{Pirate I}
Monkey D. Lucia knew things she shouldn't have since she was very young.
But for quite a long time she didn't realize that randomly remembering things one should have no knowledge of was odd. Being able to read on an advanced level by the time she was three was quite the normal state for her.
This lack of awareness may have been because her grandfather never even seemed to notice her oddness. The boisterous man never seemed to notice much of anything when it came to her - well, besides his ambition for her to become a marine. He would sometimes call her his future marine genius when he absently noticed how articulate she was though.
No one had tried to teach her how to read as of yet. And it wasn't that she'd taught herself either. One day she just looked at a book, and realized she could understand what was written on the spine. And on further investigation, what was written inside as well.
The cheerful child never even gave it a second thought.
But it was one thing for something like that to happen occasionally (said event was quickly followed by similar ones involving writing and other common knowledge skills). It was entirely another for her to one day look up at her gruff, silly, unreasonably violent grandfather and realize that she knew him. Not as the person who had raised her (albeit erratically) for as long as she could remember, but as who - what - he was.
Monkey D. Garp. Marine Vice-Admiral. Garp 'The Fist'. Hero of the Marines. Father of Monkey D. Dragon and grandfather of Monkey D. Luffy.
Except that wasn't entirely right. There was no Luffy.
There was just her.
{Game Mechanics}
Lu didn't remember what it all meant until the day after her seventh birthday.
That was the day that she woke to find a strange floating, semi-transparent panel floating over her bed.
[You Have Slept Well.]
[100% Of Health Points & Energy Points Have Been Restored.]
She blinked slowly and sat up, the panel maintaining a constant distance from her. She scratched a temple in confusion, and then reached out almost instinctively to press the arrow in the corner of the screen lightly. She withdrew said appendage quickly when the floating screen disappeared, only to be replaced by another.
[Base Memories Ready For Download]
[Download?] - [Yes] [No]
Impulsively the young girl reached out and poked the large [Yes].
She blinked.
Oh.
Wait, who was she again?
A tall, introverted girl who died on her 21st birthday?
A small, exuberant girl who just turned five?
Something else?
...
Then everything clicked - she was both. She was Lucia and the dead girl. She had grown up with a mother, a father, and a little sister. She was living with her grandfather. She wasn't that dead girl anymore. But she wasn't the girl-child she had been before she'd fallen asleep the night before either. She continued to ponder the contradictory thoughts for a long moment.
Then she shrugged and got out of bed.
It was too early for this.
...
She'd been a morning person yesterday, hadn't she?
Now she wanted to go kill the sun.
Huh.
This was seriously confusing.
As she quickly used the toilet and washed her hands, Lu continued to think on the consequences of what she had just rediscovered despite her earlier resolution to put it off until later. That in and of itself was rather confusing to her, as she had never taken much time to think things through before. In fact, thinking much on consequences as a whole was something she was rather unused to - in this life at least. When she'd been older - and wasn't that a mind trip all on its own - she had had a tendency to think almost too deeply things, which had now likely carried over.
So, back to the Gamer thing - she'd leave the potential consequences of everything that resulted from the memory download for later - what can she do with it? Well, the [Help Menu] had said something about a status screen...
She looked up into the mirror over the small sink and carefully said, "[Status]." Immediately, a new screen appeared before her.
[Status]
[Health Points: 300/300
Energy Points: 250/250
Level: 3
Experience Points: 42/80]
[STR: 4
DEX: 4
VIT: 4
INT: 7
WIS: 3
LUK: 8]
[Stat Points: 0
Money: 0]
Well, that intelligence score would explain why she was suddenly thinking so much. Quickly doing the math in her head, she concluded that the average stats for her level would be around a five. She could only assume that that luck score was pretty high as well if that was the case. And as a result she was a bit below average as far as physical skills went, though she was just a child now...again, mind trip. She was so small! She marveled at her tiny hands before shaking head to get her thoughts back on track.
