Shade- I do not own One Piece

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Chapter 1: The Child

"Stop her!" A group of men were running through the streets knocking into people as they chased a young girl who had an even younger child in her hands. She moved swiftly around people, being sure not to knock into anyone and stay low to the ground. Her long, wavy, light brown hair swung around in her low pony tail, her black streaks showing through. The boy she held had bright blonde hair and he slept soundly in her arms.

She found a break in the people and got a clear sprint out into the middle of town. As she ran, supporting the sleeping child's head in between her hand and chest, she past the crew of the Going Merry. She sprinted past without ever looking up. They turned and saw her run off fast, they saw her wearing a light blue tank top with a white stripe around the breast and black capris that were form fitting, ending at just below her knees. Her dirt white shoes kicked up dust as she continued to run.

"What's going on?" Nami turned and watched the girl turn a corner out of sight. Turning back, she and the rest were spun around when the group of men ran into them. Wanting to know what was happening; Zoro grabbed one of the dirty clothed men and stopped him.

"What are you doing?" He had hold of the man's broad shoulders. He could feel tense muscles under the sleeves.

"That girl! She! She—" The man paused to take a breath. "She kidnapped that young boy! He's sick and needs medical attention!" Zoro let him go and he ran to catch up with the rest who had run the corner as well.

"Taking little sick kids, that's never right, no matter she's a woman or not." Sanji spoke through his cigarette as he and the rest turned to watch the man run off.

"A sick child! We need to help him! He could be dying!" Usopp started to freak out as he jumped around the rest of the group, thinking about his friend Kaya.

"I don't think we should interfere, we just need some supplies." Nami was about to turn back around to walk to the nearest store but was stopped by Luffy's out stretched arm on her shoulder.

"If a child's in danger we should help, Nami. Think of the trouble he's in, think of his family. If we can help him, we should." Luffy's explanation made Nami pout a bit but she turned around.

"I'll go back to the ship and wake up Chopper! He could be needed!"

"Is that your excuse for chickening out, Usopp?" Zoro stepped forward, facing away from Usopp who looked surprised.

"Of course not Zoro! I actually care about the child's well being and Chopper should help. Unlike you, you probably just want some fight practice."

"Can't argue with that." Zoro smirked as he touched the hilt of one of his swords.

"Okay! Usopp will get Chopper and the rest of us will save the boy!" Luffy smiled wide and shoved his fist into the air.

"Jeez Luffy, it's not that big of a deal." Nami walked forward as everyone's eyes were glaring at her. She looked up and asked, "What?"

"Let's go now, Kay? I don't think those villagers can deal with her alone," said Sanji. They started to walk off.

"I'm not so sure about that, that guy I grabbed seemed pretty strong," said Zoro.

"Let's split up!" Luffy exclaimed, and ran off in a random direction. Sanji ran after him, Usopp started going back to the ship and Nami snuck off back in the wrong direction. Zoro smirked at her actions and slowly walked off.

"Stop! Give us the boy!" The same group of men was running after the girl who had yet to slow down.

"No! Stay away!" The girl, who had both arms wrapped around the sleeping boy tight but not too tight, jumped into the air moving to her right. She landed on a crate of food and kicked it out from under her. As it fell in front of the men, she pushed off of the wall of a building and jumped to the other side of the narrow passage and kicked another crate. Jumping off the wall again, she flipped through the air and landed swiftly on her feet still running fast. Several of the men fell down from the crates and food and the girl turned another corner.

She looked up and saw that there was a structure above her serving as a ceiling for the passage. She heard the yells of the men behind her as they continued after her. She looked down to the boy in her arms and saw him still sleeping soundly. She made a quick decision and jumped up. The men turned the corner to see an empty walk way.

"Quick! Down here!" The first man led the others running under the outside ceiling. After the last man ran from out under the ceiling and back into the sun light a grunt was heard. The girl was positioned with her legs making a perfect split so her feet could reach both sides of the breezeway. She tried to keep her back as flat as possible against the ceiling so she wouldn't be seen. However, holding the boy made it harder for her to do this. Her body ended up looking like a short but wide T. When she saw that the coast was clear, she jumped from her position and did a forward flip to land on the ground in a crouched position. She lightly cradled the boy who yawned in his sleep and gripped tighter around her torso.

