CHAPTER 1:

AWAKENING AND ARRIVAL

Wealth. Fame. Power. Gol D Roger, or rather, Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, attained this and everything else that world had to offer. Fittingly, his last words before he died, executed by the forces of the World Government at Roguetown, sent countless souls to the sea.

"You want my treasure? You can have it. I left everything I gathered in one place, even the One Piece. Now, you just have to search the entire world for it..."

These words lured so many to the seas of the world, especially the perilous Grand Line. All in pursuit of dreams they never dared imagine. Some for wealth, some for glory, some for power, and others for the sheer adventure of it. Yet it has been agreed that Roger's words sparked off tinder that led to the firestorm known as the Great Pirate Era.

Yet few knew that Roger had sparked off this blaze partly because he had learned something of the truth of this world, a truth the World Government would go to great lengths to conceal. While he went to his death with a great smile, you couldn't say the same thing about the inhabitants of Ohara. A scant few years after Roger died, Ohara and its Tree of Knowledge was consumed by flames and explosions, its citizenry demonised as being insurgents who had to be stopped, no matter what the cost.

In truth, it was sheer genocide. The destruction of Ohara wasn't in the interest of saving lives, but keeping the status quo in place. It was a demonstration of the Buster Call, an atrocity used in times when overwhelming force was needed, and any culpability by the Marines or the World Government was buried under lies and denials.

And the sole survivor of Ohara? A child of eight years, a girl who never knew her father, and only knew her mother's embrace, at least since infancy, in said mother's dying moments. A girl who was allowed to leave by the whims of two of the Vice-Admirals of the Marines.

For many years, she was forced to go on the run, learning that the kindness of strangers could conceal treachery, that self-reliance was needed. Harsh lessons for any child to learn, but she was a good student. Her innocence and childhood had died with her island, with her people. Dubbed the 'Demon Child', and falsely accused of destroying Marine ships, all she had were her clothes, her wits, and powers from a Devil Fruit.

For over a decade, she was on the run, forced to learn how to cheat, steal, and fight, all in order to survive in a world that wanted her dead for the sin of being born in the wrong place and time. Loneliness was her sole companion, for the few times she allowed herself to grow close to anyone or trust them, they repaid that with treachery. A harsh lesson to learn so young, but she was unfortunately too-familiar with loneliness even prior to Ohara's death.

But no person, save for the worst of monsters, is born to be alone. And the girl was not. In her dreams, she had a friend, a friend who never betrayed her. A boy from another world, a wizard who lived at a time when the Golden Age of Piracy had long ended, and the pirates who remained were cruel criminals shorn of any legend or mythologising. True, the friend was imaginary to her, a comforting dream, but his misadventures gave her some small hope.

But not enough. Not anywhere near enough. The girl became a woman, bitter, cynical, and ruthless. She would never have a normal life, or so she believed. All that was left for her, she believed, was her mission, mostly self-appointed, and yet spurred on by the memory of her murdered people. To seek out the mysterious Poneglyphs, decipher the secret history on them, and thus expose them to the world, out of spite against the World Government.

However, shortly before she was to meet one of the Warlords, one of seven powerful pirate leaders in the pay of the World Government, in an audacious plan to usurp the rulers of the country Alabaster, she was investigating ruins that, while they did not have the Poneglyphs she sought, still had writings in their strange alphabet. It was a mere whim, a mental roll of the dice, that had her go into those ruins. Yet by doing so, and then moving through a certain artifact, it diverted the course of her life, for better and for worse. After all, it sent her to a world where her supposed crimes did not exist, and where someone was waiting who would understand her, and warm her frozen heart…

"Wake up, Potter!"

Harry coughed and spluttered as the magically-conjured water sprayed in his face, before glaring into the offending party's eyes. "Chang," he hissed in anger.

The woman in question smiled coldly. His former crush and fellow Hogwarts alumnus was dressed in a rather severe suit. One would think it was unsuitable for the Egyptian desert, and one would be right, but Cooling Charms went a long way to mitigating the heat's impact. She was flanked by about ten people in rather anonymous battle-dress, mercenaries. They must have been the ones who abducted him.

He'd been on a Cursebreaker expedition to Egypt for Gringotts, one of his first trips after being taught under Bill and Fleur. It hadn't been his first run-in with Cho Chang's group of mercenary tomb-raiders, but he had gotten sloppy. Cocky.