Shaking the water off her now strangely small hands, the girl continued to think deeply. If the status screen worked then...maybe... She looked up again and dismissed the stat screen before saying, "[Skills]," hesitantly. Lu smiled as this resulted in another screen appearing. This one was a series of boxes that were empty for the most part, likely indicating a lack of skills. There were two windows that each had a colorful picture that seemed to represent each skill, with the name of the skill in a small title box under each window.
The first window had picture of a person concentrating hard with their palms pressed together and an aura of some kind surrounding them. Underneath the icon was the title of the skill - [The Gamer's Mind]. Curious, she poked at it, and a new window appeared over the first. This one lacked any images and just described the skill.
[The Gamer's Mind]
[Lvl. Max]
[This skill allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. This enables the user to have a constantly calm and peaceful state of mind. It also grants immunity to all psychological status effects.]
Quickly exiting the window, Lu considered this carefully. So, this was the reason she hadn't freaked out more about this whole insane situation then. She hadn't even realized it until that moment, but she was really dealing with this almost too well, especially considering the circumstances. Shaking her head to rid it of any other thoughts, Lu turned her attention back to the skill screen.
The second picture was of a flexing arm with a slight aura around it. The title of it was [The Gamer's Body]. Still curious, Lu prodded the icon. Once more a new window appeared.
[The Gamer's Body]
[Lvl. Max]
[This skill grants a body that allows the user to live the real world as if in a game.]
Lu raised an eyebrow at this, thinking back to when she woke up, and the screen that told that her health and energy points had been completely restored. Maybe this skill had something to do with that? She supposed that was a thought for later though.
There were no other skills listed, and she wondered if she would get more, and how. She pondered that for a long moment before turning her thoughts to her new ability again. Thinking back once more to all of the games she had played in her last life, Lu narrowed her eyes consideringly, biting her lip slightly as she did.
Then she looked forward again and said, "[Inventory]?" experimentally. She immediately smiled again as her intuition led her right, and a new screen appeared.
This one also had a section that seemed to simply be a bunch of empty windows. But next to it was a connecting screen that held a small replica of her current body surrounded by a series of boxes, which contained a picture of the pajamas she was wearing. Murmuring under her breath, the young girl looked at the second window thoughtfully. "If that's my [Inventory]," she muttered, narrowing her eyes at the series of empty boxes, "then this must be some kind of equipment screen, showing what I'm wearing or have equipped."
Returning back to her silent thoughtfulness, Lu wondered at this new facet of her power for a long moment before once more closing the windows. She then proceeded to quickly dry her still damp hands, and exited the bathroom.
"Luuu~chan! Come down and get your breakfast!"
[A Quest has been created.]
Lu raised an eyebrow at the screen that popped up in front of her and paused in her short trek down the small hallway of the second floor. She reached out and prodded the small arrow in the bottom corner of the panel. Another screen appeared in the place of the first in response.
[Easy Quest Alert]
[Gramps' Food: Choke it Down!]
[The Gamer's Grandfather wants her to come down for breakfast. Go and choke it down, no matter how awful his cooking is.
Completion Award:
Exp 25.
Gain Poison Resistance Skill.
Increased closeness with Grandfather.
Completion Failure:
Exp 10.
Grandfather's 'Fist of Love'.
Force Feeding.
Gain Poison Resistance Skill.]
[Yes] [No]
What, exactly, are they calling easy? Gramps was a horrible cook; she didn't even know why he still tried. Lu carefully weighed her options.
On the one hand, food, even if it does taste awful.
On the other, quite literally, 'The Fist of Love'. And force feeding. It wouldn't be the first time.
The girl sighed and reluctantly made her way down the stairs.
A little over a week later Lu had mostly gotten the hang of how the Gamer thing worked. Though she'd never admit it, at least half of this understanding came from her grandfather's utterly insane training. Having only raised a son before - her new father, who she'd never met, she knew - the man seemed entirely clueless as to what to do with a girl. As a result he just treated her the same way that he would a boy. Which was still utterly insane and stupid, but slightly more understandable as a result.
