In the heart of a dense forest, sunlight pierced through small gaps created by leaves of towering trees. As time went by, the bits of sunlight that managed to appear through the foliage began to disappear… night was fast approaching. In the middle of it all was a young girl. Her tear-streaked face was illuminated by the remaining light.
Her hair disheveled and hanging in loose curls that cascaded down to her shoulders, her scratches and bruises revealed her desperate yet futile attempts to find her way back home. She sobbed and hugged her knees to her chest tightly.
A little further out, a young boy was out adventuring. His confident smile and countless bandages showed his experience in forest venturing. The winding trail he walked on seemed worn out, as if it was travelled many times before. The boy's smile only grew as he heard birds chirp and sing to each other. When he reached a small clearing, sobs reached the boy's ears. Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed the sound.
As soon as he realized what the sound was, concern grew on the boy's face. He began to search for the origin, and eventually he found it. The young girl from before had moved to a little crevice in a tree, protected by its sturdy exterior. She had not noticed the boy's presence. He called out to her.
"Are you ok?"
Startled, the girl raised her head and her eyes widened at the sight. The boy had dark hair that separated in the middle, framing both sides of his face like curtains. A bandage was adorned on his right cheek. He wore a simple white singlet with some brown pants.
Feeling uncomfortable by the silence, the boy extended his hand out for the girl. Startled by the sudden gesture, the girl continued to be apprehensive.
"You must be lost, come with me." The boy reassured her causing the girl to reach out unconsciously. Hand in hand, the boy started to guide her out.
"You have to be careful; these woods are big, large and huge!" The boy spoke. His redundant use of adjectives went unnoticed by him, yet also unknowingly making the girl giggle.
"What's your name?"
"…Alice."
"Mine's Kyran! Nice ta meet ya Alice!"
As they navigated the twisted forest path, the boy spoke animatedly, asking questions and sharing tales of his own. The girl only responded curtly and whenever there was a gap in the conversation. Before long, they had made it out.
"I just moved to this place! My mom and dad left and said that they'll come back to pick me up when it's safe!"
She sniffled, unsure of what to say.
"I'm sure they'll come back to me; they always have. If not, I'll go look for them! What about you? Do you have parents?"
"My mom is here."
"Really? Cool! Is she cool?"
"…Really cool."
A place of fear and anxiety no more, the forest had become a background for an unfolding story. Little did they know, what transpired would be the start of something grand.
Months later, Alice had grown. Her hair was longer. Bangs covered her forehead, accompanied by two inward curls that framed her face. Far from the cry-baby that was lost in the woods, Alice was nose deep in a book resting against a tree atop of a hill. Down below the hill was her village where she and her mother lived, as well as all the other villagers.
Suddenly, a couple of kids came towards her lone figure, interrupting her inner monologue. Alice decided to ignore them, but that proved to be impossible since the mischievous grins adorned on their faces hinted at their intentions.
"Alice and Kyran!" The kids had begun to chat in unison, but before they could finish, Alice had realised their intentions and cut them off.
"Stop! Don't say anymore!" She shouted, her unease apparent with her increased volume and tone. She got up to continue but was interrupted yet again.
"You dumblings!"
The troublemakers paused at the new arrival, unsure of how to respond. Kyran jumped down from the tree, a frown developed on his face at the sight.
"You guys, again!"
Dumbfounded at the sudden exclamation, all the kids deadpanned at Kyran.
Alice watched in disbelief as Kyran started chasing the kids around.
"It's Kyran, run!" A kid laughed.
"Run!" Another kid followed.
"Yeah, you better run!"
Their increased distance from Alice and the hill made their voices too far away to understand. This distance though made her feel safe enough to chuckle at Kyran's antics. It was hard to believe that such a lively person lived in the same village as she, and yet she had never met him.
It was only a few months ago when they had their fated encounter, but it was clear to her what sort of person he was. He was her saviour, but more importantly, he was her friend…
"Alice…!" Kyran dredged himself up the hill, before collapsing at her feet, "For some brats they sure can run…"
"Kyran…"
Years later, the duo had become inseparable. Everything they did, they did together. Studying, basic chores and even the occasional reading… the latter being only when Kyran had nothing to do.
