It's been a week since she found out about Oden. Oriana had been training by herself impressing her crewmates in the process. She had already perfected her element powers, but she had to make sure that it stayed that way.
Whitebeard watched her from a distance proudly. He knew she would become one of the strongest people on board ever since she was a child. She had a cheerfulness that seemed to influence him and all the people around her.
It was a quality befitting of a commander, but he knew that she wasn't the leading type. No, scratch that, she could lead people but she liked the free life without responsibilities so much better. That's one of the reasons she hasn't taken over as the second division commander yet.
That, and the fact that she's very young and has to wait a few years as well as gain experience. Then she'll definitely refuse.
Oriana took a deep breath as she looked at the mast. She took a step back to gain the speed to climb it without her powers, "Trees were most certainly easier, especially with the branches and it wasn't that smooth.
She ran towards it but as soon as she jumped up, her shoes made her slip and she almost hit her head against the mast. Oriana took the shoes off and tried once more. This time it went much better, and she sat on the booms overlooking the ocean.
Everything was so beautiful as birds flew by her.
Oriana closed her eyes breathing in the fresh air when she felt something land next to her. She opened her eyes to see Marco, "Be careful not to fall down, yoi" he warned her, "You can be such a mother hen, commander, but don't worry I got the element on my side" she smiled.
She put up a hand in front of his face and shot a gentle wind at him, "See, it's alright" Marco raised an eyebrow before doing the same thing with his flames. Oriana took his hand with the blue and golden flames and stared at them.
It has been so long since she last saw them.
Marco smiled; she still had her childlike curiosity. He made the flames a bit bigger which only made her smile bright. "You are not a child anymore, little one" the commander had his typical grin on his face, "It's still very beautiful! Will you let me-" but she was interrupted by a bird placing a newspaper on her lap.
The teenager saw the face of a certain man and immediately forgot whatever she was doing. "Anything interesting?" Marco asked but Oriana didn't answer him, "What is it?" he leaned in to read the headlines.
His eyes widen in shock because the newspaper was announcing the rise of the fourth emperor: Chief of the Red-haired pirates - Red-haired Shanks.
Both Marco and Oriana sat there in disbelief. She tried to read the title again, but it was still the same. Once she overcame her shock she started laughing, "That's right, red-haired, rise to the top. It'll just make surpassing you and kicking your ass like old time so much more satisfying,"
That gave her so much more determination that she needed to grow stronger. Since he had the same rank as her father it meant that he was at least stronger than the commanders. If Oriana challenged him now, she would probably lose.
The last time she lost in a real fight was with the Roger pirates, Rayleigh, was it? Might be right. He said he beat her with willpower. What was it called again, "Hike, no, hake, no" it didn't sound right, "You mean haki?" Marco asked.
"Yes! Do you know about Hake?" she asked, "It's Haki, and it's a spiritual power that manifests physically and you can use that in attacks, yoi." He explained and Oriana wanted to learn as soon as possible especially since it meant she'll get stronger.
"Can you teach me, please?" she asked with her adorable green eyes that used to be his weakness when she was a child. "You don't have to use those eyes against me. Pops already told me to teach you. So, let's start tomorrow, yoi" he smirked.
-x-
The commander woke her up the next day at a very early time. He stood in front of a tired Oriana and started explaining, "There are 3 kinds of Haki. The first one is armament Haki. It's like an invisible armor you can protect yourself with and use for attacks too" He held his arm up and there was suddenly this layer of black on his hand and forearm.
Oriana just stared at it, 'It looks so smooth' she mumbled to herself. She came closer to him and extended her hand ready to feel it, but Marco pulled his arm away, "You can touch it when you learn it yourself" he smirked at her.
"I will! Now, tell me about the other two" she said pouting, "The next one is Observation Haki. It's sensing the presence of someone and being able to predict their next move, yoi". She knew this was the one she was going to love the most.
It was the key to doing so many fun things.
"That's so cool" she had star eyes. This Haki stuff was just getting better and better. Shay was even more determined to learn it and with the first two sounding so cool, she was sure the last one would be even better.
"The last one is the rarest. It's called the Conquers Haki, it's the power to dominate other people's willpower, but only one in a million has it. You can't learn it if you haven't awoken it, yet yoi" he explained,
"I don't know if you can learn the third one, yet, but we'll figure it out later" he assured her with his beautiful smile. Oriana nodded, "Great, the first step is for you to take a blindfold on while I throw things at you," he said in a serious voice.
"A-alright?" she wasn't really sure about it but used her bandana that was holding her hair as a blindfold. Oriana took a stand preparing herself for whatever Marco was going to do, "Ready when you are, commander!" As soon as she said that something hit her and before she could react something hit her again.
