Serious: A new childhood (open to karasu and me)

It was a few days Since Karasu left the dark isle, Erica's treatment in the hospital had bore fruits, especially for her arm, which she was beginning to be able to use again, it still hurt a lot when moving it, and she couldn't lift anything with it, but she was able to move it slightly which was a big relievement for the little girl, she had thaught that maybe she could never use her arm again, which was a shock for her, but the training with the machine of doctor grace went quite well, there were more troubles with her leg, it was healing slowly, but not as fast as she and the doctor had hoped, she wasn't anywhere near walking on it again, and it could take a few weeks before she maybe could set one or two steps again, but the fact that she could move her hand again, told her to not lose faith, and that way she knew that in the near future she was being able to walk again.

Erica was still asleep in the hospital bed, the pink bunny plushie called mr cuddles was sitting on her head end, she used it as cushion at times, and to hug at other times. The past few days she slept a lot, she was still tired of all the events, and the things that happend with the maid. at times she would wake up having a nightmare, with someone trying to kill her, sometimes them being the mafia people, other times being the maid, that tried to kill her, it happend this time too, it was in the night as the girl was sleeping to rest and that she woke up sweating, dreaming of the woman shooting her right in the face, she woke up, screaming, then seeing that nothing was wrong, still a bit scared of what had happened she looked around the room to see if she was safe, she had picked her plushie to hug in case something really was wrong , she knew grace would hear her scream, which she disliked she knew that grace would need some rest too.

Grace had grown accustomed to her screaming by now. He woke up, slowly walking to the room and opening the door. The maids were outside, since none of them were ever allowed to go into the room without good reason.. with Erica's screaming in the middle of the night, after several episodes, the maids were ordered to not go in there anymore.

When he went inside he looked at Erica, no matter how many times he woke-up he never stayed mad at her when he saw her with the big plushie Karasu had gotten her. She looked adorable, and the machine was doing nothing to take away the cuteness of the image he was seeing. Grace walked up to her and sat on the comfortable bed she was placed on. He waited for her to realize he was in the room with her before talking.

"Who was it this time Erica? The mobsters or the evil maid?"

Grace had been comforting her all these days, helping her get over the nightmares. His theory, was that she felt unable to prevent any of that.. she wasn't powerful enough to defend herself, therefore she felt weak enough to fall victims to all of them. Another possibility, was that the images of people dying, and all of the violence, would follow her here.. and she thought those thigns would happen again, with deadlier consequences.

"Tell me Erica, I'm here to help"

Grace then looked at his watch, she was supposed to have her pills in a few minutes, so it was a good thing she woke him up after all.

It took a few secconds before Erica realized that grace had entered the room, she was still a bit shocked and then grace came sitting next to the young girl that was afraid, he asked the little girl to tell him what the nightmare was about this time, she remained silent for a while. It was hard to talk about. her plushie pushed to her small breast, hugging it one arm while the other was in the machine, her face was looking downwards, just looking to grace ocasionally, ''I-it was the girl'' she said stutering, she wiped away the sweat from her face and sat up a bit, ''did I wake you up grace?'' she asked hoping she didn't while she knew deep inside that she did. ''I am sorry, its so scary'' she then said again , the young girl then realized she hadn't been outside for a while, and looked at grace ''uuuhm, uhm'' she started talking ''can , uhm we maybe uhm go out '' she might needed to dress since going out in her thing hospital dress wasn't the best idea , but she was longing to see the sun, and maybe trees and grass

Grace was shocked that the nightmare she had ended up being the maid yet again, perhaps their opportunity to train would come soon.. her leg still needs some work, but it can still heal in a few weeks. The wound just needed more time. Grace's thoughts were interrupted by her claim of hos scared she was.. Grace remembered many times when he was smaller when he was scared of the dark, but by knowing someone is strong.. there is little left the person should fear, this kept ringing in Graces thoughts.

She suddenly said something else that was on her mind, she said it shyly but surely.. she wanted to go outside for a walk. It was the middle of the night, so it would be a bit cold and refreshing outside.. the ocean breeze and fresh air should be good for her. Grace nodded, and stood up going outside the room Erica was put in to recover.