"That was a pretty good move there." A voice came from behind the girl and she whipped around, still low to the ground with one of her knees in the dirt, panting. She saw a tall, calm looking man looking down at her. His strange green hair set her off a bit, but she became refocused and gripped the boy tighter, not knowing what this man wanted. "I don't really see what taking a boy who's sick does for you, but you should probably give him back." He was about to take his swords out but the girl growled at him and seemed to mutter "another one" under her breath before running at the wall and jumping to push off, shot to the other wall higher up and pushed off to jump across the narrow passage and landed onto the roof of the building. Zoro stood there thinking for a second. He started to walk around to the other side of the building that the girl jumped onto.

Getting to the other side, it seemed that building she had jumped on was deserted and no one else was around. He looked up and saw the girl sitting off the side of the building. The boy had woken up and the girl was supporting him so he could stand up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked down at Zoro and then back to the girl.

"What's going on Monoka?" The girl, now known to Zoro as Monoka, didn't answer. She was still staring at Zoro.

"You can't have him," was all she said with a stern and angry face. The boy looked surprised. He stared down at Zoro with worry on his face and wrapped his arms around the girl's neck as a defense mechanism. Zoro was slightly confused at how the boy acted around her. He put the thought to the side of his mind and spoke.

"Apparently you can't either." The girl growled at his words. She didn't look like she was going to answer him so he was gonna talk again but he was distracted.

A man, one of the ones chasing her, jumped out from behind her with a sword drawn aiming right for her. It didn't seem that she noticed, nor the boy as the man started to descend on her. Zoro was going to yell something but the girl moved. She grabbed the boy and brought him to her chest. Zoro thought it was to use the boy as a shield but it was to keep him out of the grasp of the man. She fell back onto her back and kicked her legs up, her right foot hitting him square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and her left foot stopping his arm from letting the sword come any closer. Her grip in the boy was tight and he was grabbing her tightly as well. She then bent her legs that now supported the man's full weight and shoved him into the air. He flew in front of her and fell to the ground below, losing consciousness after the drop.

Zoro was still standing there, baffled at how the girl dealt with the surprise attack. She jumped from the building and landed swiftly on the ground. Letting the boy down but holding onto his hand. She lifted her foot and brought it down hard on the collapsed man's head. She shot a glance at Zoro looking like she was sizing him up.

"You don't know this man do you?"

"No, but you can't just steal sick kids from these villagers. And hurting them like that won't put you on my good side." Zoro put his hand on one of his swords and pushed it out so he could take it out better when he had to. The girl just looked down at the ground and chuckled. She moved the boy from her side to right in front of her, holding both his hands up with hers. She looked back up at Zoro with a menacing smile.

"You're gullible, aren't ya?" Before he could answer, she pulled the boy into the air and yelled out "rocket!" All of a sudden, the boy flew in the air. He had both his arms above his head, clasping them together, and his legs were perfectly straight letting him go even higher.

This made Zoro look up in fear at the boy whom was soaring over his head, soon to fall to the ground. Since he was looking up, he didn't see Monoka running at him. Once he looked down, she was already crouched low to the ground right in front of him. She was fast. They made brief eye contact. Zoro's face showed surprise, hers showed laughter. Then, she jumped at him, jabbing him in the gut with her shoulder and spinning him around. She slid to a stop, about ten feet away from Zoro facing him. She stood up and caught the boy with one of her arms. She set the boy down and raised her other arm. Zoro went wide eyed. She was holding one of his swords.

"How did you get that?!"

"Distractions make everything easier."

"So throwing little kids in the air almost killing them helps you do that?!"

"We're professionals, trust me."

Suddenly, the group of men, having more and more men being added, who were looking for them came about behind Monoka. They yelled and started running for her.

"Gotta go." Monoka ran toward the men which didn't make sense to Zoro. But she seemed to be running for the port that was at the other side of the village.

As she met the men, she squatted low to the ground, something she seemed to do a lot. The boy had both his arms and legs wrapped around the girl's mid section, letting her use both hands. He had his eyes closed shut really tight trying not to watch the scene. She ran through the men, moving, spinning and flipping about. She used Zoro's sword and slashed at every man who tried to stop her or go for the boy. A couple of men had been knocked to the ground and another two were added when Monoka spun her leg low to the ground and tripped them. One more man was left standing and she just blocked his sword with the one she had and hit him in the side of the face with the hilt of hers. Zoro was looking in slight amazement at her fluid movements and how everything was on set like it was staged. He was still staring as she started to run off.

"Hey! Wait! Give me my sword back!" Zoro then sprinted off after her. Suddenly, Luffy and Sanji appeared out of a side alley and saw Zoro running after the girl so they started to run after them all too.

"You found her Zoro!" Luffy was running with his hand on his head to keep his hat on safely. Sanji caught up closer and noticed the sword that Monoka was holding.

