Lara's POV;

The next morning we were all gathered at the docks. The Going Merry and Shadow anchored next to each other. Our's three times the size of theirs. Yet it looked less individual. We have to change that at some time.

Anyway, the villagers have gathered to wish us good luck and farewell. Windmill guy was hugging Nojiko with tears in his eyes and Nami next to him. She got her hug already.

“And remember Straw Hat, make her cry and I'll hunt you down”, warned windmill guy to the embarrassment of Nami.

“And you Lara better be a good friend for my Nojiko”, said windmill guy then in full seriousness. Both Nojiko and Nami gave him a hit on his head and jumped on their respected ships.

“See you old man!”, shouted Nami while their ship began to sail off.

“Yes, see you Gen!”, shouted Nojiko while Lia pressed our sail away from the island. We quickly overtook the Going Merry and waved while they grew smaller and smaller. Once they were out of sight Nojiko, Yosaku and Johnny turned towards Lia and me.

“So what now?”, asked our new navigator.

“Now we start training while sailing roughly towards Loguetown. Nojiko you can start by reading this book”, I answered and gave her our copy of the navigation mastery.

“And you two will have to start with physical training. But before that tell me what weapons you prefer”, I addressed the guys after her.

“Well, we both use swords. I like mine heavy”, answered Yosaku with a shrug. “And I mine long and sharp”, came from Yohnny.

“So a cleaver-like-sword and a nodachi?”, I asked and both nodded, “fine I'll make one for each of you once I have the time. But I fear that might not be in the near future, so you'll have to buy one in Loguetown. We need a forge on our ship, or a couple of weeks on an island for me to create a good one”, I explained. Both looked a little down from this but nodded nonetheless.

“Well, as I was saying, you two need to get stronger. Yohnny your game will mostly be on speed, while Yosaku must put on a lot more muscle. Luckily for you, I know how to train both”, I said with a nice evil grin. Both paled and turned completely white once I finished with my instructions.

They are mostly Lia and my watered down training. Higher gravity, weights and lots of workout. They don't have seals yet, their bodies are too weak, and they can't use Haki. Lia and I were only able to do Haki thanks to our [Body without a Limit] trait.

“And I? What can I train?”, asked Nojiko from the side. She had the book in her hands, but not opened yet.

“Hmm, first you need a better grasp on navigation and that will be our first and most important defence on the Grand Line. But in between you might learn how to use a Dial weapon”, I answered. Lia nodded and vanished for a moment, before coming back with a normal Dial rifle. It shoots hardened clouds. A steel Dial is its ammunition supply.

“What kind of rifle is that?”, she asked in wonder and eyed the shell.

“That is a Dial rifle, our parents got a few from a merchant on the Grand Line. They are rare, very rare. The ammo is unlimited and we can exchange the shell for other types. Be careful with it, it packs a stronger punch than its normal counterpart and is hard to repair”, I explained. Lia then began to show her how to maintain and shoot with it. She liked these weapons way more than I. I kinda like the burn bazooka and the skates, but not so much the normal weapons.

An hour later Lia had shown Nojiko the rudimentary workings of her new gun and Nojiko began to read her new book. Lia and I also began to get ready for our training. We both got dressed in normal training clothes and then walked over to Johnny and Yosaku. Both were lifting weights in a corner of our deck that we have designed to be our workout place.

“Well then, let's start. Johnny, Yosaku? You're not allowed to get near us for the next two hours”, I warned and applied armament Haki to all my seals. My whole body turned dark purple and I felt how Lia added her pressure on top of this. With a grunt, I grabbed a small weight and began to lift it in a steady pace. Lia next to me began with leg training for Geppo and Soru, also under a whole body armament Haki. Hers was just a lighter purple.

“What is that?”, asked Yosaku in shock.

“You turned all purple”, added Johnny, he reached out with his hand but stopped when I glared at him.

“Don't get any closer, Lia has put the area around us under pressure. You're not strong enough to take it yet. And our purple skin shows that we have armament Haki activated. Again, you're not strong enough for it. Train hard and I might be able to teach you in a few months”, with that said I resumed my lifting. Both men starred for a moment longer and then began their own training again. Now more determined than before.

They stopped half an hour later and went to the bath.

Two hours after that Nojiko came over to us and watched us for a moment, “How long do you train normally? You're almost three hours on it now”, she asked.

“Another half of an hour at least”, grunted Lia out between her weight lifting. It was me now who worked on the legs.

“Let's take a bath then, I want to know more about you and that works best while naked”, suggested Nojiko with a happy smile. Both Lia and I agreed with a grunt and Nojiko walked away.

Roughly half an hour later she came back and we stopped training, both of us were soaked from the sweet. We three went to our newly enlarged bath and got undressed.

“Nice tattoo, I have thought about getting one myself”, I complimented when I saw Nojiko's front. The heart symbol at the middle and top of her chest looked really good. Even if I have had put the design on her right shoulder also at her left one. I like symmetry.

“Why not having the symbols on both arms?”, asked Lia from my side. We both were in the middle of getting undressed.

“Nami has hers on her right shoulder. I made mine to show her that we are still sisters”, she said while looking back on her memories.

“Nice of you”, I said and walked over to the shower. The bath was already filled with water and steaming hot, but you have to rinse off the sweat and dirt before going inside the tub.

I heard a shocked gasp from behind and turned around to see Nojiko pointing at me with a shaky finger. “Your back, the sign of Arlong”, she stuttered and went pale.

“Not quite right, yet not wrong at the same time”, said Lia and changed places with me. I walked over to Nojiko, who stepped back from me.

“This isn't Arlong's sign. It is the sign of the Sun Pirates”, I told her with my most calming smile. It luckily worked, a little.

