The following day, a fairly small ship, flailing a black pirate flag, docked itself to Cleoma's border, and a large man with a waxy looking beard lumbered his way from the ship to the main town, where Harmony currently was taking her morning strolls. He smiled as she noticed him, and he simply waved. She waved back, but the royal guard scooted her forward. "Don't interact with outsiders. Never know who could be pirates." Harmony sighed. "How am I to make friends?" The pirate shrugged to himself, and started walking away, but noticed something above the town on the hill. A sea beast that wandered too close to a tide wacked its head into the islands side, causing a small quake that shook free some large boulders, heading right for the princess.
"Wax Shield!" From the pirates hands, a large flow of candle wax flowed forward, stopping in front of Harmony and launching up, stopping the boulder. He ran over, and quickly knocked the boulder away. "You alright kid?" She didn't answer. She just stared at him, her eyes sparkling. "How'd you do that?" He smiled, and answered. "Why simple. I ate a Devil Fruit." Harmony tilted her head. "Debil Truit?" He coughed, "T-That's not what I said-"
She excitedly bounced in place. "Hey mister, thank you." He chuckled, and shot her a thumbs up. "No problem for ol' Waxbeard~" She started bouncing. "Can I have a Devil Fruit?" He laughed. "I only had the one!" She sighed in disappointment. "Darn." He patted her back. "Yea, they are rare. Where's your guard guy?" She looked around. "Uh... I think he got scared and ran away." Waxbeard also looked around. "Huh. Everyone got scared from the quakin'." After a bit, Waxbeard helped Harmony back to the castle. He returned to town, making his way to the inn.
That night, Harmony snuck out at night, and found her way to the inn Waxbeard was staying at. The two were just chatting, mostly about- "Devil Fruits give you different powers?" Her eyes shined with pure excitement. "I could get aaaanything?~" Waxbeard merely chuckled. "Maybe, who knows? I only know of mine directly, every other one I only heard about." She laughed, putting her hands on her hips. "When I find a Devil Fruit, I'mma become a hero just like you!" This statement shocked Waxbeard. "Huh? I'm notta hero, I'mma pirate~." She had a smug smile on her face. "A hero pirate." He chuckled, then her face went to curious as she thought for a second. "Aren't... pirates bad tho..?" Waxbeard patted her head. "Not all of them kid. Those skallywags out there terrorizing villages and islands ain't true pirates." She looked up, "What do you mean true pirate?" His response was a big toothy grin, and four simple words. "A pirate is free."
A messenger barged into the throne room that afternoon. "L-Lord Giovanni! The royal ship-" The queen, and the entire crew aboard, were slain and robbed by pirates!" The king was outraged. "Those bastard pirates! I'll find them and they will pay!" A small storm began to brew above Cleomoria. At Waxbeard's ship, Harmony was pretending to pirate around, swinging lil' sticks she found that looked like a sword. But Waxbeard was focused on the sky. "This weather is out of nowhere... huh." He shrugged it off.