After about 30 minutes, he returned with many closets that were on wheels, each of them at least 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide, there were at least 10 of them, and were scattered around her.

"What do you want to wear princess?"

The young Erica had no idea of the time, and didn't know how late it was, Grace sat next to Erica talking to him, Helping the young girl recover from her nightmare, he helped thee young girl come back to earth and calmed her down a bit. He was a bit suprised that the young girl wanted to go outside, but reacted happily the man went off to get some clothes for her, it be too cold in her small hospital dress. It was hard for the young girl to know what she would wear for clothing, she didn't know what Grace would get for types of clothing she was wondering, what he would bring for clothes, she was left to get some rest and calm from the dream, she also had to take her pills, and then took them with some water, she got her plushie and hugged it very thoughly waiting for Grace to come back, she was too scared to go back to sleep and really needed some fresh air.

When Grace returned with around 10 closets she was suprised there were so many clothing in them, she never saw so much before, she got very shy over it ''G-grace This i-i-is so much, H-how can I c-choo-se'' she was suprised that there were so many closets in front of her, it was hard too choose, she saw lots of dresses, she knew it was cold outside so she needed a pair of leggings to go under it, so she looked at the closet first, she didnt know what ones to choose the purple one looked good but she wasn't sure she thought she could ask the opinion of Grace although he was a man he might know something about what would fit togerther ''there is so much, I don't know what to choose, or would fit each other, I would maybe like to wear a dress but isnt that too cold for this weather??'' she asked, getting happy from the clothes and all the atention for her , she hoped when dressing Grace would get her out off the machine so they wouldnt get an akward sitation like before.

Grace was delighted that he was allowed to choose for her what to wear, it seemed like the shock of the big closet was almost too much for her. Normally, these closets would all be one giant wall in her room, but since Erica was on the hospital, they had to brig it on wheels, and cut up to fit the room. Grace was smiling, although in the future it would be nice to see what kind of dresses and colors she enjoyed, but for now he needed to put her in something cute, and fitting for the environment.

"Alright deary, I'll give you the best possible dress for a windy day on the beach~"

Grace went inside the closet head first, knowing exactly where to go for such an occasion. He took out a black dress, knowing black was the color that attracted the most sunlight. He then took out some black stockings that went all the way up to the upper thigh, some black shorts to wear under her dress, and some black sandals for the sandy beach. He also took out a small black jacket, in case it got too cold for her. He put the clothes on her lap, letting her gaze at them before trying them on. Grace looked at Erica.

"Those would loo graceful on you! At least until you figure out the kind of clothes you like to wear."

Grace then turned around, waiting for Erica to get dressed.

Little Erica was happy, and relieved that Grace helped her pick clothes, he picked her a large and nice black dress, along with, a black jacket and stockings , the colours black differed a bit from each other, making it look pretty good Grace told her it would be a perfect dress for a day on the beach , she knew it would be cold but it would be great to be outside again she smiled as grace put down her clothes, the by now learned how to remove the machine around her arm, and her leg, she did have trouble with removing it around her leg, since she had to bend over a lot.

When the machines were removed she pushed herself up sitting a bit better so she had a better time dressing, when she managed to remove the hospital dress she felt cold, and fastly put the black dress on, it felt special to her, she never wore a pretty dress like this before,aft she made sure the straps where correct on her shoulder, and tried to put on her shorts, after some trouble she finally manage to get the shorts over her leg that she could barely move, then she pulled them up easily. she was almost done it was now time to put on the stockings that grace readied for her she could only use her left hand so she had trouble getting them on after a bit trying she gave up, it was too much for her, close to her bed stood a wheelchair, and the clutch she used to get to the toilet, she could use the clutch to get a few steps, but it took very much energy, since she had to be jumping with one foot, only having one cluch for ballance, since she couldn't use another one, she then looked at Grace who was still looking to the other side ''Uhm Grace, I cant get this stockings on, its hard with one arm, '' she hoped for grace to help her. she had already moved to the edge of the bed, so she could get into the wheelchair easily, she had to step a few steps so she needed the clutch for that.

