Lara's POV;

We were walking down the plank towards the busy plaza of the swimming island. Pirates, shady people and other not so trustworthy ones were lingering around. I was being carried by dad while mom had Lia in her arms, Jimbei was right next to us.

“Follow me and don't get lost, this place is as dangerous they can get”, said Jimbei. Our parents did just that and followed closely, while Jimbei's large body and fierce expression kept the idiots away. We were able to reach a small hut without getting disturbed once. The bouncer let us inside after seeing Jimbei.

The interior was as run down as the outside but with cigarette smoke. Four more bouncers were standing in front of a door, they opened it for us and we walked inside a small office. A man was sitting behind a run down table, a cigar in his mouth, a glass to his side and a bottle of alcohol on the table. Two guards were standing behind him, trying to look intimidating.

“Jimbei of the Sun Pirates, what can I do for you?”, the man asked with a Russian accent. It has to be Russian, that or Italian. Every smuggler has to be Russian or Italian that is somehow a universal law.

“My friends want passage over the calm belt into the East Blue”, answered Jimbei while crossing his arms over his large chest. It looked pretty dangerous for many and the guards of the man even took a step back.

“Is that so? That will cost something. A hundred thousand Berry for each adult and fifty thousand for each child”, said the man. He was not intimidated like his goons.

“I'd like to offer additional protection as payment”, said dad. I looked up at him and was surprised to see the hard look in his eyes. He took this very seriously and I'm sure that most people here won't stand a chance against him.

“Is that so? But what can you do? You look pretty weak if I might say”, laughed the man. He took a deep breath from his cigar and blew the smoke into my and dad's face. I suppressed a cough that tried to come with the smoke and looked at dad's chest so that they wouldn't see my glare.

Seriously, blowing smoke at small children. He must have done this to anger dad.

“He is strong enough, I can assure you. He can cut down a sea king easily”, assured Jimbei. The man looked at Jimbei for a long time and said nothing.

“Hundred thousand for all of you”, he then said finally. I knew that that was most of the money our parents had and that they would only have the gold left if they agreed. I'm sure the man also knew that we had not much money.

“Seventy-five”, said dad with a deadly look. The man in return just took a calm drag of his cigar and breathed the smoke out. He then sipped on his drink and nodded once.

“Agreed, seventy-five thousand Berry and you will act as an additional guard for the trip. We will bring you to a small island in East Blue and from there with a different ship to Loguetown”, said the man. Mom put three bundles of cash on the table and we were escorted to one of the marine ships. There we got a cabin we had to share it with a different family.

It was a family of three, a man, his wife, and a son of ten years. They were friendly but preferred to stay away from us. Mom told both me and Lia that we have to keep our hats on for the whole time and kept a constant eye on us in case we tried to get it off.

The hat did feel uncomfortable but it was bearable. The night on the same day we set off and dad has had his first guard shift. Nothing happened and all three of us slept relatively peacefully. Mom was hugging me, Lia and the gold together. She did not want the risk of someone seeing it.

Two or three weeks later we were almost through the calm belt, the fact that all of us haven't washed our hair in weeks was annoying, but again neither Lia nor I complained. I'm sure that our parents were thankful for that. The mother of the boy also praised us for being so silent and well behaved. Mom beamed at that and it was the first conversation she had with the woman in the whole time. They spoke about raising children, what fears mom had and what tricks the other woman could offer. From that day on they often spoke and played with us. Or more like me, Lia didn't like to play baby games. I did find them funny sometimes. You have to stay a child or things get boring.

It seems our luck kept on and no sea king came up to look at the sky during our whole journey. We reached a similar wooden island on the East Blue side without any troubles. A second ship shipped us to the nearby island Loguetown. The island itself was filled with green trees and a small mountain. The town was big and full of people.

Our parents left the group of new settlers quickly and asked around to find someone that would buy sculptures and art. We found one in a better part of the city and dad walked inside without us. He had the statue wrapped in clothes, his cloak was gone but all of us still had our hats on.

So, with nothing else to do, mom sat down on a nearby bench and put me and Lia on her knees.

“You two were really well behaved during the whole trip. I'm really proud, all that is now left is to get to some backwater island and live our lives in peace”, she said and bobbed us up and down on her knee.

“And then we can put these hats off, we will have a garden and you two will be able to run in the grass and swim in a lake. It will be the perfect life”, she said in wistful thoughts. I smiled at her and patted her cheek. She looked at me and smiled back. She then saw someone behind us and smiled at the person.

