Yo! Welcome to the 1st chapter!

Now, I just gotta say, this story is inspired by a ton of fabulous stories, most notably Growing Strong by silencia20, Tell It to The Marines by Tsume Yuki, and This Bites! by Xomniac. These guys are some of my all-time favorite authors, so if you haven't checked them out yet, well, what are you waiting for! But mind you, it's only inspiration, so there will be no shameless plagiarism here, no sir.

But yeah! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Sage Potter was a smart girl.

She knew that something about her situation was a little… off.

It was all the small things, you see. She drew the context clues from her surroundings.

Her clothes, no matter how she looked at them, simply were unlike anything the other kids at school wore. No, they had bright and colorful shirts and pants that actually fit them. They didn't have to wear clothing that was held together with pins to make sure that it didn't slip down her slight form.

See, that was another thing. She was small. Very small. Almost every single adult she came across who asked her how old she was stunned when she told them the answer, they all said the same thing: "I've never seen such a small 6-year-old!"

And her classmates. They always talked about the new games and toys that they had received, or what new food they were going to eat with their parents. Not once did anyone mention anything about chores. Because they all had chores, right? She couldn't possibly be the only one to wash the laundry, mow the lawn, do the dishes, cook dinner, vacuum the house, then mop the floors, then clean Dudley's room, then take out the trash, then prune the hedges, then iron the clothes…

Right?

Another thing. Not once has she seen a child come to school hurt. Sometimes a kid will be missing from school for several days because they were sick, but even when she was limping from when Uncle Vernon 'disciplined' her, they still forced her to come to school. Even when everything was blurry and she was sniffling every few seconds and she was dizzy because Dudley had locked her out of the house during a thunderstorm, she still had to come to school.

Even Dudley got sick days. She had just taken it as a fact of life, but now that she thought about it…

And finally, the issue with her 'family'. After they talked about it at school, Sage knew that there was something really wrong with her situation.

It was just another normal English morning, with the skies completely overcast and a light drizzle pattering against windows.

"Good morning, class! Isn't it just a lovely day today?"

32 pairs of disbelieving eyes stared at the teacher in silence.

The young, bubbly woman just took it in stride and continued on. "And today we're going to be having a discussion circle! You all know what to do! Come and sit in a circle!"

Sage blinked blearily and slowly rose from her desk to amble to the open area. She strategically sat herself down in a corner not too close and not too far, so that she'd be a part of the circle, but only just.

Once the other kids noticed her, they moved faster in order to snag a place for themselves that wasn't next to her.

Everyone knew what happened if you got too close to Sage Potter. Dudley and his gang would come after you for a little 'fun'.

In the end, Sage watched as a timid, sniffling boy and girl ended up on either side of her, trying to scooch away from her as much as was physically possible.

As was normal, the oblivious teacher didn't take any note of it. "Alright class! This morning in our discussion circle, we're going to be talking about Family!"

She clapped her hands together, trying to get a reaction, but as always, it fell short. And as always, she ignored it and moved on like a pro.

"Now then, who would like to go first?"

Ava, one of the more popular girls in the class, raised her hand. "Well, my family is pretty weird. When we go to the movie theatre, they like to get caramel popcorn. I don't understand how anybody could like caramel popcorn."

Sage's eyes drifted to Dudley, whose face was tomato red. He looked like he was at war with himself, one, because Sage knew that he had a crush on Ava, and two, she had just dissed caramel popcorn, one of his favorite snacks. He looked like he didn't know whether to speak up and agree with her or whether he was about to smack a bitch.

In the end, he just stayed quiet, his face still as red as her hair.

A good choice, Sage commended internally. Anything to come out of Dudley's mouth was either brainless or offensive, and she knew that if he were to start another fight at school, she would be the bitch getting smacked by Uncle Vernon.

And so the conversation in the talking circle went on, with kids either bragging about their parents or complaining about them.

