Lara's POV;

“What're we gonna do dad?”, I asked. Dad brought me and Lia out into the woods, there we stopped in a clearing. He had a stick with him and a bucket with pebbles.

“You both are really smart for your age, I think you'll understand what I'm going to say now”, he said. This more to himself, but also to us.

“What you've eaten yesterday was a Devil Fruit, it makes your body different. Some of them can turn you into an animal, others into elements. What you've eaten turned one of you in a vibration-long-ear-human and the other in a pressure-long-ear-human. We're going to test out if you have any problems in controlling these powers. If so, we will train until you do. If not we will do nothing and I will train you when you are older”, he explained. His tone was resigned as if he didn't want to but had to.

He must feel like mom. Both wished for a happy and normal life and now their children are anything but normal. Kinda unfair, but so is life. At least they aren't slaves anymore.

“Training?”, I asked and let my hand vibrate, it wasn't a strong vibration. If we show him that we can control our Devil Fruit powers, then he wouldn't bother us for a few more years. Enough time to start on our training with the marine skills and some Haki training.

“Yes, and there is also something else. Lara, do you know what this is?”, he said and then put armament Haki on his arms. Dad knows Haki? Seriously, how strong is this nobody scrawny guy? He is totally the strongest person in the East Blue, excluding Shanks and Garp when they visit.

But that wasn't what mattered now, he asked me about Haki, so he must've seen us practising it.

“No, what's that? Your arm turned all black?”, I asked and touched his arm. It felt way harder than my own and was also a lot darker.

“Never mind?”, he said. His arm changed back and I glanced over at Lia. She tapped on her wrist like you would do on a clock and I knew that she will tell me later.

“Okay, now I want you, Lia, to practise your skills on this tree. I want you to stand some distance from it and throw pebbles at it with the Devil Fruit powers you've got. Can you do that?”, instructed dad. He luckily dropped the Haki subject and started our training.

He then walked over to a tree, cut a few circles into it and then drew a line on the ground, only a few meters away. There he put the bucket down and motioned for Lia to come over.

She did so, grabbed a pebble and held it between her thumb and pointy finger as if she would flick it away. She concentrated briefly and made the flick. The pebble flew away and had more power than what would have been normally the case, yet it did not reach the tree.

“Good, practise this until you hit the tree. Now you Lara, please come here”, praised dad with a ruffle of Lia's hair. We walked a few steps away from Lia, towards another tree. He then gave me the stick.

“I want you to let the stick vibrate as fast as you can”, he said while sitting down. I shrugged and began to let the molecules inside the stick vibrate. At first, I could only let my hand vibrate, then the stick and my hand, and finally, a minute of concentration later, only the stick.

“Good, it seems that both of you can control it somewhat, just not fast enough. All you need to do is training. From now on we will train half an hour every second day in controlling your powers. Mom agreed to make something really delicious if you do good”, said dad with a proud grin.

“Chicken?”, I asked hopefully. We now may be rich in comparison with most East Blue dwellers, but that did sadly not mean that mom would give me chicken whenever I wanted to. Only once a week, once!

It's high time that I learn some distance attacks so that I can hunt some birds. Or let Lia snipe them down. It should be possible to cook them with my vibrations....

“Yes chicken, and if I'm right it should be finished in ten minutes. But mom said there will only be chicken if you trained seriously”, he said and pointed at the no longer vibrating stick. How could I not let the stick burst into flames with such a goal in mind?

The stick combusted from the intense vibration in only seconds and I was gone, running back to our home. There is chicken to eat and I had no chicken for ages! My inventory was only for dire times, like no chicken in two weeks.

Back home I found mom behind the stove, she had some delicious smelling chicken in the pan and was humming a nice song. I run up to her, hugged her leg and put my best puppy dog eyes into practice. Dropped ears and quivering lips included.

“Taste testing?”, I asked upwards. Mom was a little startled from the sudden hug and looked down at me. Her eyes widen at the sight and she scooped me up in a bone crushing hug.

“You're so cute, Lara. I should cook you and eat you so deliciously cute are you. But then I couldn't see your cuteness any longer, so I have to compensate with hugs”, she said and put the pan away from the fire. She then walked away from my food and sat down on a sofa to cuddle me.

