Notes: Wanted to do this for a while, but only decided to go through with it after I became fairly certain that the manga wouldn't disagree with it too much. Not that that's ever a huge concern for me, but it's nice when things line up.

Oden's Kids
A One Piece Fanfic by
Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)
Chapter 1: Otherworldy Guest

3

It could never be strange, to see Yamato in the company of the Kozuki heirs anymore. After everything Yamato had done for the Kozuki clan, it went unspoken: despite any blood relations, Yamato was counted as one of them now. There were even rumors of an eventual ceremony where Momonosuke would officially adopt Yamato into the family and, somewhat awkwardly by his own admission, declare Yamato his older brother. This would not impact the line of succession at all, and Yamato had stated more than once that being considered the youngest brother would be an even greater honor. Momonosuke felt that would only make things even more awkward, considering how Yamato already towered over he and Hiyori both. Hiyori was no help, she thought the whole situation was hilarious, and only said she would be happy to have Yamato join their family in any capacity.

And if he were being honest, Momonosuke already thought of Yamato as a supportive older brother, even if he would almost never say so out loud. He both hoped and suspected that Yamato already knew this, too.

But that night, as Yamato stood before the siblings, and actually bowed his head to the floor, and made the request, both of them were caught off guard by the sudden formality.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand, Yamato," Momonosuke finally said. "What exactly is it that you're asking of us?"

"I will need some time away," Yamato explained. "A few days, or longer, perhaps. It is time that I began my birthing battles."

Momonosuke could not help it, he gaped at Yamato openly, slack-jawed and stunned. This was the very same Yamato had that bathed with him and several others in the men's bath the previous night, and had done so for several nights before that. To say it was time for birthing battles, whatever those were... it almost sounded like Yamato intended to get pregnant. Which, while certainly not physically impossible, seemed at odds with everything Yamato had presented about himself. And yet, asking for clarification, when Yamato had provided none despite the siblings' obvious confusion, seemed rude.

Hiyori recovered before Momonosuke could ask further questions. "You won't be gone long, Yamato?" Like it was already decided.

"Hiyori!" Momonosuke cried in dismay. With no firm timeline, this could be disastorous.

"I hope not," Yamato answered, "but I can't be certain until I've actually started. And it may not be possible to send word back to you then. I can only give you my word that I will return to your side, no matter what."

Hiyori nodded. "That's good enough for us, then. But try to hurry back. We need our brother."

Yamato smiled as Hiyori moved forward and hugged him. "Thank you for understanding." He glanced at Momonosuke, who hadn't moved. "You do understand, don't you?"

Momonosuke finally blinked and remembered to breathe. "I... um, won't pretend I'm happy about you leaving us. But since you promised to come back, then yes, that is good enough for me." He truly did not understand, not at all, and wouldn't pretend he did. But he believed in Yamato, as much as, or more than, Hiyori did.

"Rest assured, Momonosuke. When I return, Wano will be even safer than it is now," Yamato promised.

2

Page One was far too familiar with the weight of his elder sister on his back. Between all the hugs and forced piggyback rides, it would have been impossible for him to forget it. But only now could he appreciate the difference.

When she wasn't yapping, or hitting him, or strangling him, Ulti actually wasn't all that heavy to him. Not at all, really. He almost enjoyed carrying her. If not for the why of it all.

Kaido was missing. The reality was that no one knew where he was. But the further reality, was that after a victory, Kaido had never been hard to find. So that he was now missing, likely meant he hadn't won.

Worse, Kaido wasn't the only high-ranked member of the Beast Pirates that had lost recently. In fact, nearly all of them had, if the reports could be relied on. And some of those spots had been up for grabs even when things had been proceeding as normal. That was the way of, not just the Beast Pirates, but of most major pirate crews of any real significance.

But with Kaido missing, everything was different and more uncertain. Even if Page One had known exactly who would take over the crew, it wouldn't have helped at all. No one had any special fondness for him, and definitely not for his sister. There had been times when he had considered, without Ulti's knowledge, currying favor with Black Maria, disastrous for him as that would have been no matter the answer. But Ulti would have seen it as a betrayal, and he could never hurt her that way, even if it would have saved them both.

And yet, if Page One had done nothing, if he had simply waited around to see if Kaido would turn up, or watched as someone else took over the Beast Pirates, that could have been even more dangerous. In the end, he did something foolish, and impulsive, and if Ulti had been able to stop him, she would have. But the fact that she was in no condition to make such choices was exactly what drove him to act. And the fact was that until they were both back at peak strength, they were not strong enough to remain among the Beast Pirates.

Page One knew this. And more importantly, he remembered.

Ulti had done the same thing for him. He could do no less for her.

And so, with no idea where he was going, or what he would do when he got there, Page One picked up Ulti, who was still feverish and hadn't strung together more than two coherent sentences in days, put her on his back, and ran. Maybe Ulti would blame him, or even hate him, once she could think clearly. But if she was still alive to do that, then he must have done something right. And no matter how furious she was, deep down, she would understand, with no explanation.

All he was doing was returning the favor from their youth. And if she had a problem with his devotion now, then maybe she shouldn't have given hers to him first.

1

They came. Just as Ben had promised they would.

They were beaten, and bloody, and bruised, but all of them were smiling, for some strange reason.

Luffy was thrilled to see her again. So was Brook, which she found especially odd. His defeat at her hands had not been quick or gentle, and perhaps his asking for an autographed pair of panties had riled her up from the start.

