Once again, I don't own One Piece, but Dawn belongs to me!
Enjoy!
"You're really gonna leave me behind again Shanks?" The violet haired girl said with a pout.
Shanks smiled and ruffled her hair fondly. "I would bring you with me kiddo, but I'm afraid that your grandpa and grandma threatened to mount my head above the bar if I ever took you outside of the Grand Line again after what happened last time." He said sadly.
"It wasn't even that bad!" Dawn protested, skulking. "Mihawk was with me the entire time! Not to mention old man Garp showed up half way through the fight! I was never in any real danger, and if I had been all three of you would have dropped everything to beat those bastards to death with their own skulls!"
"And of that I have no doubt." Shanks agreed as he laughed at her description. "But you forget that Garp nearly took you away from us, claiming that you were going to be a fine Marine wife. We only just managed to spirit you away before the Marines with him attacked us."
Dawn grimaced and shuttered at the memory, before nodding in reluctant agreement. "Alright." She relented before pointing at him threatingly. "But you have to promise you'll call at least once a week to update me!"
Shanks let out a loud laugh as he pulled her into a hug. "Alright Dawnie," He agreed, ruffling her hair again as he pulled away. "We're just going to East Blue though! No one strong ever comes from that sea!"
Dawn raised one eyebrow challengingly. "I can give you two examples right off the top of my head." She deadpanned. Shanks raised an eyebrow before motioning her to continue. Dawn raised one finger. "Garp the Hero," She deadpanned. Shanks reared back in surprise as she lifted a second finger. "And Gol D. Roger."
Shank's opened and closed his mouth for few moments before he let out a sigh. Dawn smiled in triumph as he relented. "I see your point." He said reluctantly. "I'll be careful little sister." Dawn nodded as the red haired pirate pulled her into another hug before standing up and walking onto the waiting ship.
"Don't worry Dawn." Ben Beckmann said, ruffling her hair as he passed her. "I'll make sure he keeps that promise." Dawn smiled and nodded.
"BYE SHANKS! BYE BEN! I'LL SEE YOU WHEN YOU GET BACK!" Dawn said, waving goodbye as they set off. Rayleigh put a hand on her shoulder and steered her away from the docks with a smile.
A tall older woman with black and grey hair and sea green eyes laughed as Dawn tackled her. "Auntie Volupina!" Dawn squealed as the woman swung her around and snuggled her.
"Hey there little dawn." She said, setting the eight year old back on her feet and ruffling her hair.
"Did you bring it?!" Dawn asked excitedly.
Volupina nodded as she reached into her bag and pulled out a worn and aged journal with a faded blue cover. "Here it is sweetheart." She said, gingerly handing it to the child who looked at it with wide eyes. "The first book of my adventures. Now make sure you take good care of that." She said seriously, giving Dawn a stern look. "It's the rough draft of Seeking Freedom and has the beginnings of my new books Beyond the Horizon and The New Era. It's completely priceless, and a lot of people would be very angry if they knew I was still writing so don't let anyone except family see it, okay?" Dawn nodded in wordless awe, cradling the book closer.
Volupina ruffled her hair again with a smile. "Now, this isn't my only journal Dawnie." She said, tapping her on the nose. "I've hidden others throughout the Grand Line." Dawn lit up in excitement at the implications. "Now, it won't be easy, but each book has the name of the island where the next journal is hidden."
"I'm gonna find them all some day Auntie Vol." Dawn said, her eyes shining with determination.
Volupina smiled wishfully. "You're gonna have to be really strong to do that Dawnie." She said.
"I can do it!" Dawn said, her voice blazing with conviction. "I'll become the Strongest Woman in the World!"
"You're going to have to beat Uncle Edward then." Volupina said as a wide D smile stretched across her face, showing off elongated canines, which Dawn mirrored perfectly before she gave her a nervous look.
"Is he really that strong auntie?" Dawn asked curiously.
Volupina threw back her head and laughed. "My husband is that strong and far stronger kit." She said, her sea green eyes sparkling with laughter. "He's the only one Roger could never beat."
Dawn's eyes went wide in shock and awe, before they narrowed in determination. "Then one day, I'll be strong enough to beat him!" She declared.
Booming laughter shook the bar, and Dawn whirled around with wide eyes as a positively massive man with whitening blond hair, a massive crescent shaped white mustache, and warm brown eyes stepped inside. He was wearing baggy tan pants that were held up by black sash and were tucked into back ship-boots. His upper torso was bare, showing off rippling and scared muscles, but resting on his shoulders was a red, gold, and white captain's cloak. "Gurarararara!" He laughed, before kneeling down in front of Dawn, who was still looking up at him with wide eyes. "You really think you'll be able to take my head Dawn?"
