Tanakami

Age
 Status
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Tanakami is an NPC character created by the Story Teller as the current owner of Thriller Bark. She is the daughter of Gekko Moriah and renovated Thriller Bark into a mobile club.

## Personality

Tanakami lives life to the fullest, hence her renovation of Thriller Bark into a 24/7 night club. She is in full support of piracy and what comes from it. She is laid back about doing anything but when it comes to her island and what's done upon it, she takes it all upon herself and will do anything to protect it as it is her right.

## Abilities

* **Teeth** - Her teeth are all razor sharp and can tear flesh from bone.

* **Strength** - As a humanistic base, she can lift twice her weight or 1,332 lbs.

* **Devil Fruit Abilities** - She owns two devil fruits and uses them alone and together. They are:
	+ **Kage Kage no Mi** - A shadow based Paramecia fruit that was previously owned by her father. Abilities she has relating to this fruit that she can use:
		- *Zombies*: She can take shadows as souls and create zombies from dead bodies. She only uses people who are rude in her club to become part of her crew.
		- *Shadow Steal*: Where her father had to use scissors instead of furthering this ability, she perfected just ripping the shadow from the body. She still needs to get hold of the shadow though and uses her nails as the source of cutting, so is usually careful.
		- *Soul Power*: She can intake shadows to gain power but has less fat than her father did so they reside in her muscles instead, increasing her strength by +1/4 her current lift weight. Each shadow also increases her height by an inch each.
		- *Shadow Armor*: She wraps her body in shadows to take heavier impacts on her body. It takes at least three shadows to cover her body if she isn't bulked up.
		- *Shadow Doubles*: She uses shadows to make duplicates of her current form that fight at 1/2 her current strength.
		- *Telepathic Messangers*: She can make several shadow bats that relay instant information to her. It takes one shadow to make one bat.
	+ **Batto Batto no Mi: Hognose Model** - This is a Zoan type devil fruit which allows her to transform both fully and partially into a hognose bat.
		- *Full Bat Form*: still editing.

## History

### Before the RolePlay: Before Luffy's Time

Tanakami was born prematurely, being abnormally large even before being born. She was taken superb care of as she managed to live, her mother not being so lucky to ever see her child. Despite this, she was left with her father on his original regathered crew and raised there. She was a very inquisitive child that seemed to take pride in getting into trouble. Her most favored thing was hiding in the oddest of places. While her father had been out seeking Hogback, she got her mouth on a fruit that made it much easier for the babe to hide. When he finally returned with the new member in tow, she had managed to fly up to the top of the mast and screamed to say hello.

When she was finally gotten down, Gekko went about his business and placed her under Perona's temporary care. She was the first to see that little Tanakami could change into a little fuzzy bat. This made her the subject of many cuddle sessions with her and made it much easier to take care of her. This also made her very hard to keep track of. She would often take into her bat form and hang upside down to watch Hogback place together parts and her father stick shadows in the corpses. She was fascinated by it all.

One day, she hung around too long and accidentally un-transformed while watching. This landed her on the corpse and made the parts flop onto the floor. Hogback was mad but her father wasn't, just wondered how she got up there until she showed her bat side and turned back. He wondered when she could have gotten her little jaws on a fruit but it was clear that she was alright and rather used to it. He made a shadow bat to show her how she should do it and she changed to follow it. This was how she learned to control her powers.

She managed to find every crevice in the castle as she grew and noted that her full bat form stayed small. She figured out slowly how to change its size and tended to try it out on scaring Perona, usually getting startled herself by one of her ghosts. She became sneakier as time passed and by her fifth birthday, she could sneak up on everyone on the island with partial and full transformations. She never showed fear for anything they came across and loved soaring across the zombies and finding where the people were hiding. She even once got to see a skeleton and that was fascinating to her.

As she began to be a big kid, this was when her powers truly bloomed as her bat side. She figured out how to make herself look monstrous. She found out as a bat she could double her current size. She tested how to make herself more fearsome and even forced it into modes she didn't think could have been possible. She felt that she could eventually head out on her own to stake her own name.

### Before the RolePlay: In the Time of Luffy

#### Learning the Ropes

She stayed on Thriller Bark and took up not just to figuring out tactics with her zoan but began to watch Hogback as he worked. She took into learning just how he pieced muscles together and the accuracy of which he attached them. Even though she was only going on eleven, she wanted to learn more closely. At first, she tried sneaking in bat form but he caught onto her and would tell her to leave. Eventually, she came up to him normally and said, "I want to learn how to do this."

He didn't exactly want her watching but he reluctantly agreed. He began to teach her what was what on humans and animals and even let her try to put together a few. She was a fast learner and by the age of twelve was allowed to help in the creation of the zombies and taught how to suture them together. He also showed her how she could benefit from it too, but she rejected having parts sewn into her and showed her already adapted zoan fruit abilities. He continued to insist and she would continue to reject, finding herself fine just the way she was.

#### Meeting the Shichibukai

During these years, she began to meet other pirates, all of them Shichibukai. She admired each of them and found herself drawn to trying to learn more about them. She made sure to watch each one when they appeared in her bat form and there was one who always caught her watching, Mihawk. The first time he caught her, he thought her to be a spy but after it was explained, he let her watch. She saw them come and go and once tried to take Kuma apart to figure him out but the pacifista didn't take to that well. She also made a habit of being in small bat form when Doflamingo was there and would hide in the pink fuzzy he had on. This was the first time meeting them all together when she chose this spot to hide in, only being noticed by her father and Mihawk.

She listened in on this meeting but seemed more focused on her pink fluffy comfy spot. She almost wished for her own comfy spot like this as it would make an excellent sleeping place. She might have taken a nap as she lost track of where the meeting was when she next opened her eyes. She felt him move and this was when she lost her little bat grip and fell out of the fluff and was caught by the tip of a very large sword. She shook off the being spooked and crawled across it and found a new roosting spot on Mihawk's head. It wasn't as comfortable, but it seemed much safer. She heard complaints about her being there but she ignored them to just hang out on the hat. Then when she was formally questioned as to why she was there, she had to come up with an answer, "To learn."

Some seemed to question this but she felt safe until one did. "How are we sure you're not spying?" It was the one she was just hiding on.

"Learning isn't spying!" She retorted, "I learn from daddy and from his men. And from all you. You all met me. You know I am here and good." She was too smart to be thirteen.

This was when she saw webbed fingers up towards her and she crawled onto the hand bravely and comfortably. She felt cupped and warm in the fishman hand and closed her eyes comfortably. "She's no threat. If she just wants to learn to be like us then let her," Jinbe seemed to be the voice of reason, this little girl wasn't a problem to them. She was startled when he took a finger and started petting her soft fur, relaxing after feeling that it felt great.

"She's taken to learning from Hogback," Her father stepped in for a full explanation, "She watches everything that goes on here and just takes the information for her own benefit, no one else's." He still kept a careful eye on her as she was being shown off and introduced her to those who never took the time to learn her name, "She is Tanakami, my daughter."

