Chapter Text
The Wind Granma shuttered under the waves, the Storm howling around it, bobbing the large ship on the water. Thunder struck close to the wooden vessel, lightning pierced the sky and yet the fury of nature seemed to not phase the one lone figure on deck in the slightest. Electric blue eyes blazed in the darkness as Trafalgar Lammy grinned under the rain, her head slightly cocked to the side, listening to the elements whispering to her. The Sea was furious, enraged at the enemy crossing her waves, trying to strike at her own, at the audacity of those that did not respect her. She wanted to sink the little ship crossing its waters, but it was sturdy, built of wood and steel, in a kingdom whose scientists had no qualm crossing lines that should never have been crossed.
A shadowed figure joined the little girl, Dragon’s grim countenance doing nothing to chase away her almost manic energy. It had been there since her adoptive father had read the message, since they had become aware of the fact that Germa was aware of her existence and at the order of the World Government they wanted to end it. Aware somehow of the hidden D in her name, the same her brother shared, but she knew Law was safe, submerged in the depth of the north, Nika’s mother keeping him safe, his name unknown to all but few.
Her identity, though, had been leaked, perhaps by a spy from the Revolutionary army or perhaps by mere happenstance. She did not care, not truly, not when it meant she would be able to show all she had been training for; show the world that wished to burn her alive that she was still there, yelling her right to live in the face of the fake gods on their fake thrones. Lammy’s memories had only coalesced as she grew, the knowledge that Law had once deemed to be childhood whimsy, now wrapped at the back of her mind as beautifully painful memories. Thirteen and about to deny Thanatos’s call - for she knew he would always be there in one form or another, there was no life without death and no death without life and though his vessel had perished in the Great War, a new one would be given in time - Lammy found herself afraid of little.
She was Trafalgar D. Storm Lammy, a survivor from the White City of Flevance, the one of two. She was the daughter of doctors that had done their best to heal the Amber lead, dying without knowing that both their children would find ways to fight the poison in their veins in ways they could not have expected back on their little island.
She was Astrea, goddess of Justice and Childhood, betrayer of her domains, born anew to break the shackles that kept her bound. And by the gods she would; even if this meant putting the little princeling of Germa in his place.
***
Yonji could not understand why he had to go hunt down some brat affiliated with the Revolutionary army. This was a job for their underlings, not for a prince of Germa. But ever since Niji had disappeared after his mission in the North Blue for two months and came back, Father had stopped trusting him and instead had started subjecting him to more tests and experimentations. It was almost like Father was looking at him like he had once looked at the failure before the brat had the audacity to run away. Good riddance, not that he had even been worthy of the German name. But now Niji was getting the same treatment, Niji who had always been strong and steady, who was supposed to coordinate the science department when he was older. Each day Yonji could hear his brother’s screams, his cut off begging for them to stop. Each day he saw the same dead eyed look in Niji’s eyes that he used to see in San - in the failure’s eyes and Yonji vaguely thought he should maybe feel something about it. But all he could feel was disgust . At how much his brother had fallen, at how incapable he had been to solve a simple mission, at Father’s disappointment with them all.
And now Yonji was sent on this stupid mission, one that should have been delegated to the grunts and not to him, alone and with no men at this disposal, because Ichiji had already proven he wasn’t a failure like Niji, had aced his own mission, had brought back the still bleeding head of his target so that meant Yonji had to do even better, probably bring the little brat in pieces in a burlap sack together with another high ranking member of the Revolutionary Army, whoever it would be that was being her babysitter.
A D, his father had grumbled. A D from the North. As if that made any difference. Everyone knew the D were dangerous, that the world government wanted them erased without prejudice. That’s why they attacked that island in Foosha where the Hero of the marines had hidden his brats. That was one of the reasons they razed Ohara to the ground. For their knowledge and the belief a D was hiding among them. But there had never been any D s in the North. It was whispered the gods were dead there, that the North killed them. Children’s fairy tales, the type San - the failure had been listening to, enraptured each time their mother was well enough to tell one. And as fake as they came it seemed.
A survivor from Flevance who was also a D . Father would have considered it mere gossip if the information hadn’t been accompanied by a photo, a young girl with white patches covering most of her skin, eyes blazing an unnatural blue. A demon. One that had to be put down. And Yonji had been chosen for the mission.
As soon as the ship came into sight, Yonji knew he had no more time to waste. Activating his raid suite, he released his winch to climb on the hull of the vessel. With a storm this bad, it was more than sure no one would be on deck, the crew trying to protect themselves from the elements. It would be easy to make his way below, take out whoever would come in his path and find the brat.
