OUR RED-HAIRED ASSASSIN

East Blue Saga - Baratie Arc - Episode 19

DAKOTA'S POV:

Out in the waters near the last island, Luffy decides to celebrate. "To our new ship and new friends!" He cheers as we clash our mugs of alcohol together in our little circle.

"Cheers!" We all exclaim, smiling, but it soon sobers up as Zoro looks at me suspiciously.

"Who are you anyway?" He asks me, looking me dead in the eye, and the other two do the same as I just smile, gulping down my beer, then put my mug down and look at them, smirking.

"Why I'm-"

"-Luffy's Older Sister, Dakota." I beam as I smile at them, seeing the shock on their faces, but Luffy just laughs as my smile turns into a smirk. "My full name is Dakota Le Roux," I add, and they seem to see the difference in appearance and name. Man, were they slow?

"Yeah, Dakota's my Big Sister; we grew up together after her Dad and his crew came to visit my village," Luffy tells them, giggling as he smacks his thighs and laughs.

"Wait! Who is your Father?" Usopp asks her, looking at her bright red hair.

"Red-Haired Shanks, of course. Can't you tell from the awesome hair?" I jest, looking at him and seeing the shock on the other's faces as the information sinks in. Thinking about that, it was so long ago when my Dad and I visited Dawn Island and met Luffy.

BARATIE ARC

12 years ago, I was with my Father, Shanks, sailing the seas with him and his crew on my parent's ship, the Red Force, when Dad decided to go to the East Blue. He called it a holiday, but to me, every day felt like one, but "what the Captain wants, he gets", as Uncle Benn always tells me. I wasn't small at 10 years old, but that didn't mean my Dad wasn't overprotective of me ever since my Mother was murdered on our ship seven years ago. Dad was super overprotective, meaning guards outside my bedroom every night, and there always had to be someone with me if I was anywhere on the ship if I wasn't with my Dad. Even as he walked in front of me as we left the vessel, Dad would stop every ten seconds before glancing swiftly to his left and right. My Uncles and Aunts would just sigh in annoyance behind us as Dad did this, but once we got to the bottom of the dock, he used his cloak as a shield as he hugged me to his chest for, as Dad said, "protection from the unknown", but I knew he meant boys or enemies like Marines.

BARATIE ARC

We, as always, were inside a bar called PARTY'S BAR, and nearly a year later, we were still there enjoying ourselves. I had met Luffy, a whiny (at the time) 6 now a seven-year-old boy with jet black hair who stayed in the village and always hung out at the bar with the owner Makino. She was a beautiful green-haired woman who was a fantastic cook, and Dad seemed smitten with her, which I knew he felt guilty about because of me and Mum.

BARATIE ARC

One day, Luffy had been complaining again about coming out to sea with Dad and his crew and was talking about how tough he was, which was rubbish as he was a big old crybaby back then. Our family were all on the ship watching Luffy as he stood on the figurehead with a dagger in his hand while giving a declaration again. "Hey, Luffy! What are you trying to do?!" Dad asked him.

"I'm really serious!" Luffy shouted down at us as he raised the dagger into the air. "I'm so pissed! I'm gonna prove it to you!" But Dad wasn't taking it seriously like always and just laughed at him while the rest of us watched.

"Yeah, do it!" Dad encouraged him. Idiot. "I don't know what you're gonna do though!"

"Knowing Luffy, it'll be something childish!" I commented, smiling, knowing he'd get annoyed at what I'd said, but he just looked more determined and lowered the dagger to his face with it pointed at him. This made all of us dead silent, wondering what he would do next. He jabbed himself with the dagger on his left cheek right under his eye, making us all gasp in shock and him shout out in pain.

"You idiot! What are you doing!" Dad yelled at the now crying and injured young boy.

BARATIE ARC

After Luffy had calmed down, we took him back to the bar with Makino to clean the cut, and Luffy was his usual self again, sort of as if he was trying not to cry. "Cheers, guys!" My Uncles all toasted with drinks in their hands.

