I do not own One Piece

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Chapter 2: The End of her Childhood

"A-ah! Chiko-chan, be careful!"

After a year of learning how to walk and run, it felt nice to do it freely outside. It was in the middle of winter and yet it was still warm enough for people to be seen wearing t-shirts and shorts. The mother was chatting with a friend on a picnic cover, by a tree, and Chiko deeming that as quite boring ran across the field of grass. She giggled delightfully, despite her short wonky legs.

The last months of her past life had been dull and uneventful. Being bedridden in a hospital bed would do that to people. A dull end for a 32 year old women, but she still loved her previous life and accepted it wholeheartedly. But that did not mean she wouldn't do things differently this time around. No. She smiled. She was going to be doing things much differently this time around.

XXX

In her past life, she was scared to be out there. To show her personality to others, in fear to scare them off. But this time around, she knew that her personality is what should attract others to her. And if no one liked that, then she didn't care because then people didn't deserve to be near her.

So soon, the 'little Chiko' had a... nice description on her. 'Eccentric'. At three years old, she could already talk perfectly well with clear understanding. And ever so slightly, she would say things that were… off.

"Otou-san!" she screamed, running towards her father that stood by the port. Her father was a fisherman, helping sell fish to his town. Little Chiko quickly learnt that his name was Tohao. She noted that he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and thought that would be a hassle for a fisherman like him. She dismissed it at him being quirky, like her mother. The man laughed and grabbed her underneath her arm pits and pulled her up. The small girl squealed and giggled at the rush, before cuddling with the man that resembled her. "Hello Chiko-chan! Ran away from your mother again?" he teased, making her giggle and nod. He poked her nose, "Now, that's no good!" Tohao had blond hair, but it was impressively curly and also extremely messy. His wife had given up on his hair a long time ago.

"You- stop running away from me, you little monster!" Chiko smile innocently at her mother, who just arrived. Both daughter and father stared at the mother, something akin to amusement and love flashing in their eyes. "Did you seriously lose Chiko-chan in the crowd, Siki?" Tohao asked, making Siki pout and look at their daughter. "Well, if someone hadn't broken the melon stall, then I wouldn't have!"

At that, Chiko stopped looking at her mother and stuffed her face in her father's chest. Both parents looked at their daughter in amusement. "I don't like melon man!" The girl whined. The father rose an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? Why?"

"He had a weird face and said that one day I'll grow two melons!" Chiko pouted and looked at her fathered, "I don't want to be a melon grower!"

Both parents knew immediately what Chiko said and that night, a certain melon vendor was being shouted at while a little girl giggled, eating a fresh melon her parents got for free.

XXX

"Otou-san, I'm going to the library!"

"Yeah- sure- I, wait, what?!"

Ever since Hachiko realized her town had a library, she could be found there every day. Most found it cute, and the word 'bright' was added to her description. She thought that getting educated early one would be good. Since the language was not the same as her last and so seemed to be the writing in general, she needed some catching up to do. So days on end would be spent on the ground while books piled up and towered over her.

After that, it hadn't taken a long time to figure out where she really was.

She carried a book back home, the words 'North Blue Tales' on it.

Her parents were cooking in the kitchen when she arrived and she set the book on the table, then went standing on a chair.

"Oka-san, Otou-san," she announced, not blinking. The two turned around, a bit confused by her tone. "Yes sweetheart?"

"Am I seriously in a shonen anime?"

XXX

It took time to get her head around the fact that she got reincarnated in One Piece. The anime she watched for far too long. In fact, it took so long that she didn't even manage to finish the damn thing. She blinked and scratched her cheek, walking towards the library once again.

It was the morning after her question, which of course her parents didn't understand but she didn't want them to understand anyways. The two parents filed her question in 'obscure knowledge and words she got from the library' and then asked joyfully about her day.

Interesting as that revelation was, it was also worrying. Soon after that, she learnt she lived in a small village in a somewhat big island, in the Grand Line. Yep, the Grand Line. Terrifying but paradise to New World standard. Terrifying nonetheless. The only dangerous thing that happened here was the above than average temperature they get here, well people would legit die if they were out for too long on certain days and Chiko had just thought they were bedridden for days but no, they actually died.

Interesting.

No wonder Grandpa Hokis never came back from his trip.

Also, the storms they would sometimes have. It would sometimes storm extremely hard and Chiko had just assumed that the times they went underground was just a neat way to meet other people. Now it made sense why her father would always play the guitar then, do mask the storm sounds.

Huh.

Worrying.

