Work Text:
The Change: At age 14, after her dad’s visit, Danni smuggled herself on a ship heading for the Grand Line. Unfortunately, the ship gets wrecked on Predator Island, and the surviving crew, doesn’t survive the island, but Danni does. While on the island, she unknowingly goes through the Predator Process, and thus her illness is erased. She leaves the island when she’s around 18-19 and stays on Kupa for a bit, before setting sail on her own. She ends up quickly making a name for herself and becomes known as “ The Huntress ”, because she never leaves her opponent alone, hunting them down if necessary.
She becomes a highly dangerous pirate, and the government takes notice of this.
Genre: Adventure/ “Romance”/Friendship
Warning(s): vague flirtation with older (and younger) men; Super!Danni; non-sick Danni; alteration of canon events; divergence from canon
Note(s): This is for juliedoo , who asked for actual Mihawk!Danni interaction! I couldn’t really think of any way for the two to actually have any interaction that was semi realistic and not crack-ish (i.e. Pregnant!Danni), so this happened to make it possible! Shichibukai!Danni~
BETRAY
Danni hummed idly as she let the wind blow her wherever it wanted her to go, content to just let the sea guide her. She stretched out in the sun, purring happily and closing her eyes blissfully. She’d been out to sea for two years now, and had made quite the stir in the pirate world, being a lone pirate, a female pirate, and gaining a large bounty not even a year into her voyage.
It had also been the most fun she’d had in years.
She was stirred from her cat nap in the sun by the sudden shadow casting over her small boat. She frowned, eyes blinking open slowly and staring straight at the man leaning over the railing of the much larger boat over-shadowing her’s. She blinked at him lazily, eyes flicking up to the pirate flag flapping in the wind briefly, before yawning widely, sharp canines glinting in the light.
“Yes?” she asked blandly. “Can I help you?”
The pirate only continued to stare at her, face politely confused. “Well?” a voice demanded from the man’s left, causing him to snap to attention. “What is it?” Danni stood up with fluid grace, stretching languidly and letting out a low purr as her back popped. She yawned again and swiped the double tipped spear leaning against the wall of the small cabin, the feather and beads decorating the rather unorthodox weapon not making a sound.
“A woman, Captain,” the man responded, tone of voice confused. Not because it was a woman, per se, but because it was a woman alone on the Grand Line.
There was a pause, then, “Eh?”
Danni rolled her eyes, snorting softly in amusement, before she launched herself at the other boat, landing on the railing lightly and resting her spear on her shoulder. She smiled at the group of pirates now staring at her, cocking her head to the side as she greeted cheerfully, “Yo!”
Not even a second passed, before she dodged a flaming fist aimed at her head, twirling her spear expertly and blocking the follow up kick with the shaft of her weapon, causing the flames to sputter and die almost instantly. She laughed at the shocked look on the young captain’s face, hopping off the railing and landing neatly on the deck, “Now, now, I’m not looking for a fight, cutie.”
The teen sputtered, cheeks glowing bright red, and it didn’t have anything to do with his flames. “C-c-cutie!?” he shrieked, voice a much higher octave than normal. Danni giggled, resting her spear across her shoulders and grinning widely. Oh, she could have so much fun with this one.
“Fire-Fist Ace, right?” Danni asked rhetorically, continuing on cheerily before any response could be made. “I’d been hoping I’d run into you eventually! Wanted to see if you were truly planning on going after Shiro-jiichan!”
Ace stared blankly at the overly cheerful woman standing in front of him and asked, “Who?”
Danni blinked back before her mouth opened in an ‘o’ and she hit a fist on the palm of her hand, “Oh! Right! Sorry, I meant Whitebeard!” She then peered at him, smile returning, and repeated, “So? Are you?”
Ace looked at her warily and wondered if she was on some type of drug. She was kinda reminding him of Luffy with all this cheeriness. “Yes?”
It sounded more like a question than a statement, but if she noticed, she didn’t point it out as she chirped, “Great! Good luck then!” She clapped him on the back, the force nearly sending him to the floor, before she planted a kiss on his cheek. “I hope to see you again, cutie!” With that she leapt back on the railing, before falling back into a flip on to her own ship, which hit a different current then the Spade Pirate’s ship and sped away.
She’d have to keep an eye on the teen. He had great promise.
xxx
Danni blinked down at the letter in her hands, rubbing the back of her neck absently and ignoring the blood and broken bodies surrounding her with practiced ease. The body she was currently perched on twitched underneath her and she smacked him with the flat of the blade on the end of her spear. There was a muffled groan before silence and she tapped her chin thoughtfully.