But they came, and sat, and drank. Ben and Uta were welcomed into their midst, as if the Straw Hat Pirates hadn't just lost an all-out battle to the Red Hair Pirates. Shanks had even encouraged them to try again, once they got stronger, and Luffy had promised that day would come sooner than Shanks expected.

But now was the time for merriment, apparently. And the next thing Uta knew, Brook had coaxed her into singing a lively rendition of "Binks' Sake" while he accompanied her on the piano.

They had not even gotten around to the real subject at hand, until Ben brought it up.

"Hey, Luffy. Uta's got her heart set on seeing Wano. Marco talked it up real big when we gave him a ride, and now it's all she talks about. Think you can help her out?"

It made no sense to her, how happy the Straw Hats were to have her aboard, even temporarily. Technically, she was a rival, and Ben had warned them that if they got too comfortable around her, she would use their weaknesses against them in the next battle. Luffy had laughed and said they were going to win next time, so it didn't matter. That didn't surprise her at all. Luffy had never been one to give up or let obstacles stop him, and now that he had that strange white form, he seemed even less bothered by potential roadblocks. But she didn't think the Devil Fruit had changed him. It had simply unlocked a state where Luffy could be as free as he'd always wanted. She knew he would be King of the Pirates one day. He would will that reality into existence. But only after Shanks was done being King.

Her first night aboard the Thousand Sunny, Sanji practically cooked everything he had on hand, determined to find something she liked. Uta was too flattered to tell him that she liked nearly everything he made, so he'd really gone to all the trouble for no good reason. But then, the way Luffy pigged out on anything she didn't eat, maybe that was reason enough.

Uta was having such a good time that she almost allowed herself to forget her own situation.

Then Chopper brought out a tray with two steaming cups of herbal tea, and presented it to her.

The first cup of tea was a stamina booster. Upon hearing that, Uta knew he had made it with her Devil Fruit in mind. She almost drank it without thinking.

Until he told her what was in the second cup of tea, and that for now, at least, the two couldn't be mixed safely.

They all watched, not saying a word, not trying to steer her in any direction, but unable to pretend they weren't terribly interested in her choice.

And Uta, with no real idea of why she did it at the time, drank the second cup of tea, meant to flush toxins from the system and promote celluar growth. Because of course Chopper could tell that the strain her powers put on her body would have major drawbacks. And while she had never eaten the mushrooms in front of him, perhaps he still recognized the symptoms.

Either way, he was offering her a choice: to continue performing at the peak of her power by potentially shortening her life as she had been, or to stick around a little longer and see what the world had to offer her. And it would have been in poor taste, to die on them before they granted her wish. Although Luffy claimed they had other business in Wano, and Uta had merely given them the excuse to finish it earlier. And Luffy was far too blunt to ever be any good at lying.

Several Straw Hats were willing to give up their beds for her (Sanji was perhaps too willing to share exactly half of his bed), but Uta refused. Luffy was the only one she would have even considered sleeping with, and in any case, she had other ideas.

None of them understood, when they found her curled up on the floor of the helm the next morning. Nor did they understand why she'd written "I'm sorry" on the back of the figurehead in red marker. When asked, she would only say she was worried that Sunny wouldn't like her much. This assumption was immediately shouted down, but Uta never seemed certain. Not until Luffy told her pointedly, "Sunny likes anyone that's here, because no one is here unless we like them." It made sense, but Uta still insisted on sleeping in the same spot, although nearly every blanket on the ship was donated for her use, over her protests.

They were so nice. She could never tell them.

If they knew, she suspected that they would refuse to blame her. And she needed someone to, even if it was only herself.

But Sunny knew. Ships had long memories, and shared memories with each other. So Merry knew, too.

They knew that Uta hadn't done anything to Sunny, in this world. But that was not true in another world. A world she carried memories of, thanks to the monster sealed inside of her. They weren't afraid of it, though. They were wary of her. Because she had the power to do it again, if she wanted.

All that she really wanted was their forgiveness. So she gave them a gift that she alone could give. And it was enough.

From then on, Uta's every dream aboard the Sunny was peaceful, and featured a tiny lion and sheep, happily chasing each other through any locale she came up with.

Continued in Chapter 2: Spare Princess

Vivi thought Robin would be the most awkward relationship she had among the Straw Hats, but instead, it's with Uta. Yamato's quest begins, with some unexpected help.

Endnotes:

This was born from a very simple idea: why would Yamato care enough to comment on Ulti's relationship with Page One? It only then occurred to me that they're fairly close in age, technically all three are Kaido's kids, and while they probably don't spend much time together, it makes sense that Yamato would use Ulti and Page One as a basis for comparison for how poorly Kaido treats Yamato. And since Ulti openly badmouths her superiors, and nobody put her in chains... I can see how Yamato might take that personally. But is mature enough not to hold that against Ulti, which was not what I expected.

I'm going with the assumption that while Uta is canon, the movie is not. Which works out great since Tot Musica can breach dimensions. And since we haven't seen Uta much in the manga, her training on Elegia for most of that time also fits. Though, everyone already being dead would mean limited victims if Tot Musica did escape, or if there was a need for any training that involved it. So... I won't say EVERYTHING in the movie didn't happen, because without that Uta has no history. But the movie being firmly in another world that Uta is able to view works for me.