And she guessed the annormaly big birds weren't that common everywhere else on the world either. She snorted when a horse sized bird landed next to a kid and ate his hot dog whole… as well as his hands… oh shit he was being carried away now-

"AH! CHIKO-CHAN, HELP!"

She caught his ankle last second and yanked him down, making the bird squawk and fly off while the child was slammed onto the ground. His face was planted on the ground when his older sister came rushing to him from a stall and started scolding him. Chiko blinked when the boy stood up, a neighborhood kid that Chiko couldn't remember the name of, and gave a thumbs up at Chiko. "Thanks!" He was missing a tooth and his cheek was bleeding. Tough kid.

Ah nevermind, he just touched his face, saw the blood and now he's crying.

Chiko gave a thumbs up back, "No problem," and continued her walk to the library.

She should be more attentive. Of course warmth that kill in ten minutes, storms that settle in five minutes and huge birds that kidnap people aren't normal. She nodded, she swore pay more attention now. She thought she'd have it easy to laze around and not listen, but now that she knew she was in One Piece, many things were not just fine.

Pirates.

Marines.

The government.

The revolutionaries.

Yep, things were not fine. She'll keep an ear out.

XXX

Since that day, she… realized things weren't as good as she thought it was. Her parents, while always smiling, laughing and being happy around her, were not that when she wasn't around. They spoke in whispers when she wasn't paying attention and Chiko saw how they ate a portion of what she ate.

She also noticed how their house was small and brittle compared to others in the village. When she walked with her parents outside, she noticed that looks they sent to her parents. Pity and scorn. Why? Are there rumors about her family? She concluded that they were poor, but being treated badly because of it didn't seem fair. Or reasonable. But most importantly, it didn't seem correct.

She knew what is was, five days after fifth birthday.

Harsh banging erupted on the front, fragile door of the living room. She was already put to bed but she was blessed with light slumber, so she instantly woke up from the racket. Pulling the thin cover on herself, she didn't make any sound but sat up and huddled in the corner.

She heard foreign voices. They were shouting. And they demanded-

"-dept! C'mon Kataimo, you need to pay up the sum! If you don't pay soon, boss ain't gonna be happy, you know this!"

It always came down to money.

Depts.

"We'll give you another year. If you don't have the money by then, well, you already know."

Then, the door slammed shut. Chiko quickly climbed back on her bed, properly, and put the covers on her. Despite the warmth, she was shivering. Cold. She didn't like that foreshadowing. How much were her parents in dept? Too much?

Too many questions. She hugged herself while she heard her parents weeping.

The walls were too thin.

XXX

A week later, she figured that she was the of their dept. It made sense, the collector came a week or so after her birthday. She had looked around her parents room and saw that there were papers, many of them, that started with the same year that she was born in. Did having a kid cost so much that they'd be in dept?

She closed the book.

She couldn't focus on reading anymore.

She needed to ask questions to her parents.

So she walked slowly back to her house, where her mother usually was. She didn't know the schedule of her parents all that well, since she was always in the library or walking around the place, occasionally getting lost.

She opened the door of her house.

"I'm home-"

Her parents snapped their heads towards her.

A syringe in both of theirs hands.

Empty.

Patches on their arms.

Ah, so that's why they wore long sleeves.

She should've known that wearing long sleeves would be weird in a hot, humid island like theirs.

Her parents are drug addicts. Their dept climbed up as they couldn't pay for the drugs.

When her mother got pregnant, they moved to the village to clear the addictions. Chiko had seen they moved from the city to here from the papers. She had assumed it was to have a lower paying rent. No, it was to stay away from the city to clear the addiction.

But then Chiko was born and it cost more than they expected.

The number 10 came up aften in the papers, circled in red sometimes.

10 years. If they didn't pay their debt in 10 years, then the debt collectors would come for them.

10 years would come next year.

They've had nine years of warning about their debt for their drug usage. And now they were doing it. In the living room. While she was in the library.

Or was supposed to be in the library.

They've been injecting themselves while she was at the library or not at home. Her independency made them have time to use drugs. To pull them further in the hole of debts.

It made sense. The pitying look outside, and how the adults look at her with worry. She had always assumed it was because of her 'eccentricities', but she never thought about what people thought how she got them. They think she's eccentric because of her parents. Her lovely, drug addicted parents.

It made sense.

What sort of parent lets their three year old roam the village all alone and trust their three year old to go to the library? Who lets their three year old alone. She had always assumed the nice librarian was a friend of her parents and had given her the sandwiches cause her parents asked the librarian to do so. But no, it's cause the librarian pitied her.

