This trend continued through the ascension of such infamous crews as the Rumbar pirates and the actions of the rookie Gol D. Roger. In time, it led down to "The Florist" Flora, who in turn had six daughters. Our story follows the journey of the youngest, one Char, who would continue the family tradition in playing the Ultimate Game.
Anna evaded the marines through her illusions, and in turn settled down to start a family. She told her children of her adventures, and though her two sons became respectable men who hid their mother's identity, her daughters took up the Jolly Roger as well.
Marie, the eldest, became "Miss Fortune" and spread chaos and discord across the seas. Liza, the middle child, was known as "The Nimble Thief" for her distracting acrobatics. Finally, there was the youngest of the three sisters, Anna. She was arguably the most famous and her name has been held on record in the Marine HQ as one of the few epithets to never be given to any pirate again. She was known as "Hell's Illusionist."
The very first female pirate was one Vera, known by the epithet as "The Red Lady" for her cherry lipstick and the blood left in her wake. Vera escaped the marines to a small island in the East Blue, where she settled down and had three daughters. Each daughter in turn became pirates.
Chapter 21: The Rules of Safe Travel.
"Can't you stay out of trouble for five minutes?" Zoro asked, his bandana already donned his scalp.
"If I'd known you'd be this much trouble I might've stayed with the old geezer." Sanji felt the need to add.
"Bah, you guys are no fun!" Char derided them. "What's life without a little trouble?" She cracked her whip in the air.
People fled the square as the order to charge rang out. Char's lips moved but the sudden gale wind blocked the sound. A dozen copies leapt away, drawing attention to themselves and confusing the enemy pirates as to which was the real girl. Somewhere to her left Zoro was cutting down men easy, and ahead of her and to the right Sanji drop kicked another man in make-up.
"Zoro! Sanji! Char! Ussop! Nami!" The fight ceased at the sudden call. It rippled through the air, demanding their attention to be drawn to the boy with the straw hat.
"Sorry but…I'm dead." His smile burned into the lids of their eyes, branded there as the sword came down. What happened next would be whispered in the taverns of Loguetown for years to come. As though this arrogant explanation had angered some great deity the dark clouds that had gathered in the sky opened up with almighty tremor and a bolt of lightning.
Char watched with wide eyes. That platform had been built specifically for the execution of the Pirate King decades ago. It had stood since that day tall and imposing, it gave everyone the feeling as though if they squinted just right they might see the ghost of Gold Roger still smiling down in a defiant challenge. Now it crumpled, the metal beams screeched in agony as their bolts were ripped from the sockets and they crashed to the Earth. The straw hat her captain was growing famous for fluttered in the air but seemed immune to the clashing gales hurling the rain down. It fell slowly into the outstretched palm of its bearer.
"I'm alive. That's nice!" Luffy commented, the thought having just occurred to him. Char wanted to laugh but the moment still felt too raw for such emotion. It seemed disrespectful.
"Do you believe in God?" Sanji asked with an upturned brow, not really directing his question to either of them. Char didn't think this had anything to do with Divine Intervention, but it did feel a bit like a story.
"There's no time for this, we've got to get to the ship." Zoro was the one who finally broke the fragile calm they'd fallen in. Char realized he was right and coiled her whip to fit in the Treat bag. Her hands were shaking, her heart hammered against her ribs and goose bumps raced up and down her arms.
Later she would reflect on how the marines always managed to ruin everything. For the moment she simply sighed and gripped Sanji's hand as they made a break in a gap between men. The rain pounded harsh against their backs, the wind seemed to blow harder, moving them even faster towards the harbor.
Pirates and the children of pirates didn't go to church, but if Char was a church going kid she'd most likely state that it seemed that God himself had joined their crew.
"Stop pirates!" Char was already breathing hard when the marines began chasing them in earnest. She made a frustrated noise and drew out three tops.
"Day's Illusion: Dancing Tops!" She chanted, playing the tops around on her arm while the illusion appeared behind her. The giant orange tops teetered this way and that, barring the marines from following them. She stuck the tops back into her Trick bag and hoped the illusion would stay up long enough for them to make some distance.
"Someone's up ahead!" She groaned when she saw someone standing in the middle of the road. The longer it took to get back to the Going Merry the wetter she got. Already her cloak was drenched all the way through!
"Roronoa Zoro!" The woman growled, drawing her sword. Char stopped with everyone else, secretly grateful for the chance to catch her breath. Her lungs were shaking in a bad way and she hoped that by catching her breath she might stave off another attack.
"I'm not letting you leave this island with the Wado Ichimounji!" She vowed.
"That's stealing!" Char gasped. For a marine to steal so blatantly! She was pretty sure there must be some rule against it, but nothing was springing to mind.
"Come and get it." Zoro challenged, confident in his victory. The two clashed, water droplets were shaken off the slick steel with each collision.
"Hey you bastard, you can't fight a girl!" Sanji protested.
"Shut your mouth!" The woman screamed at him, visibly offended. "This fight is between me and Roronoa!"
"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up!" Zoro called over his shoulder.