And it was such a shame too. He'd been inspired to become a Cursebreaker because of his dreams. Or rather, who appeared in them. An imaginary friend, albeit one who persisted over the years, of all things. A girl, well, woman now, an archaeologist whose intelligence eclipsed many Ravenclaws', especially that of the bitch standing in front of him.

"Why the hostility, Potter? I should be the one angry at you, not the other way around."

Harry sneered, even as he realised he was on some sort of ornate carved throne of stone, bound there by rope. The room was dark, the air musty, but he got the impression of stone walls. "For what? Cedric's death was Voldemort's fault, and as for Marietta, her family and yours…that was Bellatrix Lestrange and her followers' fault, not mine."

Cho Chang backhanded him. "That bitch targeted us because of you. Whatever dark magic you used to get rid of Voldemort, it didn't get rid of the Death Eaters. They took us, they tortured us, and it was because of you!"

Harry scoffed, having had enough. "Oh, poor little me!" Harry retorted in a mocking tone. "I lost my parents, friends, and loved ones! I lost more than you did, and yet, I didn't turn into a sociopath leading a mercenary group doing tomb-raiding!"

"PMC, Potter, use the proper terminology," Cho sneered. "And I do not give a damn what you think. If your bitch of a mother did things properly, You Know Who would have been dead sooner. Then again, maybe things would have been better had you died. So many good people died when you lived, Potter. I'm going to fix that. It's time to send you to your godfather."

Harry scoffed again. Once, he had sympathy for what happened to Cho. Not so much Marietta, but she didn't deserve to be kidnapped by Bellatrix Lestrange and held hostage. None of them did.

And the reason for that? A long story. The short version was, inspired by his imaginary friend's interest in archaeology, Harry had explored the Chamber of Secrets. Whether Voldemort hadn't bothered to explore more, or he found the notes and books within not worth his time, who could say? But what Harry found was a minor goldmine, one that he didn't realise the full potential of until after Sirius' death.

Slytherin not only knew how to make Horcruxes, but he knew how to destroy them, thanks to a rival that possessed multiple Horcruxes. And when Harry thought about it, he realised that the Diary was one. It was sheer happenstance that Harry then found the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, and used the ritual with it.

It was then that Harry learned many hard truths. He was already angry towards Dumbledore, but to learn the old man had kept the true nature of what was in his scar from Harry…it killed off Harry's remaining respect for the headmaster. Dumbledore wasn't a truly evil man, but he'd kept secrets that had gotten people killed. And if the ritual hadn't worked, Harry could have been forced to die to erase the Horcrux in his scar.

Voldemort's sudden death from having his Horcruxes destroyed, as well as his last miniscule fragment of soul within his body, sent the Death Eaters into chaos. Many simply washed their hands of the matter, and went back to their lives as if nothing happened. Even a few of the Azkaban escapees did so. But Bellatrix Lestrange, along with her husband and brother-in-law, decided to repeat their history, kidnapping Ministry officials and their families, and tried to get information, as well as holding them hostage, demanding Harry Potter be handed over for execution.

Lo and behold, the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, told them to bugger off. Well, less vulgarly than that, obviously, but he was a former Head Auror, and while Harry had many issues with Scrimgeour, one could never deny his opposition to the Death Eaters. Unfortunately, by the time the Lestranges and their followers were dealt with, Cho was the only survivor. And thanks to mind games and generous application of the Cruciatus, Cho had come out changed, embittered, and firmly Harry's enemy.

Any sympathy Harry had for her had vanished when she blamed him for what happened, and tried to attack him and his friends. His one-time crush had become an implacable foe, and he despised her. Not as much as, say, Voldemort, or even Bellatrix Lestrange. But she had jumped pretty high on his shitlist.

In the darkness, to Harry's right, were a pair of strange objects. One was a massive cube, of stone, lined with carvings that looked vaguely familiar for some reason. However, the other was an archway that looked eerily familiar.

"The Veil of Death?" Harry whispered.

"You mean the one I heard rumours about from the Department of Mysteries? The one Sirius Black supposedly fell through?" Cho asked. "I'm not sure. Nor do I particularly care. It's this cube I'm more curious about. I can read the writing to a degree thanks to a Translation Charm, but even then, it's a little garbled. Anyway…"

Before she could continue, the archway suddenly spat out a slender figure, who stumbled, looking dazed, before collapsing. "…Who the hell is this?" one of the mercenaries demanded.

