I'm gonna start this off with an Omake that I wanted at the end of chapter two, but forgot about. I'll put it here at the beginning of this chapter so I don't forget again. Thanks!
—*—*—*—*—*
Omake
When Maven was two years old.
The marine yard was bustling as the recruits went about their exercises and drills. But one section of the covered walkway leading to Training Yard Seven was filled with silence. Silence, that is, that was penetrated only by soft whispers. A secret lesson was going on, one that both participants knew must absolutely not be discovered.
"Almost there, Maven. Just sharpen the syllable."
"Gweezah, gweezah… gue… geh… gw… geezah!"
"Almost there! Repeat after me, geezer. Geezer, Garps is a geezer. Your gramps is a geezer."
"Geezah!"
"Good. Now who is Vice Admiral Garp?"
"Stupid geezah!"
"Good, goo—"
"KUZAN, WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING MY GRANDDAUGHTER?!"
"Maven, what are we?"
Scwewed. We vewy sc… scw… screwed."
"Very good Maven. Now let me pick you up so we can run."
End Omake.
—*—*—*—*—*
"Gyah!" Yeah, my hand-to-hand sucked. I was reminded of this as I was tossed onto the ground, a plume of dust rising from the ground from my landing.
"Oi, oi, oi. When was the last time you sparred with anyone?" Ace asked, looking down at me with his hands on his hips. Like Sabo had offered, I had been able to get in on their hundred spars a day. Unfortunately, the only person I had won against so far had been Luffy.
"This is the first day I've even had anyone to spar against in over three months! I'm not counting crocodiles, they get predictable fast," I sat up and ran a hand through my hair. "Before that? Do you honestly think there were any other kids at marine headquarters to spar against?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He and Sabo shared a glance before looking back at me, half worried and half amused.
"So who did you practice with? Gramps?"
"And some of the other Vice Admirals," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "Vice Admiral Kuzan was the one that liked me the most besides Gramps. And he was a bit more merciful, not that that says much," Ace, Luffy and I all cringed at the reminder of Gramps' training style. "But the closest I ever got to fighting someone my own age is when one of the lower ranks offered to fight me because they were bored."
"So this is the first time you've ever been able to have a fair spar," Sabo mused, looking at the board. I had won thirty-three fights against Luffy already, and lost twenty each against Ace and Sabo.
I stood up, dusting myself off.
"Well, we know it has nothing to do with lack of strength," Ace thought out loud. "You've been staring at rocks and staffs too long, you don't know how to predict an attack or what counter would work best. And your speed sucks too."
"Ah. I guess I have been neglecting my leg muscles a bit, haven't I?" I looked down at my feet with a frown. "Well, no matter. I'll just work in speed training into my day."
"Replace some of your staff and hatchet trainings in the morning with it," Sabo suggested. "You don't need as much practice with those."
"Ah. Okay, Sabo. You're next!"
I lost all of my matches besides the ones against Luffy that first day.
I lost all of my matches besides Luffy's that whole first week.
The end of the second week, that was promising.
Ace swung his fist towards my face. It was as fast as ever, but this time I could see it. My eyes had finally adjusted to the speed that my two older friends used so effortlessly, and my feet had finally adjusted as well. For the first time, I dodged his strike instead of using my endurance to bare it.
Ace didn't allow me any rest, though. He kicked with his right foot, making me jump over it before I aimed a punch for his stomach. When he dodged easily, I turned my body so my back was to him and grabbed his leg.
"Gwah!" He was caught off balance, and I quickly yanked his leg from under him before he could regain it, turning back around to pin him down.
We grinned at one another, I had done it. My first time winning a spar (Luffy didn't count)! And it was against Ace of all people!
I jumped off of him, pumping my fist in the air. "Woo! I'm getting better!"
"Congrats, Maven. You won your last spar of the day," Sabo said with a smirk.
"Yeah, Snail. I was just tired from all my other ninety-nine matches," Ace teased. He switched up his nickname for me every day or two, never quite finding the right one. Snail was just his latest try, chosen since he thought I was still lacking in my speed.
"AWW MAN! I wanted to be the first one out of the two of us to win a match against them!" Luffy whined from his spot pinned under Sabo. The three of us laughed at him.
"You haven't even won against me yet, Luffy, what makes you think you'd win against one of them before me?" I asked, but the boy just pouted.
"Alright guys. That's it for the fights today, how about we go eat in town to celebrate Maven's first win?" Ace asked, his arms crossed and grin spread devilishly over his face. I copied him.
"We're not paying, are we?" I asked, since I hadn't been with them on any of their dine-and-dashes yet (they had decided I would use that time for extra training until I won a match against Ace or Sabo), but had heard tales from Luffy. Sabo laughed.
