Episode 4

CHAPTER 4

Marineford

In the bustlisng city on the island of marineford a young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes wearing a long sleeve black shirt and a pair of blue pant was walking around, seemingly in the process of shopping. Her name was Carla Bennett, the inhabitants of marineford knew her as Vice admiral Gion adopted daughter.

She has been here for 1 month now. The young woman had a cheery smile on her face while she was walking around town. She always had one, it was like it had been a long time that she had laid foot outside and that everytime she does so she glad to be free, like a bird who is finally out of its cage finally taken flyed.

She was carrying around bags some full of vegetables and fruits and some others full with new clothes and shoes.

" Hey Carla do you need help carrying those?" asked Tashigi one of her marine friends who had just joined the marines recently.

"Sure Tashi" Carla said.

" So how goes your training with vice admiral Gion?"

" Honestly? It is hard, I never exercised so much in all my life. But I am glad nonetheless that she is taking time from her busy schedule to help me"

" You are so lucky that you are being taught by a vice admiral Carla~" she gushed.

"I know, so how are you tashi? Is your father well?"

" Yes he is, he is getting a bit frail because of old age but he is ok"

" You are still planning to become a marine like him one day huh?"

" Of course I am!! What about you? You are officially the daughter and disciple of a vice admiral , you are going to become one one day too right?"

" I…think so, I mean right now I am focusing on training and honestly , I don't know how many years it will take me to be strong enough. But once I am, I plan on becoming one yes. There are too many innocents being harmed by pirates in this world! Once I am powerful enough, I will try my best to help!"

" I feel the same Carla and besides we are still 16, we both have time before officially joining. I am also training my swordmanship with my Dad. One day perhaps we both will become strong marines ehehe"

" I am sure we will, There is a terrible lack of powerful females in the marine force after all! Who knows perhaps one day we will become Admirals? Hahaa"

" Who knows we can only dream" she chuckles.

They finally arrived at the entrance of the marine HQ building where many high ranking marines live , each having their own place as big as a mansion inside the giant stone building.

"We are here" said Carla. "Do you want to come inside? Gion sensei is working right now so our "apartment" is empty."

" Sure"

" Perhaps we could have a drink again?" said Carla cheerfully.

Blushing tashigi said " the last time we had a drink Carla, you…you kissed me…."

" I am still sorry about that Tashigi…. I should not have done that… its just that…just that I …I told you about my past right?...i just wanted to erase those memories by doing it with a woman but….it was wrong of me to try and use you like that I am sorry…" Carla said sadly. "I will understand if you no longer want to be near me….."

" God no, Carla listen to me. I …strangely enough now that I think about it, I don't mind that you kissed me. Heck I actually liked it…"

" you did?"

" I did, but I knew why you were doing that after you told me your story and I did not want to take advantage of you when you were such an emotional wreak….look there are better ways for you to forget about that asshole that throwing yourself on the first person that act nice towards you do you get it? I am your friend Carla and I will always be there for you."

" Thank you Tashigi…"

" You are welcome" she smiled.

After walking up a lot of stairs and greeting some passing officers and even Admiral kizaru of all people. They finally reach the doors to Gion's place. Inside was a house of Japanese style with a lot of cherry blossons and pink colours imagery everywhere. Just like her name implies "momousagi" Gion likes the colour pink.

The girls settle down on the outside pouch and took the view of the beautiful garden.

Filling Tashigi's cup full of sake. Carla and her took a sip and sigh contently.

"Hey Tashigi I have heard about those devil fruits, if you could have one would you?"

" Devil fruits means losing the ability to swim Carla and besides I want to be a swordsman and I don't want to rely on a fruit for power. Why are you asking, you want a devil fruit power in the future or what?"

