Chapter One
"Daddy! Look what I found!" a small girl ran up to her father, holding an object in her hand. The father examined it, turning and twisting the object.
"Where did you find this, Violet?" He finally asked, interrupting the unbearable silence no six year old child had the patience for.
Violet's eyes looked down as if ashamed. "In a house..." she mumbled.
The child's father shook his head. "Violet, I am a pirate and so are you. But that does not mean we steal!" He scolded the child, about to tell her to return the strange object. It was a carefully carved picture frame, containing a photograph of a mother holding her baby. The most disturbing part of the photo was the baby's face was torn away and the mother's eyes were scratched out.
"But it was abandoned!" Violet argued. "There wasn't anyone there! I swear, daddy!" She had tears in her eyes and she feared an even worse scolding for arguing with her father.
The father stared into his child's eyes, seeing the truth in them. "I believe you," he finally said. "But this is a very personal object that belonged to someone. We shouldn't take such a personal thing." He mostly wanted the thing out of his sight, disturbed by the photograph. "In fact, I'll take it back with you." He didn't want his daughter returning to where ever it was by herself. The rest of the island was shady enough. In fact, his first mate was supposed to have been watching Violet while he helped search for supplies in the town. Bastard either found a bar, beautiful woman, or both, leaving a small child to wander herself.
When they reached the lone house, just in the shadow of the thick woods, Violet's father stopped. The little girl stopped with his, holding his hand. "Daddy?" she questioned. The house was one story, windowless, and didn't even have a chimney. What kind of place was this?
The man shook his head. "Stay here, Violet," he ordered, using his captain's voice to make sure she would listen.
Her father stepped into the seemingly abandoned house. Before he could quickly set the photo down, the door slammed shut and left Viola outside.
Many would think there was something inside with her father, some monster readying to attack or a ghost looking to scare the man. But alas, the source of the door slamming was outside, staring directly at Violet with large, dark eyes.
"Care to explain why you stole something of mine, girl?" An old woman asked. She had long red hair, black eyes, and she held a bucket containing something red in it.
"Wh-who are you?" Violet asked. She could barely hear her father banging on the door and yelling on the other side.
The woman cackled. "I've got no name, kid. But around here I'm known as the local witch."
"Witch?!" Violet repeated the word, scared. "Daddy said witches only exist in stories!"
The witch smirked. "No matter. You will be punished for your theft." The word was covered in poison. Her eyes had changed from curiosity to rage. "How dare you break into my home, you brat?"
Violet once again teared up, terror clear in her eyes. "I didn't know anyone still lived here! I'm sorry!" She fell to her knees and cowered before the witch. The woman noticed the jolly roger on the little girl's shirt, marking her as a pirate. And from the looks of it, that man trapped inside was her father.
The witch's eyes became shadowed, and she started whispering words Violet had never heard. After only a few words were spoken, the wind began picking up, the clouds growing darker and lightning striking dangerously close to Violet. Three bolts struck the ground around her and remained in place, circling Violet and keeping her from moving.
"VIOLET!" her father screamed her name, finally managing to break down the door. The captain tried running to his child only to be stopped by the lightning bolts.
The witch's curse grew louder and louder until it was all Violet could hear, making her cover her ears.
"You bitch!" Her father yelled and drew his sword to attack.
"One more move, and I will just kill her," the witch threatened, finally done with her chants. Violet's father froze in the middle of attacking. The witch looked back to the still cowering girl, hatred clear on her face. "A few words of advice: don't fall asleep on the sea." And the witch along with her cottage vanished, leaving a crying and confused child to the comfort of her equally confused father.
My eyes slowly cracked open, dry from sleeping for so long. I looked around cautiously, reassuring myself I was still on the island we had stopped at three days ago. All three of those days I had slept non-stop. Not even waking up for food or water. It had been nearly two months since I had the pleasure of sleeping soundly for so long.
I stretched my arms and snuggled back into the covers, not wanting to face the cold air of the room. With a glimpse of the clock I debated on sleeping a few more minutes or going to see the crew. They were staying on the ship of course, with my parents in a room next to mine in this inn. Even at the age of eighteen, they worried about me like I was still a child. And there was nothing to worry about. As long as I only slept on land and not on the sea I was fine. And so was everyone else around me.
The sound of the door opening caught my attention. I looked over to see the familiar face of my dad. My dad was in his late thirties, having me when he and my mom were still young. He had jet black hair and matching black scruff on his face that was always there but never seemed to grow. His eyes had lines around them despite his age, giving him a wise look to him.
