Well the hay fever stayed as did the drowsiness. I took a couple days off just to see if it went away…nope. Guess I'll just have to live with it. I also got writers block half way through this so what a great time. Anyway, the first arc has ended. Some story's jump right into the main one from the get go. I'm slowly building up my character so when she does eventually get to the east blue arc she will already be defined and have motives that make sense. Onto the next arc, the childhood arc…which may last awhile. Guess I'll have to add depth to make up for it then.

Thesonicsuperstar: Can you please 'cut' that out, or I will make 'saw' that no 'bit' of you survives. By the way Shanks is not a Yonko at the start of One Piece, it was confirmed he became one when Luffy was 13 I believe during the Wano arc. I wrote it down as the man who would 'become' a Yonko.

What: I would like a main character that does not blow up from eating two fruits thank you. Heck we still don't know what Blackbeard did to get two. I'm trying to go for realism, so Mary Sueing Lucy by magically giving her two fruits would ruin that.

SilentForest21: Next chapter we will see him again, he was confused though ;)

Writing in Italics

Techniques and devil fruits in underline

I DON'T OWN ONE PIECE, and I never will

Chapter 6 start:

After the Red haired pirates left normality returned for a while, if Lucy had to reckon around a month. Then one day the world through another curve ball, on the horizon a ship was spotted by the girl. After the last half year the docks had been a frequent place to find her. Not just reading but also cloud gazing. And so her first thoughts were 'what a big cruise liner' then 'and it's coming right at us'. The 'cruise liner' maintained a steady path towards the docks and as the minutes moved on and it got closer a different thought emerged…'that's a marine battleship not a cruise liner'.

Slightly in shock at the sudden appearance at one of the most powerful models of ships docking at a tiny, not really on the map, village she nearly missed another key clue. Its figure head was a dog with a bone clutched in his mouth and a tongue sticking out, on its sails where the words HQ.3. The moment she saw that the thought changed again ''that's Monkey D Garps marine battleship coming right at us…shit'.

At this point it was not just her that saw the ship, someone must have raised the alarm because most of the village had assembled by the docks to stare in awe at the monstrosity of a ship. Even by Lucy's original world comparison its pure bulk was insane, while her world focused on a thin but long battleship type in times gone by, this world had focused on size. In all directions… horizontal as well. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought what a weird design choice it was, don't you want to lower the surface area able to be shot at. Don't you want to maximize the firepower able to bring to bear on your capital ships and replace your open deck with cannons?

As her musings of the weirdness of ship battle doctrines in this world continued, the battleship got closer and closer till the sails lowered slowing it down as it drifted into port. Eventually after a couple of minutes of maneuvering it managed to get close enough to port to lower a gangplank which was impressive in Lucy opinion considering the pure bulk of them.

Everyone in the village waited in silence as the ship struggled to dock. Not that Lucy blamed them, if she didn't already know who this was then she would be wondering why a MARINE BATTLESHIP was docking at their village of all place. The silence dragged on till the sound of someone walking down the gangplank. The footsteps heavy as lead. Eventually a man disembarked from the ship.

The man was an absolute giant, he dwarfed everything around him. Even Lucky Roo who was close to 8 feet (243.84cm) was smaller by a good head and a bit. Lucy calculated his height to be easily above 9 (274.32cm) feet tall perhaps closer to 10 feet (304.8cm) tall. Then came the width of the man, never had she seen a man with shoulders so wide, his chest reflected this fact in its outright enormity. In a way it was made worse by the fact she knew it was all pure muscle. He worse a white suit with large golden buttons running down the centre and present at the cuffs. Over his immense shoulders was a marine cloak, with two shoulder pads like the military officer uniforms of old. Most peculiarly of all was the dog mask? Hood? That he wore on his head. It was an off yellow color, with brown freckles, a full row of white teeth and yellow eyes. The man beneath the…dog still had black hair to Lucy's surprise, but she guessed that she was so used to seeing Garp with all white hair that it seemed like a logical idea in her head. Along the left side of his face ran a scar from his temple to under his eye in a large crescent. Said man was smiling, and not in subtle way, no in a grin that showed all his white teeth and dominated a good quarter of his face. After seemingly a while of observing the man had seen enough, he in an act that surprised every villager even Lucy shouted ''I'M BACK!''

