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One Piece: Straw Hat Yuki
East Blue Saga
Dawn Island Arc
Chapter One: Meet Monkey D. Yuki
"I told you Gramps, I'm going to be the Pirate Queen," proclaimed Yuki as she tried to fight her way out of the iron grip that Garp held her in. Garp was one of the vice admirals of the marines, famous for bringing in Gol D. Roger. That was the act which would give him the title of the Hero of the Marines. Now he dragged along his granddaughter while wearing a dark black suit. The little girl in his hands wore a bright red tank top and a baggy pair of shorts, along with a straw hat which held a promise to the red haired captain.
"Over my dead body," shouted Garp as he dragged the then seven year old Yuki through the dense forest. "First you ate that cursed fruit and now you won't stop babbling on about this stupid idea. I will see to it that both you and Ace become the strongest marines possible!"
"Damn, if I'm made of snow why does it hurt?" questioned Yuki as she desperately swatted away at Garp's hand to no effect. "Let me go gramps!"
"I guess this is my fault for leaving you alone in Fuusha Village," admitted Garp as they came to a clearing. Yuki quickly looked ahead to find a small log cabin she was being dragged towards. With a rough knock, Garp banged on the door. "Dadan, get out here," he commanded.
Slowly, the door creaked open to reveal Curly Dadan, the head of the Dadan family. She wore a beaded necklace around her neck with checkered pants and a collared shirt.
Behind her there was a small man with a sword strapped to his back and a bald man who was scared of the marine standing in front of him. "Gimme a break already Garp," she complained as she took a drag of her cigarette. "Ace is already ten years old, I can't handle him much longer." It was then that she noticed the seven year old girl in his grasp.
"Don't tell me you're dumping another one on your doorstep."
"This one's my granddaughter," boasted Garp.
"If she's as bad as the last one I couldn't give two hoots," said Dadan.
"Alright then make a choice," said Garp as he released the death hold he had on Yuki's cheek. "Would you rather spend the rest of your life behind bars or would you rather take another kid into your life? I could pull out a scroll on the number of crimes that you have committed."
"Well I don't want to be caught but sometimes I think that prison would be better than the hell you're putting me through," said Dadan as Yuki walked off to explore. "I've already got my hands full with Ace and now you want to go and dump this one on me as well. This kid's probably as much of a freak as the first one."
At that moment a large blob of spit landed on Yuki's cheek. "Ewe, spit!" complained Yuki as she tried to wipe the phlegm from her face. "Why'd you do that?" she asked the ten year old boy who had done the foul deed.
"Hey there Ace," said Garp with a smile.
"Oh, Ace your back," said Dadan as she looked at the boy.
"That's Ace, he's three years older than you," explained Garp as he smacked Yuki across the back of the head. "You're going to be living with him now on so you better get along."
"What, when did that happen?" asked Yuki as she held onto the straw hat which had threatened to fall off when Garp had hit her.
"I'll look after her," said Dadan knowing that there was no other alternative. Yuki stared at Ace baring her teeth while Ace simply stared at the girl with cold heartless eyes, a bloody spear held in his right hand. This was their first confrontation of many still to come.
XXX
"I hate mountain robbers," proclaimed Yuki as she remembered what 'Higuma the Bear' had done to Shanks. Thankfully now he had been killed by the vicious sea serpent which resided in the waters of Fuusha Village.
"Shut it brat, we're already tired of the likes of you," shouted Dadan over the dinner table. "If you don't like it here you can go and starve to death for all I care."
"Calm down boss," said one of the bandits who didn't want to see blood spilt over something so trivial.
Yuki turned and looked at the amount of meat that Ace had stashed in front of her and compared it to the small amount that he had. "I don't have that much, why can't I have that much," he said pointing at Ace's pile.
"Disrespectful child! This is meat from the buffalo that Ace caught and killed," explained Dadan. "He gives us some and that's what gets put in front of us. Now you have a lot of work which you will be starting tomorrow, you will clean, do the laundry, polish our shoes and weapons. Apart from that we will need you to rob, steal and swindle money from people. And if you mention a syllable of this to Garp I will make sure that that day will be your last. Apart from what Ace is willing to give you, you will have a bowl of rice a day. That is all you can have, if you want anything else you'll have to go out and find it yourself."
"Okay then," said Yuki agreeing which caused Dadan to gasp in shock.
"You're meant to cry," she said wanting to cry herself.
"Gramps abandoned me in a forest before; I know I can eat worms, frogs and snakes so long as I can find them. After all I need to be able to survive if I want to be a pirate," said Yuki with a smile before her attention turned to Ace who was just leaving the shack. She quickly jumped to her feet and gave chase. "Where's Ace going?" she asked herself.
"Wait, where are you going and did you just say pirate?" said Dadan only for her words to fall on deaf ears. Before she knew it Yuki had gone off in chase of Ace. "That's why I don't want to take care of the kids that Garp drops off here; they're all too strong willed."
XXX
"Hey I'm Yuki," called out the straw hat kid to only have Ace turn his head over his shoulder and throw a death glare in her direction. "I'm not angry about you spitting on me, do you want to be friends?" Ace's response was to use pure force to knock down a tree. Yuki was confused until fear overcame her as she saw the tree rolling down the hill in her direction. She screamed as the tree connected with her full on and rolled straight over her, if it had not been for her snow like body she would be dead. After inspecting herself and getting rid of some of the dirt which had been rubbed onto her hat, Yuki gave chase once more.
Yuki caught up to Ace when she found him crossing an unstable rope bridge. As Ace finished crossing he turned around to see Yuki running across it. Without hesitation, Ace cut the ropes causing the bridge to fall into the chasm below. He didn't bother to look as Yuki screamed for her life as she fell down into the dark abyss.