Was that why kids never wanted to play with her? She couldn't pint point if that was more her personality or their parents not wanting to be influenced by her, so she let that one go.

She didn't care about sugar coating.

"So you two are drug addicts when I'm not looking."

Not a typical thing to say as a 5 year old. But then again, she always said 'obscure' things. This would have been one of them, if it didn't hit the nail right on.

Her parents flinched and paled. "Chi-Chiko-chan! We-uh, we-"

She let them blab, hide their syringe and everything while they tried to explain themselves to their 5 years old daughter. Through their worry, they started to cry. The door was still open behind Chiko as her parents crouched in front of her, drug in their veins, crying their hearts out.

She couldn't help but still love her parents.

XXX

It was a spiral, she soon figured.

The lack of money was depressing, so they wanted to forget with drugs.

To get the drugs, they had to buy it with money.

More money was lost, creating a even huger hole of money.

And it goes back to the start.

It was weird remembering her parents as happy go lucky people. Always smiling and being cheesy. She supposes she just remembered the things she wanted to remember. Because thinking back about it, they were always doing things when she wasn't looking.

Chiko didn't know how to help.

Drugs is not something you take away and say, 'no, you can't have.' The person may die by having the drug stopped suddenly. And Chiko knew her parents were at risk of that, since they've been through this for a little less than a decade.

Well, ever since Chiko found them, they've been doing it less. Shame had filled in them.

They had looked at her in fear when she opened the door.

Her eyes were set on them, as they just finished injecting the liquid.

They saw her slowly realize what they were doing. Realization. Realization that her parents aren't what she thought they were.

She stayed like that, unblinking. Then, tears had gathered to her eyes and fell down her cheeks. Her parents felt shame and disgust of themselves fill in them. But, it was such a good relief and… they couldn't stop. It was a lifeline. It was like taking a breath of air after staying far too long in water.

So they stopped for a while. For as long as they could. Only when dark thoughts while looking in the water did they take it. But only then.

And they hoped it would be enough to make their little girl happy.

They only had one year to fix everything. One year was time. And time is all they had. So they could do it.

XXX

Chiko's tears fell to the ground as she pulled her father's and mother's long sleeved shirts. Her sixth birthday was two days ago, but they wouldn't stand up.

"Oka-san! Otou-san! What are you doing?!" She screamed.

She thought they were done! They had been doing so good this year! Oka-san was working so hard, travelling back and forth to the city to get money, and Otou-san as well with the fishing! They had even had villagers help them pitch in money after they've come clean with the village. She even said she didn't want anything for her birthday, that they could do something even bigger for her 7th birthday, 'because seven is a prettier number than six', she had said.

So what where they doing on the couch, dazed, with used syringes in their hands.

They have just a few days until the debt collectors would come!

"Ah… Chiko-chan..." her father drawled out. "Shh… it'll be fine..."

Tears continued flowing. No it wouldn't! How much did they spend on this?! She made sure to keep an eye on them, so that this wouldn't happen! She felt her mother's hand on her head and she looked at her mother.

"...you're too loud Chiko, quiet now..."

She fell to her knees, sobbing.

"...why? I, I thought-"

"Shut it Chiko-chan."

She hiccuped and looked at her father. Or tried. She could barely see with all her tears swelling up in her eyes. Why would they do this? They had been doing so good! Why, why would they do this?

Chiko's eyes widened.

No. They. They didn't use all of the money, right?

She yanked her mother's hand off her head and ran to her parents room. Slamming the door open, she fell to her knees and winced when she fell too harshly. Not minding it, she reached under their bed and removed a loose piece of wood off and-

Her eyes widened.

The stack of money.

Gone.

Just two bills left.

She reached her hand down, hopefully she was just hallucinating, just dreaming.

But not. She felt nothing but air. And then the cool dirt under the wood, except for the two bills. Pulling the bills up, she went to sit back up properly by her parents bed. Two bills left.

And they had a few days left until they came.

Her hands trembled.

They still had a few days, they could still do this.

It's still time. They have time.

Tears fell on the bills.

They still have time-

Banging. On the door.

She snapped up and looked behind her. No, they were early. Cold. She felt cold. An unsettling cold. No.

They still had time, please.

Please.

She stood up, wincing at her bleeding knees and walked to the living room. Her parents were still on the couch, in a daze. Staring at them with wide eyes.

They don't have time.

All used up.

The banging came back maker her jump. Her hands trembled, the two bills in her hand. They had money. Where did it all go? Maybe they hid it somewhere else?

"Kitaimo! Open up! Or I'll break it open!"

