Child Abuse Warning! Not too heavy, I think, just warning in case anyone is sensitive about this stuff, but I'll skim past this as quickly as possible, this is a T after all. Look for the bold writing for when the happier stuff starts ^^

It was dark, the five-year-old couldn't breath and it was difficult to get a sense of direction. She knew what was happening. This happened at least once a week. It was awful. She could see large creatures moving around not that far from her, but they either hadn't noticed her yet or she was too small for them to bother. However, none of this mattered to her right now. Her mind was already panicking, she only noticed the movement. She would have swallowed if she could, but she was paralyzed with fear.

Something touched her leg and she jumped, whatever air her lungs held escaped in bubbles to the surface. She could see the light above her, a small shadow blocking out a section, and tried to work herself to swim to the surface.

She had only just managed to get a single breath before she was pushed back under the water.

It wasn't until the darkness started to creep further into her vision that she could get her breath back. They didn't push her back under the water either, allowing her to claw onto the small boat that had been above her. She ignored the voices as she tried to curl up into the smallest ball possible, coughing to get the water out of her lungs, trying to just disappear. She hated this, she hated her life, she hated being scared all the time. She had watched all the other kids her age from her bedroom window, none of them were like her. They were allowed to leave their house, they were allowed to socialize with the other kids. She didn't understand. She was just like all those other kids, nothing about her was strange for all she knew. She had dark hair and blue eyes, completely normal.

It was after she asked her parents why she wasn't with the other kids that all thisstarted happening. They called her ungrateful, disobedient and rude. Just after one question. It didn't stop at the torturous drownings, to which they never let her die. She was hit, cut, beaten until she was unconscious, the constant beatings were the worst since she didn't know when they would end. Whenever the doctor was called, he never questioned, told that she kept sneaking off and coming back like this.

Her parents hadn't even used her name, she didn't even know what she was called. She didn't even think she had one.

But one night made everything worse…

Small feet softly hit the floor, trying to be as quiet as the girl could possibly be. She knew what she was doing had massive consequences, but she hadn't eaten for three days and the last drowning attempt had exhausted her. She needed to eat otherwise she wouldn't have the energy for whatever was thrown at her next, if she didn't respond properly it would have been worse for her anyway. It was more the question of, which pain was easier to handle, and she knew the answer. The people that kept her here, the ones that didn't deserve to be called parents, had been out all day and came back with all sorts of things. What she had heard, they had made some deals with someone in the market as they had gotten something rare.

Though the girl didn't care about any of that. She thought only about food right now, so sneaking past their bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen. She was about to head straight to the storeroom in the back until she noticed something. A large fruit-like thing sat on the counter just in reach. It was a slightly odd shape and pale in colour, hard to tell what colour when it was so dark. It seemed to call to her, slowly getting closer to it, though that was likely her mind just wanting to eat the first thing that she saw. She could only just reach it, having to drag it slightly off the edge of the counter with her small arms. Almost dropping it, she looked over the odd fruit, curiosity getting the better of her. It didn't smell bad, didn't really smell at all.

It wasn't until it was entirely gone, and she was heading to the storeroom again, that the kitchen door swung open, hitting the wall with a loud noise.

A large, intimidating man stood in the doorway, a woman stood behind him looking at the girl as if she was less than dirt. The man looked around for a moment or two before he looked at her, eyes filled with rage.

"Where the hell is the fruit!?" He shouted, looking her over as she shrank back.

She tried to get as far into the corner as possible when the woman's eyes widened for a second before narrowing again.

"You ate it! How dare you!? You worthless piece of- No, you're not even that." She said, stalking towards the girl before landing a swift slap to the cheek, the girl stumbling.

The girl hadn't even noticed the change to her while all this was going on, she was more concerned with other matters.

It wasn't long before another blow hit her, this time a kick sending her onto the floor, head hitting the door behind her. She whimpered, curling into a ball in a way to defend herself. But that didn't stop the rest of the assault. She tried her best to shut it all out, only that failed when she felt herself being lifted. A door opened and the cold night air hit her skin, she didn't need to open her eyes to know exactly what they were doing.

"That fruit is going to make this a lot more easier to do." She heard one of them say, too out of it to even recognize which.

There was the sound of waves, really close waves. A slight feeling of rocking then the noise of oars moving, she was roughly dropped to the floor. She really didn't want to open her eyes, she was too scared.

But something about this time was a lot different, as soon as she hit the water she felt weak, incredibly weak. It was almost as if the sea was draining every last bit of energy she had left. The two adults didn't even bother holding her under for long since after a few moments, she didn't have enough energy to struggle. She couldn't even hold the air in her lungs for long. But that wasn't the only different thing. No, they left her where she was, no sign of them pulling her out this time when she started to fade. She caught the sight of their small boat leaving just before everything went completely black.

