"Something smells really good," Oriana said without turning to him. She kept smelling the air until she located which direction it came from, "There!" she began to run, "Oi, wait!" Sabo called behind her but it fell on dead ears.
Oriana stopped in front of a small shop, "I want five of those!" she said excitedly, "I don't serve your type" the salesman said, "What do you mean by my type?" she raised an eyebrow. "Just look at your clothes. You look like a pirate" he spat.
The girl looked at herself, she was wearing a black t-shirt dress with a white belt, a pair of boots, and her red bandana as a headband. Oriana personally didn't think she looked that pirate-ish, but whatever, it was a compliment to her.
"Now, go away. You're scaring away potential customers!" Oriana glared at him, "How about treating everyone equally?" The man burst out laughing which only increased her irritation. Oriana grabbed the end of the table and flipped it over.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" he screamed, "Shut up!" she shot back. She was about to leave when he grabbed onto her shoulder. "Let go of me," she said, "No! I'm going to take you to the police" the man was about to drag her, but a metal tube hit his hand.
"I had that, you know" she turned to a familiar blond boy, "I'm sure you had" Sabo took her hand and dragged her away, "You can't behave like that" Oriana ignored him and just let him lead her into the forest.
They stopped by a big tree, and Sabo took this chance to catch his breath, "Are you one of those rich kids" Oriana suddenly asked which surprised the boy. "What? Why would you think that?" he seemed very nervous, "First of all, you are clothes look very classic and-"
"Sabo! I've been waiting for… What are you doing here?!" someone said behind them and both of them turned to a familiar black-haired boy. "Oh, Ace. Wait, you know her?" the blond asked, "What are you doing here?!" Ace repeated ignoring his friend.
"Now, that's not how you get people to answer you," she said in a way that she would speak to a small child. The boy's temper was quickly raising, "How do you know each other?" Sabo asked again.
"We don't." both said at the same time while glaring at each other.
Ace looked at his friend, "Let's go catch some fish in the lake" he started walking away. Sabo was about to follow him, but turn to her when he realized she wasn't moving, "Aren't you going to come with us?"
"I guess if I'm asked" she tried to hold her smile back. "Come on, Oriana," the blond said before running after his friend. Oriana smiled softly and followed them to a beautiful river.
Ace jumped into the water while Sabo and Oriana were talking with both their feet in the river, "You guys live on a beautiful island" she said while her eyes gazed around. "Thanks… Wait, you not from here?" Sabo asked shocked.
"I'm actually not even from this sea" Oriana smiled at the boy. "But what are you doing here then?" he finally managed to say. "I got separated from my family a few weeks ago and ended up here." she didn't want to explain everything to a stranger.
"So, where are you from?"
"I was born on an island in the Grand Line" Oriana scratched her head, "THE GRAND LINE?!" Sabo jumped to his feet shocked, "Yeah?" she didn't understand why he reacted like that, "I read that the Grand Line is known as the pirate's graveyard!"
"Yeah, it is" she simply said.
Sabo kept talking about how hard it is to sail the sea, as well as how the weather constantly can change and only the best navigators, can navigate through the sea. Oriana just listen to him as he explained everything, but she didn't tell him that she already knew all of those things.
His child-like wonder and excitement just made her happy, 'Cute'.
Suddenly a moving fish was thrown between them. Oriana looked at the water to see the same black-haired boy glaring at her, "What?" she raised an eyebrow. Ace didn't say anything and just dove back into the river.
"What is his problem?" his behavior was starting to piss her off. "Ace isn't good with new people," the blond said nervously, "I don't care he better stop looking at me like that, or I'll kick his butt" she warned.
"Ace is quite strong" Sabo commented, "Oh really, what about you?" Oriana asked curiously, "I'm strong too" he smirked proudly. The girl's face showed a smug grin, "Interesting. How about a fight. The two of you against me"
The blond's eyes widen, "You may be strong, but you can't beat us together!" he was apparently so sure that they would beat her that it make her want him to eat his words, "Really?" her eyes narrowed at him and If they kept going with this attitude, she'll show them no mercy.
Sabo opened his mouth to respond but- "Alright" Ace got out of the water with a big fish in his hand. Oriana grinned happily, now she would see their strength.
Ace and Sabo had metal pipes in their hands and Oriana held up her fists.
Oriana was the first to attack them and Ace met her in the middle with his pipe clashing with her foot. She smiled when she saw his struggle. Oriana used a little more power and Ace fell back into a tree.
A second later Sabo swung his pipe at her.
She dodged it effortlessly before quickly grabbing onto it and punching him in the face. Sabo landed next to his friend and Oriana threw his pipe back to him, "Is that it or you boys wanna go again?" her grin only got bigger.
