Ch. 1 - A Change in Environment

-6 Years Before the Straw Hat Pirates Arrive in Skypiea-

Chief Urepo could count on one hand the things that made him nervous. As one of the oldest living members of the Shandia tribe and having fought in many battles, his reputation of being unshakable was something he took great pride in. He had led many warriors straight into the heart of Upper Yard and shed Skypeian blood without hesitation. He had made decisions to retreat many times without a blink of an eye as well as decisions to push through despite their dwindling numbers with equal resolve.

As it happens, the things that made him nervous were all people. One was first and foremost his wife, making their wedding day still an embarrassing story for him to tell. She had been the one and only thing that made him sweat and second guess himself for a very long time.

Maybe he was getting old in age or maybe it could be that this was a sign of changing times but the other two people that gave the chief anxiety only came into his life after he had retired from the battlefield. Unfortunately, the two of them were presently standing before him and both were in foul moods. At least the chief could find slight comfort that only one of them was mad at him.

"You expect me to marry that?!" Urepo's granddaughter demanded. The two strands of hair she had tied near the front of her face swayed violently while the rest of her reddish brown hair was tied into two loose buns. Her matching reddish brown eyes glared right into the chief's while her long, bony finger pointed accusingly at the man at her side.

The end of 22 year old Wyper's cigar was practically chewed clean through with how much his teeth clenched. "That?" he seethed.

"I-It's a fine match, Cassidy," Urepo tried, "And..and it won't be until you are 18 so you have at least two years to get used to it."

Her eyebrows flew to the top of her head. "Get used to it? This isn't a new waver we're talking about here. This is marriage!"

"I'm sure he's familiar with the concept, Sid, given that he's been married longer than any of us have been alive," quipped Kamikiri from the back of the tent.

She spun around and directed her rage towards the peanut gallery. "Shut up, you bug eyed jerk. What are you even doing here anyways? This doesn't concern you."

"Actually, your grandfather called me here. Seeing as I'm your cousin and Wyper's best friend, it's natural that I be present as a witness," Kamakiri grinned.

And peacemaker, Urepo thought.

It was evident how badly Sid was taking the news by how pale her naturally tanned skin became. She looked over at her grandfather. "You...you can't do this to me, old man!"

"Oy!," Wyper snapped, "This is as much of a punishment for me as it is for you."

"Then why are you not protesting along with me?!" Sid demanded.

"Because it makes sense. We are both fine warriors and as the descendant of Cagara, it is natural for my arranged marriage to be with the Chief's granddaughter," Wyper stated and Urepo nodded with both relief and approval. At least Wyper was seeing the reasoning behind it.

However, that argument seemed to only anger his granddaughter even more. She redirected her finger back at Wyper and this time her glare followed too.

"See? This is your problem. Right there!"

Wyper's indignance was replaced with confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"

"The whole descendance thing!" Sid said and then waived her arms around her, "The whole going-along-with-it-just-because-it-is-what-our-ancestors-have-done thing."

Wyper's cigar dropped to the floor and Kamikiri hurriedly pushed himself between the two in order to stomp it out before it burned a hole through the wolf skin rug. He could feel both of their glares over his head so even after the cigar was flattened, he decided to stay in between them, just in case.

"Are you saying…" Wyper said slowly, "That we should ignore our ancestors? Their teachings? Their sacrifices?"

"Of course not," Sid snapped and crossed her arms, "But we shouldn't be clinging onto them as if it is the only way to live."

"It is the only way to live!" Wyper shouted and Sid returned to her finger pointing.

"SEE?! Old man! This will not work. There's no way this would work!" Sid shouted, "I can't marry a man who is too caught up in the past to think about the future."

"And I can't marry a woman who is too preoccupied with the future that she ignores the responsibility of the present!"

Sid shoved Kamikiri out of the way and to everyone's surprise, grabbed Wyper by his red beaded necklace. "Our responsibility is to ensure the lives of our people!," she hissed.

Wyper reciprocated and grabbed her by the front of her olive green tunic. "Our responsibility is to restore the glory and honor of our ancestors!"

"How are we supposed to honor them if we're all dead?" Sid asked, "This war...this four hundred year war has taken so much already from our people. For what? Vearth?"

