Disclaimer: One Piece, one of the best anime/manga ever, does not belong to me. The only thing I own is this plot bunny that keeps whispering about this story.

Chapter One:

Marine? Hell no!

Monkey D. Luffy was the girl who was going to take the world by storm.

(However, she wasn't always Luffy.)

(But that doesn't matter.)

(She's Luffy now.)

"Shishishi," Luffy quietly laughed, eyes twinkling with joy as she looked at the sea.

Garp wondered what was going on in his precious granddaughter's head at the moment. What little adventure was Luffy imagining in her head? Was she fighting off pirates? Maybe rescuing some poor villagers from no-good bandits?

With a grin, the marine ruffled the girl's hair. It was getting a bit long, he noted that he'd have to help her trim it again soon.

Luffy startled in surprise before looking up at him.

Her surprised expression morphed into a joyous expression that bore no negative feelings before she jumped towards him to catch him in a hug.

"Pappy! You're back!"

"Bwahahaaha! Of course I am! Didn't I tell you I'd be back quick? The stupid pirates weren't any match for my Fist of Justice!" Garp heartily exclaimed, wrapping his own arms around his granddaughter.

Luffy grinned up at him. "Welcome back, I missed you."

Garp's grin morphed into a soft smile as the warm feeling familial love bubbled inside him. "I missed you too, Luffy."

Aside from the affection Garp was feeling, he also felt relieved and guilty at the same time.

Relieved, because Luffy had welcomed him with the same affectionate hug as usual.

The guilt he was more than used to, he had been feeling it since Dragon was a kid and Garp had to leave more often than not because of his duties as a marine. With Luffy, it was the same and different.

Somehow, Luffy managed to make him feel guiltier than his own son did. Maybe it was because Luffy didn't resent him for it. She didn't hate him for focusing more on his job than his own family. She loved him, despite how he'd always leave her behind in this small village and though he knew it was for her own safety, she didn't know. However, she loved anyways.

"Luffy?"

"Hmm?"

"Want to go get something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry!"

"Bwahahaaha! You're always hungry, Luffy!"

Luffy pouted, "You're always hungry too, Pappy."

Garp grinned and placed his granddaughter on top of his left shoulder. Luffy let out an excited squeal once she realized she was sitting on his shoulder.

"Where to?" Garp asked, letting Luffy decide their destination.

After all, Luffy always did seem happy when she was allowed to make a choice on something.

"To Makino's!" Luffy energetically roared, pointing towards their destination.

With their combined laughter, they managed to wake up the village before the sun had the chance to do so.

"So then Gyoru-ossan pulled out his knife and showed me how to gut the fish! Then he asked me if I wanted to eat some fish for lunch and I said yes because fish tastes good, not as good as meat, but still. When he finished gutting the fish, I went over to his home where Chicken-obasan cooked it!" Luffy excitedly rambled, recounting the tale of what she ate for lunch the day before.

Garp nodded along to the conversation, looking very interested despite how Makino and probably even Luffy knew that Garp's life was a hundred time more exciting than Chicken cooking fish for her husband and Luffy.

Even so, Makino couldn't help the warm smile on her face as she stared at the scene of Luffy and Garp sitting at the bar, exchanging stories of what had been going on in their lives since they had last seen each other.

With great reluctance, she interrupted Luffy's next tale about going fishing with the mayor by placing down a tray filled with veggies and meat in front of Luffy.

"Food!" Luffy immediately exclaimed before stuffing her face with said food.

Makino chuckled in amusement before turning her attention to a grinning Garp. "So, Garp-san, when did you get back?"

It had been bugging her since Garp entered Party's Bar with Luffy sitting on his shoulder. She hadn't seen any ship at all.

"Late last night," Garp answered. "I had some business with the mountain bandits, so I slept over there."

"Mountain bandits?"

Makino and Garp shifted their attention onto Luffy, whose eyes were practically sparkling in interest.

"There are mountain bandits on this island?!"

Makino paled, knowing somehow that Luffy would want to go check it out. It was common knowledge in the village that Luffy loved adventure. Meeting those bandits would probably be an adventure for the little girl.

"Yup," Garp casually confirmed, as if not realizing the danger of Luffy knowing.

Well, he probably genuinely didn't know, Makino realized with exasperation. Really, Luffy would be hopeless if she had only been exposed to Garp.

Luffy's face fell, much to Makino's confusion. "That's not cool."

Huh?

What?

Was Luffy getting sick?

"Oh?" Garp, however, took it in stride. "Why?"

Luffy picked her nose in a very non-lady like manner. "I hate mountain bandits."

Eh?

Despite the confusion, Makino relaxed in relief.

"Me too!" Garp proudly exclaimed, a big and proud grin on his face. "Don't worry Luffy, when you grow up and become a fine marine you can fight all the mountain bandits you want!"

'Oh no,' Makino thought, a sense of dread filling her.

Garp had just dropped the 'm' word.

Luffy puckered her lips and she avoided eye-contact with her grandfather as she whistled.

"Yeah, I'm totally going to become a marine and not a pirate," she said.