Sage must have somehow drawn attention to herself (which wasn't hard, really, with the color of her hair), because out of the blue, Ms. Yorkson called her out.

"My, Sage, you've been awfully quiet, haven't you? Why don't you talk about your family?"

After internally cursing for a moment, Sage shrugged. "Well, there's not much to tell. My parents are dead."

Ms. Yorkson gasped in sympathy. "Oh, how dreadful! Do you know anything about them?"

"Not really. I've always been told that they were useless drunks who went and killed themselves off in a car crash, and, to quote Aunt Marge, "Good riddance."."

Ms. Yorkson looked upset for a moment before she schooled her face into its default sunny expression again, but Sage caught it before it disappeared.

"Alright, so who are you staying with, then?"

"Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia."

"Oh! That's so kind of them! So, what do you do with them?"

Again, Sage shrugged. "Nothing much. Just chores."

Ms. Yorkson looked positively ecstatic with the new topic. "Chores! That's wonderful! I'm sure everyone here does chores! Tell me, what chores so you do, Sage?"

Sage paused for a moment to formulate the complete list and took a deep breath before she began to recount her daily duties. And as the list went on and on, Ms. Yorkson's countenance grew darker and darker. Finally, after Sage finished reciting her list of chores, there was a stunned silence in the room.

Finally, Callum let out a low breath of astonishment. "And I thought that my parents were hard on me, mate."

Ms. Yorkson adopted a brittle smile before she turned to a clearly unaffected Dudley.

"And you, Dudley? If I recall correctly, aren't you Sage's cousin? Do you help her out with her chores?"

Dudley's clear look of disgust spoke volumes. "Of course not! Why would I help her? She's a freak! It's her job to do all the work in the house!"

Ms. Yorkson looked as if she had swallowed a lemon. "…I see. Who told you this, Dudley?"

Dudley looked bored as he stated, "My Dad and Aunt Marge."

"And what about you, Dudley? What chores do you do?"

Sage almost snorted as she watched Dudley ponder the question. Actually, she was curious to the answer herself. Did he have any chores which she didn't know about?

"I… wash my hands."

Sage could almost feel the incredibility oozing out from Ms. Yorkson. "You… wash your hands…?"

Dudley proudly nodded. "Yes. Before and after every meal."

Again, nobody spoke as they pondered Dudley's statement.

Finally, Carla softly spoke. "I don't think that's a chore, Dudley."

Sage could see the first vestiges of rage bloom on Dudley's round face. "What do you mean? Of course it is! Washing up before meals is a chore! So is taking baths, brushing my teeth, and waking up in the morning! I don't like it, so it's a chore!" By the end of his tirade, his voice had risen to a shout and his fists were beginning to slam into the ground, a clear start to a tantrum.

Ms. Yorkson, bless her poor sunny soul, tried to diffuse the situation before it got too out of hand, because everyone knew what happened when Dudley Dursley threw a hissy-fit.

"Alright then, Dudley. Those are your… chores. Make sure to complete them well, yes?"

Slowly, Sage watched as her chubby cousin's body's writhing subside and the pinkness fade from his face. He grumbled out a quiet response.

Now that the cheery mood was completely obliterated, Ms. Yorkson stood up and clapped her hands together, a smile pasted on her young, pretty face. "Alright, you lot! The discussion circle is over for today. Time to make your way to the art room. I heard that Mr. Santino has something special that he wants to teach you today!"

Everyone, grumbling, stood up and made their way into a clumsy line. And, as was normal, Sage waited until she took her place at the end.

Just as the line began to trail off into the hallway, Ms. Yorkson called out for her.

"Sage, would you be a dear and hang back for just a moment?"

The small redhead just silently turned and waited.

Ms. Yorkson slowly came to a stop in front of her and examined her from head to toe.

Sage knew what she saw. A slip of a girl wearing a faded green button-down shirt 4 sizes too big for her with a belt wrapped around her waist to keep the shirt from billowing like a balloon every time she moved, and worn, holey corduroy pants that was folded multiple times at the ends.