"Hey, kiddo. You already awake?" He smiled warmly at me like any good father would, concern filling his dark hazel eyes.
I smiled back. "Yeah, guess we can finally leave this island?"
He nodded but frowned. "Are you sure you don't want another day to rest?"
"No. We need to set sail. We have a deadline, don't we?" I stood from the bed and stretched my limbs once more.
Dad nodded. "True. We don't need to be late seeing your uncle."
I grinned at the thought of him. "I haven't seen him in years!" My uncle was a famous pirate and dad's brother. They had an agreement to meet every five years at a solitude island on the grand line, even just to catch up and share new experiences. I had only met my uncle three times, the first time being when I was almost four. Uncle hadn't even known I existed and I didn't know I would be meeting him. This was a few years before the encounter with the witch.
Later, I was helping the crew load more cargo and supplies for the rest of our journey. It would take about three more weeks to reach the island. Uncle would wait for one week, and if we did not show he would leave and we would have to wait another five years unless meeting on chance.
"Hey, Violet!" One of the crew called for me as I loaded the last barrel of rum into the storeroom.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I called back, "Yeah?"
"That new member, what's-his-name, says he needs help repairing his pistol. Think you could help him?"
I grinned. "Sure thing! Where is he?" The young boy, I think his name was Sen, peeked from around a corner, obviously nervous. He was a scrawny kid of only fourteen or fifteen with shaggy brown hair. As he approached me with a nervous look on his face, Sen held out his gun to me.
"It, um, I mean, I—" he stopped stuttering when I grabbed the pistol and examined it. The barrel was bent rather sharply at the end.
"How in the world did you manage this?" I asked.
Sen looked down with a blush on his face. "I was walking and..." he stopped and was obviously embarrassed. I urged him to go on with a look. "I tripped. Fell down a flight of stairs in the town and landed on top of someone."
I raised an eyebrow. "And you managed to bend the steel? Damn, kid."
He didn't meet my eyes but smiled nervously. "Y-yeah...can you fix it?"
I shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem. Give me an hour and it should be good. Just come to my cabin." Leaving the kid, I went straight to my room to begin work.
I sat at my work bench and began working on the gun. Guns were what our crew was known for. My dad was known as Gunn T. Sebastian and had started the Gunnslinger pirates before he and mom had even met. As his daughter, it was only natural he taught me all he knew about the weapons.
Not an hour later, I was staring at not only a fixed but also a freshly cleaned pistol. I smiled and placed it to the side for when Sen came to pick it up.
While I waited, I grabbed a book and started reading on the floor in the corner. There was no furniture in my room besides the bookshelf and work bench with a stool. I had insisted to my parents to take out the bed and any blankets or pillows. We couldn't risk me falling asleep while at sea...it had happened only twice since the witch had cursed me, and each time we needed a new ship.
Knocking interrupted my reading and I placed the book down beside me. "Come in!" I yelled while grabbing the pistol. Sen walked into the room, still looking nervous. "It's fixed. I even cleaned it for you."
I handed the weapon to the kid and he smiled. "Thank you, Violet."
"Anytime. You should learn to repair it yourself though. As a Gunnslinger pirate, we all should know how to handle and care for our weapons."
Sen nodded with a serious look on his face. "Yes, ma'am." He put the gun in its holster. "Thank you again." He left without another word but with a determined look in his eyes.
Later...
"Here's to another successful cargo of rum!" the ship's drunk, Floyd, cheered and managed to get several cheers out of the crew too.
I laughed at Floyd's antics and downed my own thing of rum. We were finally back at sea. And I would be able to sleep again in only three weeks! Until then I would be reading the many new books I had bought in town.
The wind blew up my back as I sat drinking and talking to some of the crew on deck. I noticed Sen approaching us, once again looking nervous. He had one hand behind his back. And despite trying to look confidant the sweat could easily be seen pouring down his temple.
"What'cha got there, Sen?" one of the crew called to the boy. Sen looked at the man as if just noticing him and didn't say a word. Instead, he looked directly at me and gulped.
"Th-this is for...you." And he pulled out a single purple flower from behind his back. "For fixing my gun."
I could tell crew member sitting next to me was about to make fun of the boy so I stepped on his toes to tell him to shut up.
"Thank you, Sen," I said, accepting the beautiful flower. "It's very pretty!" I smelled the flower to further show my appreciation. The scent was sweet. Very sweet. My head felt fuzzy, and I couldn't help but scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. Before I could take in anything else, I fell asleep.