AN: My first Fanfic, I've been planning this for a few years, I just haven't had the courage but now I think my writing style is good enough and I think I'm ready, so here goes and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters these all belong to Eiichiro Oda, however I do own all of my OCs (Note: This disclaimer is for all of the chapters of this story)

Chapter 1

A young woman crouched behind a bush, waiting for a boat to come into the harbour. Her breath was coming out in short pants, muscles tense and ready to run at any signs of danger, every movement of a branch was a pursuer every rustle of a leaf was the sound of someone's clothes as they crept up behind her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't relax her survival instincts were running wild, blaring at her to run to get as far away as possible.

It was only a few minutes later that she was able to calm her heartbeat, and her head cleared starting to think of plans, only then did the exhaustion hit her with such a blow that she had lean against a nearby tree to steady herself. Turning away from watching the harbour, she fell back against the tree with a tired sigh, her thought process started to slow itself down as the sounds of the forest lulled her into a doze. The feel of vibrations next to her, made the woman shoot up into a crouch her teeth bared and a growl coming from her chest, she looked around for the attacker but instead found a very frightened rabbit, it was frozen in place with wide eyes watching the woman's every movement. It flinched when she chuckled, slowly the woman sat back down reclining against the tree once again, the rabbit gave another twitch when she started to talk to it "Sorry little fella I thought you were something else" the rabbit tilted its head to the side still staring at the woman in front of him. Suddenly it scuttled backwards when the realisation hit him "Y-you spoke in our tongue, but you- then that must mean you're- wow" the rabbits sentence came out as tumble of words, his surprise taking away his ability to form a coherent sentence.

The woman gave another chuckle "I am indeed, again I apologise for frightening you" she replied except instead of words a series of snarls could be heard. Just then the woman's head whipped around as she heard the noise of human voices glancing backwards she found that the rabbit had run away at the sound of the voices. This time the woman made sure to keep quiet as the source of the voices turned out to be a crew of traders who had just docked at the harbour. 'Looks like that's my ticket off the island,' she looked over her shoulder again into the forest 'I hope they won't miss me too much, at least they'll be okay' at that thought she smiled, she'd done as much as she possibly could for them it was time for her to move on.

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It had been a long voyage for Speranza, but she along with her cargo had finally made it to the island. Her crew were glad to be on land again, the trip should have only been a few months long, but the freak storm they experienced near the beginning had sent them completely off track.

After they had finished unloading the cargo, the crew headed to the local tavern for a well-earned drink, one of the crew felt a presence as if something was watching them; falling behind slightly as he slowed his pace, the crewmember looked behind him checking if anything was there. Seeing nothing, he shrugged it off as weariness from the long voyage and went to catch up with the others. His suspicions had been right, with the crews backs turned a black furred creature crept from the treeline to where the ship was docked.

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On the deck of the Speranza, the woman gave out a relieved sigh, 'Too close!' She had to take a few seconds to make her body stop trembling. Afterwards, she gave the ship a quick once over checking that no one was on the ship anymore, and then she made her way to the cargo hold seeking out a place to hide. She found a place in between two crates; the shadows they created were a perfect hiding place. She crawled into it and settled down waiting for the arrival at the next island.

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Finally, the crew had returned to their home island, as soon as they docked everyone made their way home keen to see their families again, they would have a month's rest and then they would do the voyage all over again. When the last member of the crew was off the ship the woman slowly crept off, looking left and right to make sure no one was watching once she was sure no one was she made her way into the bustling town. First stop was to a clothes shop.

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Walking into the shop the woman looked around, the store wasn't large but it had plenty of clothes it seemed as if whoever owned the shop had taken advantage of every available bit of space, she couldn't even see the counter from the door. It took her a few minutes to traverse the maze of clothing racks but eventually she found the till where a young man with brown slicked back hair, as soon as she saw the man her steps faltered "E-e-excuse me, c-c-could you help me p-p-pick out some clothing?" she asked unable to stop herself from stuttering .

The man smiled at her warmly "It would be my pleasure, what do you have in mind?" he answered, confused at the woman's change in demeanour. When she'd entered the shop she gave off an aura of confidence, but as soon as she saw him that seemed to disappear, like a blazing fire being reduced to a dwindling flame. "Errm…a few t-shirts, shirts, vests and maybe a few jeans and leggings…. And umm do you have any cloaks with hoods?" she asked, not meeting his eyes it was taking all she had not to leave the shop. The man's smile grew a little "I'll see what I can get for you, don't worry you don't have to do anything." He tried to sound reassuring, used to all kinds of customers; he then walked out from behind the counter and started searching through all of the rails of clothing. The woman stayed silent as he searched keeping her gaze on the area where she could hear him moving around. A while later, the man had finished gathering clothes and went back behind the counter putting the clothes on the top, "It's more than you asked for but it doesn't look like you've got much else." he looked up at her, a smile on his face.

Taking a breath in and out, the woman smiled back "Thank you, I appreciate it."