"Hey, since when did she have a sword?"

"Since she took it from me!"

"How'd she get your sword Zoro?"

"That doesn't matter right now, I need it back!" Zoro ran ahead of the others trying his hardest to get his sword back from her. As the three ran after her, another group of men came out dressed in rags same as the others.

"Wow, how many guys they got going after her?" Sanji slowed down a bit wondering.

"Give us the kid!"

"Why won't you just give up?!" Monoka ran past several men with her arms outstretched and punched them in the face. She then took her hand and picked up some dirt and threw it in a couple more men's faces. Then there was one left. He was ready for her with a sword gripped tightly in his hand. She didn't want to face him either so she jumped up, soaring several feet over his head. He growled and swung the sword up. Monoka went wide eyed as the blade went straight for the little boy who was clung to her stomach. She made a split second decision and wrapped her free arm around his back. The blade streaked across her forearm and she let out a scream. When she came back down to the ground she hit her feet and rolled across the dirt, still shielding the boy from any harmful contact. She skidded to a stop and dropped the sword to grip her hurt arm.

"You idiot! You almost hit the kid!" One of the rag dressed men hit the other man upside the head.

"Sorry Captain!"

Captain? Zoro and the others stopped as they saw the mess in front of them. Several men were out cold, the ones she had hit in the head and others looked like they were trying to gouge out their eyes. Then he saw the girl gripping her arm tight as blood was splattering out between her fingers. Her face showed pain and the little boy had finally opened his eyes to see tears running down her face.

"Monoka—"

"Give me my sword back!" Everyone turned to see Zoro huffing and puffing. He didn't care about what was going on right now, all he wanted was his sword back.

"Take your damn sword!" Monoka grabbed the sword and flung it over everyone's head right at Zoro who caught it swiftly. "Those things only bring trouble!"

"Give the kid back to these guys! You're endangering his life!" Sanji yelled through his cigarette.

"Yeah Monoka, give him here." The one man who was addressed as captain before stepped forward smirking evilly, his hand outstretched.

"Wow," Monoka let go of her arm that wasn't bleeding as badly now and reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a switch blade, "Even you're friends are gullible." She opened the blade and shot forward. She swung her hand quickly several times, making the man standing in front of her freeze in place with his eyes wide, fearing pain. Once she had jumped past him she stopped with her arm sticking out to the side. Everyone who was there was staring in fear at what she could have done to him. The man, still frozen in place from shock, was trembling waiting to feel blood trickle down his body. But that never happened, instead, the rags he wore as clothes fell to the ground in heaps, revealing a Navy Uniform. Monoka stood up and gripped the blade tighter.

"Only a Naval Captain would be stupid enough to wear his uniform under his clothes while undercover." She then walked to his trembling side and placed the blade right next to his neck and motioned for the boy to move to her back. She took her other bleeding arm and grabbed his hand and bent it behind him. She moved her mouth to his ear.

"You will leave now, you will forget everything I have done to your men and you will not disturb us anymore," she whispered into his ear. He only laughed.

"Like I'd agree to that." Monoka pulled on his arm even tighter and brought the blade to his skin, showing she wasn't in the mood for joking. The other men behind her started to sneak up, trying to stop her and grab the boy but she sensed them.

"One more stepped and I slit his throat." They stopped.

"Fine, I'll stop, but that doesn't mean the Navy will halt in going for the boy. As long as he's still alive, he's priority number one."

"Like that's the truth. Navy running around chasing little old us." She smirked and dropped him to the ground. "Gather your men and leave this island."

"You're just making it worse for everyone here, you know that?" The man was laughing till Monoka jabbed her foot on his throat, causing him to start wheezing for air. The boy on her back smiled and giggled as he scurried up her back to look over her shoulder and see the man in pain.

"Jeez, that little kid's a monkey ain't he?" Sanji stood with the others, trying to figure out what the hell was going on right now. First he thought the girl was bad now she's not, the kid's awake blah blah blah blah.

"We're not gonna leave him alone." The man under Monoka's foot was trying to talk as he gripped her ankle, trying to move it.

"Shut up." Monoka looked down at him in disgust, ignoring the blood that had covered her whole forearm and hand and swung low to her side. The boy laughed and stuck his tongue out at the man. She then dug her foot even deeper, making the man's eyes seem to pop out of his head. Then, he let go of her ankle with one hand and made a sign with it, directing it toward his still conscious men. They quickly jumped forward and tackled Monoka to the ground and grabbed the boy.