Grace bent down to Ericas level, he heard her tell him she couldn't do the stockings with one leg. Grace picked up the neatly placed black stockings, noticing the ones he chose had black flowers all over it.. ironic, since one of Karasus favorite plants were the black rose. What it represented, to him, was something forbidden. This was ironic, since Karasu was usually not allowed to do certain things, yet here he was.. adopting the daughter of a man he killed. He didn't care if the people around the island would think less of him, he only cared about her. So far though, nobody in the island had minded him finding a daughter.. they only hoped this one would help ease him.

Grace took the stockings, and gently started putting them on her bad leg, starting with her toes and moving up to her thighs. Grace did the same with the other stocking. In the end Grace put himself behind her chair, he didn't want her to stress her only good arm. He started pushing the wheelchair to down the hall, eventually reaching an elevator. The inside of the elevator seemed to be surrounded with thick and hard glass, allowing the person to see outside just as good as the people could see inside the elevator. Once the elevator went down, it had arrived to their destination, the first floor.

The ground was covered in white and almost glass like marble, while the walls were thoroughly cleaned, and blue. Grace looked at Erica, smiling.

"Don't you think this hospital looks graceful Erica?"

This was going to be the first time in a week Erica was going to be outside, she hadn't felt well enough before, and after another nightmare she couldn't take being in the bed all night she needed some fresh air some time not sitting in bed or laying, and out of the machine it felt strange to have to ask help for everything before, she had to do everything herself, she couldn't get help and would get beaten if she did bad, now she couldn't do things herself which made her scared at moments but the people she was with made her felt better over it.

Grace helped her quickly, and softly and carefully pulled her stockings on, it felt good that he helped her she couldnt do it her self, the stockings had beautifull roses on them and looked great, when Grace was done helping her she was ready to go outside.

Once grace had helped her to get in the wheelchair she was to leave the room for the first time she entered it, she felt safe with grace, but knew their could pop up people that wanted to kill her every minute, she had to learn how to protect her self. Grace was pushing her wheelchair trough the long, long, paths of the hospital, everything looked like a big and luxury house, and she was suprised this was just the hospital.

Once the two arived in the elevator she became a little bit afraid, she felt a strange feeling in her little belly when the elevator was going down, she looked down to the streets, that where dark but could see some of the lights, she then was relived once they reached the bottom floor ''I feel relieved, my stomach doesn't really like this elevator'' she said smiling.

Erica looked her eyes out at the marble covered ground, and the shiny blue walls, it looked good and was filled with luxury ''yes, it does, it is very nice, '' then she'd gone over, what grace said, graceful had grace his name in it, she smiled a bit and said ''grace-ful, haha''

The wheelchair had some good comfort and she sat up right looking at everywhere they where going, she didn't remember a lot of when she first came in she was scared of the hospital and all, and wasn't all too healthy, but she was healthier now, and knew that her new daddy was a great one who worked hard to create an awesome island, with very nice made buildings, if this hospital looked that good how would her house look, she then wondered when karasu would be back, she hoped she could walk by then, it would make him happy and she knew that, ''Grace when will karasu be back, I wanna learn to walk better again before he comes back, I think that will make him happy'' she said smiling

Grace walked over to the girl, holding her hand as he tried to answer her question. He remembered seeing her wonder around the building with her eyes, he saw that she loved the area Karasu had helped create. Karasu had hoped the world would become peaceful one day, this island was his sanctuary from the death and horrible moments causes.

"It's ok child, Karasu will be back soon.. and yes, my name is Grace because I believe the world can be perfectly graceful if your father manages to change it.. it is why I am here. I also hope he comes back, but I hope that you become strong enough to join him in his travels one day.. he might not be back for awhile."

Grace walked behind the wheel chair and started pulling, taking the two handles behind the wheelchair for granted. The second they stepped outside the ground suddenly became more like concrete then marvel. The long concrete road was stretched across the town, but there was only one road stretching out of the hospital. He walked down the road and into the intertwined cement roads, and took the route to the beach. it was very early in the morning, so people were not seen walking around that much, only a few were out of their homes and enjoying the night/morning.

Grace finally made it to the sidewalk near the beach, after taking a swift left turn in the end of a declining hill to the beach. He started looking around, noticing the sun coming up over the horizon.

"What do you think Erica? Very soon you'll be able to walk to see this every morning."