Cho, after a moment, frowned. "…Not the Veil of Death? But I thought…never mind. Your reprieve is short-lived, Harry Potter. Do you have anything to say?"

Harry didn't reply. However, someone did. A low, husky, pained voice hissed, "Ochenta Fleur."

Suddenly, the mercenaries sprouted arms and hands from various parts of their body. Harry turned to look at the woman lying on the ground, now getting to her feet, her arms and hands in a particular gesture, hands open…until she shut them, with a snarled, "Clutch!"

With sickening crunching and cracking noises, the various mercenaries had their backs and limbs broken. The extra limbs dissipated into flower petals that drifted away and disappeared. All of them screamed, most of them passed out from the pain, and at least one, judging by the stain on his trousers, had pissed himself.

Cho stared in horror, before she whirled, wand in hand. But another limb sprouted from her shoulder, and broke her arm, causing her to drop it. Cho screamed, before staring at the woman, who merely smirked back. Cho, after a moment, ran for the archway, and dived through it.

"And just to make sure…" the woman said, before plucking a jewel from part of the archway.

Harry stared at the woman. Not in horror at what she had done, as brutal as her attack was. No, it was more than that.

He recognised her.

She was tall and slender, dressed in jeans, cowboy boots, a similar hat, and a shirt that did little to hide her buxom figure. On her wrist was a small glass orb with what looked like a compass needle within it. She was also very beautiful, her skin a dark shade, though that could have been anything from being Middle-Eastern or Indian, to simply having a dark tan. Oddly enough, he thought for a moment she could be Egyptian. Dark hair framed beautiful if sardonic features, with sky blue eyes, and a long nose that nonetheless enhanced rather than detracted from her beauty. Put her in the costume of a female Pharaoh, and she could be Cleopatra reborn. She seemed to be about his age, in her mid-twenties.

And she was staring right back at him, in shock, in recognition, in sheer disbelief. For a moment, she seemed to be debating with herself, before she shook her head. Then, she took a knife from one of the mercenaries, and cut off Harry's ropes.

Harry looked at her, before standing. "Thanks."

She nodded mutely, before rubbing her forehead. "…Another dream? And yet…why does it feel…?" Her blue eyes flicked up to meet his own gaze. Eventually, she said, "Pinch me."

"…Pinch you?"

"On the hand, here," she said, proffering her left hand. "Hard enough to cause some pain at least. Please."

After a moment's hesitation, Harry did so, albeit reluctantly. Because if this woman really was who he thought she was…he didn't want to do anything to hurt her. But after a few seconds, she gasped, and hissed, "Okay, enough! Please!"

Harry obliged her by releasing her. "Sorry."

"No, I asked for you to do that. Because…I was worried that this was a dream. But…you're real. You're really real. I thought you were imaginary, and yet…"

"I could be saying the same thing about you," Harry said, before gently hugging her. They'd done the same thing before in dreams, and yet, it was their first time embracing in reality.

The woman froze briefly in his grasp, before relaxing. No, more than that. Not just one pair of arms embraced him, but a couple more did. Not like the arms sprouting on the mercenaries, but rather, a gentle, if tentative, embrace, of six arms to his two.

And then, her voice husky with emotion, she said, "It's good to finally meet you, Harry Potter."

"And it's good to finally meet you, Nico Robin…"

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

So, a post-Hogwarts Harry has met Nico Robin. And they have a soulbond.

Why did I bash Cho Chang? I needed someone to take Robin's place as Miss All-Sunday, and someone who was different to the norm of bashing targets. Marietta Edgecomb seems like an obvious target, but then, I decided on Cho. I mean, she loses her boyfriend, Harry, rather insensitively, gets frustrated with her mourning (something I'd forgotten about), and the stupid bitch stands up for Marietta. I'm not that fond of Cho, but this is the first time I have truly villainised her. Given Harry's work as a Gringotts Cursebreaker, I thought it apt to make her the Belloq to Harry's Indiana Jones.

Plus, although I made the decision to bash Cho before this version of the story, after hearing of what happens in the second season of Arcane, at the end of Act One…well, not to spoil too much, but maybe it's a proxy way of venting my frustrations about Caitlyn's actions and attitude. And Caitlyn is voiced by Cho's actor in the films, Katie Leung.

Also, the portal to the One Piece world looks like the Veil. Hmmm…and is that a Poneglyph?

No numbered annotations this time.