OPSR: Chapter 14 (Patreon)

I whistled as I rode my boat bicycle toward an island. It had been days of searching, but I finally found a deserted island in the range where the Silk fruit could be. Looking around, there was absolutely nothing but trees and animals. After only ten minutes of looking, I found the devil fruit still on the tree, so it had been there for years before Alvida found it.

It meant the devil fruits didn’t expire. I guess when they taste that bad, it doesn’t matter, just something to think about. It felt easy, too easy… But I was cheating, I knew where it would be from using logic, and now, if I get Kaya and Uchina on my ship, I can make Uchina pretty, maybe even drop a few inches of nose off her nose.

…

“Pirates last time, looks like Marines this time,” I muttered to myself as I pulled in near Garp's boat. I was still young enough that he would only ask if I wanted to join the Marines, and not force me to like in some of the other fanfics I read. Canon Garp would never force someone to become a Marine because he knows the endgame of the Marines. It’s all a dog and pony show, obfuscating the dark side of the Marines, the side that protected and enforced the will of the Celestial dragons.

The bar was close enough to the dock that I could hear the arguing going on from inside. Ace had already left to become a pirate; it had only been a few weeks, but he already had a bounty of 5.5 million. Not nearly as flashy as Luffy’s beginning bounty, but still respectable, especially for the East Blue. I heard a girl screaming.

“I’m going to be the pirate queen!” The voice sounded familiar, but different at the same time, and I made my way inside to see Garp looking side-eyed at Lucy. “What’s wrong with you, girl? You’ve never spoken about anything, and now you want to follow in the footsteps of one of the most infamous men on the planet?” The difference in how Garp handled his granddaughter was made obvious by a single sentence.

The biggest difference was that Garp didn’t hit her immediately, then talk, but instead talked first to try and understand her. Lucy spoke again. Whatever had happened in the months since I had been with her, she was a completely different person. She acted exactly like a female Luffy would now, the quiet girl who was friends with Uta and protected by Ace was gone.

“The pirate queen is the freest on the seas, it’s my dream the be the freest. How am I going to have a party with everyone in the entire world if I’m not the pirate queen?” Garp sat down before picking her up and putting her in his lap. His hand rubbed her back as he asked again. “Is that all? You can tell me if there is more.” The difference between Luffy and Lucy was made known again.

“I… I made a promise to someone and couldn’t keep it. That would never happen to the pirate queen. The pirate queen has to be the strongest so she can protect her friends.” Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes as I couldn’t help but clap. “Well spoken, Lucy.” The smile dropped off his face instantly as he finally noticed me. “Who are you, brat?”

“That’s Sanji, grandpa, he’s the one who brought me that flute you heard me playing when you first came in.” I could see him taking my measure in that instant, and I came up far too short for his liking. “Go ahead and practice your flute some more, Lucy. I got to talk to his br- boy outside real quick.” He moved faster than my eye could track as he dragged me out under one of his arms. He sat me down roughly before giving me a death glare and speaking in a low tone.

“Listen here, brat. I see the eyes you’re giving my granddaughter, and I don’t agree with it.” I couldn’t help but find the situation funny as I couldn’t help but ask. “Oh? Who, what would a person you’d agree could date your granddaughter look like?”

He actually scratched his chin as he thought about it. “Well, first off, he would have to be a Marine. That’s a given. Then extremely strong and talented, preferably rich, and in his thirties, because that’s the age she’d be when I allow her to start dating. You get it now, you little punk?”

He grabbed me and threw me hard into the air toward the sea. “Cool off and come back after you think things through.” I couldn’t help but scream as I flew into the air first, then began falling toward the sea hundreds of feet in the air. I was already beyond a normal human in strength, but at what point would that not matter? I might not die from the fall, but if I fell incorrectly, I could break something.

I had enough time to think about how I was going to land before I corrected myself mid-air and crossed my legs so they wouldn’t splay out in either direction. I was aiming to hit the water like a dart instead of slamming on the surface. While I was up in the air, I noticed a few things.  One, Uta was here; she was walking back to the bar with Makino while both had their hands full of groceries.

Next, there was another girl I didn’t recognize on the ship. It wasn’t Hina or Gion; Tashigi was still in Loguetown. Brown hair with a sword, I didn’t remember all the female Marines, but I didn’t recognize her at first sight. The final thing was the flames bursting out of the bar as Garp held his hands up to placate the person, getting blasted back in the process as Lucy came out… On fire.

Fuck, well, there goes the flame fruit. I’d rather have found it and given it to her to get brownie points, but now I didn’t have the chance. She’d never view anyone else as the captain with the way she thought, so now I had a choice. Did I join her crew, or give up on her? If I did give up on her, that would also mean giving up on Uta and Makino, both most likely going to join her for their adventure.

My brain started shifting around my future plans as I hit the water hard. Thankfully, my legs stayed together, and I didn’t feel any pain. I think the way the Marines were watching me as I fell, they were waiting to see if I needed help making it out of the water. That was at least good; they weren’t going to leave me to die if I broke my bones.

I swam back to shore as I felt lighter in the water. The extremely small shift in my body's structure from the Skypiean DNA made me slightly more buoyant in water. I couldn’t wait to get some fishman lineage factor and see how that improves my swimming abilities, at least until I eat a devil fruit… But at the same time, I wasn’t from this world.

Would a diving suit allow me to function in the water? Making a bubble helmet from the bubble tec from Sabaody should work. The bubbles didn’t function outside the archipelago, but that doesn’t apply to them if they’re underwater. Whitebeard pulled up on Marineford underwater, so as long as I waited to make the bubble underwater, it shouldn’t pop. It was something to think about for my future designs. 

Removing the negative side effects of Devil Fruits was a good way to deal with Devil Fruit users. If I could smash the boat we’re on and survive the water while they couldn’t, it would be an immediate winning hand to play in the future.