"If you hurt that lady I'll kick your ass!" Sanji promised as they passed him. Char grinned impishly, the perfect game in mind.
"Have fun on your date Zoro!" She cheered him, making sure to yell it loud enough that the advancing marines heard it too.
"Why you—! She is not my date Char!" He roared after her laughter.
"Char-chan, a guy like him does not deserve a lady like that!" Sanji said with utmost sincerity, taking her by the hand again to keep her from falling behind.
"Why not?" She asked. He looked vaguely uncomfortable for a moment before declaring that he'd explain it when she was a little older. Char pouted, knowing she might not get that chance as she lad less than a year left to live, but conceded.
"I can see the harbor!" Luffy announced from his position at the fore. Char found the strength to smile as she caught sight of the frothing waves. She couldn't yet make out which one was the Going Merry because of the rain, but she certainly didn't see any fires.
"Ah great, now what?" Sanji cursed as he made out the form of another figure standing in their way. The only upside was that this one was a man.
"Straw hat Luffy, didn't I tell you that you couldn't go to the Grand Line unless you beat me?" The marine man scolded.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Luffy apologized as they all came to a halt. Char nearly fell to her knees. Her legs felt like rubbery lead and her lungs heaved in her tiny chest.
"Sanji, take Char and go on ahead." He ordered. Sanji knew this was not the moment to argue with his blockheaded captain. He swept the child off her feet and sprinted for the distant harbor. Char looked over his shoulder to where the marine man and Luffy were facing off.
They ran until they reached the shore. Nami and Ussop had been forced to weigh anchor in order to avoid having the ship blown to smithereens. Sanji cursed when he saw how quickly Merry was leaving the island.
"NAMI-SAN! Wait for me!" He called out lovingly to his dearest angel. In his arms the cherub Char clung to his soaked jacket and he envisioned how Nami must see him. Surely she must be thinking of how wonderful a man he is to be so valiantly saving a small girl from the marines.
"Where's everyone else?" Ussop called to them, popping his dream bubble where he'd just gotten to the point where he and Nami adopted Char and started their family.
"Who cares, let's just pick them up later!" He waved off Ussop's worries in indignation. How dare he interrupt his day dreams!
He growled and carefully set Char onto his back so he could fight the marines that had been lying in wait. Char hung by one arm as she used her smaller whip to attack the ones behind them but no matter how many they took down more appeared to take their place.
"They're like cockroaches!" He groaned when another batch surrounded them.
"How come they don't realize they aren't strong enough to beat us?" Char asked curiously. It didn't make sense to her why they kept trying even though they saw all their comrades get beaten. Marines always tried overwhelming pirates with sheer numbers, even when it would be smarter to set a trap or something. It never made sense to her.
She finally dropped to the ground to fight better, launching herself at the marines and taking advantage of their hesitation to paralyze them. She cartwheeled back to Sanji, placing herself back to back with him as more appeared. She tried to count them all but gave up.
Not because there were too many to count, but because a giant gust of green wind suddenly swept over them. She screamed, losing the grip on her small whip as she was flung into the air. She didn't even have time to blow a bubble to create a softer landing.
"OOF!" She grunted as her side solidly connected with a wall, or perhaps a large rock. She whimpered as she untangled herself from her cloak. It had torn against a rock but hopefully Nami would be able to fix it the same way she had fixed Luffy's hat.
"Whoa, that was crazy." As though her mere mortal thoughts had summoned him there he sat, hand clapping his straw hat to his head, beside Ussop who had mysteriously been swept back to land from the ship.
"Luffy!" They all looked up at the distant call. Char gasped when she realized how far away Merry had gotten in that big gust. Nami couldn't turn the ship around because of the storm, they were going to be left behind.
"Uh-oh." Luffy said, darting backwards and stretching himself with the use of a pole.
"Oh man, this isn't going to be pretty." Zoro shuddered, grabbing Char by the back of her shirt, instinctively knowing her body wouldn't be able to take the brunt of another landing like that. Luffy catapulted himself forward, knocking all his shore-side crewmates into the air with him, over the ocean and directly into the sail of the Going Merry.
On second thought, trouble isn't really all that fun. Char groaned as she extracted herself from the pile they'd landed in. Despite Zoro's best intentions she'd still been badly bruised in the landing. She could already tell that her left arm was going to be several interesting colors by bed time, and the rest of that side of her body seemed ready to follow suit.
"You okay?" Zoro asked her once his head had stopped spinning.
"I'm fine." She answered, helpfully getting off him so he could stand up.
"There's the lighthouse that marks the entrance to the Grand Line!" Nami informed them all. Char whooped and ran to the railing so she could get a better view. The light circled the crag in the distance, warning nearby ships of the rocks and marking the way for every pirate ready to try his luck.
"Beyond that is the Grand Line." Luffy said softly.
"I feel like we should commemorate the occasion." Sanji chuckled. Luffy latched onto the idea and soon an empty barrel had been propped up on deck. Char watched with her big grey eyes.
