Haruka & The Great Pirate Era
Nami awoke with a strangled gasp, sweat pouring down her face. Immediately, she felt a reassuring presence next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Nightmare?" She heard her captain ask, concern evident in her voice.
"Yeah." Nami knew better than to lie to her.
"You know, I was a slave once too." Haruka offered. Nami whipped her head around to face her captain. Haruka NEVER spoke about her past.
"Really?" She asked. Haruka took Nami's hand and they opened the door to step outside into the cool night air. Robin was on watch, looking at them, but then opted to butt out, letting the eyes near Haruka and Nami's area disappear into a shower of petals.
"I gave myself up to keep two other people safe, and ended up going on a wild adventure to get out." Haruka smiled, looking out at the horizon. The sky glittered with stars, and the ocean reflected them beautifully.
"I got myself sold to the Shichibukai, Doflamingo, and found a friend in his so-called 'Younger brother', Law. He's another of the Eleven Supernovas now. We're sworn siblings now."
Haruka turned so that Nami could see her right arm. She pointed to the five tattoos on it and gestured to the fourth one. "That one's his mark."
"Ahh." Nami smiled. It seemed that she and her captain had more in common then she had thought at first.
"So, how'd you get out of slavery?" She asked.
"I faked my death, then flew from New World back to East Blue." Haruka smiled weakly. "It took about a year, and I was lucky enough to have stolen a Log Pose from some merchant ships."
"Eh? You flew all the way back? That's impossible!"
"Nami, we define impossible. Anyways, after I spent about two years flying from ship to ship, attempting to follow Log Poses,I made it to my father, Dragon. Stayed there until I turned seventeen, and then went out to sea. You know the rest."
"Ah. What was it like for you? Being a slave, I mean."
"I had to fight to stay alive."
"It makes my past seem easy in comparison, doesn't it?"
"No. I would much rather live as some sick show for a noble than be forced to go through what you had to for eight years. At least with me, I had hope that eventually I'd be able to get out of that situation." Haruka leaned heavily on the railings and then smiled her characteristic, carefree grin.
"You sure are strong for having to put up with all that!" Haruka laughed, and Nami smiled back.
"Thank you for Arlong Park. And for believing in me."
"We're nakama! There's no way I'd let you go!" Haruka laughed again. Nami smiled back and fingered her own tattoo.
"Our tattoos symbolize our family." Nami pointed out.
"Yep! Mine's all over the sea, though!" She grinned, and they both unconsciously touched their tattoos.
"Come on. Let's go back inside." Haruka suggested.
"Agreed."
***
A couple months ago..
"Shanks?" A certain pirate asked, looking at the feared Yonko dead in the eye.
"What is it, Mihawk? You come for a duel?" He laughed boisterously.
"Actually, I have some interesting news. From a certain rookie in East Blue." Mihawk was satisfied to see Shank's ears perk up slightly at the mention of the sea in which he had met the strange little girl he had told the other swordsman about so many times.
"What makes you think I care about that sea?"
"At the Baratie, I found a man named Roronoa Zoro. He had much potential, and maybe could be my successor given enough years of training."
"I don't care about some swordsman captain, Mihawk." Shanks grumbled irritably.
"He wasn't the captain. The captain was a girl named Roze D. Haruka."
"I still don't care, 'D' or not." 'Hawk-Eyes' still had no idea what was so special about the 'D' in some people's names.
"Well, she said some rather odd words to me. I think you'd be interested—"
"Get to the damn point already, Hawky!" Shanks was beginning to lose patience, but Hawk-eyes was having quite a bit of fun teasing him.
Mihawk held out a bounty poster. The girl in the poster had her back to the camera and a parasol leaning against her shoulder, covering the upper left portion of the picture. Her face was turned to the side, so one could see her profile, but the hood of her long cloak hid her eyes. It was still easy to see the mischievous smile gracing her features.
"She told me that you better expect that hat of yours back soon." Mihawk stated, then gave it to his rival as he made a one-armed grab for the poster.
"Luffy?" He whispered out, almost not daring to believe.
"Well, she WAS wearing a straw-hat when I saw her."
Shanks looked down at the name on the poster
WANTED
Dead or Alive
'Death Princess'
Roze D. Haruka
45,000,000 beri
"MEN! LUFFY'S ALIVE! LET'S THROW A PARTY!" Shanks yelled out, and the people around him immediately complained of a hangover.
"Dahahaha! It's a special occasion! Now I feel a little sorry for that Ace guy!"
Mihawk rolled his eyes.
***
2 years later…
Garp the Marine hero had seen a lot in his life. However, this was taking the cake. His own granddaughter, who went missing twelve years ago, was now standing in front of him, wearing a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of her head.
