***Author's Note: I do not own One Piece, Oda does, I do own the characters I made up in this story (ex: Ivy, Cecily (Shadow), and any other made up characters throughout this story that I might create). Also, please do not copy this story and claim it as your own***

Chapt. 28: The Past Revealed

50 Years Earlier

A 17-year-old girl, with long, curly, brown hair and grey eyes, was sitting at a bar-stool sipping a can of soda (the old-fashioned kind of Pepsi).

She was wearing a navy-blue, long-pantleg, sleeveless romper over a long-sleeved, white shirt with a dark green sweatshirt tied around her waist. On her feet was a pair of knee-high, black leather, steel-toed boots, with ice-blue shoelaces. For accessories, she had on a silver dragon necklace (the dragon was curled up sleeping), a black leather wristband, and a light blue slender ribbon that she had used to tie her hair up in a high pony tail. She looked to be about 5feet tall (maybe a little taller, but not much).

"Here's your order of cheese bites, Miss.," the bartender appeared with the stranger's food behind the counter of the bar, placing the basket in front of the woman and helping the next customer.

"Thank you," the lady thanked before stuffing some into her mouth, noticing a woman fighting against a man who was forcing her out of the bar, narrowing her eyes when he slapped the woman across her face, taking one last swig of her soda before getting off her stool and clamping a hand on the guy's arm, "I suggest removing your hand off the girl before I remove it for you."

"This doesn't concern you," the man spat, smelling like alcohol, attempting to shove this new girl's hand off his arm, but failing when she squeezed his arm tighter, "Besides this bitch was asking to come with me."

"Really? Cause it looks to me like she doesn't want anything to do with you," the brown haired girl smirked gripping the guy's arm tighter, "Not that I blame her, I wouldn't want anything to do with a Monkey-Pig either."

"You little bitch," the guy spat, spewing spit on the brown-haired girl, letting the other girl go, swinging his arm at the brown-haired girl, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

"Firstly, eww," the brown-haired girl stated in disgust wiping her hand across her cheek where the guy had spit on her, dodging the guy's fists by ducking (really, he was soo weak it was child's play), "Secondly, like I'm gonna tell a jackass like you my name, I'm not an idiot."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY!" the man spat, swinging his hand at the brown-haired girl again, only to howl in pain when she grabbed his fist in one hand, and crushing his hand (possibly breaking some bones in his hand) as she clutched his hand tighter.

"Disgusting pigs like you, who force yourselves on ladies," the brown-haired girl glared a death-glare that made the guy shiver in terror, pulling the guy's arm behind him before letting go and round-house kicking him, sending him crashing through the bar's windows, "REALLY PISS ME OFF!"

"Umm…" the other girl spoke quietly, staring at the brown-haired girl with wide eyes, "Thank you, Miss."

"Don't mention it, guys like him seriously are disgusting pigs," the brown-haired girl scowled with a dark look, turning towards the other girl with a grin sticking out her hand, "I'm Dawn, by the way. You're ok right?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," the girl (she looked about 16-17 years-old) grinned back at Dawn, shaking her hand, "I'm Zahara, but everyone calls me Zara."

"So…you're named after a flower?" Dawn hinted with amusement as they sat back down at the bar stools, "It's a pretty name."

"I'm actually named after a lesser known earth dragon," Zara corrected with a smile, picking up a cheese bite and putting it in her mouth, "You see I'm from this clan that believes in dragons and we're the only ones who can tame them, which is why my village doesn't exactly let a lot of outsiders come to visit."

While Zara was talking, Dawn listened and took the time to glance at her.

Zara had long curly, dark brown hair, that she took the sides of her hair, bringing it to the back of her head, and braided that part, while the rest of her hair was left untouched and she had blueish-grey eyes. She was wearing a long sleeved, light green shirt under a brown, leather corset, and heavy black pants. On her arms was a pair of heavy, leather dark-brown, arm protectors going to her elbows. On her feet was a pair of black, leather, knee-high boots. She had a tattoo that was shaped like a dragon on her shoulder.

"That reminds me, I'm supposed to be getting my baby dragon today," Zara blurted standing up fast, grabbing Dawn's hands as she rushed out of bar, Dawn flying behind her, "You have to see this Dawn, it's really beautiful when we get to choose our dragons."

"But, I thought your village doesn't allow a lot of outsiders inside?" Dawn reminded as she was being dragged towards a small boat by Zara, "Wouldn't the villagers get upset by me being there?"

"No," Zara dismissed jumping into the boat, pulling Dawn in with her, and started rowing, "And if they do, I'll say you rescued me from a terrible death."

"BUT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO DIE!" Dawn pointed out, baring her teeth at Zara, lightly tapping her head.

"You never know," Zara grinned over at Dawn as she rowed towards her village, "I could've died."

"YEAH YOU COULD'VE DIED, THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU WERE GOING TO!," Dawn pointed out once again, baring her teeth at Zara, before sighing with a smile on her face, "Whatever, just know if your village kills me, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Yeah, yeah," Zara rolled her eyes in amusement, as she continued to row the boat, "Trust me they won't kill you, my clan is the most peaceful clan you'll ever meet."