The young girls eyes sparkled when Grace told her that her new daddy was going to change the world and make it a gracefull one, this island seemed like a good one, trained full of strong people, she felt quite safe on the island, especially with grace, She smiled when grace told him that her daddy would be back, and they could travel together in the future, she needed to be stronger and she knew that, she gulped down because it was gonna be a long time till she was meeting karasu again, btu she was going to be strong, very strong, her daddy would be proud of her, when grace was done talking and comforting her he moved behind her wheelchair and started pushing it gently.

Once outside ericas eyes hurt, she hadn't been outside for a while, and they needed to remember how it was to be outside, after a few secconds her eyes felt better, it was still night but the sun would almost come up, while they walked over a concrete road, she felt the sea wind while sitting in the wheelchair, it was cold but not too cold. Grace had picked some perfect clothing for the young girl. She smiled when she looked around, in a few houses she could see light burning, but most of them where just dark, lots of people where still asleep but she woke up from a nightmare.

When they reached the beach, she could see the sun coming up over the horizon, it looked great, the fresh sea breeze moved along her body, it felt that she was alive again, she smiled and said happilly ''it feels great to be outside again, and its a pretty beach, thank you for taking me here its so great to see the sun coming up, she said enthousiasticly as she watched the sea and sun coming up. ''I hope I can walk again soon indeed, then you can take some more rest, I am hard on you aren't I Grace, '' she said blushing, she didn't want grace to tire over her and she had asked alot from grace over the past week.

Grace put his hand on Erika's cheek, smiling a bit at how innocent she was acting. He also wanted her to start walking again, but he was glad she had such strong intentions on walking.. it would help with the healing process in a way she might not understand. Grace didn't mind stepping outside of his office at nights to comfort Erica, it made him feel more.. human. He talked to her, trying to get his thoughts across.

"You aren't hard on me Erica, you haven't caused any problems to me that I don't mind doing.. if anything I should be thanking you, otherwise i would be very bored right now."

He saw the sunset rise into the sky, slowly though.. he could only see the tip of the sun on the horizon at the moment, but it scattered its light straight through to the island.. it was a beautiful morning for once. He was glad he could share it with little Erica. Grace made sure her jacket was put on correctly, he did not want her to catch a cold.

In the distance, Grace could see a small animal moving towards them.. however he didn't really pay mind to it, the little animal seemed almost harmless.

"I am glad you are happy Erica, and soon you and I will be able to train a little.. you'll be a fighter in no time. Then we could go see your father."

The young girl was delighted and had a small smile on her slim face, it felt good that she wasn't a bother at all to grace, which was one of the things she worried about, she knew she wasn't very demanding, but her returning nightmares could be a strain on grace his sleep, ofcourse it was also a strain on her sleep, but she slept a lot, not only at night, her body gone trough a lot and would now need some good rest. Being outside also made her feel better the cool wind moved along her face, she didn't have enough hair to make it move along in the breeze but she hoped that the time would come one day. She watched grace enjoying the sunset, as she enjoyed it too, another day had began, and it wasn't full of trouble, she fell delighted that her life had become so much better in so many aspects.

She smiled as grace checked if her jacket was on correctly and tight, grace was right about the cold weather but it felt refreshing and great to be outside again. Erica wasn't sure if she was looking forward to the fighting and training, but she knew she had to be able to protect herselfs, and ofcourse help her to see her father again, karasu seemed like a busy guy being away from the island a lot. But she knew that he wouldnt forget about her. ''I will do my best and train hard Grace,''she said knowing that it was needed.