"For our homeland!" Wyper roared, "For Shandora!"

"Our homeland is down there!" Sid shouted, "If you really want to hang onto the past, then why not go further? Why not go to a time when we lived in a world where Vearth was everywhere? Where we walked amongst trees instead of clouds? Why can't we go there?"

"You would abandon Shandora?!" Wyper thundered and even Kamkiri's eyes widened behind his glasses.

Sid took a deep breath and she relaxed her stance. She released her grip on Wyper and her expression softened. "Shandora, yes...But our people? No," she said and then looked to her grandfather, "If your decision is to continue this war and not find peace with the Skypieans, then I will respect that. I will go into battle to ensure the protection and safety of our people if you ask of it. But...I cannot agree to what you ask of me now."

She swiped Wyper's hand off her shirt as if his grip was that of a child's. She picked up the spear she had leaned against the side of the tent and glanced over her shoulder when she was just under the opening. "I do not agree to this union. Sorry, old man."

She stepped out of the tent and put two fingers in her mouth. She let out a shrill whistle. Suddenly, a cloud no bigger than the palm of Sid's hand came floating through the opening and landed at her feet.

"Boo?" A lamb's face popped out of the cloud followed by two small yellow curled horns. It blinked it's big black eyes before it settled onto Sid's face. "Boo!"

The cloud grew until it was big enough for Sid to sit on. She flopped down on it with her legs dangling over the side while she casually rested one hand on one of the horns. "Let's go, Boo."

"Boo!"

With that the cloud floated up and carried her off and away from the tent.

"Well...that went better than I thought," Kamikiri grinned and his good humor did not falter even when his best friend scowled back at him, "Seriously. I was kinda ready for you two to start a war of your own."

Back in her own tent, Sid flopped on a pile of pillows and buried her head in the nearest one. The cloud she road in on went back to the palm sized shape that it was and then four round paws popped out along with it's face and horns again. It scrambled onto a pillow right next to Sid and went straight to sleep.

"Booo...Booo…" it snored.

"Glad at least one of us can relax," Sid murmured into the pillow. She stilled for just a moment before she lifted up her hand and pointed at her tent opening while keeping the rest of her body still. A few seconds later, her grandmother came bursting in with a bowl filled with greenery. The two feathers nestled at the top of her bun were dangerously close to falling off and the feathers that hung on her ears twirled in the air.

"I came as soon as I-" she started to say breathlessly and then stopped when she saw Sid's finger point, "Since when did you develop Mantra?"

"I heard your feet. They shuffle. Go back," Sid said stubbornly and still with her head in the pillow, "Go tell the old man to change his mind."

Taika lowered the stone mortar she was clutching and smiled at the back of her granddaughter's head. She took a seat on a vacant pillow and set her bowl down on the ground. She ran a wrinkled hand over Sid's back, smoothing out the tunic and then she straightened out the brown skirt with white fringe that was dangerously close to exposing her granddaughter to their ancestors.

"Cassidy," Taika said gently, "Imagine how I felt the day I was told I was to marry someone that I never even spoke a word to!"

"But...but that's different!" Sid's head popped up and she frowned at her grandmother, "Those were different times! And the man you married is definitely not Wyper! Grandfather is calm, level headed, and-"

Taika laughed. "He's those things now but definitely had a temper when he was younger."

"As bad as Wyper's?" Sid asked with a raised eyebrow.

Taika bit her lip. "Well...no but-"

"See!" Sid cried victoriously. She sat up and faced her grandmother, "My case is a lot worse than yours!"

That made Taika laugh again and she folded her hands in her lap. "Are you saying that I ruined my life by marrying your grandfather?"

Sid clasped her hands over her mouth and she shook her head. "Oh no! That's not what I meant, Grandma. I'm just saying that if I'm going to marry, it's got to be what you and the old man has...and I know I can't get that with Wyper."

Taika raised a grey eyebrow and her eyes twinkled at the pair that were almost identical to hers, "Then what kind of man would you like to have?"

Sid crinkled her nose. "No one here. That's for sure."

Anybody else in the tribe would have probably balked at Sid's statement but Taika was not at all shocked. Instead, she cupped her granddaughter's face and smiled. "You would like to go to the Blue Sea."