“I got the money, it was more worth than we thought. The guy was even honest after a glare from me. At first, he wanted to rip me off with fifty thousand Berry. But then he admitted that the statue was probably worth at least two hundred million Berry”, said dad after sitting down next to mom. He took Lia on his lap and patted her head.

“I kinda hear a but”, said mom warily.

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“Yes, he had not so much money at most he could give me seventy-five million. The worth of the statue would diminish greatly if I were to cut it into pieces, probably into less than what he could offer. He wasn't lying I saw it in his eyes.

I thought it would be best to sell it now rather than trying to find a better offer. The more we ask the more likely it is to be asked why we have such an expensive thing. He had twenty million in cash and the rest in jewellery and gems. Now we have enough money to buy a voyage to a small island and enough to even buy a house and some”, explained dad. Mom nodded in acceptance and we stood up to find a local inn.

Three days passed and dad used the time to go to other shops to sell the gems and jewellery, at the end we had a little less than seventy million Berry. A lot of money for the East Blue, Nami did steal for eight years to get almost a hundred million.

Our mother found an island that they liked. It wasn't one of the canon known islands and was positioned north of the Yotsuba Island Region. It was a small island with little traffic and no real reason to visit. Exactly what our parents were looking for. Its name was Numuro Island

They booked the first ship that would sail to it and we bought some necessities for our future life. Like seeds for plants, nails, a hammer, cooking wares and so on. Dad said that he will be able to build most furniture with some practice and we only bought clothes and other material that was easy to transport.

The hidden strength of dad was again shown when he carried all the stuff in one large bag. The thing was trice his size and must've weight a ton. The ship was better than the one we took to reach Loguetown and we had a cabin of our own. The trip will take up to a month, depending on the wind.

The weather was nice and there were no freak storms like there are on the Grand Line. Seriously, once it rained fish. Jimbei explained that a storm must've carried them up and then took them down over us. But that was not even the most bizarre, it was even possible on earth. The fire tornadoes and football sized ice balls were more on the strange side.

Anyway, nothing like that was possible in the East Blue and we had a calm voyage. That was until someone shouted pirates. At that time we were on the main deck, mom was feeding us with something that tasted like carrots and dad was watching us.

He reacted instantly and jumped up, sword already drawn. “The Garlson Pirates!”, shouted the lookout down from the crow nest.

“Garlson? How high is his bounty?”, asked dad a nearby marine. Some of them were tasked with escort duty. We had no ship of them with us but a good dozen marines. All of them were young and not experienced. Definitely not Grand Line material.

“12 million Berry, he is known for killing the men and raping the women”, answered the marine full of fear. His legs were shacking.

“Ah I keep forgetting that this isn't the grand line”, sighed dad in relieve. The marine opened his mouth to say something but he was stopped by the explosion of water that shot up right next to us.

“Oy, are they stupid? How will they raid us if they sink the ship”, shouted dad angrily? He then runs up to the railing and cut four incoming canon balls with a force blade. The sickle shaped attack carried on for a few more meter and then vanished in the air.

“What? What was that?”, screamed a passenger in shock. Dad did not deem it necessary to answer, so I did with a loud “Daddy!”. Sadly they did not get the connection and just stared at the sky.

“[Diagonal Ship Cutter]!”, shouted dad. He cut the air in front of him in a mighty diagonal slash and a big force blade was sent towards the incoming pirate ship. A loud boom and the sound of crunched wood followed, the ship simply broke diagonally apart. The pirates were screaming but ultimately sunk down with their ship. A few escaped into dingies, yet those were also attacked by dad.

“Stupid pirates, attacking my family. That will teach them”, he grumbled while sheathing his blade. He then turned around to look at the awe stuck faces of everyone except for his family. Mom was smiling fondly and both Lia and I were giggling.

“Thanks, mister, we would have been doomed if it weren't for you, what is your name?”, asked one of the marines.

“Lake Verlon, we are on a round trip around the Blues”, he lied with an embarrassed grin. Mom was having her hands near our mouths in case we would blab the truth, but we did not. A normal child might have, but we were anything but normal.

We are almost three-year-old super toddler!

“Damn I wish we could stay and fish out the corpse of Garlson. Bringing in his bounty would seriously make my year”, said a marine in awe.

“Feel free to do so, I'm not a bounty hunter. He attacked my family and for that, I fought back. If you'll excuse us, I think all this was a little stressful for my daughters”, replied dad with a dismissive gesture. He grabbed my hand and we walked back into our cabin.