She was sure she would die this time.

That's that, abuse over and as little detail as I could possibly write it in.

Akemi woke with a start, shaking violently at the nightmares that had plagued her mind that night. No. Not nightmares. Memories.

She sat up, breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself down, clothes and hair stuck to herself with sweat. She looked around her room as if reminding herself of where she was. Aki then curled up on herself once she was certain she was at home, in her room at Suzu and Yuuto's bar. This wasn't the first time this had happened after all.

After a while, Aki got up and dressed. She needed to get out of the building and at least go for a walk to calm herself completely. Maybe she should head to the forge to finish any orders? Yeah, that usually calmed her.

With a slight grumble, she headed outside, trying to keep as quiet as possible as not to wake Luffy and the others. Once out, she headed straight to Yuuto's forge.

While she was walking, she thought about the events after the nightmare had ended. It was straight after that she had met Suzu and Yuuto, even if she was wary of the two at first.

It felt like she was floating there for eternity, everything black. The darkness was oddly comforting and she felt none of the previous pain before she passed out.

Though that didn't last as long as she had hoped for, her young mind didn't want to wake up, it wanted to stay in that state forever. But as she slowly started to come to, the pain started to take hold again. Her body ached more than anything and her head felt like it was splitting in two. She whimpered as she sat up, half expecting to be on solid ground.

No, instead she found herself in a bed and it was not her bed. Not that cheap, nasty mattress that was found on the streets. It was one of the most comfortable things in the world to her. But that wasn't the thing she took most note of. No, there was a woman sat on a chair next to the bed she had taken. She had a kind look on her face, even when sleeping, a bell hung around her neck. Though as soon as the girl made to get out of the bed, the woman's eyes opened and she gently pushed her back onto the bed, though the sudden movement had made her flinch.

"Don't move, just try to get as much rest as possible. You look like you've been through a lot, you poor thing." The woman said softly, giving her a smile. "But I must ask, what was someone like you doing in the sea? Did you fall from a boat? Though I suppose someone as young as you must not know what the sea does to devil fruit users."

The girl just blinked back at the woman, confused as to what she was going on about. None of this she had ever heard of before. She had never even heard of a devil fruit. But instead of asking, she just looked down at the covers of the bed. She didn't want to risk upsetting this woman. She may have been acting kind now, but who knew if that was just an act to get her guard down.

"Ah, forgive me for all the questions. Try to get some more sleep, ok? I'll bring you something to eat soon. You can tell me everything once you get your strength back." The woman smiled once more before getting up and tucking the girl in, leaving the room soon after, leaving the girl even more confused.

She didn't understand why they were being so kind to her. No one was this kind unless they wanted something from her, or so she was told. But she couldn't turn down the thought of more sleep, she didn't even have to force herself to close her eyes, she was just gone.

The woman came back a few times after that, the girl still didn't talk though and she didn't seem to care. The girl hadn't left the room since. The woman, Suzu, as she had learned, was a patient woman. She wouldn't force her to answer any questions she asked. Instead she gave her little bits of information about herself.

Suzu had a husband, Yuuto, and they were visiting the island for a few weeks to get some supplies for Yuuto's forge he ran one another island. Though they didn't receive many customers there, though bandits were a regular thing in the area. They had found the girl on the shore of the island, taking her straight to their room at the inn. Yuuto came into her room a few times and he seemed nice like Suzu.

The girl had to admit that the pair were growing on her quickly, but no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to trust them completely. She hated herself for that as, after quite a few days, she could tell that the two had no ulterior motives, and didn't get made at her even after she refused to speak. In fact, that just seemed to make them pity her further. She just wasn't used to so much positive attention.

However, when she did finally speak to them, it took them by surprise. They probably had thought she was mute by now.

It was when Suzu was checking the girls injuries and Yuuto was making sure everything was tidy, though he seemed to forget what he was doing a few times.

The girl watched them carefully, it was only until Suzu started to walk away that she spoke up.

"Th-thank y-you." The girl said in such a soft voice it was barely above a whisper, even bowing slightly.

Both stopped what they were doing, looking straight at her which only made her more nervous. But instead of fussing, Suzu just smiled and gave her a nod before leaving with her husband trailing after. Though they both looked like they had just been given a pile of priceless jewels.

She had spoken to them a few more times after that, and it wasn't until a few days before they were to leave that they found out the girl had no name. They asked one or two more questions and had managed to get out of her why she was where they had found her.

It seemed as if she had no choice of returning to their island with them. The both of them refused to let her return to a home that had thrown her away so easily, or let her live the streets. Yuuto had said that it would ease their minds if she was with them. Even after she had asked how she could repay their kindness, they said that as long as she was looked after they didn't care.