"What's the name of this mysterious dragon clan anyways?" Dawn inquired raising her eyebrows over at Zara, "And how come I never heard of a clan like that before?"

"We're called the Danico clan," Zara replied with smile, "It's a pretty famous clan, but the clan itself was built far away from the rest of the world, so even though we're a famous clan, not many people believe we exist since not many people have actually seen the village with their own eyes."

"Why is the clan isolated?" Dawn pondered, furrowed her brows in confusion, "And why would someone want to build a village far away from others, when it has people that can befriend dragons?"

"Which is the reason right there," Zara frowned with a dark look coming onto her face as she rowed, "Many years ago, our ancestors went around the world trying to get people to understand that dragons are our friends, but the people revolted against the dragons and almost wiped the dragons off the map, luckily, my ancestors hide any dragons they could find that weren't killed in the battle and that was when they promised to never let that horrible disaster happen again, so they built a village high up in the mountains where they had hid the dragons, far away from the rest of the world."

"Those kinds of people make me want to give them a good punch in the face," Dawn glared her hands making a fist, "Why were the people acting like that towards the dragons?"

"They feared their power and they also were scared of how my ancestors were the only ones that could communicate with the dragons," Zara scowled still rowing the boat, "Which is why my ancestors alienated themselves from the rest of the world, making sure they kept to themselves and not made any waves with anyone."

"But the relationship between the other people of the world and the dragons must be better now, right?" Dawn observed glancing at Zara, hoping to make her feel better.

"True the relationship between the other people and the dragons is better," Zara nodded, but had a dark look a second later, "Even though it has gotten better, the village elder heard rumors that the World Government is keeping a close eye on all the other clans that are far away from the rest of the world."

"So…" Dawn carefully hinted, "Do they think, they're planning some kind of attack against the clans?"

"No," Zara frowned head bent down, "They just think the World Government is waiting to see if the clans need to be taken care of."

"This is exactly why I can't stand the World Government," Dawn muttered under her breath with a dark look, before turning towards Zara with a smile, "So how far is this village of yours anyways?"

"We're not even halfway there yet," Zara laughed as she rowed before turning towards Dawn with a puzzled look, "Why were you in that bar anyways?"

"Why were you in that bar?," Dawn countered, only to sigh in defeat when Zara gave her a pointed look, "Fine, but afterwards you have to tell me what you were doing in that bar."

"It's a deal," Zara nodded grinning, before giving Dawn a playful glare, "Now spill it."

"I come from a family of highly respected Marines," Dawn began with dark look, bending her head downwards, hiding her face, "And when my mother told my father that she was pregnant, he was thrilled thinking he would have a son to continue the family tradition of having sons in the Marines."

"Let me guess," Zara butted in with a knowing frown, "He didn't take it very well when he found out it was a girl instead of a boy?"

"Worse, he was downright livid," Dawn glared out into the sea, "The bastard blamed me for him not having a son ever since I was born. He would hit me, throw me against a wall, and once he even threw a knife at me."

"What a douche," Zara glared, "You can't help that you aren't a boy."

"Which is why, he figured since he didn't have son, he'll just get a son-in-law that is in the Marines," Dawn spat in disgust, "He was going to marry me off to this disgusting snobby idiot on my 18th birthday in two days, so I ran away during the night, trying to get far away from there as I could and ended up at that bar where I met you."

"We are totally going to celebrate your birthday," Zara smirked with a no-arguing-allowed face, "We have this tradition where just before the kids' 18th birthday, we have a celebration to congratulate them becoming adults and getting their first dragon."

"Ok, sounds cool," Dawn pondered in confusion, "But why would you go to a bar that is hours away from your village to hide?"

"Let me finish," Zara huffed with irritation, "If there's more than one child who will be 18 at the same time, which there usually are, depending on how many and what gender the kids are, they pick a name out of a hat, if you're a girl and there's boys that are also going to be 18, the girls pull out a slip of paper with one of the guys' name on it from a hat on the right, while the guys pull out a slip of paper with a girls' name on it from a hat on the left and that's the person you're paired up with."

"What do you mean by that?" Dawn questioned tilting her head sideways.

"Every child when they turn 8-years-old attend a school that teaches them about dragons, but only a handful get to stay in that school, because not every child in the village is able to communicate with the dragons," Zara explained, "And they stay in that school until they turn 12, then they go to another school until they're 18 and when they turn 18, they go to a "college" to train to be a dragon master, but before you enter the "college" you have to be paired up with someone and that someone is the name on that slip of paper."

"Very cool," Dawn grinned, "But why do you need to be paired up with someone before you can go to that college?"

"Because, you learn more advanced stuff there, and they teach you how to work together with a partner," Zara explained with a grin, "Plus, each partner gets to take care of their own baby dragon."

"Man, that sounds so cool," Dawn grinned with stars in her eyes, as she playfully glared in envy, "I can't wait to see your village, Zara, it sounds so amazing."