"Hibo!" She reached up through a space in between two men's bodies before they smothered her. One man had grabbed him off of her back and was holding tight as the now named Hibo was squirming trying to get out.

"Monoka! Help!"

A muffled "Damnit!" came from under the men as Monoka tried her hardest to get free but to no avail.

"Let go of her!" Hibo yelled out till the man holding him covered his mouth with his hand. Hibo retaliated by biting the guy's hand and causing him to drop him. He ran over to try and get Monoka free but someone's hand wrapped around his torso. Then, he was pulled back like a sling shot and was resting in the arms of a stranger. A stranger with a straw hat.

"Let go!" Hibo tried hitting the boy who was holding him, thinking he was a bad guy but his punches didn't make any effect. The straw hat boy was looking at the scene in front of him with a stern look at the girl getting pummeled by a bunch of Navy scum.

"Give the kid back!" The man whom Hibo was snatched from was coming at Luffy fast.

"Time to get rid of these guys." Luffy looked up, Hibo had stopped hitting him and was now looking up at him strangely. Then, Luffy's free arm shot out and punched the guy in the stomach. He fell back on the ground trying to get his air back.

"Hey!" One of the men who had tackled Monoka looked up and was on his knees looking angrily at Luffy. But, before he could even turn back, a bloody arm shot up from underneath him and punched him hard in the jaw. Then, Luffy swung his arm and hit the guy again; he fell unconscious to the ground. Hibo was still in his grasp and he looked from the collapsed man to Luffy, his smile grew huge as he now saw Luffy as a good guy.

"Wait a minute, I'm confused. Who're the bad guys?" Sanji still stood there looking on not knowing what was going on so he didn't act on anything. Luffy, however, was not one of those people and he acted on impulse right then and there.

"Who've been the bad guys every single time Sanji? The Navy!" Zoro took out his swords and wrapped his bandana around his head, getting ready to fight. The girl, Monoka, seemed devoted to the boy, risking life and limb for him and something in Zoro made him know that the girl was not at fault here, she needed to be helped.

"Well in that case..." Sanji jumped forward and kicked a guy into the air off of Monoka. However, she was still stuck not able to move out from under the others. But she was still trying her hardest, and somewhere under that heap a guy got a nice wakeup call with a knee to the happy area.

"Why can't you guys do anything right?!" The Captain then ran forward after getting his stable breathing back. He bent down and tried to grab for Monoka's uncovered arm, but he was stopped. A tall man with a sword in his mouth jumped in front of him causing him to stop dead in his tracks. The Captain stared into his anger filled eyes.

"Why do you help this piece of shit of a woman?"

"Because crap like you wants to hurt her!" Zoro swung his swords forward and the captain collapsed in a puddle of his own blood.

"Captain!" A man that covered Monoka yelled out before he got a mouth full of leathery black shoe. He fell forward, his body weight falling back down on Monoka. She made an "oof" sound at the sudden pain. Then, she tried to push him off of her and he fell to the side and Monoka finally sat up seeing what was going on. All she saw was that man before who wanted Hibo standing behind her with his swords out and the two others, one of which had Hibo in his arms. She jumped up quickly and tried punching the blonde one to get to the other.

"Hey, what're you doing? We're helping you." Sanji was dodging her punches while walking backwards, reconsidering his thoughts of her being on the good side.

"Give Hibo back!" She made one last punch for his face with her hurt arm but Sanji stopped it. He looked at her arm in surprise.

"Holy crap! Look at your arm!" Since the blood made her arm slippery, she pulled it back out of his grasp. She winced when the pain of doing that hit her but ignored it and tripped Sanji since he was distracted. She ran towards Luffy just when Hibo jumped out of his grasp. He stood up and put his hands up in the air, motioning Monoka to stop.

"What are you doing Hibo?"

"They're good guys. They helped us." Monoka looked at Hibo confused. While she was under those men she didn't know what was going on. She looked up at the boy who was holding Hibo, he nodded at her. She whipped around at looked at the other two. Sanji was sitting up rubbing his head and Zoro was still standing in between the Captain and the other men who looked like they had gotten sword wounds. She was panting from a loss of energy and fell to her knees, still facing Sanji and Zoro.

"Monoka." Hibo ran to her side and held onto her good arm. She sunk her head low after all that had just happened.

"Get these men out of here."

"What about the others on their ship? Hey, why didn't we know the Navy was here anyhow?" Sanji stood up and walked over to Monoka just as Zoro and Luffy did.