Her legs trembled as she walked to the door. She could see it move from how hard the debt collector knocked on the door. Her hands trembled towards the handle… and opened the door. She looked up and held the two bills by her chest. A big man. Wide. Butt chin. A grin. Bald. Thick black moustache.

"Hah? They have a kid, hah!" He started laughing, making Chiko wince and take a few steps back. He looked down at her and had a look that frightened Chiko to the core. "That's real unlucky of you, lil missy."

She couldn't do anything but move as they walked in.

Two more were with the wide man. Another of the same structure but taller and thinner. Then, a normal looking guy but in a suit and a square like chin.

"Kitaimo. This is your last warning. Give us the money."

Her father ever so slowly sat up, with her mother, but didn't speak. He just looked down at his feet. Chiko, trembling all over, held the bills tighter. "Otou-san! Okaa-can! Tell them! You have the money! We- we worked so hard this year! We- we have- it all, right?!"

The three strangers glanced at Chiko, before settling their eyes back on Chiko's parents. "... Search the house," the one with the suit ordered making the two nod. Soon, the two big men started looking every nook and cranny of the house while her parents stayed motionless, a small dazed smile on their lips.

It was like a blur. The two men searched over the house in less than 30 minutes and informed the man in the suit that they had found two places where they hid the money. Chiko's eyes widened, they had another place? Then perhaps-

The bigger man showed one bill. Chiko fell to her knees. Everything that had worked for. Down the drain. All for nothing. She sobbed to herself.

"...Debt collector-san..." she heard her mother say but Chiko couldn't bring to look up. Everything hurt. She was scared. What would happen. But most of all, she felt so betrayed. She had trusted her parents so much. They were doing so much better, so why? Why would they doing this-

She froze up.

It was futile from the start.

Even after a year of hard work, it wasn't enough. That was the only valid explanation. They never told her the sum that had to pay. Just said that it was a lot.

And apparently, what they've done in a year was not enough. So they fell down the hole of dazes, smiles and no sadness. They fell down the hole of fully giving up and spent everything on drugs. The same drugs that were their cause of downfall.

"...are we dead…?"

Chiko was crouched down to the floor, sobbing and whimpering.

"...No. If you accept something."

Chiko snapped her head up. Were they fine? Did they actually collect their debt-

"If you recall, our organization also specialize in child trafficking."

The sobs and hiccups were gone in an instant. She felt five pairs of eyes on her. She was frozen to the core.

Cold. Cold. Cold.

Freezing, unimaginably cold.

Why were her parents looking at her like that?

"...We hadn't known you had a child."

Was this why they hid her when they came over for the first four years of her life? To keep her identity hidden? So save her? So why are they looking at her like she could save them now?

"The child… won't be enough. But they found a good amount of patches and liquids in one of the cabinets… boss should be satisfied with this."

"Okaa-san, Otou-san! You-you can't let them say things like that! It's- it's not ok!"

They looked at her, blankly. No. Not blankly.

They looked at her and saw an escape.

Tears continued to fall down. They couldn't do this to her. What about the days they laughed together? They spent together? They times they were so happy together-

"D-Debt collector-san! Th-they are still under the influence, please- let them come back to their senses!"

They looked down at her and she felt so inferior. So meaningless. So powerless.

She wasn't a person, a child. She meant as much as simple bills and drugs. Just an object of value.

"We don't have time for that."

She tried to gulp and stood up, wonkily, on her feet. She walked up to the man in the suit. "P-please! I- beg of you! The effect- it should be gone soon!"

"No. That quality of blue-mein will make them stay in their vegetable state for another six hours. Or more."

Chiko looked up, at loss for words. So it was useless? Then- then the three will die together! Chiko walked to her parents, towards the couch they sat on, and faced the three debt collectors. "W-well, then just-"

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking behind her, her eyes shined with hope. Were her parents out of it? Then they could finally-

And she was pushed harshly towards the debt collectors. She fell when she couldn't catch her balance and then looked back, eyes with shock. She saw her mother's still outstretched hands. From when she pushed Chiko.

"Okaa-san..." Chiko mumbled.

No. Please no.

"Be a good girl… Chiko-chan..." her father said.

She couldn't say anything when the bigger debt collector picked her up and walked out of the door. She thrown over the big man's shoulder and it was uncomfortable but she didn't pay that any mind. No. The ache in her heart grew.

It hurt.

Everything was cold.

Everything hurt.

Her village faded from her eyes as her heart broke.

Dada bim daba boom, things aren't looking good for her!

Poor kiddo.

Good thing you don't need to wait to see more of her suffering! Read on in chapter 3!