She was allowed to stay in Jinbe's hand through the meeting and enjoyed being pet from time to time. She ignored most of the information exchanged and spent the time playing with his webbing. She'd pull on it a bit then flex her wing out and poke at the flesh there to see the difference in elasticity. She concluded that if this ability hadn't of been from a devil fruit, it would be able to swim rather well. Yet she continued to explore and found that if she rolled onto her back, it tickled his hand. She decided to not do that again and ended up learning some information relevant to the meeting they were having.

#### Stroke of Bravery

Once it was done, she noticed everyone seemed to take a moment to relax before leaving. She took off from Jinbe's hand and hung upside down on Mihawk's hat and asked, "Do you sail alone? I saw you come alone. Is it lonely?"

"I do, I did, and no," He answered her simply and rocked his hat a little, her not getting off of it.

"What would you tell someone who wants to start out alone?" She folded her wings back together and cocked her head at him.

"Don't," He answered to her.

She huffed and let go to fly over to her next target, landing in front of their current female member. She looked her over and felt an urge to groom her fur but pushed it aside as she said, "What about you, pretty lady? Do you go it alone?"

"No, I have my crew," She responded to the tiny bat.

Tanakami got disheartened and flew up into the air and changed into herself for the time being, her looking at them and saying, "Why do you all seem so tense when an innocent is watching? Are you that paranoid that a little girl might be a spy? Do you know what that says you think about my father?" She didn't give them time to react before continuing, "And as for others... You are protected by marines right? Who is dumb enough to mess with all of you? You're pirates that have government back up and that is pretty cool in my book. If I were against you guys, I wouldn't be here. I would be off cowering in the corner like a whimpering turd that the rest of the world is! Sides, if anyone stands up to you and can even take one of you, then they will probably end up one of you anyways." She then hopped off the table and started walking.

"Tanakami you are in trouble once they leave," Moriah spoke out to her in a slightly angry tone.

"I am already heading to my room," Tanakami looked back at them, "I said my piece and soon I won't be here any more, father. I want to be my own pirate and be able to take you all on one day. Watch your backs." She then continued to her room but not before she heard some murmurs of approval from a couple of them.

She sat in her room and was in the corner with her arms folded, waiting to be scolded. When the door to her room opened, it wasn't her father that appeared before her but Doflamingo. He came over to her and smirked at her, handing her a piece of paper. She was going to ask what it was for and before she got a word out, he said, "When you are ready, this will give you what we have. You are either crazy, or you will be a great pirate." He walked out.

Those words settled with her and she knew she'd have to set out for it. She waited and the next year they had gathered again, and why they chose here for now confused her but they no longer questioned when she sat in. She decidedly caught Jinbe's attention afterwards and despite her threat the previous year, he started to train her in fishman karate. She may not have been fully capable of its damaging effects but she used it to keep her body as sharp as her mind. The next year he tested her memory of it and passed her onto Crocodile, whom she learned how to fight against a nearly untouchable paramecia. She also learned the one thing she had never learned in the lab, what blood felt like. She learned how to use her zoan form as a reflex to fighting situations and practiced this by sparring zombies and such on the island until the next meeting. She rotated through each of them and learned how to break out of moves with Haki, how to harness her inner beast, how to assert her will and resist moves, how to fight an opponent with her intelligence to gain the upper hand no matter the opponent, and lastly learned how to bend others to do her bidding for her.

#### Pirate Blood

She finally set out at age 20, ready for what the world would throw at her as a product of the Shichibukai. She set out alone and made attempts to gather crew and to get herself infamous. She kept losing her crewmembers to either the sea or in fights that she proved ready for where they weren't. When she hit 25, she decided that a crew was not needed to continue as a pirate, yet she never saw a bounty let alone news of her no matter how great the feat she achieved. She never gave up and eventually met a yonko by accident.

This encounter was with one that was so infamous that she herself couldn't believe she'd come across him. She was allowed to board though at the price of most of her sake, which she didn't mind at the time, and got to meet the infamous whitebeard. Despite what all she had been told of him, she showed no fear, just like when she was little and had stood up to the shichibukai. She instead greeted him with a smile and just spoke with him, discussing why she was out alone.

"I know it would be different," He offered to her, "But my sons could always use a sister."

"No thanks," Tanakami rejected joining his crew, "I want to make my own name though... I don't see why it's never spread. I feel like some sort of sick cover up project." She chuckled and then said, "Guess I just need to try harder and one day I will be as infamous as you."

He laughed at her but she laughed with him. It was a silly dream but she wasn't going to let an entire crew laughing at her get her down, she was determined. She stood up and respectfully took her leave but before she fully left, she heard him say, "The offer won't be taken off the table just because you walk away."

Tanakami turned back and said, "I don't need another father. I already have seven." She then left and went back onto her own journey. She continued for what felt like forever but it had only been until she was twenty seven, learning of new shichibukai that she'd not heard the names of before. Sure enough to learn them, she met them one by one. Luckily, it was only two she needed to meet. The first was an amazonian, who gladly spoke with her and they exchanged information. This granted her another chance to be on a crew but again declined to be on her own. This angered the woman but Tanakami left before any damage could be done. As for the other, he was a different and more silent story. She remembered that they had been working on things that seemed to be being led up to this man. She asked him if he could show her to the pacifistas and he agreed to let her see the inner workings. She did only one thing for herself when he wasn't looking, integrate information into the internal systems that deemed her as a civilian permanently and as something to protect and give information to. When they left, she made no mention of it and found it as a simple task.

She then went out alone and stayed away, trying to make a name for herself when it just didn't seem to stick. She watched for months as a new group grew and this frustrated her. She ignored them for a while but then news came that hit home. She rushed herself back to Thriller Bark and found only rubble and no one was there. She looked everywhere on the island and found nothing, no trace. She knelt down and could only assume the worst, placing her hands in the grass as she felt what remained of this place that was her home. She felt it was her fault and that she would need to fix it.

She felt someone over her and it was the pacifista. She glared at it and said, "Don't tell me they are alive."

"Yes," The answer was certain and clear.

Tanakami stood up and walked to head off the island as she said, "If you see my dad, I was never here." She kept walking and sailed back off. She seemed to prefer being on her own, but knowing that they were safe, at least for now, she could smile. She looked to see what other news she'd missed in a town and found that Crocodile was kicked off the Shichibukai for being a failure. Seemed he'd run into the same kid. All he was to her was trouble. She decided to head to Crocodile and see what was the reason for all of this. She walked through Alabasta to find him hiding out outside of it, Baroque Works was terminated rather distinctly and she couldn't find a trace of him, but he found her.

"If it isn't Gecko's little girl," He formed behind her. "How has your traveling been?"

"Fruitful," She turned to him and looked him in the eyes, still as fearless as ever, "As much as I hate to admit it, I am a ghost to the world. I have been embracing it. For all you know I was never here."

He chuckled at her and said, "You've grown. Still think you can be one of them?"

