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True Speed! A brother's promise and a warriors beginning4 years ago
DJ sighed as he carried two buckets of water, connected by a pole on his back. "Man, this is such a drag." He sighed again. He was stuck on this small island, doing rudimentary chores, while other people were fighting, dying, having adventures. "Oh well, when Sirena gets old enough, maybe we'll have some adventures too." He sighed a third time as he approached the small village and his small house.
"Yo Sirena, you home?" he called for his little sister. She was now eleven and he had just turned fifteen a few weeks ago. Their parents had died about three years ago and left DJ to take care of her.
"I'm in here big brother!" she called from the kitchen. "You got the water?"
"Of course, say what do you need all this for anyway?" he asked, having no idea of what he was actually sent out to do.
"I'm making something for the pirates at the pub. These ones seem nice brother." She smiled broadly.
"You know I don't like you affiliating with pirates." DJ groaned. "What are you going to make with a bunch of water?" he raised an eyebrow to her.
"Wine, silly." She smirked and pulled out some grapes she had smashed while he was gone as well as some other ingredients.
"And since when do you know anything about making wine?" DJ eyed his sister scornfully.
"Poika told me the recipe, she knows all about that stuff since she owns the pub." Sirena giggled.
"How irresponsible, teaching someone who isn't even old enough to drink it how to make it." He sighed again, it seemed all he ever did was sigh.
"Oh shush and help me with this," she nodded to the mixture.
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"I swear, this kid back home, he sinks like a rock every time, and yet he still wants to come with us." DJ heard the Red-haired pirate leader laugh as he and Sirena entered the pub.
"Ah, good old anchor, sure do miss him after all these years." The first mate laughed as well.
"Excuse me sir," Sirena interjected politely. "My brother and I made this for you and your crew. We'd like you to take it as a gift from the town." She smiled brightly, and held up a few jugs of wine. Sirena just loved to give people random gifts. All the people in the small town had known her kindness at one time or another.
"Why thank you lass." The captain grinned and patted Sirena on the head. "We'd be more than grateful to do that.
After a few friendly drinks the whole room seemed even livelier than when they had entered. "Say, Mister," Sirena asked in-between stories and jokes. "Why did you guys come here?"
"Aye lass, me and me crew are looking for something, and we're not going to stop until we find it." He grinned.
"What are you looking for?" DJ looked up curiously from his glass, which of course along with Sirena's, only contained juice.
"A lot of things," the first mate answered, "Adventure, treasure, freedom."
"Aye, but mostly we're just chasing the dream." The captain spoke up and hiccuped softly, his cheeks now matching his hair.
"What dream?" Sirena and DJ asked in unison.
"The great dream, everyone needs one, especially now, they call this the age of dreams. No matter what you do, you can't lose sight of your dream." He grinned from ear to ear. "What's yours me bucko?" he gave a drunken nod to DJ.
"Me? I just wanna be off this rock, it's too small, I want to run, to have space, to be free." He sighed, he knew he couldn't do that, lest he put Sirena in danger.
"Aye, that sounds like a good start laddie, but you gotta have friends to get any dream to come true, a captain's nothing without his crew, and a man is nothing without his friends and his dream." The man fell over and passed out after giving that last bit of wisdom.
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"Well, I gotta admit, they were a little odd but you were right, they were nice." DJ smiled to his sister as they walked home.
"Yeah, remember what that guy said about dreams, and going after them at all costs?" Sirena asked excitedly.
"Yeah, why?" DJ raised an eyebrow in question.
"Well, I was thinking, how great a place would the world be if everyone followed their dreams, no matter what?" she smiled brightly.
"Meh, doesn't sound so great to me." He put his arms behind his head.
"I think it would be great, that's my dream, to see a world like that, everyone so determined for their dreams." Sirena laughed and ran the rest of the way home.
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A few days later, some black-sailed Navy ships docked on the small island. "Hmm? I wonder what they want." DJ wondered as he and Sirena went to where the large men disembarked.
"Listen up! This man is a very dangerous pirate and we've heard reports that he's been sighted in this area. Their leader unfurled a Wanted poster with the red-haired pirate captain, who apparently had a large bounty on his head
"YOU'RE WRONG!" Sirena shouted. "He's a very kind and wise man, he isn't dangerous! None of us will tell you where he went!" the crowd nodded behind her.
"Looks like we got a troublemaker boys." The leader smirked. "Break her." He nodded to the largest of the men as he stepped forward.
"Sirena!" DJ shouted as he stepped in front of her and attacked the man.
The man was far too fast for DJ despite his large size and stabbed a sword into his right shoulder before knocking him out.
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DJ came to when he felt a raindrop on his face, and another, and another. He groaned, "Feel like I've been hit by a Kung-Fu Jugon." He moaned. He suddenly realized where he was and what had happened.
"SIRENA!" he called out. Poika remained close-by, she was crying. "W-where's Sirena?" he asked the pub owner.
Poika moved aside to reveal the motionless body of Sirena, a few trickles of blood still escaping from her head and chest. "No… NO!" DJ suddenly burst into tears which mixed with the wet rain.
"It's all my fault, it's all my fault, she needed me to protect her and I wasn't strong enough." He sobbed.