"To Luffy's guts and our great journey!" One of the crew members cheered as they all drank and ate.

"Cheers!" We all cheered along as the others tried to eat and drink. Dad and I sat at the bar, with Luffy sitting between us as we ate.

"Oh, it didn't hurt at all!" Luffy lied as tears were threatening to spill from his eyes.

"That's a lie. Don't do such a stupid thing." Dad scolded him.

"It's not a lie!" Luffy argued back, which was just stupid. "I'm not scared of getting hurt! " He pleaded again with my Dad, but it wouldn't work. "Take me on your next voyage! I wanna be a pirate too!"

"As if you could ever be a pirate!" Dad told him with a smile on his face. "It's a fatal flaw for a pirate to be an anchor!"

"I'll be okay as long as I don't fall out of the ship! Also, Dakota can't swim either, and she goes with you." Luffy argued, jumping off his stool and clenching his little fists.

"Yeah, but I'm the Captain's daughter, and he's too protective of me." I reasoned, looking over at him, thinking about someone else too.

"Yeah, well, I'm good at fighting too! I'm well trained, so my punches are like a pistol!" Luffy declared as he gave a punch, but Dad wasn't impressed.

"Pistols? Oh, really?" He asked with no enthusiasm as usual as he teased Luffy.

"What's that mean?!" Luffy yelled at him, offended by Dad again; they were always like that.

"Luffy!" My Uncles called out to him, gaining his attention as he looked at them approaching us.

"You're in such a bad mood!" Uncle Sean asked as he and some others joined and approached us.

"Have fun at whatever you're doing!" Yasopp exclaimed, too again drunk like the rest of the crew.

"Yes! Being a pirate is fun!" Uncle Roo added on.

"The sea is broad and vast!" Uncle Bee gleamed.

"We're travelling various islands!" As Uncle Duke said, then Uncle Sean kicked Uncle Teppei in the face.

"Above all, we're free!"

"Uncles, don't teach him such silly stuff", I scolded them as I stood before them, and they all bowed their heads to me.

"Sorry, Princess, but it's the truth. Right?" Uncle Roo sulked.

"Princess, why not take him on just one voyage?" Uncle Dai asked me.

"I think so too." Uncle Rayne agreed, making Luffy more excited, but Dad and I didn't have it.

"Then somebody trade places with him," Dad told them, not even looking at them, but that seemed to sober them all up a little.

"Okay, we're done talking. Let's drink." My Uncle gave in and walked off back to drinking from his barrel.

"Didn't you side with me!" Luffy snapped at them, getting angry, gritting his teeth together.

"In short, you're too much of a kid." Dad teased him, but I was only five years older than him as I was only 11, nearly 12 at the time. "I'll consider it when you're ten years older." That was how we decided when to leave the island ourselves, as Luffy was only seven then.

"Stupid Shanks! I'm not a kid!" Luffy snapped at him, growing frustrated with him. "I told you! I'm not a child!"

"Now, now. Don't get so mad. Have some juice!" Dad coaxed him, but it was too late to warn him about it as he rushed over, gleefully accepting the offer.

"Wow! Thanks!" He grabbed the drink taking large gulps of the orange liquid, making Dad turn around laughing.

"See, you are a kid!" Dad bellowed in laughter.

"That wasn't fair, Shanks!" Luffy barked back but gave up and walked off with his juice. "I'm tired now." He huffed near Uncle Benn and my stool.

"Luffy, you gotta try to understand how Boss feels." Uncle Benn advised him as he lit his cigarette.

"Firstmate!" Luffy gaped and looked up at him.

"There's no denying that he's the head of a pirate group. He knows how tough and dangerous being a pirate is more than anybody." Uncle Benn told him; I knew he was talking about my Mother, Anna and what happened to her. "Don't you see? It's not like he wants to break your spirit."

"No, I don't! Shanks is just making fun of me!" Luffy snorted in disbelief.

"Anchor!" Dad called out for Luffy.

"See!" Luffy turned around, pointing at Dad again.