That was when the girl finally started to trust the two completely. That was when she had received her name. They called her Kitsune Akemi because of her fox-like features. They named her after a mythical creature, and not after themselves. They said it was so she could make a life for herself once she was old enough and not have to worry about them.

But when they finally left for home, they learned about Akemi's phobia. She was terrified of the sea.

When she approached the docks, she started to get flashbacks. She started to see the monsters that lived there and how it felt to have her energy drained from her body by something as simple as salt water. She started to remember all the times that her 'parents' had tortured her. She broke down that day and Yuuto had to carry a feinted Akemi onto their ship.

She was lucky that the journey was short.

After that Aki refused to leave her own room. She didn't want to go anywhere near the sea in case she broke down again. She hated herself for doing that, and she hated having burdened the couple even further. She had to stay behind every time the couple left the island, even one of them had to stay behind meaning the other couldn't bring as much back as they needed to.

Akemi holed herself up in her room for most of the time. Though after a while, almost a year of being with the couple, Aki started to leave. She had become fed up with herself and curiosity had gotten the better of herself.

It was about a week after Akemi had started to leave the house that she had met a young boy named Luffy. He was odd, energetic and Akemi found herself worrying about him a lot. He got himself into trouble so many times it was unbelievable…

Aki stepped outside and looked around the garden. She never really went much further than that. There were so many unfamiliar faces around and she was uncertain on which ones she could trust. Though Suzu and Yuuto ensured that hardly anyone on the island was unfriendly, she still couldn't trust if anyone wasn't a bandit. No matter how many times the two tried to get her to play with the other children of her age. She was wary if they would even like her with how different she was now. She didn't exactly look that human anymore with her white hair, fox-like ears and a tail.

She was soon snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed a boy heading her way, though she thought he was just going to walk past.

"Hey, cat girl. I haven't seen you around here before. Are those real?" He asked, not giving her much time to think. But after a few moments of silence, he spoke again, "I'm talking to you, you know. It's rude to ignore people!"

"O-oh… Uh… S-sorry." Aki replied quietly, though a squeak of surprise escaped her when the boy jumped the fence.

The next thing she knew, he was tugging at her ear. She didn't know how to react, no one had ever been so forward with her before.

"So are these real or not? They feel real." He said, once again not giving her much time to answer. "Wait… You're a real cat person!"

"F-fox actually…" Aki said. "And y-yes they're real."

"That's so cool! I'm Luffy by the way!" Luffy grinned at her, finally letting go of her ear. "What's your name, cat girl?"

Akemi blinked, looking the boy over before she replied. "A-Akemi. And I-I'm a fox n-not a cat." She was just happy he didn't seem scared of her or anything like that.

"Nice to meet you Aki! Oh! I know! I'm going to show you around! Let's go!" Luffy said, practically jumping for joy. Though she had no choice in the matter as Luffy grabbed her hand and started to drag her along.

Luffy grew on Aki quickly, though there wasn't much choice in that matter and Luffy seemed to draw people to him. Anyone that knew him either hated him or liked him, even if they weren't open about it. There were very few that seemed to hate him on the island and that was mainly because he was way too much to handle. At least Aki had someone her age to hang out with now.

That was how things went until a pirate crew came to the island with a captain of the name of Shanks came to the island.

Akemi sighed with a slight smile on her face as she sat down in the back room of the forge. Somehow thinking about the times back at the old village cheered her up a lot. Especially when she thought about her time with Luffy. Though there were a few other kids their, the closest one she was with was Luffy since he was technically her first friend.

Aki was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that someone had walked in, standing at the door to the room. Apparently she had forgotten to lock the door.

A/N:Longest. Chapter. EVER! This is literally the longest I have ever written and will likely write for a while.

I must admit that I would have liked to have expressed the beginning of this chapter in more detail but it was a little difficult for me to write, emotionally. I may have not been targeted by child abuse, but my mother was targeted by domestic abuse, sometimes me and my sister getting caught in it and I hate my father for that. I know this isn't the place to be talking about this so that's all I'll say. Plus that was over 10 years ago, I only remember that it happened and not what happened.

Anyway! Thanks guys for reviews and I wasn't expecting this to be so popular! This is literally the most popular fanfic I have (most follows, favorites and reviews based on how many chapters it has) though it is one of my only none crossovers so I guess that's expected! I forgot to say thank you last chapter so I'll say it in this one! Any replies to reviews I'll have to do next chapter as I am so tired right now.

Put up a poll for Aki's partner, of course more choices will be added the further I get in the manga and with any oc characters. Unfortunately I only pair do MxF pairings.

THANK YOU! And see ya next chapter!