It was the loudest thing she had ever heard, the pure volume of it vibrated through her like a speaker playing loud bass. The man's lung capacity must have been insane she thought, startled into a flight or fight response at the action. Even the villagers winced at the volume. Then as quickly as it came the shout was gone, and silence descended as everyone simply stared at the man. That was until a small whisper of ''Marine vice admiral G- Garp'' broke the tension, compared to the silence it might as well have been a shout. Just like a gunshot the dock exploded into noise, everyone shouting in confusion as to what was going on? Why was Garp 'the hero' docking at their small port? Were they being punished in some way?

All except one young girl wearing a straw hat on her head as she sat on a bollard staring in silence at the man.

Eventually a voice broke through the canopy of noise, Mayor Wood Slap managing to wrestle control over the increasingly panicking crowd. As silence descended once more he turned to the dog hood waring marine and said in a shaky voice ''Marine Vi-Vice Admiral Gar-p to wha-what do w-we owe the ple-pleasure?'' In response the marine vice admiral simply smiled before he appeared before the shaking mayor and while slapping his shoulder so hard he smacked head first into the pavement said ''Mayor Wood Slap you haven't aged a day!''.

In an almost comedic way he paused and looked down at the unconscious Mayor then he rubbed the back of his head through the dog hood and said ''Ah! Sorry about that!'' If this wasn't real life then everyone would have a large sweat drop over their heads.

After that point the whole thing devolved into a frenzy of panic without Wood Slap to calm them, the villagers trying and failing to understand why a marine vice admiral was in front of them and the shouts returned. Some smart ones in Lucy's opinion took the mayor to the village infirmary… the rest carried on shouting. Lucy could see annoyance cross her Grandfathers, she guessed, face as he stared at the crowd as it devolved into panic. As such she caught the moment when he snapped and shouted ''Silence!'' even with her hands over her ears it deafened her. The poor villagers stood near the man stood no chance and all stood in silent agony as the pure volume hit them dead on.

With no opposing voices to counter him Garp simply in his boisterous voice stated ''I'm not here on marine business…I'm looking for my Granddaughter'' As Lucy suspected to happen no one answered, all were recovering from his shout. Most of the villagers simply stared at the man, none wanted to endure his 'wrath' again. Garp seemed to realize he had gone from one extreme to the other in response and so carried on ''My Granddaughter Monkey D Lucy, can someone show me where she is!?'' Even Lucy winced at the volume of the man, then she fully comprehended his words.

She found most of the village staring at her.

Garp having noticed most of the villagers had to stare at something turned towards her as well. In that moment she noticed when the recognition flashed in his eyes, when he fully noticed her sat off to the side. He stared at her face for a second and then his gaze traveled up and confusion clouded his expression…then shock and in that moment Lucy knew. He had seen her hat.

A very famous hat that a certain famous red haired pirate that until know was known for wearing.

Needless to say her first encounter with her Grandfather was not the best experience.

Most of Garps first day was overlooking the ship as it restocked what it could from the village, among other chores. The next couple he used to annoy her. It seemed that the hat was an affront to all things in this world and as such the man tried to desperately to 'convince' her to let him burn it. It got so bad that she couldn't even enjoy the day because he would be in the vicinity boisterously regaling tails of the righteous Marines and swearing that her hat was evil. Eventually she just got so tired of the man's presence that she slipped away at the crack of dawn and with only a book decided to spend time at her cliff spot. It was nice…for around two hours before her 'Grandfather' found her and then drove her up the wall. The man had no concept of personal space…or what people wanted. In her mind Lucy thought with pity that this is what the straw hats suffered for months. If Garp did this for months she would do everything she could to try and partition him, consequences be dammed, just to get a moment of peace.

