Prologue

The pirate age had been the worst nightmare for both marines and civilians. Pirates ruled the sea and plundered as they saw fit on the many small islands throughout the world. It was in this world that our heroes set sails to conquer the vast ocean. A place many pirates dreamed of experiencing, though only few managed to survive to tell the story afterwards. This tale begins in the vast ocean, on one of the larger islands at the beginning of Grand Line. Seventeen years after Gol D. Roger's death, pirates are as common as ever, and the marines fight with all their power to stop them. It is in this era our heroes get to shine.

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Chapter 1

The training today had been hard, but she had enjoyed every minute of it. "To become truly great, one must endure." She smiled to herself as she ran along the beach, her bare feet sinking into the sand for every step. Her mom's words of wisdom always seemed more perplexing than profound coming from a blacksmith. Clara knew though, that behind these words was some truth. She dreamed of reaching the great and knew that the time spent on training was well spent. She saw it in the results. During the sessions with the other guys she could now run for hours without stop, having gained extra stamina by running in the sand. She also knew that she had to give it more than the rest of the men. They had it easier than women in this business, gaining muscle mass faster and easier than she could ever hope for. But she had just focused on things she could gain an advantage in. Dexterity, stamina and wit had kept her at the top of her class and she had only improved since then.

Clara changed her pace as the beach changed from sand to small stones, treacherously slippery as they had been polished for centuries by the current. She slowed down and her eyes were glued to the ground, making sure she didn't take a wrong step somewhere. But luckily the small stones soon changed to larger rocks, getting big enough for Clara to jump from one rock to another. This was one of her favorite exercises. Always challenging herself to do it quicker and more outrageous than the last time. She jumped from the lowest on onto the next; she spun around herself in the air, landing on her hands. They were a bit rough from all the training, but then again she had never been a soft handed kind of girl, though her mom had forced her to learn to sew.

Clara smiled again, she knew the next jump by heart, and using the momentum she then rotated to the left, kicking in the air to increase the speed and then letting her hands push her off the rock, she landed on the next one, knees bended ready for the next move.

"Claaaara?" A voice called out for her and Clara frowned. The voice was very familiar and she knew immediately that the training was done for that day.

She looked up from her crouching position and saw a heavily breathing young man, his cheeks red, probably from running. He was standing above her on the top of a steep slope, resting his hands on his knees.

"Wow, I didn't know it was possible to be that much out of shape." Clara grunted at the man. She was irritated about being interrupted mid training.

"Says the training freak. You are out here every day, get a life." He spit back at her.

"Well at least when I'm "having a life"." Signaling the irony with her fingers, "I have friends the same age as me to hang out with." She mocked him, hell no if she would let him win.

"I have friends the same age as me they are just not a bunch of bullies like yours."

She snorted. "They are just not as weak as yours…" he interrupted her.

"If you are just going to insult me, then I won't tell you why mom sent me." The man, her younger brother crossed his arm and put on a stubborn grimace. Clara knew that it had to be important for her mom to send her brother out here after her, so she held back the next insult and instead just shrugged.

"Whatever…" she said. "Just tell me already." She leaned back with one foot and then swiftly moved forward, jumping up the slope, landing with both feet right next to her brother.

"Show off!" he grumbled. She sighed impatiently.

"So? What was the big news you were forced to come and tell me?" She started to walk away from the ocean towards their home. Her brother's face changed from grimacing at her to a big smile.

"Guess which admiral is visiting this Island for the yearly inspection?" Having mentally prepared herself for one of her mom's silly antics this came as a surprise. She looked at him with her mouth wide open.

"No way? An admiral?" He just grinned.

"Yeah mom said you would probably react like that." She hit him on his arm.

"Hey!" he whined, putting a hand on the spot where she had hit him. She knew that it hadn't hurt him at all though; he was physically way stronger than her, having become their mother's apprentice at the age of fourteen, his overarm was now as wide as her thigh. They had measured it once, and then she had stopped pestering him about being weak. But the fit part was still true; he did almost no exercise besides swinging the hammer in the forge.

"Byro!" she almost yelled. "This is really huge! Why did it take you so long to just say it?" She was consciously ignoring the fact that she was the one who had started to insult him. "What did mom say? Tell me her words exactly!"

"Hey, cool down nee-san." He said in a calm voice, knowing how she hated to drag information out of him. "Mom is going to tell you everything once you get home. But it was something about a parade." She stared at him. "Yeah, I know. Way to aggregated in my opinion." He continued. "But anyways, they haven't reached the harbor yet. They are apparently waiting for the city to get the parade ready. So there is enough time for you to get dresses up to see a real life admiral." He teased her, well knowing that that was not her plan.

"As if I would go dress up for an admiral." She snorted. "I have to wear the uniform of course. Not that the parade part of isn't fun, I just want to see one of the strongest men alive. Admirals are like legends to marines." She told her brother for the he-didn't-bother-count-anymore-time. He just shrugged while she looked pondering in front of her. "I wonder how strong he really…"

"Why? Do you want to fight him?" Byro laughed at her as they continued to walk . "You would die instantly."

"Oh shut it!" she said.

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My focus in this chapter was to establish Clara's will to become great, which is something she'll need further on. What did you think reading this? Please review, it is always very appreciated (^o^)=b

PS. Yes, I will get my other stories updated soon. (^_^;) Gomenasai