2 | When Things Get Too Far, It Ends Up Well
It was like that type of feeling, a weird sort of incomprehensible awe that one could be rebirthed. Something that she hadn't known then. From her death as an android to the birth as a human. The transition was too fast to comprehend. Occasionally she would think of reasons for herself to exist. She was created in the past to be a war weapon. Then, what is her reason for living now? Doesn't everyone live with a reason? A goal? With a dream? She wasn't used to not having a programmed code embedded within her system telling her important points.
About as quickly as three years have passed. She still remembered when she was still in the womb. The feeling of being drowned in water.
Like how a moment later the buzzing noises pass and go. It hadn't been long since the warm flowing water entangled around her. Inside that place, she lost the sense of all time and space. Sometimes she could feel the vibrating power of being sucked by something but was then shoved back into the darkness. The swaying motion was gently rocking her to eternal sleep. It wasn't until one day when she was actually moving towards a direction. She presumably was squeezed by something around her crucial area. Her head came slowly sliding out, then her arms and legs. Light entered through her shut eyes and despite wincing at the sudden changes, she kept silence.
Her body was grasped by something rough and warm. Something gentle and dry. Then she came to a sudden halt when her legs came out. A sudden light crack was heard. When she finally pulled over her vision, her line of sight was extremely blurred. Everything was covered by white. She could feel a tingling pain coming from her neck. She had not known why. It is not only difficult to move her body, it is also difficult to breathe. The feeling as if something is compressing her heart. The feeling as if her body is on fire. Perhaps, because she is occupied by the feeling that she has yet to realize that something is abnormal. Still, she could somehow feel the tension in the air. Two voices resounded through her head. One soft and one deep.
However, it was all in the language that she couldn't understand. It was all blurred of meaning. And it wasn't long until she fell into a slumber from the devastating pain pricking her neck.
The next time she awoke, her senses had improved by a lot. Her eyes were no longer picking up blurred but clear images. Her body was relatively a lot easier to move but still restricted as though her lumpy baby fats pulled her back. She saw an ink black haired male and another male with an extremely eccentric white hairstyle. It was rather puffy with a sort of arrow shaved by its side. Still, their conversation was rather strange. She wouldn't brag about the fact she is smart, but she did know all sorts of languages there was.
It wasn't until later she realized that during her birth, her neck was twisted almost broken. Yet, what made her question the meaning of biological science was her existence. Human infants are by far the most fragile creature. How is she still alive after having her essential head support almost broken? It continued to pile on as to why she is still existing.
What made her rather dumbfounded was the fact she had a name. She was never given a name during those days in the past. She was often called 10 and while she had an identity of recognition, her professor refused to call her by number because it gave the message that she was just one amongst all other tools. However, he also never gave her a name because a name represents humanity and therefore only humans can bear word names.
Luciana Renata Leiya it was. That is her current identity, a marking that her past identity was no more. It gave her a sort of uncomfortable feeling because it also meant to accept that her creator is but of just a memory. That all those hundred and ninety years led to a waste of nothing.
In this new world, instead of a large mansion, she lived inside a moving boat. To be more accurate, she was living in a warship along with many males. They all donned themselves with the same blue anchor symbol calling themselves marines. They worked for the world government as one of the major justice controlling the spreading evil called pirates. Many were rather lively and welcoming to Leiya.
If they see Leiya, they always say the same thing. "What a splendid child! You will be a great marine flower. Carry on Vice Admiral's justice!" Then abruptly laugh when Leiya turns away.
During Leiya's days as an infant, she was very weird. Unlike many children who are rather expressive, the only expression bored by her face was her scrunched up brows. They would frequently flare up whenever she contemplates. In fact, the world that Leiya is living in was rather diverse. She was used to seeing androids and humans not fishmans, mermaids or absurd giants. Eventually, she was called a serious brat, a complete opposite to Garp. But who could blame her? She never had a childhood to begin with. She was created to resemble the human age of twenty and stayed twenty till death. Since birth, she was treated as an adult and most of the time as a weapon. Regarding the topic of being a child, she doesn't understand. They would have frequent mood swings, wail to get what they want but why does she need to put on a facade to act so if she isn't.
Slowly, she began to grow. Her awareness of her surrounding expanded. The first two males who she met was called Monkey D. Garp and doctor. Everyone called the doctor by his title and not by his name. It seemed like he hid it with intention. And the world she lived in was rather expanse ranging from four seas namely South, West, East, and North blue. Over the horizon, something called the Grand Line and Red Line. Nothing started intriguing her more than the lives and the system of this world.