She was also covered in scratches and bruises from Dudley's little 'games' and Uncle Vernon's 'disciplinings', but she learned to hide those under the long sleeves of her shirt.

Sage knew that she didn't make an impressive picture. She wasn't like the other girls, who came to school dressed in pretty frocks and dresses. She only had what Aunt Petunia threw at her. It was up to her to make herself look presentable.

But the one thing that she was proud of was her hair.

Her luxurious, red hair. She asked Aunt Petunia about it once, and instead of yelling at her like she normally did, Aunt Petunia just stared at her hair and quietly told her that it was just like her mother's hair.

Ever since that day, Sage made sure to take care of it the best she could. She always shampooed and conditioned it twice and brushed her hair at least thrice a day. Her hair was her treasure. It was shiny and smooth and as red as blood. She loved every inch of it.

But most importantly, it helped her cover up her scar.

She didn't know where she got it, or when she got it, all Sage knew was that there had always been a lightning-bolt shaped scar on her forehead. And Uncle Vernon hated it, saying that it drew too much attention. As long as she could remember, Dudley had been jealous of it, saying that he wanted a cool-looking scar too. It got to the point where he had tried to carve one out for himself, but thankfully Aunt Petunia walked in on him holding a razor up to his face before he could have permanently mutilated himself. And since then, both Uncle Vernon and Dudley held no small amount of resentment towards it.

It was either she cover it up with her hair or she had to wear an ugly headband every time she stepped out of the house. Thank the lord for small mercies.

Her hair was also the one thing Aunt Petunia took her side on. Uncle Vernon and Dudley often complained about her hair, about how long and eye-catching it was, and always begged for Aunt Petunia to cut it, but she always refused.

It was the one reason Sage had a tiny bit of affection for her Aunt and not her other 'family' members.

After Ms. Yorkson's inspection, the pretty blonde woman bent down and knelt so that she was face to face with Sage.

"Sweetheart, would you mind meeting with me during your lunch break? I would like to talk to you."

Sage frowned. "About what? Did I do something wrong?" Oh god. She hoped that she didn't. If Uncle Vernon heard about this…

Ms. Yorkson just smiled gently. "No, nothing wrong. It's just… something in our previous discussion caught my attention, is all."

Sage examined her face for any signs of deceit, but when she found none, she nodded slowly. "That's fine, Ms. Yorkson. I can meet with you at Lunch." It wasn't like she had anyone to sit with, anyway.

The young teacher smiled. "Splendid! Come to my office in the Staff room, then. Now, you had better run on down to your next class. Don't want to keep Mr. Santino waiting!"

As soon as the bell rang, Sage slinked her way out of the classroom before she could be roped into another game of 'Hunt the Potter'. Yeesh, she hated that game.

She quietly made her way to the Staff Room and softly knocked on the door.

It didn't take very long for a teacher to come and open the door. With a smile, he said, "Hello there! Do you need anything?"

Sage nodded. "Ms. Yorkson asked me to come and meet her."

The teacher nodded and opened the door wide enough for her to slip through. Then he turned. "Follow me. I'll show you where her office is."

Sage trailed after him, not paying very much attention to the rest of the room. Finally, he came to a stop in front of a door with a sign that read Sheila Yorkson.

The teacher opened her door a crack then peeked in. After a few seconds, he pulled his head out and glanced down at Sage. "Sorry, it looks like she's on a call. Would you mind waiting for a few minutes?"

Sage just shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Excellent. Here, take a seat."

Sage slid into a chair placed outside Ms. Yorkson's door and waved bye to the teacher as he left.

With nothing else to do, Sage reclined back into her seat and closed her eyes.

In a few moments, she was able to catch the tail-end of the conversation Ms. Yorkson was having.

"-ut she's just a child, Mr. Bradford! You should see her! She looks… looks… emaciated! She's just so tiny! And she's wearing these clothes that are obviously not hers! They're much too big for her and make her look even smaller!"