"There's no way we'd pay! Our treasure is for a ship, and we won't spend any of it until we can buy one!" He cheerfully proclaimed. I smiled at them, already getting excited. I never would have dine and dashed in my last life, I always played it safe. But now, the mere thought was giving me a thrill. And I'd be doing it with my best friends!
As we walked over, Sabo and Ace explained that we couldn't just walk in normally. The three of them were already known criminals for all the fighting and dining and dashing and stealing they did. I wasn't that surprised when they pulled out a huge cloak from where they hid most of their belongings next to their treasure, and tilted my head.
"Do you have a longer one?" I asked them. In a normal world I would have been cautious of appearing abnormally tall, but in this world that wasn't a problem. There wasn't really such a thing as abnormally tall to worry about anymore.
So, the thought of piling on top of one another to make a tall cloaked person to sneak into town wasn't as far fetched as it might have been in just about any other reality. It still made me grin and hold back chuckles, though.
"Okay!" Luffy pumped a fist in the air. "I'll be the head!"
"No way!" Ace argued. "I'm the oldest, I'll be the head!"
"Oh, hey wait," I interrupted. "I actually don't know if you're older than I am or not," I admitted. "We were born so close to one another, and I forgot to ask."
"Oh," Ace blinked. "Well, you want to fight me for who gets to be the head?"
"Nah, I want to be the feet anyway," I admitted innocently, large smile spread over my face as the three boys were hit by my words.
"WHY, YOU..!" Sabo held Ace back from mauling me for my little tease. "WHY'D YOU EVEN BRING UP OUR AGES THEN?!"
"I wanted to annoy you."
"YOU LITTLE—"
"I'm taller than you~"
"GRAAAAH!"
Luffy, Sabo and I all doubled over in laughter at poor Ace's fury. He was so easy to rile up! In the end, it was me at the bottom (I was using the weight of the three of them and the necessity of walking straight as a secret form of training, though I think Sabo might have caught on), with Sabo on top of me, And Luffy right under Ace since he wasn't strong enough yet to carry more than one person. The extra long cloak they found was draped over us and Sabo and I carried everyone's pipes, with mine on my back in its retracted form. We got through the gate easily without so much as turning a single head, our crocodile skin from lunch being pulled behind us by Ace's hand.
It wasn't long before we were stopped by a bunch of thugs in the rattier part of town, looking to take our crocodile skin. Ace wasted no time throwing the cloak off, while Sabo and I handed him and Luffy their pipes.
"Wah! Those here are!— wait, who's the girl?"
"Who cares, take her down first!" The stupid men yelled, singling me out as the weakest link. I rolled my eyes at this flawed gender-based logic, waiting until my friends jumped off my shoulders before taking out my staff. I shook out my arms.
"Ace and Sabo might be able to beat me easily, but you guys aren't even a challenge," I stated blandly, sighing as I blocked one sloppy hit after another. It was so easy to land strikes on them that it wasn't even a workout, the group of thugs were knocked out in less than a minute. I scoffed, shaking my head and moving to get the wagon with the crocodile skin on it. "C'mon guys. Let's find a good place to sell this at."
"Maven's right, let's go," Ace agreed easily, shoving a thug's face with his foot once before following me as I led the way down the street. It took ten minutes before I turned around, my eyebrow twitching.
"WHY ARE YOU IDIOTS FOLLOWING ME?! I'VE NEVER BEEN IN TOWN BEFORE!" I yelled at them, exasperated.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TAKING THE LEAD IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING?!" Ace shouted right back. It didn't take long before we were forehead-to-forehead growling at each other. The fact that we were attracting attention didn't bother us, Ace and I were used to people staring and whispering. Usually it was the bandits and street punks, or the marines in my case, but we were used to it all the same. We were so into our bickering that we didn't even notice Sabo sighing behind us, moving to grab the wagon and telling Luffy to follow him. By the time we noticed that certain things and people weren't where we remembered them being, they were almost turning the corner at the end of the street.
Ace and I shot up, heads spinning to locate the lost boys and wagon. Once assured that nobody was being attacked, we let out a breath of air at the same time and jogged to catch up.
—*—*—*—*—*
"I'm holding the money," I said quickly, snatching it from Sabo's hands. We had gotten a fair amount, almost five thousand for the crocodile skin. It wasn't a lot, a good quality coat cost several times more, but it was the best we were likely to get at the only shady stores that we could get into to sell it at.
"Hey, why does it matter who holds it?" Ace asked, brows furrowed. "It's all going to the stash anyway, Not like we plan on spending any of it," That made me blink, looking over at him. Gears were still running in my head, running over the few details of what I remembered was going to happen soon even as I answered him.
