"Leon, is our ship ready yet?" A cheerful voice interrupted the carpenter's work. Leon groaned in annoyance and turned to face his nuisance of a friend. Sometimes he wondered why he befriended such a troublesome person then he remembers why and sighs in resignation. It all started ten years ago. He was born with a disfigured face and growing to a hulk of a man at a young age. His appearance was bound to scare the closed-off town people who abhorred the abnormal. He spends his entire childhood trying to get others to accept him and his parents fearing pushed him to it. Always smile Infront of anyone, never show your anger or annoyance. They were good moral to have, however it was no use if he became the town joke and scapegoat. They took advantage of his kindness and he naively thought they accepted him, however, the reality was never kind to him. On that fateful day, his make-believe world came tumbling down. It had been a few months since his father passed away leaving him all alone in their little house and he was sad and lonely. Her name was Beth and she was a kind girl or at least it seemed to him. She always had a smile on even in his presence. She never showed any fear or disgust when facing him and that alone was enough to steel the teen's heart. Love was an addictive feeling and it was the first time Leon had a positive feeling towards anyone besides his parents. It messed up with his head a bit and made him believe that he could win the affection of Bethia.

" Bethia, I love you. Would you marry me?" The shy fifteen-year-old gather his courage to confess his feeling to the closest person he had to a friend.

Beth smile fell for the first time in her life. She was raised to be a proper lady to always put on a smile and treat people probably. Leon's appearance unnerved her at first, however she overcome it with her sheer will and discovered the town's beast was a kind and a gentleman. Beth liked Leon, however she like many other girls in town dreamed of a normal husband. Did that make her a terrible person? Wanting to have a husband she could look at and feel at ease. It is human nature to admire and love beauty.

"…Leon… I am sorry. I can't… I just." How are you supposed to let someone down easily when the reason you reject them was outside of their control? It would take a saint of women to look at a man with half a face and love it. There was no way she could do that. She wasn't that strong or good of women.

Despite knowing the possibility, she might not feel the same way, it still came as a shock to his poor heart. It didn't help that he could clearly see the reason for her rejection. Her eyes and body language said it all. Without her ladylike façade, Beth's real emotions were out in the open. Leon could feel his eyes tearing up and his body shaking with emotions.

" I am sorry…" Beth tried to calm him down, despite knowing that he was a good man, she couldn't help but fear his retaliation. She knew men who didn't take kindly to rejection and consider Leon's massive size, her fear was understandable. One accident hit from him would surely kill her. Seeing the fear suddenly blow in her eyes was a stab in the gut. How could she assume he would ever do such a thing?! He was angry and hurt, however, how could he hurt the women he loved so dearly. The one he thought was his friend.

Without a word Leon bolted to the nearby forest, his eyes burning with unshed tears. It was a sudden dam broke and all emotion that he had bottled up spill out. Distressed he dashed through the forest.

After what filled like hours his lungs started burning all that running and had to stop to rest. The moment he got his breathing under control he attempted to head back home, however, he found himself in the unfamiliar depth of the Jigoku forest. Chikano island was an unusual island in the South blue. The northern part of the island was a massive depression that fell below sea level. It was covered entirely with dense forest and the lowest part of the forest never saw sunlight. The town's people called this place the eternal night or Jigoku. Leon frantically looked at his surroundings. Despite it being the middle of the day. The place was pitch back. He could barely see his own hand in front of him. He was lost in the most dangerous place on the island and he had nothing to protect himself. The Jigoku forest is known to house vicious monsters called devils. They had sharp horns, massive wings and a pointed tail. Leon always assumed it was just an old wives' tales that adults told children to stop them from getting lost in this natural labyrinth. If he succeeds in returning home that day, he might spend the rest of his life believing that, however, all that changed with a wild little kid jumped out of the bushes with a crudely shaped stick.

"You giant monster da..e play in my land…. Br..ave of you." the child threatening him, however, it was hard to feel intimidated with their apparent stuttering. They were shacking in fear despite their attempt to put on a brave face.

" Oh, I am sorry… I got lost." He kneeled and tried to assure the little kid. He was used to people getting scared of his giant size. The kid hesitantly approached him with cautious and Leon instinctively took a step back. If the kid came any closer he would see his face and that would surely scare him.

"Oww, yo..uu look like I !…." The kid excitedly exclaimed. "….. where is ..?" They rudely pointed at the disfigured half of his face. Leon instinctively tried to cover his face however the damage was done. The kid had already seen it, however, they didn't seem the least bit afraid. Their curiosity getting the better of them they came even closer to him. Up-close, Leon could see the kid much better. The looked young. They couldn't possibly be older than six. On close inspection, he saw them dressed in an old tattered dress. Oh, a girl then? She had a long busy black hair that clearly hasn't seen a comb before. She didn't seem afraid of him as she kept excitedly looking at him like he was some great discovery.

" Hi, kid where are your parents?" Did the kid get lost? He never saw a kid like her before in town and he hasn't heard about a kid going missing.