"Why would they kick you out for such a stupid failure?" Tanakami wasn't having it. "You're just as powerful as them. Just as smart. Why is this kid ruining things?!" She was getting pissed but his hook gently on her shoulder calmed her down.

"He wants to be king of the pirates," He said, "It's everywhere and growing, haven't you kept updated?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Well then... He certainly is on his way. But if he so much as hurt anyone I care for..."

"You'll end up like your father if you go down this road," Crocodile warned her. "He was an excellent pirate in his day then his crew died. Didn't he ever tell you why he was so lazy?"

Tanakami froze up and glared for a moment but then relaxed and shoved the hook off her shoulder. She sighed and said, "He wouldn't talk about it. And he didn't get lazy he got inventive then he got lazy... and cowardly... Here is his own little coward out on her own, a ghost to the world. This will change..." She felt his actual hand and shoved it off. "I don't need pity... Why don't you use your god damned hook again?" She sneered at him.

"You need to calm down," He said and placed his hand back on her. "You and him are not the same. You are out there alone, like Mihawk. You are perhaps much better than your father ever was and far more active." He leaned close and said, "Being invisible to the world is the best thing a pirate could ask for." He released her and started to walk away and fade into sand. "Fly away, little bat."

She sighed and walked back to where she'd left her boat, not before stopping for food and drink. She didn't like the fact that she was compared to him but to who else was there to compare her to. Yet he also compared her to Mihawk, that handsome man. She thought that maybe there was something to this. She'd been trying so hard to be noticed that it possibly was the best way to be, a ghost. She paid for her stuff and left, hearing someone frantically running for a doctor and being rejected. Tanakami saw this as a challenge and walked up to the spastic woman and asked, "What's the matter?"

"My child is dying," She whimpered and tugged on Tanakami's arm, "Please someone needs to save him."

Tanakami couldn't resist placing her old skills to a better use than just tinkering, following her to the child and kneeling down to them. She carefully looked at the bone sticking from the child's leg and the height that he seemed to have jumped off of. She looked to the mother and said, "I need a cloth, two pieces of wood that is rather solid, sewing needle, thread, and paste." The mother ran off to gather the materials while Tanakami stayed with the child and gently looked into the wood for bone fragments. She pulled out one and placed it where it was supposed to go. She then gently placed the bone back into place and held it there. The mother returned with organic paste and cloth, perfect for now as she carefully ripped the cloth and wrapped it with the paste around the bone to force it into that set position. Then she pulled close the leg and saw the boy quivering as he paled. She spoke to him in the sweetest voice and said, "Look at me..." He did look at her with tears in his eyes. "You're going to be alright," She looked into his eyes as she calmly said, "I want you to think of your mother alright? You are a strong boy and this is just a minor battle wound from a little jump. You will be alright because you have to protect her."

The boy only nodded to her and the mother returned with the rest of the materials. She quickly sewed the leg shut and reinforced the outside. Others who had rejected the mother's pleas watched as this total stranger was willing to help and did so very adequately. When Tanakami finished, she pet the boy's head and then stood up to leave. The woman tapped her on the back, waiting for her to turn before she said, "Please, let me give you something for helping him."

"I don't want anything, I just did it because I felt like it," She smiled and then turned to continue walking back to her boat. She didn't want fame in that way, but if she became so then at least it is a form of what she wanted. She decided to find and go back to an old friend, more or less not a true friend but one she would like to be friends with. She made sure she brought with her as much sake as her boat could hold and sure enough, she'd sought out Whitebeard again. When she boarded this time and brought with her the sake for him, she was silent for a time and then after some time said, "I want to make an odd request." She saw his face turn serious but he seemed interested in the request. "You offered me to be part of... This," She pointed at his crew and then looked down and said, "I have been doing well on my own but... Even though I have been told I still have someone to return to... I suppose I would like to be connected in some way but still remain a ghost to the world." She looked up at him and placed her hand out, "How about allies?"

He seemed unsatisfied with it and said, "Is there something overbearing about my sons? Or do you just not want another father, like you said before? You claimed the opposite just now and you still reject while trying to join. Give me a straight yes or no."

She looked at him and then down as she brushed her hand through her hair. She didn't know what to think and her horns stuck out when she did this. She looked back up to him and said, "It is more complicated than that. I want to be part of it but not formally. Not announced. I need to remain hidden but... I want a home to come back to." She grit her teeth together and closed her eyes in an attempt to hide her tears.

He watched her and said, "No I understand." He could see the pain she was hiding and said, "Come here." Tanakami wouldn't look at him but did as asked as she stood and walked over to him. She didn't expect to be placed onto his lap and held, this had never been done to her when she was upset. She almost went bat out of instinct but she stayed normal and gripped onto him, hiding her head on him. "You can wear my mark somewhere no one will see. You will always be able to come back to me," He said to her and rubbed her back.

She tried her hardest to not cry and said simply, "I don't get this..." She tried to bury her head in the muscle and then said, "I feel safe... I don't like it..." She was shaking a bit and pushed away to just be held there. She tried again and freaked out a little, going into a human-sized bat form and trying to use the different muscles to struggle her way out, him letting her go as she flopped onto the deck in the half zoan form. She hissed at him and then went back into her normal form as she said, "I was not shown any form of affection unless I was a little adorable bat... Not used to it... Don't like it... It was either get stronger and smarter or be worth nothing..." She looked up at him and said, "I am sorry..."

"You wouldn't be the first," He said to her and then stood up before her as he spoke more firmly, "Choose where."

Tanakami took a deep breath and removed her boot, rolling up her pant leg and she was going to point at her ankle but she thought it would be rude and said, "The entire half of my leg, knee down facing forward." She held still as his men got the ink and tattoo gear and placed the mark on her leg. The entire time she just stared at the first man to give her true affection and never showed a single sign of pain. Once the mark was there, she tied her pant leg and carried her boot with her. She gave him a smile and said, "I would like to stay until the mark is set. Then I will continue on my way."

She was welcomed aboard and found a place to sit and watch it set. She looked it over and noticed she wasn't much of a bleeder. She stayed for a few months and helped out on the bigger ship and got to meet some of the crew. She remained shy and to herself even with some opening up. When she finally had the tattoo set, she couldn't bring herself to leave right off the bat. She took at least some time each day during it to talk to him and share with him. She found it easy to talk to him, and she became more accustomed to gestures that were meant to be friendly. Eventually, she was the one initiating the hugs and even decided to stay an extra week with them. One of the days she sat with Marco and said, "I wish I could help him."

"You aren't a doctor," He chuckled a bit, "are you?"

"Yeah but..." She hesitated and said, "Not very good. At least I don't think I am good... I learned from Hogback but that was... I don't know... Surgery, basics, and just... I don't think I would know how to help."

"Won't know how good you are until you try," He said to her. "You're one of us now even if you are this... half in and half out sort of predicament. Just take a look and see what you find."