Lucy hoped that he would eventually stop, that somehow her 'Grandfather' would get the message she didn't want him talking at her all the time. The message that she wanted some time to herself, a hell of a lot of time to herself and he was being more annoying than a midge swarm. But in a way only highly autistic extroverted people could he simply never tired and never gave up, and so Lucy suffered in silence as her 'Grandfather' stuck to her like glue.

It must have been a week of this hell before something different happened. He decided to lead her out into the jungle for some 'Grandfather-Granddaughter time'.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

''You want me to do what?'' Lucy said in confusion, he couldn't be serious could he?

''I want you to punch that rock face!'' Exclaimed Garp back, on his face was a big smile but his eyes were more serious. He had left his marine outfit behind and decided to spend today in his Hawaiian top and shorts. So he is being serious she thought. She looked back to the large, craggy cliff they had come across during their walk around the eight hour mark. Well she said walk, she hitched a ride on his shoulders near the start so she didn't do much walking. It was tall, the shadow of it blotting out the sun for hundreds of meters, the shadows seemed to make the rocks seem menacing in her opinion. Vines crept down in it places like great cascading snakes. It seemed that water routinely ran down the cliff face as the various ledges and nooks had a wellspring of moss and algae growing. It was a normal cliff face in her opinion.

With her observation complete Lucy turned back to Garp to find him staring at her. He was deadly serious she corrected in her head. It seemed that he truly expected her to punch a wall of stone. First of all she was eight years old, secondly Newton's laws stated that it would equal her punch with an equally powerful resistance thus hurting her, thirdly there was no way in hell she was punching it. Who in their right minds would actively punch a stone wall for the sake of it? Who would hurt themselves by punching a stone wall?

''Well are you going to do it or not!?'' Garps loud voice stopped her dead. She had no response for the man, what do you say to a person who dragged you into a jungle to punch a cliff? Instead she simply stared at him. It took around ten seconds before the silence got to him and with a movement she simply couldn't comprehend punched the rock face. With a massive crash the rock face cracked in a large spider web originating from Garps fist which was imbedded up to the elbow in the rock. The cracks ran up the cliff from the bottom to the top, from the one side to the other in large jagged separations. Small chunks rained down like a sad imitation of rain, and Lucy had to shield her head as they crashed down in the area around her. It was too late when she noticed a large boulder heading right for her, closer and closer it came in seconds and she was paralyzed looking at it. Then in a moment it disappeared, shattered into pieces so small that they almost didn't exist like pebbles just larger than sand and in its place a large outstretched fist.

In that moment Lucy realized something, no matter if she read the manga or watched parts of the anime, no matter what she believed these…monsters fought like. It would never be the same as seeing it firsthand. The manga was drawn in such a way that each action was viewable to convey what was going on to the reader. But, there was no reader and the translation from that manga into this existence was insane. The true speed of people's actions was unlike anything she thought possible. Now she knew what the lackeys of Big Moms saw as they tried to shoot at Luffy during his fight with Katakuri. When faced with the monsters of this world.

''Well what are you doing standing there?!'' It seemed that she was phasing out as she stared in shock at the devastation. Her Grandfather who was lowering his arm back to his side turned to her as he finished his sentence. His gaze caught her like dear in the headlights as a large frown crossed his face and he stared down at her. ''Are you not going to punch it!?'' He shouted at her.

Silence was his only response. He grumbled something under his breath and then said ''If you want to be a strong marine, that is the bare minimum!'' What? The bare minimum thought Lucy, she couldn't do that even if she could activate her devil fruit on command. In true Garp fashion he wasn't finished ''As such in order to make sure you're ready to be a strong marine I decided to leave you in this jungle!''

