Ch.9- Sudden Changes

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, so you can't sue me!

- - - - - -

5th sun, 19th day of pink poppies
(Thursday, August 19)

Last night I spent five hours hurling my boomerang into the sea, hoping to hit a Marine's ship. I was so mad at the Marines and what they did to me back in Kupeviru. For every throw I made, I screamed and cried. The entire crew was afraid to come near me, I could tell.

I finally decided that I couldn't get rid of my anger with my boomerang, so I started to attack the ship with my bare fists. I don't blame Master Zoro, Mr. Luffy, and Miss Robin for what they did next. I just blame everything on the Marines. It's all their fault…

- - -

Emily sat on top of the loveseat in the attic of her house reading one of Lilie's diaries. It was difficult for her to do it for she was short on light, but Emily eventually got a few entries read. She put the diary back in Aron's bag and went back to the two bedrooms. She grabbed Aron's figurines and marbles and the picture in Ryou and Lilie's room and climbed back to the attic. She moved the figurines and marbles into an empty box labeled "Ryou's guns".

Emily then moved the box and picture into Aron's bag and left all the items on the loveseat. She left the cabin for Ryou, Lilie, and Aron's graves. All the graves were clean and didn't feel right, so she grabbed a handful of flowers from around the forest and laid them on the graves. She knelt by them and began to pray.

- - - -

The circus carts had finally gotten to Yokuna.

Joe drove the carts through the town, passed the gaping townspeople, to the Morimura mansion. Joe hopped off the front cart and calmly walked to the front door. He pushed his right index finger into the doorbell and patiently waited for it to open. The door opened and both Haru and Misao stood before him.

"Hello. Are you two Haru and Misao?" Joe asked the younger girls. Both girls nodded. Joe smiled at them, "My name is Takenaka Joe from Redding. Your sister, Emily became the owner of the Sky Gypsies' carts and asked me to bring them to you. Congratulations. They're yours." Haru and Misao looked at the large carts behind him and screamed.

Almost immediately, Mr. and Mrs. Morimura dashed to the doorstep.

"What's the matter, girls?" Mrs. Morimura asked.

"Mother, Emily sent us the traveling circus carts. They're ours!" Haru screamed.

Mr. Morimura was shocked, but smiled at his daughters, "Then we will keep them." He turned his attention to Joe, "Can you help bring the carts to the backyard and put the oxen in the stables?"

Joe tipped his hat, "Yes sir!"

Joe led the oxen to the backyard and with the help of some servants, put them into proper stables. He then handed Misao the key to the carts and explained about them.

"Would you like to come inside for some tea and to relax your tired body?" Mrs. Morimura asked Joe.

Joe smiled at her, "Thank you. I'd like that very much." Joe went inside the mansion while Haru and Misao went inside the main cart.

"Wow…" Misao gasped from the inside of Mama and Papa's cart, "I can't believe we own this." She picked up Emily's note from off the desk and frowned at the written words.

"Hey, Misao! We can use this place as an alternate home when Mother and Father have their boring parties!" Haru shouted.

Misao stuffed the note in her pocket and smiled at her older sister, "Yeah, you're right."

- -

Ryan stomped to his bedroom and plopped himself onto his bed with a grunt. "Stupid Pirate-slave!" Ryan grumbled.

"Well, maybe she wasn't lying. Maybe it was her house that we were going into." Kelly told him.

Ryan looked at her, "Yeah, but didn't she ever learn anything from school about how to treat people in the Navy?"

"Ryan, she became a slave at three, how could she go to school?" Kim asked him.

Ryan paused. He knew that Kim was right. Slaves never did go to school…unless they went before becoming slaves and, as he thought, there'd be no way that a three-year-old could go to school.

"See? It wasn't her fault she acted like she did. You have to go apologize to her." Kelly told Ryan.

Ryan knew that he didn't have a choice but to apologize, "All right. I'll do it…just give me a few minutes."

- - - -

Meanwhile, on the top deck of the Marine's ship, two male Marines were sitting around talking when the magic from Pam's pendant hit them. The magic took over their body and minds and had them run off towards Emily's house with small flame-throwers hidden in their uniforms. Strange smiles were pasted on their faces and the magic in their bodies prevented them from stopping until they got to Emily's cabin. The possessed Marine's hid in the bushes and fired a few small flames on the cabin and stayed put.

