One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Sitting on the Waves ❯ Time to Grow Up ( Chapter 18 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

ONE PIECE
SITTING ON THE WAVES
CHAPTER 18
BY
Sgamer82

     It was late afternoon as Leda stood over the prisoners. Huncaza’s people, gathered up by Redisca’s villagers, sat on the grass in front of the Chibi no Mi tied up in a row. Tirsni, Bataco, Coverque, and the hired muscle watched as Leda paced back and forth in front of them. She looked very much like a parent who was preparing to punish a group of naughty children.

     She had recovered in a matter of hours. Once she had regained consciousness, she used her aging powers to speed up the healing process a bit. Though she wasn’t immune to scars, such as the ones that ran across her belly. She addressed the bounty hunters.

     “Huncaza is gone.” she had shown them the now infant Huncaza, so they knew what she meant, “Now, you were not directly involved in Huncaza’s crime. However, you did aid and abet his plans. Out of consideration of the fact that you never attempted to harm my children, I’m going to give you a choice.”

     The bounty hunters didn’t like the way this seemed to be headed.

     “You all, more likely than not, have done some deeds that the Navy might be interested in hearing about. Allying yourselves with someone who did work from the government has more than likely protected you from much scrutiny. But that protection is gone, now. And, chances are, your checkered pasts are about to catch up with you.”

     The definitely didn’t like where this was headed.

     “So, here is your choice. You can go free. Though I have every intention of reporting your presence here to the Navy soon after you leave.”

     Or… you can become part of our happy little family here. I’ll even let you choose your age. So long as it’s under eight years. We have to make sure you have plenty of time to grow up right.”

     So that was their choice. Either be sent on the run with only a small head start at best. Or become kids and have the problem removed that way.

     “Hmph…” Tirsni snorted, “I ain’t done nothing’ to worry about. The Navy won’t care about me. I’ll be on my way.”

     “Very well.” Leda gestured to a man standing nearby, who cut the sniper loose. “Anyone else?”

     The others hesitated. Tirsni was really still a kid himself. Around the age of most of the Straw Hat crew. He hadn’t done anything to get him in trouble. Others in the group weren’t so fortunate. Leda had been right on the mark with them. The government had come after them, bug joining Huncaza had given them legitimacy that had kept them out of prison. But with the boss gone…

     “I… I’ll stay…” Coverque said, “I’ll stay here. I can’t be caught…”

     About half of the hired men had opted to also be released. But a few of them, along with Bataco and Coverque, made the choice to remain in Redisca. When all was said and done, Leda addressed the five who remained.

     “Very well. That’s been settled. While you start thinking about just how young you’d prefer to be. I have some business to attend to.”

     Leda left, prepared to rectify a horrible mistake if it wasn‘t too late. * * * * *

     The sun had begun going down as some of the Going Merry’s crew played cards.

     Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Nami were sitting on deck playing cards. Sanji had busied himself with making refreshments for everyone. Zoro was training with his swords. Robin was taking her eye drops. The card players took some time out of their game to watch this, since Robin didn’t take eye drops the conventional way.

     Robin sat down in a shady spot under one of Nami’s tangerine trees and made a right eye blossom out of the floor. It was hard to tell if the others were intrigued or grossed out at the eye, which was red and bloodshot. Robin, either not noticing or not bothered by the audience, applied the drops to it. When she finished Luffy and company went back to their game, thinking to come back in about three or four hours when Robin was next due for her medicine.

     “Nami,” Usopp asked, “What are you doing?”

     Nami was holding nearly a dozen cards in her hand.

     “The more cards you have the better a player you are.”

     “Where did you hear that?” Usopp asked, though he thought he knew the answer. He was surprised when she pointed to Chopper, who had about the same number of cards in his hand.

     “And where did you hear that?” Usopp wasn’t surprised when Chopper pointed to Luffy, who had about two dozen cards in his hand. When Usopp realized they were holding nearly the entire deck, he put down his measly three cards and walked off. He did his best to ignore Luffy’s telling Chopper and Nami that he lost because he had the fewest cards. He went to watch Zoro a bit when he thought he saw people on the path to the docks.

     Usopp pulled down one of his headset’s lenses and turned it, zooming in on the person who walked towards the docks. It was Leda. He called everyone over to see. Usopp lowered a gangplank for Leda so she could board a ship. Everyone eyed her with a bit of skepticism. Though Nami greeted her happily, unaware of the role Leda had played in recent events.

     “Good afternoon,” Leda said with a polite bow, “I’ve come to say a few things and hopefully fix the mistake I’ve made. But, before I begin…” She carefully glanced over at Nami. Usopp caught the hint.

     “Hey, Nami, how about we go to the dining room. I got a great story for you.”

     “You do?!” Nami asked excitedly.

     “You bet. It’s about a princess who becomes a thief to save her people from evil fish monsters.”

     “Woah!!!̶ 1; Nami cried out.