"I guess you're having fun as usual," Makino commented as she looked at him, and he turned on his stool with his elbows propped on the bar.

"Yeah, I like teasing him." Dad agreed with a slight smirk.

"Luffy, do you wanna eat something too?" Makino asked him, turning to look at the small kid.

"Uh-huh! Put it on my treasure tab!" Luffy cheered, raced to the bar again, and hopped onto the barstool beside Dad and me.

"The treasure tab again? That's fraud, you know?" Dad told him as if he could talk.

"No, it's not! Once I become a pirate and find a treasure, I'll pay for it." Luffy argued, thinking pretty simply.

"I'm counting on it." Makino just laughed it off as she cleaned a glass, and Luffy laughed with her and began eating.

"Shanks," Luffy asked.

"What?" Dad answered while he and Luffy both ate.

"How much longer are you gonna stay in this village?" Luffy asked him while trying to eat the piece of meat.

"Let's see… We're gonna go on a couple of voyages then leave this village to head north." Dad answered him.

"A couple of voyages, huh?" Luffy seemed disappointed at that, and both Makino and I noticed but just smiled to encourage the small boy. "I'll practice swimming while you're here!" He changed his tune.

"That's good. Knock yourself out." Dad praised, but once he said this, the door to the bar got kicked in by somebody. I turned around to see the door lying on the floor, and the bar full of rowdy pirates was dead quiet. In the doorway were some rough-looking men, most likely bounty hunters or bandits.

"Pardon us. So these are 'pirates'. Look pretty damn dumb." The Leader insulted the crew, but they did nothing as the bandits walked over to the bar moving Dad out of the way. "We're mountain bandits. But we ain't here to tear up the place. Sell us some booze." He demanded from Makino.

"I'm sorry. I just ran out of alcohol." Makino apologises, but he doesn't seem to believe her and turns to look at the crew.

"These pirates seem to be drinking something… what is it water?" He questioned, pointing over his shoulder.

"No, what they're drinking is the last of it," Makino explained politely.

"My apologies. Looks like we drank the whole place !" Dad apologised as well. "You can have this if you'd like. It hasn't been opened yet." The only answer Dad got was that the bandit hit the bottle with his right hand, smashing it over him. There was a mix of reactions: Makino and Luffy were shocked, the bandit lackies were pleased, and the crew and I were passive.

"Hey, you bastard! Who do you think I am? One bottle ain't even enough for a bedtime drink!" The Leader scolded Dad looking down at him as Dad had alcohol dripping down him and soaked into his clothes and hat.

"The floors all wet!" Dad complained, being sort of selfless.

"Look at this." The Leader held up a wanted poster with his mug on with a measly 8 million bounty. Mine was just more than double, and I was only 11. "There's an eight million berry bounty on my head." He boasted, filling his ego. "I've killed 56 people. They were all impudent like you. So be careful hereafter. But since we're in the mountains and you're on the sea, I don't think we'll see each other again." Dad wasn't even paying him any mind as he got off his stool and picked up the pieces of broken glass.

"Sorry about that, Makino. Do you have a rag?" Dad asked her.

"Oh, I'll do that!" Makino told him, and the bandit leader got ignored, which didn't sit well with him as he grabbed the hilt of his sword and unleashed it, hitting the bar and making the plates of food fly off the bar onto Dad and the floor. Dad got knocked back slightly, and I jumped down, escaping the broken materials flying in the air, but one hit my cheek, giving me a small cut.

"Seems you like to clean. Then maybe you'll find this more fulfilling." The Leader jeered, looking down at Dad with a giant smirk hoping for a reaction. Everyone was on edge, waiting to see what Dad would do, but he did nothing, and the Leader gave up, put his sword away, and left the bar. "Later, wimps!" The bandits all laughed as they went, and Makino and I dashed over to Dad's sides to look him out.

"Captain, are you all right?" Makino asked him.

"Dad, you're not hurt, are you?" I asked him, looking him over.

