Chapter 54: For a while with games and all

Whitebeard stared down at Shanks in slight surprise, Luffy didn't look like she cared, and in fact it was like she already knew the reason but wasn't going to say anything.

"Why?" Whitebeard asked after a drawn out pause. "Should I?"

"You're a trusted person." Shanks said before looking up with a smirk. "You're a trusted powerful person that cares for his family; I'm only asking that you look after her for a while. I'm going to be in a bit of a battle that I would rather leave Luffy out of, and I need her to be with someone that will look after her."

"What about her family?"

"Her mother's dead and her father is missing, she has no other relatives to speak of…and I don't have time to go back to the East blue and drop her off there." Whitebeard looked thoughtfully down at Shanks before he sighed.

"If you wanted to kill me you would do so boldly, so that means the little brat isn't here to kill everyone in their sleep." The old man looked over at Marco and stared at him… "She can stay until you come and pick her back up."

"Thank you." Shanks said with a bow looking so relieved that Whitebeard couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble he has gotten himself into.

"Why didn't you ask one of your allies?" Shanks snapped his head up at this and he rubbed his hair…

"Luffy doesn't exist…plus I would rather not lose any of my allies with the trouble that she can pull off."

"Lose?"

"Oh they would be so angry at me to the point that they would consider murdering me, and they wouldn't be able to control the girl…"

"That prank with the blue…was her under control?" Izo questioned, the cross dressing male had been all for a little girl on the ship but if she was like that then…

"Yep, that was her under control…" Shanks was slowly walking to the plank that would take him back to his ship, Luffy noticed this and jumped from Whitebeards shoulders and ran up to the other pirate captain hugging his legs in her arm. Shanks looked down at the girl with a fond smile and ruffled her hair…he took his straw hat off and dropped it onto her head. "I want that back when I come to pick you up."

"Kay…" Luffy sniffed holding the hat on her head with one of her arms while she kept a hold on Shanks's leg with the other.

"Luffy you have to let go of me…"

"What about my stuff?"

"Benn's already taken care of that."

"Can I say bye to everyone?"

"Luffy…" Luffy looked up tears running down her cheeks as she sniffed, Shanks leaned down and hugged her to his chest and she sobbed into his shoulder, most of the Whitebeard pirates looked away, it wasn't any of their business watching something like that. Shanks stood up letting go of the girl…she however didn't. "Lu, you need to let go of me."

Luffy shook her head and held on tighter while Shanks pushed at her belly with his only arm…

"Let go, let go letgoletgoletgoletgoletgo." Shanks chanted as he kept on pushing, Luffy shook her head and Shanks sighed. "I'll be right back."

He walked onto his ship and picked up Luffy's bag's, carrying them onto the Moby dick.

"Don't let her fall into the water she's a fruit user, don't make her cry or I'll kill you, don't give her anymore scares, don't give her any kind of alcoholic drink, don't ask about her mother or her father, she won't give you a straight answer…and help her with her sword training…her sword is in her bag...it used to belong to her mother." Shanks said pulling Luffy off of him, he gave her a kiss to the forehead before dashing to his ship and jumping on it, they were waving bye and calling out to Luffy as they sailed away.

"YOU LET HER EAT A DEVIL FRUIT?" Whitebeard yelled standing up, Luffy looked up at the tall man still sniffing and she grinned.

"Yeah…wanna see?" Marco nodded his head and Luffy smiled widely, Thatch however spotted a familiar glim in her eye, the one that gets him into trouble half the time. She burst into flames, the orange fire was then sucked into her skin, however when the flames disappeared she had two horns, her eyes were black, teeth sharp and point along with her claws, black wings came from her back and a tail was wrapped around her leg.

"DEVIL!" Half the crew cried out, Luffy grinned and let her extra parts sink back into her skin and another set of wings burst from her back, white wings, her eyes changed to white, her skin glowed and when she took the straw hat off a gold ring could be seen. "ANGEL!"

Her halo dropped a bit to the side of her head and a horn popped from the skin on her forehead, her nails got longer, her tail slid back out this time it had white rings around it and two white feathers, only the top set of teeth became pointed and one of her beautiful white wings burst into flames, when they stopped one of her black ones was there, and she had one full black eye and the other white.

"MONSTER!" They screamed out in terror, it's Thatch that could name what she was…

"She's a Grigori…a fallen angel and a demon that was spat back out…" Luffy let her wings and tail slide back in before everything else of hers that wasn't there before until she's a normal little girl again.

"So where am I sleeping?" Luffy asked grinning, Whitebeard looked over towards Marco and Marco shuddered under that gaze.

"She's not sleeping with me."

"…Hmm, Luffy you are staying with Thatch and Marco you get to look after her."

"WHAT?" They both shouted, Whitebeard chuckled and pushed Luffy over towards the boys and threw her bags over to the two males. If it wasn't for their reflexes the bags would have smashed into their faces. Luffy walked up to the two males, a huge grin on her face and Thatch looked at Whitebeard with pleading eyes.

"Good luck."

"But popsssss." They both whined, Luffy grabbed one of the larger bags and looked inside of it before drawing out her red sword. They eyed the weapon with impressed gazes, then Marco and Thatch deflated in defeat and picked up the girls bags, they had to wonder how strong Shanks is to carry them with only one arm, they took them to Thatch's room.

"Shanks said I get to train with my sword…" She said looking around until her eyes landed on Vista and his blades…she rushed up to the man and beamed up at him. "Can you teach me? Huh moustache man?"

"…Ah, yes little miss." He said not one to be rude to a female; he couldn't refuse the gentleman code. Luffy smiled brightly up at him eyes sparkling.

