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Language:
English
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Published:
2021-07-27
Updated:
2025-02-14
Words:
1,587
Chapters:
3/?
Comments:
29
Kudos:
77
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Portgas D. Ann and the Riot Pirates… WHAT?

Summary:

A soul, Portgas D. Ann, Clarie, Brat, Bitch, Gold D. Ann, Demon Child, and Angel.

Ann has lots of different names. Her name means so many different meanings to so many different people.

She likes to think, though, that with her guitar and family, her Nakama, she is unstoppable.

Her voice will never be smothered again.

She will be free and drag her family with her along the way, even if it cost her life.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: A soul

Chapter Text

When I wake up, I am afraid. 

 

Somebody else might take my place. 

 

. . .

 

Falling, Falling, Falling

 

Deeper and deeper into a cold pool of liquid, the comforts and burns at the same time.

 

. . .

 

When I wake up, I am afraid. 

 

Somebody else might take my place. 

 

. . .

 

A soul flickers with a voice so strong but so afraid.

 

. . .

 

Make that money.

 

Fake that bunny.

 

Ache my tummy.

 

. . .

 

The voice is smothered by the expectations around it and the people that surround it. 

 

. . .

 

On the fence, all the time.

 

. . .

 

It titers at the edge of disappearing forever. Too weak to continue on. 

 

. . .

 

Paid junk honey

 

Your face so sunny 

Ain’t that funny?

 

. . .

 

The soul never knowing the feeling of a family, but it’s yearning for one more intense than anything the fates and the sea have ever felt.

 

. . .

 

All my friends always lie to me.

 

. . .

 

The soul was harsh and jaded. It was reaching out to be betrayed over and over again. Its song was one of sorrow and anger.

 

. . .

 

I know they’re thinking.

 

You’re too mean. I don’t like you.

 

Fuck you, anyway.

 

. . .

 

The soul was floating, finally at peace. The burning died down to nothing but a cool hug around it. The soul wondered if it was finally at ease. 

 

Then it heard it. 

 

“ Oh, child, with a voice so beautiful but heart so harrowed. How the universe has wronged you. What do you want from me, child.“

 

The soul was quiet and rasped out in a voice that still sounded so soft and beautiful even after it was almost destroyed. “Can I rest and still keep my music?”

 

“Child, I can’t let you rest. But, I can still grant your wish. You will keep your music, even when your memories are foggy and start to fade. I can at least ease the burden of your past.” The voice said. The soul was about to cry in rage and desperation. It just wanted to rest. 

 

“Off you go then, child. I hope you find what you are looking for.” The soul was just about to shout out that it didn’t want to find anything at all. 

 

But couldn’t because the liquid surrounding it was forced inside it. Pain erupted, and burning burning burning was all the soul could feel. 

 

Then nothing. The soul consciousness faded soon after. 

 

. . .

 

The soul floated around in this place that radiated love and affection. Protection and Warmth. Never felt it before the soul fell absolutely in love with this place in its fleeting time awake. 

 

. . .

 

The soul was suddenly startled awake from its rest. 

 

It was being pushed. It was leaving its safety. NO-NO-NO.

 

The soul had no control, though. 

 

It was pushed out, and the first thing it heard was 

 

“I love you, Gold. D Ann” The soul Ann started crying directly after. For leaving its safe space. For knowing it was time to say goodbye and recognizing the name.

 

Ann knew where she was now, and she was scared, so scared. Foggy memories of a time long gone and her voice being smothered out. 

 

Memories of escaping in a manga One Piece. 

 

She knew what was to come, and she was terrified to be silent again. She started screaming louder when she realized she wasn’t in her mother’s arms. 

 

The next thing she knew, she had faded into oblivion. 

Chapter 2: A life should be a miracle

Summary:

Ann is starting to grow up.

Notes:

Hi! Please let me know what you think!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

When I grow up

...

Life blurs, in and out. Just keep breathing. Ann sobs rack the hut with the bandits. She Is a month old. She has not stopped crying but to let herself fade into an uneasy sleep.

...

I will be tall enough to reach the branches

That I need to reach to climb the trees

You get to climb when you're grown up

...

Dadan sighs as she picks up the sleeping babe and can't help but wonder if the reason she was crying was that she knew what happened, what her birth caused. 

...

And when I grow up

...

Dadan cradles Ann to her chest. 

...

