!

The youngest of the pirates was dancing around the deck with a big smile on her face, "You certainly look happy" a voice said behind her. Oriana turned around to see Izo grinning at her, "How about we see how good your powers are against me" he smiled and took out a stick.

Oriana turned to him smiling to herself, probably thinking her powers made her stronger, "Okay". She took her fan and swung it in front of her teacher. A wind attack was flying towards him and Izo simply swung it to the side with his stick.

"You have to do better than that, Oriana-chan" the samurai winked at her. "Ohh, now that's something" the crew looked in their direction. The girl used both fans to create a stronger wind, but the same thing happened, "Now that's better!" he said before charging at her.

Oriana started to panic, as a reaction she threw both fans at Izo. He stopped to dodge them and looked behind him before turning to her, "What was that?" he asked, "You made me scared" she said with her hand close to herself.

Izo's eyes soften, kneeled down in front of her, and held both her shoulders with his hands, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you" he said. The girl hugged him, "Do you want to try again?" Oriana shook her head, "Okay" he said and rubbed her back gently.

"What's wrong, Oriana-chan" a kind voice spoke behind her. The girl let go of Izo and turned her head back, it was Toki. "I accidentally scared her" Izo answered, and looked the girl in the eyes this time, "Will you forgive me?"

Oriana looked into the samurai's eyes and nodded, "Great!" he said and gave her one last hug before leaving the two females. She didn't know what to say to the older woman, and just started scratching her head, "Does your head itch?" Toki suddenly asked.

"Yeah, it's annoying," Oriana said and scratched harder. "Don't do that" Toki grabbed her hand away from her head. "Let me help wash your hair properly," the woman said and led her to the bathroom to not only wash her hair but help her bathe her entire body too.

"You have beautiful hair. We just need to take care of it" Toki said. She started shampooing her hair all the way to the roots. Oriana closed her eyes, enjoying the way she massaged her head. The older woman took a cloth with soap and washed her small body.

After the bath, Toki took her back to her room wearing a big towel and looked through the small closet. She came back with a white t-shirt and a pair of black leggings. Oriana looked into the mirror, liking her clean self, "I look too cute to be a pirate" she said pouting.

"A pirate? Oh, I see." Toki took her own yellow belt around the waist and banded it around the girl. "How is this?" Toki asked and the girl looked into the mirror again. Oriana smiled even though it was a small detail it helped a lot.

"Much better!" she said, "Alright. Now let's braid your hair" Toki let her sit in front of her. The woman put some oil and braided her hair into two pieces. She looked much better than what she had for the last two months.

"Thank you, Toki," she said before running out of the room and out to her father who was sitting by the deck. "Daddy! Look at me" she said and came running happily. Her father lifted her up to his knees, and looked at the woman coming toward them gratefully, "You look great treasure! Did Toki help you?"

"Yeah, she even said that she would help me with my hair from now on. Now I only need a bandana!" Oriana smiled brightly. "Bandana?" her father asked her, "I wanna look like a real pirate. Like you, daddy," she said determinedly.

Whitebeard chuckled and took his captain's hat off and laid it by the armrest before untying his headcloth. He took it off his blond hair and gave it to her, "I don't know if it's too big, but take mine. You'll look like a real pirate" he said.

Oriana's eyes widened, "Really?" she smiled and took it up to her head but had problems tying it, "Let me put it on" Whitebeard took it and wrapped it around her head like he did his own. "Thank you, daddy. How do I look?" she asked cutely, "Like a real pirate" her father grinned.

She jumped down from her father's lap and ran to show it to everybody else too.

"Thank you for doing this. I don't know how to do stuff like that," Whitebeard smiled, he really appreciated it. "You're already doing so much for her, and this is surely the least I can do for letting me stay" Toki smiled to the captain, "But she does need new clothes. She's a growing girl after all."

"Hostile vessel ahead. Get ready to fight" somebody yelled, and Oriana's eyes turned to the front of the ship. A smaller ship was heading towards them fast. The whitebeard pirates were roaring happily for the upcoming fight.

That was until a certain samurai charged over without thinking, "Stop! Oden!" the crew yelled, but it was in vain. Oden slashed the enemy ship in two, "Look at that! You see? I sank it" Oden smiled proudly.

"You idiot! What are you doing?!" Rakuyo yelled at him.