"Pa..ents? What ..it? Can you eat it?" The word sounded foreign to her ears.

Leon almost yelped when she started climbing his back like a monkey. It was a strange feeling to have a stranger touch him so casually. He was used to people keeping their distance so he had no idea how to respond to such an open disregard of personal space.

" Oww." She excitedly swang from his shoulder. " fun… move" She rudely kicked his chest to get him to move. He didn't appreciate being used as a horse.

" Hi kid..what…" Before he could continue something swinging near his shoulder gripped his attention. He instinctively gripped and was met with a pained squeal.

" OWWWW. LET GO. " The kid violently started kicking and scratching him. He let go without a second thought and she jumped away from him griddling the weird rope.

"Why …fighting I? I …. great Devil…." She pitifully glared at him while holding to what he thought was a rope. On a second look, the rope seemed to be attached to her behind. Was that a tail? It can't be. As to mock his denial, she proceeded to wiggle it violently in angry. Oh god, that is an actual tail?! Leon was shocked behind believe. This was the first time he had seen a human with a tail. Wait? Was she even human?

" Ignore I …. Fool... I punish you." She started kicking his legs in angry however in his shock he barely felt it. The dull pain resulted from her constant assault snapped him out of his daze.

" I am terribly sorry, Miss Devil." He decided to pacify her and apologized yet again. Her teary glare made him pity her even more.

"Ok. The g..eat I for..ives yo..u." She stuttered between sniffs. His grip must have been painful for her.

" So is your name Devil?" Her vocabulary was lacking and he doubts she could give him clear answers to his questions, but he had to try anyway.

" Tha..t what… they call I …..the talking monsters." She frowned in irritation. It was hard to find the right words. She never had to speak with talking monster before.

" Monsters?" She called him that, however, he had a feeling what they had a very different definition of the world.

" talking Monster." She pointed at him then pointed at herself. " talking monster." She frantically looked around before point at a sleeping owl. " Monster." With a satisfied smile, she nodded to herself. It wasn't the best explanation, but he understood her point. The kid called any living creature monster and identified humans as a talking monster. Leon spends the night talking to a child who later helped him return home. He refused to let her get back to the forest and took her back to his house. The girl desperately needed a bath and new clothes.

The townspeople where serious freaked out when he came to buy girl's clothes. The weird stare he was getting was ten times worse than usual. Bathing the girl was like cleaning a bloody cat. She kept trying to run away and he had to force her back into the clean water. While cutting her bush hair he discovered two other nonhuman features. A pair of what looked like a pair of featherless wings that looked deformed. On closer inspection, the skin looked burned.

"What happened to your back, kid?"

She stopped his nervous fuddling at his question. She didn't want to answer that question. "… Big ..talking monster not big as you the stinky water…. pretty light on the feather…and it started hurting ….all pretty feathers went …wont came back."

Leon could barely contain his angry. He was only familiar with one side how human react to people who looked different, Fear. He was always something to feared and avoided. If he weren't for his strength and his the protection of his father's good reputation, he would have probably gotten a similar treatment. The two of them were two sides of the same coin of how narrow-minded human could be.

" LEON…" An annoyed tone called out to him and snapping him from his trip down memory lane.

" Yes, Akura." He calmly responded to teen.

" Is our ship ready yet?" She repeated her question with a pout.

" No." He bluntly replied.

" When is it going to be ready then?" She was tired of waiting. She wanted to leave the hellhole already, sail the open sea, go new places and meet a ton of nice people.

"… I am working alone on it, alone I might add." She couldn't seriously expect him to finish building a Caravel in one week. He was just a regular human not some kind of machine.

" Then I would help." She excitedly offered with that goofy smile of hers.

"PLEASE DON'T." Akura had many talents, but her craftsmanship was crap. She had the attention span of a toddler sometimes and as much as he hopes she would grow out of it, he was slowly losing all hope.

" But…but.." She wanted to help him out.

" No. Just go hunt for dinner or something."

" FINE." She stumped the ground in irritation before gripping an axe to hunt in the forest.

" Don't go breaking my axe again."

She growled. " it isn't my fault your axe is shitty."

" My axe is fine. You are just using it wrong."

She childishly stuck her tongue at him before walking towards the forest. Leon sighed. Would she ever grow up? Did he spoil her too much as a kid? It was first time raising a living being, so he undoubtedly made some mistakes along the way, however, he was proud of Akura. Hopefully, she would grow to be a decent adult and that all he could hope for.

Mystery18blue's note

Thanks for the read. When I was thinking about writing the first chapter, I want to write one at the beginning of the canon storyline ( romance dawn) but I thought writing the Devil's backstory might help clear a few things. I haven't decided whether to jump between timelines or write the story chronologically? What do you guys think? The second chapter is almost done so I going to post it as soon as I finish. Any question regarding my character I would happly answer them.

Natacha Boucher: Thanks for your review and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story :D

loop2: Yeah, that was the main idea since the marine label children devils I thought of creating an actual one.

Guest: That is going to take a while, I want to establish the devil character first