Tanakami almost wanted to blush and she pat his shoulder before going to converse with the ones charged with his current care. She told them what she wanted to do and they told her what his issues were. Tanakami wanted to examine further but they told her no and so she went over their heads and asked him the next time they could speak. "I wanted to do an examination to see if I could help you more than these... Things are doing for you," This was how she presented it and she felt horrible for it. They'd not known each other long and he showed her his trust and let her. She did examine him and turned out she could do nothing for the moment. She couldn't help but apologize and she promised she would find a way to help him when she was away.

When she finally left, it wasn't without a second thought. She did love them and forced herself to promise to return someday. She headed back to where Thriller Bark was and began to attempt to rebuild it on her own. She barely used her Zoan abilities and started by reconstructing Mast Mansion. She didn't know how long it took but she eventually got up some form of way to get information from the world around her and got a shock of the first thing she got to see. Pirates and Marines in an all out war and sure enough, all of them were there. She saw the Shichibukai, she saw Whitebeard, she saw horror as one of them was killed. She'd never felt such a rush of emotion and ran to her small boat and tried to make her way there, taking a snail radio with her to help follow what was going on. She eventually saw that there seemed to be a cease and that the snail was behind and her boat was intercepted by Mihawk.

"You don't want to go there," He warned her and grabbed her boat next to his and this paused them both in the water.

"You don't understand..." She growled at him and said, "I need to see what happened... Something is horribly wrong and I want to see what was going on..."

"Your father is fine," Mihawk told her and pushed her boat to redirect her. "I saw him before I left."

"That's not who I am concerned about!" She heard the snail utter what had shocked the world just previously and she tossed it into the water. "No... It can't be like this... I made a promise..."

Mihawk looked down and then back as he said, "Tanakami, there's nothing you can do. Go back to Thriller Bark and I am headed to my home as well."

She looked at him with broken eyes but not a single tear. She clenched her fists and whispered, "Fine... So help me... If I found a way... This shouldn't have happened..." She bit her lip and attempted to punch him. He moved out of the way and she nearly fell into the water due to the force of her punch but Mihawk grabbed her before she could get too wet and drown.

"Go home," He said to her then kicked her boat away from his. "You will be fine and everything will be fine. A few deaths do not matter as long as you get out of it alive. Learn that now."

She let him start going and she said to him as she turned around, "Once I am a better doctor, no one will ever die on me again. No matter how sick, how old, or how hurt... Got that... So your warnings to not go, I will only listen today. Don't forget, I am still coming after all of you..." She then paddled herself to head home. She spent a little over a year fixing her home and then when it was done, she left. She ended up running into Mihawk again while he was out getting things for his own home and they stopped in the water. She looked at him and said, "I don't apologize for over a year ago. I meant what I said. But I do apologize for whatever has been going on with you guys."

"Explain," He asked her plainly.

"Clearly there is a rift going on," She explained, "Ever since... Ever since that boy and Whitebeard died. Since my father disappeared. Since that... Asshole swapped sides on the turn of a dime." She took a deep breath. "The Shichibukai are falling apart. If I ever want to be one of you, you all need to get your shit together." He was about to talk but she added onto the end, "I always thought when I saw them together that you were the leader figure. Jinbe's no longer one of you and he seemed to help keep things together. Doflamingo can't do it, he's an asshat despite the paper he gave me, like a paper can do anything to help... Who else is gone besides Jinbe? My father, obviously. Then... Ug... The asshat who turned on you all. Why'd you even let him in anyways?!" She sounded pissed and rightfully was.

"We had an open slot," Mihawk explained to her calmly, "His crew member said he was good enough to fill it."

"So you blindly let someone join you guys?" Tanakami couldn't stop herself from laughing a bit. "Look what that got you." She shook her head and sat in her boat, she was laughing but half crying. He crossed over into her boat and sat down on the other side as he placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and said, "One day I will join and you guys will never be betrayed. At least not by me."

He laughed a bit at her, she smiled at him and then waited as he said, "I am sure you will. I will be waiting for the day you aren't an emotional mess."

Tanakami nodded and said, "I get better every day." She gave him a hug, only for a second before she pulled away. "You might want to go do what you were doing. I have things I am going to do too." She watched him go back over to his and they went their separate paths. She drifted from island to island and helped people, just simply as a ghost. She did this until a half of a year later. She also attempted to upgrade everything and one day, she was listening into a broadcast while she was helping deliver a child. After she handed a little girl to her mother she heard that the one asshole that had killed Whitebeard and had betrayed the Shichibukai was deceased. She took great joy in hearing that and deemed it the greatest day there was. One day came greater when the straw hat crew took the One Piece. Then was when she finally returned home and when she got there, she had a surprise hug from someone she hadn't seen in a long time, Perona. She smiled and hugged her back as she said, "Hey."

"Tanakami it has been forever!" Perona said to her.

Tanakami smiled and said, "Just a few years." She peeked behind her and saw Zoro and the other straw hats were there and she asked, "Aren't you going to introduce your friends?"

Perona got off of her and nodded, "Oh yeah! These are the Straw Hats. That's Zoro, their swordsman, trained by Mihawk and then there's the rest."

Tanakami giggled a bit then stepped around her to say hello. "My name is Gekko Tanakami, also known as the ghost," She introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you all. I heard of your achievement." Brook came forward to her through the group and before he could say anything, she said, "I saw you when I was younger. I watched you from afar. It's been a long time."

Brook then said, "Can I see your panties?"

"I don't wear any," Tanakami smiled and seemed proud of it. She giggled at his jaw dropping and then looked to the others, "So, how about you... Jinbe?" She was shocked to see him and she went over and hugged onto him. "Oh my... I never thought... Since... but..." She turned into her tiny bat form and went into his hand. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," He scratched her back a little and she smiled in her bat form.

"Cool!" Luffy pretty much yelled to her, making her tense up. "She's a tiny bat. Let's take her with us!"

Tanakami waited for Jinbe to stop before getting out of his hand and turning to herself and saying, "I just got home. Give me a little time to..." She stopped herself and looked at them. She didn't want to make the same mistake twice. She'd either have to join them or just avoid it. She smiled to herself and then said, "You know what, I need to turn this down. I once got offered onto a crew and when I kinda took it, he died. I am bad luck and you don't need me I am sure."

"Come on! What can you do anyways?" Luffy asked her.

"You already have a doctor," She smirked and tried to walk past them to go home, petting Chopper on the head. "A cute one. You don't need me." She stepped behind them all and turned around and said, "You're more than welcome to seek me out when you want to try again. Just take care of Perona and so help me if you hurt her, Zoro, I will kill ya." She continued to head back to the mansion in the center. She burst into the doors and walked through them, seeing Absolom, Hogback, and her father in his main room. She stood in front of them and said, "I came home."

This was when she explained what she'd learned on her journey and helped rebuild the zombies. She managed to out-do Hogback with all the practice she had been receiving. She was happy and felt like she was worth something. She spent time with her father and showed him what she'd been learning and where she'd been. She told him about her encounters and that she was actually terrified when she thought he might have died. She hugged him and then ran off to go do other things around the island. She kept herself busy and trained in the rebuilt garden, maintaining the entire place insistently by herself. She didn't even give the zombies much to do and stayed the top power there. She even spread her wings from time to time to fly across the island and stay sharp. She did full and partial transformations and loved doing laps around people on the island.