''…Are you mad?'' Her confused terror must have shown in her voice because he looked down into her eyes and for a moment Lucy could have sworn she saw conflict in his eyes. Then a steel of determination and pure stubborn-headedness sharpened his eyes and he doubled down on his decision much to her horror. His response was quitter than his normal shouts, but it still boomed ''When I was your age I could fight every creature in this forest one on one. I could live by myself without any help from adult. Every day I would spend honing my strength by punching the trees of this forest until I shattered their bark with every hit of my fists, feet and even head! I don't know what you've been doing until know but your inadequately trained…not even worthy of the name Monkey!'' As he paused in his speech he looked at her new hat and with fury she had never seen the man possess in the limited time he had been around her ''and that hat means that your existence has already been noticed! We do not have time to lose before anyone else comes for you…Shanks was the best of a bad bunch, the next people who come to utilize your potential will not be so!'' His teeth were grinding by the end of his speech.

Lucy only partially keeping up with what he was saying, apparently someone was coming to utilize her 'potential' whatever that meant for themselves. But that made no sense to her, she had made sure that only Makino knew of her power…the villagers were given the convenient lie about the slash being caused by Higuma. There was no doubt in her mind that Makino would never betray her promise of silence to even Garp. So it couldn't be about the crazy power she could 'potentially' wield if she figured how to use the stupid power in her possession. If not then was it her potential as a 'D' which in her opinion was the most hyped up secret in the show directly linked to the end game. Though her 'Grandfather' did have a good point looking back at the Monkey D family it was an almost guarantee that every member would end up being highly influential in the world. Monkey D Garp the legendary marine who defined an era, Monkey D Dragon the leader of the revolutionary's the most wanted man who wielded enough power to shake the foundation of this world, heck, even Luffy got into his stride and pulled many influential figures onto his side as he unintentionally set himself up to be the greatest of the new generation.

But she wasn't Luffy… not even close.

And that dream wasn't hers, she wasn't even capable of inspiring herself to meet deadlines she set herself most of the time. There was no way in hell she was capable of inspiring the world to follow her, she wasn't leader material. That wasn't even answering who would be coming for her…a question that would have to be answered at another time.

''No comment huh?'' Garp seemed to take her silence in stride as he usually did with a sigh. After he finished his rhetorical question he pulled a small backpack out of…somewhere and plopped it down with a gentleness that bellied his size in front of her. With a small zip the main compartment opened to show…a flint and steel, an old green marine water cantina, a compass, a small military ration bar, a tiny medical kit and a small combat knife. After looking at the contents of the backpack a numbness stopped any thought in Lucy head but this 'Well shit'. After having a good look at the pack she noticed that Garp had started to walk away from the now ruined cliff in the general direction of what she assumed was Foosha village and that was when reality set in. In an almost comedic way she shouted at the back of the giant ''Wait! Don't leave me here!''

The man simply raised an arm above his head as a goodbye while he shouted back ''See you back in Foosha village when your stronger Lucy!'' then he was gone. Not even just walking through the undergrowth, just one second he was there and then he was gone like he vanished in thin air. It was so weird when one who was not used to the speed looked at a shave technique being used.

Just like that she had been left in the middle of the jungle around Mt Colubo with nothing but the clothes on her back and a backpack with basic survival tools. She said the one thing appropriate for the situation…

''Fuck''

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Monkey D Lucy was not having a good time…it had been days since her Grandfather had left her in the jungle and exhaustion gripped her like wet clay.

After realizing her situation she had grabbed the backpack and tried to retrace her steps as quickly as possible only to get lost in her rush. After spending around ten minutes rushing to find the small path they had carved through the underbrushes she stopped to catch her breath which at that point was growing louder and louder. It took her a while to manage her breathing and more still to calm her thoughts enough that she realized she had a compass and that with mount Colubo in the back ground Foosha village was around south east of it. After preparing herself mentally she set off in that direction only to hit an immense ravine with no crossing points across. Time and time again as she tried to maneuver around the countless obstacles, everything from the animals to rock formations to the numerous rivers dotting the jungle.