"Oh, no problem at all." Dad declared and then began laughing, and the rest of the crew laughed with their captain. Dummies. I joined in laughing, knowing it was the best way, and I put my hand to my cut cheek to hide it from Dad, knowing his mood would change in a heartbeat.

"Talk about lame, Boss!" Uncle Roo laughed, holding his ample belly,

"He got you good!" Uncle Yasopp joined in jabbing at Dad; he took off his hat, still laughing.

"Why are you laughing?!" Luffy demanded to know, not getting the reason whatsoever. "That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them?! You're not men- or pirates- if you laugh after something like that!"

"I can understand how you feel, but he only spilt booze on me," Dad explained calmly as he put his hat back on. "It's nothing worth getting mad over." Luffy didn't seem to understand then and turned around, walking off. "Hey, wait, Luffy." Dad grabbed Luffy's arm, but Luffy continued walking off with his arm stretching out after him.

"I've had it! I don't wanna be a coward like you!" Luffy seethed, and it seemed to dawn on the both of them as they looked at Luffy's arm, and the crew all spit out their drinks.

"His arm stretches!" Dad exclaimed in shock.

"Don't tell me you…!" Uncle Dai exclaimed as all of them looked on in disbelief.

"What's going on?!" Luffy screamed out his eyes, almost shooting out of his head.

"It's gone." Uncle Roo announced, looking into the tiny treasure box where we'd kept the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit.

"What?!" The others all yelled, circling Uncle Roo.

"The Gum-Gum Fruit that we robbed from our enemy! Luffy, don't tell me you ate a fruit, like this!" Uncle Roo shrieked, holding up a picture of the said fruit.

"I-I did… it tasted so bad," Luffy answered honestly, nodding slightly.

"The Gum-Gum Fruit is a hidden treasure of the sea, known as a Devil Fruit. Eating it turns your body to rubber, and makes you lose the ability to swim for the rest of your life! Like Dakota!" Dad explained it was the same speech he had given me when I ate the Akuma-Akuma no Mi.

"Eh? No way!" Luffy wailed, his jaw hitting the ground and tears falling from his eyes.

"You dumbass!" Dad scolded him loudly as I shook my head in disappointment; I was gonna sell it and get a present for Dad's birthday next month.

"Wait! Dakota ate one too!" Luffy finally caught on, and Dad looked at me, seeing the small scar on my cheek.

"I ate the Akuma-Akuma no Mi, also known as the Devil Fruit, making me a Devil Girl," I told him, smiling.

"Yeah, Dakota is the littlest Devil you'll ever meet." Uncle Dai laughed, but not everyone was in the mood to agree.

"Hey!" I protested with a pout, making them laugh as Dad grabbed a cloth and held it to my cut cheek.

"Dakota?" Dad questions, staring at him, and I avoided his stare.

BARATIE ARC

A few days later, we went out to sea for a little voyage, and when we came back, no one greeted us at the port, so we got suspicious and went looking for the others to find Luffy getting bullied by the mountain bandits. The Leader held Luffy down with his foot on his head, and others circled the two with the Mayor and Makino facing them away from us. "No one came to greet us at the port…so I wondered why... they're the mountain bandits from before." Dad inquired, looking at them.

"Captain!" Makino exclaimed in relief as he walked between them.

"Luffy! I thought your punches were as strong as pistols?" Dad teased him a little.

"Shut up!" Luffy cursed, looking up at Dad from under the bandit's foot.

"So, you pirates are still here, huh?" The Leader addressed with a look of disgust on his face, and Dad walked towards them.

"You'd best leave before you get hurt," Dad warned them as he walked closer to them.

"Any closer and he'll shoot your head off, wimp." The Leader warned Dad as he continued to walk over to them.

"He said no closer! Don't make me blow your head off!" One of the lackies warned Dad and raised his pistol to the side of Dad's head.

"Now that you've drawn your pistol are you prepared to put your life on the line?" Dad recited, looking at the bandit.

"What the hell're you talkin' about?" The bandit asked Dad looking agitated.