Alice's interest in books had only grown since she was younger. Both had outgrown their old clothes and began to wear new ones. Alice wore a simple white dress-like gown that opens like a flower near the bottom. Kyran wore black cargo shorts with a darkish blue vest that finished with a small white fur collar.
"Alice~! I'm thirsty… have you got anything to drink?"
She sighed. Kyran's spontaneous nature along with his habit of act first, think later, Alice could confidently say that she was the brains of their friendship.
In accordance with her younger age, Alice followed Kyran around like a lost puppy. She shuddered at the mere thought. This had caused her to get roped into all the trouble Kyran got himself into on regular basis. It turns out the reason Alice had never regularly seen him in the village was due to his recklessness and tendency to get grounded.
"Alice~~~!"
"You should have brought some water."
"I'll have to trek all the way home and back, I don't want to do that."
"Then drink your spit."
"That doesn't work."
She sighed again. Kyran did have a knack for sports and physical activity, but she guessed it was more instinctive than actual thought.
…However, she could not deny that it gave her some comfort that he relied on her so. Not that she would ever say this to him.
Minutes past and silence. Normally she would relish these moments but with each second his voice did not call out; she grew increasingly worried for her troublesome friend. Her gaze naturally found its way up to his resting spot.
"Kyran?"
"Alice, take a look at this fruit I found!" A thud sounded out in front of her, and she snapped her head towards it. Kyran held out a singular fruit, on it was a design of two axis with an arrow that went upwards diagonally around the whole fruit, like some sort of graph.
"Where did you find that?" She asked confused, calmed from the momentary shock.
The fruit's visage seemed familiar to her, she was sure she had seen it before but could not recall. It was too unique for her not to remember, yet normal enough for it to evade her memory.
"We should take it to mom." She knew better than to mess around with something they didn't know about, especially if it looked as peculiar as this fruit did.
"Are you kidding me? Rachel will take it away and I won't get to eat it!" Kyran whined. She rolled her eyes at his exasperation.
"Kyran, we don't know what it is, and we can't afford to guess whether it's a normal fruit or something poisonous. It could also be a devil fruit… We should take the time to study it and then decide if it's safe to…" Alice paused and open her eyes. Kyran had ate the fruit.
Another year passed. Turns out Kyran had ate a devil fruit. It was unclear the specifics, but it could be one of two fruits.
They had visited the local doctor, her mother Rachel, to make sure Kyran wouldn't keel over from poison or something worse. Rachel's hair was reminiscent of Alice's, long and reached her lower back. She dressed in a green turtleneck sweater with a lab coat. Some beige pants completed the look.
"Alice, Kyran. What do I owe the pleasure? Did you scrape yourself again?" Rachel paused, looking up from her book. "I told you to watch out, you guys are still growing and it's best for you guys to be careful." Rachel placed her book to the side and went on to collect a first aid kit.
"Mom, he ate a weird fruit."
Rachel stopped in her tracks and blinked.
"Eh?"
The first fruit was a fruit that allowed the user to raise the strength of others through touch, it could prove useful, considering the main source of meat the village has is from hunting. The second one was a fruit that allowed the user to stockpile energy to augment the user's physical strength, with the drawback that the body had to be able to withstand it, if not, it'd explode.
"Ow!" Kyran cried out. "Why?!"
"You stupid idiot! Why would you eat it?!" Rachel fist reeled back after a solid punch to Kyran's head.
"I was hungry…"
Rachel sighed, "What will I do with you child? Alice, go fetch me my tools."
"Sure."
Rachel checked for any signs of abnormality yet could find nothing wrong.
"So, he's fine?" Alice said, unsure of what to think.
"He's fine, just got some weird powerup or something." Rachel stood up and walked to put her things away. Kyran soothed the bump on his scalp and muttered under his breath.
"…what a brute."
"Huh?!"
"Nothing ma'am."