At the age of one, Leiya had mastered all basic motor skills. Training to walk upright by herself without anyone helping. Occasionally tumbling to the ground but would stand up firmly and restart. At the age of two, Leiya had grasped the complete knowledge of the language and three asking for books to read. She never bothered to hide the fact that she is intelligent, nor that she is an extreme oddball. Eventually, everyone would begin to call her a genius amongst geniuses. The marines in the warship would pat her head and called her "the future marine admiral."
Whilst flipping through books, she learned how her full name came to be. The name Luciana meant light and Renata meant rebirth. Ironically, one that is the opposite of what she is and the second something that literally occurred to her. Together, her full name was Luciana Renata Leiya. Since she wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of rebirth, she decided to hide the name and just keep the letter R. At the very least, it was both respectful to the host who provided her a short-term of sleep.
Her days with the Marines were never peaceful. Pirates would either come and go like a storm. Bombs were almost used literally daily, some used for Garp's entertainment and others during the actual crisis. Whenever this happens, Leiya's face would remain still. What is there to panic? She did survive an atomic bomb in her past life after all. But Garp would question with one of his finger stuck inside his nose. His face donning a foolish expression almost a tad too carefree during these situations.
"Brat, you are not scared?"
"Not scared," Leiya would reply with a childish accent.
Her words would often trigger Garp to go full out attacking the rival ships just to confirm it. The poor pirate ships would be decomposed until only their corpses afloat to the top.
The cases only would escalate more when they once landed on an island isolated from its surroundings. It was contained many ferocious beasts that held no regards to whoever barges into their territory.
Garp would proudly say, "Kiddo! You have an important mission. Go and find food for yourself. The ship ran out of food to feed a freeloader like you." Then he would laugh with foolishness and push her to the dark abyss.
Nobody could stop Garp once he made up his mind. So they would strap the young girl at the age of three with explosives and knives. They would clutch their hands praying for her safety but their logic was no different from that of a lunatic.
Leiya took a step into the island with a rather large forest. The ground was pretty muddy that her shoes became stained with brown. However, contrary to how Garp would expect her to act she was very much excited. Her heart hiding its strong rapid beat. The center of the forest had nothing but collapsed trees and even though large prints on the ground showed their aggressive characteristics, Leiya approached calmly. Her mission is to find food for herself. She needs to somehow attract a medium sized beast. For her current fragile body, she won't be able to fight against a large beast. A tiny sized beast won't be able to last her hunger for a while.
With that thought in mind, she took off heading deeper into the isolated island. She grabbed hold of a grenade ready to pull the trigger if anything was to happen. It was at that moment, she could feel an intense pair of eyes following her. Ducking behind the tree, she waited for her prey to come. A loud roared arriving from behind was also followed by stamping hooves. Leiya immediately pulled off the trigger and threw the grenade straight towards the angry boar. The grenade did hit its target but when the smoke cleared, it revealed a rather tiny looking beast. Leiya furrowed her brows but was soon interrupted by a large shadow enveloping her.
About ten feet tall, mud brown and two red eyes about to fall out its sockets. It had four protruding horns on its forehead and one of its legs were getting ready to charge at Leiya. Leiya unshielded her knife from its cover and dashed right to the beast before it could land an attack. The beast lunged with its horns but she was swiftly able to maneuver herself around the smooth rings of the ears. It didn't take long for her to land on top of the head but when she did, she didn't have the strength to root her legs onto the head. The beast wildly shook its head and the pull of force only served its end. Leiya could only muster all her efforts to grab onto the little fur it has. She knows that if she lets go, the force and gravity would not give her justice. It would damage her rib cage and might possibly lead to heavy injuries.
Grudgingly, she hated how small she was. How pitiful she has to be. That she has to worry about injuries unlike back then how she missed being an artificial intelligence and had the power, the strength to dictate her might.
"Big boar!" Leiya shouted. Her voice coated with anger and frustration.
It didn't take long for her hands to slowly lose its grip. The beast hurled her with so much force that her tiny body destroyed three trees before she stopped still landing on the ground. A rather powerful strange sense of sensation immediately thrust upwards into her trachea. Her mouth was coughing out a large mouthful of blood-nonstop.
Leiya crawled on the ground attempting to levitate her body around the bushes. She just needed to move her body to safety. But when she drags her legs, they wouldn't budge. It seemed like cracking her ribcage was not the only thing, she also broke her leg.
The beast didn't spare her sympathy, it was angry to avenge its lost child. So it held up one of its hooves preparing to thrash it. The moment was clear, Leiya knew she was in trouble. It was a pity that she couldn't live longer to learn more about the world.