Usually, it was endearing that Luffy was too honest for her own good, but at the moment Makino couldn't help cringing at the obvious lie.

"Of course," Garp nodded, seeming like he was holding back tears. "I'm so proud you're going to follow my footsteps, unlike that no good son of mine."

'Ah, I forgot that Garp-san is as gullible as Luffy…' Makino thought to herself, not knowing whether to be amused or not.

It was honestly sad to see someone actually believing such an obvious lie.

"I've decided," Garp determinedly began. "I'm going to make you into a strong marine!"

Makino watched as Garp grabbed Luffy and began walking away.

The marine paused at the door and glanced at her with a sheepish smile. "I'll pay you for the food later."

Makino shook her head. "It's on the house. But, Garp-san, where are you going?"

Garp looked at her as if she was stupid.

"I said I was going to make Luffy a strong marine, didn't I? She needs training!"

"E-eh? But she's only four!" Makino protested, noting the fear that suddenly appeared in Luffy's eyes.

"I'm actually starting her training later than I wanted to," Garp admitted.

Before Makino could say anything else, Garp walked away with a fearful, yet intrigued Luffy.

The next time Garp would mention marine training, Luffy would not be intrigued. Nope, instead the girl would look downright traumatized and horrified.

"PAPPY, I DON'T WANNA BECOME A MARINE!" Luffy loudly bellowed, her heart beating in fear as she ran away from the wild boar that was chasing her.

"C'mon Luffy, you gotta fight back!" Garp bellowed, completely disregarding her words. "Marines don't run!"

"I'm not a marine!" Luffy shot back. "I wanna go back to the village and hear old man mayor's stories about the Lord of the Coast!"

'Crazy old man!' Luffy added in her head, feeling like she was going to run out of stamina soon. Even though fighting, or in this case running away from, a boar was better than when her grandfather had thrown her into the bottomless ravine for three days, there wasn't any animals attacking her in the ravine.

She was sure that other marines didn't have to go through this when they were kids.

Nope, it was probably only her that had to go through the insanity known as the Hero of the Marine's personal training. Hero? Ha! Her grandfather was practically acting like a villain right now. Who threw their own daughter into an allegedly bottomless ravine anyway?

Oh right, the same one that would stand by as people were going to execute his-

Luffy quickly cut that trail of thought off, desperately reminding herself that she wasn't going to let Ace get executed. Nope. Not in her timeline. No, Ace was going to live for years and years and more years on top of that. He was going to see her become the King of the Pirates. He was going to be there when she reaches the top one day. He wasn't going to die protecting her like he had done for the original Luffy.

He was going to live.

Because she wouldn't let him die.

He was important to her, even though he didn't know it yet. Even though he probably didn't even know she existed. It was okay, because she knew he existed and she was happy that he was born. She'd tell him that one day too. She would tell Ace, the lonely mountain boy from Garp's stories, that she cared.

In order for her to save Ace, she had to get stronger.

Stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and more stronger. That way, she could protect everything she would one day come to care about.

With her resolve reaffirmed, Luffy stopped running and turned around to face the boar she had spent the last ten minutes running away from.

Now that she thought about it...

"Pappy?" she asked, tensing in anticipation.

"What is it?"

Luffy swallowed down her saliva that was threatening to escape her mouth. "Can we have boar for lunch today?"

All that thinking made her hungry.

Her words made both Garp and the boar pause. The latter began paling at the starved look on her face.

"Of course! Listen up Luffy, in the jungle anything you defeat is food and you're food to anything that defeats you. Do you understand?"

Luffy's face morphed into an anticipating smile as her stomach growled. "I won't lose then!"

"Bwaahahahaha, that's my granddaughter!"

Luffy took her grandfather's laugh as a cue and tackled the boar as it began running away.

"Meat, meat, meat!" She started cheering as she pummeled the boar that valiantly fought back.

Later that night, Luffy eagerly bit into the roasted boar's leg, feeling incredibly proud of herself. Sure, it was just a small boar. And sure it had taken her almost half an hour to actually knock it out, but it was still her first. The first was always the best, she had heard somewhere. She was inclined to agree, considering the boar tasted better than the ones her grandfather would hunt sometimes.

So, with food filling her up, Luffy listened to another one of Garp's tales about the Lonely Mountain Boy, a.k.a Ace. Not that Garp knew that she knew who the boy was.

"-so then the boy asked the marine: do you think I should have really been born?"

Luffy froze at the question.

Garp didn't continue, maybe lost in thought.

But Luffy wanted to hear it. Even though she knew what her grandfather had answered, a part of her hoped that it was different. That her grandfather would surprise her with another highlight of the changes her existence caused, like when he had given her a book filled with fairy tales because she liked to read, unlike the original Luffy.

So, she swallowed the meat she had been chewing. "What did Inu answer?"

(Because while Ace was named "Mountain Boy", Garp had named himself "Inu" in his stories.)

"That kind of thing...you only find out by living," Garp recited, as if he had thought over the words a hundred times after saying them.

"...oh."

Luffy squashed down the disappointment she felt, because she knew all too well that Garp wasn't good when it came to cheering people up. She's been alive for like five years and whenever she was sad, it was the sea that cheered her up with promises of nakama, freedom and dreams.