- - -

Ryan stood up from his bed and told Kim and Kelly that he was going to apologize to Emily. He asked his two best friends to stay on the ship so he could apologize without somebody interrupting him. The girls agreed and went to their room. Ryan walked off of the ship and towards Emily's house. He played his apology in his head repeatedly so he wouldn't forget what to say.

He was almost there when the smell of smoke got to him. He quickly ran towards the place where the smoke came from: Emily's house. The house was set aflame, but there were no screams from inside, so he knew that Emily wasn't inside. He stared in shock at the burning house, wondering where Emily was. Then he saw her.

- - -

Emily was still praying for Ryou, Lilie, and Aron when the Marines set her house aflame. She never even knew about her house until she smelled the smoke getting heavy. She turned around and screamed. Her home looked like a fireball. Without thinking, she ran passed Ryan and into the cabin. She passed the flames as she ran up to the attic.

Emily was relieved to find that Aron's bag was untouched by the flames. She grabbed the bag, rushed down the stairs, and dashed out the cabin entrance before the cabin completely collapsed into a pile of burned ashes.

The possessed Marines felt the magic leave their bodies. When it left, they felt extremely weak then fainted. One of their hats flew from their heads and landed by Ryan's feet.

Emily felt tears sting her eyes as she looked at her house, once a standing Almani home, now a pile of ashes. She looked at Ryan, the only person she saw by her house, and saw him staring at her blankly. She stuck her hands into her pockets and put her boomerang together. She slowly started to walk to him, allowing her stinging tears to roll down her cheeks, "You…"

"Hey Emily, I wanted to…" Ryan started.

"You did this!" Emily screamed.

"N-no I didn't." Ryan stuttered.

"How could you destroy something so precious to me?" Emily cried.

"I…" Ryan started.

"Well, Marine. You killed a part of me and now you will pay the price!" Emily shouted. Before Ryan could say or do anything else, Emily hurled her boomerang at him.

Ryan tried to block it with his arms, but the blades on the boomerang cut them.

"Emily! Listen to me!" Ryan shouted while wincing at the pain in his arms.

Emily ignored him and threw her boomerang a few more times before it got stuck inside of a tree.

By now, Ryan had bleeding cuts on both his arms and legs. He regretted not bringing a weapon along with him to defend himself instead of having a younger girl beat the crap out of him. He also thought that since her boomerang was stuck, she'd stop hurting him. She didn't.

A red glow outlined Emily's body. Her fists were clenched and her tears kept coming. She ran up to him and started beating and punching him. She, like the other Almani before her, was extremely quick at attacking. The poor boy couldn't even defend himself from the angry Almani. She pinned him to the ground and kept beating him, ignoring his cries of pain.

- -

"Is somebody going to get Emily? Dinner is almost ready." Sanji called from the kitchen.

Zoro, Robin, and Chopper stood up and walked off the Going Merry. All three of them seemed happy and calm as they walked towards Emily's now burnt cabin, but were shocked at what they saw when they got there.

The burnt house didn't shock them for they knew that houses, especially cabins, could be burned to the ground easily. No, what shocked them was seeing Emily on top of a nearly unconscious boy, beating him with her fists and having a red glow along her body. None of the three moved until they heard the snap of a bone.

Both Zoro and Robin pried Emily off a now unconscious Ryan. They dragged her away, but she still kept trying to rush back to Ryan to finish what she started.

"Chopper! Now!" Zoro yelled at the reindeer behind him.

Chopper stuck a needle into Emily's skin and released the anesthetic into her body. In a few seconds, Emily fell unconscious to the ground.

Zoro picked up Emily's body, Aron's bag, and got the boomerang out of the tree then carried them back to the Going Merry. Chopper and Robin stayed behind to take a look at Ryan.

His arm was badly broken, he had a pretty good concussion, and he lost tons of blood, but he was still alive.

Robin looked behind the bushes at the two unconscious Marines. They weren't injured, so there was no way that Emily could have touched them.