She then saw a small and young squirrel moving towards them, she smiled and thought that the little squirrel would live in one of the trees around the island though it be strange since they normally lived in the forests. She stared at the little Squirrel as it was coming closer, when it was close to her wheelchair she carefully moved herself forward in the wheelchair, to a point where she wouldn't fall, she then pulled out her left hand towards the small Squirrel , ''hello little fellow, have you lost your mother'' she said wondering what the squirrel would do, then she heard the small animal saying yes, well it was a Squirrel talking, but she knew what the Squirrel said in some strange way. it wasn't human speech or anything like that she just knew that the Squirrel answered her question and lost her parents ''that's too sad then, are they around the island or are you alone ?'' she asked the little animal wondering, not paying atention on how grace would react, it was strange for her to be able to know what the animals said back to her the Squirrel didn't know where his parents where and clearly didn't come from this island, she knew that in her home island there were Squirrels but she was told not to come close, she thought that the lil animal climbed up in one of the mafia boats being curious, he then stared at ericas wheelchair, and climbed up it, sitting on ericas lap, she smiled as the animals wobly and large tail tickled her feet, she was stroking the animal on its head and smiled, ''it will be alright little one'' she said smiling the squirrel felt so safe being on her lap that he closed his eyes and fell asleep against the young girls belly. Erica smiled and continued stroking the lil animal she then stared at grace being a bit scared, was it normal to talk to animals on this island, she didn't dare to ask, she waited for grace to say something.

Grace was extremely happy when Erica had said that she would train real hard. It meant that Dark Isle, after Karasu would one day grow old, would have someone that could be just as powerful, if not more. She already killed someone at such a young age, and an assassin no less.. Karasu hadn't killed anyone until the age of 14. Grace smiled a bit at the thought, he wondered what kind of woman Erica would eventually shape into, and what type of power she would have that separated her from Karasu. maybe she would be good at another type of weapon.

Before Grace could even give it another thought, an animal walked up to Erica.. a small squirrel, Grace thought at first that Erica was only talking to the animal normally. Until she went into specifics. She confirmed what the animal was telling her, was she actually able to talk to animals? Grace waited for the little animal to do something, he climbed up Erica's leg and laid down beside her stomach. She confirmed to the animal that he would be alright, this was blowing Grace away. He took a minute to take everything in, was she with the power to communicate with animals?

Grace took his hand and touched her shoulder, a bit shocked with all of this. If this was true, he would have someone that could break the barrier between animals they find wild in areas, it was almost impossible to train them by those points.

"Erica, do you understand what the animal is saying? Since when did you have this?"

Erica was carefully stroking the squirrel under his chin, which made the little animal feel a bit more comfortable, he was sleeping on the young girls lap, the little animal must have been tired, was what the young girl thought, was he too afraid to sleep on another place on the island, she wasn't sure she just stared at the small and cuddly animal with a small and gentle smile on her face, she was happy she could have helped someone eventhough it was just a squirrel, she helped the squirrel and that made her feel great, it was a very oeacefull sight to see the animal sleeping on her lap.

She was somehow a tad frightened when she felt grace his hand on her shoulder, he put it gently, but just the sudden touch of something she didn't focus on made her get scared for a second, she then let out a small sigh off relievement and stared at Grace, she knew that he would ask questions about her talking to animals, she wasn't sure what to say, when a question would be asked she knew that grace was searching for the right words to say, he seemed a bit nervous too then in her opinion, she just needed to tell him what she knew, which wasn't much more then Grace knew, offcourse she heard the squirrel talk but this was the very first time she heard an animal talk, it could have been a special animal. but then grace wouldn't be so suprised.

Then grace began asking the question she didn't want to be asked but klnew wasn't avoidable, she was silent for a few seccond and then stared at grace, and carefully opened her mouth ''uhm, uhm, uhm'' she didn't know what to say, but found it strange why she didn't grace wasn't going to hurt her, he was one of the most kind men she knew, and she couldn't tell something that be ridicolous she thaught and started opening her mouth again ''T-this was the first time grace, Couldn't you hear the young squirrel then'' she asked as she moved her left arm to her chin to itch it, she was nervous and it was easy to see that. '' I never talked to an animal before, I don't know Grace'' erica said, hoping that grace would maybe know more about this

Grace put his hand on his chin, he didn't know how to answer her. He didn't have many ideas on how she had the powers, all he knew was that there she was... understanding what the squirrel was saying. She had only recently found out about it, so she couldn't have been born with that ability.. so what else did she have? Grace looked at the squirrel now relaxing itself on her lap. It seemed to feel much more safe now. Grace couldn't guess what was happening, but he figured she was in no danger.. and somehow solved the problem. Another thing crossed his mind, if the ability wasn't permanent.. that she could talk to animals, then there was only a few other options.