Sid winced and she covered her grandmother's hands with hers. "I can't help it…"

"I know," Takia said, "After all, you got that from my side of the family. Our hearts beat stronger to the rhythm of the Blue Sea than everyone else."

"A descendant of Hillier, a crewmember of Noland…" Sid said almost monotonously and then flung back on her pillows, "I know. I know. Does everything have to be related to what family we're from? This was 400 years ago! Why can't I just be...me?"

Takia brushed Sid's hair away from her face and brought her hands back in her lap. "Okay...then just Sid. What would you like to do if there was no war, no one here for you to protect, and you were free to explore the Blue Sea?"

Sid stared up at the peak of her tent. At the very top, her grandmother had painted blue waves over the tanned leather for her. Sid folded her hands behind her head and allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to be there instead of here. "Plants…I would study plants and collect the best ones. I'd fill a whole ship with them. The most beautiful, the most delicious, the most healing, the most exciting...And then I'd bring it all back here."

Takia laid down next to her granddaughter and admired the blue waves with her. "Ah...that would be nice...But would we have enough Vearth?"

"I'd figure out a way," Sid said, "Either bring enough back or find a way to create it."

"Create Vearth?!" Takia's eyes danced along with the laugh on her lips, "Now that would be something."

"Why not?" Sid asked, "The Blue Sea people created bazookas and canons...They must know some way of creating Vearth. After all, they have so much of it."

She took a deep breath and she closed her eyes. "Don't you ever wonder what life is like on the Blue Sea? What do they eat? What do they do? How do they cook without dials? How do they do anything without dials?"

"Well, then," Takia said as she sat up and held out a hand to Sid, "Let's hope your grandfather decides to take Gan Fall up on his offer of peace. Then you can go down to the Blue Sea and figure out those things for yourself. Until then..."

Sid grabbed her hand and was pulled up so that she was eye to eye to Takia. "Until then? Oof!"

Takia dropped the bowl of plants into Sid's lap and then handed her a stone pestle. "Grind these up for me. Aisa has cried herself into a fever again. I'm going to make a paste for her to help cool her down."

"Yes, Grandma," Sid looked down into the bowl and she frowned, "I don't think you have enough aloe here."

Takia sighed. "I don't...but that's all Laki was able to retrieve from Upper Yard without getting caught."

Sid said nothing else as she mashed up the plants. Sid took out her frustration on the plants and ground them up into a fine pulp. This wouldn't be a problem if they were down in the Blue Sea. Admittedly, this also wouldn't be a problem if they were back in Shandora. She didn't find fault in Wyper and the tribe's way of thinking per se. It was just...they had been going at it for 400 years. How much longer would it take for them to get to Shandora? Wasn't it time to try something else? Make a change?

Something has to change…,Sid thought with every push, Something needs to change…

If Sid knew what type of changes were coming her way, she would've never have thought it. Negotiations broke down between her grandfather and Gan Fall. Given that the majority of the tribe were war orphans and closer to Wyper's age than the Chiefs, it was easy for the tribe to side with Wyper when he flatly refused to make peace with the Skypieans. The war became more violent than ever with any survivors returning by the skin of their teeth. Soon Sid found herself going into battle almost every day.

Her grandmother's healing supplies started to dwindle to dangerous amounts. To the point that Takia herself snuck into Upper Yard to grab any type of healing plant she could find.

That was the day the title of "God" changed hands. That was the day Enel arrived.

In one fell swoop, Sid lost her grandmother and the Shandia's found a different war to fight.

Thoughts of the Blue Sea, marriage, or any type of future were struck right out of Sid's mind. Being the most familiar with her grandmother's healing methods, Sid took over. However, in order to avoid going into Upper Yard and incur the so-called Heaven's Judgement, she became a guerilla - pillaging any ship from the Blue Sea that came their way. Instead taking knowledge from the passengers, she took their supplies.

If any part of her wondered about them or where they were from, she squashed it almost immediately. She stopped caring about the future and focused solely on the present. Duties took over dreams. Responsibilities replaced wishes. Her priority was to keep her tribe alive for just one more day. That's all she asked and that's all she thought about.