"I'm saying those aren't for threatening people," Dad told him, pointing at the pistol as Uncle Roo sneaked to the bandit and shot him in the head; the bandit fell to the ground revealing the rest of the crew behind Dad.

"N-Now you've done it!" Another bandit exclaimed.

"These bastards fight dirty!"

"Dirty?" Yasopp questioned, looking at them bored with his arms crossed.

"Cut the crap. You think you're dealing with saints or something?" Uncle Benn asked them.

"You're looking at pirates!" Dad told them with no mercy in his voice.

"Shut up! You got nothing to do with this in the first place!" A bandit split into the discussion.

"Listen, bandits. Whether I'm splattered with alcohol or food, most of the time, I'll just laugh and forget about it. But…! No matter what the reason, anyone who hurts my friends or daughter has to pay!" Dad scowled with a dark look in his eyes.

"Shanks…" Looking up at Dad with disbelief, Luffy seemed shocked, but the Leader of the mountain bandits just laughed at him.

"Has to pay, huh?!" He jabbed at Dad. "Lousy pirates! Kill 'em, men!" He ordered his men, and they cheered, raising their swords before running towards us. Uncle walked forwards taking his pistol in hand.

"I'll handle this. Should be easy enough." Uncle Benn claimed and took his pistol out and took a drag of his cigarette.

"Come on! Come on!" A bandit yelled out as they ran over to him and went to strike, but Benn just moved out the way slightly and put his cigarette on his forehead. The bandit fell back onto the ground, yelling in pain, and Uncle Benn took the other bandits down.

"Don't get cocky, bandit." Uncle Benn warned him holding his pistol out towards him with one hand and with the other lighting his cigarette again. "If you want to fight us, then go drag a warship here or something." He provoked.

"So strong," Luffy muttered in amazement at the crew's strength.

"Unbelievable..." Makino marvelled at the sight before her.

"Hold on! The kid attacked us!" The Leader deflected, trying to run.

"You're a wanted man anyway," Dad added, but the Leader was too frightened and threw a smokescreen making it nearly impossible.

"A smokescreen!" Uncle Roo stated the obvious as the others shielded their eyes from the smoke.

"Come with me, brat!" We heard the leader order Luffy as they seemed to struggle with each other.

"Let go! Let go!" Luffy cried out, and then he went quiet, and the smoke cleared, just leaving the fallen bandit lackies on the ground in front of us.

"Luffy!" Dad started to panic. "Crap! I let my guard down! Luffy's gone! What do we do now, guys?!"

"Quit freakin' the hell out, Boss! It won't take us long to find him!" Uncle Roo tried calming my hysterical Father.

"I can't believe this guy…." Uncle Benn muttered to himself, but I still heard him; Dad had run off to find Luffy even faster after Makino had told us what Luffy had done to anger the mountain bandits.

BARATIE ARC

We all raced to the beach after hearing Luffy's scream and saw Dad and Luffy walking onto the beach; I ran over to Dad to see Luffy clutching onto Dad's shirt with tears flowing from his eyes. "I'm sorry, Dakota, I didn't mean to!" Luffy bawled, and then I noticed a red liquid dripping onto the sand and looked at my Dad's left arm; it was missing.

"Daddy, where's your arm!" I began to try clutching my Dad's long leg. "Daddy, don't die!" Since Mother died, I've never been very good with blood from people I care about and fear they would die. Dad calls it my Inner Demon.

"I'm not going to die Dakota. It was just a sea monster that was going to eat Luffy, is all." Dad told me, letting Luffy down, and picked me up with his only arm remaining as I clutched onto his shirt, tears falling down my cheeks rapidly at the thought of losing the only parent I had left as we walked back to the bar.

BARATIE ARC

We were about to set sail, leaving the small village for the Grand Line again and saying goodbye to Luffy for the final time. "Shanks, aren't you gonna come back?" Luffy asked him.

"No, it was a long stay, but now we part ways," Dad told him, not looking at the small boy.

"Yeah, I won't ask you to take me anymore." He said. "I've decided to become a pirate on my own now!"