"I think you ate a devil fruit, you now have the power to talk to animals.. although I can't hear them of course. Do you have any idea what this means though? You can break the barrier between us and animals, we can easily control them and even make them our allies in battle.. our forces will be that much stronger... is there anything else you have that you aren't telling me dear?"

The atmosphere became somwehat akward, the young girl saw grace thinking, with a strange look on his face, she didn't have the slightest of ideas how he would react and what he would say about the fact she could talk to animals. For her it was something new too, she never was able to talk to animal before, not that she really tried, but she knew that this ability was only gained recently, she thought how she got it but couldn't think off it everything was a trauma for her, and the moment she started thinking of it she started shaking, the squirel looked at her panicking wondering if she was okay. she slowly talked ''yes little friend I am okay'' her voice was trembling and filled with fear, she found it strange that the animal could feel her feelings. was this a dream, was she communicating with the animal without even her knowing it, she hadn;t the slightest of ideas, she tried too calm down but the shaking wouldn't stop images went trough her head, how she saw people hunting her shooting at her, even where she killed that woman it was too much for her, but she tryed to keep it for herself obviously grace would notice this but she would handle with that later, now grace wanted to start with talking about her new ability.

she listened paying lots of atention, she heard grace saying something about a devils fruit she then remembered her old father calling her a demon or a devil but that was what she always was called. ''people called me the devils child'' she said shy knowing that it had nothing to do with it. then grace told her about the posibilties of her ability she could break the barrier between human and animals, that was great for her she could make friends with animals. but grace mentioned them fighting for her she then looked a tad sad ''but grace I don't want animals or humans to have pain for me'' she was the kind girl she had always been even with all the trouble she'd been trough in her small life she always tried to be kind. ''but I wanna become stronger and protect you and daddy from evilguys'' she said smiling still shaking a bit from the images that appeared in her head. Grace then asked her if she was hiding somethign from him she couldn't recall anything at that moment, she wasn't able to think clearly. she looked down and said on a very soft almost unhearable voice '' I don't know'' still looking down, seeing the squirrel relaxing on her lap.

Grace smiled at the young girl. She was the princess of the island and undoubtedly the only person that he cared for at that moment. He felt like an uncle to her. She told him a bit of her life, and Grace only got more angry the more the girl spoke of the names and things that happened to her. Despite all of the hate that was forced on her she still managed to care for a life. Grace smiled at how proud he was at her. Although, for a life of assassins the ideal of never killing a life would have to be dropped.. but that would be in do time. She had the makings of a powerful person, she already had the devil fruit, all they needed to do was add some experience with the fruit. in the distance a black figure could be seen, followed by a dot that zoomed past the waters and appeared in front of both Grace and the little princess. Karasu had arrived after a long journey. His black coat was almost immediately put around his little girl (within the blink of an eye) and he was left with no shirt.. but he was fine with the current weather.

Grace was surprised at the sudden appearance of the man, and was confused as to why he was there in the first place. Karasu didn't seem defeated, and he didn't seem successful either.. he seemed to be happy though, since he was smiling, after seeing his daughter outside and relatively well. All of his pistols were now shown, except for the ones in the gloves. Four pistols were located around his waist. Karasu was not worried about hiding them, since he figured his princess was already used to the idea of fighting.. although he was mostly wrong with that idea. Grace was happy that Karasu was alright.

Karasu suddenly spoke to the small girl, "I missed you.. I'd like you to meet someone soon, but not yet.. when she wakes up, I'll show you your new mother. Besides that, how have you been my little girl?"

The young girl had a somwhat suprised look on her face, she still wasn't feeling really well, the talking with the animal exhausted her, and she had a hard time hearing everything the little animal would say, but it felt like it would get less tiring after a while, she stared at grace his face, and how he would react to what she told, you could tell he was angry at what happened to her, even though she knew he was hiding it, the sudden silence that occured between the two was broken by a man coming towards them, she knew the man and the closer he came the bigger her smile became, you could see a smile from ear to ear on the little girls face as she stared at her daddy coming closer to her.

