Hidden in the Shadows -One Piece-

Chapter 1

I don't own One Piece

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"Hey, big brother. Why can't we go passed the big wall? And why do people sometimes come in, wearing weird clothes? Why are they allowed to go back out?"

"Hey big brother. Where did you go? Mommy and daddy brought an ugly boy home, saying he was my new big brother when you left. Why did you leave?"

"Hey big brother. Could you tell me another story, one about the others? Please? I love the adventures you tell me."

"Hey, big brother. Would it be okay if you took me with you? I can't stand it here, and I want to see things the way they are, not how I was told. Please brother? I promise to be good."

"Hey, big brother. What kind of ship is that? It's huge! Do you think one day we'll sail on a ship like that?"

"Hey… Big brother… Why are you sleeping? Wake up big brother! Wake up! Big brother! WAKE UP! WAKE UP BIG BROTHER!"

Jolted awake by the screams in her nightmares, a girl sat up in her bed. It took few a few seconds to shake off the memories that plagued her sometimes during the night. She sighed as she ran a tired hand through her short styled blonde hair, glaring at the lines that the sun painted her room with as it peeped through the blinds on her window. She looked to the small clock on the little bedside table to her left, groaning when she saw she had woken up a full ten minutes before her alarm.

"Just flipping great," the girl muttered as she threw off the covers, shivering as Goosebumps ran up any exposed skin. When she fully stood up on the floor she slipped her feet into some fluffy black slippers and put one an equally fluffy grey robe, pulling it close as to prevent the heat keeping her warm from escaping.

"I hate mornings," she mumbled as she stumbled out of her small bedroom, and walked into the kitchen, which was close to the same size as her bedroom, a few square meters at best. Actually, her whole 'home' was small. One kitchen that also severed as her dining and living room, a tiny bedroom that only had a bed and table, and a small bathroom, which was directly across the hall from her bedroom. She had one more room in her home, her study, which was located at the far end of the hall, away from the rest if the rooms. But the girl didn't mind the size. She rather preferred it. Less space meant that there was less room to needlessly decorate it enough to convince people that she would just leave in a moment's notice, and it cost less than most apartments she had first seen.

'Purupurupuru. Purupurupuru.' A small blue den-den mushi rang on the counter, breaking the early morning silence as the short haired girl was making her breakfast. She let it ring for a few more seconds before she picked up, but she didn't greet whoever was on the other end.

"Ashlee. I'm glad to see you even picked up the phone so early in the morning. I thought you didn't like mornings," the voice, an older man, said though the den-den mushi, the snail mimicking he's arched eyebrow and teasing smile. Ashlee gave it a withering look before biting down into her toast that she had prepared.

"I don't," she replied in a flat tone after she swallowed.

The face on the snail fell, looking concerned. "You had another nightmare, didn't you?"

Ashlee looked down at the snail and took another bite from her toast, avoiding the man's question. "What do you have for me today?"

"Ahh, well. Before we divulge into business, I know this is rather rude and inconvenient, but it must be pouring rain on your end. I can barely hear you over the sounds. Might you move to a quitter room? I too will move, seeing as it is raining here as well. I guess that's the downfall to living on islands, lots of rain."