Or at least that was what he told himself, because he definitely did not expect to jump on deck and be met with the electric blue eyes of his target, a wicked smile on her face as she twirled a staff in her hands. Lightning struck around her, the Storm howled, the wind seemingly trying to knock her down, and yet despite the fury of the elements and her deceptive frailness the girl stood her ground.
“I heard you were looking for me,” she grinned, without a care in the world, her eyes flashing gold - blue.
A D. A demon. Suddenly, Yonji understood the stories of old. There was no divinity to be found in this child’s bones, merely the merciless look of an enemy that had seen you as his target and would go at any lengths to see you dead.
***
Metal on metal echoed across the deck of the Wind Grandma, grunts of pain and fatigue clear in the air as the two children - because they were just that no matter that Lammy had lived another life and the little Germa prince had been groomed to be an assassin his entire life, fought. Dragon watched the proceedings with a patience that Ivankov clearly lacked, the okama queen tapping their foot in nervousness even as they chugged a glass of wine they would have normally been sipping peacefully - if Inazuma saw them, Dragon was sure they would have been crying at the improper handling of the delicate Dressrosa wine, Seas knew it was hard to get their hands on it now that Doflamingo had fashioned himself as king in the country.
“Should we not interfere, Dragon-boy?” a particularly harsh blow had Lammy staggering, rolling to her right when the Germa boy’s winch attack came too close to her. Her staff skittered across deck, but she took out a pair of knives that Dragon was only half sure were a gift from Karasu and jumped back to attack, making the boy take a step back in surprise.
“She seems to be handling it fine,” Dragon shrugged, vaguely impressed by the girl’s fighting abilities. He knew she had been training with everyone she had been able to, had begged all members of the Revolutionary Army to teach her, which ended up with her familiar with quite an eclectic variety of skills, but he had not been sure she would be able to hold her own against a boy that was supposed to have been genetically engineered as the perfect assassin and trained from birth. Which was why both him and Ivankov were on deck, supervising the battle - he would not risk her life, no matter how much Lammy wished to prove herself.
However, to his surprise, Lammy was gaining more and more ground, and the Germa prince was being pushed in the railing, cut and bruised, panting harshly and gazing at the girl with a terror of one who had seen the monster lurking under his bed. And this was all without Lammy using her devil fruit.
“Did she just use Haki?” Iva shrieked in his ear and Dragon had to admit he was not anticipating the haki infused kick Lammy had just delivered to the torso of the Germa prince, making him roll across the deck almost all the way to his and Ivankov’s feet.
“That is new I have to admit. A bit sloppy and she can’t sustain it for long, but it took the boy by surprise.”
“Dragon-boy you are entirely too calm about the fact that our Little Storm is beating a prince of Germa black and blue. Also, about the fact that not only Germa found out about her existence, but were precise enough to find the location of our ship and audacious enough to attack.”
Dragon did not bother commenting; he remembered the comms he had intercepted while he was looking at what had remained of Foosha, the total annihilation of Dawn Islan making him want to rage in tandem with the Storm shrieking in fury around him.
Germa making waves, tossing their lot with the World Government, promising to bring the corpses of all D they come across. CP0 making moves, relentlessly trying to find the children that had escaped the Marines’ grasp, the Five Elders sure they were not dead in the Buster call. A spy in his own operation, selling information including the identity of the child the elements had saved from Flevance so long ago.
Well, if they wanted war, there was no reason to not bring it to their doorstep. Starting with the audacious prince of Germa. Judge was either deluded by his hubris or wanted to yet again test his experiments if he thought the green haired boy would be capable enough to take on an entire ship of the Revolutionary army. The fact that he was now facing only Lammy was because the girl had asked, begged and cajoled, until Dragon had capitulated and allowed her to liberate the rage that was burning in her veins.
Another thud echoed on deck, the boy dropped like a sack of potatoes at their feet, Lammy’s grip haki infused still. Green hair matted with blood and hazy eyes, it was clear the little, would-be, assassin would fight no more. And yet, what surprised Dragon was not his defeat, but the blue still blazing in the Little Storm’s eyes, her shackled power still thrumming under her skin.
“Stolen Innocence. Stolen Childhood,” the girl growled, making Ivankov yelp at his side. “Him and not only. Germa must pay .”
With that proclamation, Lammy’s eyes returned to their striking gold and the girl swayed on her feet, staggering in the okama queen’s grasp in a dead faint.