''Straighten your back, Izo.''

''Yes, mistress.'' Izo replied obediently.

''And you are concentrating too hard. It makes you look less gentle. You have to be graceful at all times.'' The mistress ordered.

''Yes, mistress.'' Izo relaxed a bit and softened his gaze.

This had been a daily ritual. Day in, day out. He had to be graceful, beautiful, gentle, obedient and most of all, feminine.

If he had known any better back then he would have ran away, but then again, he had been grateful too. Aside from pops, the mistress was the only one who gave him a chance. Even though she had decided to raise him to look like a woman, he still never forgot about his benefactor.

She was a tough woman. Beautiful and fierce. Yet she wasn't a fan wielder, nor a performer or even a Geisha, but she was the mistress, who taught the ladies how to act properly. She even prepared some for marriage, for they needed to become loving housewives.

Izo was raised to become a fan wielder. Ever since he lost his parents and had to wander the streets the mistress saw something in him apparently, as she explained it, and took him in. She had waist long black hair she tied up in a traditional coupe that was popular among the Geisha's and wore light make-up to enlighten her good features. Her jaw line stood out just enough to give her a beautiful and yet a bit of a harsh nature. Her hour glass figure was another thing many women were jealous of for they claimed it to be the perfect body to bear children and yet still having the round parts come out perfectly. Her hands were small but she had a strong grip in them, ready to punish the girls if they didn't fulfill her wishes.

She was fair. She didn't discriminate, or so Izo thought. After he started to grow to look like a man after all during his teenage years she threw him out. She couldn't use him any longer, not to mention, he made the other women jealous because he did a much better job than them. It would have been convenient for her had he actually been a woman. He couldn't pleasure the customers after all.

He had been devastated and very sad at first for he had no home to return to any longer. He wandered the streets again as he received many strange looks. A man with make-up? Is he a cross-dresser? They whispered. Or has he fallen for the traps of the forbidden love?

Izo heard the whispers but never replied.

He hadn't known any better.

If he had a choice, he wouldn't have chosen this life. He always felt like a man, but he had to admit, being a bit more feminine than other men had its advantages. Even though he might appear as peculiar.

He wandered around the islands for a long time until the Whitebeard captain found him and took him in. Izo didn't really mind at that time, because he had to survive, just like when the mistress took him once before. This was similar, he thought. And yet it was still different.

And why, you ask?

What made this Whitebeard so different than the mistress?

He and the crew accepted everyone as they were.

You could be whoever you wanted to be and live your life however you wanted.

As long as you saw the crew as your family and accepted Whitebeard as your father.

Izo accepted the offer for those very reasons. He'd have a family again and didn't have to abide by rules such as being someone you weren't.

For the first time in his life, he could be happy.

Depending on the amount of Reviews/Followers/Favorites I will turn this into an actual story! ^^

Disclaimer: I wiisshhh One Piece was mine.