She had been invited by the Marines to join the Shichibukai.
“Hmm, to agree, or not to agree,” she hummed. “What do you think?” She only received a twitch in response, but she ignored it. “Ehhh, I’ve been bored,” she mused, standing and stretching languidly, eyes flashing gold wickedly.
She dipped her finger in some of the surrounding blood and messily scrawled out her answer on the letter, handing it to the bird that had delivered it , ignoring the loathing look it gave her. She supposed she should probably start making her way in the direction of the Marines. She licked her lips and began making her way back to the port, “Now, which way was it again?”
xxx
Sengoku’s eyebrow twitched as he held the letter in his hands delicately, wrinkling his nose at the smell of dried blood. “Danni, the Huntress , has agreed to take the position of a Shichibukai,” he announced.
The group of pirates and marines stared at the man silently, before someone finally voiced, “And why are you holding her acceptance letter like that?”
Sengoku’s eyebrow twitched again and he answered flatly, “She wrote her answer in blood.”
xxx
Danni stood in front of the marines and pirates, face rather nonchalant despite the fact that she was late by almost a week. She raised a hand up, lips curling in a lazy smile, “Yo.”
Sengoku felt an eyebrow twitch and the beginnings of a headache. “Why are you late?” he asked, attempting to keep from gritting his teeth and glaring at the rather impudent woman.
The newly minted Shichibukai blinked lazily and answered cheerfully, “I got lost!” There was a brief moment of silence, which Danni ignored completely as she looked around at some of her fellow “previous” pirates that had deigned to show up. She rocked on the balls of her feet idly and passed her gaze over the larger than usual group, pausing slightly at Kuma and cocking her head to the side curiously, Jinbei was eyeing her somewhat warily and she returned the gaze, pupils contracting into slits. She refrained from looking at Doflamingo, the huge man giving her the chills, and then her eyes landed on Dracule Mihawk.
The man’s golden eyes were shadowed by his hat, but the color was what caught her interest. She stared, stopping her rocking and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her eyes from flashing an identical gold. She’d never met or even heard of any one with that shade of gold in their eyes before. Oh, she knew the man was known as Hawk Eyes , but she never heard about the color of his eyes.
The dark haired woman continued to stare at the man taking in the differences and similarities of their eyes. His were a bit narrower than her’s, and there was a thin black ring around the pupil. They were certainly more bird-like, whereas her own were more tiger-like. Overall though, their eyes had the same shape and color and it was a bit too similar for her.
It was a possibility that they were related, or came from the same island at least.
“How did you manage to get lost?”
The question pulled her from her staring and she blinked, before shrugging her shoulders, “How does anyone get lost?” Her eyes strayed back over to Mihawk, and her fingers twitched slightly, itching to reach for her spear. She didn’t like being surrounded by so many unknowns.
Sengoku shook his head, holding back a sigh. Somehow he knew he was going to regret asking the girl to join the Seven Warlords.
xxx
Mihawk could admit he was curious about the woman titled The Huntress . She never revealed her last name (did she even have one?) and simply replied her name was Danni when asked, seeming to keep her last name a closely guarded secret. Then there was the fact that she was younger than all of them by years , and yet she had been strong enough of a threat to be asked to be a Shichibukai.
But the main thing that piqued his curiosity were her eyes.
He had of course noticed her intense study of his own eyes, and had wondered at that. Surely, his eyes weren’t that interesting? (Of course, he was ignoring the fact that his moniker was Hawk Eyes .) And then there had been the flash. It had happened after the meeting, away from the prying eyes of the other warlords, and the marines. She had dogged his steps languidly with a fluid grace that reminded him of a predator.
He had only reacted to her presence when they had reached the docks and she was still following him. The swordsman turned to ask her what in the four seas she was doing, but stopped when gold eyes met gold. The color was deeper than his own and the pupil was slit, but the slanted and animalistic shape was one he saw in his reflection when he bothered to look. It reminded him of a long forgotten memory of his mother. Of the whispered words, our family’s different, Dracule. More animal than human. There’s others out there, like us but different at the same time .
He had at first kept an eye out for gold eyes, but eventually gave up the childish dream of finding more family ( his was all gone now, simply faded images in his memory ), for bigger, better (but not really) dreams. It had never occurred to him to wonder what the difference in his family could possibly be.
But it made sense seeing that young woman’s eyes, glowing with an animalistic instinct of kin , and it suddenly made sense.