There was a long pause, then, "No, it's not because the family isn't well off, sir. She lives with her Aunt and Uncle, and their son comes dressed to the nines! He's also obviously very well fed and a bit spoiled, too!"

Another pause. "Sir, you need to see her to understand. I don't know how I've missed it. She's just… different from all the other children. She has this distant look in her eyes whenever I see her. She doesn't talk to the other kids and doesn't speak when she doesn't need to. That's not normal child behavior, sir!"

There was a long pause this time. "Of course I'm sure. You should have heard her talking about all the chores her Aunt and Uncle make her do. It's inconceivable for a six-year-old to run a lawnmower!"

A short pause and an exasperated sigh. "No, sir, I'm not joking. She says that her Aunt and Uncle make her mow the lawn and Iron the clothes. If that isn't child abuse, or at the very least, negligence, then I'll move to Antarctica!"

Another longer pause and a resigned sigh. "I know sir. But… I just can't accept it! Families are supposed to be loving! No matter what, they're supposed to be loved and cherished regardless of whatever happens! This… just breaks my heart, Mr. Bradford. She's really the sweetest, smartest girl you'll ever meet and her spirit's slowly being broken down by those monsters she calls relatives!"

Sage tuned out the rest of the conversation.

In a matter of seconds, her whole perception of her situation had been destroyed.

So. It wasn't normal to have so many chores to do while Dudley could go out and play.

So it wasn't normal to have these kinds of clothes.

So it wasn't normal for Dudley to be so big and for her to be so small.

…And it wasn't normal for her… family to treat her like this.

And with that revelation, Sage sat in stunned silence until Ms. Yorkson came out of her office to greet her with a sunny smile.

"Oh, Sage honey, you've been waiting all this time, haven't you? I'm so sorry, but you see I had a phone call I had to make. You know how it is for grownups, right?" The blonde woman smiled sheepishly.

Sage stared at her before she hesitantly piped up. "Is it true what you said? That it's not normal for me to do all the chores in the house while Dudley sits and watches the Telly?"

Ms. Yorkson's smile slid off her lips and a solemn expression found its way onto her face. She bent down so that she was face to face with the tiny redhead.

"Sage. You need to understand, most children don't have to work as hard as you do."

Sage looked perplexed. "But… I have to do all the chores because I'm a freak. That what Aunt Marge always tells me. Dudley is her 'little Diddums', so he doesn't have to do anything."

Ms. Yorkson suddenly looked very sad. "No, Sage. That's not true. Your Aunt Marge is wrong. You're not a freak. No child is. It's wrong that they've been treating you and Dudley differently."

Sage stared at her, and suddenly the last piece in the puzzle just clicked. "So… my family doesn't love me, right? Why don't they love me?"

Ms. Yorkson looked heartbroken. "I don't know, Sage. I really don't know."

The rest of the day, Sage was just numb.

She didn't feel anything when Dudley pushed her off the swing at recess.

She didn't feel anything when Uncle Vernon shouted at her for being late when he came to pick them up from school.

She didn't feel anything when Aunt Marge arrived at their house for dinner and threw her large coat at her roughly.

Sage just thought about the fact that her family didn't love her.

And after thinking about it for hours, Sage concluded that she must have been mistaken. After all, family couldn't possibly not love one another, right?

And so she decided to make an effort. Extending the olive branch, so to say.

And so, when she was serving up dinner for Uncle Vernon, Aunt Marge and Dudley, she summoned up her courage and spoke up in a low but unwavering voice.

"Uncle Vernon? I was wondering if I could eat with you all tonight."

There was an absolute pin-drop silence in which Sage allowed herself to hope.

And then it was all crushed to pieces when Aunt Marge began guffawing uproariously.

It took some time for the large woman to regain control of herself, but when she did, her face was ruddy from all the laughing.

"You? You want to eat with us? What a ridiculous notion! What gave you such a preposterous idea?"