“Great, now I have to remember the name for the rest of the journey”, grumbled dad once we were inside the room.

“That's okay dear, it's better than telling them our real names. We can only allow to show ourselves once we are on Numuro Island. Most will have forgotten you in a few weeks. And we are far away from the Grand Line and the World Nobles. They won't find us”, assured mom in a soothing tone. She was patting his hand softly while speaking.

I looked over to Lia but she said nothing and waddled to her bed. There she laid down and tried to sleep. I shrugged and laid down next to her, I grabbed her for a hug and followed her into the land of dreams.

It took us three weeks to reach Numuro Island. It was a lot smaller than Loguetown and had more green planes than forest. It had a small mountain and a tiny village at the east coast. It was this village that we docked on. Little to no people left the ship and only a few merchants walked down with their goods.

Us four also left the ship and asked a nearby citizen for the major. They directed us to a small house on the side of the village market. An old couple was sitting in front of it and drinking tea.

“Good day and welcome to Numuro Island, I'm Pocho and this is my lovely wife Gintry”, greeted the old man. His wife smiled fondly at both me and Lia.

“Greetings, I'm Leo Lonore, my wife Luna Lonore and our children Lia and Lara just arrived and we want to stay”, said dad while gesturing to each of us.

“Hoho stay you say?”, laughed the old man. He looked at dad and then at mom before a strange glint came into his eyes. “You wouldn't happen to be ex-slaves wouldn't you?”, he then asked and dad stiffened before his hand shot down to his sword.

“My my, you don't have to be so quick to draw. Your necks, in case you wonder how I knew. They are way brighter than the rest of your skin and there are not many reasons for someone to settle down on Numuro Island. I won't tell anyone. ”, assured the old man. He then sipped on his tea and leaned back.

“Tell me your story and I will even help you out and let you live in my home until yours is finished”, he said and gestured for our parents to take some chairs and sit down.

“Fine, we escaped from Mariejois”, dad simply said and that was all he said. The old woman gasped in shock.

“Did they follow you?”, asked the old man. There was no fear hate or anything in his tone. It was a simple question.

“We don't know, we were fleeing with the Sun Pirates and hid our faces since we left them. No one knows our real names but you and even less how we really look like”, answered dad. He sounded really tired. Maybe he was betting on the goodness of this man? Let's keep an eye on him, just to be sure.

“And may I know how you look like?”, he asked. Dad nodded and pulled his hat down. The old man said nothing but his eyes widen slightly.

“And you are sure that no one knows how you look like?”, he asked a moment later. The old woman was by now sitting next to mom and has a hand on her arm. More in a soothing way than anything else.

“My family is not known, some marines might have seen me during our times on the pirate ship. I had to defend us. But there is no bounty on me, of that I am sure. I think we are just numbers that were left and forgotten in the aftermath. At least I hope so”, answered dad. Even his ears were hanging down. I thought it might be okay to also pull my hat off and did so. They flopped upwards and felt a little strange from being restrained for such a long time.

“Hmm, very well. We only have a single guest room, but you can stay until your home is built. I'll ask some of the villagers for help in building it”, Pocho then said. Dad and mom instantly brightened up.

“Thank you, we won't cause any trouble and we can even pay for the construction. We were able to attain some gold from Mariejois that we sold”, pledged mom. Gintry waved her off and said that everyone on Numuro helps each other.

They set me and Lia down in the garden and began to speak about the house, while Gintry and mom began to cook.

“So we'll be able to continue with our training?”, asked Lia once she was sure that we were alone.

I looked around and saw that no one was looking directly at us. So I concentrated and activated armament Haki on my hand. It took me a long time, longer than what I remembered. The hand changed colour into a very light purple and I felt the strain that followed with activating Haki. Seems like we have to train hard. Well, if Luffy can become Shichibukai level in two years we will be able to do as well or more in 14. I mean, both Lia and I know how to train correctly and we have the mastery book.

“Yes, but we also have to train our bodies. Haki and the Six Powers from the marines are quite taxing. And then there are the two devil fruits we still have and I also want to learn from dad how to use the sword. So much to do and only 14 years left”, I said and stopped the Haki. It almost left me panting from exhaustion. This was less than fifteen seconds and the colour of my Haki wasn't very dark.

“Yes, good that we can combine some of the things. Training Haki in combination with the Six Powers or our body will surely help. You're on your own with your sword. I want to learn how to control my fruit”, agreed Lia. We both continued with armament Haki for the rest of the day. We'll try to find a secluded place for our training later.