Lost and Found - Part 1

[A/N: Read Author Note, please]

It was dark, and the only thing that illuminated the night sky were the flashes of lightning that occurred every minute...

Then all of a sudden, rain started to pour from the dark clouds in the sky. They started to rumble as if a major battle had begun and again, the night sky was illuminated by a streak of lightning like a gun that had been set off.

Under these circumstances, who would be out on the sea? Of course, pirates and Marines trying to get to the next island using a log pose or eternal log pose. They would be the ones challenging the sea... This was One Piece, after all.

However, amongst the war in the night sky—

"Wahhhh...! Wahhh...! Wahhhh...!"

—A baby was crying—Aren... was crying...

How did he get here? Let us rewind...

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Another 6 months have gone by, Aren was now a year old... It was now January...

Life was peaceful, but not for long...

"Emma, we have to leave, now!" Rias rushed into the house. Her clothes were drenched in water.

She looked out the window that had beige drapes and saw ships closing in on the island. One appeared to dock on the main port used to get in and out of the island.

Conveniently, their house stood on top of a hill surrounded by a small forest where they had a great view of the ocean and "Seahorse Village" down below. The hill was almost surrounded by a small forest which also provided protection should one need it. However...

"Shit!" Rias cursed under her breath, panic was etched all over her face. Her pupils had become dilated because of it.

"Lady Rias... what's wrong?! You look scared..." seeing Rias like that scared Emma. There was barely anything that could scare her friend, yet she was in full-on panic mode.

"Where's Aren?! We need to leave, now! Pack your things!" Rias ordered as she headed for the stairs that lead to the second floor.

"Protect your family!" Her thoughts screamed at her.

However, before Rias could rush upstairs, Emma grabbed her hand...

"What happened?! Tell me! You're scaring me, Rias," Emma begged for an answer.

Rias looked her straight in the eyes and said...

Not long after that, a whizzing sound was heard throughout the island. Then a loud boom was heard, shaking nearby houses. People began to worry, they began to panic. Screams began to erupt throughout the island, too.

Emma looked through the window from the living room. "How is this possible?" she muttered.

"We have to leave, Emma. Like I told you, I met people who were looking for Supposed proof of some past, I only helped... Those bastards had the Marines on their asses and they didn't tell me," she explained further.

She had been out for a week trying to earn some more money. Being a bounty hunter, sometimes it took time to bring in money depending on the bounty being hunted, literally. This was why she was sometimes out for extended periods of time. However, when she saw that she was spending too much time away from home, her family, she backed away from "hunting."

"Understood, Lady Rias. I'll get everything rea—" Emma was interrupted.

"Not everything, we don't have ti—" Another whizzing sound was heard followed by another huge boom and screams from people. However, this time, the impact happened near their house, and with a tremendous shake—

"Huh...? What's that...?"—Aren awoke from his peaceful afternoon nap.

Both Rias and Emma held onto the wall when the house shook. "Hurry! Just two sets of clothes for each of us and the essentials..." ordered Rias.

Emma didn't respond, she knew they were all in grave danger—her family...was in danger. She rushed upstairs towards her room, Rias followed suit. She went to her room where she kept the suitcases they used when they left "Mountain of Strength Island."

Once she had the suitcases, she headed for Aren's room. She didn't care to get her things first, she valued her family's life over her own. However, before that, she managed to write a small message on a small piece of paper which she then attached to a bird she owned and sent out her window. "Never alone again, I'll protect them this time... I can only hope HE gets it..." she thought.

Rias was in Aren's room getting him ready to leave. "Make sure to get everything Aren needs... Please," Rias said with worry in her voice.

"What's going on, mama?" Aren wanted to ask, but the only things that came out of his mouth were, "Maamb - mammb - mama?"

"It's okay my little Aren, everything will be fine, I'll protect you... we'll protect you..." Rias tried to reassure Aren with her caring words. The caring words of a mother.

Rias looked at Aren, his big golden eyes—with a mix of darkness—looking back at her. His eyes had changed color 2 months ago—red to gold—just like hers did when she was little, her mink heritage reflected in him. His hair was black with streaks of red here and there.

She would do anything in her power to keep him safe, even if that meant... No, she shook those thoughts out of her head.

Emma followed her friend's instructions to a T. Once she was done with Aren's things, she headed for Rias's room, and then hers, once again.

Just a few short minutes later, Rias came out of Aren's room holding him in her arms, wrapped in baby sheets.

More whizzing sounds could be heard and more loud booms erupted which violently shook the ground. People screamed everywhere... But Rias and Emma were too focused to pay attention, that was until another boom was heard near their house.

"What the hell was that...?! Cannonballs...?!" Aren screamed inside his head.

"Fuck! We have to move, now! Is everything ready?!" Rias yelled.

"Yes...!"

"Good, now let's go!"

It is worth noting that their rooms were on the second floor of the house since the living room, the kitchen, and a bathroom took up all of the room downstairs. To some, this would be convenient, but to Rias and Emma, it wasn't. They were cautious when trying to buy a house on an unknown island—except its name—they arrived on, but with the lack of money, they had no other options, until more money was available. Another reason why Rias decided to become a bounty hunter.

Emma tried telling her that it wasn't necessary, that she'd work at someplace on the island. She would work anywhere so long as they had enough money, she even suggested working as a prostitute which would bring a lot of money, but Rias denied that idea as soon as it came out of her mouth. Rias hated perverts down to her core.

There was this incident not too long ago where she had gone to the bar to wash away some pain away with alcohol, but some annoyances (perverts) just had to trigger her. Let's just say she almost left them for dead...

Both of them rushed out of the house, and not just a few meters away, a whizzing sound was heard and in an instant, their house was destroyed. However, Rias, thanks to her observation, grabbed Emma and leaped as far as she could, avoiding the impact.

"Eeek!"

"Are you okay, Emma?"

They were now farther away from the house. Rias held onto Emma by her waist just like a bag.

"Huh...?" Emma opened her eyes. "Y-yes, Lady Rias."

"Good. We have to keep going. Can you keep up?"

"Yes, Lady Rias. I haven't been lacking in my training..." Emma answered. When Rias saved her, she became aware of the fact that she was weak, that the world was cruel, and that almost nobody would rescue her.

"Alright, let's go!" Rias started running down a path that led to "Seahorse Village" to meet someone... Emma followed suit.