Then again and again, "Wait, Marco!" she was trying to concentrate but she was hit once again, "Give me a break!" Oriana almost screamed. "If you really want to learn that's how you do it," he said as he sighed.
Oriana didn't look convinced, "You know what; I'll put the blindfold on so you can throw things at me" Marco took the cloth off of her and put it on himself. She grinned fully ready to take advantage of this to get even with him.
The teenager took a couple of steps back preparing for an attack, "Fire punch from your right fist" the commander said low enough for her to hear, "What?" she stopped herself from attacking the exact way he said it.
"I told you with Haki you can predict your opponent's next move, yoi" he grinned, "See if you can predict this!" Oriana slid her foot up releasing a powerful wind, then a fire punch but Marco dodged every single one.
It was starting to annoy her, so she attacked with all of her elements without thinking. Still, somehow, he kept avoiding as if it was nothing. This time she took a deep breath and calmed herself down, "Okay, I won't complain anymore" she said defeated.
"I'm glad you finally understand, yoi"
-x-
The next couple of days has been a nightmare and it was only getting worse. Oriana was desperately trying to learn this haki stuff. She knew it wasn't going to be easy, but she most definitely thought she would get a hang of it by now.
It didn't help that Marco asked more people to throw things at her. According to him, it was supposed to get her senses used to multiple people attacking her at once because that was certainly going to happen.
While Oriana was somewhat dodging it, she stopped when something came flying toward the ship. She jumped up as she took off the blindfold and kicked the cannonball away from them, "Oh, that was close" she said.
She went over to the rail and saw three marine ships in the distance, "I'll take care of them!" she swung herself into the water, but she wasn't sinking instead she was standing on top of it. Oriana transformed since the marines haven't seen her normal form, but they would probably figure it out at some point.
Oriana surfed over to the warship before spinning some water around herself. Once she was closing the distance she released the water like a scythe, slashing the four ships in the middle. They split in two with each side falling apart.
She turned to her ship dramatically and gave them a thump up along with a wink.
When she got back to the ship, she heard her crew's cheers. The commanders were giving her proud approving nods along with others who probably had underestimated her especially since she was so young and a girl.
For the next upcoming weeks, Oriana got a pretty good hang of observation haki but she was told that it would get easier with every fight. She has been sparring with Marco almost every day and he would kick her butt every time.
It was annoying, but only motivated her, yet Oriana wasn't angry. Marco was her father's right-hand man, and it would be embarrassing for her crew if she could beat him. Marco had a special authority in the crew it didn't matter what position they had Marco's opinion mattered to them.
She had always admired him ever since she was a child, she had wanted to surpass him or rather she wanted to be strong enough to repay him for everything he did for her, which was mostly to save and comfort her.
He was also the first person she opened up to. He was like a big brother and was very protective of her. It was annoying at times but Oriana was eternally grateful.
Later that day they were getting closer to an island. Oriana was the first to get to the land in order to escape from the training. She ran into a bar to get something to eat and sat by the counter. The place was very loud and filled with mostly drunken men and women.
She ignored them as she impatiently waited for the food to come, but a man stood next to her, "You're cute why don't you come and drink with us" he could barely stand. Oriana didn't say anything hoping he got the hint which he didn't.
He kept talking as he put his hand on her shoulder, "If you want to keep that hand you better remove it, now!" she said not even bothering to look at him, "Oh come on. Don't be like that" he said close to her ear, and she felt like burping.
Oriana removed his hand from her before she punch him in the nose hopefully breaking it. "Oi, what do you think you are doing, girl?" a big man easily towing over her, "Beating up a creep. I thought it was obvious" she rolled her eyes and went back to her chair by the counter.
"You don't ignore us, brat!" he yelled, "Leave me alone, damn it!" she was getting tired of these idiots. A group along with their friends surrounded her as they tried to intimidate her, little did they know that they were in over their heads.
The teenager sighed as she stood on her feet, "What do you want?" she really didn't have time for this. "No one mess with us! We are the-" but before the big one could finish; she punched his face to the ground with no hesitation.
"Oi, he wasn't done!" someone's voice shook, "I don't care! All I wanted was for you to leave me alone!" she fired back before her eyes changed to her red ones. " Wait! We'll leave!" The men slowly backed away, but she came towards them instead, "It's too late. I'm going to use your corps to mop the floor!"
Oriana beat them all up and by the time she was done her food was ready. While she was eating them big one came to, "What happened?" he held his head confused but once he saw her, he got angry again, "You!" he came towards her.
She didn't waste any time and beat him up but this time he stayed conscience. When the other woke up Oriana gathered them all before forcing them towards the port where the Moby had just docked, "Wait, what are we doing here?" the same leader asked with his voice shaken.