I could only reach futilely out towards my ambrosia and grieve over my miscalculation. Mission cute attack for snacks failed. Well, now I can at least cuddle.

Dad and Lia came ten minutes later. Mom had by now put me down and gave me a little piece of chicken to eat. It was good but by far not enough. Using your Devil Fruit powers makes you hungry.

“And how are they?”, asked mom while we ate. Neither Lia nor I were fed anymore, we ate with a spoon and got our food cut beforehand.

“Fairly good, they both can activate their respective power at wish, however, neither are strong enough to do really much. That is until a big enough incentive is given”, told dad with a grin and look at me. I gave him a cheeky grin and continued with my food.

“I think I understand, but Lara can't have chicken all day, there are also Lia's wishes to be minded”, laughed mom. Lia said nothing, she was eating her food silently, like always. I have to do something about that. She can't stay this reserved forever. On the other hand, she will come out on her own, it will get boring for her at some point.

“Lia, what would you like to eat after your next training?”, asked mom. Lia's favourite food is a fluffy chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream, together with a glass of freshly pressed orange and grapefruit juice. The fruit drink has also her favourite colour if mixed correctly.

The problem was that there is no chocolate on this island.

“Bunny”, she said. That was her favourite meat. Roasted with baked potatoes and sour cream. Doable on this island, especially the bunny.

“I'll see if I can hunt one”, agreed dad. Lia nodded once and then continued to eat. I already finished. Mom could cook like a good mother, her dishes were homely and you felt the love she put into them.

“I will work on the trunk for a little more, what are your plans, honey?”, asked dad when he finished. Mom looked up from where she was cleaning my face and thought for a moment.

“I'm going to work a little bit in the garden and then start with a little sewing. Maybe we can sell a few of my works and earn some money”, she explained and walked over to Lia to clean her face. Eating with spoons tends to make a mess. That we have to look as if we are not used to eating with them didn't make it better.

“Lia and Lara can play in the yard. I'll be able to see them from there”, she added and began to put the dishes into the sink.

“I'll do the dishes”, offered dad. Mom hummed in agreement and guided us to the back of the house. There we had a garden with vegetables and a few chickens. I asked once if we would eat them, but mom said that they were there for giving us eggs. I still don't like them.

“Be good girls and play with each other okay?”, asked mom before pushing us lightly to a small sand box that was in the middle of a big green field.

“I wish I could 'play' with Lara mother”, grumbled Lia once we were alone.

“So what was that about Haki?”, I asked the moment she finished with her rant about her hell of a dry run. Another thing Lia really likes, sex. She loves it to have and does not like the fact that neither of us feels anything when we tried to touch each other.

“Father saw you using Haki in your sleep. You use armament Haki when you hug me”, explained Lia. I was honestly surprised. Why am I doing that?

“He didn't mention it to mother, probably because she is already stressed. And I think he does not want to add more onto us, that is why he didn't press the issue. Try to control yourself”, she continued. She was playing a little with the sand, but not in any serious manner.

“I don't know how. I mean I am sleeping when I do it. The only thing I could think of doing would be to stop hugging you”, I said while building a massive sand castle. I like to play in the sand.

“Never ever!”, she said a little too forcefully and a gust of wind pushed the tower of my castle away.

“Did you just increase the pressure the wind has?”, I asked with a raised eyebrow and rebuild the tower. Destroying the castle at the end is the best in building one and this time I want to do it with quakes produced by my vibrations.

“I think so. Father said that emotions can strengthen our powers. Anyway, we only have to train them in front of him for half an hour each second day. That gives us enough time to train on our own. Have you finished the seals?”, she said and began to throw pebbles at my castle. Each enhanced with her Devil Fruit power and each crashed into my sandy wall like a small cannonball.

“If you want to shoot at my castle then at least enforce the walls by pressing the sand together”, I protested. She stopped for a moment and put her hands on the sand. It took me a few seconds to notice anything but the wall was shrinking. The sand got pressed together and got gradually harder.

“Better?”, asked Lia once finished. She also began to bombard the wall with her pebbles, only that they didn't do any damage this time.