Dawn shook her head. "Not right now! I'm still just a kid, and you'd squash me in five seconds flat. Besides, I don't want to kill you. You're family! But kicking your ass?" She smiled, showing off all of her teeth. "I'll do that when I get older. Then you'll have to relinquish the title to me!"
"Please, as if a pipsqueak like you could do anything like that to pops." A blond teenager said as he walked in the doors. He was probably about fifteen, and had a head of straw blond hair, lazy blue eyes, and the beginnings of stubble on his chin. A large purple tattoo covered most of his chest, which was displayed thanks to the open button up purple shirt he was wearing. He was wearing dark blue trousers held up with a lighter blue sash and a gold chain link belt.
Dawn glared at him, her sea blue-green eyes narrowing in anger. "Like I'm gonna challenge him now." She said sarcasitly, making him narrow his eyes at her. "For Kami's sake I'm only eight years old! I'll come back and challenge him in ten years! When I'm eighteen I'll take him on and win!"
"You'll have to get through me first squirt." The teenager challenged.
"Marco." Volupina warned lowly. "First division commander or not, if Dawn wants that title she'll have got through me first. After all, I hold the title of the World's Strongest Woman." She turned a confident grin at Dawn, who narrowed her eyes at her aunt.
"I'll do it." Dawn said confidently, making them all stop short. "If I have to go through all three of you, and your entire crew for that title, I'll do it! You can count on that! I WILL BE THE WORLD'S STRONGEST WOMAN!"
Edward smiled down at his niece, before ruffling her hair. "We'll be waiting for you in the new world then Dawn." He said, before getting up and walking out. Marco and Volupina followed them, both of them shooting smiles at the younger girl.
"Grandpa?" Dawn asked, looking up as Rayleigh.
"Yes Dawn?" The graying man asked, smiling down at her.
"Can you teach me Haki?"
"Alright, your training starts now."
"Haki is part will, part mind, and part body." Rayleigh lectured as he and Dawn were sitting in the lot behind the bar, away from prying eyes. "To unlock, manifest, and preform the three colors and their variants one must be completely in harmony whether it be body or soul."
Dawn tilted her head in confusion. "Three Colors? I remember mommy telling me about Concealment, but is that one of the three colors?"
Rayleigh shook his head. "Concealment Haki is one of the variant branches." He explained. "Specifically of Observation Haki. The other two are Armament, and Conquerors. The fact that you were able to hide your presence from a Marine Admiral and me proves just how far your mother trained you in that variant after you unlocked Observation."
"But why would she only teach me that one?" Dawn asked, her face betraying her sadness.
Rayleigh smiled sadly. "Your mother knew that a day would come where they would have to fight for their lives and decided to teach you the ultimate protection." He said softly. "She wanted to be sure that you would be able to hide even from Whitebeard if it came down to it."
Dawn nodded, understanding now.
"Alright," Rayleigh said, standing up. "Since you've already unlocked Observation, Armament is next." He steered Dawn over to a large tree root. "Now, punch this tree as hard as you can." He ordered, pointing at the tree seriously.
Dawn looked at him for a moment, then looked at the tree and shrugged before walking up to it, winding back, and punching the tree. The entire root vibrated from the impact, but Dawn's hand also started to turn red.
"OWOWOWOWOW!" She yelled, clutching her hand as she tried to get it to stop stinging. Rayleigh was laughing a little ways away from her until she stomped over and kicked him in the shin with a venomous glare. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" She yelled, blushing in embarrassment.
"Sorry, sorry." Rayleigh apologized, though it didn't seem sincere since he was still chuckling madly. "That was good for a first try." He said, composing himself. "Now, imagine a set of armor over your hand, will it to be solid and hard, and then punch it again."
She looked at her knuckles, picturing the armor glove over her hand like Rayleigh had said, before punching the tree again in the same spot. The tree still vibrated, but Dawn immediately noticed that her hand didn't sting nearly as much as the first time. Her eyebrows raised at the implications, and she punched the tree again, willing her hand to be even stronger. This time, her fist left behind a small, shallow dent in the wood.
Rayleigh raised an eyebrow at the dent. "You're getting the hang of this faster than I expected." He admitted after he examined the dent. "You may have already unlocked the beginnings of Armament."
"What does that mean?" Dawn asked, tilting her head in confusion.
Rayleigh looked at her with an unreadable expression, before smiling. "It means that I'll need to rethink how I'm going to train you, and I'm going to need help."
Dawn ducked under the large shockwave as she raised her own wooden practice broadswords to catch the blade of the incoming wooden Messer. She gritted her teeth in determination as her opponent started pressing down on the sword, forcing her to her knees before her arms took on a black sheen and she pressed upwards, pushing the blade upwards and away.