"You don't like Inu's answer?"

"Nope," Luffy bluntly said.

"Oh? What would you answer if the Mountain Boy asked you that?" Garp seemed to genuinely want to hear her answer.

She didn't even have to think about it.

"Everyone has a right to exist. I mean, I have a right to exist, don't I? So he has the right too. I am happy that he was born, real or not."

Luffy squirmed slightly as Garp stared at her.

Finally, Garp looked away from her.

"He'd love to hear that," she heard him whisper in a wistful manner.

"Then," Luffy started, gaining her grandfather's attention as she gave him a serious look. "I'll find the Mountain Boy one day and I'll tell him that I'm happy he was born and anyone who says anything else are big bullies and don't count."

Garp beamed at her, proud.

Luffy beamed back, warmed at her grandfather's approval.

"Then I'm going to become pirate!"

Garp's face fell into a pissed look.

Luffy frowned in confusion.

Wait...

She said that out loud, didn't she?

"...I thought you said you were going to become a marine."

"I was lying."

Luffy then did the most sensible thing she's ever done in her life.

She ran.

"GET BACK HERE LUFFY, YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME A MARINE AND NOT SOME CRIMINAL!"

Luffy opened her eyes without prompting, her body all too used with her habit of waking up early. The young girl paused mid-yawn as her ears registered the loud snoring besides her.

Blinking in confusion, she rolled to her side to see her grandfather snoring loudly besides her.

The sight of the marine soothed an ache in her heart that she couldn't really explain and she found herself feeling happy for some reason. Yes, Garp was always away for months and was barely there for a few weeks when he visited, but when he's around she wasn't alone.

It made her happy, because by kami she hated being alone.

Makino and the others were nice company, but they had their own lives. They had their own jobs and their own responsibilities. Garp , on the other hand, didn't have any real responsibilities when he was visiting her.

She could drag him around wherever she wanted all day long and he'd bare it with that grin of his that reminded her of her own grin because Garp loved his family. Because, she wasn't as dense as the original Luffy, and she could see how Garp glowed out of sheer happiness whenever she hugged him, whenever she tells him she loves him and every time she insisted they sleep in the same bed so that her awesome grandpa could chase away her nightmares.

Garp loved his job, that was true, but the man loved the idea of having a loving family as well. Luffy knew for a fact that Ace, as much as Garp adored the mountain boy, didn't smile at Garp, didn't call him grandpa like Garp wanted him to and didn't really show the old man the familial love the man craved.

Though, it was okay.

Luffy was here and she had the capacity to shamelessly show her love in spades.

"…Luffy…"

Luffy blinked, once again shifting her focus to her sleeping grandfather.

"…strong marine..!" Garp grinned in his sleep.

A small smile, almost but not really regretful, twitched onto Luffy's features.

That was one thing she couldn't do for her grandpa.

Even if she wanted to, it was impossible. Her father was Monkey D. Dragon for crying out loud. She had the blood of a criminal running in her veins and that was more than enough of a reason for the government to put a bounty on her head and execute her.

Just like Ace.

Just like Robin.

Her smile morphed into a grin as she cuddled up to her beloved grandfather, because she could at least do this.

"Nah, I'm going to become the Pirate King."

"I'm so proud of you Luffy!" Garp exclaimed happily. "Ha! I told you my Luffy was strong Sengoku!"

Luffy giggled, deciding that the day could wait as her eyes slowly closed back.

Chapter End.

Author's note: hahaha..I'm sorry. I have committed the ultimate One Piece sin: SI!Luffy AND fem!Luffy. Blame the plot bunny. Though to be honest, I don't really consider this story a self-insert.

Not really?

I mean this Luffy doesn't act like me at all.

Kind of like "Sol Invictus" (the SI(?)!fem!Luffy) that inspired me to write this fanfic, Luffy is still Luffy, but with memories of someone else in her head. (?) Even I don't know what I'm trying to write.

To make it simpler, this Luffy is 80% Luffy and 20% OC. Later on, probably 88% Luffy and 12% OC.

I dunno guys, just roll with it. Expect a lot of ASL fluff and even more Straw Hats fluff. Oh and lots of different character interpretation and me adding any and every headcannon I find (and like) online. "Sanji has weekly cooking lessons with the crew" will become a thing in my fic.

FAQ:

What about your other stories?

I'm trying to finish "Death Goddess" and "Peacemaker" before this year ends. Sayu Yagami as well. Oh, and my other One Piece story probably won't be updated till next year. Gomen.

Same Devil Fruit or nah?

Same. If I ever write Luffy with another devil fruit, it'd be in another story with 100% Luffy. Though still haven't decided on fem!Luffy or nah for the other story.

New Nakama?

Hmmm. I don't feel right messing with the canon!StrawHatcrew, so probably not. New allies on the other hand? Probably.

Love interest?

Reverse harem with clueless Luffy. Maybe she'll get the clue when she's older...probably not.

More importantly, a question that will decide something important in the story:

Revolutionary!Sabo or pirate Sabo? You decide.