A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not to be done.
~Marge Piercy
The woman radiated authority. Everything about her; her frigid posture, the no nonsense look in her eyes, the sharp angle of her face, the confidence in every step she took. The recruits scurried out of her way the minute they saw her approaching. She was famous around the base, hell, she was famous around the world.
"Vice Admiral Lucy." A voice from behind the woman interrupted, capturing the attention of the intimidating woman. She turned around, chin tilted upwards to meet the eyes of the recruit standing behind her. Despite the boy being twice her size, his hand was trembling as he saluted. She nodded once and he relaxed his position, hands still shaking as he held out his other hand, a stack of papers between his fist. "The updated bounties that you requested."
"Thank you." Lucy replied curtly, taking the papers and dismissing the boy with a wave of her hand before continuing on her path. She was eager to be away from the wretched Marine Base. She had only docked in the first place because she was being assigned new recruits -as if they hadn't given her enough already-, she assumed it was a very intentional action. They were still testing her abilities, despite having held the title of 'Vice Admiral' for three years, despite having proved herself time and time again to the Gorosei, they still didn't trust her.
Not that she could blame them given her background. On one hand she was the granddaughter of Monkey D. Garp 'Hero of the Marines', but on the same hand she was daughter to Monkey D. Dragon 'World's Most Dangerous Criminal'. It seemed they still didn't know who she took after more.
As she exited the base, nodding to those who were sent to see her off, she was absentmindedly shuffling through the newly printed stack of bounties in her hand. There was nothing too astonishing, not the she was surprised, she was looking at the stack from the East Blue after all. Her home sea was notoriously quiet, the Marines made sure of that.
Just as she strode onto her ship, a familiar face caught her attention. Aware of her crew, new and old members, watching her every move, she didn't react. Keeping her face blank, her fist tightened around the stack of papers and she slipped away into her office and promptly locked the door. Right there, on the top of the stack, staring back at her with a giant grin and a thirty million Belli bounty was a face so similar to her that it was as if she was staring into a mirror. However the face on the paper was too round, too soft, too happy.
Lucy's smile mirrored the one on the paper as her brother grinned up at her. She shook her head with a mixture of affection and exasperation, because of course his first bounty would be so ridiculous.
Monkey D. Lucy has been waiting too see her brother's face on one of the bounty posters for a long time. It's why she had the new ones brought to her immediately. Since they were kids, she knew of his dream to be King of the Pirates, she knew it would have only been a matter of time before he started to make a name her himself, and there was a time when she would have been right by his side.
"Thirty million." She said to herself, a laugh bubbling its way to the surface. Lucy never doubted her brother, they shared the same stubbornness after all. She never her brother would fight tooth and nail to make his dream come true, even though it made them enemies by nature.
It was almost funny how opposite their situations were. How far apart on the spectrum they landed. Despite being twins, from an outsider's perspective they couldn't have been more different. There was a sharp knock on her door and she shuffled the papers before opening the door, keeping her expression stoic.
"Thirty million huh? Impressive for a first timer." A snarky voice commented, a smirk on the person's face as they waltzed in and Lucy quickly shut the door behind them.
"Rin." She greeted, giving the blue-haired Commodore a once over.
"C'mon LuLu, don't be so cold with me!" Rin groaned, throwing an arm around the dark-haired female's shoulders. "Aren't you proud of your lil bro?"
"You are careless Rin." Lucy admonished. "And I never told you which one of us was born first."
"I know, but it's textbook. You're the older, more mature sibling and Luffy's your goofball little brother. Anyone could tell just by looking at the two of you." Lucy shrugged Rin's arm off and took a seat behind her desk, fanning the bounties out and her eyes were immediately drawn to her brother's.
"You've never seen the two of us together, your forming that hypothesis based on this one picture of him." Lucy pointed out, gathering the papers and placing them in a drawer before grabbing from the massive stack of paperwork on her desk and turning her attention towards that.
"Tell me I'm wrong then LuLu." Rin taunted, leaning against her desk with a devilish grin on their face. Lucy fixed them with a hard stare before focusing on the document in her hand. "See, I'm right."
"Did you come here merely to discuss my little brother?"
"Is it wrong for me to visit my nearest and dearest friend? We're on the same warship LuLu, I have to keep myself occupied somehow."
"You could have your own warship if you wished, commanding one of those would give you endless entertainment." Lucy said bluntly, signing one of the countless documents on her desk.