Now, she knew from the manga that Garp had 'trained' Luffy, but that he did so mostly by throwing him off cliffs and into dangerous forests filled with man-eating animals. She'd guessed that he had taken child rearing lessons from a lion or something in the past. It had been a bit horrifying, but mostly amusing in the manga when Luffy talked about it.
Being the one getting thrown off cliffs was an entirely different experience.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Wahahahahaha! Become stronger, Lu-chan!" The insane man called after her. "I'll be back in a week!"
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh - ooouufff!"
Her landing, slightly broken by a few small trees, completely winded her, and she rolled to a stop in a small clearing with a bounce.
[Congratulations!]
[Mastery of the Physical Endurance Skill has Increased.]
[+1.43% Exp.]
[Physical Endurance (Passive)
Increases the body's durability, and causes the user to take less damage from physical attacks.
Level: 1
Exp: 4.56%]
Lu glared up at the screen that floated a foot above her sprawled form. The [Physical Endurance] skill was the next one to have shown up after the [Poison Resistance] skill that eating Gramps' food had created. She'd accidentally fallen asleep in the middle of the day and Gramps had woken her with a 'Fist of Love' (aka, a weak punch. She had the ominous feeling that as she got older, the punches would only get stronger). It had been quickly followed by the [Run] skill and the [Climb] skill while she had been playing around later that day, indulging the side of herself that was still a five year old child.
It seemed that whenever she repeated an action enough times it was turned into a skill that she could then increase with further repetitions. She still found the [Physical Endurance] skill the most annoying though. The last thing she wanted to see after every time she got hurt was a window congratulating her on it.
She quickly dismissed the window and just laid there for a long moment, getting her breath back, before slowly rising to her feet and looking around warily. As she had seen from the air, all around her were thick, tall trees with plenty of limbs. Quickly examining the ones around her, she soon spotted one nearby that was noticeably lacking in nests of any kind.
Upon climbing it - [Congratulations!] [Mastery of the Climb Skill has Increased.] - and settling into a relatively safe crook of a tree branch, she turned her attention to another screen, one that had appeared while she was in midair.
[Minor Quest Alert]
[The Restless Forest: I Will Survive!]
[The Gamer's Grandfather has abandoned her in the Restless Forest for a week. He will return, but until then, she will have to survive on her own.
Completion Award:
Exp. 300.
Increased confidence in the Gamer from her Grandfather.
?
Completion Failure:
Death
Dismemberment
Injury]
[Yes] [No]
Once again, minor? That was a lot of experience for a so-called minor quest. What was in this forest to make just surviving a week here worth so much? The few quests that she had gotten before this always gave out a reward that was under a hundred experience points. But as there was certainly not much choice to be had, considering her circumstances, the girl pressed [Yes] and began to survey her location once more. After a moment another screen popped up with a near inaudible 'ding!'.
[A skill has been created through a special act.]
[Through continuous observation, a skill to find a target's information, 'Observe', has been created.]
[Observe (Passive + Active)
Obtained through continuous observation, it enables the user to find the target's information. The higher level the skill, the more data obtained.
Level: 1
Exp: 2.3%]
Lu blinked at the screen and then quickly waved it away.
Now, that was a much more interesting skill. The others would have been something that she would have used and developed naturally, but this was even more interesting. Now, to test it out...
She glanced around quickly, and soon her eyes fell on a small bird that had just settled on a branch across the clearing from her. "[Observe]," she whispered quietly.
Another glowing panel appeared in her line of sight right next to the bird.
[Blackbird Level 2]
[Health Points: 30
Energy Points: 40
A small black bird. Small and quick, it is good at dodging and running away.]
Huh, interesting.
Shaking off the thoughts of her new skill, she noticed that the sky was beginning to darken. She'd probably only have a few hours before night fell completely at the most. That meant that within the next few hours she would have to secure some kind of shelter nearby a fresh water source, find something to eat - she was already hungry - and settle in for the night before the nocturnal predators began their nightly prowl.
Right.
Fresh water first then.