Eventually the light had started to dim, and at that point with no food, no water and most importantly no idea where she was Lucy got really scared. It was not a panic attack in your face scared like a jump scare, but one that hung around every tree branch around every corner like the slow build up that promised something was there and yet never came. It was like not knowing what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, if she could do anything to stop it? A fear like being thrown in the deep end of the pool and as you thrash under the water you wonder when the next breath would come. A fear that everything was out of your hand, a total lack of control.

It took the light to truly diminish before she realized that starting a fire would be her best course of action. So she spent the next couple of hours trying to start a fire with her flint and steel as the twilight gave way to an oppressive pitch black and with it…came the predators. The sounds in the dark that reverberated all around her, the ones that sounded close yet never appeared and just when she thought it was all clear another one appeared. Three times she got a spark in what little kindling she could find, three times it burned out before she could start her twigs and old branches. The fourth time she managed to light a branch on fire and in her great excitement suffocated it by dumping as many twigs as she'd gathered on it. Needless to say it died out. After that she learnt what not to do when lighting a fire, it must have been her fourteenth spark and hundreds of attempts later that really stayed going. She didn't make the same mistake of suffocating it like she had so many times and eventually it grew until it could sustain itself without her guidance.

With limited vision it provided she managed to locate a medium sized stick, and with a fire sorted, went down her mental bucket list of things to do by sharpening one end into a poor imitation of a spear with the little combat dagger. With the weapon in hand and a fire lit Lucy decided to carry on finding her way when she could actually see more than a few meters ahead of her. But as the sounds of an ever encompassing crescendo of sound carried on she found that no sleep came and every time her eyes closed a sound too close to comfort came from the shadows. When that happened she would wake with a startle jerk to attention, spear in hand to defend herself against whatever it was…only to find that the shadows never manifested.

She spent the first night awake and miserable.

When the large ball of hydrogen rose out of the mountains and shined its rays of light through the thick canopy Lucy had had enough of this stupid jungle. But with no one around and no way out of this hell hole she had to keep moving till she found civilization. So with spear in hand and compass around her neck she marched on through the tough undergrowth in the south East direction. But she quickly found her first issue, while the noises at night distracted her from it there was no mistaking that she was horrendously dehydrated. The inside of her mouth was so dry that her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth, every breath became worse than the last. In the heat of the rain forest she was quickly loosing water and she was starting to feel lightheaded. The marine cantina was empty from the start, much to her annoyance at her grandfather. In her old world she heard that the human body could survive up to three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food. If this carried on to long then she might die of dehydration before ever leaving the jungle.

It took her an hour and a bit of searching before she found what resembled a body of water. It was a small lake, brown from mud or filth Lucy didn't know. Surrounding the 'lake' where mangrove trees meaning this was most likely saltwater, much to her desperate frustration. At this point she hoped to whatever Gods that put her here that it was drinkable, and dipped a hand into the murky water. After a couple of seconds she brought a little of the water cupped in her hand to her mouth and drank the liquid…it was quickly spat out in disgust. Not only was it salty but it was also stagnant. It was undrinkable and Lucy knew it. But a small thought that grew louder and louder with each harsh breath emerged from her dry throat.

'So what? If we just boil it then everything will be ok, what if we never find other water source? If we drink from this we can tie ourselves over till we find a cleaner source' Lucy knew that drinking salt water only dehydrated you further, she also knew that drinking dirty water was likely to give her stomach cramps. But, somehow the more she denied it the greater the thought of having something to parch the thumping of her headache became. Eventually she just gave up, dropped her backpack on the floor along with the spear she had created and carried her cantina to the lake side. With a quick dunk it submerged itself into the murky depths of the water, only the bubbles showed its existence. While it took its time to fill up Lucy decided to look across the saltwater lake, nothing out of the ordinary just some branches and twigs floating across its brown surface one large log drifting slowly towards her. With nothing else to do as she knelt down she pulled the compass out of her cargo shorts and reaffirmed in her head where south east was. It was at these times she thanked her past self for deciding to wear cargo shorts and a short sleeved top instead of a dress when she heard the words 'adventure' pouring from her 'Grandfathers' mouth. If she ever got back to Foosha village, Lucy would learn how to wield her power and partition the man. Who the fu*k leaves an eight year old girl in the middle of a rain forest to 'get stronger'!? Was he mentally deranged!?