A call from the distance came, "Ryan! Ryan! Glory Ryan, are you out there?" Robin and Chopper dashed towards the Going Merry to avoid getting caught by the Marines…especially since Robin already had a price on her head.

"Ryan?" Kim called.

"Where is he? I thought you said that he was going to apologize to Emily." Tashigi asked both Kim and Kelly. Kelly stopped and screamed.

Kim and Tashigi looked at what Kelly screamed at and also screamed. The three female Marines ran to the bleeding figure in the dirt. After 30 seconds of unsuccessful callings, Kim and Kelly quickly but carefully carried their best friend to the Marine's ship and then to town for a doctor. Tashigi looked behind the bushes at the two unconscious Marines now waking up.

"What just happened here?" Tashigi asked.

One of the men shrugged, "I don't even remember being here."

"Well, you should have heard the sound of somebody severely injuring my thirteen-year-old cousin!" Tashigi yelled at them.

"But we didn't…" The other man started.

"Enough! Go back to the Marine ship. When Ryan wakes up, we'll know who beat him. And remember this: if he doesn't wake up, I will not hesitate to give you the punishment of a lifetime." Tashigi interrupted. The men nodded and followed her back to the ship.

- - -

"Oh my God! What happened to her?" Luffy cried out as Zoro walked onto the Going Merry with an unconscious Emily in his arms.

"Her house was burned to the ground…and she must have thought that an unarmed Marine by her house did it so she attacked him and kept attacking long after he fell unconscious…so Chopper put some anesthetic in her." Zoro answered.

Zoro carried her back to the female's quarters and placed her on the hammock. He placed Aron's bag and her boomerang at the other side of the room. With a sigh, he left the girl in the room.

"She'll be out for at least three hours." Chopper told the crew.

"Emily really attacked a Marine?" Nami asked.

Robin nodded, "She wouldn't stop attacking no matter what. Zoro and I had to hold her back after she broke his arm with her fists."

Nobody said anything after that, mostly because they didn't know what to say. Emily, a shy and sweet little girl, acting brutal. It was almost impossible to believe that someone so sweet could change within just a few hours.

"She just broke the Marine's arm?" Sanji asked.

Chopper shook his head, "Also gave him a concussion and he lost a lot of blood. He was barely alive when we pried Emily off of him." Nobody wanted to speak after that.

- -

Kim and Kelly sat in their bedroom, huddled together, shivering. A doctor from Kupeviru spent an hour stopping the blood, putting the broken arm in a splint, and treating the concussion on Ryan. Ryan was still unconscious and covered almost completely with bandages. Tashigi and Smoker refused to let the two girls in the same room as Ryan to avoid having them hurt him accidentally, but the girls were updated on their best friend's condition. They just wanted to know who hurt him.

- -

Three hours passed and Emily slowly opened her eyes. She looked around the room she laid in. It wasn't any room in her cabin, which she'd forgotten was now a pile of ashes. Suddenly, she remembered what had happened back at her cabin. She remembered the flames and Ryan standing by the burning house, staring and not bothering to run inside and see if anyone was inside.

She quickly jumped out of her hammock and ran to Aron's bag. She opened it up and pulled out a picture of Ryou, Lilie, Aron, and herself and pushed it to her own chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, Mother…Father…Aron…but I promise to get revenge…I will punish the Marines…I promise."

The door to the bedroom opened, but Emily didn't move her head. She only turned her head when a hand rested on her left shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Zoro asked. Emily's tears rolled faster as she mumbled a response. "What did you say?" Zoro asked, leaning his head towards Emily's.

"It's all their fault…" Emily softly cried.

"What? Who are you talking about?" Zoro asked.

"The Marines! They destroyed my house…they sent the boy who was supposed to be my friend to destroy one of the most precious things to me and myself…" Emily cried, a little louder this time.

"Emily…" Zoro started.

"They sent him to kill me because I was the last of the Almani. I don't care that he was unarmed. He deserved what he got!" Emily interrupted.

"Wait, Emily…I want you to tell me what he did to you at your home." Zoro said to her.