One day while doing laps, she saw that the Straw Hats had returned and were at grave markers she'd fixed and placed. She flew down to them and reverted to herself and placed her hand on Brook's shoulder. "Hey." Her voice was tender and caring.

"You restored their spots," Brook looked up to her and then said, "And you put markers for so many others even though there are no bodies. Why?"

The rest of the crew looked at her and she looked across them. She smiled and said, "Markers are there for memory, to hold dear those that have passed. I hold myself responsible for every life that I should have been able to save but was either not there at the right time..." She placed a hand on a marker she had set for Whitebeard. "Or... Just not at the right place entirely..." She looked back right at Brook, "I have done research and made sure every body here and every body not here has a name. No unmarked or mass graves... No one more important than any other..." She moved back to him and knelt down beside him. "I know some people are more important to others than they are to those who wouldn't know... So I placed personal feelings away and made it so they can be even." She chuckled a bit and said, "Once a week I spread a single flower to each grave, not caring if I know the name or not just because they were all important somewhere to someone."

She saw them staring at her and then she got up and began to walk away. Luffy ran up to her and grabbed her arm. She turned and looked at him, getting a firm statement thrown at her, "I want you to be in my crew. You're cool and would fit right in."

She saw them agreeing but she shook her head. She pulled her arm away as she said, "I can at least take you up to mast mansion and get you all food and drink. My place is here."

"Why?" Luffy asked her, certainly not giving up.

"Because of all the things in this world, the dead are far more lively than the living," She responded to him then explained, "Someone needs to preserve them and give them all a place. One day, maybe, life will belong to those who are alive."

"So if people stop dying, you'll join my crew?" Luffy asked her and then followed it up, "No one can live forever though. So, does that mean no? I won't stop til you will."

"He's right," Nami warned her.

Usopp decided to chime in, "He wouldn't leave anyone alone until they joined so we will be back."

Tanakami blushed a bit and said, "Let's just go to my home and you can get what you'd like and go. Cause I will keep refusing. I am warning you that I am extremely bad luck." She started leading them back.

"Bad luck never stopped us," Zoro mentioned to her.

Tanakami blushed more and said, "At most I can welcome you here whenever... But I will not join your crew." She turned into a large bat form and let them all get on, flying them there instead. She took them right into a dining hall through the window and let them off before reverting to normal. She smiled and said, "I will just be a moment."

"Let me help," Sanji insisted.

"Um, alright," She let him come back into the kitchen with her and she smiled and politely spoke to the zombies, "We're borrowing the kitchen for a bit. Go take a break." She tried her best to help but in the end she ended up leaving it to him and apologizing. She at least helped him find everything and took out sake and other things for them. Once the first was done though, she let him go back to his crew and attempted to take over from there. She watched them from a distance and smiled to herself, seeing how they interacted. She got back to making sure there was enough and the zombies came back in to help despite her asking them not to. Eventually, Brook came in looking for her and brought her out to be with them, letting the zombies to the work. She felt odd sitting with them and didn't really know what to say and tried to stay quiet.

Luffy wasn't half allowing her to sit out of the conversation and he asked her, "What made you a doctor?"

Tanakami looked at him and then at the others as they stared at her and she responded to him, "Curiosity."

"There's gotta be more than that," Chopper egged her on.

"It's complicated..." She said.

"So make it simple," Zoro spoke to her, Perona on his lap.

Tanakami sighed and said, "I was curious about everything and I watched everyone and one day I asked Hogback to teach me and he did. That's the most of it."

"Spill all of it," Nami said to her.

Tanakami blushed a bright shade of red and said, "But... Why?"

Sanji spoke to her, "He wants you in his crew and he will get you sometime so we should know who we're letting in."

"If I don't tell you all everything?" Tanakami looked across them.

"They will still try to hook you," Jinbe said to her, "It works."

Tanakami sighed and said, "Fine." They seemed eager to listen. "I wanted to be good enough to beat all of the Shichibukai. Jinbe knows this cause I threatened them all when I was... Twelve? Yeah..." She saw them smiling and she smiled but she didn't want to get used to it. "As much as I wanted to be one and as much as I hung around them... I never feared any pirate. I have always felt... rather safe... I even stood before Whitebeard and... Well... He made me feel safer than the Shichibukai... But I have a promise to keep." She gently tapped her nails on the table. "I promised Mihawk that I would become a Shichibukai and never betray them. And that I would kick his ass but that's a different story." She blushed and then said, "Enough about me... Tell me about you all."

They shared their stories and she got to know them. She hated herself for falling for the charms but when it came time for them to leave, she stayed on Thriller Bark. She did one thing that she thought she'd never do to another being, kissed Brook before they left. She watched them sail off and then went back to the mast mansion to clean up the mess. Her father saw her as she was cleaning and lost his own smile as she seemed really depressed. He sat himself down and asked, "What's wrong?"

"First time you've ever asked that," She said, finishing what she was doing before sitting down with him. "You really want to know what's wrong?"

"Yes I do," He said back to her.

She sighed and said, "Almost everything to put it simply." She looked right into his eyes. "I want to go, but the last time I got attached to someone else's crew, everything came tumbling apart." She folded her arms on the table as she thought of what else to clarify with it. "I had joined the Whitebeard pirates... Then I leave for just a little and... Lost him... Almost lost you... I almost drowned but Mihawk saved me despite being... Just a total... I was horrible..." She rubbed her head and then continued, "I am scared that if I go with them, something bad will happen... I am scared that just by being affiliated with them will make something bad happen... I am never afraid and you know that."

"You still aren't," He said to her and offered his hand, "You are just worried."

"There's a lot to worry about," Tanakami placed her hand in her father's. "But one day there won't be... Perhaps there will be a day that no one dies. On the day that is possible... That is the day I will join them." She then got up and went back to what she was doing, cleaning up form them being there. Life traveled on until one day, another important announcement was made. Luffy and his crew had been killed and there was a new Fleet Admiral. That day, Tanakami cried on her father despite her wanting to go ruin whoever had done this. She had to stay put as she tried to gather herself and just stayed ever vigilant.

### Before the Roleplay: After Luffy's Death

There came a day when home was no longer safe. She was walking through the hall to head out and perform her usual tasks when the Fleet Admiral burst down the front door. She backed up and then glared as the man approached her. She said, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"All pirates are being eliminated," He told her simply. "I have no records of you. What is your name?"

"The Ghost," Tanakami responded as she watched her men inch around the sides. She stood firm and said, "Get out of my home."

"Oh!" Nomikomu stepped closer and checked her out, "You're a doctor, scientist, whatever you want to be called I am more than welcome to letting you on my side. How about you join-"

"No," She knew this question and this time, she didn't even want to. She glared at him and said, "You just told me you are here to kill my father and the others who raised me. No."