The man added up the total cost of the clothes and the woman paid him the exact amount, but just as she was about to exit the shop the man called out appearing next to her "I would put that hood up if I was you, you never know what's carried on the wind"

The only response he received was a slight nod of her head before she lifted the hood to cover her crimson hair, then she was gone out of the door and into the crowded street.

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'That's going to happen a lot isn't it?' it was something for her to work on, but it was going to take a long time. Looking around, she decided on her next stop, 'a log pose would be a good idea, and then I need to find another boat'. She found a store that sold navigation items, this time the shop was run by a woman, giving the shop owner a wary glance the woman proceeded to look around the small shop until she found a log pose, which she picked up and took to the counter. Looking up at the cloaked woman the shopkeeper narrowed her eyes "Are you another one of those pesky pirates? Come to rob me have you?" asked the shopkeeper the venom clear in her voice.

Giving a resigned sigh the cloaked woman pulled back her hood so that her face was no longer in shadow "I assure you I'm not one of those 'pesky pirates', I simply wish to purchase this," at this she held up the log pose "and then be on my way." Still wary of the woman the shopkeeper said the price and the woman handed over the correct amount of money. "If you aren't a pirate, then what are you exactly?" questioned the shopkeeper the venom now replaced with curiosity "I'm simply a passing traveller. Thank you for your time." With that said the woman headed out of the shop.

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It was while she was wandering around on the streets when she learnt that the city she was currently in was called Loguetown also known as the town of the beginning and the end 'I wonder what will happen to me now Roger…" Her musings were interrupted when she heard footsteps approach from behind her accompanied with an overwhelming smell of smoke; she turned round to face the newcomer raising her hand to cover her nose. It was a tall male wearing a thick white coat and a pair of blue jeans, around his waist was a brown belt, with a jitte attached to his back. The source of the scent was the two cigars he had in his mouth 'White Chase Smoker a marine captain…shit!'. Unseen to Smoker the woman had started to sweat, her body shaking, and her senses were on high alert ready for action.

Smoker decided to break the silence "So you're the mysterious cloaked woman that people have reported seeing around the city. What are your motives for going to Grandline?"

'Dammit I should've been more careful.' The words of the man at the clothes shop played in her head "You never know what the wind might carry." Trying to keep herself calm the woman straightened her posture and put as much confidence into her voice as she could "Well, well Smoker-san it seems you are well informed, as for your question I have nowhere else to go" she answered hoping her act was working.

Smoker's temper was wearing thin, he had had a long day and now this woman wasn't making it any shorter "I will ask you again what do you intend to do by going to the Grand line? Piracy by any chance?" his voice was more of a growl now. This made the woman flinch, but to Smoker it looked like she was preparing to attack so he took out his jitte and ran forward before she could do anything. Beneath her hood, the woman's eyes widened and she took a step back, her fear made her body freeze up. Smoker came to an abrupt halt when a warning snarl came out of the woman's mouth, recognising the sound his eyes narrowed, and the area around the pair seemed to drop a few degrees.

'He knows!' Thinking quickly the woman punched out her hand sending a blast of air at the marine, she then jumped up using the wind to increase her speed as she leapt from roof to roof. She headed for the direction she could smell the sea was coming from. Thankfully, some things seemed to be going in her favour, she could see the sea wasn't very far away.

After the gust of wind died down, Smoker lowered his arm from shielding his face and realised that the woman had gone.

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Coming out of her daze Tashigi called out to her Captain "Sir! She went that way!" pointing towards the direction the woman had just gone. Turning his lower half into smoke, Smoker set off in the direction the woman was headed. Soon after his departure, Tashigi herself set off after the woman and Smoker.

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Looking behind her the cloaked woman could see the marine captain catching up to her, 'Damn it this isn't good! I didn't know he could do that!' The woman quickly turned her head back to facing forwards and carried on running, a mix of fear and determination driving her to travel faster.

"Here it is!" The girl exclaimed as she finally landed at the docks, she made the last dash to the sea.

"No! No! No! No!" Smoker kept on repeating to himself as a mantra when he saw the girl jump down into the harbour, now really pushing himself he put on a short burst of speed making himself zoom into the harbour right on the tail of the cloaked woman.

The woman, heard some noise behind her and turned her head to be met with the sight of a very angry looking Smoker right on her tail 'Shit… He's nearly caught up to me,' sparing a quick glance towards the sea the girl tried to judge the distance between her and freedom 'will I be able to make it?!'

Barely feet behind the girl now Smoker carried on his pursuit determined not to lose the girl for a second time 'No one gets past me, especially not criminals like her!' Truly, living up to his name 'White Chase' Smoker chased after the girl not falling behind for a fraction of a second.

The girl finally made it to the edge of the harbour and was about to give one last jump onto the sea, finally reaching her freedom but the Marine Captain had closed the gap between them and was mere inches away from catching her.

The woman pushed the wind from in front of her to her back giving her an extra burst of speed; Smoker pushed himself to his absolute limits and sped up as fast as he could go. The woman jumped and the Marine Captain reached out to grab her.

Well that's it chapter 1, please review I would love to know what you think any constructive critism is appreciated as I would really like to improve my writing skills. Thank you for reading and I hope you would like to follow me on this journey!

Morie