Chapter 2-The present

(Six years later…)

I stared out the window of Captain Tanner's office, longing to go outside…

And run from the Navy.

My best friends, Aki and Jack, and the twins, Taro and Kyoka, feel the same way. But they aren't stuck in this office nearly as much as I am.

"Monkey D. Kiromi!" Tanner's voice bellowed, causing me to snap back into reality.

I made a tsking noise. "Now Captain," I said calmly. "You know that I go by Kiro, just Kiro."

The man across the desk sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Kiro, if I were you, I'd watch your mouth."

I stifled a laugh and my captain sat up. "Don't even say it," he said, trying to keep a straight face.

"But you're not me!" I said, bursting out in a laugh not all that different from Luffy's.

Tanner allowed a chuckle to escape his lips. He wasn't bad, for a Navy man.

He stopped suddenly, too suddenly, as if remembering something important. Sighing, my captain pushed a paper across the desk.

"Read it, Kiro." He said, sounding more like a father than a commanding officer.

I picked up the paper. I started to read it, and realized that this was my Marine record.

"June sixteenth, first act of defiance…" I read aloud. "That was my first day here…"

Tanner nodded. "Yes. Do you remember what you did?"

"I snuck out…but it's kind of a habit of mine." I said, thinking back to all the times I'd run down to the beach and sketch something long after my brothers had fallen asleep.

"And what was your punishment for that?"

I made a face. "Being stuck in this room, staring out the window, listening to a lecture from you and Major Sarah." I said. "And you remember my reply? I distinctly told you, 'I am not a Navy girl. I am a pirate; I am free.'"

My Captain sighed again. "Read further down the page."

My eyes skimmed my many "acts of defiance" until I saw one other one.

"May third…one year ago…" I read slowly. "Labeled as an act of…treason?!"

I slammed the paper down on the desk and stood up. "Are they nuts?! I punched a man in the face! Half the things that come out of my mouth every day are better examples of treason than what I did that day!"

Tanner stood up, ready to pin my arms behind my back if need be. "You attacked a higher up, Kiro."

"Be that as it may," I began, but I heard the door swing open behind me.

"Captain, I need to see Kiro for a second." A slightly worried tone said behind me.

I turned around to find Major Sarah herself, with her son, Jack, peering at me from beside her. I locked eyes with him.

"Bad timing?" he mouthed, and I nodded.

"Help me…" I mouthed back at him.

The boy shrugged, raising his eye brows in a "What do you want me to do about it?" expression. I shrugged.

"Think of something." I said aloud.

Tanner and Sarah had been in a slight argument, but both of them stopped immediately when they heard me. I swore, and Jack face palmed.

"Nansha Isaac Jack. Monkey D. Kiro."

Jack grabbed my wrist and yanked me out the door. We bolted down the hallway, around the corner…

And there he was.

The man I had punched.

The man who had personally seen that I was whipped afterward.

The man who had mocked Ace, and even Whitebeard.

Jack started to pull me back, but I stood there, frozen.

"Commodore Xavier Turner," I said, wondering how my lips had started to move.

The tall, dark haired man smiled coldly at me, his gray, hard eyes sending shivers down my spine.

"Ah, Monkey D. Kiro," he said with mock respect. "Garp's little granddaughter…I see you're still as temperamental as ever. Did you forget what happened when we last met, girl?"

Jack gripped my wrist tightly, keeping me from hitting the man again.

However, he could not control the words that flew out of my mouth.

"How could I forget? But it was your own damn fault. At least you got a broken nose out of the deal." I said coolly.

"My, my, you never learn do you?" he said, striking me across the face.

Jack, please don't do anything. I thought.

Jack pulled me behind him. "I'm sorry, sir. We will go about our business immediately, and I will make sure Miss Kiro watches her mouth."

With that, Jack yanked me back down the hall. "Damnit Kiro," he whispered.