"Shanks has trouble showing me how to hold the sword right because his only got one hand and there the rest of the crew either uses guns or bats or both or chains or blocks… so no one can show me the right way to hold my sword." Luffy said dragging the man to the middle of the ship; Vista eyes the girl as she easily carried the weapon, not even dragging it on the ground. "And Shanks can't get in touch with Hawky so he can't teach me…"

"Hawky?" Vista questioned, Luffy laughed and stopped dragging the man but kept walking ahead of him, they were a few meters away from each other and Luffy had her sword in her belt loop of her shorts.

"Yep." She said, Vista had a sinking feeling on whom this Hawky is, but he couldn't picture the world's greatest swordsman, let himself be nicknamed Hawky; even if it was a child that gave him the name, wouldn't that make it more childish and downgrading?

"You do know I use two swords?"

"Yeah, but Shanks only has one arm."

"…Alright, attack me then." Vista watched as she drew the sword out fluently…with her right hand, he dodged her attacks, looking and watching her form. She only used her right hand and didn't know what to do with her left, that and the fact that she has her scabbard on her right hip… the normal way to draw a sword is by dragging it diagonally up with the opposite hand. He took quick note in what needs to be done, and when his eyes gazed over at his brothers and sister who was watching with interest, a calculating look in the other sword welding division commander's eyes.

They could see it too, the potential in the young girl. The will and determination, the fire that burns brightly inside of her. Vista let the grin form over his face; it would look like he wouldn't be the only one teaching the girl during her stay here.

Vista ducked under another sweep of the sword and grabbed her wrist, he was meant to grab the blade but her eyes had seen through the grab and moved her arm up.

"Don't touch the sword." She said looking at him like she feared for his life, Vista frowned moving one finger up to touch a part of her sword, just to see what will happen. What he felt made the hair on his arms stand up, the sword has power and feelings and right now it's screaming at him. Demanding that he let Luffy go and to stop touching it, he felt the love it has for Luffy, Vista moved on hand over to his swords and felt the same love only hers holds more than one's own feelings. Luffy twisted her hand out of his and put her sword back into her scabbard, she looked up at Vista with dark concerned eyes.

"Where did you get that sword?"

"My mother left it for me, Shanks doesn't let anyone else touch it after one of the lower members grabbed it out of his room and tried to use it, tried because when he drew the blade out he lost a few fingers…" Vista looked down at his finger then stared at Luffy who looked like she didn't care about what happened. The only indication that she showed she did care was the fear in her eyes when he went to grab the blade. "Then when I tried to practices with the crew someone did the same move as you and their arm got cut up…his whole arm is scar tissue now…you can touch it when I trust you completely, like Shanks…or when a pendent appears on my anklet."

Vista doesn't know what to say and Luffy hums under her breath before a light entered her eyes like she just remembered something.

"So what do you think?" Vista gave her a confused look and Luffy just smiled. "About my swordsmanship?"

"Well you held the sword the right way if you are using it with one hand, your fast and graceful…"

"Your foot work needs a little more work for someone your size." Haruta said from the side, Luffy looks over at the women in thought. "I'll teach you some more foot and sword play."

"And we'll spar with each other us daily." Fossa said grinning nodding his head around to the other commanders, the crew that had been watching gave Luffy funny looks.

"Thanks!" Luffy cheered just as Thatch and Marco come back onto deck, one of the lower lever Whitebeard pirate walks up to Fossa with a betrayed look on his face.

"Why does she get to learn from the commanders? She's not even part of the crew nor the allies in fact she came on from an enemy ship."

The commanders looked at the crew member as he glared at them; it's Marco who answered for them all.

"It's because she asked, and her captain begged." Marco said with a grin, Luffy looked over at Marco for a moment thinking about what he said before she, herself glared at him.

"Shanks isn't my captain." Marco blinked, she was their when Shanks asked to teach her and he didn't beg at all and yet she pick up the captain part. "I don't have a captain and I will never have a captain…how can the pirate king be the pirate king if she calls someone else captain?"

This outburst made many of the pirates look at her stunned it's one of the lower members that broke the silence by laughing, clutching his stomach and he mocked her.

"Pirate king? You? You're a weak little girl…" He didn't get to finish sneering and mocking her because Luffy moved faster than some could see and smashed her fist into his face, black wings sprouting from her back, horns on her head, claws and pointed teeth, along with her tail all sprouting out of her. She even had flames seeping out of her a bit, no smoke just the flames, showing everyone how angry she is.

"Don't mock my dreams otherwise I'll think your dream isn't worth anything." She said standing over the fallen man who was holding his broken, burned and bleeding nose in one of his hands. Luffy took a step closer to the man who didn't find it at all shameful to scuttle back. "If I'm weak, then I'm the only one that will allow myself to tell me that and I'll become stronger…"

"Luffia." Marco said his own voice dark, Luffy stared down at the cowering pirate a little longer before she turned around and her eyes landed on Marco's face. He didn't flinch but he sure wanted to under her piercing gaze then she features softened and the anger fading including her extra part until only the little girl was standing there.

"You're like Makino." Luffy said making everyone blink at her, she smiled widely at him. "A mother tiger that will protect her cubs from anything but also keeps them in line."

Her ankle glowed a bit and when they looked down at it, a small glowing pendant was on her anklet, in the shape of a phoenix.

"I'm hungry." Luffy said rubbing her stomach as it growled, everyone stared at her, what huge mood changers she has. Whitebeard just laughed his head off and everyone ignored the pirate that Luffy punched, who had his eyes locked onto Luffy's back, glaring darkly at her.