"I wasn't gonna take you anyway!" Dad smirked, turning to look at Luffy. "You'll never be a pirate!" He teased him.

"I will be!" Luffy shouted at him in determination like always. "Someday, I'm gonna gather a crew every bit as good as yours, and I'm gonna find the greatest treasure in the world, and I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!" He declared with fierce determination.

"You're gonna surpass us, huh?" Dad hummed and took hold of his precious strawhat and took it off. "In that case.." He put it on Luffy's head, shocking us kids as I never thought I would see the day my Dad would let go of one of his most precious treasures. "...I'll leave this hat with you. It's dear to me like my daughter is to me." Luffy was crying heavily, and I went to leave with Dad, but he put his hand on my head, stopping me. "Dakota, you heard Luffy. He wants to surpass my crew and me. Help him and grow up as strong as your Mother." He was leaving me with Luffy without warning; tears flowed down my cheeks as I saw his eyes glass up and the rest of the crew.

"I promise, I'll look after Luffy and make sure he becomes the King of the Pirates and avenge Mummy!" I vowed then and there for everyone to hear. Dad looked shocked at me but knew he had no control over this and turned around, leaving me with a crybaby.

"Come bring it back to me someday! Once you've become a great pirate!" Dad ordered and turned around to give us one last look.

They all went aboard the ship I had called home for almost 12 years and began to set sail; I watched them holding onto Luffy's hand as we looked on the dock as he sailed away. "Don't worry Luffy I'll train you for however long to become the strongest pirates ever! So you'll become the King of the Pirates!" I proclaimed, and he sniffled a little more and looked up at me, smiling widely.

"Yeah!" He agreed, and over those years, I trained Luffy to become stronger, but I left when I turned 17 and began my little adventure. Oh, I lost track, sorry. Here's the rest of the conversation.

BARATIE ARC

"Your Father is Red-Haired Shanks!" Usopp exclaims, and he smiles at me. "Then you know my Dad?" He inquires, and I nod.

"Yep, Uncle Yasopp, the man who loves testing his shooting skills and drinking than when he's drunk he'd talk about you. Remember that time Luffy when you would grumble as he told you and he put a glass beer mug on your head!" I laugh, making the others laugh while Luffy pouts, not liking my little jab.

"So you were close to my Dad?" Usopp asks, as he must have caught the Uncle Yasopp part.

"Yeah, everyone on my Dad's crew is my Uncles and Aunts, especially his first mate, he's my Godfather," I tell them.

"Yeah, Benn Beckman's so serious, like all the time." Luffy laughs and falls back off the barrel onto the deck. "So, Dakota, what'd you do for the last five years?" He asks me, as I am that much older; we all agreed that when my younger Brothers or I turned 17, we would leave the island to begin our adventures.

"Getting assassination jobs and my bounty's gone up again," I tell them as I check my nails as if it were normal.

"WHAT?!" They exclaim in shock with their mouths agape. Even Luffy looks a little shocked at me.

"Well, once I left Dawn Island I set sail and just started doing odd jobs then I perfected my skills in the assassination business and well it's just carried on from there, and well my bounty went higher since I was 11. I think it's around 30 million now. So what about you Luffy what have you been up to?" I ask him, and he tells me about his adventures from when he set sail till now, how he met Zoro, Nami, and even Usopp. He always did know how to find adventure.

I sit with the others as we talk and notice the Swordsman Zoro looking at me from the corner of my eye. "I'm not here to kill any of you. You don't even meet my requirements either, and you don't have bounties yet. Besides, I promised Luffy I'd join his crew once he became a pirate." I tell him and smirk; he seems content with my answer and goes back to drinking his booze.

"How many have you killed?" The girl I now know as Nami asks me.

"Let me think... I think it's around 100 people, I think, but the right number is on my bounty." I answer, leaving out my book of names, and the look of shock is starting to get boring. "So, where are we going now?"

Hey, another Chapter out. Hope you like it; please let me know what you think of the new chapter anyway you want so let me know, and I will be doing the next chapter. DEADGIRLETERNAL OUT!