"I'm the only one here who isn't seen as a criminal yet. Nobody knows my name. If I'm caught, nobody will think to search me for money because they'll think one of you three would hold any we have," I stated as I tried to come to a silent conclusion and stuffed the money in my pockets. There was too much to fit in only one of them, making me split the stack in two and place half in each of the pockets in my shorts.
"That's it!" My eyes were wide as I breathed those words out in shock at my sudden revelation. All three of my friends spun to look at me in confusion. I looked up at them. "I've been thinking about the time with Porchemy. He wasn't the captain of those pirates, there's still people who know we at least have their money. People know you—we—steal," I looked into Sabo and Ace's eyes. "We need to split off a small bit of our treasure. Hide it in the original place, adults don't think we're smart or strong enough to get that much money—"
"Why?" Luffy piped up, not following. I looked around, frowning. Once I located a dim alley, I dragged the three of them into it and knelt down so I was closer to Luffy's eyes.
"Luffy. You can't beat any of us in a spar yet, could you defend us if a real pirate attacked?" Luffy opened his mouth, about to shout something brave and stupid, but then I saw when the dusty gears in his head started to turn and he shut his mouth. I looked up at Ace and Sabo. "We handled Porchemy easily enough. But what if they attacked us with three or four or more men just as strong as him, or stronger? We could handle one or two, but more than that?" I saw their faces start to turn down as they realized what I was saying. "We're strong ass kids, but we are still kids. If Porchemy's captain shows up with a whole crew of people three times our size, we might not end up able to protect ourselves. You said it yourself, Ace. They won't hesitate killing women and children. If we ever end up all trapped, they'll threaten us. Maybe hold a knife to one of our throats. The only way to get them to stop will be telling them where our treasure is, but we won't want to because it's important. What do we do?"
"...We'd tell them," Sabo said, fists clenched. "Treasure isn't worth our lives." Ace and Luffy nodded in agreement.
"Right. But we can be smart, too. Put just a little of our treasure in a separate hiding spot. Tell them that that's where all of it is, and they'll believe us because we're kids. If they steal it, then at least we'll be safe and we won't have to start from scratch. If they never find it or ask for it, then we only have to spend an extra few minutes grabbing it from the separate spot."
The three boys traded glances, then looked at me with a solemn nod. Luffy ruined it with a large grin.
"Shishishi, Maven's smart!" He said with a laugh. I blushed, realizing Sabo and Ace were also looking at me in slight wonder that I could come up with a plan like that. I turned away.
"I-idiots! I just got the idea out of nowhere. Come on, let's go eat some ramen."
"Yeah! Food!" Luffy rushed out, making Ace and Sabo run off after him to keep him from getting lost. I sighed, relieved the focus was no longer on me as I stuck my hands in my money-filled pockets and walked calmly behind them.
Some changes are best made slowly. Fate could be outsmarted. The brain could be strengthened like a muscle, so I'd make sure I exercised it just as much as my calves and biceps and abs.
—*—*—*—*—*
The ramen was delicious. The idiots who owned the restaurant were watching us, clearly thinking that they had the three little thieves and their new friend cornered since we were on the fourth floor, but the three of us knew better.
"Ready to go, boys?" I drawled with a grin, my friends smiling back at me. As one, we got up from the fancy wood chairs and sprinted to the window. "Thanks for the food!" I yelled behind us. We easily smashed through the glass, laughing with glee. Sabo grabbed a flag pole to slow his decent halfway down, swinging to drop easily down onto the concrete with the grace of a cat. Luffy just let his rubber body bounce off of an awning down then onto the floor in a landing no normal human would have been able to handle without injury (lucky bastard), while Ace took a similar landing with much more control and actually landed on his feet instead of his back like our rubber friend.
Me? I didn't bother with any of that. I decided to be just as lazy as our resident devil fruit user— by landing on him to absorb the force of my blow, and bouncing off his rubber belly to land on my feet. Ace and Sabo stared at me, wide eyed, for a moment as Luffy stood up without seeming to even realize what I had done. The boys were still staring at me as we began to run.
"You- you— Maven!" Ace stammered. I looked over him, pulling the most innocent face I could muster even as police called after us, telling us to halt— did that ever really work?— and calling out our status as thieves for everyone to hear.
"What?" I batted my lashes. "He's basically a human trampoline anyway, might as well make use of it! Look, it didn't even knock the air out of his lungs," I pointed out. Sure enough, Luffy was cheerfully running next to us without any sign of injury or inconvenience. I seriously doubted he was even aware I had used him as a landing pad.
Whatever they were going to say in response was cut off by an obnoxious, overly-cultured voice. It was the voice of somebody spoiled rotten and greedy.