A little bit after that he appeared his long and black cloack was put around the young girls small body, she felt warmer already, she didn'r really was cold and she didn't want her daddy to be cold. it looked cold with no shirt, and it gave her a small chill down her spine, she was suprised at the look of the guns around her daddys body, she didnt want to see them, since they were to hurt others but she knew daddy had to use them and thats why she tried to be strong and she just looked happily towards her daddy, then he began talking about her new mommy, that thought suprised her, would she get a new mommy, did karasu have a wife, she didnt know that, she really hoped that her new mommy would be kind like karasu but knew that would happen since karasu was a nice person, so his wife would be nice too, the sudden appearence of her dad made her somewhat confused, so it was hard for her to answer her daddys question, ''that's great papa'' she said smiling a bit, and then began to stutter what shoud she say, she wasn't healing as fast as karasu was hoping, but well she could use her arm better already so that was great '' I-I am doing fine thanks to grace, he was r-really kind how about papa'' she asked by looking at his face, hoping that her daddy wouldnt leave her for a while

Karasu smiled when he heard her responses, she was already better then she was back then.. and she called him papa. Karasu couldn't help but smile, and a single tear fell down his left eye.. it wasn't a tear of sadness, bu a tear of joy that fell down his cheeks, under his chin, and down to the ground. Karasu saw her looking at his guns, this meant that she wasn't used to the idea of them yet.. in other words, the treatment was not going as fast as Karasu thought it would be going. Grace smiled as well when he saw his boss at the state as well, he felt like he was in the middle of a great reunion. Grace put his hands behind the wheelchair and pushed her a bit forward. While Grace pushed the wheelchair forward Karasu decided to answer his daughters question. Grace wanted them to have their conversation inside the hospital, he didn't want Erica getting a cold. "I've been doing fine, I met someone that I know you will love, and I might get a job soon.. so this island might have a little bit of an increase in salary." Of course, what Karasu neglected to mention was that he needed to find a job to get the island going.. if the main king can't get a good job soon then there wont be enough money coming in to support the island. Karasu in one job can earn as little as 30 million belli, and can earn as much as 200 million belli.. if not more, depending on the client.

Karasu looked back at Erica smiling, "How is the treatment going? Are you feeling better?".

When Karasu and Erica were in the chat, grace pushed the wheelchair, it was getting cold and they didn't want erica to catch a cold, there was still a visitor with them, the squirell that hid under ericas dress, the others forgot about it and so did erica well partly, she didn't have time to think about it, since her papa was here, and that made her feel so happy, and he was talking about someone, that she would love to she would get a mommy too, and that was nice, a bit scary but nice, she then heard a little thing in daddys voice when he was talking about getting a job it sounded a bit off, but she decided, to not go into it, since she did not wanted to meddle in her fathers affairs he knew what he was doing and it wasn't her job to worry about that, she should just be happy that he was home and she was ''It is great that you found someone you love, papa'' she said smiling, then said ''I wanna meet her too, sounds like she is a really kind person''

Karasu asked about her treatment which made her uncomforatble she wasn't healing as fast as karasu had wished, but she was doing her best, and she discovered she could comincate with animals, but didn't wanted to tell it to her daddy yet she was kinda afraid that it was just that she could talk with one animal, instead of more. '' sorry papa, it is not going as fast I think'' she said with a little shiver in her voice she didn't wanted to cry and hold herself very strong to not cry so she didn't she had to be strong, so that her daddy didnt worry about her, she had to become a fighter so she could protect herself her daddy and his friends, Erica who became really sleepy, began slowlyy falling asleep , slowly fading away into the land of dreams, in her wheelchair the little girl could be seen with her head tilded to the right a bit, a little smile on her face and covered in karasus cloack

Karasu smiled throughout everything that she said. He was glad that she was feeling better at least, but she wasn't completely healed yet. Grace was beside Karasu, he was reassuring him that she was healing steadily.. Karasu had to trust Grace, after all he was the best doctor he had on the island. She had an adorable response for all of Karasu questions and answers, he felt like hugging her up until the point where she fell asleep.. he didn't want to wake her up so instead he pushed on her wheelchair towards the hospital. When he arrived with grace they conversed about Erica's condition and how it could improve.. before she knew it she should be on her feet and walking around. Then would start the training.. which Karasu was both looking forward to and afraid off. After all, what father wouldn't be worried of his daughter eventually going into battle? He wondered how she would be involved in fighting in the future, but he guessed it would be something less dangerous then hand to hand combat.. or at least he hoped it.