" I don't know. I mean this world is full of water and if I want to become a marine then I think it would be dumb to have such a weakness when I am sailing the seas right? But then again some fruits gives great powers…. If I could get myself a logia I would not say no hahaa"

" Logias are very rare Carla, the chances of you getting one somehow is very very low…"

" I know" she sighed " but it is not a priority anyway as I am going to be focusing more on my swordsmanship training more"

A few hours of drinking later Carla fell asleep on Tashigi's lap. Looking down at her while smoothing her face and taking out a strand of hair from it , Tashigi look at her new friend tenderly. "You look so peaceful and beautiful when you sleep Carla" she whispered.

"I know right" a voice said behind her.

Jerking her head back Tashigi came face to face with Vice admiral Gion. Who put a finger on her lips to tell her to remain quiet.

"I will carry her to her bed" The vice admiral picked up Carla gently and walked to her room to lay her on her bed to sleep.

Coming back to Tashigi, she looked at her and said " I am glad she has made a friend so quickly so thank you for befriending her."

" You don't have to thank me, she is a nice girl" Tashigi quickly said.

" I know, but I am glad nonetheless. You two have spent nearly at least a few hours everyday since you've met. It has only been three weeks already since you first met and she came home to me excitedly telling me she has finally made a friend her age. You should have seen her back then she was so happy. It was the first time she had smiled sincerely since I met her. It is thanks to you that she is happy these days.."

" I did not know that. But I am glad I make her happy."

"Yes you should be and I hope you never hurt her. God knows she's been hurt enough in her life already…."

" She…she told me…"

" I see then that means she trusts you, apart from the ones who were with me when she was rescued no else knows about what happened to her and I am going to keep it this way cause that's none of their business. But if she opened up to you then that means she really cares about you."

" She does…..in more ways than one" she whispers the last part.

" I heard you…"

Looking away Tashigi decided to be honest… " in a drunken stupor she tried to kiss me, crying that she wants to forget his touch and him and that she wanted to make me help her forget. I knew what she was alluding to but I could not do that to her…."

" You did good. If you had taken advantage of her then when she would have woken up the next day she would have started hating herself more."

" I know, drunken actions always lead to regrets from what I have been told.."

" That is true."

" Well the sun is setting Vice admiral I think I should go. Goodbye."

" Goodbye child"

Waking up the next morning Carla felt a headache coming and was feeling the after effect of alcohol. She went to wash her face and took a shower before going to the kitchen to see Gion eating.

" So you have finally decided to wake up?"

" Not so loud my head hurts…."

" I am not even speaking loudly, anyway sit down and eat."

" About your training, for the first few months we will have to get your body ready. Your stamina, your wrists muscles, your arms and so on. But and this is a technique that is not known to everyone and most of the time kept a secret.

I would begin teaching you "Haki". This is a technique that take years to perfect. There are three types of haki: Conqueror's haki, observation haki and armament haki. Haki is about willpower! The greater willpower you have the greater the haki. And I will teach you how to use them.

Obviously most people are usually a specialist in one of them more than the other two. I sense in your case that you would be more attune to observation haki because I noticed when I tried sparring with you with wooden sword you had the tendency to try to evade or just you are scared of getting hit. With observation haki you won't get hit easily and thus it will fit you.

Of course armament haki will be useful as a sword user too. Conqueror's haki is very rare so I don't know if you will unlock it somehow but that does not matter too much. Obviously as I said those will take years to master.

Add on that you becoming a decent swordsman? This whole training shtick might take you at the very least 5 years! But after I am done with you if you wish to become a marine, well with what I would have taught you, you will be immediately be eligible for a captain position right off the bat. I have already talked it out with Sengoku. Being my daughter and disciple have its quirks after all. No matter where connections matters hehe."

Carla was staring at her shocked mouth wide. " Haki? Captain right off the bat? ...wow…I don't know…what to say…thank you mom" she said teary eyed.

" shush girl stop being such a crybaby now what would you future crew say if you cry so easily in the future huh?"