"Sabo?! Sabo! It really is you! Wait right there! I don't believe it, you're actually alive!" I glanced back just in time to see a man with a top hat similar to Sabo's. The older guy was pretty much all neck and blubber, his chin barely standing out from the mess of flesh that threatened to blend together this cheeks with his torso. His mustache was thin and stiff and horribly tasteless.
I instantly hated him. The feeling was even more intense than my instant hatred of the trash heap had been. The people in the trash heap, no matter how vile, had mostly become vile for the sake of survival. This man? He was rotten just for the sake of being rotten, for the sake of greed and comfort. That was worse.
"Hey Sabo, someone's calling for you!" Ace yelled over to our blond friend.
"Who is that guy?" Luffy asked ,his cheeks still ballooned out with the amount of food he still had stuffed in them. I had half a heart to yell at him to swallow already, it was disgusting to see how much of a glutton he was sometimes, but Sabo's problem was more important. The greasy man— for that is what I would call him now, in honor of his stupid mustache— continued to call after us for Sabo to wait.
"He must be mistaking me for someone else! Let's go!" He waved off Ace's remark, speeding through the streets even faster.
My twin and I shared a glance, the frowns on our face identical even as we sped up to keep up with Sabo. Luffy wasn't far behind us.
As soon as we were through the gates, past Grey Terminal, and safely in the woods we stopped and started out interrogation. The three of us backed Sabo up until he was against a tree.
"What are you hiding?" Ace asked, arms crossed.
"We're friends now, no secrets." I agreed. Although, I did realize I was being extremely hypocritical, but… oh well.
"What?! I'm not hiding anything!" Sabo argued back. Luffy, poor innocent idiot, believed him.
"Oh, really?"
"DON'T BE STUPID! Of course he is!" Ace and I yelled back at him before turning to Sabo again.
"Like Maven said, we shouldn't have to keep secrets from each other—" The next part was said by all three of us at once—
"Spill it."
What followed was me calmly watching as my twin and my friend tried to strangle the secret out of poor Sabo. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. But I knew they weren't going to kill him, so I just leaned back against a tree to enjoy the show until Sabo finally choked out that he'd tell us.
Sabo looked down at his hands, clenching them as if what he was about to say was a secret so terrible that it would jeopardize our friendship. That fool. Didn't he know we weren't gonna let him go for anything, no matter how bad, now?
"I'm… a noble's son."
"A noble's son?!" Luffy yelled. "Who is?"
"I AM!" Sabo yelled back, annoyed.
"So what?" Was all the boys said, sticking their pinkies into their noses. I crinkled my nose at their bad manners, but couldn't help but have the sudden urge to pick my nose, too, now that I saw them doing it.
Unlike them, I had restraint. I just crossed my arms.
"YOU'RE THE ONES WHO WANTED TO KNOW!" Sabo growled at them, shocked and irritated by their attitude.
"I'm not that surprised," I interrupted, making the three of them glance over at me. I crossed my arms, mimicking Ace. "I mean really. His clothes might be a bit ratty and filled with holes, but they were obviously fancy once. And what kind of orphan born in the Dump wears a top hat and tailcoat?"
They were all silent.
"Wow, Ace's dumb shishishi," Luffy giggled, earning a punch over the head from a certain freckled boy.
"YOU DIDN'T NOTICE EITHER, IDIOT!"
I banged both their heads together to get them to shut up.
"Be quiet already. It's Sabo's turn to talk now."
Sabo looked down, sliding to sit cross legged on the ground as he told his story. He spoke of his parents, alive but cold and treating him like an item instead of a human and a child. How they only cared about the family name and not about his happiness. Every word made me feel sicker and sicker, not just because of their content but because of the tone that the boy said it in. How could anyone justify actions that made a boy, a boy young enough that he should be innocent, speak with shame that knew no bounds? Shame that nobody should have to feel for things out of their control, regardless of age. It was sick. Children should enjoy life, not be ashamed of the one they were given because of how the others in their social class acted or thought.
"...This may be kind of rude to you guys, but… I was always alone even though I had parents. The nobles always scorned and despised the trash heap, but… compared to that elite district, where I didn't even have the room to breathe… Where my whole damned life was planned out for me… I'd take the trash heap any way," he admitted.
"So that's the deal, huh?" Ace mused aloud. I smiled.
"That's fine. We won't let you go back anyway!" I said, hoping I could make my words stay true.
Sabo stood up suddenly, his tailcoat swishing loudly with the unexpected movement.