"What? I didn't hit him." I said simply, rubbing the side of my face, which had started to swell. "Besides…gramps hits harder."

Jack sighed. "Not the point. We all hate that bastard, Kiro, but for your own sake watch your mouth around him."

"That's the second time someone has told me that today," I muttered.

"For damn good reason!" Jack hissed.

My goodness, he's turned into Ace.

"Kiro, you…we can't see you like that again." Jack said quietly.

It was like the sound of the whip smacking my back played in my ears, and I understood. "I'll be careful, Jack. I promise."

"Good." He said, then grinned. "I'd hate to tell Aki…"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" I shouted, starting to laugh. Aki was almost as protective as Ace was.

I tossed and turned in bed that night, unable to sleep. It wasn't the mattress that was uncomfortable; I used to sleep on a hard wood floor for Pete's sake!

Finally, I stood up, got dressed, and strapped my sword around my waist. I was about to grab my bow staff, when I heard Aki hop down from the top bunk. I turned to find her completely dressed, which made me wonder for the millionth time if she could read my mind.

"Don't think you're going into town without me." She said smirking, pulling something out of her pocket.

"My locket!" I said, snatching it out of her hand. "I thought I'd lost it!" I clipped it around my neck.

Aki help up her hands in an innocent gesture. "You did lose it. I found it in Tanner's office while I was stealing your medical records for Taro."

I cocked my head to one side. "Why does Taro need my medical records? He already knows everything he needs to."

"Everything he needs to, yes. But you and I both know you've been injured plenty of times without him knowing." Aki said, rolling her dark blue eyes. "Besides, if we're going to ever get out of here, those records are going to come in handy at sea."

The two of us climbed out our window and after dodging several marines on patrol, strolled into the small town.

Aki nudged me. "Kiro…we're leaving soon." She whispered. "Like…really soon."

I grinned. "How soon?" I said, bouncing on my toes, causing my pigtails to bounce up and down as I did.

Aki laughed. "Calm down. Very soon. All we need is some sort of distraction and money to buy a ship. Luckily, I've been saving up."

Aki reached into her pocket and pulled out a large sum of cash. I gasped. "Holy shit Aki." I said breathlessly. "Where is the world…how did you?"

Aki smiled mysteriously. "I have a thing for treasure. On an unrelated topic…have you ever noticed that any prize ships the marines bring back never have any money on them?"

I grinned. "Oh you're smart."

The two of us walked to the port. It was late, but the salesman Aki and I call "Rags" was still awake and busy and ever, with his signature rag tied around his head.

"OI RAGS!" I shouted.

The man turned around and laughed. "Good evening Mayonaka, Ginger." (Note: Mayonaka means "midnight.")

Rags has called me Mayonaka since the day we met when I was nine years old; he said it was because of my "midnight colored eyes" or something. As for Aki, she was a redhead, and didn't mind being called a ginger, giving us both the perfect nicknames.

Aki smiled and held out her wad of cash. "Finally saved enough for that ship." She said in her "black market" cool-kid voice.

Rags smiled. "Finally; you've been saving up since you met Miss Midnight eyes there," he said pointing at me. "And how old are you now?"

"Thirteen." We both replied.

The man smiled, counting the money. "Ship's yours. But," he started in a more serious tone. "Don't ever tell who you bought it from, am I clear?"

"Crystal." Aki replied, then glanced at me.

I sighed. "Ye have little faith. I can be stupid, but I'm smart enough to keep my mouth shut about this." I said, crossing my arms.

"Good, good." Rags said, cocking his head. "You two should start heading back. We wouldn't want any trouble, now would we?"

"No sir, we wouldn't." Aki replied, again glancing at me. "Well…she might."

"Hey!" I said, slugging her in the shoulder, then laughed. "Trouble finds me first."

Rags laughed. "Get outta here, you damn kids." He said, waving us away as we started to walk back.

Things were about to heat up real fast.