     The crew had decided that, if Leda couldn’t restore Nami, they would take her home to Cocoyashi. Unfortunately, that meant telling Nami about what had been done to her, and what had happened in her life. She had to be prepared for seeing her elder sister over a decade older than she remembered. She also had to be prepared for the sad news that her mother had been dead for the past eight years.

     Usopp, kowing just what Nami would likely go through, had suggested that telling her own story like this ahead of time would be a good idea. At best, it would just be something that kept Nami entertained for a while until she was brought back to them. At worst, knowing the story beforehand might, at the very least, help soften the inevitable heartbreak just a little. When Nami was out of earshot, Leda began.

     “First off, I would like to apologize for all that I have done. I would like to say that Huncaza deceived me. That he tricked me into violating my most sacred of rules. But I will not. While those statements are true, I still did what I did. I have always taught my children to never run from responsibility. I couldn’t raise them very well if I didn’t try to live by the principles I taught.

     “So I apologize. Though I confess my understanding that it apologies are of little help. That’s the real reason I came here. I can’t promise anything. But I will attempt to restore Nami to the way she was.”

     “Really?” Luffy asked excitedly.

     “But…” Zoro asked, sensing a catch.

     “There’s a chance I will be unable to do so. I’ve always been able to affect my own body either way, as you can see.”

     Leda was currently back to her old self, age thirty or so.

     “But I honestly do not remember any time that I progressed another person’s age. And even if I can do so in body, I do not know if I can do so in mind.”

     Luffy, Zoro, and Chopper looked at her blankly. Though Sanji and Robin seemed to understand.

     “You’re saying, Madam,” Sanji began, “That even if you can give Miss Nami back her adult body, she may still have a child’s mind?”

     “Meaning that even attempting this could very well be pointless.” Robin added.

     Leda nodded.

     “Should that happen, I will immediately reverse the process and bring Nami back to five. She will, of course, be welcome to remain he-”

     “That won’t be necessary.” Zoro interrupted.

     “We’ll take her home.” said Luffy, “We’ll go all the way back to the start of the Grand Line if we have to.”

     “Miss Nami has an older sister who we’re sure will gladly take care of her.”

     “I see.” Leda smiled, “I see now just how badly Huncaza deceived me. You are truly good friends to her. I am happy to know she will be protected regardless of the outcome.”

     That was no lie. Though it wasn’t even for a full day, she considered Nami one of her children. No different than any boy or girl at the orphanage. It comforted her greatly to know Nami would be safe no matter what.

     “Okay. Shall we begin then?” Leda asked.

     “Let’s wait until after our sharpshooter’s story.” Robin suggested, “From what I’ve heard it’s worth listening to.”

* * * * *

     Leda joined the crew as they watched Usopp tell the story. Though Luffy and Zoro both seemed to fall asleep during it, Usopp had nearly everyone else riveted in their seas. Especially Nami, who was bouncing up and down in excitement and crying her eyes out when Usopp got to the sad parts. Even Sanji, who aside from Usopp was the only one who knew the story already, was impressed. He was telling it almost exactly as they had been told. Sanji knew that Usopp liked to exaggerate, but they all understood how important this was. So Usopp wasn’t going to change anything aside from the fact that the story’s “Princess” was Nami herself.

     Leda listened intently, understanding what it was she was hearing. When the story ended, Nami was laughing out loud at the thief princess’ robbing everyone in her hometown before sailing off with the pirates who saved her island. When she calmed down, Leda took the girl to the womens' quarters, where Robin had laid out some of Nami’s adult-sized clothes. Her child-sized clothes weren’t going to fit if this succeeded.

     After she had Nami undress, Leda put her hand over the girl’s forehead. Leda concentrated, harder than she had on anything before. She felt her hand slowly rise as Nami’s body grew taller. As the girl approached adolescence the tattoo of Arlong the Saw’s mark appeared on the back of her left shoulder. It was draining on Leda’s energy, but she continued. Eventually, Nami approached her late teens and her tattoo changed into another one. A pinwheel with a tangerine on the top wing.

     When Leda released Nami’s head, she Nami was approximately at the same age she had been when she first arrived at Redisca. It was hard to know for sure. But Leda had a feeling she was at the right point. But, this was only body. Now, it was the real test.

     “Nami?” Leda asked. Nami slouched a little and groaned before holding her head up alert.

     “M… Mi… Miss Leda?” Nami asked. She recognized Leda. But that wasn’t a sure sign.

     “Where are you?” Leda asked her. Nami looked at her surroundings a bit before answering.

     “I’m on the Merry…” Nami said.

     “On what island?” As far as Leda knew, nobody had told her the name of the island or the village when she was a child.

     “R… Redisca island?”

     “Good. One more… how old are you?”

     “What?” Nami asked, becoming more aware of her surroundings, “That’s a pretty dumb question. I’m eighteen. My birthday’s not too far off. Now… I got a few questions. One, why are you here? And two, why am I naked?”

     Outside on the deck, the crew heard Nami’s yelling and knew for sure that their navigator was back.