Sage was speechless for a moment, before she managed to regain control of her motor skills once more. "Well, this afternoon Ms. Yorkson told me that I'm a bit small for my age and that I should eat something other than leftovers, and well," She hesitated for a moment, "Because we're… family."

And that statement triggered another round of uncontrollable laughter. "Family? Yes, so we are, but quite reluctantly. And what exactly is your point?"

Sage swallowed, her sudden bout of courage swiftly draining away in the face of an irritated Marge. "Well, you see, family is supposed to love each other…"

And with that, Marge's mocking expression melted into a mean sneer. "Love each other? You're quite the ungrateful brat, aren't you? Look what all my brother has done for you! Housed you, fed you, clothed you, and you dare ask for more?"

Sage shrinked back minutely. "But-"

"What 'but'?" Aunt Marge roared. "Why would we ever love a freak like you?"

Sage cringed, then straightened and glared at the obese woman. "I'm not a freak! Ms. Yorkson said that no child is a freak!" And just as Sage finished her sentence, the light bulb and all of the glasses on the table simultaneously shattered.

There was a stunned silence before Marge rounded on her, snarling. "You see, you are a freak! Just like your freak Mummy and freak Daddy who died in a freak accident because they didn't want to be with a freak like you!"

Sage cupped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

Then a wave of pure force lifted Marge's large form and flung it back until she roughly crashed into the wall, knocking a few picture frames free from their perches.

Vernon and Dudley called out to her in alarm, but Sage kept going heedless of what she had just done.

"Mum and Dad loved me! Because family loves each other!"

And with that, Sage turn tail and bolted.

From behind, she could hear her Aunt's furious shouts of, "That little bitch! If she thinks that she can get away with that then she has no clue what's coming for her! Ripper, go bring her to me!"

Sage just managed to slam the door to her closet shut right before it shuddered under the onslaught of the gigantic bulldog. Sage shrieked and scuttled as far away from the door as she could, but in her tiny, cramped closet, it wasn't very far.

She watched in terror as the wooden fibers of the door began to snap, revealing the dog's angry eyes.

Tears streamed down Sage's face as the canine grew closer and closer.

She closed her eyes and made one desperate prayer.

I just want family who loves me. Please… that's all I ask for.

And suddenly there was no more barrier between her and Ripper.

Sage resignedly tensed her body for what was sure to be pain, but just when the dog's teeth were about to sink into her, she felt an intense pull at her stomach and suddenly her body was squeezed until it was unbearable and she couldn't breathe, can'tbreathecan'tbreathecantbreathe…

And suddenly she could, and she was falling.

It's a well-established fact that the Red-Haired Pirates loved to party.

Meat, booze, bonfires, they always go for the whole shebang.

And, as is another accepted fact, with great partying comes great hangovers.

And sometimes, with great hangovers comes great hallucinations.

Hey, it wasn't Shank's fault that sometimes the morning after made him a little trippy, especially when you were as hard of a partier as he was.

But for the life of him, he just couldn't figure out why on hell he was hallucinating a small, red figure falling towards him from the sky.

Even as he stared at it, it never went away. In fact, it just got alarmingly closer and closer.

Shanks stuck out a hand and hit something squishy.

"Oi! Roo! Wake up!"

"SNORT- Huh? Wha- Cap'n?"

"Roo. Tell me. Do you see what I see?"

Lucky Roo just groaned. "Captain, we're not playing that game again."

Shanks shushed him. "No, seriously. Do you see it too?"

With a grunt of effort, Roo rolled himself onto his back and gazed up at the sky. After scrunching his face up in confusion, he replied, "For once, I do see it. Huh. Whaddya know. I'm going crazy too."

Both the men watched it for a few seconds, before Roo asked, "Cap'n? Is it just me, or is it getting closer?"

And indeed, the red figure was growing larger by the second.

Shanks rubbed his ears. "Can you hear that? It's like a high-pitched squealing noise."

