Dragon trains to grow stronger. He goes out into the jungle of Dawn Island and much like his future son once did (will do?), he hunts the larger than life animals that call the forest home.
Some days he returns filthy and with nothing to show for it, tells her tales of how he has spent his time wrestling with a bear, fighting with a tiger to prevent it from capturing its prey. Just because he can.
Some days he returns home with one of the beasts casually slung over his shoulder, providing bountiful meat for them to eat for days on end.
Kitsune is glad to be past relying upon formula milk, for it tastes foul and the humiliation of having to be bottle-fed lingers deep in her bones.
Even now Dragon cuts her food up into bite size pieces first, given she has yet to develop the motor controls to do so herself. There is little Kitsune can do to improve her situation right now other than wait. Wait and practice with her grasp and grip.
Drawing, a crayon in hand and sheets and sheets of paper before her, moving as slowly as possible, with as much control as possible. All those years of drawing, of portraits and sketches; it is painful to be deprived of that skill. Her eyes are not developed enough to allow for a good understanding of proportion, of scale and depth when it comes to the world around her.
So Kitsune draws what she knows. Tigers and bears, dragons that flick about in the sky. It is all painfully inferior to what she used to be capable of.
Dragon still smiles whenever he sees his namesake upon the papers though.
Once he implored her to draw a kitsune alongside one of her dragons, and she had bunched that paper up and thrown it away when her arm refused to cooperate, when she proved incapable of drawing a simple fox with nine tails. Her emotions in this body are all over the place, she has little to no control over her body's reactions, starting once again from scratch. It is frustrating and just serves to anger her to the point of tears. A vicious circle.
.
They are approaching summer once again now, though Kitsune remembers little of her first summer. She remembers little of her mother too, just a warm voice. Mother is dead, she knows that, but having come from a life where she had perished before her mother, she still half expects the woman (which one, she doesn't know) to sweep in through the front door as if nothing has happened.
Instead she finds herself sitting in the back garden of this small house they now live in, watching as Dragon works his way through a series of sit-ups and steadily moves onto push-ups. There's sweat upon his brow, his face (how rarely does her brother smile, even that intense grin would be preferred to grim silence from a boy that feels so strongly, so acutely) painted with the hard brush of determination.
Wobbling up onto unsteady legs, Kitsune plods over towards the boy, letting herself fall down onto his back. Her arms are not yet long enough to curl easily around his neck, so she settles for gripping at his shoulders instead.
"Brother." And she has taken the time to forcibly pronounce that right. The lisp of childhood still lingers, no matter how much she fights, how much she tries to free herself from him.
Dragon stares at her from over his shoulder and Kitsune smiles, lying upon his back as she is.
This is her big brother, and though she does not know if he will be a good man, she knows he will be a great one.
This is her brother who says no to piracy, despite the freedom it promises him.
Instead he will stand up to the world, will fight it all to try and make the future a better and brighter place. Maybe selfless isn't quite the word to use, she does not yet understand him enough for that. But to wish to inspire such positive change…
Kitsune isn't sure about what anyone else will think, but she believes Dragon is a good person.
That is enough for her.
.
"I will never join the Marines!"
Dragon's voice thunders through the house, a roar not unlike that of his namesake's.
She can picture him, despite not being present in the room where this argument takes place. His hands will be curled, not quite into fists but so that his fingers resemble powerful claws, his teeth will gnash together and his eyes will burn with dragonfire.
She wonders what Garp sees when he looks upon his only son. She wonders what he sees when he looks upon her.
At three years old, Kitsune has had a lot of time to think on what to do with her life.
The years have only proven how immensely difficult a task she has, even if she just tries to live her life without butchering the entire timeline. Maybe her presence has already screwed it all up anyway, after all, there had been no Monkey D. Kitsune that she can recall, there had been no aunt for Monkey D. Luffy.
Maybe he won't be born now, maybe Garp will never take Portgas D. Ace in. Maybe with her in his life, Garp will falter in his chase of the Pirate King. Maybe Gol D. Roger won't contract whatever disease prompted him to favour execution over a slow death Maybe there will be no Great Age of Piracy.
Who knows.
By now she is past the point of trying to pussyfoot around things. Why should she stick as close to the story as possible when it is shot to hell already?
