Desire

prologue

"I'm not eating that," the voice of a little girl named Ravenna Gerco whispered out into the air.

"Why not?" The voice of another child, Niho Accardi, encouraged the girl.

"Have you not heard how disgusting those things are?" Ravenna stated, pointing at the devil fruit the two had stumbled upon. They found it in some rubble on Scrap Island and returned it to their not-so-secret hideout. Their hideout was a blanket fort they made up in Niho's house on one of the nicer levels of Water 7. The two sat close together, the fruit sitting between them next to a light candle that they shouldn't have under a blanket.

"Who cares? You could get a cool power! You could get out of the backstreets, Ravenna," Niho cheered.

Ravenna contemplated it for a moment. She was still trying to determine which one this was, how it got here, or the repercussions of this action. It could've changed her for the worse, and she knew that. She could do awful things to Niho, his family, or anyone on Water 7. She was only 6, and she wasn't ready to be painted as a monster because of a little curiosity. Despite her fears, she looked up at Niho, seeing his smiling face. It soothed her. He was confident it would all be okay and Ravenna could tell by one simple look. She trusts him with her life, and if he's confident in this, she must be too.

She picked up the fruit, taking a big bite out of it. She wasn't sure if you only had to take a single bite or if you had to consume the entirety of the fruit so she decided to eat it all. Pushing down her need to gag and vomit the formidable thing before it reached any further, she swallowed the whole fruit. She gasped, feeling accomplished and proud. She looked at Niho once more, noticing the smile had grown wider. She smiled back, but as her lips curved upwards, she felt bile reach the back of her tongue. It was making its way out her mouth and onto the floor. In the panic that ensued around the house, Ravenna felt a shift in the world around her. Emotions felt stronger and more palpable than ever before. The rest of her life changed, for better or worse.