruta raised a brow, "Didn't you teach her too well for just self-defense? And Haki for a nine year old? Just why the hell did Pops choose you to teach her? Out of all people?"
Marco along with fellow jealous pirates, "She makes a good point."
Thatch pouted, "Why not me? I'm awesome."
"Dude, that's my line! And what kind of island was it that she needed self-defense for?" Ace's grin morphed into curiosity for the girl.
The fourth division commander frowned, "…actually, not really the island. It was a nice island. Lots of plant life, nice people… maybe just five or six monster-sized animals. And no marines were around. It was more from her good luck."
That raised a lot of brows. Marco repeated in disbelief, "Good luck? Since when did you need self-defense for that?"
Thatch counted from his fingers, "When you find Shodai Kitetsu, the cursed blade, in a wrecked ship and somehow manage to not die from the blade despite its well known curse… When you find another Saijo O Wazamono Grade Swords in a hidden treasure chest—not to mention the twin Ice and Lightning daggers, something that I thought were a myth until I saw it for myself, along with over a hundred million Beris. When you accidentally befriend Dark King Silvers Rayleigh and a fishman by saving them from drowning in water from being drunk, earning from them a favor (though I still couldn't believe Roger's first mate and a fishman out of all people were drowning in the middle of the sea).
When you find a Devil Fruit on the coast… not to mention a Logia that allows you to control the wind. When you accidentally unlock Haoshoku Haki because you were angry at some oversized tiger. When you trade the aforementioned Shodai Kitetsu to Dracule Mihawk, who just happened to pass by the island when he was drifting on the seas out of boredom and with nothing to do, for his cross-knife-necklace-thing and the secret to learning Busoshoku Haki and deflecting bullets (yes, that was how she knew how to deflect your bullets). When you happened to find Vegapunk in the forest, help him find whatever damn plant he was there to find, and help him invent modern day marine battleships by giving him the idea of lining Seastone on the hull (a random idea that came to her mind no less).
When you meet Red Hair Shanks because Mihawk told him about where he found Shodai Kitetsu and the damn Yonko was curious about the girl. Not to mention how I finally understand how Shanks lost his arm and straw hat because he happily told the story about this boy he saved over and over again. And how she came up with a theory on how the boy must be Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp's grandson and Revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon because they share the same surname; the boy's name being Monkey D. Luffy. And when you meet an Oharan, who somehow survived the Buster Call and tells the real story of how Nico Robin is innocent and it was really some government conspiracy and finally leaves after reading the Poneglyph that she somehow managed to stumble on before yet didn't tell me. When you somehow find an emperor crow that can grow as big as the Moby Dick and is currently half of Pop's size and somehow win over its pride and tame it until you can play pranks with it. And now, when you somehow find your grandfather's ship in the New World when your home is all the way back in the near beginning of the Paradise. Not to mention that all except the last two happened in no more than two years. Yes, Marco, I don't understand why you need self-defense for something like good luck."
All gawked in disbelief. Marco shook his head, "No, I don't believe you, Thatch… isn't that a bit too much?"
Ace shook his head, "He's telling the truth. Shanks really did save Luffy and lost his arm in the process. And Garp really is his grandfather; Dragon is his father."
"…" They all turned to Ace.
Marco blinked, "And how do you know that?"
The pyromaniac sheepishly scratched his cheek, "Garp adopted me. Luffy's my foster brother and kept going on and on about how Shanks is his hero and how he was going to one day be the Pirate King and give him back the straw hat."
They just shook their heads, brain already numbed from all the shock. Jozu mused out loud, "Next thing we know is that Ace is the Pirate King's son."
"How'd you know?"
"…" They turn to Ace once again to see him in a completely dark and serious mode. Marco deadpanned, "No way… you seriously are."
"…yeah?"
"Wasn't the Marine Hero your foster grandfather—oh. Don't tell me that that was the reason why he out of all the people in the world was the one to adopt you."
"…actually yeah."
"And why you wanted to kill Pops in the beginning?"
"…yeah?"
"…Jozu, stop smirking." All Marco and the other Whitebeards could say, somehow tired from reacting.
Thatch just sighed, "That was basically my two years there. I never thought that I'd meet so many famous people by just being around her. Though it was pretty nice because she's smart and adaptive. Now, can I go back to Reina-chan?"
Ace dropped him along with Marco and on Thatch left. Ace whistled, "And I thought Luffy was a trouble-magnet~"
"Only you, Ace. Only you. Only you would react that way." Marco shook his head.