"You won't have to wait long," Zara smirked as she spotted the mountains up ahead, "My village is up ahead."

"NO WAY!" Dawn exclaimed with a grin, putting her hands to her forehead as she glanced around rapidly at her surroundings, "WHERE? WHERE IS YOUR VILLAGE?!"

"See those mountains in front of us and to our sides?" Zara smirked pointing her head towards the enormous mountains in front of and to the sides of them, "That's where it is."

"You must have a big village considering the hundreds of mountains you guys have around here," Dawn observed looking at the different rocks, "I can see why your ancestors made their home here, it's so enormous and secluded, not to mention it's hard to find."

"Yup, if you didn't know where to look, you'd just assume it's only gigantic mountains here," Zara agreed, before pointing out a small pointed rock way up in the mountain on the left side, "You see that pointed rock that's way up high in the distance on our left?"

"Umm…" Dawn narrowed her eyes, looking for the rock she was pointing to with her head, then finding what she was talking about, "You mean the rock that looks kind of hallow and has a pointed top on it?"

"That's the one," Zara laughed slowing her rowing down, "You can't tell from here, but that rock has marble floors, and hundreds of classrooms."

"So that's the school for the little kids then?," Dawn guessed grinning in awe, "I really want to see what is looks like inside."

"Uh-Huh, that's where the little kids go to school and coming up on our right is the second school I was talking about." Zara smirked upon seeing the awe on Dawn's face, "Maybe if we're lucky, the village elder will let me give you a tour of our village."

"That's incredible," Dawn praised with wide eyes, before glancing towards the right and spotting what Zara was pointing at with her head, "The one that looks like the other one only smaller and a tiny bit closer?"

"Yup, pretty cool huh?," Zara smirked, rowing up to a silver dragon gate that was built into the mountains ( they had built the gate, so both ends of it was on either side of the mountain), before knocking against the gate three times, and it creaked open on the third knock, "And this is the only way to get into and out of the village."

"And your ancestors created this village?," Dawn marveled in awe, glancing around at her surroundings, before jumping onto the fat rocks behind Zara when they docked, walking up huge, curling, flights of steps made out of rock (they were curved because it went around in a circle going up the mountains), "I'm jealous, I can't even draw a stick person."

"Wow, that's sad," Zara laughed, pointing towards small little huts made out of rocks, climbing higher up the mountains, "We have many houses like those scattered around these mountains."

"I think I saw some scattered here and there before we came to the gate," Dawn recalled with wide eyes, looking at different contraptions that were used for collecting water, planting, and washing, "What are those weird things."

"Those are inventions that we use to help us gather water and other everyday things," Zara explained, walking up another flight of rock-stairs, "We're almost to the main village, which is where I live and we should go see the village elder when we get there."

"I'm starting to notice there are more merchants selling things," Dawn observed, glancing around at the different people, she also noticed a lot more houses that were bigger and nicer than the ones farther back were clumped together side-by-side (like a city), "I'm also starting to notice how it's starting to look a lot more like a city."

"That's because we're closer to the main village," Zara pointed out as they approached the main village, "And here we are, the main village."

The main village had huge rock buildings that had signs out in the front stating words like: Restaurant, Book Shop, Grocery, Dragons and More, and Hotel, plus there were tons of small shops selling all kinds of things. Not to mention all the massive houses all around, but right in the center of the village stood a mammoth rock building that towered over everything else.

"Who's that?" Dawn inquired pointing her head slightly towards a boy with bright red hair that had a fringe covering his left eye and green eyes (he was about 17-19 years old), who had a green baby dragon on his shoulder and turned around to glance at her when his dragon whispered something, "Forget it, let's just go see that elder."

The boy was wearing a heavy, black T-shirt under a black metal chest armor, heavy black pants with a silver belt that hanged off his hip, and black leather, steel-toed, combat boots. On his arms were the same kind of arm protectors that Zara had on except they were black not brown.

"His name's Ryu," Zara smirked throwing a knowing look at Dawn, "He's going to be in his second year in college, but he's the only one without a partner."

"Why's that?" Dawn asked eyebrows furrowed looking at Ryu, "I thought you said that everyone had to have a partner before they can enter the college?"

"Under normal circumstances," Zara explained smirking, "But that year, he was the only one that was turning 18, so he couldn't have a partner and girls have been trying to talk him into letting them by his partner ever since, but he refuses each time."

"How come?" Dawn puzzled, glancing at Zara before glancing back at Ryu, "I mean is there a reason why he's refusing them?"

"Who knows," Zara smirked at Dawn before grabbing her arm and running towards the huge rock building in the center of the village, "Let's go to the elder."

The two girls didn't see Ryu's lips curled up in a small smirk watching the two girls laugh as they ran towards the elder's building, with amusement in his eyes.

***(AN: Yeah, these next few chapters are going to be how Ivy's mom and dad met and a few other things from Ivy's mom's past. I wanted to write a few chapters on Ivy's mom, so I hope you guys like it)***

TO BE CONTINUED….