No, Monkey D. Kitsune is not as good a person as her brother, is evidentially a bit more selfish than that.
She will live as she damn well pleases, care for those around her and only look out for them.
That is the damning evidence right there that she is undoubtedly related to Monkey D. Luffy, she thinks with dark amusement.
"You little-"
"I wanna be a Marine." She's stumbled up to the door, staring at Monkey D. Garp even as Dragon's head snaps around to stare at her. It's not quite betrayal upon his face, but the blankness of his expression makes Kitsune uncomfortable.
So, with the brutal honesty that childhood dictates mandatory, Kitsune smiles as brightly as she is capable of and continues. "I can tell brother all of the important things so he can follow his dream."
That dangerous grin, that grin that had seemed so very freaky the first time she saw it but now fills her with nothing but warmth has broken across Dragon's face, like the sun cresting over the ocean.
It has Kitsune's own smile widening to see Dragon so happy.
She recalls all she knows of attachments formed by children, knowledge brought on by psychology, a subject she'd studied in her previous life. She knows that because Dragon has been her primary caregiver that she's attached, but she doesn't have a problem with that.
He loves her without question, just as she loves him. Before Dragon she had never had a big brother.
She cannot imagine life without one now.
"Tell this brat Marine secrets?!" Garp splutters, staring down at her with wide eyes, his jaw hanging open and pulling at the tight skin around the surface of his trademark scar. "You can't do that if you become a Marine!"
"Then I won't tell him," Kitsune declares, jamming her finger up her nose and channelling her future nephew as best she can.
Behind Garp, who has taken a step forwards as if closer proximity will push his words further into the recesses of her mind, Dragon and his grin remains. He knows she would tell him anything, tell him everything.
He is her beloved older brother after all.
"Dragon can't be a Marine if he wants to follow his dream," Kitsune states sagely, removing her finger from her nose and flicking the booger on the end at Garp.
Her father scowls, brushing the new addition to his pants onto the floor, narrow eyes flicking over to Dragon.
"You're not going to become a pirate, are you?" The low threat in Garp's voice is blisteringly clear.
"No. I have no desire to be a pirate."
What goes unsaid between both Kitsune and Dragon is that what he will become is something perhaps even worse. Pirates chase after their own goals; Dragon will become something that actively fights against all that the World Government, all that the Tenryūbito stand for.
Her brother is the bravest person she knows.
"I will not go to the Marine base. If you take Kitsune, you will look after her properly."
"You brat, who do you think you are to tell me to look after my own kid!"
Kitsune watches them go head to head with wide eyes. She means that in the most literal way anyone can; Garp is bent in on himself in order to press his forehead to Dragon's, who meets the gesture just as fearlessly, teeth bared in a mean looking snarl.
For a thirteen year old, he's fearless.
"I'm her big brother! I'll tell you what the fuck I want!"
"Don't you speak to me that way! Fist of Love!"
.
Garp's ship is huge.
She's not quite sure what his rank is right now, is he already a Vice Admiral, or does he have to climb the ladder yet? She's not sure, but the ship is big. It's not just a perspective thing either, even Garp looks like a regular human when standing on deck.
His crew scuttle around after her, loading the small bag that she and Dragon had packed her clothes into on board.
Garp had asked what kind of toys she wished to bring along, at which point both Dragon and herself had stared at him in blatant confusion. It's only after a moment of real thought that Kitsune had recalled almost all children her age had toys to play with.
But she is not a child, not really, more a child with an adult's perspective, with memories that are not her own that make her so much smarter than other children her age.
She is content following Dragon around, listening to him speak of all that he has found wrong with the world. She is content asking him questions, exploring his thoughts with him. She is content without toys, just with her brother to pass the time.
Blissfully warm, the summer sun brushes gently upon her neck, the air around them so deliciously warm. Kitsune likes the heat, she despairs the drop in temperature that winter brings.
"Ah, Garp, sir?"
"Yes, Bogard?"
"There's… The child, sir?"
Kitsune swings around from where she'd been waving down to Dragon, peering up at the man that stands before them. She can feel Dragon's eyes on her, even though he's all the way down there at the docks. He'll probably remain there until they're long gone from a human's line of sight.
"Bogard, look at my precious little princess. Isn't she the cutest little thing?"
