Looking for Volume 1? I haven't written it yet! That is going to be Ariadne's backstory before she met Ace and I am planning on writing that after I finish Vol. 3. We're goin for a Star Wars thing here!
HELLO FRIENDS! So I have been working on this story for a few years now and have finally decided to woman up and just post the first chapter! Hopefully there is something decent here but I really can't say for sure. I just have had this idea forever and want to see if anyone out here thinks it has potential, so here we go, ALL IN! I already have the vast majority (entirety) of this story planned out but I just don't have it all written into a narrative format yet. I really don't understand why there aren't more fics about either a user of the Water Water fruit or about Rayleigh having a kid for Ace to make friends with?! If you know of one then please shoot it my way because I have yet to find one. Also a few notes about my story before we get started. I will be posting warning at the end of chapters. I don't like having all of the warning up front because I feel that doing so spoils a great deal of the story. So (after chapter 3) I will be putting a reminder that the warnings are in the end notes and then including any warning that may apply in the end notes. Secondly, while I do have this story already planned (I may or may not have a 70+ page document filled with notes on this story) I can not promise that it will be updated on anything resembling a schedule. I will do my best but at the end of the day this is for fun and so it'll get updated when it gets updated. Finally Ariadne's name is pronounced Air-E-add-knee and will frequently be shortened to Ari (Air-E) or Adne (Add-knee). Also this story will be posted on my other account on AO3 under the name "TheWanderingViolet".
DISCLAIMER FOR THE ENTIRE WORK
I do not own One Piece or any of the characters in One Piece. Ariadne and the other original characters are mine however so please don't use them without asking.
"Ugh. I am never going to live this down." I moaned to myself while I sat alone on the beach of the island that I had just washed up on. Lifting my head from my hands I glared at the ocean that had first swallowed me whole and then spat me back up on this pitiful strip of land.
"Traitor." I said before standing. Once on my feet I began the arduous task of brushing off as much sand as possible from myself. I then took off my black leather jacket in order to shake it out a bit better. After realizing that no amount of shaking or brushing would remove all of the sand from it I sighed before I roughly shoved my arms through the wet sleeves and began to pace on the beach.
"Seriously how could I let this happen?" I muttered to myself. "And if anyone back home ever finds out about this I will be the laughing stalk of the whole Grand Line! I can just hear Sera mocking me already." I continued muttering while I began to roughly run my fingers through my excessively long ponytail. However I quickly stopped once I noticed that I was just tangling my wet mop even more.
"Ugh great just another thing that is going wrong right now. Lovely. But at least no one else is here to see this." That one thought was enough to help me keep hold of my sanity until I heard a chipper voice call out to me from further down the beach.
"Hey did you get stuck here too?" Upon hearing this voice I had to physically restrain myself from screaming like a child and instead I turned to look at the person running down the beach towards me. I saw that the person that had called out to me was a young man, he looked to be about 6 feet tall and had shaggy black hair. Once he got closer I was able to appreciate his freckled cheeks, bright silver eyes, and somewhat built body. He was dressed rather colorfully with black boots and cargo shorts, an open yellow button down shirt, and a bright orange hat. He had a huge smile on his face that was more distracting for me than it should have been. After spending a moment staring at his unexpectedly handsome face I had to shake my head before I could respond to his original question.
"Yes, I was caught in a storm and got washed overboard." I said while trying to hide my reaction to him.
"Oh really? My ship got caught in the super weird currents around the island and sank." He said while still smiling; apparently he hadn't noticed my staring, nice. Seriously what is going on here? I'm never fazed by a person's appearance… But wait why is he still smiling?
"You seem to be rather ok with that?" I said after noticing that his smile didn't falter at all while he said that he was also stranded on this island. Why was he so happy if he was stuck on an abandoned island?
"Meh I'll figure somethin out. It'll be fine." He said with an even bigger smile. Oh, ok so he's just crazy then.
"Right, well is there anyone else here? Any food?"
"No just us. There is a little fruit around but that is about it. No animals." He said for once looking rather forlorn. So he doesn't mind being stranded on an island but he does care about not being able to eat meat? Well that obviously makes perfect sense.
"Well, alright then. At least there are trees so a raft can be made." I said while looking over the small patch of vegetation.
"Yeah I've been working on that wanna help me?" He said with his smile once again firmly in place.
Once again I was distracted by his smile and had to focus on speaking before I was able to force out "I suppose it couldn't hurt." I might as well take him with me, I might be able to get some information about why I came to this sea in the first place out of him.
"Cool! Oh my name is Portgas D. Ace, but you can call me Ace." He said with a bow.
