True and genuine

You will always be

You will always remain a true friend to me

When times are bad

You're there to understand

That's how I know that you are--

True and genuine

We cry

We laugh

We share all our fears

Nothing can come between us because you are always near

True and genuine

Yes, that is you

The look in your eye is what makes you so true

Genuine you are because you will always be there

I've looked for the flaws and I find none there

How we came to be

Was much a surprise to me

But the fact that we're inseparable is what matters to me

True and genuine

You will always be

You will always remain a true friend to me

-Keyeria Sowell

Five years later, Natsuki turned eighteen, and stood on a small fishing boat, on the dock, where her life with her brothers first started.

She smiled at the sky without a cloud in sight, and looked into the sea, with water so calm, you could see your own face without a ripple disturbing it.

"Natsuki!! I'll meet you in the Grand line okay!? You grant your own dreams as well alright!" Luffy yelled at his sister.

"Of course!! You become a pirate king, and I'll become the fifth emperor of the sea!!" Natsuki replied.

"Only two more months until I set out as well!! Watch your back Natsuki! I will surpass you!!" Ace declared, since for these past five years, he could never win with strength against her.

"Over my dead body you idiot!" Natsuki smiled fondly at her two brothers, then looked down at her feet. She had no shoes on, which had a reason behind it.

After Benn's warning of not letting her kiss everything she wanted to keep the Hiraishin mark on, she developed another, much more efficient way of placing seals on people and objects. She decided to draw seals on her feet, which allowed her to imprint her hiraishin seal everywhere her feet touched. So if she walked barefoot, she could literally escape out of anywhere to anywhere she had been to before.

She wore a green kimono with only one sleeve, and anbu trousers with a black tank-top, which could be seen from parts the kimono didn't hide. She tied her red hair in a ponytail and had a fox mask slid to the back of her head for now. She refused to show her identity, as it could raise questions to her connections with her parents, and if that happened, her bounty would rise just for that reason only.

Natsuki wanted a bounty which was proven by her, and her strength only. Not the influence her father and her deceased mother had. She carried Kusanagi on her back, and multiple weapons were hidden in her baggy kimono.

Looking at her brothers one more time, she waved at them, and left, her small boat slowly engulfed by the horizon.

~o0o~

Her dream was to be a Yonko just like her father, but to get to such a position, she knew she had to have at least a few crewmates.

So with the thought in mind, she set off, looking for someone who would be her first mate.

~o0o~

She was at an island named Bangloo, just around Christmas when she heard the screams.

"Help!! The demon's here! The snow king has come to get us all!!!" Face hardening as she heard the insult, she decided to visit, this so called 'demon', wondering if worthy to be her first mate.

"Oi. Girl. Didn't you hear them? I'm the Snow King. The Demon of winter. You shouldn't come near me." A rough, scratchy voice echoed from a cave dimly lit by the full moon.

"Well, I don't see a demon or a king, so either I'm blind or deaf." She stated simply, walking calmly into the cave, her attention fully on the fire blazing in the centre.

"Idiot." The man said from the corner. He was covered in rags, holding a shepherd's stick with his right hand. He had snow white hair and ice blue eyes, with winter pale skin, and ashen grey lips. He was handsome in his own way, that not many would understand, not even Natsuki, who was asexual. Feeling no physical attraction to anyone in her life, but she didn't care, as it let her focus on her task for the future more.

He analysed her. Her flaming red hair and porcelain white mask, her night blue eyes seen through the holes. What worried him slightly was her bare feet, which were surprisingly the only thing that looked rather rough. It was calloused and dark, with scars and stitch marks. The rest of her seemed small and vulnerable, like a small animal left in the jungle, but her feet told the stories of an aged lion, one with battles to tell, and legends of feuds, her feet were the only evidence that her life was hard. Besides, he couldn't even see her face.

"My name's Natsuki. What's yours?"

"Kurama Fuyuki." She gasped slightly, covering the mouth part of the mask. Then, she giggled.

"A man named Kurama, called a demon. I guess there is still yet to know of this world." She took off her mask, and her beauty was seen. With pearl skin and defined cheek bones, long lashes and small button nose. Beneath her left eye, on her cheek was a small tattoo. It was a design of a small flame, with smoke curling up into a fox.

Her lips were cracked, bleeding slightly, her nose and cheeks blooming red. Her breath turned white every time she exhaled, and he himself remembered to breathe.

"What's a girl like you doing here?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm looking for a ship mate to join my crew."

"You? A pirate? You're joking."

"Not in the slightest Kurama. See this? This is Kusanagi, one of the most famous katanas out there. I inherited it from my mother. I do not simply throw it around like an idiot. I haven't been training six years for nothing."

"Six years? How old are you?"

"Eighteen. You?"

"Twenty-one."

"Do you have a devil fruit?" She asked out of the blue.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, anyone who's called a snow king and winter demon surely would have some powers? Or are the villagers that ignorant?"

"They are ignorant, but they are true. I ate the snow snow fruit when I was young. I can make blizzards appear or control the snow which is already falling. Though I haven't used this power to its fullest yet. I didn't want to accidentally hurt someone with these powers..." He tugged on the hem of his shirt, twirling the stick in his hand.

"If I asked you to be my first mate, would you consider it?" Looking as if he were punched in the gut, Fuyuki replied slowly.

"Perhaps. Though I would have to test you though." They both stood up, Fuyuki standing almost two heads taller than Natsuki, and walked out of the cave, where thirty to fifty men stood, each holding a fire brazier. They all tensed, and got into a position, holding the fire against Fuyuki.

"What's going on?" The oblivious redhead -wearing her mask again- asked.

"Get away from that demon, miss! He's dangerous! He killed my son the moment he ate that fruit!" The man explained.

"How did your son die?"

"He got lost in a snowstorm and never came back!"

"So he was the one who was controlling the snow, and killed all your loved ones?" She reconfirmed.

"Yes! Now come closer, he's right behind you!"

"Don't think so. You have made three mistakes. One: you blame a natural disaster on a boy, who had the ability, but didn't use it. Two: you ganged up on him, as if it's fair. Third: you dared to say the d-word in front of me."

"D-word? As in Demon?"

"Oops, you've done it again! I hate that word. Once the whole village tortured me using that word, you see. Didn't leave a nice ring in my ears." Cracking her knuckles, she got into a stance, took out a single kunai, and attacked.

She fought with grace as if it were a ballroom. She did an outside spin, cloning her kunai to accurately pin someone to a tree, aiming at his clothes, then whisked to the side, knocking three people out with the knob of her kunai, then an open hip twist to another man who tried to attack with his fire, kicking his shin, and as he doubled over, punched his stomach. She sidestepped and naturally turned, spot turning and swinging out.

She did a somersault, landing in the middle of unconscious bodies, her hands in the air, as she finished her battle dance routine. Her back felt slightly damp from the exercise, but she walked to her possible future crew mate, and smiled.

"Is that enough proof?"

"Hmm. I guess so. Though I would say, you need more training with your arms. They're not handling the weight very well. You've been forcing your body to train haven't you? That's why you're not growing properly. Your muscles have been developed at an early age, that your body has decided that it doesn't need to grow anymore." He explained. Natsuki smiled.

"Would that make you my first mate!?"

"Alright... You win... Captain." He smiled softly, patted her head, and walked away from the cave he lived in for so many years. Leaving the past behind, walking to the new future.