She waited. Waited for the moment of death to arrive once more. Will she be reborn again? Or maybe just disappear for real because this life is a fluke? But what arrived was an overwhelming air of terror. Her memories flashed back to her time during the war. The tension was the same, the air was the same, and even the feeling of excitement coursing through her blood was the same.
The beast collapsed straight to the ground rocking the ground with tremor. It's once red eyes were replaced with blank whiteness and next to it was a male with a black cape and red hair. The red strands danced majestically as he landed his gaze on Leiya's face.
It was the same pair of eyes that she felt from earlier before. It turns out to be him. The wind continued forth to carry on as a yellow straw hat slowly swayed in motion landing near Leiya's crippled feet.
Shanks whistled as he looked at the injured Leiya. He walked in an unhurried manner to the young girl, face unusually calm.
"Are you not scared?"
"No, I am not scared."
"Man, what a child." His gaze swept over Leiya's body as he raised his brows. "A bruised legs, possibly fractured ribs, now a damaged brain?"
Leiya continued to stare at him with her unwavering eyes. "Are you here to mock me?"
Shanks merely shook his head as he picked up the straw hat from the ground and gently placed it atop his head. "You need immediate medical attention, young girl." And so he picked her up in bridal style and carefully carried her away.
"Who are you?" Leiya didn't deny his help but her curiosity remained.
An echo of laughter erupted before Shanks sped up heading straight to where his crew stayed. He passed through the many trees and while several beasts attempted to approach, they would falter in their steps after seeing him. Eventually, he led her to a lively area where many more males were gathered.
" Captain!"
"Captain, where did the little girl come from?!"
"Captain-"
"Enough idiots!" Shanks roared. He tilted his head in a serious manner and ordered. "She needs medical care immediately."
The entire crew grew silent as they scattered to bring the crew doctor. Leiya merely watched with interest. She turned to look at Shanks and questioned.
"Are you a pirate?"
Shanks although surprised, laughed and replied with another question. "Are you scared then?"
Leiya shook her head and rested on his broad shoulders. She still hasn't come to terms with the idea of pirates and marines. What is justice and what is evil? She remembered how in her old world, she was constantly alert because there was no one truly good. One planted spy can lead to a domino effect and even then humans are portrayed with two sides: a good and bad side.
The medic arriving with a white box engraving of a red cross dashed over in hurry. He must've been quite alerted as his clothes were disheveled and on his feet is a pair of mismatched shoes.
"Captain, place the little girl here!" He quickly adjusted his emotions and carefully analyzed her injuries after Shanks gently put her down.
"Oh my lord! What have you been through?! Three fractured rib cages, one twisted ankle, and a broken leg." Yes, she knows that quite well. There is no need to repeat this again.
The doctor quickly laid a cast down and fixed up the many serious injuries before heading for the smaller ones. The pain was present but there was no need to show it. So with a still non-expressional expression, she plastered it on her face throughout this process. It couldn't have been much worse than that of when she was born.
"Plentiful of rest and most importantly keep yourself dry. Don't touch water before anything is healed. It's best to follow the procedure, little girl."
Leiya crinkled her nose as she silently nodded reminding herself of the key advice deriving from the doctor. Inwardly she frowned at the process she has been through. Humans are indeed to fragile to play with. A mere fall could lead to such a damage and even her for a moment thought of bidding farewell to the bizarre new world she had landed in. If only she was still the same artificial intelligence, she could be as damaged as she could be and still be fixed up in a moment. She could gain access to many more non-limitations that humans need to experience.
Tearing her gaze that was still on her wounds, she perked her head up facing the redhead. Hair still so bold and vibrant that makes her eyes jerk with pain.
"Thank you for your service. I don't have much to repay back your gracious debt but I do have a question."
Shanks tilted his head as he squints his eyes releasing of tenderness. "Go ahead, I'm interested in your actions from earlier before. And if you happen to not have anything to pay me back, I would like to learn what made you fight in such a way as three years old."
Then it clicked inside Leiya's head. He didn't help her until the last minute because he was assessing her. What a kind-hearted bastard.
Luciana Renata Leiya can be referred to be light, reborn, peaceful and loving. Her entire name is the irony which will be shown through this story. In fact, her birth played a much bigger role to express why. Do note that she was never a human until she got reincarnated into the world of One Piece, therefore while I made her become OP, she does have limitations.
If there is any love, please share. Reviews and comments are highly appreciated for the growth of my story.