"Hi, Gramps." She uttered quietly.
Now, by no means was Garp a very emotional man. But his mask was cracking, as a tear began sliding down his face.
"Lu.. Luffy?"
"Who else?" She asked with a small smile. Suddenly, without warning, Garp's fist came crashing down on her head.
"DON'T EVER, EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" The vice admiral yelled.
"I'm not promising anything…" Haruka squeaked as her grandfather raised his hand threateningly.
"What happened to you, Luffy?"
"Lots of shit, some slavery, WAY too much flying, Revolutionaries, parrots, and then I started my own crew. That about sums it up."
"I want the full story. Now."
"We're gonna be here for a LONG time then…"
"WAIT, PIRATE? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU A PIRATE!
***
29 years ago…
The woman walked away quietly, glancing back at the room where she had just given away the entire transcript of the 'devil's music'. She then faced forward again, and continued to walk away.
Portgas D. Rouge hoped her friend, Crimson D. Rose, would be able to make good use of the music. At least it would be better than what the government would do with it.
After all, she was one of the best musicians on her island. And it didn't take a genius to figure out notes by ear. And if one gets a crap-load of history shoved on her, what is she supposed to do? Give it to the assassin lady, duh!
Alright, maybe she hadn't thought this through very well.
***
27 years later…
"So, you're setting off?" Sabo asked, well, more like yelling up to Haruka.
"Yeah! Kuma-san's sending me to East Blue!" Haruka yelled over to Sabo.
"Why take a boat when you could be thrown painfully across the oceans?" Sabo laughed.
"Eh, you get used to it after a while." Haruka shrugged. Sabo smiled again and waved goodbye.
"We'll see each other again, Haruka!"
"Definitely!"
Sabo grinned and left, and Haruka turned to Kuma, who was silent during the entire exchange.
"Where too?" He asked.
"Dawn Island in the Goa Kingdom, East Blue."
If Kuma had any surprise, he didn't show it. Well, it wasn't like he really showed any other emotions…
"Alright."
Haruka was sent flying off to her chosen destination. She closed her eyes and opted to let herself go to sleep. It was going to be a long three days.
When she finally woke up, on the ground in the forests of Mount Corbo, she stretched and sighed in happiness. "I'm back home." She grinned, then picked her way out of the woods, making her way to the coast. She glanced over at the shops, then shrugged and went up to Gyoru, the fishmonger.
"Sir, I got shipwrecked here. Do you have a fishing boat I can use to get off the island?" She asked, looking at the old man.
"Oh, dear, why not? We have one of those old things in the back, and you were going to sell it anyways!" His wife, Chiken put in. Gyoru shrugged.
"Fine, go ahead. I'll warn you though, there's a beast near here, called the Lord of the Coast."
"Eh, I've seen worse." Luffy or Haruka smiled, waving her hand dismissively.
"Ookay…" Gyoru said, motioning Haruka/Luffy around to where Chiken was pulling out an old fishing vessel.
"Thank you!" Haruka smiled, then pulled it out. "Put it on my treasure tab!"
And with that, Haruka, who may or may not be Luffy, began dragging the old ship over to the docks.
"Eh?" Gyoru asked in confusion. He could have sworn he remembered a little kid telling the local bartender the exact same thing…
Haruka closed her eyes and smiled peacefully as she set out, thinking to herself, I've been through so much, and now, I'm finally setting out to become a pirate!
And then the annoying Sea King decided to be annoying. And threaten Haruka's very existence.
Luffy/Haruka cracked an eye open and glared at the Sea King.
The Sea King decided that it like sleeping, and immediately flopped over, unconscious.
"That was easy." Haruka grinned.
***
4 years ago…
"I assume you do understand what the devil's music does." Dragon raised an eyebrow at the small girl in front of him who happened to be his daughter.
"It brings the devil's soul tree back." She stated simply
"And you know what the tree does?"
"Create more devil's fruits." She gave him a 'Duh' face.
"And?" Dragon pressed.
"That's it." Haruka/Luffy fiddled with the tattoo on her ankle, the one with the music of the devil printed on it forever.
"No." he stated simply.
"That's what mom told me."
"That's not all it does. I believe she forgot to mention that when it is revived, all devil fruit users lose the ability to use their powers for the next 24 hours."
"What? Do they need to eat their fruit again or something?" Luffy asked in surprise.
"They still retain their weaknesses. And afterwards, the power is once again restored to them. However, we need to use this information to our advantage. The government doesn't know about this part themselves. They just know that the tree is dangerous. So, if we create the tree, then launch an attack on the main sites of the government, we will have the advantage in knowing what is happening. They will not."
So that was the part of the devil's music in the Revolution.