Chapter 1

?.?.?, Paradise, Grand Line - 30th June 1611

Samisade Rani stared at the horizon. The sea and sky blended into one another beautifully, though Rani suspected her vision had gone hazy a long time ago. Four months on a deserted island with little food and even less water did that to a person.

She shifted in the sand and looked down at her white shoes - well, they used to be white. Now they were kind of brown. Same with the rest of her clothes. It wasn't like there was anywhere to wash them. There was the sea, of course, but Rani decided there wasn't much difference in clothes stiffened by mud than clothes stiffened by saltwater. At least the mud looked cool.

Rani stood up, stretched, and shook the sand out of her dirty, ginger hair. As she headed back to her poorly-built shelter, she wondered how she would die. Starvation was possible, though she had managed to ration her supply to last at least another month. Lack of water was also on the list. Heatstroke, maybe? The sun was beating down harder than usual, but so far Rani had been able to turn the sunburn into something of a tan. If anyone was there, they might have called her attractive.

But no-one was there, and attractiveness had no meaning in survival.

The Hut, as she had dubbed it, was a wooden shack built from what she assumed were pieces of boats from old shipwrecks. As she entered, six tiny floating figures emerged from various shadowy spaces.

"Hey, guys," Rani greeted the dolls. They were simple stuffed cotton things with crudely-stitched smiley faces.

"Hi!"

"Hello."

"Yo."

"Hey!"

"Good evening, Rani-san."

Rani turned to the doll who hadn't spoken. "Ahem. Ivy, I believe I said 'hey, guys'."

Ivy stared at her, unblinking. Not that she could anyway. "Shame I'm not a guy then."

Rani rolled her eyes. "Just say hi. It's not hard." She laughed anyway.

She then went to the crate she stored her food in and pulled out a nasty-looking fruit. Well, the island didn't have the best cuisine, but she was here until further notice, so she'd have to deal with it.

The fruit tasted like somewhere between pickles and snot, except worse than both. The face Rani pulled as she chewed painfully on it made two of the dolls snigger. She swallowed and then stuck her tongue out at them childishly.

The troublemakers of the group, Vee and Aiaiai, couldn't control their laughter and dashed into a crack in the wall, cackling madly.

"Those guys..." Rani sighed. The sun was beginning to set, so she wandered outside to watch it.

Rani decided to lie in the next morning. There was nothing that needed doing, and even though she was in a less-than-normal situation, she was still a 16-year-old girl. All 16-year-old girls need as much sleep as they can get.

So, she was rather annoyed by something small and cottony repeatedly slamming into her face.

"What? What do you want, Vai?" Somehow, she had managed to differentiate each doll's texture, so she could tell it was Vai simply by feeling him pressed up to her nose.

Vai's movements were frantic, showing what his one facial expression could not. Something had made him nervous.

"Rani-san, it's quite important. Please, you must come outside!"

Confused, Rani brushed her hair out of her face, though she followed the little doll quickly.

"Look at the sea," Vai instructed. Rani did, and what she saw made her eyes widen in shock, fear and excitement all at once.

It was a ship.

Rani's emerald green eyes shone with new hope as they followed the boat's course to the island.

One hour and a million jumbled thoughts later, the ship landed. It was only then that Rani realised how big it was.

It was also then that she had the thought that the people on the ship weren't nice people. She hoped they were nice people. She hid behind a rock just in case.

A boy, maybe about Rani's age, hopped off and onto the sand. Rani was surprised to see him walking right towards her rock.

Of course, there was no way she could hide now, so she began to slowly step out of her spot, only to find herself at the dangerous end of a long, black katana.

Well, that was unexpected. Rani looked up to the boy's face. She was somewhat pleased to see he was about three inches shorter than her. She wasn't so pleased to see the other seven katana strapped to the boy's waist and back. Shit. Who needed eight katana?

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He looked serious but Rani caught the hint of amusement in his voice."

"I live here."

"Alone?"

"Kind of."

"I see," the boy said. He clearly didn't see, though Rani didn't say so. "My name's Jerzo Rakuyogan, but you can call me Raku."

"Samisade Rani. Um-"

"Do you like it here?"

"What?"

"Do you want to be living here?"

"No..."

"Come with me. We'll see what the Captain thinks." He headed back to the ship and Rani followed.

Raku and Rani walked down several corridors until they got to what must have been the Captain's quarters.

"Falcon-san, I got a Someone."

A bearded man in his fifties with kind eyes looked up from a book in his lap. "Who did you get?"

"This girl."

"Ahhh, hello, welcome!" He stood and shook Rani's hand enthusiastically. "So, what's your name?"

"Rani." Even though Falcon-san seemed so friendly and welcoming, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. "What's going on?"

"Raku, you didn't explain?" Falcon asked.

"No, I forgot."

"Kids these days... Anyway, I'll explain. I'm assuming you are all alone on this island which is why Raku brought you here?"

"Yep," Raku confirmed.

"Well then, how would you like to come with us?"

"Come where with you?"

"Wherever! This ship abides to the laws of the Grand Line, meaning we just have to follow its own agenda."

"So... you want me to live on your ship?" Rani stared at them. They nodded. For the first time in four months, she began to tear up. "W-wow. O-OK then. It's not like I have much of value in this place."

Falcon smiled. "Of course, you'll have all the time you need to pack anything you want to take with you."

"Thank you. Oh, wait. Can I bring my friends?"

"Friends?"

"I thought you were alone?"

"Oh, well, they're kind of part of me. They don't need their own rooms or meals. They're more emotional support than anything."

"Then of course you can," Falcon reassured her, friendly smile still present. "And when you're ready, you can meet the others."

"Um, OK."

"Now, go get your stuff. We'll be waiting for you."

Rani nodded and ran back to the Hut. She was finally free! She never had to see this place again!

Mom, Dad, guys, I'm gonna be OK!

Before submitting an OC, make sure you can follow these rules:

1. No OCs related to canon characters. That means no Monkey D.'s, Vinsmokes, or anything else like that.

2. If I accept your character, I can do what I want with them. You can specify how much harm can come to them, but anything else is my choice.

3. No OCs over the age of thirty. And if they are over eighteen, give a reason why they still live in Falcon's ship.

4. Submissions must come through PM. Not the comments.

5. If you have submitted an OC for some other story, don't use the same one for this. Make up a new one.

You can PM me for the submission form. I will also put it on my profile.

I'm accepting sixteen to begin with.

Also, if your character doesn't get chosen initially, I will try to get them in at some point.

Thanks for reading :)