"Oi, who are they, little one?" a familiar blond asked from the rail, "They are going to mop the deck for us," Oriana smiled innocently at him. "Okay, let them onboard" Marco just accepted it like that, and she forced them onboard, "Wait, you didn't say you were a part of Whitebeard pirates!"
Oriana just rolled her eyes, but once they entered the ship most of the crew started wondering why their youngest member brought back a group of men, "Treasure, who are they" her father voice asked as he stood behind them, "These scumbags refused to leave me alone, so I beat them up and I'm going to get them to lick the deck clean! Don't worry dad, I'm going throw them out right after!"
"Wait, do they have a bounty?" Whitebeard asked, which caught Oriana off guard, "I don't know, why?". Shortly after, a member of the crew came running out with wanted posters of the scums.
They were apparently worth 237 million in total, "I didn't think they'll place such a high price on these losers" she was almost impressed.
"Let's cash in their bounty and share the reward" the captain announced, "That's a great idea but we're wanted ourselves. How are we going to do that". That was a good question, "Don't worry, Oria. We have a middle-man for that" Jozu said as he walked over to them.
The group was feeling uncomfortable so they started asking for mops along with baskets of water to clean the deck, "I think your shirts would be much better mops, don't you think?" she smirked. They were about to protest but a newspaper landed between them.
Oriana smiled, "Dad! Look at this!" and the men looked even more scared because her face was on the front page with a bounty of 101.000.110 berries. "T-that c-can't be you!" the leader struggled, "Oh, are you sure?" she slowly changed to her other form.
She saw the color leave their faces when they realized she wasn't just any girl. They started doing whatever she wanted with no hesitation now that they knew she wasn't just a part of the strongest pirate crew but had a name for herself. Some of them even were ready to throw each other under.
The whitebeard pirates refused to listen to that, and knock them out until they were handed over.
When they got the reward, she got a big share of it while the rest was added to the supply bill, "What are you going to use your money for, treasure?" her father asked her, "Not sure, any idea dad?" she looked at him, "I would buy booze!" he laughed.
"Yeah, pops does like his booze" Vista commented, "Not too much of it, pops. Would you like something to eat, Oria?" Thatch smiled, "I don't know why you're acting so weird, but I'll never say no to food" she blinked at him.
The two went into the kitchen and as soon as the door closed the commander turned to her, "I don't know if you know this; Pops uses his share to support his home village, not on booze" Thatch explained, "Oh okay, do we have family there I haven't met yet?" dad would for sure tell her.
Right?
"No, none but they don't have enough money to ally themselves with the Government by paying the heavenly tribute and it has become a lawless island long ago. Pops protects the island now, but it wasn't always like that. Pops was one of many children that would be made orphans by bad people attacking the island, but that would always be his home. So, that's why he sends his share of money to them"
She didn't think her father could get any better and smiled while looking at her money. She was sure they would plunder other ships soon and could get clothes next time, "No, pops wouldn't accept that. We have tried so many times and he always refuses. It's yours use it for something you want" Thatch assured.
"Alright…" she wanted to help especially on her father's home island. The cook could see her struggle and he opened the fridge before giving her a big piece of meat, "This is one and only time" he said before smiling.
-x-
A few months later a familiar ship was seen in the distance. As they got closer a signal was sent to them indicating that they wanted no wars with them. When the two ships stood side by side a plank was sat between the two.
While all of this was happening, Oriana was sleeping peacefully in her room unaware that the captain of the other ship was there to see her. Her crewmates tried to wake her up a few times, but in the end, they just let her sleep.
At about noon Oriana started to wake up along with her stomach telling her to get something to eat. The teenage pirate didn't bother with anything and just went towards the gallery for some food. When she opened the door out to the deck the sun got in her eyes.
She used her hands to shield herself from the bright light. She had her eyes closed, walking and barely acknowledging the ones greeting her apart from the ones teasing her. Suddenly someone stood in her way.
With no energy to say anything she just went around the person, but he just stood in front of her again.
This continued a few times until Oriana finally snapped at looked at the man, "What do you want?" she still didn't see who this person was. "Nothing really, I just wanted to greet you," the man with a familiar voice said.
"Hi, good morning, whatever" Oriana went past him hopefully for the last time and into the gallery where she crash on one of the tables. After five minutes, Thach came with a big plate for her, and she slowly started to wake up as she ate, "Thank you, Thatchie!"
"You welcome. Did you see your guests?" the commander suddenly asked, "Hmm, guest for me?" she was confused, who was there to see her? "Yeah, didn't you see them on your way here?" he found this situation very funny.