Roo nodded. "Yeah. I can hear it." And after a pause. "…We're tripping, aren't we?"

Shanks nodded. "Probably."

Both of them watched as the figure grew larger and larger and the squealing grew louder and louder, until they were able to make out that it was actually a girl falling from the high heavens screaming her ass off.

Shanks only had time to declare "Oh shit-!" before he hardened his arms and chest with Armament Haki just as the figure slammed into him.

The combined force of the fall sent both the redheads smashing through the deck.

Lucky Roo just looked at the hole in astonishment for a few seconds before he clumsily stumbled to his feet and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"OI! WAKE THE HELL UP! SOMETHING JUST ATTACKED THE CAPTAIN! GET YOUR ASSES READY FOR BATTLE!"

There was a collective groan of pain before everyone began springing up and readying their weapons.

Benn Beckman rubbed his face before he exhaled exasperatedly and rolled to his feet. He yawned and walked over to Roo and the hole, stretching his arms on the way.

"What happened this time, Roo?"

Both men peered down into the hole marring the smooth deck of the Red Force.

"Well, Captain woke me up then asked if I was seeing what he was seeing. I thought that he was playing that stupid game again, but this time there really was something falling outta the sky. The next thing you know the thing fell straight on the Captain and put a hole in our deck."

The men continued to stare at the hole. Beckman sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "On any other day, I'd think that you were joking, but as it stands, the proof is right here."

Roo snorted. "Believe me, if I didn't know better, I'd think that I was joking too. But hey. This is the Grand Line, after all. Expect the unexpected, right?'

Beckman grunted in agreement before he leaned in so he could see into the hole better. "Captain? You all right?"

The only response to his query was a pain-filled groan.

Beckman raised his hands to his mouth and lit a cigarette. "See? He's fine."

A groaning Yasopp staggered his way over to the duo. "Whoooo, that was some good shit last night. So, what'd I miss?"

Roo was already gnawing on another piece of meat. "Shanks got hit with something that fell from the sky. Couldn't really see what it was, but it was red."

Yasopp whistled as he cracked his back. "No kidding. Huh. That's never happened before."

Beckman blew out a plume of smoke. "Tell me about it."

Yasopp leaned in and hollered, "Oi! Captain! You need a hand?"

Another groan was his answer.

Beckman grunted. "I'm going to take that as a yes." Then he leaped into the hole.

Roo finished off his piece of meat before snatching another one and jumping in after him. Yasopp sighed exasperatedly before he grabbed his rifle and leaped in after them.

Down on the lower level of the deck was the fearsome Pirate Captain lying in a heap with a bundle of red nestled across his chest.

Blearily, Shanks opened his eyes to meet those of his crewmates and groaned again. "Talk about terrible ways to aggravate a killer hangover," he rasped.

Simultaneously, all of his assembled crewmate's eyebrows raised.

Yasopp scrunched his face up in confusion. "Uh… correct me if I'm wrong, but is that a girl, Captain?"

Shanks just nodded. "Yes, it would seem that it is."

Roo just shook his head. "Now I've really seen everything. Little girls raining straight out of the sky. What's next? She'd turn out to be long lost family?" he scoffed.

Shanks' eyes sharpened. "What makes you say that, Roo?"

Beckman lifted a hand and pulled his cigarette out of his mouth. "Well, she has the exact same hair as you do, which is surprising because across the entire Grand Line, there's never been anyone to match your exact same shade."

At that, Shanks' eyes widened and he scrambled to sit up, groaning when his body protested the motion. He stared at the small girl intensely.

After a long, uncomfortable pause, Shanks looked up with a fire in his eyes and growled out, "This had better not be some kind of cosmic joke, otherwise someone's going to die."

Aaaannnddd that's a wrap! Thanks for reading!

Whooo, bet you all weren't expecting an update this soon, weren't you? *Wiggles eyebrows* But sadly, this trend is not to continue because my classes are starting on the 17th. A real pity.

But yeah! Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a nice day! That's all for now, folks!