It took her quite a while to find a place both safe enough and near enough the water of the small stream that she had eventually located to satisfy her. The tree she found was immensely large, but also clearly near death. The large, slightly rotted hole near the top of the trunk - that was just big enough to fit her small form with a little bit of extra room to spare - was likely to blame for a good part of its condition. But by the time she'd found her hideaway, it was nearly dark and she only had enough time to grab a rough armful of berries and race back to her new tree house before the first roar of some unidentified creature broke the silence of the twilight.
Curious about the limits of her new skill, Lucia turned her attention from the sound of the rather ferocious night life to the berries she had randomly collected. "Observe."
[Bluwise Berry - Rank: Average]
[A small blue berry. Slightly filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Slightly increases regeneration of HP when consumed.]
[Intered Berry - Rank: Average]
[A small red berry. Slightly filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Gives a slight boost to EP when consumed.]
[Blazius Berry - Rank: Average]
[A medium sized orange berry. Not very filling when eaten. Slightly poisonous to humans. Can potentially set mouths afire when consumed.]
[Playple Berry - Rank: Above Average]
[A large dark purple berry, easily confused with the black of blacurt berries. Quite filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Quickly regenerates EP when consumed.]
[Blacurt Berry - Rank: Above Average]
[A large black berry, easily confused with the dark purple of playple berries. Should never be eaten. Very poisonous to humans. Rapidly decreases HP when consumed.]
[Yeleal Berry - Rank: Above Average]
[A large yellow berry. Quite filling when eaten. Not poisonous to humans. Quickly regenerates HP when consumed.]
[Mastery of the Observe Skill has Increased]
[+1.2% Exp]
Lu sighed in relief and carefully picked out the black and orange berries before throwing them out of her tree. That could have ended badly if it weren't for her new power. So, observe could analyze both living and inanimate targets then. Good to know.
Quickly, the young girl stuffed the remaining berries down her throat. The mixed bag of flavors made it taste a bit odd, but as all the girl cared about was filling her rumbling tummy she didn't mind it at all. And upon finishing her small meal, the girl settled in for a long night.
Her second day in the [Restless Forest] began early in the morning, when she was woken by the sounds of early birds chirping away nearby. After hunting up some more berries, Lu decided that she needed something more meatlike to eat. This was followed by much splashing in the small river, a catch of two small fish three hours after she began, and the development of yet another new skill.
[A skill has been created through a special act.]
[Through continuous attempts, a skill to increase the chances of catching something from the water, 'Fishing', has been created.]
[+2.3 Exp.]
[Fishing (Passive)
Obtained through continuous attempts at fishing, it increases the possibility of catching something edible.
Level: 1
Exp: 2.98%]
She then proceeded to cook them (badly) over a small fire she managed to start by using the small amount of survival knowledge she had learned in her first life - earning her the skills [Pyro] and [Cooking] for starting fires and cooking food, respectively - before exploring her surroundings a bit further. She then followed her exploration with another supper of berries and night spent curled up in her tree.
Over the course of the next week, this small schedule was interrupted three different times by the attacks of wild animals that she somehow managed to fend off with with either the fire she'd managed to keep going and the occasional sloppy kick or punch. Said actions earned her the [Kick], [Punch], and [Power Strike] skills. The [Power Strike] skill had surprised her in a way that the former two hadn't before she looked over the description of the skill and found that it just amounted to adding a bit extra force to every strike when she used it.
The thing that she marked as most important though, was the level up that she had gotten a few days into the week as a result of all of the things that she had to do to survive.
[Level Up!]
[You've Gained 1 Level!]
When this happened, Lu, eager to see what had changed with the new level, quickly opened her [Status Window].
[Status]
[Health Points:350/350
Energy Points:300/300
Level: 4
Experience Points: 0/160]
[STR: 4
DEX: 4
VIT: 4
INT: 7
WIS: 3
LUK: 8]
[Stat Points: 10
Money: 0]
The girl blinked at the screen in surprise and then grinned. She hadn't been expecting that many skill points. Lu then cocked her head and stared more at the screen. Now, how to use them? One for each stat would probably be a good idea, but then she'd still have four left over. She considered it for a long moment before deciding.
