Chapter 2

I'm exploding?!

Scarlet P.O.V

"Drop anchor men"

I could hear them all yelling getting prepared to board the island. This would be my only chance to get off the ship without anyone seeing. Pulling up the hood to my cloak, I quickly jumped from the railing to the pier. The cover of night helped in my getaway but my mother had prepared me for all of this.

'All of my stealth, strength, and general battle wisdom come from her...hell she trained me so well even without the darkness I could've slipped away easily enough. Plus if I had to I could've just jumped off and swam to shore.'

Once clear of the ship I walked through the town. It was a small village from what I could tell and the people seemed kind enough.

'If this is where Luffy grew up..it means.its where my dad grew up too huh?'

With that thought clear in my head I headed into a tavern with a sign out front that read Party's bar. When I walked in a woman greeted me. Her hair was dark green and she wore a bandana slightly pulled back to show her bangs. Her eyes widened and her jaw slightly dropped when she saw me. Suddenly the look was gone and a smile was there instead.

'Weird.'

"Hi, welcome to party's bar young miss, I'm Makino, how can I help you?"

"I'm uhhh...new to town. I'm here to..see...family." Yeah...that's believable..and kinda the truth. "Anyway I was wondering if there's any inns here?"

"Oh I'm sorry but we rarely get travelers so there aren't really any here. However I have a few extra rooms here. Are you alone?"

The woman looked at me with interest. I didn't like it. I knew interest was bad. Interest brings questions and questions bring answers and those answers may well get me killed...but the woman should be harmless enough...and honestly it was getting hard being alone.

"Yeah it's just me," I admitted. "My mother recently died and I'm looking for the person she told me to find"

"Oh? Well if who you're looking for is here I probably know of them. How about you tell me their name and I'll help?"

"I doubt you'd know them. They travel"

"Well everyone stops by here. It couldn't hurt to let me know their name could it? Just tell me"

"NO!" I cried while slamming my hand down to the table.

*boom*

'What the hell?!'

I stared down at my hand. It was still slightly sparking.

'IM...IM...EXPLODING?!'

Third person P.O.V

Scarlet went into full freak out mode.

"IM EXPLODING!? WHATS GOING ON?! SOMEONE STOP IT"

The more she ran around screaming the more tiny explosions surrounded her. Makino, not really knowing what else to do, rushed to get a bucket of water and poured it onto the poor girl. Suddenly drained of energy Scarlet fell to the floor, no longer creating sparks.

"What the hell is happening to me?"

Makino looked at the girl again. Her face was so much like his. But she was sure Ace would've told her if he had a daughter. He'd never hide something like that. She shook her head, clearing the thought from her mind once again.

"Well dear, it looks like you might've eaten a devil fruit"

Scarlet turned sheet white.

"A devil fruit?! But that means I can't swim anymore! How am I supposed to be a pirate if I can't swim!"

Large tears fell down the girls face. Makino sat there shocked for a moment. 'A pirate...the same as them.' She thought

"Don't cry hun. I can promise you that you can still be a pirate. In fact I've known pirates with devil fruits myself"

At that information Scarlet tensed. She had honestly been so upset she didn't mean to let her plans to be a pirate slip, but the woman's reaction to it perplexed her.

"You..know pirates?"

Makino had a mischievous glint in her eye when she responded.

"You could say that"

Now Scarlet was even more confused.

"Anyway dear, devil fruit or not you're free to stay here until your *ehem* family show."

Scarlet nodded. After contemplating for a while she came to the conclusion that having a devil fruit wasn't so bad. Sure she couldn't swim anymore, but that hadn't stopped her dad, and it wasn't gonna stop her.

"Thanks. I think I will. By the way my names Scarlet." The girl then continued making sure to use her mother's surname. "Red D. Scarlet."

*1 week later*

Scarlet walked down the stair to the main room of the bar. Her week had been relatively nice, other than self combusting a few times. This devil fruit thing was irritating but learning Haki at a young age hadn't been fun either. Plus Makino was a sweet woman. She didn't ask who the family Scarlet was searching for again. And even if sometimes she looked at the girl like she was some strange anomaly or a ghost, she also didn't hesitate to help her the few times she had lost control of her fruit and essentially set fire to the bed.

From the talk the villagers in the bar were having, it seemed the man she was waiting for would be here soon. He was estimated to arrive within the week when Scarlet had arrived and now she was getting antsy. Staying in the room bored her and talking with Makino was fun sometimes so she figured she might as well spend time with the women. Makino was telling stories of kids she had helped raise. Things like the children getting eaten by gators and fighting lions. They seemed like lies but Scarlet didn't think Makino the type for telling tall tales.

"You should've seen the youngest when they came back from missing for a week. His clothes were falling off him they were so tattered. I swear I scolded them for-"

"OI BARMAID! BRING ME MEAT"

Scarlet had been so wrapped up in the story the woman was telling she hadn't heard the door swing open nor had she noticed the strong presence that entered the room among the presences of the villagers.

Makino's eyes went wide and Scarlet saw tears start to swell. She turned around ready to give whoever had made the woman cry a piece of her mind when her eyes fell upon the man.

Scarlet froze.

Sandals. Red cardigan. Scar under his eye.

And there...upon his head.

Strawhat.