Ace angrily got up swinging his 'weapon' at her, but Oriana calmly kicked him in the gut and turned around to kick Sabo away before he could do anything to her. After realizing that attacking her blindly wasn't going to work they whispered something to each other.
Both of them got up and ran towards her from each side. The girl held her arms up vertically with her palms out as she took a deep breath. Once the boys were very close to her, she blasted them away with a strong wind.
Ace and Sabo flew back with their backs hitting hard onto the ground, "I win!" she winked at them. Oriana gave them time to get over their shock and turned around at went over to get some wood and poked the fish with a stick before using her powers to lit a fire.
After a while, she heard footsteps approaching and the two sat next to each other. Oriana stayed quiet and was waiting for them to start a conversation. Once their dinner was done Oriana grabbed the stick and handed one to both of them.
They ate in silence. Oriana found the entire situation quite funny, "We should have made a bet" she didn't hesitate to laugh. "Would you stop that!" Ace snapped, "No!" she laughed harder. Sabo sighed and got between them, "Come on Oriana. You already beat us; you don't have to rub it in"
She suddenly stopped and she felt bad, "Okay, I'll stop" it took a moment to wipe the smile away. "So, what do you do after eating?" the boys looked at one another, "It's a secret," they said in unison while looking nervous.
"What?" she blinked, "We don't really know you. How do you know if we can trust you?" Sabo said smartly, "I think it's a good thing you don't trust me. I'm a pirate after all" she snickered and casually leaned against a rock.
"You're a pirate?" Ace questioned skeptically, "Are you seriously doubting me now?" Oriana rolled her eyes. "No, it's just we thought that you had to be older to be a pirate," Sabo said, "I started sailing with my crew when I was six years old. I don't think there's a certain age limit to be a pirate"
"How did they allow you on board!" the blond was shocked, "My father is the captain and is strong enough to protect me," she said as if it were no big deal. Well, she didn't think it was a problem until she saw the two boys' curious look, "Is your father famous? Who is he?"
"It's a secret!" Oriana smirked, "Why don't you just tell us!" Ace looked annoyed, "I don't know you. I don't know if I can trust you" she gave them their excuse right back at them with a high-pitched voice. Ace looked away annoyed, "Oh well, maybe one day" Sabo shrugged.
They enjoyed themselves around the forest, but once the sun was about to set, they went their separate ways. Except for Ace and Oriana who happened to live under the same roof.
Later, Oriana had been searching for Luffy but she couldn't find him. When she asked the mountain bandits they told her that the last time they saw him was when he followed Ace. The girl ran upstairs and burst into his room.
"What did you do to him?!" the freckled boy was laying on the floor. Ace pretended to sleep but Oriana went up to him before throwing the blanket aside, "Oi, what are you-" but looking into her eyes made him hesitate.
"I'll ask one more time but this time I expect an answer" her eyes were turning dangerously red. "Where is Luffy?" if glaring could kill Ace would be dead many times over by now. The boy started mumbling something, "You better speak up" Oriana didn't have time for this.
"I don't know where he is" Ace didn't look at her, "What do you mean you don't know?" Oriana said with a voice dangerously low. "He fell from the bridge and into a ravine." She got closer to his face, "Did you throw him down there?"
Ace started sweating, "You did, huh?" she stood straight before she kicked him into a wall. Oriana ran out of the house to find Luffy before he could say or do anything else, to the place they were talking about.
She looked down but it was too dark to see, "LUFFY!" she yelled down without an answer. She kept calling a couple of more times even though her voice was the only thing that echoed through the forest at this time of night.
Oriana jumped down without hesitation enjoying the way the wind was going through her hair. As she was getting closer and closer to the ground Oriana used her wind to slow herself down and land on the ground more gently.
The girl changed her green eyes to her red ones to see in the dark, "LUFFY!" she yelled. She looked for any signs of the boy, for even the smallest clue as to where he could be. The only thing she could do was search for him while calling out for his name.
The night passed by before Oriana knew it. She had spent the whole night in the forest but still haven't found the boy. There might be a slide chance of Luffy finding his way back and is save back with the bandits.
Oriana got out of there and ran back to the bandits' place. "Where have you been all night?" someone asked but she ran past them and into the house, "Is Luffy back yet?" she asked but when the answer was no, she passed out on the floor.
-x-
It's been a week since Oriana last saw the boy, and she has been worried sick. She had barely slept which was clearly taking a toll on her. Oriana was using the day to rest and the nights to search for Luffy which now thinking about probably wasn't the best choice.
She had been feeling down ever since but refused to give up.
As the sunset, Oriana had to find the willpower to get up yet her body refused to cooperate. "Where are you, Luffy?" she painfully closed her eyes as sleep overtook her.