She turned back and turned to fly as fast as she could to warn them but she felt something heavy leap onto her back and slam her into the ground. Her nose bled and she felt a claw digging into her back. She heard his voice, "Now now... You aren't a pirate. But they are. You don't need to join but I will at least show you what will happen if you ever become one... I dare you to scream."

"You don't scare me," Tanakami snarled and tried to get him off of her back. "Get off asshole!" She bucked as she tried to get free. She felt a claw on her head and saw the nails in front of her eyes, they were being held open. His men went and retrieved those she had come to love and one by one, slaughtered them right before her eyes. She cried but she didn't make a single noise. When the slaughtering was finished, she was released and left on the ground. She went to her father and placed her hand on his body, her tears falling into his blood. Then she thought of something and turned back into a bat form, it was too late to save her father but it was not too late to save others. She flew up through the mast mansion to the highest hole she could get to and burst out, seeing which way the marine ship was going.

She saw it was trying to go to the next closest point it seemed and she took off high into the sky and tried to find Mihawk's place. She dove down once she got there and noticed all was fine so far. She flew into a window of the castle and because she didn't know it as she did her own home, she crashed into a wall, alerting Mihawk to her. She reverted to her normal form and found that she had gotten a large chunk of wood in her arm. She ignored it and got herself up when she saw he saw her but before she said anything, he asked, "What just happened?"

"Someone is killing all pirates," She got herself up and tried to pull the wood out of her arm but it wouldn't budge. She grit her teeth and then gave up on it for now and said, "I came to get you, if they find you they're going to kill you. They won't check Thriller Bark twice..." She tried the wood again and then went bat and tried to get it out. She growled a bit and just left it there.

"I can handle myself," Mihawk spoke then turned away.

"It's the same guy who became the Fleet Admiral..." She flopped her hurt wing out in front of him.

He stopped and looked back to her and then pushed her wing aside. He gathered his sword and his dagger then hopped onto her back. She flew him back to Thriller Bark and helped him find a place to stay for a while. She then went to the lab in the smaller mansion, not knowing he followed her. She tried again to get the wood out of her arm and was having a time of it. He came over to her and pulled it out with everything he had. She grunted but seemed more relieved that it was out. She dug in the wound for splinters and pulled out a few. She smiled at him and said, "Thanks..."

Mihawk nodded and said, "Tell me what to do and I will help."

Tanakami smiled at him and then said, "Distilled water, Saline, um..." She was getting a little light headed. "Sutures, um... needle. My muscles... seem to be fine..." She tried to examine it and then ripped a piece of her pants and handed it to him, "Tie my arm tight to constrict blood flow." She watched him do it and she took a deep breath as he brought over the requested things. She grabbed the distilled water and poured it over the wound to clean it and saw the total damage. She sighed and said, "Okay... It did cut a muscle... Not too bad."

"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Mihawk asked her.

"No, it's fine," Tanakami grabbed the saline and put the bag on her ear carefully and stuck the IV end into her other arm. She felt the cold go into her and she gasped a bit. "Fuu... That's cold." She sighed before she grabbed the needle and the sutures, stringing it. She started to sew her arm shut carefully on the side that was harder to reach first. Mihawk watched her amazed she was even doing this. She finished up that side and then tied it off and started on the closer side. She eventually got it all patched up and forced herself up to stand and took the cloth off. She found gauze and placed it on the areas she'd worked then wrapped it up carefully to not constrict the blood flow but to be sure the wraps would stay on. She then relaxed and smiled at him, "Thanks."

"You should have been one of us," Mihawk admitted.

Tanakami looked at him and giggled. "I wasn't ready and I am still not," She said to him. "Now... Could you help me dig some graves? I am... I'm alone here now." She tried to not sound sad but the emotion was there. He could see it. This lead to her forcing herself to go to the bodies and trying to lift them. She felt her stitches pull and she whimpered a bit. Mihawk had followed her and was going to help but she seemed distinctly persistent on doing it on her own. He went through to find shovels and eventually they buried all the bodies. Once that was done, she went to the garden and plucked the only odd looking fruits there were and figured the furthest one was her father's as he was killed last. She took them into the table and set them down and stared at them.

Mihawk sat with her and looked at them. "Your father's?" He asked her, "And Absolom's?"

"Yeah," She stared at them and kept her hand on the one with her father's. She didn't know there could be more than one, under the assumption that two would kill a person. She placed it under her head and sighed a bit. She just leaned on it and scratched at it slightly.

Mihawk watched her and said, "Are you thinking about eating it?"

"Yeah," She placed her cheek on it and rubbed her head against it.

"You already have a fruit power," He pointed out to her.

"Yeah," Was the only answer she could come up with. She scratched at it again and then sat up and seemed like she was decided. He watched her carefully as she just picked it up and first pulled a syringe and pulled a small sample before she bit into it. She made sure to eat the entire thing and she sat there staring and looked at her hands. "I'm not... dead?" She had the revelation right before she felt truly sick. She took deep breaths and placed her head down on the table. Her fists gripped as she whispered, "This... Feels horrible.." She kept breathing heavy but when it finally settled, she looked up at Dracule and snarled, "You knew it wouldn't kill me..."

"I wanted to see how brave you were when faced with death," He spoke to her honestly. "You've proven that you fear nothing and no one."

Tanakami smiled at him then said, "Well... I still need to see if I can save anyone else..." She stood up and tried to walk off the sick feeling of eating the fruit. "If you could store the other one somewhere safe, that'd be nice. Maybe in the lab." She then took to a partial bat form and forced the wings to be on her back instead of attached to her arms and she started to fly, checking all the next nearest that she knew of. She couldn't find anyone as they were either dead already or hiding. This was when she flew back and found Mihawk was still there. It'd only been a couple months since she'd rescued him and she felt he would be safe here still.

"No one?" Mihawk asked her, he had food out on the table and saw that she was nearly flesh and bones from her journey. "Eat first and talk later."

"I'm fine," She insisted and sat down anyways, just picking at the food. "I found some bodies... Beyond that I think the others are hiding." She started to eat a little bit and looked like she wanted to collapse. He came over and held her up as he knew he'd need to help her get to where she was.

It would take a few months until she was back to normal, them still living together as she started to work with her powers on morons who decided to come onto the island. She captured them and would figure out their moral standings and if they were good, she'd release them. If they were horrible, she would confine them, take their shadows, and place them on life support. She worked with them until she mastered her father's moves, figuring them out in a month flat. From there, she set out bats to use as sentries, shadow bats. She explored and expanded her powers daily and Mihawk watched her all this time. She seemed to flower as she discovered new things and started to train with him on Haki. She didn't even try to learn it herself but found ways around his. She managed to wound him severely and also nursed him back to health. They still trained and eventually, she learned it just enough to counter it if she couldn't creatively find a way to counter it. She became intelligent and strong, but her focus remained on her skills and what she could do.