"You call yourself a pirate?" Whitey Bay added.

Oden looked confused at them, "We didn't have a chance to plunder it!" Rakuyo explained. The samurai turned around and started to panic, "What have I done?" he said. Soon he went over to them and bowed down to apologize, "I'm sorry!" Everybody just shrugged.

-x-

After a couple of days, they arrived at a new island. Oden was the first one to rush into the land and the crew wanted to warn him about the danger of unknown soil, but he didn't listen. Oriana wanted to explore with the others but had to get her drawing material first.

When she came back out again almost everyone was gone. Oriana looked sad, but big footsteps came up behind her and she saw Whitebeard, "Let's go together" he said gently. Oriana smiled, "Yeah!" The father and daughter were walking through the forest.

"Daddy? You have a devil fruit, too, right?" Oriana suddenly asked, "Yeah, the Gura-Gura no mi" her father replied. "What kind of power is that?" she asked excitedly. "Let me show you," Whitebeard said.

The captain went over to a rock and crunch his hand into a fist, and soon a barrier circled his hand. That was something she had seen before, but she never realized that it came from the devil fruit. "Look closely" was the only thing he said before gently punching the stone.

The same cracks that she thought were an illusion appeared again, with a noise that sounded like glass was breaking but in reality, it was the air. The rock broke out into small pieces and flew to every side, "That's so cool daddy. Your powers are making you that strong?" she smiled.

"No" Whitebeard simply answered, and the girl looked confused, "I can break stones even without my powers" the great pirate grinned down to her, "Really? I want to see!" He laughed before punching a piece of the rock that just broke.

"You're really strong, daddy" she jumped happily. The captain smiled, "Let's go join the others" he said and took her hand. They followed what appeared to be castle towers and bushes coated in bobbles came in front of them.

Oriana let go of her father's hand and ran happily over to it. She noticed something shadowing her. The girl stop to look up and Oden was about to fall on top of her. When he finally notice her, he started to panic, "O-Riana-chan! Move aside!" She could do nothing, but stare as he was approaching fast.

Suddenly, a figure came up over her and punched Oden away, "You fool! Do you have any idea what could have happened?!" a deep voice yelled at the samurai. Oriana looked up to see her father glaring angrily at Oden.

Whitebeard turned to her concerned, "Are you alright, treasure?" he said with a much softer voice, "Hmm, yeah. I'm fine" she smiled brightly, before turning her attention to the island. The girl ran over to the bobbled bushes and tried to climb onto them.

Oriana jumped onto it, ready to climb up but it suddenly popped. She fell to the ground and looked at her crewmates for answers, yet everyone seemed just as confused. The girl got up and tried again on a different bush.

Just as Oriana's dug her fingers into it, it popped yet again.

She didn't understand what she was doing wrong. Oden, who was so much bigger than her, was jumping around without any problems. Oriana tried again, and again until Marco stopped her, "Woah, take it easy there little one" he smiled warmly at her,

"Why can't I just play around with it?" she pouted, "Maybe it doesn't like kids" Marco teased, "I'm not a kid. I'm a pirate" Oriana responded, 'Well, she does have the stubbornness of a pirate' the blond smirked. She wanted to try again, but Marco offered her a ride on his back instead.

Oriana quickly forgot what she was previously doing and just clinging on to Marco. He flew a few rounds to make her happy, and a little later he took her back to the others, "That was awesome, Marco" she cheered.

She went over to a tree to draw the castles.

After a while, Oriana went back to the ship with the rest of the pirates. It was getting late, she decided to go to her room to finish her drawing before going to bed. Whitebeard came into her room to tell her a story, soon she fell asleep.

A few hours later she felt the right side of the face itching and she tiredly scratched it. After a few minutes, she felt the same sensation on her other side. The girl tried to ignore it, but it was getting really hard to do. In the end, she sat up and scratched her entire face like it was on fire.

It continued for a couple of more minutes before it stopped. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she was too tired to think about it now, and in a matter of seconds she fell asleep again.

-x-

The next morning Oriana woke up pretty late.

She got up and went into the bathroom. Oriana tiredly looked at her reflection in the mirror and saw white and black marks on her face. The girl didn't know if she was supposed to hate it. They were actually pretty and she started to like them.

There were black dots that started from the end of her eyebrow and circled under the eyes up to the nose. White fangs were 'painted' on her cheekbones and a crescent moon on her forehead.