The sound of bubbles stopped and looking down it seemed to her that her cantina was full, and as she looked up she noticed that the large log was really really close and an eye stared back at her. In that moment all thought shut down as she instinctively jumped back away from the water edge as fast as possible. Not a second later a large explosion of water showed a crocodile closing its jaws right where her body used to be. It took a second to find focus again as she stared at the reptilian in front of her, then she quickly rushed to her makeshift spear in one hand and jabbed at the creature never quite close enough to hurt it. In response the crocodile only hissed at her, then after a while slowly slid back into the water.

Her breathing took a while to calm down after that event, the dryness of her mouth insignificant next to almost being devoured in an instant. It was only after calming down that she came to a shocking discovery. In her haste to get away she dropped the cantina, which was still under the water at the time. That's why she had a hand free to grab her spear, Lucy thought bitterly. But as she stared back to the water she noticed that the crocodile was not alone, the small sticks and floating debris reveled at least a dozen of the scaly monster each drawn to the ripples of the first and the promise of fresh meat. Each staring at her with beady little eyes.

Every attempt to walk to a different spot found them following her slowly like little ducklings she had at least a couple of seconds if she wanted a drink before they would spring out of the water like jack in the boxes and drag her to an antagonizing death as they twisted her limbs off in a feeding frenzy.

She might have not feared death for deaths sake but she was not suicidal, and so picked up her backpack and left the clearing in search of a different water source. It took her an even longer time to find the next water source, this one was even worse not even a lake, just a muddy puddle brimming with mud. But there was no crocodiles, and that meant everything to Lucy right now. At this point the sun had reached its pinnacle in the middle of the sky, and the heat from the high noon was almost unbearable. With no water for at least two days, an oppressive heat and no sleep she collapsed in front of the puddle. With her arms shaking from exertion she reached in with both hands and scooped out a cupful of the black gunk.

The water tasted so bad that she almost vomited it right back up, but with every ounce of her will she kept it down. Eventually as her stomach muscles spasms died down, she cupped more and more down her throat. Lucy did not know how long she spent there, trying to parch her thirst but as she lay on her back it felt slightly better, just to have something in her stomach. The thumping at the back of her head had lessoned as her heat stroke abated slightly.

As her raspy breaths got longer and less of a gasp she noticed in the trees above her head where a type of fruit. With her thirst momentarily parched the next thing on her check list was food, her stomach grumbled in agreement. It took a humongous effort to get off the floor, every part of her body aching in protest.

She had to get up because her hat was still in Foosha village with Makino, and knowing her grandfather he might burn it without her constant vigilance. How could she look at Shanks again of that happened, to tell him the hat he gave her to mark their friendship was burnt due to her incompetence. It represented not only the promises she made to the man who helped her stand up…but the promises she made to herself that day. Without it she might as well give up, be like she was back then so lost and afraid. It was the key that would unlock her chains, guide her like a compass to the destination she wanted, hold her up when times were tough and say remember to always look forward.

It was weird when Lucy thought about it, but that stupid hat while not even near her could motivate her to stand when the world seemed bleak. Perhaps that was why Luffy loved it so much, it was his guiding promise that no matter what reminded him why he got up in the morning. In some ways it was already becoming like that for her without Shanks around to drag her out her shell. To think a hat motivated her more than anything in this godforsaken world was an amusing thought. A small smile crossed her face, what teeth could be seen blackened by mud. And in that moment the world seemed a little brighter, the pounding of her head a little less and her predicament slightly less daunting.