After a year of hiding Mihawk, she gave him a boat to sail back on. Before he left, he granted her a smile and said, "Thank you."

"You're always welcome here," Tanakami spoke and said, "Anyone who needs help can come here for refuge. You can pass the word." She gave him a smile and watched him take off. It wasn't a week that she was alone before she saw something she thought she'd never see. It was the Straw Hat's ship. She saw it through one of her sentry bats and she ran outside and went to the boat and saw Brook the only one alive. She went to him and said, "So... This really happened..." He seemed at a loss for words and she said, "Let me help..."

They carried the bodies to the graveyard and she took samples of brain tissue from the areas where the heads were missing. She kept them to herself and helped bury the bodies. She then showed him to a room and held onto him. She remembered when he said about himself when they were all sharing stories, she spoke to him softly, "I am so sorry... At least... You had someone to come to this time..." Listening carefully, he was whispering lyrics. She said, "You don't need to whisper, I want to hear..."

He looked up at her and he sung a bit louder the song he loved the most, Bink's Sake. She listened to the words and held onto him gently, trying to memorize them as he sang them. It made her smile a bit and she rested her head against him. She got the tune in her head and tried to hum with him still singing. He appeared to appreciate the gesture but stopped, her looking at him with a questioning face. "You learned that rather quick," He commented.

"Yeah," Tanakami smiled, "I learn a lot of things quick." She blushed a little and looked away. She then turned back to him for a split second to kiss where a cheek would be before looking away again. She felt like she could understand his sadness, trying to compare it to her own. He'd lost crews around him, she'd lost nearly everyone around her, but they now had each other to fall on. She turned back around and kissed him on his teeth, assuming where his lips would have been.

They spent their time together for a week before he remembered something, taking out a small snail and saying to her, "A pufferfishwoman gave me one, apparently it is connecting all of the survivors in secret."

Tanakami took the snail and heard it whispering, her turning it up a bit. She heard Mihawk talking to people and she turned it up a little louder before she spoke to it, "Hello?"

"Unmute it first," Brook told her.

"Oops," She blushed bright red and then said, "Unmute. Hello?"

Sure enough she heard Mihawk respond to her, "Tanakami, great to hear you."

"Great to hear you too," She smiled and then put the snail on her shoulder and looked to Brook, "We have things to do, and now I can know who's okay~!" She seemed so excited.

She then muted her snail and showed it places it could hide in case something happened, and sure enough a sentry saw a marine ship coming. She had it hide and asked Brook to hide, her heading out and seeing that they just seemed to be stopping. She approached them and saw most of them were wounded to varying degrees. As much as she hated the marines, she set that aside for the moment and took them all to the lab and helped them. She let them stay long enough to heal and even though they saw Brook there, they didn't seem to care. While this was going on, she set up a secret room and began testing things, using the cells she was attempting to figure out a way to keep them alive and to regrow bodies from the genetic imprint. She managed to get them working again and tried to sustain them.

She made sure to tend to the wounded too and decided that for supplies, she would need an income. She left Brook there and went with the marines when they left, going back to their main base where she requested papers to legally run a night club. She ran it through and within a couple days of sleeping on the floor of their base, she got them and caught a ride home. She showed Brook when she got there and he seemed just as excited as she was. They fixed up the mast mansion's main room to get all the things together. They got colored lights, a dance floor, a bar, and even got things together to make a recording booth that could play the audio out. She made a technical stand to randomize the orders of songs and how to synchronize the lights. Then she allowed word of mouth from her first customers to advertise for her, the marines she'd helped.

She began to see pirates and marines alike, in her club and not caring who was on the dance floor. She had made a sanctuary for both sides to relax. As the years passed, Tanakami and Brook grew closer together and when the time seemed right she decided to try a new league of experimentation. She managed to make from his own cells the ability for him to grow his hair again, then also attempted to take living cells from both him and herself to genetically create a breed between them. This gave them a precious daughter, Brooklyn who while Brook took care of the club, she took care of her. Tanakami decided it was only right to give her a power too, one that would keep her safe. Once her daughter could eat solids, she gave her Absolom's fruit for the invisibility. After that, taking care of her was like a game of hide and seek. One thing gave her away, once she'd learned her father's song she nearly constantly sung it.

Tanakami let her watch when she took care of sick and hurt people, and how she dealt with overly brutish attendees to her bar. She also learned other songs but she only sang one when she was happy. Tanakami did something special for her when she turned five, letting her sing in front of a crowd. She smiled as her daughter skipped around with the microphone and sang, Brook enjoyed it too. From then on, they let her go on stage when she wanted. She even taught her how to defend herself in case anyone decided to get too close to her. They have ran fluently with fun times hidden between then and their daughter's twelfth birthday when she wanted to start exploring other places and see new things.

"Mom, I just want to visit something new," Brooklyn whined to Tanakami and was packing her things and taking them to a boat. "I will go somewhere safe! I promise."

"It isn't a good idea," Tanakami was taking the luggage and putting them back in her room and unpacking them.

"I just want to explore like you did," She whined again.

Tanakami sighed and said, "I roamed because I didn't belong anywhere. Every time I left somewhere I fund out I did belong, it was either destroyed, taken, or killed."

"You didn't belong anywhere?" Brooklyn scoffed at her mother and looked as her father came into the room. She blurted out, "Mom says she didn't belong anywhere! Is that true?"

"You two should talk this out," Brook said to her and looked at Tanakami, "Tell her everything. It is better she understands."

Tanakami sighed when Brook left the room and called out, "Thanks hun..." She looked at her daughter and finally decided to tell her, sitting beside her on the bed and said, "I wasn't loved by two loving parents like you were. I didn't have a mother and my father mostly ignored me. It was either the best or it wasn't worth it. I was fearless, though."

"Are you still fearless?" Brooklyn asked her and tilted her head, dark purple hair licking out at odd angles around her head.

Tanakami smiled a bit and said, "I only fear losing you and your father. But my story isn't over." She placed her arm around her and told her, "I wanted to join this group... They liked me and trained me and then I set out on my own. Someone offered me a place and at first I refused. Then I said I would and they..." She looked out the window and said, "They are gone now..." She looked back to her daughter and sighed. "I eventually came home to find it destroyed. Then I tried to rebuild after a while and now... Now it's a dream but I built most of it myself. Then your father and I both lost something important... His crew. I promised to join them too. Leaving means you don't know what happens to those you care about... And it's worse when you are forced to watch the ones you love die before your eyes." Tanakami had a tear in her eye and looked back out the window to hide it.

"Mom..." Brooklyn placed her hand on Tanakami's knee. "Who died on you?"

Tanakami looked at her with a forced smile as she said, "Most of the group I had wanted to join... Someone who I looked to as a father figure... My actual father... A couple crews... But it's alright." Tanakami tried to reassure her daughter. "Now I have you and Brook. I will protect you both with my own life." She placed her hand on the back of Brooklyn's head and held her close.