There was something else different about her face but she had a hard time figuring out what it was. Oriana thought it was painted on and splashed some water onto her face. She rubbed it a couple of times, but there was no sign of it coming off.

She got closer to the mirror to get a better look and that's when she realized her eyes had another color. Oriana now had red and black eyes. She had no clues as to what was going on.

The girl ran out of the bathroom and toward wherever her father was. She tried to hide her eyes with her hands so no one could see. The pirates wanted to say something to her, but she ran past them without thinking.

Oriana found herself in front of the captain, "Something's wrong, daddy" the girl started, "What's wrong, treasure?" he asked concerned. She took a deep breath and removed her hands from her eyes, but she was still looking down.

It took a few seconds and she finally looked up at her father with her blood-red eyes. Whitebeard smiled softly at her, and his eyes filled with love. He hugged her close, "There's nothing wrong, Oriana. This is part of your mother's powers."

"Daddy, what were mama's powers," she asked carefully.

Whitebeard leaned his forehead against hers, "I guess it's time for you to know the truth" he looked at the crew in a certain way and everyone went in different directions to let them along. Her father looked at the sea thoughtfully.

"When your mother passed away you inherited her abilities. You can transform into this beautiful being that makes you control the elements as you wish," Whitebeard elaborated, "What is this being I can turn into?" she asked curiously.

"Your mother had a name for it, and I won't even try to pronounce it. But the world might know it as a… The first time you transform you'll have to stay in that form for a few days before turning back" Whitebeard explained, along with the basics of their powers that he remembered Kat telling him about.

When he was done Oriana's eyes were looking down and the great pirate had a hard time figuring out what she was thinking.

Oriana turned her gaze and stared into the ocean with a bright smile, "So I get cool powers?" the captain smirked, "You get more than that. You get a new connection to your mother" he said with so much love.

"When the time comes, I'll be there to help you through what's to come," Whitebeard said as she looked into his eyes. "I know you will daddy" she smiled happily and leaned against her father.

Later that day, Oriana proudly show the crew her small change and was no longer afraid to be judged. No one even looked at her weirdly or acted differently towards her at all. She couldn't help by feel joy over it. That no matter what she looked like it wouldn't matter to the crew.

Her father had explained to her the time of her transformation was getting closer and closer, yet she didn't feel scared at all. Her father told her in a few weeks, on the night before her 7th birthday, right before the day is about to end.

Oriana took a deep breath and focused her gaze on the sun setting. She felt surprisingly calm, "Only a few weeks left" she whispered to herself, but her father did say that she would slowly but surely get other trades of the being every day.

Marco came over to sit next to her, "Marco" the girl said without turning to him. "Yeah, little one" the blond smiled at her, "How does it feel to be a phoenix?" she asked, "Hmm, it feels like there's another creature that helps me do incredible things," Marco said and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"So, it's not a bad thing?" Oriana didn't sound a bit surprised, "No! It's a part of me and I wouldn't trade it for anything" Marco said without hesitation. She saw the sincerity in his eyes, "Marco… I'm going to transform soon" she whispered the last part.

The blond pirate looked at her, "Transform? What do you mean?" he asked, "My mama's family had something inside of them, and now it's my turn to have it inside of me" she explained, "What is this thing?" Marco carefully tried.

"I don't remember what daddy called it, but it comes out on my birthday" Oriana had to admit she was a bit nervous when said out loud. Marco moved closer to her and held his arm around her shoulder and the girl leaned against him, "Don't worry. I'm sure it's going to be a part of you that you are going to love".

"How do you know?" Oriana looked at him desperately, "Because, it's the part that connects you to your mother" Marco smiled with reassurance. The girl just turned her gaze to the sea, "Do you think so?" The blond laid his head on hers, "I know so!

-x-

As the days went by Oriana's worry was soon forgotten when an island appeared in their range. They landed on a winter island first the with samurai jumping to the island without thinking, "ODEN!" the crew yelled after him as usual.

Toki came over to the girl with a warm jacket, but she had a hard time understanding why, "What do you mean why? Oriana-chan… don't you feel how cold it is?" the woman asked in disbelieve. "Cold? How does that feel?" she was confused.

