Prologue

"Pirates are evil!"

The marines repeat it over and over when they kick me. I hold my stomach to try and protect myself as dark bruises form on my ribcage. They finally quit once I let out a cough, unable to grit my teeth and hold it in any longer.

'Pirates are free'

I repeat in my head as I glare up at them with rage built from the year I've been stuck on this wretched ship. No matter how many times they try to beat it into me, I refuse to go back on my beliefs. They always say the marines are the good guys, but they don't seem very good when they 'discipline' me.

We've only chased pirate ships the whole time I've been on the ship, and it seems like they're never going to let me off. I've tried to sneak off the ship at every stop, but they always manage to catch me. They tell me they're responsible for me until they get me somewhere safe. It just feels like 'somewhere safe' is some kind of distant fantasy they repeat to me to get me to shut up.

My tail angrily swayed behind me as I stared daggers at the marines as they went about their days. I would be expected to start cleaning soon. They would let me have a rest after the beating I took at least. See, I ate the dog-dog fruit model: fox, so I'm a fox person. For some reason, I can't get certain features to go away. If I didn't eat the stupid fruit, I'd have tried to swim off this boat by now, though that idea is probably ridiculous if you look at it logically.

A loud siren wailed out as everyone sprang into action, and I felt my heart jump out of my chest with excitement. Pirates! I quickly bounded up to the crows nest to get a good look, and with my naked eye, I could clearly see the boat in the distance. I was grateful for my impeccable eyesight in this moment as I squinted to get a look at the jolly roger.

I didn't recognize it, but to be fair, I didn't know a lot of pirates off the top of my head, just a handful of the notorious ones. Our ship immediately set course for them, and to my surprise, it looked like the pirates were heading straight for us as well.

Canons let loose, and I gripped onto the sides of the nest and dug my nails in as the ship rocked back and forth with the force of the missed shots. I grinned wide as I looked down at the other ship with excitement. This was my chance! I could get off this wretched ship and join a crew! My eyes landed on a man who looked around my age. He looked just as excited as me, and as the ship neared, I could have sworn he made eye contact with me.

I weighed the consequences in my mind, I could fight with these pirates and pray they took me in and face the wrath of the marines if it didn't work out, or even the wrath of these pirates if they happened to want nothing to do with me. My second option seemed smarter considering I wasn't very strong, stay hidden until a victor emerged, and hope it was the pirates and they wouldn't think me a coward.

Coward. The word bounced around my head until i couldn't entertain it any longer. Weak or not, I refused to be a coward, pirates were brave and free, and i didn't deserve to be one if I couldn't face the marines like them. I jumped down from the crows nest and immediately jumped into battle.

The first marine I saw, I jumped onto, clawing ferociously. I hadn't been taught to fight, so I was using my instincts. My devil fruit would aid me well enough, but without any experience, it wasn't like I was very powerful. I bit down onto his shoulder as I clawed at him, and he let out a yell as he threw me off of him.

The marine pulled out his sword and immediately began thrashing towards me. I did my best to avoid his swings, I was quick and my instincts were decent but I was still more clumsy than the trained military man and he managed to leave a pretty good gash in my thigh. I lost my footing and fell to my knee on my injured leg and glared up at the larger man. He loomed over me with pure rage, lifting his sword, I tried to stand, but I was still dizzy from the blood loss, being as small as I was.

"Venus! You traitor! You'll die for this!" Before he could swing down, fire enveloped him, and I stared in disbelief. What kind of weird phenomenon? I squinted through the flames. The heat felt like it was singing off my eyebrows, but I refused to turn away. When the fire dimmed, a man stood there. He looked the same age as me. It finally occurred to me he must be the captain, the jolly roger looked like him. It was the man I had made eye contact with. I held my breath as we stared at each other. That was when a wide grin spread across his face, and he offered his hand to me.

"Portgas D. Ace, captain of the spade pirates"

A soft chuckle escaped my lips, and I slowly reached up to shake his hand. This was it. This was my moment to be a part of a pirate crew. I was young and not nearly as strong as these people, but I would be free, far away from captors or people telling me what to do or think. I gripped his hand and met his grin with my own fanged smile.

"It's just Venus."