Run. Run until you make it to shore, then find a boat. Any boat.

Just get away, fast as you can. They can't find you after that.

Just, run...

The sun was just beginning to set below the horizon, turning the sky soft shades of pink and purple. The wind blew steadily, slowly gaining more and more speed as the shadows stretched across the shore. There was a comforting silence, accompanied by the waves splashing against the pink sand below.

The small, ruined boat washed up on the shore in that late afternoon, quietly disrupting the calm of the beach. It was barely holding together, the wood rotted and torn apart from the rough waters. It slumped into the pinkish sand. The wind blew roughly as the tide began to rush along the rickety boat's bottom, threatening to pull it back into the sea. A figure moved within the boat, slumped against its side.

"Candy! Candy, get away from the shore, the tides are picking up!" A hoarse voice suddenly called out from the edge of a cliff top. Bellow was a twisting path leading to a small shoreline, and there stood a small girl. Her light blue hair fell unevenly in her face. She lowed the toy telescope from her face, eyes fixed on what she thought was a fishing boat. Her brows furrowed.

She glanced back at the man who had spoken, frowning slightly. "I see a boat over there, Grandpa! I think there's someone inside!" She called back up to him, collapsing her telescope and rushing off down the beach without another word.

"What?!" He nearly yelled, hurrying down the pathway and towards his granddaughter. He nearly froze when he saw what she had seen; the fishing boat, riddled with holes and decay. Much of it looks weeks old, but some he had no doubt came from the storm last night. But what was most frightening was what was inside. A small child, hardly even younger than Candy. Her hair was braided slightly, though it was hard to tell with how matted it was. She was shivering- the only sign that she was alive. As he approached, he could see his granddaughter leaning over to examine the girl, asking if she was awake but getting no reply.

"Candy, come here please; I'll take care of this." He gently grabbed Candy's hand, guiding her away from the boat. She was easily moved, but didn't go far. He crouched down at the edge, examining her. "She's bleeding... Possibly has a broken arm."

"We're gonna take care of her, right? We won't leave her, right?" Candy asked behind him, blue eyes staring widely at the stranger. He stared at the small, shaking body as he contemplated what to do. Slowly, hesitantly, he turned back to his granddaughter. When she received a nod from him, she smiled. "I'll go tell grandma!" She stood, turning and running back up the shoreline and up with pathway.

He sighed, reaching out a hand to the girl, only to have her flinch away. He paused, studying the girl. Her eyes had opened, wide green eyes staring cautiously up at him. One had a filmy cover over it, making it come off as a lighter color. Was she blind? "I won't hurt you... I just want to get you somewhere safe." He felt his heart clench at how her body went rigid at the word 'safe', as if that word alone set her on edge. "I just want to help…" He tried again, moving his hand more slowly to lift her up into his arms. She made no move to struggle, allowing his to pick her up gingerly. Her head sagged against his chest, barely able to keep upright. He'd come back for the boat later, if it's still there in the morning.

He walked back up the shore, the small girl slowly calming down in his arms. She clung to his shirt, continuing to shiver. Her eyes had closed again, and she seemed to have fallen asleep. He sighed, looking down at her. "... Just where did you come from?"

"Her back!" His wife gasped as she helped him get the strange girl bandaged. And she had good reason to. There was no doubt what the dark cross burned into her back was: the mark of the Silver Cross Trading Company. Anything with that brand belonged to them, people included. The girl was a runaway slave. The man looked back at his wife, frowning. Her eyes were wide with worry and fear. "We need to do something." She whispered, She grabbed her husband's arm, shaking slightly at the sight.

"I know we do... But she's only a child." He mumbled, turning back and continuing to wrap her wounds. After a moment, he spoke again. "We can't just throw her out..." He continued, brows furrowed in thought.

"... We'll be the only ones to know she has it. We could keep her safe here." The woman said softly, still shaking. She still seemed uneasy about it, but she didn't want to see the girl hurt either. She took a deep breath and turned back towards the door, "Candy? Could you come here for a moment?" She called as the man finished bandaging the girl.

The small girl walked in slowly, "Is she gonna be okay now?" She asked quietly, walking over to stand beside her grandpa. "Will she be-" She blinked, pausing as she saw the brand on the girl's back. "What's that?" She asked.

"She'll be fine, just needs some rest. So no loud games for a while, okay?" When he received a nod, he continued. "This..." He knew he had to pick his words carefully, "This is a very bad mark, okay? The other villagers can't see it, it'll get this girl into a lot of trouble, you understand?" He got another nod as a reply. "So I'm asking that you keep this mark a secret, okay? No one can know."

She stared at the girl, then at her grandpa. "A secret? Like a super secret secret?" The elderly couple nodded. She smiled, and both grandparents smiled as well. "Okay! I'll be the best secret keeper in the world!"

"That's good, Candy." He praised, earning a small giggle from the blue haired girl. He stood with a grunt, grabbing the damp washcloth from beside the girl. "Now, I'll go get some more things..." He announced.

Her grandmother stood as well, casting a final glance towards the two girls before following her husband. Her dark eyes shone with worry, but she said nothing. Both came back with more bandages and a sling. Candy moved away as they continued to work, gently cleaning and wrapping her cuts and broken arm. She winced at some of the deeper cuts as they stitched them together as best they could, but remained sleeping through it all.

As they began clearing away everything, Candy came to sit beside the sleeping girl once again. Her grandmother stood beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She slowly reached over, placing a soft kiss on the girl's forehead before smiling gently. "Come on- we should let her rest now." She whispered, "You could help me with dinner. How does that sound?"

The blue haired girl looked at her, nodding her head. "Okay." She answered, letting herself be lead out of the room by the older woman.

The old man hesitated, looking the girl over once more before following the two to the kitchen. He stood in the doorway with the first aid kit in one hand and a candle in the other. His gaze hardened in determination as he watched her; he'd protect her, no matter what. He blew out the candle and closed the door, letting the brunette continue to sleep through the night.

A/N: Hello. Fallen here. I'm starting a new story, and will hopefully be coming out with weekly updates for it. Maybe every other week, if I end up doing another multi-chapter story at the same time.

4 years ago, Seraphina wrote a short story about our One Piece OC's, Lucca and Candy. At the same time, I also wrote a 6,000 word short story about their origins. And now, 4 years later, I'm redoing it all. I'm fixing up my old story, adding new shit and generally just doing a cleanup for these characters we loved.

The goal is gonna be ~80,000 words. I'm at about 10,000 words right now. I'm going to try my best to write everything I want to.

In reference to when this story is, Candy meets Lucca at age 12, and they set out at age 18- 73 years before Luffy sets out on his own journey, and 75 years before the current timeline. Whitebeard would've been a year old when they set out, so they're very old. They were around for the Rumbar Pirates and such.

The Silver Cross Trading Company is something of my own design, and used in a lot of my stories. Here, it's a trading company found in the South Blue with many ties to slavery and breeding humans. I have another character born into it, but she's from Luffy's time.