When she woke up the next morning, she still felt exhausted. It was as if her body refused to relax, and Oriana's eyes scanned the room in case he made it back. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't still dreaming or anything.
Oriana quickly got up and went over to the injured Luffy, "What happened?" she shook him awake. The boy opened his eyes tiredly, "I got chased by wolves" he said before falling back asleep. Oriana went downstairs to get supplies to treat his wounds while he slept.
Once he woke up, he thanked her and ran downstairs probably to eat something, but she was sadly mistaken as Luffy went for the outside door instead, "Where are you going today, Ace?" the younger chased after the older.
Oriana watched them from the window as they disappeared into the woods, "He better not do anything this time" she sighed before going back to sleep. She could finally relax now that Luffy was back.
But days would turn into weeks, weeks into months and Luffy followed Ace for three months. Oriana had kept herself out of the boys' business all this time especially after Luffy told her that she was making it harder for him to befriend Ace.
She had just kept her distance from them this whole time and only interacted with them during dinner times. Oriana sighed; she had finally found friends about her age, but she didn't get the chance to actually get to know them.
Ace and Luffy already left this morning while Oriana was sleeping. She exited the bandits' house and went deeper into the forest to find the boys.
It took a while, but she found Ace and Sabo running with big clinging boxes and panicked faces. They didn't seem to have seen her and she just followed them to a big tree, "What are you doing?" her voice shocked them.
"Oriana, what are you doing here?!" Sabo's eyes almost popped out but suddenly hid the boxes. "Don't worry I'm not interested in your stolen treasure" she said which seemed to calm them down. The boys put them down to relax for a moment.
"So, what are you guys going to do with all this treasure?" Oriana pointed to the things they were carrying. "We are saving up to be pirates," the blond responded, "Oh, you are copying me, now?" it took a lot of strength to look serious.
"We're not copying you! We have been saving to be pirates for the last five years" Ace snapped. Oriana burst out laughing, "I'm just kidding" she chuckled. The boys got up and started carrying their treasure again, "Why are you running around with that?"
"We stole from Blue Jam's crew and now they're after us. They almost found our hiding spot" Sabo explained. Oriana nodded before taking a box from him and running ahead of them, "Oi, what are you doing?!" Ace yelled
"What does it look like? I'm trying to help" she simply replied. She didn't know who this Blue Jam was but it sounded like trouble.
The trio found another tree deep into the forest and thought that it would do for now. Sabo helped them carry them up to the tree cave before he went out for whatever reason. "So, where did you leave Luffy this time?" she turned to Ace.
"He got caught by Blue Jam's crew" the black-haired replied hesitantly. Oriana stared at him, "What?" she was trying to process what he just said. Surely, they didn't leave a seven-year-old boy in the hands of brutal pirates.
"Ace, Oriana" Sabo called out, "Did they search our old place, yet?" Ace asked. The blond looked at them in regret, "No, there's no way for them to know. He hasn't told them anything," they all started to panic.
"You actually meant that?!" Oriana yelled before she jumped down to run in the direction they just come from. There were a lot of places they could hide but the most obvious was the Gray Terminal. She heard footsteps behind her which she assumed were Ace and Sabo.
As they got closer Oriana could hear Luffy's cry for help and it broke her heart, "I'm coming Sunshine" she broke the wall to the hideout. She took this chance of confusion to kick the pale ugly man with a sword away from Luffy.
"ORIA!" the injured boy yelled. "I'm here, Luf-" She inspected his small form and was about to lose it when she saw blood all over, but Sabo and Ace stopped her, "Oriana, we'll handle this. You take care of him" he referring to Luffy. "No! I'm going to kill him" she glared at the man.
"He needs you more right now," Sabo said softly. Oriana sighed, she knew he was right as she cleared her head, "Alright" she nodded and went over to Luffy. While the boys were fighting the pirate, Oriana used her powers to cut the robes. She caught him before he hit the ground, "I got you now" she managed to give him a smile.
"Ace, she got him. Let's go" Sabo turned and expected Ace to follow, "Go ahead. When I face an opponent, I won't run" his eyes were glaring at the man. Sabo was already used to it, came up, and stood by Ace's side.
Oriana gently let Luffy to the ground and came up to them as well, "If this is a habit, it's one you have to get rid of" she commented before taking her stand, "If I lose to kids I might as well quit being a pirate" the man said. "Then we'll make you quit" the three attacked.
After they defeated the man, the four of them ran into the forest for a safe place to treat their injuries. Oriana had little experience with treating wounds and even used to help Marco sometimes along with the nurses.
Luffy was crying while she cleared his wounds because he thought that he was going to die. At some point, Ace got sick of his tears as he jumped down from the hill he was sitting on, "You're so annoying. Shut up already! How long are you going to cry? I really hate weaklings and crybabies!"