[Status]
[Health Points: 350/350
Energy Points: 300/300
Level: 4
Experience Points: 0/160]
[STR: 6
DEX: 6
VIT: 6
INT: 8
WIS: 5
LUK: 9]
[Stat Points: 0
Money: 0]
She had decided to bring her Wisdom up another point to even out how low it had been before, and then added another on to each of the physical stats - Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality - in hopes that the increased toughness would make her better prepared to survive the rest of the week she would have to spend here in the forest.
Regardless of this spot of good fortune though, she was still very relieved when the morning of her last day in the forest arrived, and with it her obnoxious grandfather.
[Quest Completion Alert]
[The Restless Forest: I Will Survive!]
[The Gamer's Grandfather has abandoned her in the Restless Forest for a week. He will return, but until then, she will have to survive on her own.
Completion Award:
Exp. 300.
Increased confidence in the Gamer from her Grandfather.
Instant Dungeon Skill
Completion Failure:
Death
Dismemberment
Injury]
[+300 Exp.]
[Level Up!]
[You've Gained 1 Level!]
[A skill has been created through a special act.]
[Through surviving a dungeon area, the skill to create Instant Dungeons, 'ID Create', has been created.]
[ID Create (Active)
A skill used to create instant dungeons, as mastery rises stronger instant dungeons may be created.
Level: 1
Exp: 1.25%]
[Dungeon Dicovered! [The Restless Forest] is Now Available!]
[Dungeon Discovered! [The Training Field] is Now Available!]
While Lu was very excited to finally leave the forest, she was so exhausted by the ordeal that she ended up falling asleep on her grandfather's shoulder on the way home, ignoring all of screens that had popped up, and didn't wake again until well into the next day.
Her grandfather seemed to be giving her a lie in, and she gratefully took advantage of it to first sleep for a few more hours, and then take a look at her stats now that she had leveled again.
[Status]
[Health Points: 400/400
Energy Points: 350/350
Level: 5
Experience Points: 35/320]
[STR: 6
DEX: 6
VIT: 6
INT: 8
WIS: 5
LUK: 9]
[Stat Points: 10
Money: 0]
Ok, then she had reached level 5 and had ten more stat points to use...though maybe she should wait on that until she had a better idea of what she would need - which meant planning a few things out.
Lu glanced around her room and got up, headed towards the one place in the house that held paper, pens, and any and all things written down. Her grandfather's office. It was a tiny room, and perpetually messy, but because of Garp's position in the Marines he always had some kind of paperwork waiting for him to do in there. As you might guess, he was always behind with something.
Having spotted Garp downstairs, the girl easily managed to slip in and out of the small room on the corner of the second floor. Quickly tucking the stolen paper and pen down her shirt, the girl jogged out the back door with a quick wave goodbye to Garp on her way out. He didn't seem at all surprised to see her up and about so soon after her ordeal. Maybe the people of this world just generally recovered faster than in her old one?
Another thought for later, she supposed.
Lu and Garp lived together in a small two story house on the edge of Foosha Village, which was a small enough place that it only had one real street. The villagers just called that one street the 'Main', and it connected the small port of the tiny town to the road that lead deeper into Dawn Island before splitting off in different directions.
They had lived there all of Lu's life, and she quickly realized that if she decided to follow the direction that the story she knew would take, she would live here for another decade more.
After Lu left the house, she dashed down the Main towards the port. She loved being by the sea, and she had a special spot not far from the marina where she could watch the ships come in and out. It was a large tree, planted high on the cliff face to the right side of the port when facing the water. Lu considered it to be the perfect climbing tree, and it was in fact when climbing this tree that she earned herself the [Climb] skill a little over a week ago.
Retracing her steps up the small trail she had worn into the hillside over the past year since she had found the tree, Lu dashed towards it before taking a practiced jump up to grab a lower branch to haul herself up upon. After checking that she still had both pen and papers with her, the girl proceeded to climb the tree further, ignoring the small pop ups that alerted her to a further experience gain in her climbing abilities.