" ahaha thanks again …oh I have an idea . In the future when I become a decent swordsman, I would begin all my attacks by saying "Gion style swordsmanship…' in your honour " Carla said with a smile. " can I do that?"

A little surprise Gion nodded and said " yes you can, who would have known you would be such a mommy's girl huh?" she chuckled at her blushing face.

4 years later marineford

Gasping for air Carla now 20 and who have grown a lot taller with her blonde hair in a bun and wearing a short and pink shirt full of butterlies on it looked at Gion expectantly.

Gion looking at her daughter and student proudly say " You are finally ready love, your swordsmanship is above average perhaps but your talent in haki never ceases to surprises me. Your focus is so great that it is hard to break it when you are using observation haki. Your armament can also coat your sword or any part of your body you want and it is quite strong too, perhaps it cannot content with a vice admiral and admiral armament haki as they have more experience but anyone below that? In a clash of armament you would have most beat! Although you do not have king's haki you are more than ready for the world! I am very proud of you my dear!"

" Thanks you mother" Carla said with a beaming smile!

Looking around Gion said aloud " So are you all satisfied with what you saw? Garp, Tsuru, Sengoku, Akainu, Kizaru and Aokiji?"

Carla surprised looked upstairs and saw the highest members of the marines looking down over the balcony. All of them started coming down.

Sengoku was the first one that spoke " I am surprised with her progress Gion, you really taught her well. As per our agreement….."

Taking a white coat from tsuru, Sengoku approached Carla and put it over her shoulder. The white coat bellowing with the wind with the kanji "JUSTICE" behind it.

" She can now be a Captain of the marines!"

" Tell me child you have been training for years now, do you still want to become a marine?"

Without hesitation Carla said " Yes! I want to help as many innocent people as I can and capture as many evil pirates as I can!"

"Good I like your determination, as captain you will be able to do just that. You will have your own warship, obviously your own crew under you and you will be able to roam the grand line mostly the paradise side of it to capture new upcoming pirates this site of the sea. Your base will be here as you already live here and your dotting mother over there would miss you too much haha if I send you on a G# base or some other branch on one of the blues far away. Besides you knows Haki already so it makes sense that you will be working mostly on the grandline, the new world is too dangerous for you haki or not you are not yet ready to have an encounter with one of the yonkos or their fleets. You can set sail in 1 week if you want, for now go to the barrack 10 and meets your new crew."

" YES SIR!!!" she screamed out loud.

Sengoku recoiled a bit and said " no need to screamed Captain Carla hahaa and no need to be nervous…"

"How can I not be nervous when my favourite Admiral is here??" she said with gleaming eyes!

" Your favourite admiral? Who is that?"

" Huh is not it obvious? Its Admiral Kizaru!!! His light powers are so cool! Say say Mr Kizaru how fast can you go? Can I get a piggyback ride one day and then travel at the speed of light with you? Say why are you so tall? What do you eat? Say you are the strongest admiral right? You have to be you are the fastest after all…."

The girl kept babbling to Kizaru while he had a smile on his face while the others were surprised at her obvious fangirling.

Whispering to Gion, sengoku said "hey does she always act like that…I did not think she would act so childish? …"

" She is just teasing kizaru haha, she has never even mention such a thing as a favourite Admiral to me and she tells me everything! She most likely really want an answer to those question of hers.."

"I see….."

Meanwhile Monkey D Garp looked at the girl fondly and thought "if only luffy wanted to become a marine too….sigh"

FIN of this chapter duh..

P.s perhaps the time skip was a bad idea but think about this…for those 4 years she has been training at marineford. And living there hanging with tashigi until tashigi went to become a marine under smoker 1 year before our mc become captain. So shes in loguetown.

But yeah there was nothing of interest that happened during those 4 years that worth showing. Character interaction with other people? This is going to be a long ass story so don't worry…there wont be a timeskip from now on…this is the time for her adventure and for her to kick some ass! 1 year before luffy set sail, so many things can happen in 1 year peeps!