"He burned one of the most precious things to me…him and the Marines…I'll kill them!" Emily screamed. The red glow started to come back as she started to run towards the exit of her room. She was fast, but Zoro was already holding her back, wincing at her struggling and screaming.

"Chopper! Get in here!" Zoro shouted over Emily's screams. In two seconds, Chopper ran into the room with the needle of anesthetic in his left hoof and the rest of the pirates following behind him. Robin and Zoro held the small girl still while Chopper stuck the needle into her skin. She was out in a matter of seconds.

Zoro picked her up, "What do we do with her?"

Everybody thought about it. There was no room on the ship that would be safe for Emily and that would avoid having her run off the ship for a Marine's…except for one, but it was a room that Luffy never planned on using: the jail. Every pirate ship had at least a small jail towards the bottom of the ship that was used for prisoners.

Luffy remembered when he was seven-years-old and Shanks was in his village. He remembered sneaking onto the ship while Shanks' crew was in the bar eating and getting drunk off their asses. Luffy remembered visiting every room on the ship: the storage room, the bedrooms, the lounge, the kitchen (he stole a handful of meat from the fridge), and the jail.

The jail was empty and smelled strongly of alcohol and other disgusting smells that he didn't recognize. A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

The little boy screamed and turned around to see Shanks.

The red haired man laughed as the little boy yelled. Shanks explained to Luffy that the jail was made to hold prisoners, but his crew only used it to lock a crew member that was way too drunk inside.

The Going Merry had a jail and it was still clean and never touched. Nobody wanted to use it, but there wasn't any other place to put Emily.

Zoro carried the small girl to the jail.

Nami placed a sheet and pillow on the floor and a blanket over Emily's body after Zoro set it on the pillow and sheet.

"I'm sorry, Emily." Zoro whispered to Emily before leaving the jail with the rest of the crew and locking the door behind him.

Emily woke up a few hours later muttering about killing the Marines, so none of the Straw Hat Pirates felt right about letting her out for the night.

Sanji did, however, give her a snack to eat before everyone decided to go to bed.

Zoro allowed Emily out of the jail and off the ship if she was accompanied by another crew member the next day. She didn't move.

The day after, the Going Merry left Kupeviru. Emily refused to say a good-bye to Mayor Wilhelm, Sandy, Ryou, Lilie, and Aron. Emily cried for seven hours after the ship left Kupeviru about destroying the Marines, so none of the crew let her out of the jail until she calmed down.

Eventually, Emily calmed down, and Luffy let her out of the jail. She didn't say anything to any of the crew, just walked to Nami's orange trees and sat behind them with her boomerang like she normally did. She didn't even touch her flute or speak a word the entire time…unless she mumbled about destroying the Marines.

As she thought, the rest of the crew was a little scared of her. Sometimes everyone would keep a long distance from her to avoid saying the wrong thing and have her screaming and jumping off the ship.

Sanji offered her green apples to eat, but she didn't even look at him, just at the sea and her boomerang.

As the evening came up, Emily threw her boomerang into the sea as if the Marines were there and she was attacking them.

All the Straw Hat Pirates stayed away from her as she screamed and cried about the Marines. After five hours, the anger was still inside her body, so she used her bare fists and turned them against the Going Merry.

In an instant, the crew tried holding her still so Chopper could give her some anesthetic, but she kept moving around wildly.

Finally, Zoro walked up to her and slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground. He stared at his hand in shock, never in his life had he slapped a girl, especially a child.

Emily quit moving and she was silent.

Robin started yelling at Emily about how she'd been acting, while Luffy locked her up in the jail. She was silent for the rest of the night.

- - -

"Where is that Almani brat?" Pam screamed through the halls.

Lyssa and Sabrina, who sat by her, winced.

"Maybe she knew that Sabrina was so ugly and she killed herself to avoid seeing Sabrina." Lyssa suggested.

"Shut up!" Sabrina screamed, "Maybe she killed herself because she heard about Lyssa being so damn fat and was afraid that she'd be crushed under the huge layers of fat."

Fists began to fly between the sisters. Within a few seconds, items flew around the room and a vein began to pop on Pam's forehead, "Enough!" She turned to Mark, "What happened? Where is the Almani brat?"