"Pleasure, I am Donquixote Ariadne." I said with only a slight nod.
After our introductions Ace and I were busy working away on our raft when I paused and stretched. Looking up at the sun I noticed that it had started to set.
"I'm starting to get hungry. I'm going to go catch some fish. How many do you want?" I asked while stretching out my back. who knew that building a raft could be so tiring?
Ace just shook his head at me before saying, "I tried fishing the first day I got here and it didn't work. The currents are messed up around here." Ace said while continuing his work.
"A fishing pole might not work but I can use my devil fruit to catch some." I said while walking into the surf.
"But Devil Fruits don't work in the ocean. And wait, if you have a Devil Fruit then how did you not drown if you were washed overboard of your ship?" Ace looked very confused by this idea. He also seemed to have a suspicious gleam in his eye. Huh, wonder what that was about?
"It depends on the fruit. Some allow their user to create things that sea water can't harm. But regardless, the ocean doesn't affect me like most other users."
"How does that work? I thought that Devil Fruits affected everyone the same way? Why is yours different?" Ace came to stand near where I was about thigh deep in the ocean.
"I have a Logia." I said over my shoulder. I honestly wasn't paying attention to what the cutie was saying. Did I just call him a cutie? Whatever I need to focus on the fish right now...
"Which means? What exactly?" Ace said while continuing to look confused.
"You don't know what a logia is? Seriously? Well I suppose this is the East Blue. I don't really want to go into it right now but basically a Logia is an elemental fruit that allows the user to turn into, create, and control a specific element. Mine is water." I really wasn't paying attention to him by this point. I was more focused on the school of fish I could sense swimming a few hundred feet away from me.
"But that still doesn't explain why you didn't drown. Devil Fruit users can't swim." When he said this I sat back on my heels with a sigh. I glanced at him over my shoulder.
"Do we really need to go into this right now? I just want dinner, man. But fine, yes Devil Fruits take away the user's ability to swim but my fruit is special. Happy?" I said while rolling my eyes and going back to what I was doing. Ooh the school had swam closer so I could almost get them now.
"Not really, what do you mean by special? Does it-" I cut him off by quickly jumping up and pulling a large sphere of water out of the sea that contained the entire school of fish. Ace also jumped back in shock at seeing so much water being lifted from the sea from a seemingly unknown force.
"Now do you want to stand here talking about Devil Fruits or do you want to help me cook these?" I said while walking back to our pathetic little excuse of a camp.
Later that evening after we had eaten. Or rather after Ace had eaten, I was lucky enough to snag a single fish for myself which was honestly quite rude of him seeing as to how I was the one who did all the work but whatever, Ace started right back up with his questions.
"What's a seastone?"
"You seriously don't know what seastone is?" At this I turned to stare at Ace with a shocked expression. How did he know about Devil Fruits but not seastone?
"Never heard of it."
"How long ago did you leave your home island?"
"About a week."
"Ah! Ok so you don't know a thing about the world then. Ok this is going to be fun." I ignored Ace's outraged shout and continued speaking. "Ok so you know that Devil Fruit users can't swim right? That isn't because they forget how. It is because the ocean weakens them to the point that they can't move, it also prevents them from using their powers. Seastone is a special type of stone that has a similar effect on fruit users as the ocean does. Therefore if I ever get captured and they know that I have a fruit then they will put seastone cuffs on me which will prevent me from turning into water and escaping. Now one thing that I might as well tell you about my devil fruit if we are going to have a little information session right now, is that my fruit is severely confused and broken, just so you know." I said offhandedly while trying to regain some form of control over my hair. Seriously why did the ocean hate me so much today… But it seems like my comment only served to confuse my new companion even more.
"How is it broken? What does that even mean."
I chucked softly before speaking again, "So you know that water is a devil fruit users weakness right? I just explained all that. But users aren't just weakened by ocean water, they are weakened by any water. Meaning ice and snow as well as liquid water. So there are 2 other fruit users that have abilities related to water that I know of. One of them is ice and the other is snow. Monet, she is a member of the Donquixote pirates, ate the Snow-Snow fruit and became a snow woman. She does not lose her abilities when she is in snow and she is also not weakened by it. After all what would be the point of her fruit if it weakened her just by her having it? Admiral Aokiji ate the Ice-Ice Fruit and became an ice man and just like Monet he is not affected by ice like a typical fruit user. I ate the Water-Water fruit and became a water woman. Therefore following that train of thought what would happen to me if I were to be submerged in liquid water?"
"It wouldn't weaken you?"
"Exactly, you can't be weakened by what you are."
"But what about the ocean? That has to still affect you right?"