"Ace… Luffy… Maven!" He said, the determination taking over his voice making us all glance at him, eyes glued to his. "We have to make it to the sea one day! We'll leave this country behind… And gain our freedom!" His fists came up close to his face as he tried to hold back his excitement, making me close my eyes with a smile. "I want to see the world in all its glory and write a book about what I find! If it's sailing I'm studying for, then I don't care how hard I'll have to work! We've got to become stronger and become real pirates!"
"Hehehe," Ace chuckled. I couldn't hold back a laugh either;
"Zeh heh heh," I opened my eyes with a wide grin.
"I don't need you to tell me that!" Ace shouted. "I'm gonna become a pirate, beat every last person who stands in my way… and earn myself the kind of glory that dreams are made of! Only then will my life be worth living! I don't care if the whole world refuses to accept me… They can hate me all they like! I'll become a great pirate and prove I'm better than them!" He was standing at the cliff side, as if yelling his declaration for the whole world to hear.
It rang with the determination and weight of the family of D. The power in his words filled the air, swirling around all of us like a flame determined to devour anything that dares stand in the way of Ace's will. I chuckled again, letting the fire of his will sweep over me. It was fitting for the boy I knew would eventually become a human torch. Yeah. Let this screwed up society hate us all they wanted. We'd prove to them just what power we had, just what kind of people they were shunning. We'd rip their world apart from the seams.
"Zeh heh heh," I chuckled, standing up. "Don't leave me out," I interrupted, hands on my hips as I walked up to Ace's side. "I will become THE MOST BADASS GIRL IN THE WORLD!" I yelled out to the sea. "I'LL LIVE LONGER THAN ANYONE EXPECTS ME TO! I WON'T DIE TO A STUPID DISEASE, I'LL LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SHOW EVERYONE… TO SHOW EVERYONE… to show everyone that I am stronger than they think! That I'm strong enough to shake up this world even when I'm dying!"
Ace grinned over at me. The night with Porchemy ran through our heads, and it might have been a twin thing, but I instantly knew what he wanted us to say together. We took deep breaths, shouting with each other:
"We won't run from anybody! We'll never lose a fight! Who cares if people become terrified of us?!" Another deep breath. "WE'LL MAKE SURE THE WORLD KNOWS OUR NAME!"
"Shishishi," the familiar laugh made us turn around as a familiar boy in a red tank top walked in front of us and said; "All right, well then…" as if he had taken our words as a challenge. Knowing the little idiot, he probably had. He raised his fists into the air and shouted louder than any of us: "I'M GONNA BE THE KING OF PIRATES!"
"Zeh heh heh heh," I covered my mouth to cut off my laughs before they got too loud. If Ace's declaration of his will had been a fire, Luffy's was a laugh. It rang in the air, forcing smiles onto people's faces and filling hearts with hope. It wasn't easy to see or as outwardly powerful as the fire Ace's declaration had been, but it was not inferior in any way. It was the kind of will that made people willingly go along. The kind that inspired friendship instead of respect. How fitting for his to feel like that.
"Huh?!" The blonde and messy haired boys next to me didn't seem to be able to feel it though, as they were just caught off guard by his dream.
Luffy laughed cheerfully at their reaction, but both boys were still dumbfounded. Sabo started laughing as Ace just stared, mouth wide.
"Of all the things you could come up with…" my twin muttered.
"Ahahaha! You're one crazy guy!" Sabo said through his laughter, as if we didn't all already know that about Luffy. "You're one to keep an eye on, for sure!"
A moment passed as we all calmed down, but Sabo was the first one to talk again.
"But isn't it gonna be a problem if we all want to be captain?"
"Yeah, I always thought you were gonna be my navigator, Sabo," Ace agreed. My eyebrow twitched.
"Just because he's smarter than you and Luffy combined doesn't mean he's gonna be a navigator, idiot," I muttered with crossed arms.
"WHAT WAS THAT, HAG?!"
You guys should join my ship!" Luffy interrupted. I tilted my head, humming.
"Yeah okay. I'll be your first mate, Luffy," I agreed easily. All three turned and yelled in shock.
"WHAT?!"
"YAY! MY FIRST CREW MEMBER! SHISHISHI!"
I clasped my hands behind my back with a large grin on my face.
"Why would you be first mate for this idiot?!" Ace asked, giving Luffy a noogie.
"Yeah, those of us with intelligence should stick together!" Sabo tried to convince me. I just blinked at them.
"First off; Sabo, if we were on a pirate crew together, who'd keep those two airheads from killing themselves?" Silence. "That's what I thought. Ace should be fine, probably. But Luffy'd get himself killed in only a day or two after he sets sail without me," I thought about the infamous whirlpool and the barrel incident. "Secondly. If I want to be the most badass girl in the. World, it's only fitting that I should be the first mate of the future pirate king, don't you think?" I smiled widely.