Kitsune finds herself lifted into the air, presented before the other marine. She has no idea who he is, though clearly Garp likes him a fair amount, gets along with him well enough. Which must mean he's okay then.
"Hiya, I'm gonna be a marine!" Kitsune sticks out one tiny hand towards the flat-footed marine, who blinks in surprise before gingerly taking her hand. Her own tiny fingers clamp down upon the appendage and she doesn't miss the way he winces. Oh, she might have the build of her long dead mother, but that strength is all from Garp.
"She's certainly your daughter, sir," Bogard mutters, shaking his hand out when she releases her death grip.
Garp laughs, clearly delighted with his proclamation and jostles Kitsune about until she's half leaning over the railings.
"Now say goodbye to your no-good brother, Kit."
Kitsune likes the shortened name, it's cute, light and flows off the tongue. She'll make sure Dragon starts calling her that instead of Kitsune, but only Dragon. She can let Garp call her it too, because he is family after all.
"Bye-bye, Big Brother! I'll be back soon!"
Dragon grins, wide and manic and a grand total of four marines flinch back at the sight.
"Be safe, Little Sister."
Yeah, Dragon can call her that over Kit, that's a good alternative.
Kitsune smiles, waving exaggeratedly until Garp finally sets her down, barking orders for everyone to get to positions that that he wants to be at the base in ten days, never mind that the journey should cost them a fortnight of travel at sea.
Still, it is her first time at sea in this body, her first time scenting the salt water from somewhere other than the beach, from the docks, from land.
The steady rocking motion inspires a queasy sickness in her stomach, but she cannot stop smiling regardless.
.
"Now, cup your hands, yes, like that."
Looking at the giant hands that are showcasing her the proper hold, Kitsune adjusts her own palms, fingers not quite sprawled but not uniform and remaining together either.
Garp nods his head beside her, squatting so that she's not having to near break her neck to look up at him. The man has to be at least seven feet tall, though maybe that's just her short stature playing with her mind.
He hums, a low growl in the back of his throat but the sound friendly enough to her little ears.
"Here."
A cannonball, perhaps the smallest one on board, is pressed into her hands and Kitsune's arms quiver with the weight of it.
She flicks a glance up to Garp, who just smiles encouragingly at her. While part of her is aware that he has a long history of throwing cannonballs faster than an actual cannon can fire them, to see it in action had been surreal. It seems to be a skill he's determined to pass onto her too.
Letting her fingers curl around the object in her hands, Kitsune tests the weight of it, tests the strain it places upon her muscles. her biceps clench, but she has no trouble holding it. She wouldn't have managed to hold this in her last life, even in an adult's body.
Here, it is no more difficult that picking up a carton of unopened milk. The weight is there, but it is doable. This is just with her inherited strength, it's incredibly to think of what kind of power she'll be capable of with training.
"Now throw it, just like Papa did."
Tongue poking out from between her lips, Kitsune focuses on one of the rocky outcrops that protrudes from the ocean's surface, eyes narrowing. While she may be capable of hefting the cannonball up, her arms are not yet powerful enough to throw it with one hand, so she settles for two.
The projectile is nowhere near as fast as what Garp managed (as showcased by the smoking mess just off the horizon, the one that'd been his demonstration for her) but it does manage to land on target and oh boy does it explode.
"Did you see that?!" Kitsune bellows, hopping up and down in excitement. She'd never had a body that worked so well, that had such brilliant hand-eye coordination, such raw strength in her fingertips… it could get dangerously addictive.
"Did you see that?!" Garp echoes, grabbing the nearest marine to point proudly out to what remains of her former target, his pride evident on his face. "Look at what my little princess if capable of! She's gonna make a damn fine marine!"
She would probably make a good marine, Kitsune admits, if that's where her interest laid.
But Dragon had got to her first, and effortlessly secured her loyalty even if that hadn't been what he was aiming for at all.
Kitsune may become a marine, but it will be like slipping on a coat to wear for the occasion but just as easily shed when the weather required it.
She will wear her role as a marine, just until Dragon brings the storm, then she will dance in the rain, a revolutionary at heart.
She doesn't know Garp, for all that he is her father.
And while he may have a loyalty for that simply blood-tie, be trying to teach her right here and right now, Dragon is the one she will follow.
That is that.