#writing writer's write

[novemberhope]

So... I did try to get the start of Niara's journey written. In the project Niara originally appeared in, she is part of Ace's crew but in cannon... she might start her journey with Ace and I can see those two having sibling/friendship vibes but in cannon I think at some point Niara's story would lead her down a different path since she's going to meet Law. (Which also leaves open several possibilities of Niara rushing to Marineford to save Ace or having a hard time later on and so on - I'm trying to avoid spoilers so I'm being vage on purpose) Anyway, I tried to find a start to Niara's story and... here it is.

English is not my first language so please excuse my mistakes...

Niara was sitting on a barstool in a rundown bar, chatting with the barkeeper, a stern-looking, broad-shouldered woman in her fifties. "You shouldn't be here, girl," the lady said, shaking her head. "You should be out there doing your actual job. Instead, you come here almost every other day to go on my nerves." "You'd be bored without me," Niara grinned, looking around the almost empty room. This place, with its dirty windows and mismatched old furniture, located far off in a dark, hidden side alley, was the perfect spot to never be found by her colleagues, so after Niara had stumbled in here by accident the first time, she'd been returning several times a week after that. She didn't mind the gruff barkeeper at all. In fact, she enjoyed talking with the woman. "Like hell," the older woman grumbled. "I don't know why you keep coming here. I'm not gonna serve you alcohol during the day." "That's not what I want," Niara replied while rolling her eyes. They had been over this countless times. "I just like it here… and nobody I know ever comes here, so that's an added bonus." "You mean those fancy marine cadets are too busy doing their actual job to come in here?" The woman snorted. "You should be doing your job too, young lady. Or look for a new one. Can't believe nobody noticed you sneaking off every other day."

"I'm supposed to check cargo at the harbor all week and I'm bored to death already," Niara said with a shrug. "I told those two losers who I'm supposed to be working with that I've been ordered to do something else. If you've got enough family up in the higher marine ranks, they don't question you. Ever." "You can't pull this off forever. You don't like your job, quit and find something new. Or power through it like most people do." "My whole family is a marine family," Niara sighed. "Even my mother was, before she got sick. It's not that easy. Walking away for just another job I don't care about… that's not worth it. Now… if I could actually do what I wanted, then…" "Not one of your pirate stories again." The barkeeper rolled her eyes. "That's a child's dream and you better grow up fast." "Says the lady who owns a bar frequented by pirates," Niara giggled. She didn't feel brushed off by the barkeeper's rough attitude. She just kept on talking because finally, someone cared to listen.

"I wouldn't know if my customers are marines or pirates," the lady replied, slamming her big hands down on the bar counter. "They don't come in here announcing their profession and I know better than asking. As long as they pay for their drinks and don't make trouble, I don't care. And you better not keep running around, telling people this is a pirate bar. On an island with a marine base on it, the word pirate is better not spoken too loudly." Niara looked around. The only other person currently present was some guy at one of the tables who was literally leaning back on his chair, his head thrown back, the hat pulled over his face, sleeping soundly. Or at least that's what it looked like. "Don't worry, I'm not going to give away my hiding spot to my superiors, I'm not that dumb," she said. "As long as I can spend some hours here instead of being under constant supervision with one million rules, I'm good." "You should be under supervision," the barkeeper scoffed. "Pirates! They'd eat someone like you alive." "I can take care of myself," she muttered. After all, her father had made sure all of this children got devil fruit ability to help them climb the marine ranks faster. And her much older siblings all had made names for themselves and were steadily climbing the ranks. Niara, however, had been born much later and had spend the majority of her young life caring for her sick mother. That was one reason for why she had been allowed to enjoy so much freedom without her father watching her every step and making sure she was growing up to become a marine, like he had done with her siblings.

"Pirate's are dangerous," the barkeeper warned her. "I don't know where you got your crazy ideas from, but out there at sea, they're not your fun-loving drinking buddies. They slaughter each other. They slaughter your family members, too. They're out for blood." "Some are," Niara agreed. She wasn't stupid. She grew up with her family's hatred for pirates and with a strong sense of justice being drilled into her from an early age. But she had heard other stories too. And those were the stories she was fascinated with, the adventures she dreamed of, the freedom she longed for. "They all are, one way or another." "They're also families," Niara protested. "Those crews that would go to hell and back for each other, who would go to the end of the world to save their crewmates, who you can laugh and cry with and have amazing adventures with while sailing on the endless blue sea - that's where I want to belong to. I mean… freedom, adventures, family, there's nothing better than that, right?" "There are many things better than that, like a good income and a decent family whose pictures you can't find on wanted posters." The barkeeper rolled her eyes and wiped down the countertop with a clean cloth. "Get yourself together, girl. Those are a child's dreams."