"Yes, and no. While the ocean is unique it is still liquid water, and so it doesn't weaken me. But I am unable to use my fruit when I am in the water. Unless I coat myself in my own water of course. But then I'm not physically touching the ocean and in which case am completely unaffected. That's how I was able to catch all those fish earlier, I coated my body in a thin layer of my own water before I put them in the sea so I can use my fruit to look for fish. But anyways getting off topic here. I can swim and control the ocean because my devil fruit is confused. Satisfied?"
"That is crazy so do you just not have any weakness then?"
"Hmm? Oh no I do. Drying, freezing, heat, and electric attacks are extremely dangerous to me and not to mention seastone affects me just like any other fruit user. I'm also very sensitive to drastic temperature changes since I can't control steam or ice." My hair was finally starting to behave again so I was more focused on braiding it than listening to Ace by this point.
"Wait but why are you telling me about all of your weaknesses? I mean we did just meet today." At this I chuckled before glancing at Ace and with a sugar sweet smile and even sweeter voice I said.
"Honey, I have had my devil fruit for 17 years now and I have been a pirate sailing on the Grand Line for 7, I have trained under some of the strongest people in the world. Do you really think that you could beat me in a fight?"
"Hey! I'm strong!" Ace shouted feeling rather insulted.
"I don't doubt that you are East Blue strong, but friend, I am Paradise strong. There is a vast difference, trust me." I said in a placating voice trying only halfheartedly to calm down my companion. Ace just kept getting more annoyed as I kept laughing at him. Oh rookies are so cute and innocent!
_
The days continued to pass in similar ways, Ace and I would work on our raft, I would fish, and we would talk. It was honestly starting to concern me just how easy it was to talk to him. Why did it feel like I had known him for my whole life rather than just a few days? I needed to be more careful. I had no idea who this guy is or where he came from. Come on Ari, you are smarter than this! But regardless of my determination to keep him at bay I found myself sitting near the fire and talking to him once again.
"I still can't believe that this is only the second time that you have ever left the Grand Line. How is that even possible? Why would you leave?" Ace asked me while leaning back on his elbows and staring up at the stars. He was sounding quite confused and more than a little shocked.
"Well I was born and raised on an island in the first half of the Grand Line and then I traveled along the rest of it with various crews. They just happened to never leave while I was with them. But I did go to the North Blue once a while back. And as for why I left now, I'm looking for someone." I said while admiring, no no no, looking at him.
Upon hearing this Ace looked intrigued and asked "Who are you looking for?"
I paused and considered him for a minute when he asked this. Should I be honest here? He would never know the difference. But somehow I felt bad about even considering lying to him. Oh well, I've already told him way to much about myself anyways...
"I'm looking for Gold Roger's child actually. I think that they might be on an island called Dawn. It should be nearby actually. Do you know it?" I asked while watching Ace. I noticed that as soon as I mentioned Gold Roger he tensed up completely and looked at the fire rather than the stars. Interesting.
"You really think that he had a kid?" He asked through a clenched jaw while ignoring my question. I narrowed my eyes. Someone doesn't like Roger…
"Yes I do and I intend to find them."
"Why? You gonna kill him?" Ace asked while standing up he started walking away from me. 'Him' even more interesting. My, my, Ace you are beginning to make me question whether or not Portgas is your real name...
"I expect that while growing up 'he' would have been told over and over again that he was a demon who deserved death. I also expect that to have given him a rather… unique, outlook on life. But no I don't plan to kill him." I said in a measured voice while watching him closely for any reaction.
"What do you want then?" Ace said with his back stilled turned to me.
"Someone I can relate to." I said plainly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ace turned slightly to look at me over his shoulder.
"When I was a child I was often told that I was going to be a monster one day. I was often reminded of the fact that my only option in life was to become a criminal. Simply because of who my father was."
"Ya, right I doubt that princess why would anyone say something like that to you?" Ace said with a scoff while turning away again.
"Because I am the daughter of the Dark King Silvers Rayleigh."
Soooooooo what did you think? I know that my writing is rather rough and needs polishing. I just have very little experience writing in this style and need to practice. But regardless hopefully it was mildly enjoyable to read. Also before you come for me about Ari's fruit please know that I have in fact done my research and have come to the conclusion that we will almost certainly never see a true "Water Water Fruit" because that fruit is insane. If you go to the One Piece Wiki it says "Sometimes the power of a Devil Fruit involves water, or at least some state of water, like the bubble power of Kalifa or the ice power of Kuzan. In that case the user will not be weakened by its own state of water but will still be weak against others states of water." Therefore the Water Water Fruit would be crazy broken. But beyond that I hope you stick around to see where this goes :D.