Erstwhile | One Piece - ABANDONED

1 - a search for a goal

Marie D. Monkey was the eldest sister of her adorable balls of sunshine- Luffy, Ace and Sabo.

Through pain and sorrow, she did what was best for her siblings in order for them to live a normal life, as normal as she possibly can. She needed a job.

"Bwahahahaha! So my granddaughter, you want to become a marine?"

"Yes, I do!"

"Why though? Not like you're brothers?"

Marie thought for a second, she wanted to say that it was for their good, they pay well and she has the brains and the brains for it. Yet she knew her gramps wouldn't accept it, he wanted her to have her own dreams. Sometimes she's envious of her brothers for having dreams already.

"I wanna experiment," Marie said instead, "I don't know what I want to do in the future, so I'll try to be a marine!"

—•—•—•—

Marie never had a dream for the future, she never knew what she wanted to be. Luffy already wanted to become a pirate kind at the age of 4. Ace wanted to sail the seas at the age of 7. And Sabo wanted to follow his brothers to become a pirate at the age of 7.

Yet here she is, a14 year old child who only knew how to care for her siblings. She cleaned the house, tended to their wounds, cooked their meals, fed them and provided for them only to realise that she never did those things for herself. It was always for them and never for herself. She didn't mind it, no not at all.

At her 15th birthday after through vigorous training, gramps came to pick her up.

Luffy was clinging onto her skirt, wailing loudly and not wanting her to let her go, Ace covered his face with his hat that she bought him for his 6th birthday, and Sabo had glossy eyes but smiled through his missing teeth.

Everything was a blur at that point. Was it not important enough for her to remember? She didn't know. All Marie knew is that she wanted to be someone her siblings could look up to. After all their efforts to make her find a hobby or dream other than babysitting them, she would make them proud.

(Marie knew on the inside no heart skipped a beat to become a marine. It was a mere experiment to see truly, if she can find a purpose other than to serve)

"MARRIIEEEE!!!!!" the three boys glued to hip yelled on the top of their lungs. She could hear it from a distance where the boat already swayed in the ocean.

"GOOODLLUUCCKKK!!!!!" they continued on, their older sister chuckled.

"IN ANOTHER TIME, I WILL FIND A DREAM AND CATCH UP TO YOU GUYS," in another time, Marie would find her true self, she would find a purpose and doing all because of her, and not for others.

—•—•—•—

It was on the 5th month of marine training when she finally got promoted from chore girl to a seamen recruit. She felt slightly giddy, but only because she gets to stop cleaning the marine base for 10 hours straight.

"How do you feel?" her gramps's smile still as wide as ever, he would normally joke around but whenever it talked about her purpose or dreams, he softened (she hated being treated like that).

"Ok I guess,"

"No excitement????"

"Not really?"

A tragic tale of a girl without dreams for the future. All her doings are merely... There. Just to exist.

She should strive for something more. She knew that. But what is this 'more?' that others talk of.

Her senior Aokiji never seemed phased for anything. She thought he was like her but he had a goal, a friend she thought she could relate to turned into a friend for mere accompaniment, nevertheless a friend is still a friend and he has no escape of it. She would chatter and chatter of her siblings and the daily schedule she has while he slept away. Only then did she realised how impacting it was for her to not have a dream,