The woman took off her gloves and felt the girl's forehead, "You're really warm" she touched her arms, and everything felt normal as if they weren't in the middle of a snowstorm. "Are you really, okay?" Toki asked one last time, "Yeah, I'm really okay" she happily replied.

Oriana ran down the plank and followed the rest of the crew to look for Oden. It wasn't long till they found him, but he was frozen in a block of ice. The pirates worked together to release their newest crewmate. On their way back, Oriana noticed that there was a place that looked like the ice was melting off. 'Weird' she thought

At the next island was a hot one, or that's what they told her. Oden was as always, the first one to explore the new land. The moment he stepped onto it, he was caught on fire. The crew quickly poured water over him.

They always had each other's back.

While the others were sweating a lot, Oriana didn't even feel affected by the heat. She didn't know if it was something new or it's something she never noticed because she lived on a tropical island her whole life. Either way, she was more than okay with that.

-x-

A couple of hours later they left the land in search of a new adventure. Everyone was doing their own things when Oriana decided to take a nap in her room.

When she woke up she noticed the crew were louder than usual. The girl walked through the halls and was about to open the door to the deck, but someone else did.

Oriana just looked at the person tiredly. She didn't recognize him, yet she didn't think twice about that. The whitebeard pirates were a very large pirate crew, and it wasn't uncommon for her to meet someone new every day.

She was about to walk past him when he blocked her way, "What's a girl doing on this ship?" the man said. Oriana took a step back when she realized that he wasn't one of the members, "W-who are you-u?" she stuttered.

The man's grin only seemed to be getting wider. He went over to her, but Oriana turned around and ran back inside to get away from him. She was sure she could outrun him, that was until she hit a dead end.

"There's no place for you to run," he said as he approached her. He grabbed her arm and lifted her up to his face, "Let's go see Whitebeard. I'm sure boss already defeated him!" the man swung her over his shoulders and went back to the place they started. The girl kicked and punched, but none of that seemed to hurt him

When the man opened the door, a bright light entered the hall. Instead of going out to the deck, he stopped. Oriana looked behind him and a wide smile covered her face, "Daddy!" she screamed.

Oriana didn't see the way the man's face changed from fear to someone who got a new opportunity, "Daddy? Does that mean she's your biological daughter?" he said, "Let go of her!" Whitebeard's deep voice echoed through the halls.

"We came here to take your head, but I just found something even more valuable. I wonder how much the marines will pay for this information" the villain said proudly, "I don't care you want to kill me, but you dare involve a child in this. My child?" the captain was clearly angry.

Whitebeard started moving over to them.

The man suddenly felt fear and started stepping back, "D-don't move! I-I still have your daughter" he managed to say. Whitebeard stopped for a moment, "Oriana" he said with a much calmer voice, "Yeah, daddy?" she turned her head to him.

"I promised that I'll protect you, right? Do you still believe I can?" the captain questioned, "Yeah, I know you'll save me, daddy" she smiled brightly. "That's good, treasure," he said with a grin, before releasing this heavy force, and the man passed out.

Oriana felt a bit sleepy, which was weird considering she had just woken up. "Are you alright, treasure?" her father lowed himself to her level, "I'm fine" she simply said. He looked over her body for any sign of injuries and sighed in relief when he found none.

The door burst open, "Pops, we finished off the rest of them!" Jozu came in. "Good, now take care of that one too" the captain pointed at the man that went after their youngest. Whitebeard took Oriana out to the deck where a group of men was passed out except one.

"Are you the leader of these pathetic fools?" Whitebeard asked him. "T-that's right" he clenched his jaw, "One of your underlings went after my daughter, and as his boss, you are going to take responsibility for this" he laid Oriana down and went over to him.

"What? He dares touch her, our treasure?!" Vista shouted. "No one gets away with that! Ever!" Rakuyo shouted and it only encouraged the others to follow. They would protect her with whatever means necessary.

Oriana truly felt touched by their declaration. She felt a hand on her shoulder, "Let's go to the infirmary just in case, little one" Marco said, "But I'm fine" she protested. "Well, I'm the one that gets to decide that" he smirked at her before carrying her away.

"You were right. There's nothing wrong" Marco announced, "See I told you," she said. "I just wanted to be sure" he rubbed her back.

Marco knew she was alright, but the captain didn't think she was ready to see the ugly side of this world just yet. The crew wanted her to see the happy times before exposing her to everything else, they wanted her to slowly see it.