Different types of Predators .
xxx
Everyone was shocked when news reached them that the new little warlord had attached herself to Mihawk, and he let her . But they didn’t mention it. Not when the two showed up at meetings together and left together or when the swordsman let her cling to him like some sort of overgrown monkey. They were too terrified to even mention the questionable things the woman said to the older man.
Many of the younger marines that saw them together whispered that they must be lovers, never realizing that Mihawk hovered over her like an overprotective mama bird.
xxx
“Ne, why are you chasing after those pathetic men?” Danni questioned idly, twirling one of Mihawk’s knives absently as she lounged on the other end of the admittedly small boat. The swordsman sat at the other end, legs stretched out and hat shading his eyes and seeming to be trying to take a nap. But she knew he wasn’t. He was too irritated at the interruption from early to try and get back to sleep.
“I’m bored,” he responded shortly, eyes gleaming from under the shadow of his hat.
She pouted at him even as she tossed the knife at him and he caught it easily and tossed it back at her, and whined, “Am I not entertaining enough for you any more?” It was said in a purring tone of voice that if heard by anyone else would assume she was talking about rather illicit activities.
The man rolled his eyes, poking her with his boot, but not saying anything. She tossed the knife at him again, but instead of tossing it back at her like she had intended, he pocketed it once more, making her pout deepen. “Stingy,” she muttered petulantly, sulking.
The following events, however, easily broke her from her sulk. She perched on the railing of the Baratie, eating a bowl of soup she’d swiped from one of the empty tables (even putting the right about of cash on it for the meal) as she watched the rather one sided battle between Mihawk and the (rather attractive) green haired boy. She could tell Mihawk was enjoying it a bit though, obviously seeing the same potential she could in the young man.
Satisfied that the man she had quickly begun to see as an older brother figure was successfully entertained, she turned her attention to the straw har wearing boy that seemed to be the young swordsman’s captain. He was cute in an innocent sort of way, but the intense look on his face as he watched the battle splitting the heavens, showed hidden depth to his probably idiotic personality. The Beast purred in the back of her mind, and she realized that boy had as much, if not more , potential as that green haired boy.
Then the familiarity of the straw hat caught her complete attention.
“Hey, do you know Shanks?” she asked, but was never answered. The kid had turned to her in surprise, but anything he would say in response was never heard as Mihawk finished his amusement and blood was gushing into the sea. Danni eyed the teen contemplatively, listening with half an ear to the young swordsman’s ( oh, his name was Roronoa Zoro ) declaration, and Mihawk’s response.
She could tell that Mihawk was pleased, and would be leaving soon, so hopped off the railing (leaving the eaten dishes behind) and landed on their ( his, damnit, Danni! ) boat. She had a feeling Mihawk was planning on visiting Shanks soon.
Danni could just ask the man himself, when they got there.
xxx
“So I was right, he did get his hat.” Benn peered up at his daughter, who was lounging like an overgrown cat on one of the lower branches of one of the trees surrounding their current camp, drinking a bottle of sake.
“Who?” he finally asked, curious as to what she was talking about. Mihawk had made a surprise visit, which was strange as the man hadn’t for years, and trotting along behind him was Danni, grinning widely and excited to see them all again. He was sure if he wasn’t already used to Shanks shit he would’ve had a heart attack over his daughter.
She peered down at him, eyes flashing a bright gold (he vaguely remembered Patricia’s eyes doing that once upon a time), before she smiled lazily and waved a hand carelessly at Shanks, who was pestering MIhawk and being entirely to touchy feely than was probably necessary, “That kid, Luffy? Shanks gave him his hat, right?”
Mihawk had the face of someone who was grudgingly used to being attacked by an overgrown and easily excitable puppy, and knew there was no way of escaping. Benn had the sudden realization it was probably Danni's fault the swordsman hadn’t just clubbed the redhead over the head and left. “Yeah, met the brat when he was seven, we all got a little attached,” he answered, eyeing his drunk captain with some trepidation.
Danni slunk down from her perch, and settled down next to him, stretching out with a content purr, and asked lazily, “Does that make him my baby brother? Mom had always wanted more kids, right?”
Benn was very proud of the fact that he didn’t spit his sake everywhere.
xxx
Danni, for once not sailing with Mihawk, who had told her under no certain terms was she to bother him for a month or he would cut her into tiny pieces and mail them to her father, arrived at the Moby Dick , bright and early one morning. She had finally gotten the chance to see if that cutie, Ace, had made any sort of headway against Whitebeard, or if he had ended up joining the crew. She hadn’t really been keeping track of the newspapers, and trusted Mihawk to tell if anything really important happened.