She never heard of Brooklyn wanting to leave again but she did note the boat missing every now and again. One day, the three of them went to go visit Mihawk so she at least had somewhere new to explore. Tanakami and Brook spent their time talking with Mihawk while Brooklyn was out 'playing' with the monkeys. "How exactly did you two make her?" Mihawk asked her out of curiosity.

"Not the normal way even though we tried that a lot," Brook answered it first and laughed a bit at it.

Tanakami giggled and said, "Yeah, I took one of his cells and examined the genetic blueprints while pulling it apart to create a haploid. I placed it into an extracted haploid of my own and allowed the cell to grow outside of my body in an area I could monitor the growth for approximately nine months. I then examined and produced a fluid capable of sustaining such a being and gave nutrients through a syringe. Kinda simple really." Brook and Mihawk were then staring at her. "What?"

"Not as simple as you make it out to be," Mihawk said to her. "What about immunization?"

"Oh she's been introduced to it all," Tanakami said, "Fought it all off during development and has immunity to just about any illness."

"You did what to our daughter?" Brook looked at her a bit angrily.

Tanakami sighed, "She's fine. Don't get your afro in a knot, sweety." She crossed her arms and peered out a window to see a monkey splatted on it. "See?"

Brook nodded with a worried glance. Mihawk managed a laugh and said, "She's feisty."

"Very," Tanakami smirked and said, "And fearless. She wanted to set out on her own and she only had training from us."

"That is good enough training it seems," Mihawk watched the monkey fall off the window. "Brook, did you teach her any swordsmanship?"

"Started to," Brook said as he placed his elbows on his knees, "I just don't think she should be learning. She might get herself hurt."

Tanakami snickered at that thought and placed her hand on him, "If she was going to get hurt, it would have happened already!" She then stood up and went to open the glass to see another monkey coming the way of the window and she forced her bat wings out through the back of her shoulders. She jumped out of the window and spread her wings, swooping to catch the oncoming monkey and follow its trajectory to her daughter as she put it down. "Your father's worried." Brooklyn nodded and went to her mother, being held and flown back to the room through the window. Tanakami placed her down and smiled at the two of them and asked her, "What were you fighting them with?"

"A stick," Brooklyn said with a big bright smile on. "Daddy won't let me touch a sword so I found a stick and used that. Not as effective but I made it work!"

Tanakami chuckled and gave Brook a facial expression that seemed to hint at an 'I told you so' or 'see' sort of taunt to him. Brook seemed less worried and admitted, "She is good but I still don't think it is a good idea."

Tanakami tried to not laugh since he was trying to be serious, but she saw her daughter attempting to pick up Mihawk's sword. She then decided to point, though it seemed Mihawk already knew what was going on and was a tad amused by it. Brook rubbed his head as Tanakami said, "She even has an interest in it so why don't we let her go at it for a while?"

Mihawk looked at Brooklyn then to Tanakami and right out said, "Let me train her for a year."

Tanakami smirked and said, "You should ask the reluctant father, you already know my answer." She got back up and picked up the sword no problem and held it out of Brooklyn's reach as she walked it over to Mihawk. She handed it over properly by holding the blade and letting the handle towards him.

Mihawk looked at Brook and got a worried glance in response. "I know she will be safe," Brook said to him, "Just don't hurt her."

"I will be as gentle as possible," Mihawk assured him. He took his sword as he stood and placed it onto his back. He then took Brooklyn and showed her away.

Tanakami walked Brook out and turned into a partial bat form but the wings still on her back instead of on her arms as she said, "She will be fine. He trained me when I was much younger than her." She grabbed Brook and started to fly him home. "It is going to be fine and if at worst, I could make a new one."

This just upset Brook more. They waited a year, Brooklyn's tenth birthday and Tanakami went alone to go pick her up. Tanakami had been busy with the club and fixing people who had come to her for help, the wear was definitely on her face. She landed and walked up to the door of the castle and knocked. Mihawk let her in and she went to the same room they had spoken in before, Tanakami didn't talk the entire time and when she finally sat down, she closed her eyes a bit to relax. Mihawk attempted to not stare and carefully went to go make some tea. Tanakami had seemingly passed out for a bit but she opened her eyes when he returned and sat herself up properly. "Sorry," Tanakami spoke forwardly as she wiped her face with her hands. "So, how has she been doing?"

"Fine," Mihawk responded and gave her a cup too. He didn't like how worn she appeared to be when one of her main issues had been removed for a year, assuming it might have been worry weighing on her. "She has become rather adept."

Tanakami smiled at him and looked at the tea as she spoke, "That's great. As long as she can defend herself, then that's what is important." She picked up the cup and stared in it.

Mihawk leaned over and placed a hand on her knee and waited until they made eye contact before asking, "What's wrong?"

"They searched Thriller Bark again," Tanakami took a deep breath and said, "I hid all of my pirate patrons, hid Brook, and had to move them around." She sighed and nearly cracked her knuckles as she thought about it, "I used to be so fearless, now everything is worrying and hiding. My main concern was what if they came here and found you. Would you have been safe? Would they have killed my daughter for affiliation? They didn't kill me but..." She placed her tea down and placed her hand on his, "Nowhere is safe and no one is safe. Pirates everywhere need to hide."

"Most are already hiding," Mihawk assured her, "There is nothing to worry about."

"Not everyone is as intelligent as we are, Mihawk," Tanakami leaned back and peeked around just a moment. "Even in hiding we prepare for the worst. Most of them I could bet you that they are just rolling in a corner waiting for it all to be over." She sighed. "I have also been... preparing projects... My daughter was the prototype that lead in a new direction..." She finally sipped the offered tea, "Soon, death won't exist... But this must remain a secret."

"You can't just mess with things like that," Mihawk said to her, "Giving yourself a child is one thing, resurrecting someone at peace isn-"

"I assure you they aren't at peace..." Tanakami's tone got dark as she interrupted Dracule. She looked back at the tea offered and took a deep breath, trying to hide the tears. She placed the cup down and stood up to turn away from him. "You didn't see their faces..." She looked back at him and clenched her teeth.

Mihawk stood up and walked over to her as he said, "They had better be the only ones."

Tanakami gazed right into his eyes. "I will show you." They both looked to the window as Brooklyn leapt through with her sword tied to her back. Tanakami went to her little girl and held her close, smiling a bit. "We're going home now," She spoke rather happily.

Brooklyn smiled back to her mother and said, "This is awesome! Oh and look! I made this on my own!" She released from the hug and showed her sword off. It was a masterpiece of technology and sensible knowledge. She showed that it looked absolutely normal then hit buttons and the thing extended with hooks and barbs then split in half. The blade was nearly five times longer than her body but the compact form she'd created allowed her to carry it easily. She then re-compacted it and said, "I forged the metal myself, I pieced it together, and I tested it on the monkeys!"

Tanakami giggled and said, "It's absolutely gorgeous. Looks like you could cause damage not even I could fix." Brooklyn nearly screamed when her mother said that and hugged onto her once more. Tanakami smiled gently and placed a hand on her back as it formed into a wing.