Chapter Text
I watched as the Don pushed my friend onto a smaller boat to be a decoy. The Don and most of the crew don’t care about me, don’t even know I exist. There were very few individuals that were still on the ship that know about my existence. I have kept my existence hidden from the captain since I first appeared on the ship. I knew the kind of man he was and that he cared for nothing but his own gain. Ghin had been the first person to see me and his first reaction had been to hide me, to keep me from the Don’s sight.
Mama had warned me of the cruel pirates that commonly sailed the seas. Mama said I was lucky because Papa wasn’t fae. So as long as I had my heartwood, if I wished, I could leave the ship I appeared on as its fae. The only problem with that was I couldn’t be the one who removed my heartwood from the ship, I needed one of those who could see me to do so and I couldn’t hold it until I was on a new ship.
The week since Ghin’s “capture” passed in hiding. I was the one of two beings that knew of Ghin’s children, Arná and Bárto, and the three of us spent most of our time hiding in one of the cargo holds. Away from most of the crew huddled around my heartwood. When Ghin finally returned, he was in a new boat tinier than the one he’d left in. Kazuya brought Ghin to our hiding place after he had met with the Don. I could tell by the way he was limping that the Don had wanted him for more than just a report on what happened, but for the same activity that had resulted in Arná and Bárto’s birth.
“Are you okay, Ghin?” I asked, worried about the first person that cared about me in this hell hole.
“I’ll be fine. Maraja, I found them. I found a crew that would treasure you.” Ghin said, brushing aside my worry. I paused. I hadn’t actually thought about leaving the crew since I took on caring for Arná and Bárto.
“What about you and the twins? I won’t leave you.” I asked. Ghin paused.
“When we get where we are going, Arná and Bárto are going to take your heartwood and hide on the pirate ship I show them.” Ghin said.
“That still leaves you.” I said. Ghin remained quiet. Kazuya huffed, “Ghin, if you are still with us after these three have escaped I will throw you overboard. Those kids will need a father and that man who helped in their creation ain’t it.”
Ghin’s jaw dropped before he sighed heavily, “I’ll try. You know how the Don is, but I will try.”
The journey to where my potential new crew was took only a day and a half. I could tell right away which ship it was that Ghin had been referring to when he said it would make a good match for me. But I wasn’t interested in boarding a ship without having some idea of what my new crew would be like. Which leads me to my current situation, sneaking into a restaurant ship with Arná and Bárto while staying out of the Don’s sight.
“And what’s this?” a gruff voice said from behind me. I whipped around, shoving the twins into the tiny corner that my body and the walls made to face this mystery person.
“Huh… you aren’t Baratie” the man muttered.
“My name’s Maraja. I’m not just Dreadnaught Sabre.” I said angrily. The man in front of me scoffed, ”Never said you were. Not surprised you ignore that part of yourself.”
I paused before looking behind me as I felt Arná crowd in close on one side with Bárto on the other. The man glanced at them before saying, “You lot can hide out in the kitchen upstairs.” I nodded my thanks before herding the twins up the back stairs.
I watched as the Don fought briefly against the captain of the crew Ghin found for me. I barely recognized him, then again it had been ten years since we had been to his part of the East Blue. But I would never forget the child Papa had lost his arm for, nor the fact that he had given the boy his most treasured object. Papa would be proud. Mama too. I wasn’t paying attention to Ghin that was until he asked the Don to allow him to take care of one of the cooks on his own terms.
I focused on his fight watching as the cook avoided many of his hits before being pinned to the deck. I was confident that it was the end of the cook but he surprised me by spitting his cigarette into Ghin’s face and landing a kick on his head. Ghin retaliated with the ball end of his tonfa in the cook’s side. Ghin was winning the fight but I could tell near the end that his heart was no longer in it. Ghin wasn’t going to be able to kill the cook. And the Don never forgave those who disobeyed.
“I can’t… I can’t… Don Krieg… I can’t… I can’t do it, Don Krieg!” Ghin screamed when he finally had the cook pinned and had the opportunity to take the killing blow.
“I can’t kill this man!” He cried. I shoved the twins back inside. I didn’t know how Krieg would react to Ghin’s actions but it wasn’t going to be good.
“But we wanna see Neechan.” Bárto whined.
“You can watch but you need to be inside. Don Krieg isn’t going to be happy with your dadda.” I told them. Arná pulled her brother inside but they both clambered up onto the counters to look outside. Knowing that they were safe inside, I went back outside to watch the Don’s reaction. And it was a good thing I had sent the twins inside because Krieg decided that Ghin’s defiance warranted the use of his deadly MH5 gas. I leapt onto the deck that Luffy and Ghin were on just as Krieg fired off the bomb.
“Sanji! Ghin! Use these!” Luffy yelled as he flung two stolen gas masks at them. I landed near Ghin and the cook, Sanji, as they caught the masks.
“You will keep that mask on if you don’t want me to kill you Ghin. The twins are watching.” I told him as I knew he wasn’t going to keep his mask because Luffy was still missing his. I then barreled into my idiotic little brother shoving him into the ocean before diving in after. I knew Luffy couldn’t swim so I had to drag him as far away as I could before getting him back to the surface. Thankfully I could see underwater and was able to follow the cooks of Baratie to a safe distance from the explosion site.
“I hope Sanji and chore boy are okay.” One of the cooks muttered.
“Damn bastard using gas on his own men.” Another said.
“It’s nothing less than the usual for Don Krieg. The man’s a ruthless egotistical psychopath. And don’t worry about chore boy. I’ve got my idiot little brother.” I said softly from in the middle of the cooks. They all flailed around to see me holding Luffy’s limp body with his head resting atop mine.
“If one of you could help me out with him? Luffy’s a devil fruit user and a lot heavier than the last time I did this. He can’t function in seawater.” I griped. One of the cooks came over to help me bring Luffy back to the Baratie and his fight with Don Krieg.
“Come on little brother. I need your help Luffy.” I said as I pushed him onto the deck. Luffy coughed and grabbed my hand on instinct pulling me up beside him.
“What? Who’re you?” He asked confused.
“Papa gave you his hat. Luffy please help me. The Don will kill me if he realizes who I am.” I told him quickly. Luffy blinked and looked at me again before nodding in determination. He definitely didn’t remember me yet, but that didn’t surprise me. Luffy and Papa were too similar, I knew that by bringing up Papa, even without saying his name, and the fact that the man Luffy was determined to fight would kill someone close to Papa sealed Don Krieg’s fate. The man would be lucky to live to evening. I don’t think Luffy knew exactly what Papa had told the crew after he had lost his arm. There had been at least four bandit groups on Luffy’s island when we first arrived, only one remained by the time we returned to the Grand Line.
“Chore boy!” the cook Ghin fought cried out as the Don used his bomb spear on him. Right, Luffy’s fight. Pay attention to that now, remember the old days later.