When he and grace arrived on the hospital they carefully picked up Erica and places her on the bed.. or tried to, and Karasu sat on the chair next to her smiling. He loved to see her sleep.. it brought back peaceful times. Grace stayed standing behind Karasu with a hand on his shoulder, this was one of the few times where he felt like placing a hand on his shoulder wont kill him.

The little girl that fell asleep didn't get a grasp of the situation she was asleep. in dreams, her eyes were closed but their was a slight smile on her face, you could see that she felt safe, very save, when they arived at the hospital and grace carefully placed the little girl on the bed a little sound could be heard, it was the sound of a squirrel, the furry tail, could be seen coming out of the dress, slowly following by the little animal that then climbed over erica to start sitting by her head end, and then the little creature started lying against her shoulder, not paying lots of atention to Karasu and grace, it would have to suprise karasu that the animal was seeing erica as its mom. but well it wasn't strange for an animal to feel protected by one they could comunicate with, the fluffy tail of the animal could be seen around the girls head and the creature peacefully closed his eyes, tho the peace didn't last long, Erica woke up in a motion of fear, letting out maybe a small scream, she had another nightmare, but because off that karasu was there, she didn't wanted to show her weakness to her father, she rolled on her side, turning the back to karasu, she was shaking but was trying to hide it, she hugged the young squirell who stayed calm, though it was strange for it too see fear in a persons eyes that was so much bigger then himself.

Karasu sat next to the bed smiling at the sight of his daughter on the bed. Karasu suddenly looked over to Grace, a grim expression showed on his face. Karasu put his mouth over his mouth to signal Grace to keep his voice very low. Karasu started whispering to Grace in a low-tone. "By the way, I am no longer a shichibukai.. I need you and Tough to build this place a defense, get some engineers if you have to." Grace nodded, he knew he'd need Tough for this assignment and most of Dark Isle. Without the aid of the WG or the marines the island was now a big target for battle. The marines probably know Karasu's sentimental value on the island. They easily know where it is located as well, since the information was made public to most high ranking marines so they were able to give Karasu missions. he had to make sure his only island was well protected, and he had to recruit more individuals. Grace already knew about the recruiting part, Yaminoque was going to handle that part.

Karasu then noticed Erica wake-up, although he didn't say anything to show he saw her. He noticed the squirrel she was hugging then looked at Grace with a questionable look; Grace smiled at him then whispered "She has a Devil Fruit, she can talk to animals.. what do you think?" Karasu smiled, then put his coat back on, it was over Erica at first. By this point he saw her shivering, was she cold? He put his hand on her forehead but didn't feel her temperature shifting. He put two and two together and figured it was a scary nightmare. He smiled, was she holding back her fear? Karasu couldn't help but feel a bit proud of her. In his own assassin-like way he felt that Erica was trying to grow up. Karasu whispered inside Erica's ear.

"Do you want to head to the beach? I have an island I'd like to take you too.. you'll love it."

Trying to hide her fear and hugging the squirel she heard voices on the background she knew it were karasu and grace, talking about here she couldn't hear what they were talking about and she didn't want too, she was scared for lots of reasons, still shivering from the nightmare she looked to the wall, suddenly karasus hand felt her forhead, a little smile appeared on her face because his arm felt so warm, then she heard grace say the word devil fruit again, and she wondered why, was she after all really a devil, like her dad always told her, she didn't wanted to be one, she wanted to be a daughter of karasu, not a devil she hopd that karasu didn't think of her as a devil, he was so kind of her so he shouldn't right she thought to herself.

She then heard karasus voice, he wanted to go with her to an island with a beach, that seemed nice, but why she was still recovering but it would be nice to go somewhere with her daddy, it would be great actually, she knew it would be lots of fun and they could get to know each other even better, she would maybe even dare to ask if she were a devil, it seemed to bother her a lot she answered in a sleepy and trembling voice ''y-yes papa, that be great'' she wiped away her tears she had hidden and then rolled around and was about to hug karasu with a smile on her face.