“Oh? Well , if it isn’t Danni-chan, yoi,” Marco called out in greeting amusedly, but no less warmly.
Danni grinned at him cheekily and responded, “Well, if it isn’t my favorite smoking hot blonde!” He rolled his eyes at her, offering her a step up onto the boat and motioning for some of the other crew members to attach her boat to the ship.
“What brings you here, yoi?” Marco asked, eyeing the woman in amusement as she sniffed the air before heading in a random direction with an intense expression.
She flapped a hand at him and answered flippantly, “Looking for somebody?” Marco raised an eyebrow curiously, trailing behind her as she stalked her away across the ship, sniffing the air occasionally. It was odd for her to do so, however. She didn’t like making her animal side known, for whatever reason he didn’t know, so for her to use it rather blatantly was strange.
He then realized they were heading towards the Second Division.
Was she here for Ace?
He was proven correct when she squealed and full body tackled a very startled Ace, who barely managed to keep himself upright. He nearly burst into flames, when she buried her nose in his neck and inhaled deeply. “Wh-what are you doing!?” he shrieked, looking panicked and embarrassed, and Marco had to hide a loud snort behind his hand, shoulders shaking.
Danni pulled back, lips stretched into a wide grin and eyes glowing gold. “Do you know Luffy?” she asked cheerfully, pupils blown wide as she pulled away from the impromptu hug.
The freckled man stared at her in confusion and wariness, blurting, “How do you know Lu?” Marco’s laughter stopped abruptly when he spotted Danni’s face. Her pupils were blown completely wide, almost dwarfing the gold that was normally brown, and her lips were twisted in a wide grin that showed too many teeth, especially her fangs. She was also tapping her foot idly against the deck, and her fingers were twitching and she couldn’t seem to keep still.
The phoenix had the sudden ominous premonition that this visit was not going to end well.
xxx
Marco was right and the mayhem that a high (off what, he still hadn’t figured out) Danni caused was brought to a merciful end by Mihawk of all people showing up. The first mate of Whitebeard could only watch in a detached sort of confusion as the fearsome swordsman plucked the hyper woman up by the scruff of her neck as she zoomed past him easily, looking exasperated.
Then he had nodded at Whitebeard and leapt off the ship, still holding the woman by the scruff of the neck, and the two had disappeared into the horizon, Danni’s boat towed by Mihawk’s. It wasn’t until later, when he reviewed the memory under the influence of alcohol, that Marco realized that Danni had frozen instantly when Mihawk had plucked her up by the scruff.
Like some sort of errant kitten.
The rest of the crew was startled violently when Marco suddenly burst into loud, belly deep laughs, tears rolling down his cheeks from the force. He pounded his fist against the table as the image his mind had conjured at the comparison played over and over again.
Disgruntled mama bird Mihawk holding errant kitten Danni by the scruff.
xxx
Mihawk hadn’t realized how much more animal than human Danni was until the news of Ace’s execution came to light. The woman’s eyes had bled gold so swiftly, he was surprised no one immediately noticed the change. Her lips had curled back in a soundless snarl and the air around her had sharpened considerably a faint shadow of a great tiger rising behind her.
It was only his keen intuition about her that helped him prevent the others from noticing her great agitation of the news, and calm her down.
His hand shot out and gripped the back of her neck hard and she went deathly still. He kept his hand there through the rest of the meeting, no one taking any note of it, as the two had been rather touchy with each other since they’d first met. The end of the meeting had him dragging her away to somewhere secluded where no one would find them, ignoring the whispers from the marines milling about.
Mihawk released his hold on her neck and before she could go on a rampage that would only get her killed in the end, he forced her to the ground and without any preamble sat behind her and began preening her hair.
Danni held herself tensely as the golden eyed man undid her braid and began messing with her hair, warring with the sheer rage almost encompassing her and the thrum of kinship and calm that Mihawk’s preening was bringing. Eventually, the longer the older man played with her hair soothingly she slowly relaxed.
Mihawk on the other hand was having a rather intense war himself. He hadn’t realized how attached he had gotten to the young woman until now. It was the first time his instincts had over ridden his logic towards her. A small part of his mind was telling him the attachment was unwise, but the larger part of him was basking in the feeling of having kin again. It had been a long time. Shanks had come close once upon a time, but it had stopped before he had even realized it, when the redhead hadn’t reacted correctly to the instinctual cues Mihawk hadn’t even realized he was giving out.
Danni did though.
And he had found himself unconsciously reacting to her own cues.
He saw her as a member of his family, and he found he didn’t really mind one bit.
FIN