"They didn't come in a Navy ship. They came undercover. Their absence won't matter. Their boat is at the east end of the port, put them in it and shove them off." Monoka stood up after regaining her composure. Blood continued to drip from her arm, some had stained onto her shirt.

"Monoka! You're hurt! Let me help you." Hibo was about to grab Monoka's arm but she grabbed his hands with her other and squatted down to his level.

"Not in public Hibo," she whispered to him. He nodded but still looked worried.

"You really should get that looked at. It's pretty deep. Hey, wasn't Usopp gonna get Chopper?" Sanji started to look around.

"Yeah, I wonder where he is." Luffy looked around too, scanning the area for their friends but couldn't see them.

"Don't you guys think she should rest first, she's been running around this town." Zoro added in his two cents.

"How about you let me make my own decisions?" Monoka had now wrapped a piece of clothing she had ripped from one of the passed out men around her arm and picked up Hibo and supported him on her other side.

"Thank you for helping us, but we have to go now."

"Bye rubber man." Hibo waved at Luffy who smiled wide and waved back at him.

"Rubber man?" Monoka turned around to ask about the name but she was interrupted by another person coming into picture.

"Luffy! I've finally found you guys! I've got Chopper here for the boy!" Usopp popped out of no where with Chopper right behind him. He saw Luffy, Sanji and Zoro just standing there with Monoka and Hibo several yards away. Monoka forgot about the rubber man name and started to walk away again.

"Hey! Stop her you guys! She's taking the boy again!" Usopp yelled out.

"It's okay Usopp; she's not a bad guy. Those people chasing her were the Navy," Luffy explained.

"Oh, so the boy's okay?"

"Yep!"

Monoka sighed as she walked away, gripping Hibo tighter, happy that he was safe.

"Hey you guys! Hurry up! We gotta get back to the ship!" Nami walked into the area with two bags of supplies in her hands as she caught the attention of everyone there, including Hibo.

"SHIP?!" Hibo's head whipped back to the others as his eyes became wide with excitement. Monoka turned her head to Hibo in fear.

"No..." She whispered under her breath while her arms became tighter around his body in defense.

"YOU GUYS ARE PIRATES?!" Hibo shot out of Monoka's grip like soap and ran back to Luffy's side.

"Yeah, we are! And I'm the captain!" Luffy smiled down to Hibo who had spinning stars in his eyes.

"WOW! Can I see your ship?!"

"Sure!"

"No!" Monoka had walked back and grabbed Hibo's upper arm and dragged him in the other direction.

"No! Monoka!" Hibo was yelling in a whiny tone as Monoka walked off.

"Hey! You look hurt!" Chopper, who had just transformed into his human form from his more appropriate animal form, had walked closer and saw blood seeping through the cloth that was around Monoka's arm.

"I'm fine."

"Does this hurt?" Chopper poked Monoka's arm and she went wide eyed. She let go of Hibo and fell to her knees, gripping her arm.

"Yeah, you need some medicine."

"HEY! You're a talking deer!" Hibo pointed his arm out at Chopper who crept away in slight fear. "How's that?"

"He ate the human human fruit, can't you tell Hibo? Ah! Damnit!" Monoka winced in pain as she identified the fruit that Chopper had eaten. The others were slightly surprised at her knowledge of Devil fruits.

"Here, follow me to the ship; I'll fix you right up."

"No, I'll be fine. Come on Hibo."

"But I want to go see the ship!"

"We're not seeing their ship! Now come on!"

Chopper was watching their quarrel as was everyone else and he felt inclined to speak.

"By the dirt around your wound it looks like it could be infected! The length and depth could have cut a muscle or vein and you could be in danger! You might lose your arm! I need to take a look at it and treat it before it's too late!" Chopper covered his mouth from the sudden outburst since he didn't do it a lot, but when it came to people's safety he never took his chances.

Monoka was looking at him and saw he was telling the truth. Fearing that truth, she obliged.

"Fine, the local doctor doesn't like me anyways." Monoka turned around to walk to the ship. Hibo got stars in his eyes again.

"Yay! I get to see a real pirate ship!" He started to jump circles around Monoka yelling out strange things about pirates, and ships and something else about potato salad but she ignored him. Suddenly, she turned to the others to speak.

"Don't forget about those men. There are more around the corner and in two back alleys over. Get them to their ship and just shove them off. We can't have passed out men lying around here." Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Zoro nodded, deciding to do it themselves. They walked off in the other direction. Nami stood there dumbfounded.

"What did those idiots get us into?" Nami sunk her head low and followed Chopper and these new people to the ship.