“Explain”, she demanded and I gestured for her to first get inside the tub. She stood up and slowly rinsed herself off before sitting opposite of me and Lia.

“Do you know who the Sun Pirates are?”, I asked first. She shook her head in no. “They are a group of pirates that exclusively has fishmen in its ranks”, I said.

“But you two are no fishmen”, she said with a frown.

“That is correct, we both got this sign burned into our backs when we were two”, I continued. This time she gasped in horror and pity.

“The alternative was worse. What do you know about World Nobles?”, I asked.

She thought for a moment and then seemed to remember something; “Aren't those the kings of the world? I remember a news article that spoke highly of one visiting East Blue”.

“They are something like the kings, yes. They have so much authority that they can do whatever they want, including slavery. Our parents were enslaved, we don't know when, but they had us while being slaves to the World Nobles. These assholes like it to brand their goods. Both of us have gotten their sign burned directly under the sun of the Sun Pirates. They did it right after our birth”, I said.

“Our parents, alongside many other slaves, were saved by a fishman named Fisher Tiger. He took us in and put his sign over the brand of the World Nobles. In the eyes of the World Government, we are now pirates, but without we would be nothing more than someone else goods. Not more worth than a table or lamp”, I continued.

“I'm sorry. I didn't know”, apologised Nojiko. I think more for her race than for her accusation from before. I acknowledge her apology with a smile and continued.

“Many of Arlong's group were originally from this pirate group, Arlong as well. That's why they have the sun symbol. It was to hide the slaves, making them indistinguishable from the rest. So anyone with this sign might have been a slave to the World Nobles once. A brand is almost guaranteed a sign of slavery. I don't know why Arlong came to the East Blue, most likely something happened to Fisher Tiger”.

“But I thought slavery was illegal?”, asked Nojiko weakly.

“Sure is, in most parts of the Blues. The Grand Line is different. But even there you won't find slaves most of the time. That changes once you reach Sabbaody Archipelago, an island that has its main industry in slavery.

The World Nobles are frequent visitors. They are easy to identify, always wearing some kind of head bubble that keeps the 'dirty commoner air' out. They also have strange hairstyles. Anyway, when you see one, hide. If that's not possible get on your knees and look at the ground while hoping that they don't take any interest in you. They are allowed to kill or rape a child in front of their mother if they want to”, I answered with some hate for them. I do not truly hate them, but I dislike them a great deal and will kill any and each World Noble I see. Lia will do the same.

Nojiko was by now in tears, probably thinking that such a thing happened to us.

“You don't have to look at us like that. Neither Lia nor I were touched in such a way. We don't know about our parents though. If you attack a World Noble a Marine Admiral will be sent to kill you”, I said with a small smile to calm her down.

Nojiko needed a few moments but did calm down and nodded. “Thank you for telling me”, she began, “I understand how hard it is to speak about once own past. In some way, these World Nobles are also responsible for what happened to me. Without them Arlong might not have come to us and Bellmere might still be alive”, she continued. Now also with hate over the World Nobles.

“How can the World Government let something like that happen?”, she asked after a moment of silence.

“The World Nobles founded the World Government, they say what is legal and what not. Over time corruption seeped into the system and festered. Now there are less morally good marines the farther you get in the Grand Line. This does not mean that there are no good ones. But those at the top, who say what the lower ranks have to do, are definitely supportive of the World Nobles.

Neither Lia nor I are friends of the marines. In our life, we have seen only two good and not indoctrinated Marines and those are way too low in the ranks to matter. So something that you'll have to get used to is that we will be at odds with the Marines most of the time.

We will also hunt a lot of pirates down if we get the chance, as those are also mostly not of the good sort. All in all, we will see a lot of fights and with those gain in strength”, I said and searched for fear, nervousness, and opposition. I found some fear, but more about the fact that she has to fight and a lot of nervousness for the same reason, yet no opposition.

“I understand, I want to help you, getting rid of only one pirate like Arlong or marine like the Rat will make the world a little better and might save others”, she agreed fully.

“Good, now tell us some juicy bits about Nami's childhood. We want to embarrass her the next time we see them”, I said with a grin and changed the conversation into lighter waters.

“A story hmm? Oh I know, there was this one time where she didn't want to bath and Bellmere had to hunt her around the whole orange garden. Nami was naked as she was born and screamed that the evil water monster would never get her”, told Nojiko and began to laugh at the end. I could picture a naked Nami that didn't want to bath really good and fell in with her laughter. Lia only smiled.

“What about you? Any stories you wish to tell so that the other is embarrassed?”, asked Nojiko once she managed to stop laughing.

“Not really, but a warning, never let yourself get hugged from Lara when she sleeps”, said Lia after a moment of thought.

“Why? I bet she is cuddly”, asked Nojiko.

“Oh yes she is cuddly, but she does not let go. Father once tried to separate her from mother, he picked Lara up and mother. The only way to escape is by switching places with someone else.

Another female is the best option, but stuffed toys and chicken work as well. Just no males, those get kicked away”, answered Lia. I sulked a bit, it's not my fault that cuddling feels so good.

“Dear sister, what do you think about a dry spell for a week?”, I asked in a sweet tone.

“No, you can't do that to me. I need my sexy time”, whined Lia and hugged me in an attempt to get back on my good side.

“You're blackmailing your sister with sex?”, asked Nojiko in wonder and with a red face.

“Sure do, she does the same with chicken”, I said as if that was normal and had to push Lia away from my hand, she was putting it in places that were not okay, while we had company.

“Okay..., I think I'm gonna go out, was long enough in the hot water. See you tomorrow”, she said a moment later and then hurriedly left the bath.

For the next few days, we continued with a routine of training and doing nothing until Yosaku informed us that he saw an island on the horizon. It was a none anime island Geral-Island.