"Concentrate!" Mihawk barked, lifting his sword away from her. "As a swordswoman you can not afford to be distracted! Your crew's safety may depend on it!"
Dawn's mouth curled up into a frown before she focused. "I'm not here." Mihawk's ears caught her whisper, before Dawn suddenly vanished from his view and senses.
Momentarily confused, Mihawk whirled around and looked in every direction, casting out his Observation Haki to try and find her.
Dawn kept her breath steady and slow as she silently stalked her prey, or her big brother in this case. She raised an eyebrow as he started to sweat slightly, and decided to strike before he decided to destroy the clearing and find her.
Mihawk barely dodged the blade that was aimed to strike his stomach. With a quick heave Dawn was thrown a few feet back to land flat on the ground. "Why didn't you strike my back? You had every opportunity to take me down without getting hurt." He questioned, tilting his head, coolly regarding Dawn as she climbed to her feet with a groan.
"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame." She said matter-of-factly, throwing him a small smile as she picked up her blades and settled into her starting stance again.
"Well said." Mihawk agreed with a nod and the ghost of a smile as his eyes gleamed faintly with pride. His sharp eyes looked over her form, and he walked over to help her make adjustments. "Your stance is off just slightly. Your arms are just a little too high and you want to keep your knees bent like this so you can spring in any direction in a seconds' notice..."
As he continued lecturing, with Dawn hanging on his every word and making the adjustments he told her about, Rayleigh was watching from the other end of the field smiling softly as he watched them start sparring again.
"Why am I learning to shoot again Grandma?" Dawn asked as she looked up from the makeshift gun range and the rifle in her hand.
Shakky smiled down at her. "Because while the art of swordplay is all well and good, sometimes it is not the weapon you have on you or the weapon you can easily reach." The former captain of the Spider Pirates lectured as her dark eyes sparkled in amusement. "Guns can be easily hidden if they are small enough and therefor harder to be taken from you in the event you are captured or in an enclosed space. Plus your Grandfather and I want you to have a rounded education in both blades and bullets so you can easily switch between the two at the drop of a hat."
Dawn nodded in understanding before she peered down the sights of the rifle again, zeroing in on her target. "Grandma?" She asked.
"Yes sweetheart?" Shakky asked, looking up from her book again.
"Why did you set up the most recent round of idiots from the bar in front of the targets and put apples on their heads?" Dawn asked curiously, not bothering to look away from her target this time as she gently started to squeeze the trigger.
"Oh, this is incentive sweetheart." Shakky said as the sharp report of the gun rang out, along with a squeal of pain and fear as a paintball hit the center of the forehead of the one Dawn was aiming at, right below the targeted apple. He was shaking in both fear and relief as Dawn scrutinized her shot, and shook her head in disappointment.
"You mean to not break or mess up the bar again grandma?" Dawn asked curiously, lining up her sights to try again.
Shakky nodded. "If they don't get the message or spread the message around, you'll be aiming below the belt next time. And next time I'm training you with real bullets." She said, smiling angelically as the gagged and tied up men behind her let out muffled sounds of terror.
Dawn matched her serene smile before squeezing the trigger again. This time a loud squeal of pain sounded out.
"Dawn, why did you shoot him in the balls?" Shakky asked curiously as her granddaughter's latest target fell onto his side and curled up into a ball, cupping his unmentionables.
Dawn just kept her serene smile on her face as she motioned to the other human targets. "I just wanted them to know we were completely serious grandma."
Shakky looked over at the other targets and started chuckling manically "That's my granddaughter." She said proudly before laughing again. Dawn joined her laughter with her higher pitched evil giggles as the idiots who were stupid and had inconsiderately destroyed a part of the bar counter during a fight quickly turned white with fear.
9 years later...
Dawn, now a tall and lethally built teenager, almost literally danced around Rayleigh's sword, her Observation Haki working overtime as she dodged the strikes from his bade. Her upper body was covered by a bright red halter top that stopped just below her breasts and showed off her flat and toned stomach, skin tight blue jeans molded to her body and let her move with ease, and black low-heeled ship boots covered her feet. A large scabbard hung off of her hips, the tasseled ends of two wano broadswords dangling from it. On either hip, two well taken care of six-shot pistols hung proudly on display to the world.
"You've gotten better at this." Rayleigh said, almost panting as he feinted and danced around her retaliatory strikes.
"Course I have." Dawn said quickly as she ducked under another strike that would have taken off her head. "I learned from you didn't I?" She asked, before striking out at the air palm first and sending a shockwave at her Grandfather.
Rayleigh flipped over the shockwave and sent a shocked and confused look at her, right before diving out of the way of her own swords. "You weren't supposed to have a weapon this time!" He protested.