I will be smart enough to answer all the questions

That you need to know the answers to

Before you're grown up

...

Ann has dreams. She can't understand them sometimes. They always go away. Words and a Melody replace them. She knows who she is supposed to be. Clarie. She knows she is someone different now. For the life of her, she can't remember... She can't. Nothing. She remembers nothing but a manga.

...

And when I grow up, I will eat sweets every day

on the way to work

And I will go to bed late every night

...

She knows she is not supposed to be here. She knows as soon as she heard it. GOLD. D. ANN that she would die before she reached the age of 20. She knew she would have been happy about that a lifetime ago.

...

And I will wake up when the sun comes up

And I will watch cartoons until my eyes go square

And I won't care 'cos I'll be all grown up

...

Ann isn't though. She is Afraid. 

...

When I grow up

I will be strong enough to carry all the heavy things

You have to haul around with you

When you're a grown-up

...

Month four comes with acceptance. She isn't Claire; she is Ann. Tears stop, and guilt eats away. Silence follows. The bandits get worried. This creates more guilt. 

...

And when I grow up

I will be brave enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight

Beneath the bed each night

To be a grown-up

...

Month five comes, and guilt drifts away in the currents of the sea that is her mind. A family starts to form. A grandpa with guilt that pours from him like a waterfall. A Dadan that comes to comfort in her own way. Bandits that come in and out but will always give her a smile or two.

...

And when I grow up

I will have treats every day.

And I'll play with things that mum pretends that mum's don't think are fun.

...

Ann knows this is not an ideal family. BUT, it was her's, and she knows it was more than anything she had before. 

...

And I will wake up when the sun comes up

And I will spend all day just lying in the sun

And I won't burn 'cos I'll be all grown up

...

On her bad nights, the hands wouldn't move. Just keep taking and taking even when Clarie screamed and cried and begged. The words and melody wouldn't come soon enough. 

...

I will be brave enough to fight the creatures

that you have to fight beneath the bed each night

To be a grown-up

...

On her good nights, Ann would find herself on a roof that is not her own. With a body that should be too big but fits perfectly. Calloused fingers and a guitar in her hands. She sings and plays the night away. 

...

Just because you find that life's not fair It

doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it

If you always take it on the chin and wear it

Nothing will change

...

She wakes up feeling too small. Her back feels like it is missing something. Her fingers were itching to strum. Underdeveloped vocal cords ich to let the sweet melody free. By Six months, she is crawling and beginning to talk in a strange langue that is not her own. By eight-month, she is walking, and her first word is "Ji-san." To the man who she knows is a soldier before a grandfather but family all the same. 

...

When I grow up

...

Ann knew at twelve months surrounded by people who called her many different names. Demon Brat, Ann, Portgas, Brat, Grand-child, Grand Daughter. She has found the beginning of her family even if they do not consider her family. She was beginning to find the ones for who she wouldn't die for. She was beginning to find the ones who she is learning to live for.  

...

Just because I find myself in this story

It doesn't mean that everything is written for me

If I think the ending is fixed already

I might as well be saying

I think that it's ok

And that's not right

. . .

A butterfly beats its wings. A bird starts to sing its melody. A new tide is created. A new path that is about to unfold.

Notes:

Song- "When I grow up" from Matilda

Chapter 3: Interlude

Notes:

Remember, this a drabble collection; that being said I hope you enjoy this snippet

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Garp knew his adopted granddaughter wasn't normal . He knew that from before she was born; when the King of the Pirates first sent him on a quest to find his Queen.

 

Still, Garp did not realize precisely how different Ann would be till she started singing in a language he did not know. Oh, it could be passed off as a toddler learning to speak, fooling around with their newly discovered vocal cords. But Garp felt in his very soul that little Ann knew too much; he didn't quite care, though. Garp was always a selfish creature, possessive of things he considered his. Garp also wasn't a saint; maybe Roger knew that when he handed the care of his daughter over to him. Ann was his now, his family, his granddaughter. Though Garp liked to pretend to be a good, just person, he was a D, and D's were very selfish creatures.

 

Garp noticed things, though he discarded information to suit his needs.

 

Oh, Garp knew his little granddaughter was strange, always humming and had her little head up in the clouds. But his granddaughter was his, so it didn't matter.  

Notes:

Remember, this a drabble collection; that being said I hope you enjoy this snippet

Notes:

Lyrics are from the song: Afraid by The Neighbourhood