"But then I'd be seperated from you, and though you may not admit it, you like having me around.' Rin chirped happily, smirking at the Vice Admiral.
"You're just full of theories today Rin."
"Bet ya wanna know what he did to warrant a bounty that big." Rin teased, causing Lucy to still.
"After all these years and you would assume I don't keep tabs on my brother?" Lucy shot back, her own smirk merely a ghost on her lips, but the amusement in her eyes managing to shine through.
"You're no fun." Rin pouted. "Your brother seems to be though, taking down the Arlong pirates, that's no easy feat."
"He ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, that paired with his assortment of comrades and unbending will when he sets his mind to do something doesn't make it that surprising." She commented, barely trying to hide the admiration in her voice.
"Ah yes, who has he enlisted?" Rin pondered. "Roronoa Zoro is the big name, then there's the girl, the one who worked for Arlong, Nami I think her name was. Um, the blonde cook, Sanji. He trained under Red-Leg Zeff so he's no pushover. Then there's Yasopp's kid, Usopp, if he's half the marksman his father is he'll be remarkable. Your brother is keeping good company."
"His plan is to be the King of the Pirates, of course his crew would be top notch." Lucy responded, not bothering to mask the pride radiating from her.
"If that why you keep me around, because I'm top notch?" Rin asked slyly, leaning close to the dark-haired woman.
"I don't keep you around, you refuse to leave. There's a difference."
"Ya know his next destination has to be the Grand Line. There's a good chance you'll be seeing your lil bro sooner rather than later."
Lucy's movement's stalled. "That's an inevitable development."
"Very few people know of the connection between the two of ya, but the ones who do are important. If there's a run in, if you don't do everything in your power to bring him in, the higher ups will know."
"I am aware of this Rin. Luffy made his choice just as I made mine, we knew what that entailed." Lucy said, more to reassure herself than anything.
Contrary to the outwards appearance and reputation the Vice Admiral had built over the years, she was a very caring person, and she cared deeply about her brother. She cared deeply about a lot of things. However, to advance within the Marines, to prove herself, to gain the respect of men twice, three times, even four times her age, she had to be ruthless. Any emotion was weakness.
So, she buried them.
However, she knew her brother was her weakness. When it came down to it, she'd abandon everything for her brother; her dream, even her life. Because Luffy was good. Lucy had done some things she wasn't proud of, things that would haunt her for the remainder of her life, but her little brother was pure hearted, was a ball of sunshine and laughter.
"Earth to LuLuuuu." Rin sang, placing their face right in front of Lucy's. She pushed it away, crossing her legs and leaning back into her chair. Before she could even take a breath, there was a frantic knocking at her door.
"Enter."
A frazzled officer was standing there and immediately saluted when he stepped into Lucy's office.
"Report."
"Vice Admiral Lucy, we are currently approaching Loguetown where it has been reported that Buggy the Clown, Iron Mace Alvida, and the Straw Hat Pirates are all docked." Lucy and Rin both froze. Of course. Of course her brother would happen to be in Loguetown, she should have known he would stop there given his fascination with Roger. Of course he would happen to be there at the exact moment she was passing by the re enter the Grand Line. Of course he would have just amassed a thirty million Belli bounty.
If his bounty wasn't so high she could ignore it. There was a Marine base in Loguetown and it would have been easy to leave the small fry to Smoker. But thirty million made her brother a priority. The Gorosei wanted him caught and dealt with fast. The mixture of the 'D' in his name and parentage made him a threat. He was already shaking things up with taking down Arlong, no matter that it made things easier on their end, he was effecting things.
She could feel a headache coming on and any pride she had been feeling vanished. Lucy was still proud of her brother, but she wished it hadn't become her problem so quickly.
"Alright, we'll be docking at Loguetown. I don't doubt Smoker's ability but it would be better not to leave anything to chance. Dismissed." The officer left just as fast as he came and Lucy sighed.
"You know you have really shitty luck, right?" Rin asked, a smile not present on their face for the first time since they came into her office.
Lucy didn't respond, merely opening her drawer and shaking her head at the smiling face on the top of the stack of bounties. Nothing but trouble.
A/N: So I actually sat down and developed Lucy (with the help of the lovely Tsume Yuki sharing her own notes) so I'm going through and editing now that I know my character better. Some minor changes are made, nothing crazy is going to change so if you don't want to reread the chapters I don't think you really have to. Anyway, enjoy!