"~Pirate!~" She sing-songed as she danced back from his retaliatory strikes, roaring with laughter all the way. Rayleigh growled lowly in frustration, before grinning almost ferally.
Dawn didn't even react beyond returning his grin as a wave of crushing controlled pressure rippled out from her grandfather. Another pressure, this one with a wilder edge and an almost bloodthirsty tone to it crashed out from her in an invisible tsunami. Rayleigh's eyes widened, before they momentarily rolled back in his head and he nearly collapsed before catching himself.
"Damn it Dawn." He said, sitting down as he caught his breath again. He shook his head in amusement. "I keep forgetting that you've been training to master that new type of Haki."
"Don't feel too bad Grandpa. I still haven't completely explored it's limits." Dawn said, walking over and offering a hand to her grandfather, who grabbed it and pulled her down next to him. Dawn squealed slightly as he threw an arm around her shoulders.
"You'll be leaving soon, right?" He asked.
Dawn looked sheepish as he looked at her. "Yeah." She admitted. "I'm turning seventeen soon grandpa." She said, before turning her gaze to the horizon. "It's out there, I know it!" She whispered, watching something that he just couldn't see. "And they're telling me that it's time. He is telling me it's time." She looked back at him with oddly focused sea blue-green eyes. "I can't stay."
Rayleigh smiled before he fondly ruffled her hair again. "I understand." He whispered, before hugging her. As she pulled back, she smiled up at him. "Your mother was the same way, not even a month after she turned seventeen your father arrived at the island and she joined his crew." He looked at the horizon, his blue eyes unfocusing as he smiled softly. "She never looked back after that, but she and your father came back to the island and got married in the bar not long after they found out they were having you."
He looked back down at her, still smiling as she looked up at him curiously. "When you do leave," he said seriously, his smile never leaving his face. "Make your escape as memorable as possible." He ordered.
Dawn grinned and started giggling evilly. Before long she was laughing loudly and manically, making several civilians all over the island chuckle at the laughter they knew was coming from the island prankster. Several of the marines that were stationed on the island balked at the laughter before shuttering in horror.
Rayleigh just grinned proudly as Dawn started muttering plans under her breath, each plan more and more ridiculous than the last.
1 month later, 2 days after Dawn's 17th birthday...
Rayleigh and Shakky laughed long and hard as they looked at the new bounty poster on their wall. Mihawk and Shanks were with them, Shanks loudly roaring with laughter as Mihawk chuckled uncontrollably.
Three Vice-admirals were grumbling in rage and embarrassment as they tried to rally together the still able soldiers in the Shabondy Base, rapidly preparing to go after the she-devil that had escaped her cell and wreaked havoc not even an hour before.
Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate and his wife, Newgate D. Volupina, were laughing and toasting as the rest of his crew partied around them. "To the girl who'll hopefully take my title!" Edward yelled, holding up his sake dish. The crew roared in response, lifting their own dishes and mugs in a toast. Marco was standing off to the side, shaking his head in mock exasperation as a man with auburn hair that was shaped into a pompadour, warm hazel eyes, a black goatee, and a stitched up scar along the left side of his face laughed uproariously beside him.
On a small boat pulling away from the coast of a tiny island in East Blue, a young man with black hair, silver eyes that were accented by freckles on each cheek, and an orange cowboy hat on his head grinned widely as he got a good feeling.
On a small boat that was rapidly skimming over the surface of the ocean as it sailed away from the Shabondy Archipelago, Dawn grinned as she wildly laughed in pure elation and excitement as she sailed away from the only home she had ever known for thirteen years. "Look out world." She whispered as she closed her eyes and revealed in the feeling of the wind in her hair. "CORMACK D. ERIS 'CHAOS GODDESS' DAWN IS HERE!" Her whisper turned into a loud yell as her boat jumped over the crest of a wave.
A bounty poster fluttered on the wind behind her, showing off a grinning Dawn as she fled from the company of marines chasing her. All of the marines were sporting garishly colored versions of their uniforms, and their hair was dyed in the exact color that horribly clashed with their uniform. Dangling above them, clearly screaming in rage as they floated around in bubbles were the Vice-admirals, all three of them were drenched head-to-toe in neon pink paint, dressed in animal onesies, and being used as makeshift volleyballs by several clones of Dawn. Several buildings were on fire as well, merrily burning as more clones were gleefully roasting marshmallows and hotdogs. Another was fleeing from a full Marine Regiment in the opposite direction from the original with a large treasure chest that was almost overflowing with gold under one arm, while the rest of her body was covered head to toe in different pieces of expensive jewelry.
The description below read:
WANTED: Dead or Alive
Cormack D. Eris 'Chaos Goddess' Dawn
300,000,000 Beli