"Now, Annabell, if I read you this story, do you promise to go to bed?" An middle aged Marine man questioned softly.
"Yes, Grandpa, I promise!" a small child said excitedly.
"All right, well settle down and let me start." he chuckled.
So the story begins with a little girl listening to her grandfather tell her a fairytale of mythological creatures.
A secret forest hidden by silver mist on the highest mountain top of the Grand Line mountains had never been touched by humans. In this luscious green forest lived many magical creatures such as: phoenix, centaurs, satyrs, dragons, elves, doppelgangers, golems, griffons, hydras, mermaids, pegasi, shapeshifters, unicorns, werewolves, and thunderbirds all coincided. It was only possible from the lone giant by the name of Whitebeard. Many humans had tried to find the magical lands on top of the mountain, but most froze to death. Some had survived the treacherous cold to tell people that they had seen a blue and gold light. The next they knew, they were at the foot of the mountain again.
One man by the name of Blackbeard had supposedly succeeded in getting to the top of the mountain where the magical land was said to be. He had brought back a bird of paradise he claimed to be a shapeshifter by the name of Thatch. No one in the village took him seriously though. Soon, the bird of paradise had returned to its home, never to be seen or heard of again. Everyone in the village thought Blackbeard had killed the beautiful bird and he was exiled from the lands. Many people try to find the forest still to this day. If only they would give up and stop looking, then maybe many people would not die. Of course, no one knew that all of the creatures had a human form either. No one knows if they even come down from the mountains or if it's all just in a dream that someone made into a story for little girls and boys to listen to at bedtime.
Before Garp had a chance to tell his granddaughter goodnight, she had already fallen asleep. He smiled and kissed her forehead and let her sleep. He'd send her up the first part of the mountain for fruit in the morning. Little did he know, that the years would fly by so quickly. The little ten year old he had told bedtime stories was now one of the most beautiful and sought after women in the small village they lived in. She was twenty and would not marry until she had proven to herself that the secret forest actually existed.
"Grandpa! I'm going to go explore the Grand Line mountains! I'll see you in a month!" Annabell had called out and left after she had given her brothers and grandfather a hug and a kiss.
"Annabell, I wish you'd give up that dream of finding your childhood fairy tale and just marry or join the marines!" Garp grumbled.
Annabell left, laughing. Once she was at the foot of the mountain, she took a deep breath and stared up at the top. "I'm coming to find you, secret forest. I'll prove to myself that you exist and then take pictures and show everyone that you aren't just some fairy tale." the ravenette was dead serious about finding her childhood. So her journey began.
The young woman traveled for a week, sleeping in trees and finding a suitable freshwater creek to get water out of. It wasn't like this was any different from the time she and her brothers were made to live on their own in a forest. Sabo, Luffy, and Ann used to have to fight off wild animals just to have fresh meat to cook. Of course, their food supply always vanished within a few hours thanks to Luffy's more than ravenous appetite. It had been fun and tiring for the three siblings to live on the mountain, but soon, their grandfather had hunted them down and brought them home. Of course, Garp didn't just leave the mountain with them without a fight. The kids had grown up well and had learned excellent survival skills, but they were still no match for the old man. Anna found herself just thinking about how she was going to miss all of them this month.
The next week she'd made it pretty far and could finally see hints of a silver mist, but it was getting really cold. Annabell gathered only branches from dead trees or branches that had already fallen off the trees to make a fire with. She was a master at keeping a fire under control. At night, she wrapped up in her warmest blanket and slept in a tree again. The only thing she thought she saw was the blue and gold light that people had seen when they had nothing left and were brought to the foot of the mountain. For now, she hadn't thought much of it, after all, it could probably only be her imagination. When she woke, she uncurled herself from her blanket to find a strange bird in front of her. A white, brown, and black bird, resembling a bird of paradise. Could this be the bird Blackbeard had found by the name of Thatch?
"Thatch?" she tilted her head, hoping for a shocked response or some sort of transformation from the bird. Either way, if it wasn't the bird from the story, she wanted a picture of it. So, she slowly took out her camera from her pocket and went to snap a quick picture of it. The bird seemed startled by the name and took off immediately after he saw the camera. Annabell thought that it had been a normal bird after all, little did she know that she had been right about the bird being the mysterious shapeshifter.