"Shishishi, she's right! The pirate king can only have the best crew!" Luffy agreed. Ace just stared at me, the corner of his mouth twisted down into a partial frown. I decided to quell his doubts, walking over and slinging an arm over his shoulder. I turned us so we weren't facing the other two boys, easily whispering into his ear.
"C'mon, someone's gotta fill the position," I whispered, knowing he was thinking about his— our— father and how much he hated him. "Better it be someone we know won't abuse the power, right? Honestly, look at him," We both looked over our shoulder at the painfully innocent rubber boy, who was telling Sabo about all the things he'd do as Pirate King and trying to get the blonde to join his crew like I had. "There are a lot worse people trying for the title. But Luffy's the only one I can see that deserves it."
Ace looked down, thinking, then gave me a weak smirk. He was warming up to the idea.
"You know what? Yeah. Yeah, Luffy'd make a good Pirate King. Once he can learn how to hit somebody other than himself, anyway."
—*—*—*—*—*
Ace ran off not long after that, telling us to wait for him. We all shared confused glances before sitting down around a large tree trunk to wait for his return. When he came back, it was with a bottle of Dadan's finest sake and four cups for it. I stared with wide eyes as I recognized what was about to happen, watching Ace give each of us a cup. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. Nobody noticed me trying to deal with my sudden swell of shock and emotion as they were too focused on Ace filling each of the cups.
"We can decide the details later. We could end up all forming our own crews, for all we know," Ace wisely stated as Luffy marveled over the stolen booze. Ace smiled wickedly.
"Did you know, guys? If we exchange drinks we can become siblings," I jolted at the change of phrase, realizing that, yes, I was now part of this world. Not some outsider brought here, I was officially part of it. I belonged.
This proved it. These three boys were accepting me. Ace was accepting me.
"Siblings?! Really?!" Luffy asked, excited. Of course, he was even more excited after Sabo explained what the word 'siblings' meant.
"When we become pirates, we may not end up on the same crew…" Ace continued. "But our sibling bond we share will never die! No matter where we are, or what we do…" We all grabbed our cups and started to raise them. "This bond will never break!" We crashed our cups together.
"Starting today, we… ARE SIBLINGS!"
"Yeah!" Luffy, Sabo and I shouted in agreement. I tossed the liquor back as quickly as I could, knowing it was going to burn. And burn it did, making me cough and hack since my young throat wasn't ready for alcohol yet. But I was better off than my brothers— brothers! By choice!— who sipped at it unwisely and started gagging before they made themselves finish it.
—*—*—*—*—*
The weeks went by in blurs. It was more fun than any time I could ever remember having, even in the memories of my past life that were steadily fading in both importance and vibrancy. Back then, I had been an introvert that was too weird in my interests and personality for the boring world around me and had very little friends to speak of growing up. My energy scared them all away.
But here? With my new brothers? I fit in. My energy was accepted, even considered calm in comparison to them. And I found myself needed and depended on in a way I never had been before.
"Zeheheheh! I grinned and laughed as we ran across the rickety rope bridge that winter. The planks were slick with snow and ice, but none of us had problems.
Crrr
Wait, no I jinxed it. I turned around, eyes wild. This wasn't memory, just pure instinct as I stopped in my tracks and made a grab for Luffy.
Crack!
The plank under my youngest brother snapped, making Luffy wail in surprise as he found himself falling. Even knowing he would probably be fine if he fell with his rubber body, all three of us jumped into action on pure reflex. Ace grabbed him first, but slipped over the edge since he hadn't anchored himself to the bridge with anything. Sabo grabbed Ace's ankles, and I hopped over to grab Sabo's right as the boy would have slipped over too. I grunted, using my hard-earned strength to pull the rope of brothers up slowly but steadily, until each of us were back up and hurrying off the bridge before we could invite another near-disaster to happen.
Once on solid ground, we all flopped onto the snow and panted in relief for a long moment before getting up and trudging back to the bandit's hideout.
And there waiting for us at the front door was the same doctor as before. The four of us froze, my jaw clenched as I forced myself to take a deep breath of frigid air. I jolted at the sensation of warmth, looking over to see Sabo and Ace each had a hand on my shoulder, and Luffy had wrapped himself around my torso in a rubbery hug.
I smiled at the three of them, my courage and determination renewed at their comfort.
"I'll be fine," I said with a nod. The boys smiled widely at me as Ace smacked me on the back of my head,making me stumble a bit.
"Damn right," he confirmed happily. We shared a brief laugh before I tore Luffy off of me and walked up to face my checkup.
"Ready when you are, Doc," I greeted with a grin. The doctor kept her face blank, but i could see her eyes shining with a little wonder as she stared at me. Me, who she had told only three months earlier that two years was the longest she had left to live. Me, who was still walking when she should be feeling weak and faint.