The next day, Ace would arrive back at the hut alone. "Where's Yuki?" asked Dadan.
"Don't know," said Ace shrugging the topic off as he walked outside into the night air.
"Hey boss, this is bad," said Dogura, the small man. "She hasn't been back here since yesterday."
"Well, if she dies who gives a damn, there's nothing we can do about it," said Dadan as she took a swig out of a bottle of grog in her hand. "We've already given up on Ace. In all honesty I don't care if Yuki dies or not, if the worst comes through we'll just tell Garp that it was an accident. Think of what will happen if the government finds out about Ace and the fact that he is the son of the devil," finished Dadan. Unbeknownst to her, Ace had heard the entire conversation.
XXX
It would be one week later, that the unbelievable would occur. "Yuki! You're alive!" exclaimed Dogura.
"What the hell happened to you?" asked Dadan as she looked at the bloody and beaten girl before her.
"I was being chased by wolves and I fell down the cliff," she lied, not wanting to say that this was Ace's fault.
"Well in that case you need to sleep," said Dadan throwing Yuki on a futon that lay on the ground. "Tomorrow we need you to do some jobs for us." Yuki was asleep before Dadan had even finished the sentence. Ace turned to the side of the cabin, not wanting to look at the miracle which had landed beside him. This was not the first time that Yuki would walk away from certain death as she chased after Ace again and again over the coming months, surviving everything that the jungle had to throw at her.
It would be three months later when Yuki finally managed to follow Ace all the way through the jungle without being spotted. When she climbed the final hurdle however, the result was not what she had been expecting. She had followed Ace to a dumpsite with garbage as far as the eye could see. A place full of crime and disease as the unwanted people of society fight it out with one another to survive. The unbearable stench is made only worse by the constant fires which cause all manner of things to burn. This place was known as 'The Gray Terminal.'
XXX
"Hey Sabo," whispered Ace so that his friend could only just hear him.
"Ah Ace," said the boy as he smiled, one of his teeth clearly missing. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry I was late," apologized Ace as he began to climb up the tree which currently separated them.
"Well since you were gone, I've already been and done the job in town," said Sabo with a smile.
"Is that so? Well so have I," said Ace proudly as he managed to get to the top where he greeted his friend with a handshake before he handed Sabo the money from his pocket. Sabo adjusted his top hat and coat as he began to count the money he had just received.
"Dammit you got more than me," said Sabo as he finished counting. "How did you manage to get all of this?"
"I robbed some people out the front gate, I think they might have been merchants," explained Ace. "Anyway just dump it in the hole and cover it back up, who knows who might see it."
"I wonder if we've got enough for a pirate ship," said Sabo as he covered up the hidden compartment.
"Pirate ship!" said Yuki as she overheard the last few words, her eyes glistening with glory. "You guys want to be pirates? So do I!" Ace looked down at the girl with anger while Sabo looked down at her in shock.
A few minutes later...
"So is this where you come every day Ace?" asked Yuki as she allowed Sabo to tighten the rope which bound her to a tree.
"Shut it!" said Ace incredibly peeved by the fact that Yuki had actually managed to find out where he went.
"So this is that Yuki brat you told me about?" asked Sabo.
"Yeah, and it looks like she followed me all the way here, and I didn't use the beaten path either." ground out Ace.
"Are you Ace's friend?" asked Yuki asked Sabo. "Do you want to be friends with me?"
"Shut up."
"That's why I said you should start living here too. The 'mountain training' you do every day while coming here has sure caused us a problem now. What should we do?"
"Yeah, she found out about our secret, if we let her go I just know she'll tell someone."
"Let's kill her," said Sabo seriously.
"Agreed," said Ace.
"WHAT!" yelled Yuki only just realizing the seriousness of the situation.
"Shut up you idiot," said Ace punching Yuki across the cheek.
"I didn't think you guys were going to kill me," said Yuki frantically struggling against the ropes which held her tightly to the tree.
"Sabo do it," said Ace.
"Why should I do it?" asked Sabo not wanting to take another's life.
"Well I've never done it," said Ace.
"HELP!" shouted Yuki.
"SHUT UP!" shouted all two children in unison.
"Hey I hear voices over here," came a voice in the distance causing Ace and Sabo to start sweating bullets.
"Shit, someone's coming," said Sabo as he tried not to panic.
"Untie the rope and let's get her out of here otherwise they'll find the treasure," said Ace trying to lead the other boy on.
"Too late," said Sabo as he made a run for it, closely followed by Ace as they abandoned Yuki. Both of them dove behind some foliage and peered through small gaps at the people who were now approaching Yuki.
"Dammit. So those toadies were transporting for Bluejam. And shit, I stole his money." confessed Ace as they looked at the three men approaching.
"He's got a real sword! That's one of Bluejam's underlings, Polchemi!" said Sabo. "He's a total psycho, whoever loses in a fight to him gets 'scalped' alive."
"ACE HELP ME!" shouted Yuki which only seemed to fire up the pirates.
"You know Ace kid?" said Polchemi.
"Yeah he's my friend but he just tried to kill me," explained Yuki to which the two free children effectively simultaneously face palmed.
"Those runts took our money, do you know where it's hidden?" asked Polchemi brandishing his sword threateningly.
Ace and Sabo held their breath knowing that Yuki decided their future right here and right now. "I don't know," she said while whistling and avoiding eye contact.
"Wow you suck at lying," said Polchemi. "In that case we're going to have to use other methods to get you to tell us," he said with a chuckle as he tossed Yuki over his shoulder and walked into the distance with the other two pirates close on his tail. Meanwhile, Ace and Sabo could only watch on in horror as Yuki was taken away before their very eyes.
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