On reaching a wide, sturdy branch near the top that she knew could easily hold her weight, Lu turned to sit with her back to the trunk, facing the magnificent view that the short edge of the cliff afforded her of the ocean. It was just nearing the end of spring, and the temperature and weather were perfect for a day outside. She took a few moments to take in the sight and scent of the sea with a newfound appreciation for the sheer feeling of freedom it gave her, especially after being trapped in that forest for so long.
Now, first things first, she had one last thing to test about her powers that had slipped her mind over that frantic week in [The Restless Forest].
Removing the pen from her shirt, Lu looked up and said, "[Inventory]," quietly. The [Inventory] window appeared before her silently, and she examined the multitude of empty boxes a bit anxiously before carefully raising the pen to poke at the first box. Immediately the screen rippled around the end of the pen, and seemed to engulf it in thin air. She quickly withdrew the pen in shock at the sight before immediately becoming fascinated by the phenomenon.
"Is it some kind of pocket dimension?" She muttered to herself, poking at the screen some more. Remembering how Luffy reacted to anything strange or weird in the manga, she grinned to herself and said, "It's a mystery [Inventory]! So cooool!" Indulging in her inner - or rather, outer - child, Lu proceeded to place the pen in the [Inventory] and the withdraw it again immediately several times, just for kicks.
Still grinning, the girl eventually ceased playing around and turned to the second reason she'd brought pen and paper up here with her. Her face becoming more serious, she shifted so one leg was hung over each side of the tree limb and laid the small sheaf of papers down on the bark between them. She really would prefer a table or something, but this wasn't something she wanted anyone catching a glimpse of.
The writing was messy by consequence, but she still wrote down her list with only a small wrinkle of her nose in displeasure at the awkward penmanship. The first things she made a short hand list of were her memories of the timeline of the manga. What she could remember about what she read ended around the time of Ace's death, as she hadn't read much beyond the time skip before loosing track of the manga in favor of other things.
So, from the flashback arcs on...
Luffy and Shanks meet
Shanks loses his arm
Shanks gives Luffy his hat
Garp returns and takes Luffy to the M.B.
Meets Ace
Follows Ace and eventually meets Sabo
Bluejamb thing happens
They swear each other as brothers
Sabo's family shows up
Tenryubito comes
Fire set in the Grey Terminal
Sabo 'dies'
Ace and Luffy train to become stronger
Ace leaves on his journey
Luffy leaves on his journey
...
Steadily, Lu continued to write until she had filled three and a half pages with the main events between Shanks arrival and Ace's death at Marineford. Frowning at the words she'd just scribbled down, she decided that that would be one of the things she would change if she could. Ace would not die if she had anything to say about it.
Glancing through the rest of her list she tilted her head and wondered how in the world the original Luffy had managed to live through even half of this. Scowling - though it looked more like a pout on her tiny face - she made her resolve right then and there. The only way she, her future crew, and her future brother would survive the next few decades would be if she got stronger, strong enough to protect any of them from anything. And she'd start by pushing this gamer ability to its limits.
But first things first - she knew a possible future, but she had to protect that knowledge from everyone. She knew what could happen to those who claimed to be able to predict the future; they were either completely ignored, or completely exploited. She first quickly stuffed her list and the pen into her [Inventory] and then leaned back again against the tree trunk. How should she go about this? She had a few different options from what she could see, but the best solution may be to just combine all of them.
Option 1: She could act as oblivious and exuberant as the original Luffy, and mask any future slips with a mask of sheer dense-ness.
Option 2: She could make herself seem as intelligent as possible to pass any future knowledge off as pure deduction.
Option 3: Just pass things off as hunches.
Option 4: Anything else that she can't think of right now, but come up with later.
The simplest solutions were usually the best, with the added plus of being easier to remember. But how to combine density with insight? Well, with that one she'll probably just have to wing it and hope for the best. Jokes about being psychic occasionally could probably deflect any other attention, she hoped. Sighing, Lu banged her head back against the tree a couple of times. This was a really shaky plan. Hopefully it would work though.
Hopefully, because she couldn't think of anything better.