The doctor pushed her glasses up er nose and led me to the bedroom I shared with the boys, going through the usual tests.
"...This is unprecedented," the doctor muttered when the tests were over. "There— there's been almost no progression. It still looks like you should only have another two years left, but that's exactly what it looked like last time I checked up on you," the doctor met my eyes. "What are you doing? How are you alive?"
I smiled widely. "Never doubt the willpower of Monkey D. Garp's granddaughter," I replied, getting up and walking out, leaving a stunned doctor behind me. I almost ran right into my brothers, waiting there with anxious expressions. I smiled widely, crossing my arms.
"Another two years, she said," I told them with a chuckle. The boys sighed in relief before pumping their fists in the air in celebration.
"Woo! Let's go train so you can live another two years after that!" Luffy cheered. "But after dinner!"
I laughed, wondering why I had ever let the fear of my illness control me like it had for the almost the whole first ten years of my life before I met these boys.
—*—*—*—*—*
Makino showed up not more than a week or two after my checkup, bringing a pile of clothes and the grumpy old mayor of Foosha village with her. I had met the pretty woman before, but hadn't really ever said much to her. After all, I had only ever showed up to Dawn Island for training with Luffy and Gramps before I was dumped off with Dadan and the rest of the bandits. Therefore, I was just as awkward as my twin and my blonde brother as Luffy ran up to greet his mother figure.
The woman sheepishly held up a finger to her lips. "Ah. I'm happy to see you too, Luffy. But do me a favor, yeah? Keep this a secret from your grandfather. We aren't supposed to visit you," the motherly woman admitted softly, completely ignorant to the stupid bandits goggling her with heart-eyes in the background. I leaned over to the oldest brother, one eye back on the bandits.
"Oi. You two keep an eye on Luffy, I'll be right back," I whispered. They blinked at me.
"Huh?"
I patted their shoulders, not giving them an explanation, before turning and walking back to the group of gawking men. I cleared my throat, interrupting their babbling and making them look down at me. I took out my staff, holding it soundly in my hands as I swung it back and—
"SHUT UP YOU GREASY IDIOTS!" I knocked all their feet out from under them with one swift blow, getting sweet satisfaction from seeing them all slumped in a giant pile groaning in pain. "Hmph. I hope you've learned your lessons, perverts," I muttered as I retracted my staff and walked away. When I returned to my brothers, I saw that Makino had already pulled the two oldest of my brothers over to fit them for clothing. I covered my mouth to hide the laughter that wanted to bubble up when I saw their awkward faces as they stood shirtless in front of the woman.
My amusement was cut short when she finished with them and turned to me, smiling widely.
"Ah, Maven! I have some dresses and skirts for you, too. Heavy for winter of course—"
"NO!" I yelled, shivering in horror. "I don't even know how you guys can wear those things all the time!" I turned and tried to run away, but the woman wasn't having it. Somehow, her motherly instincts must have given her super speed because her hand was on my shoulder and she was pulling me back.
I glared evilly at my snickering brothers.
"Ohhh, if I end up with dresses you three will be who I take my anger out on for the next few days," I threatened darkly. Considering I was now winning most matches against Sabo and only lost half my matches against Ace nowadays, they gulped. No longer could they say I wouldn't be able to lay a hand on them, we were evenly matched. Except Luffy, he was still at the bottom.
I did not end up with dresses. Once I explained to a confused Makino that I had to train even more than the boys and couldn't let dresses or skirts restrict my movements, she pushed them to the side and only had me try on shirts, pants, and shorts. Some were still a bit girly, but that was fine. I was a bit of a tomboy, sure, but anyone who was raised in marine headquarters would end up like that. Still, I could deal with a couple flowers or a little pink. It wouldn't kill me.
—*—*—*—*—*
Spring was when it happened.
"I'm so powerful...I'm like a steam train with no breaks...I'm invincible, yeah I win every single game.." I muttered the lyrics as I trained. It was a habit, the song being from my old world and one of the few memories that didn't fade. I. Had to make some lyrical changes to fit the world I was in, but it didn't affect the song much. It was the song that kept me determined when my brothers weren't there to take that job over, the song I repeated whenever I was training even when I was a little kid back at the marine headquarters. I hefted my staff when my brothers, who were sparring with their pipes nearby, all dropped their weapons with a screech. I blinked at them, confused when they started to run away. I tilted my head, baffled until I could feel a hand grip my staff and take it from my grip. I swallowed hard, knowing only one person would make Luffy and Ace squeal like that. Sabo was intimidated, sure, but he didn't know the true horror of Gramps yet. I turned, and sure enough a hulking form with white hair and goatee stool there, holding my staff in one of his giant hands.