"No… but there was a man who kept standing in my way and when I asked him what he wanted he told me that all he wanted was to greet me, stupid, don't you think? Like standing in my way to food only to say hi to me"
"Go and greet your guests Oria" Thatch sighed as she finished her food. Oriana didn't understand why this was so important to him, but the way he looked at her made her give in, "Fine, Thatchie, but only because you asked me" she said while getting up, and out to the deck.
Oriana started looking around for her guest but the was no one she didn't know. She went over to her father, "Dad" she started, "Yo, Oriana" someone said, and she turned to a certain red-haired, "Hi, Shanks!" she greeted and turned to her father again, "Dad, Thatchie told-"
"Shanks! What are you doing here?" she asked, "I'm here to visit you. I tried to talk to you earlier, but you were barely awake to actually see me, Dahahaha" he laughed, "Right, I'm not a morning person you see" she scratched her head a little embarrassed.
"I wasn't sure how long you would stay at Dawn Island but when I saw your new bounty poster, I had to make sure you really were back!" Shanks smiled, "Thanks for that. Now, how about a small battle!" she smiled back, "Oh, you're challenging me already? I'm glad to see you haven't changed," Shanks chuckled.
"I have changed, and I need to see the difference between us in terms of power!" she charged toward him as he calmly closed his eyes. When Oriana was close enough to touch him she felt a powerful force but instead of getting knocked out as he probably expected, "Seriously, conquers haki, Shanks?" she sighed.
"If you know what that is you're on the right track," Shanks replied, "It doesn't sound like you to praise people! I just want one clash!" Oriana said as she transformed and ran at the rival captain while he was returning to his ship.
When she was about to kick him in the jaw, he used his sword to block her, "You learned how to use armament" he grinned, "Not fully but enough!" she used more power but soon she was forced back and landed on his ship, "Not bad, Oriana. Not bad at all!"
"I'll get you next time!" she yelled as he went down the bridge between their ships.
"You have surely grown up this time," familiar faces from Shanks' crew said, "Yeah, how's it going, Ben, Yasopp, Roo, Monkey man, others I don't remember the names of" she smiled as she raised her hand to wave to them and some of them laughed.
"I'm satisfied for now," she walked towards her ship, "Wait, have a drink with us!" Shanks called.
Oriana raised an eyebrow, "You want me to drink something gross with you. No thanks" she couldn't believe it, "Wait, Oria-" Roo yelled but his captain stopped him, "Let her go, I guess she's still a child" the red-haired man grinned.
"I know what you are doing, red-haired, and it won't work!" she said and had every intention of holding her word, but the way he smirked at her pissed her off. So, a moment later Oriana found herself drinking whatever they gave her.
Oriana hesitated but drank a little bit, "Okay, not bad" she took a little more. Soon, she found herself drinking the whole thing, and she felt her normal judgment slowly decreasing, "I want more!" and the pirates happily cheered.
But before they could give her anything, "Oi, brats, what do you think you're doing?" a deep voice echoed in their hearts, "They're just giving me something to drink, dad!" the daughter laughed, "No, they're not" her father calmly said, "Just one more, dad!" but none dared to move.
"I didn't think you guys would be that boring" she pouted and took a bottle from in front of them, "Here, let me help you up there" Shanks took his arm around her as support, "I don't need your help" as she struggled to get up the bridge, "Clearly you do" he laughed.
"You drank a lot more than me, how come you're acting like your usual idiotic self?" Oriana tried so hard to figure out why, "Because, I've been drinking a lot longer than you" Shanks answered simply, "Will I get a hangover?" she had heard her crewmates saying something like that.
"I don't think you drank enough to get one, but maybe" the red-haired man smiled.
The two came up to the Moby Dick, and Shanks handed her over to Whitebeard, "See you soon, Oriana. It's good to have you back at sea" he held his hand on her head a few seconds before heading down again, "Bye, Shanks, that was fun!"
-x-
It's been 2 years since Oriana reunited with her father. She had mastered the Haki that used to give her such hard times. But like her crew always use to say, it'll get stronger every time you fight.
Oriana was having dinner with the whole crew out on the deck. Everyone was enjoying themselves while having fun and she had learned to drink sake with the others. She still had a low tolerance for it, but a few bottles wouldn't hurt, that much.
While Oriana was filling herself with food, she didn't notice that a news coo just delivered a newspaper to the captain. In fact, no one really noticed it until she found it laying on the floor a few hours later. The young pirate picked it up and started to read.
She almost screamed when she saw an older yet familiar face.
'You finally set sail, huh, Ace? I know it's the very top you seek so hurry up and get here already!' she couldn't help but smile at this amazing news.