The youngest of them shut up right then and there, surprising the older ones, "Thank you… for saving me" he bowed as the tears came down which only made Ace angrier, "Come on now. He's just thanking us" Sabo interfered.
There was something that Ace had a hard time understanding, "Why didn't you tell them? Those guys would kill women and children without a second thought!" Luffy's eyes were covered by the hat, "If I told them I couldn't be your friend" he almost whispered.
"That's better than dying, right? Why do you want to be my friend so badly? After all those things I put you through, why do you still follow me around?" It seemed like Ace had a hard time figuring that out.
Oriana smiled warmly at him; Ace was protecting himself by preventing people from getting too close to him. Little did they know that Luffy was a very good judge of character, and this side of Ace was probably the reason he kept following him.
His lonely side. It might be something they both have in common.
Luffy looked at him with tears, "Because… because there's no one else! I can't go back to windmill village, and I hate those mountain bandits! If I didn't follow you, I'd be all alone. Being alone is worse than getting hurt!"
Ace was taken back by it, "What about your parents?" he asked more calmly, "I only have grandpa" the boy said firmly. The freckled boy kept asking Luffy different questions and to Oriana, it was like he was searching for some kind of validation.
"Was it good that I was born?" Ace asked carefully, "Of course!" Luffy yelled without hesitation, but Ace didn't look convinced. Oriana gasped before going over to hug him, "What are you doing?" he asked, "I'm sorry for whoever made you question yourself like that" she whispered to him.
Ace tensed up but quickly composted himself.
The two other boys looked at her confused. They didn't understand why she would do that, yet they kept quiet. Sabo later explained that Blue Jam was after them for beating up his subordinates and stealing his money as well as how he would be done for it if he got caught.
Ace and Luffy agreed with him clearly not getting the hint of what he was trying to say. Oriana hit them over the head, "He wants to stay with us, idiots" she sighed at their stupidity, "I'm glad someone got a brain" Sabo praised.
Oriana went over to him, "I know they aren't related by blood, but they are very similar" she said as they watched to two argue about something.
-x-
The next morning was quickly upon them with Dadan standing tall over them. She started screaming when she couldn't figure out who the new kid was. Oriana wasn't really focused on the conversation and tried to keep the sound out with a pillow.
"Oriana" someone shook her awake but all she did was slap their arm away before turning to her other side, "Just leave me" she mumbled. It soon got really quiet, and the boys probably left her to her long sleep.
When Oriana finally woke up it was past noon, and she took a small bite to eat before looking for the boys. They weren't hard to find, and they were fascinated by something, "What are you guys doing?" she looked over Luffy's shoulder.
"Oria! See what we found! It's a beetle. We want it to fight this spider" Luffy held them both up like a trophy. "Aaaaaah, no get those things away from me" she screamed as she backed away. "Is the great Oriana scared of insects?" Sabo laughed.
He took the spider from Luffy and walked over to her with it.
"No! Stay away!" Oriana was shaking and her voice broke. "Stop it, you guys" Ace was the only one that had noticed her sudden change, "But Ace, she's scared of this awesome beetle" Luffy refused to believe that someone didn't think it was cool.
"Look, Oria. Isn't it amazing? Here hold it. You'll love it!" Luffy ran over to her with a smile, but Oriana didn't like it one bit, so her body ran away. Sabo joined the 'fun' and ran after her with the spider while laughing too.
They ran around in circles right when she got her eyes on Ace she ran towards him, "Stop it both of you!" Ace screamed and they froze in their track. The girl didn't stop though and ran past the boy and into the forest.
Oriana knew they stopped but was too embarrassed to face them. Once she came to a big tree, she sat by its roots with her knees close to her chest. She heard footsteps approaching and she knew exactly who it was, "Go away, Ace"
"Why? I didn't do anything" he stated as a matter of fact. "I don't want anyone to see me like this, especially you" she admitted painfully. "Me? How come" he was interested, "You said that you hate weaklings. Now, that we finally became friends I ruined it by being weak"
Ace kneed down in front of her, "Oi, don't be so pathetic" he forced her to look at him, "Not after setting a goal for myself to surpass you." Oriana look into his eyes, and he didn't seem angry, "As if I'll allow that!" she said.
"Just you wait and see!" Ace declared as he got to his feet, "You're coming?" Oriana gently slapped her cheeks before standing up as well. "Yeah, just preparing myself to face Sabo and Luffy" she muttered, the boy started to walk away, "Oh, and Ace. Thank you"
He didn't look at her, "Come on already" he complained. Oriana just chuckled, 'I've made quite a friend here' she thought to herself, "Coming!" she ran up next to him.