"DJ, there's nothing you could have done, you can't fight the whole Navy." Poika gently put a hand on his shoulder. "She was a good person, she wouldn't tell them where he was till the very end." She sniffled.
DJ crawled over to his sister's body, and touched her gently, accidentally getting some of her blood on his hands.
"Maybe you're right, I don't know," he stood up and closed his eyes, touching his wounded shoulder to mix his blood with Sirena's on his hand. "Upon this blood, I vow, I will never fail to protect anyone who needs me ever again!" he shouted to the heavens. " I promise you! I will help find that world, where everyone goes after their dreams at all costs. This is my vow, my dream! Yours and mine!"
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3 years ago
DJ sighed as he grasped the sword he had picked up a random shop shortly after he had left his island on a small dingy. It had been almost a year now, he had been exploring and helping where he could. He had obtained a large amount of Beli as thank you gifts on his travels. "Heh, guess this is what they call a merchant town." He chuckled as he looked around and saw no domestic homes whatsoever, only shops as far as the eye could see.
He stopped at an interesting stand he seemed called to. The merchant smiled as he watched DJ curiously. "Ah, swordsman, you must be a wise one to stop at my shop. See anything you like?"
DJ looked carefully and saw a strange fruit lying on the table. He recognized it instantly. "Say, is this one of them Devil Fruits?" he pointed.
"And a keen eye as well. Yes, that is the Speed-Speed fruit, it grants the user incredible speed and power." The merchant pointed to the rather large price tag on the fruit, but one he could afford nonetheless.
"So this could make me stronger? It could help me protect those who are precious to me?" DJ asked again.
"Sure, whatever kid, you gonna buy it or not?" the merchant lost his patience.
"Here," he handed the man the money and grabbed the fruit. He knew that those who ate Devil Fruit lost the ability to swim, he was just fine with that, he was willing to give anything to get stronger. He eyed the fruit nervously. "Well, here goes nothing." He sighed and ate the fruit.
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2 years ago
DJ grinned as he ran over the vast expanse of land at sonic speed. He came across another town. "Wonder if anyone here needs my help." He laughed goofily.
Sure enough, as soon as he got into town he saw a woman being mugged in an alleyway by two large men. "EEK! Get away!" the woman shouted.
"Shut her up," the larger dark-haired man ordered.
"Hey, that ain't very nice." DJ appeared behind the second man.
"Huh? Where'd you come from punk?" the man swung at him but before he could complete the swing, DJ was on top of the man's bald head. "Hmm, nice view from up here." He gave a super-fast stomp to knock the man out and pulled his sword on the other.
"Ah! What are you kid?" the dark-haired man asked nervously as he pulled out a knife.
"What you see is what you get, I'm just a guy who loves adventure. Dragon's Barrage!" he smacked the man a few dozen times with the dull edge of his sword until he was unconscious, leaving bruises but no cuts.
"Hope you're alright ma'am, I can't stand jerks like that, attacking a lady, how rude." He extended a hand to the woman.
Unfortunately for DJ, he happened to be standing next to his own wanted poster, in plain view for the woman. "EEK! It's Duncan MacLeod!" DJ sweatdropped at the navy using his full name for the poster again. "My name's DJ damn it." He watched the woman run away in terror. "You're Welcome! Geez, beat up a few dozen Navy guys trying to beat up children and everyone treats you like you're bad guy." He sighed and stole a dingy to go to the next town.
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A few weeks ago"Hmm, gotta get to the Grand Line somehow, but how? My dingy is too small" DJ ran through the town so people only felt a soft wind but couldn't see much of him. He stopped when he saw man shouting at his crewmates.
"Hurry up with that!" the man shouted. "We're heading for Reverse Mountain and then Whiskey Peak! So get that cargo on board now!"
"Yes sir, Dimitri sir." The man replied meekly.
"Hmm, looks like someone up there likes me." He grinned as he quickly ran to into the cargo hold of the ship. "Next stop, Grand Line."
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A few days ago
"GET BACK HERE PUNK!" the man called Dimitri shouted as he chased after him.
"Hmm, last time I fall asleep on a hostile ship. You'll have to be a lot faster than that old timer!" he grinned and slowed himself to taunt the man.
"AH! You stowaway brat!" Dimitri fell back and out of sight.
DJ smirked as he walked slower now. He came to a full stop as he saw a woman with pink hair. "Hello there ma'am." He grinned as he watched her. "Say, could you give me a hand? I got this crazy guy chasing after me." He pointed backwards.
"You don't say?" the woman loaded her shotgun.
"Yeah, dang that's a nice gun, don't want to kill the guy though." He grinned and looked back to the direction where he had lost Dimitri.
"I should say not, he might have a bounty on his head." The pink-haired woman smirked and slammed the gun handle down on his head while his back was turned and he blacked out.
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That night
DJ groaned as he felt the bump on his head. "Damn, I'm way to trusting when it comes to women, what was I supposed to do though? I can't hit a girl." He said to himself. As he listened closely and heard the sounds of a loud party very far away.
He smirked as he watched a greasy-haired man enter the room with a tray of food. "Dinnertime punk." the man chuckled and opened the cage just enough to slide the tray through.
"Bingo…." DJ grinned.
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Hope this is sufficient, sorry it's so long but I had a lot of backstory. Please tell me what you think and don't forget to check out Kilnorc's One Piece writings!