Yes, a child whose much older siblings never gave her the time of day and barely ever showed up at home to see how she was doing. A child whose father was gone with his precious marine family for months on end, leaving said child to struggle to take care of a very sick mother. A child whose only escape was playing make-believe with her village friends and who had watched those friends grow and change and live lives of their own while she was left behind with nothing but dreams that would never come true and a future as a marine she actually dreaded. "Maybe so," she sighed. "But if I can't hold on to them anymore, what do I have left?" "A well paying job if you only ever would care to actually do it, for instance." "Yes, one with so many rules and regulations that I keep getting yelled at for constantly forgetting half of them and people who keep telling me to get my shit together because me being me is just bringing shame to my father's great legacy…" Niara rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't love her family. But even as a child she had always felt like there were worlds between them. And now, without her mother keeping them close, they were drifting apart more and more. "Perhaps you need to work harder then," the barkeeper said, grabbing Niara's glass and firmly putting it away. "Because hiding here is not doing you any good. And believe me, real pirates eat girls like you for breakfast. It's time you move on and grow up, girl." Suddenly Niara felt tired. She knew the brash woman only was looking out for her and she knew that a lot of pirates were simply not good people. But there were other crews out there - and if only… "Perhaps I should go and pretend I have spend all day checking cargo," she muttered while slipping off her barstool. "Try to do actual cargo checking tomorrow," the barkeeper advised.

Rolling her eyes, Niara said her goodbyes and quickly left the bar. The street was dark and dirty and the people hanging around here were not looking too friendly. But Niara wasn't overly worried. She had a devil fruit ability and she also wasn't in marine uniform either. At this time of the day, the people around here weren't that drunk yet, so the chances of getting out of that area safely were pretty high. Behind her, the door opened and the guy that had been sleeping in his chair was walking out, pulling his hat down so his face was hidden. This, too, wasn't unusual behavior around these parts of town. "So," he said. "A marine wanting to be a pirate?" She glanced at him. She couldn't see his face but he didn't even wear a shirt so she figured he probably wasn't a marine. "Being a marine wasn't my choice," she said. "And, just so you know, it's not very polite to pretend to be asleep and listen to other people's conversations." "Are you going to lecture your future pirate friends about their manners, too?" he grinned. "Depends," she replied with a smile. "Who's asking?" "Depends," he replied in the same tone of voice. "What do you have to offer your future pirate crew?" She threw him a sideways glance. Was he offering something, was he just killing time, was he making fun of her? Either way, it was probably not a good idea to reveal her devil fruit power to a complete stranger. "Who even are you?" she wanted to know. "Could be a friend," he said. "Depends on your answers." "So if I tell you I have nothing to offer, you're gonna kill me?" "Oh, slowly and painfully," he laughed. Somehow, she found him funny.

"Keep walking," she said, quickly leading him away from the stares of the few people nearby. She didn't want their attention in the slightest. Unfortunately it was a hot summer day and everyone was outside. Sie turned her back on them, blocking their view, then grabbed the stranger's hand. He looked at her in surprise, then looked down on the tiny flower appearing in the palm of his hand, slowly growing in size. Then he looked back at Niara, eyebrows raised. "So, you plan to attack enemy pirate ships with flower power?" he teased. She groaned. "Well, I could wrap you in vines and then drag you to the marine base as a present for my superiors, how does that sound instead?" He threw his head back and laughed and she desperately tried to get a glimpse of his face. "Wouldn't work," he said. "Is that so?" she replied. Sie really wanted to grow some vines and wrap them around him just to get him to stop laughing so badly, but unfortunately there were too many people around. Technically, it wasn't too unusual for a marine to have devil fruit powers, but still, she didn't want them to notice she was more than a random girl sometimes hanging out here at a bar. Instead of an answer, the tiny flower suddenly burst into flames in the middle of his palm and then dissolved into ashes. He blew them away right at her and she wrinkled her nose as the smoke blew in her face. She stared at him. "You're…!" He took off his hat - that hat, how could she have been so blind, it was literally on his wanted poster! He grinned at her but he also seemed to noticed that while people had not seen the little flower growing in the palm of his hand, they had at the very least seen the smoke rising from his hands, if not the flame too. "Listen, flower girl," he said. "If you're still in for that amazing pirate adventure dream of yours, be at the harbor tonight. If you don't show, I'll assume we'll be on opposite sides next time we meet." "Wait - you're serious?" Her heart was beating fast. Was this really it? Her one shot at living her dream? And if so, was she ready to leave everything behind and just trust this man she had just met with her entire future? If she chose to become a pirate, there would be no home or family to ever go back to. It was more likely that she would have to face off against her family members sooner or later - if she even made it that far. There were so many what ifs... But… BUT… this was her ticket out of here, her one shot for freedom - and that stranger was literally Firefist Ace… she would be a fool to turn that offer down. "See you later, - oh yeah, what's your name anyway?" She giggled. "It's Niara," she said, carefully leaving out her family name which would tie her to way too many high ranking marine officers. "See ya later, Nina!" "Ni-A-RA!!" she called after him, but people were coming closer now, looking at them with interest.

Ace disappeared, leaving Niara to look at the curious people as innocently as possible before quickly slipping away, basically running towards marine headquarters. She had a choice to make but she felt so giddy and excited that she knew it wasn't really a choice at all. It was finally time to follow her dream.

Sorry for having to break this into smaller blocks of text but tumblr kept telling me my text blocks are too long???

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