With her little mental POW wow done, she turned to the task at hand, the fruits in the trees. Lucy decided to think of a way around the problem, and while it never worked on command before she first tried to desire her fruit to partition the branch they sat on. All she ended up doing was waving her arm around in the air like an idiot. With that idea shot and burned she her bag and spent the next half an hour climbing the vast trunk of the tree. Luckily the tree had branches running up from the bottom to the top, which made no sense in a jungle due to the canopy stopping light from hitting the lower levels leaves, but she wasn't going to complain about evolution.

The branches the fruit were on where surprisingly wide and sturdy much to Lucy great enthusiasm. So wide she could carefully maneuver her way across them with only a small chance of falling, if she were an adult then it would be a different story. Banishing the though she reached out into the first cluster of Yellow fruit, it looked like a deformed mango bent into a shape that vaguely reminded Lucy of a peanut. The first couple she tried to saw off from their green stalks fell and smashed onto the rainforest floor below, eventually she learned a technique to capture the yellow not-mangos before they started falling. A lot were sacrificed for this information though.

As she clutched the first one in her hands she noticed the slightly nobly texture of its outer coat, it seemed kinda like an orange skin and as such she treated it like one. It took her a long time to peel off the outer shell of the fruit, the inside a deep red that reminded her of watermelon, it didn't have the consistency of one though more solid like a mango. As Lucy held it in her hands she paused for a second and thought what if it was poisonous? Her response was a 'I'm too tired to care anyway' and as such she bit into the red flesh in her hands. It was not the best fruit she had ever eaten, it was not the worst either her devil fruit had taken that spot, but it was just right. If she was at Party's bar she would have overlooked it for a different food, the mystery fruit was mediocre at best. But here it was all she had and as such the best thing to ever graze the Earth, it might have been mediocre then but it was heaven now. Needless to say she devoured the fruit in less than half a minute.

With its taste still on her tongue she utilized her new found technique to store as many of the non-mangos into her back pack till all the fruit on her level that were left from her previous mistakes where in her possession. Backpack full, and really quite heave now she thought about it she made to make her way down the tree again only to see a rather large non-mango just above her and to the side. While her snack had filled the emptiness of her stomach somewhat a deep ache still lingered and so she tried to reach for the fruit. A near fall stopped any attempt to grab it without launching herself off of the tree branch. Unfortunately she wasn't made of rubber and would go splat if she attempted such a thing, but she could partition things…kinda. As such Lucy while swiping her hand above her head in a crude imitation of a karate chop desired the fruit to partition itself from the stalk. Nothing happened, no matter what she attempted, no matter the method to try and activate her ability worked.

It was something bothering her for a while now, her ability never activated on command, all other devil fruits did that. Heck even those people from CP 9 who had just received their fruits could utilize them as they see fit. Why was her ability the only one that never worked!? What type of Bullsh*t was that?! The fruit that she had the most information about, the one she could potentially utilize the most was copped out for a devil fruit that while strong on paper never activated on desire. It was a dud power, sure it had its moments though Lucy, it seemed to come through randomly. Like when she really wanted to cut that bottle, or when she really wanted to escape and when she really wa-

Want

It was based on want Lucy thought.

All this time she had been desiring an outcome, saying could you please do this and all this time it was obvious. It was a part of her, well she didn't know the full picture but it was like a second limb in a sense. Do you ask your legs to kindly move forward? Do you ask your arms to kindly reach out? Do you ask your heart to kindly keep beating? No! They are not sentient and so would not respond to any desires. They act because the brain tells everything else what them to do and they respond to the command because that's what they do. So to activate her ability, she must command it to happen… with a new enlightened view point she looked up at the large fruit and with a wave of her hand the stalk separated in two and the fruit plummeted passed her as she watched it smash into the forest floor with a splat.

Despite the fate of her desired prize, a smile crossed her face because now she had a power capable of getting home, and the world never looked so bright.

This chapter morphed into something else entirely, but at this point I just go with the flow. Anyway she finally understands how to activate her ability, which she will undoubtedly need in this arc. Wait till she finds all the other rules surrounding her powers though, that would be interesting to write. Till next time bye bye