"The magic failed, although one of the most precious things to her was destroyed." Mark answered.

Pam grunted, "So we'll need a more…stronger creature. I'll just have to get Jamie." She left for the dungeons.

- - -

Emily was sitting in the jail crying about the way she'd acted. She was upset that her home was burned to the ground and she saw Ryan standing by the burning house, but it didn't necessarily mean that he burned her house…and she beat him to a bloody pulp. When she was younger, she vowed to never beat up anyone she considered a friend, and just two days ago, so broke her vow.

The jail was dark except for a tiny bit of light from the other side of the door. Emily looked to her right and saw an emerald haired woman with tears in her eyes. The jail door opened and the jail filled with light. Emily slowly looked behind her and saw Zoro frowning.

"I'm sorry, Emily." Zoro whispered.

Emily shook her head, "Don't be. I deserved what I got. I've also been hurt more than you hurt me, so I just got what was coming to me."

"You do know that the house burning was probably not that boy's fault." Zoro said to her.

Emily nodded weakly, "Is Ryan okay?"

Zoro shrugged, "I have no clue. But you did beat him pretty good a few days ago."

Emily's tears kept flowing, "I'm so sorry, Master Zoro. I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"It's okay. It happens to everybody." Zoro told her, "It's already 11:00, are you ready to go to bed? Can you sleep in your bedroom without screaming?"

Emily nodded, "Yes, Master Zoro."

Zoro smiled and patted her head, "Then go to bed."

Emily smiled for the first time in days and walked off to her room. She didn't speak a word to Nami and Robin as she moved into her hammock and went to sleep. Before her eyes closed completely, the emerald haired woman stood by Emily's bed and was now smiling. The little girl blinked and the woman was gone.

The next morning, Emily opened her eyes and looked around the room. Nami and Robin weren't in the room. Aron's bag was near the bags that held her contest money and luxuries. Emily went to one of the bags and pulled out an extra pair of clothes and brushed her hair. After her hair ribbon was placed in her emerald hair, she went to the lounge.

To her surprise, none of the Straw Hat Pirates were afraid of her…in fact, they all acted as if nothing ever happened even though she tried to apologize for how she acted.

With a smile on his face, Sanji placed a plate of pancakes in front of her.

Emily thanked him and started to eat. After eating, she moved to Nami's orange trees and sat behind them, holding her flute and practicing a few tunes.

Zoro stood inside the lounge with the rest of the crew minus Emily and the form he filled out and paid for in Kupeviru. Nami and Robin looked over the form then at Zoro.

"Zoro…when did you fill this out?" Nami asked the swordsman.

"A few days ago when she was talking to the mayor of Kupeviru." Zoro answered.

"What is it?" Usopp asked. Robin handed him the paper. Usopp, Luffy, Sanji, and Chopper looked over it and looked shocked.

"Why didn't you tell her earlier?" Sanji asked Zoro.

"She was too busy crying and screaming about the Marines. It didn't seem right." Zoro answered.

"Are you going to tell her now?" Robin asked.

Zoro nodded, took the paper from the crew, and walked up to the deck.

"Can I do something for you, Master Zoro?" Emily asked the swordsman that sat down next to her.

Zoro shook his head, "Don't call me 'Master Zoro' anymore. Just call me 'Zoro'."

Emily looked confused, "But I have to call you that. You're my master."

Zoro handed her the paper, "Read this, Emily."

Emily obeyed him and read over the paper. All of a sudden, she found it hard to breathe.

"I-is t-this r-real?" Emily asked wide-eyed.

Zoro nodded, "You're free, Emily."

"Really?" Emily asked. Zoro nodded. "Thank you!" Emily cried, throwing her arms around Zoro and crying.

Zoro smiled and patted her head. After Emily let go of him, Zoro walked to the inside of the ship.

Emily looked over the edge of the ship and wiped away her tears, "I'm free…finally." She put her flute to her lips and continued to play. The woman stood not too far away with and smiled before disappearing.

- - -

A/N: Okay, I'm not sure if the Going Merry OR Shanks' ship has a jail or not, so I just made that part up.