After the mishap that was the fruit incident, there was no further problems. In the meantime, Kyran had tried his hardest to find out what his power was.
"Throw it at me!" He shouted.
Alice threw a ball at Kyran. Her face she smirked amused as Kyran threw another punch.
"I thought devil fruits were easy to use?!"
"They are, in the right hands. Maybe you're doing it wrong." She suggested.
Kyran frowned, what could he be doing wrong? Why couldn't he activate his devil fruit?
"Alright, let's end it here. You're not getting anywhere, and we have chores to do," Alice started to walk away as she said this, "Oh yeah, we have to draw water from the well for Mom."
Kyran sighed as he imagined himself drawing water from the well, a mundane task he was used to doing. He repeated the monotone steps in his head. Crank the handle, look at the bucket full of sloshing water rise. Crank the handle more, watch as the water bucket reaches the top. Grab the bucket. Watch it glow.
…Did it always glow like that?
BOOM!
Kyran's body folded like a blanket and shot off into a building like a rocket. He was instantaneously rendered unconscious and in a pool of his own blood. Alice barely had any time to react.
"Kyran…? KYRAN!"
The Stock-Stock fruit was what it was called. The fruit had caused him to lose a lot of blood. It took everything in Rachel's power to keep him alive. Many of the other villagers helped and left their prays.
Kyran mumbled in his sleep, finally stirring from his unconscious state. He looked down at his chest, bandages. His arms were wrapped too. It seemed not a single part of his body managed to come out unscathed. He raised himself into a seated position and he noticed a spot of blond hair resting on the side of his bed.
"She was by your side the whole time you know." Rachel was seated away from Kyran, steam rose from her mug as she drank from it before she put it down on her desk.
Kyran looked at the mop of hair that was Alice. He stared at her peaceful face and noticed a few wet spots where her tears presumably dropped.
"Hey little man, you feeling okay?" Rachel faced him with concern.
"What happened?" He looked at Rachel, confused.
"I was hoping you could tell me, the others carried you into my clinic after you blew through one of the hunter's houses. You were a bloody mess- no pun intended," she paused, "And my baby girl was crying her eyes out."
"I don't remember much," Kyran grimaced, "I was imagining drawing water from the well, and then nothing."
"Well, at least we know what devil fruit you ate," Rachel tossed a scrunched-up piece of paper to Kyran, who caught it easily. "That has all the notes I could scrounge up about it. Study and make sure this don't happen again."
Kyran reads the piece of paper after he uncrunched it.
'Stock-Stock Fruit: Allows the user to stock up energy and increases the user's physical strength to greater heights. The only limit is the user's body, if not strong enough, the energy will want to escape, causing the body to explode.'
"You'll be cleared to walk after a week. You've got a strong will boy. I don't know how you managed to survive a point-blank explosion, let alone one made by you. I don't want this happening again, okay?"
Kyran nods in response and continues to read the note, he doesn't notice Rachel stand up and place a hand on his head.
"I honestly don't want you to use it again, but knowing you, you'll ignore me. Just promise me you won't be reckless, you're like a son to me. Do you know how hard it is to see one of your children come in all bloodied with the other is bawling and can't even form a coherent sentence?" Rachel stated with a stern face.
"You're right. I'm sorry."
"I'm not the one you need to apologise to, but I accept it. Now let me leave you two alone. I trust you'll know what to say." Rachel winks before she exits the clinic.
As if on cue, Alice starts to stir. She rubs her eyes to remove the last amount of drowsiness out of her system. She noticed something changed and started to look around before she focused on Kyran.
She blinked once.
"Hey…" Kyran started.
She blinked twice.
"I…"
Alice hugged him as fast as a bolt of lightning. She began to wail. Suddenly being reminded of the old days, Kyran instinctively hugged her back.
"You idiot! I hate you! You're the worst!"
As she laid insult after insult into Kyran, he couldn't say anything in response. After she was satisfied, they hugged in silence. Alice nestled into Kyran like a newborn baby.
"Never do that again."
"I won't."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
"Good."