The Tinkerer [One Piece FanFic]

Chapter One

A/N: Images used is just found from google searches (unless otherwise stated as fan art given to me).. I don't art well

~Maddox's POV~

                I woke to the sound of the rooster's cry, like clockwork, and smiled to myself as I hurriedly rose from my cot. Today was the day, the day my invention would finally be a success. Today was the day I'd finally fly. Quickly, I scrambled out of bed and flitted about the cluttered hut filled with odd mechanical inventions and devices of all shapes, sizes and functions getting ready for my big day.

                After hurriedly changing out of my nightgown and into a pair of tailored hunter green shorts, bronze corset with copper accents and a matching hunter green half jacket, I slipped into a pair of bronze knee high stockings and laced up my old fashioned boots. I threw my long sunshine golden blonde hair into a loose ponytail and tied it back with a bronze ribbon before fetching a pair of bronze rimmed goggles with copper accents from atop a writing desk cluttered with my father's old notes and trinkets.

                "Wish me luck, daddy." I waved to the framed picture on my night stand of a gentle looking man covered head to toe in soot with his golden hair sticking straight up and looking singed wearing the same goggles I held firmly in my hands grinning from ear to ear. My father, Maxwell Sterling, was once the world's greatest inventor. He'd invented the cooling systems now used in refrigerators as well as a system for pumping water on ships for hygiene.

                He taught me everything he knew about tinkering and inventing. Together we created a whole slew of gizmos and gadgets. My mother died when I was very little during an experiment gone wrong. Growing up, it was just me and my dad, but I was never lonely. Dad tried to build me a mom out of metal and gears, but he'd never been able to figure out how to get it to move and be animated.

                I looked to the humanoid scrap of metal sitting alone at the kitchen table and smiled softly, "Wish me luck, Mom."

                Father died eight years ago when I was ten. He'd fallen ill after being overexposed to a harsh chemical he'd been working with in one of his experiments. It was a slow death. He just withered away in his sickness. Out of fear of being alone, I built myself some companions out of scrap metal and after a year of working I figured out the proper formula to animate them.

                I stepped out of the small hut and smiled brightly as I looked up at the clear blue sky. There was a slight breeze bringing in the salty air from the sea. It was a perfect day for flying. Our small hut sat perched atop a Cliffside overlooking the vast blue sea. Just beyond the hut was a big brown barn with copper colored doors. It was once my father's workshop, but I'd made some slight modifications and turned half of it into a barn again to house my companions. The other half was now my workshop.

                "Woof!" A copper colored mechanical dog trotted up to me wagging his metal tail happily. He had mismatched glowing bulbs for eyes, one a pale blue the other an eerie orange.

                "Horace!" I cried happily and reached down to pat him on the head. "Ready to see me fly?!" I beamed.

                "Woof!" Horace barked again.

                I skipped to the barn happily and heaved open the giant copper colored doors.

                "Neigh." A steely grey mechanical horse with porthole style blue glowing eyes with golden rims threw its head back affectionately as I stepped through the barn door.