"To be King of the Pirates." Luffy intoned first, placing one sandaled foot on the rim of the barrel.
"To be the World's Greatest Swordsman." Zoro stated, placing his boot next to Luffy's.
"To chart a map of the whole world!" Nami declared, lifting her leg for the same purpose.
"To find the All Blue!" Sanji smirked with determination in his eyes.
"T-To become a brave warrior of the sea!" Ussop announced.
"To play the Ultimate Game!" Char finished the sound off. As one they lifted their legs and brought them down again. The barrel was no match for the conjoined weight of their aspirations. It shattered beneath their blow in a crash that Char would later swear could be heard around the globe.
Inside Char changed her clothes and regretfully left her cloak to dry in the bathroom before it could be mended. She had to dodge between the raindrops to get all the way to the kitchen without getting soaked again. Inside everyone was waiting for Sanji to finish making dinner.
Zoro was leaning against the walls, his new swords stood beside his favorite one on his right. Ussop was manning the tiller, keeping them all on a steady course with the gale force winds. Nami was sitting on the bench, inspecting one of the maps. Luffy sat opposite her at the table, heckling Sanji to cook faster all while attempting to steal little morsels for himself.
"I guess there's really no mistaking it." Nami muttered. Char cocked her head to the side and eagerly approached, trying to figure out from the map what Nami was talking about.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I'll tell you after we eat Char." Nami waved her off. Char resigned herself to impatiently waiting. She listened to the rain pound against the windows for a few minutes before she decided to take out Kitty and Mr. Stuffikins in order to ask them how they felt to be the first stuffed pirate toys to reach the Grand Line.
"Char-chan, put away your toys, it's time to eat." Sanji reprimanded her softly. She grinned and put the toys back in the Trick bag for their naps. Nothing ever smelled so good as the food Sanji could make. She didn't even have to worry about Luffy stealing her food like he stole from nearly everyone else because Sanji protected her and Nami!
"Alright everyone, listen up." Nami announced just as most of the plates had been licked clean. Char swallowed the last bite of her creamy mashed potatoes with gravy, hoping to hear what had bothered the navigator earlier.
"I've heard the rumors and it seems they weren't lying," She paused to look into the faces of her crewmates. "The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."
"You didn't know that?" The tension that had built in the room due to the announcement broke. When everyone had more or less picked themselves up off the floor Char decided to explain.
"You guys know everyone in my family's a pirate, so of course we have lots of stories of things that happen on the Grand Line." She frowned at them.
"So you know how we get to the Grand Line through a mountain?" Zoro asked incredulously.
"Of course," She nodded knowingly. "Reverse Mountain has some of my family's darker stories. I can name ten ancestresses who met their end while trying to conquer it!"
"Reverse Mountain?" Sanji repeated.
"It's called that because water flows in reverse there! Instead of flowing down, it flows up!" She'd always wanted to see it with her own eyes. Was the Red Line really as tall as they said? Did it really stand above the clouds, so high in the air that water would freeze into crystals if it got splashed? Was there truly a circular rainbow that never went away at the summit?
"She's right, according to this map there are some canals that go up the mountain and empty out into the Grand Line at the summit." Nami pointed the figures out on her map.
"So it's a mystery mountain?" Luffy questioned.
"Weren't you listening to a word I just said!?" Nami demanded, knuckling down on his rubbery skull.
"Geez, but listen, if we don't hit the Red Line at exactly the right spot we'll be destroyed by the current." She explained everything to them, and then directed Sanji and Luffy to take in the sail. When Luffy cried out from the mast that he could see the Red Line everyone rushed out, eager to see it for themselves.
"Nami, where's the entrance?" Luffy asked once he'd gotten back to the deck.
"Just keep bearing straight ahead!" She answered happily in her pink rain slicker. Char eyed the clothing article with a bemused sense of suspicion. Where had this incredibly useful piece of clothing come from and why didn't she own one?
"I've gotta be dreaming! Water's flowing up the mountain!" Zoro gaped openly at the miracle. Char grinned in victory, patting herself on the back for upsetting the world view of one of her companions.
"The helm broke!" She dropped her victorious expression and replaced it with one of horror. This was how eight out of ten of those ancestresses died, the tiller broke and they got slammed into the Red Line.
"We're going to crash!" Nami screamed in horror.
Wow, I'm glad Luffy ate the gum gum fruit and not the rock rock fruit or something. She sighed with relief when he caught onto Zoro's offered limb and hoisted himself back on board. She could've done without that near heart attack.
"We're going up the mountain!" Ussop whooped, linking arms with Sanji in celebration. "We're in the clouds now!"
Char cheered and began running around on the deck, waving her arms around so her fingers could brush the clouds. How many kids her age could honestly say they knew what a cloud felt like?
"Oh wow, there's the summit!" It was everything the stories said it was. A rainbow glittered around it, cast by the crystalizing spray. Char latched onto the railing as they leapt into the air, hanging for a moment inside that rainbow.
"THERE IT IS! The greatest ocean in the world," Luffy shouted above the roaring rapids to be heard. "That's the Grand Line!"