“Thanks”, I muttered and pressed a finger into the wall. I could only go a centimetre or so in before I lacked the strength to continue. She really did press the sand together. I might not even be able to destroy the wall with a kick now.

“This can be useful”, I said. Lia shot another pebble, it crashed into the wall and stuck. She looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

“I mean with your skill to press things together we could make diamonds. We only would need to press coal or coal dust and might gain diamonds. Just think about the face Nami would make if you create a head sized diamond in front of her, only to use the diamond then as a projectile”, I explained. We both laughed at the image and Lia began to train her skills for the rest of the day. I finished my castle and then began the destruction.

I put my hands on the ground and let it vibrate. At first, only the nearest sand vibrated but then the whole sandbox and then cracks formed in the walls of my castle. Chunks began to break and fall off. The whole structure gradually crumbled down and at the end looked like a ruin.

“Maybe we can practise this way, you will harden the sand and I will try to destroy it. It will give us more control and strength with our powers”, I mused. Lia hummed in agreement and we continued with our play. She would harden the sand and I would make it vibrate until it crumbles down.

Two Years Later;

We're five now. Both of us have long blond hair that reaches down to our lower back and our faces are less pudgy. We still had large green eyes and our puppy dog eyes are devastating. Mom and dad choose to teach us themselves, rather than sending us to school in the village. We seldom had something to do with the villagers. Dad does not like humans and wished for us to have as little contact as possible. Especially after a boy called me and Lia freaky ear. The boy pissed himself from dad's glare.

Neither Lia nor I cared very much. We were content with staying on our own and train in the forest. Lia could now shoot her pebbles so fast that they pierced the outer bark of a tree. I am able to make rocks crumble, which still took some time. But our other skills were also trained. We both are using resistant seals. They are powered by armament Haki and make each move way more strenuous. It works and we both are way stronger than what should be possible. I think we are as strong as a strong teenager. The people in One Piece are stronger than normal humans, to begin with.

As for our marine skill training. It's a work in progress. The skill set is called Rokushiki and made out of six individual skills.

There is Geppo or Moonwalk, the ability to kick the air which lets someone run or walk through the sky. It needs enormous leg strength and we both are not able to do it yet. But with our legs feeling like lead every night I think it is only a question of time until one of us managed to do a double jump.

The next one is called Tekkai or Iron Body. It basically is only the extreme clenching of one's muscles and by this condensing them to the utmost possibility. The inability to move comes from the need of clenching the muscles. I don't like it and am way better with my armament Haki by now to even use it and Lia is more on the flexible and evasive type. So we both did not train in it longer than a first session.

Shigan or also called Finger Pistol is the third one and second we did not train. Lia does not need her finger to pierce someone's body, she will just train to make wind bullets with her pressure. While I don't like the technique. One mistake and the finger is strained or broken. And it's an exclusively close combat attack. At least until you are a true master of it.

What I am training in is the Rankyaku or Storm Leg. It is the fourth skill. The user sends a highly compressed air blade out by either kicking or swiping your hand extremely fast through the air. Again, Lia will learn to do it with her Devil Fruit, while I have to train. I did not manage to do one so far, but the flowers I am aiming at are swishing somewhat from the wind. The fact that I'm doing it without any distance to them at all has nothing to do with my success.

Soru or Shave is the fifth skill and we both are trying hard to use it. Our goal is to use it in combination with Geppo. The user has to kick the ground at least ten times in the blink of a time. Each kick makes one faster with each further kick even increasing the speed. The training of this skill includes a huge amount of face planting.

The sixth skill, Kami-e or also called Paper Drawing is the ability to make the user 'limp' so that the body seems to flow around the attacks of the enemy. It has to be instinctual and needs a large amount of flexibility. So far Lia is better than me. But I suspect she is also using observation Haki in combination with Kami-e.

There is a seventh skill, something that is described as a fist-pistol. It needs every other skill and as such isn't something we will learn.

All of these skills are very taxing on the body and we are not able to use a single one of them. As I said, a work in progress.

Work that will only be increased from tomorrow onwards. Dad said that he will start with teaching me how to fight with a sword, while Lia will get more training with her Devil Fruit powers.