He waved, looking innocent for a moment in his Hawaiian shirt before he moved faster than I could follow and hit each of my brothers with a Fist of Love before they could run very far. I winced in sympathy. Gramps turned to us, and I decided to make my move. I pulled my hatchets out, jumping and swinging at his face.
Sure enough, he grabbed both of my hands easily and stopped my assault.
"Shitty geezer! Give me my staff back!"
"Why you—!" Gramps threw me down. "FIST OF LOVE!" I let out a strangled hiss as his fist came down hard on my head, making me writhe in pain alongside my siblings. "PORTGAS D. MAVEN! I THOUGHT I TAUGHT YOU BETTER MANNERS THAN THAT!"
"Why you!" I whirled up, noticing the shock on my brother's faces as Ace pointed at me in accusation.
"I knew it!"
"You shitty geezer, you told me to keep that a secret!" I hissed at our stupid grandfather, who just seemed to notice what he said. He blinked, then laughed. "Bwahaha! That's right! Forget what I said!"
"It's too late for that now, idiot!" We all yelled at him.
"Why does Maven have the same last name as Ace?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"Because she's my sister, idiot," Ace tried to explain.
"Yeah, I thought she was me and Sabo's sister too though."
"Wha— no, Luffy," Sabo chimed in. "He means they're related by blood."
"Eww blood is yucky," Luffy stuck out his tongue. I sighed, knowing he was a lost cause. My brothers sighed with me, likely coming to the same conclusion.
"She isn't just your sister, Ace," Gramps explained, hands crossed and with not just my staff, but my hatchets as well in his grasp. "She's your twin. Older by ten minutes, in fact."
Oh, that was news to me. A grin slowly spread over my lips as I turned to ace with a dark chuckle.
"Oh no," Ace muttered, going pale.
"You heard him, Ace. I'm ten minutes older," I cracked my knuckles. "That makes me the oldest. Which means you have to listen to me!"
"What?! No way!"
"Totally. Now the shorty geezer just has to give me back my weapons, and I can beat you down to prove that I'm the official oldest sibling, and you have to listen to me now!"
"That makes no sense!"
"Do you really want these little toys back?" Gramps suddenly chimed in, balancing all three of my weapons on one finger as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "I thought I'd give you something as a late birthday present."
I blinked. Oh yeah, me and Ace were eleven now. I had turned the new year's celebration into a birthday party for him, ignoring my own since I had lied to the boys and said I didn't remember mine. Sad that they had probably missed it, they had conceded to just celebrate extra-hard for me the next year when I decided to choose a day for it.
Suddenly I was angry, realizing Gramps hadn't said anything about Ace. I crossed my arms.
"I don't want a gift from you, shitty geezer, unless you have one for Ace too!" The old man blinked at that, clearly not having thought about a present for my twin. Ace had went still with shock next to me, but I ignored him. The poor boy had been neglected long enough. It was time for even the smallest family act from Garp, hell knew that Ace deserved far better but I would take whatever we could get.
Garp sighed. "Fine. I'll go into town to get a present for Ace tomorrow, if you'll listen to me now?" I nodded.
I didn't notice my brothers looking at me in awe for standing up to the old man. Not at all. I didn't blush at it, either.
"Well then," Gramps finally nodded in satisfaction before he pulled out the gift that had been hidden behind his broad back.
It was a battle axe. The blade was made of gleaming purple metal, and was clearly wickedly sharp. He handed it to me, and I was stunned to see that the black pole was perfect for my height. I. Looked up at him, unable to say a word. He huffed and looked away in embarrassment.
"You chose a battle axe as your weapon when you were nine, didn't you? Its one of the only weapons that is heavy enough to help you keep up your muscle mass without too much extra effort. You'll need plenty of practice to get good at it though," he pointed to the pole. "It extends, like your staff. When you get too tall for this size, just extend it to the proper length and lock it in place with the latch there," he pointed out the button on the bottom of the pole.
"Show me how determined you are to live now, all four of you! Come at me, its training time! Bwahahaha!"
—*—*—*—*—*
Woo. That was hard, damn. Okay, the lyrics mentioned will come up again later. They are NOT MINE, they are lyrics from the song Unstoppable by Sia.
Sheesh. Okay guys, thanks for reading! This chapter was really hard to write geez. More plot next chapter, so look out for that! Also! You finally get to see Maven's laugh style! I wanted it to be similar to Ace's, but also unique. She's a bit calmer than her brothers, so it's a "heh" kind of laugh instead of the faster and louder "haha" or "hehehs". Hope you guys think it fits!
Until next chapter, bye~