The Little Girl Joni

The little girl's face was chubby, with long white hair, wearing dirty clothes covered in dust, and she was currently hanging on Cifer.

"Finally, someone's here! This island is so scary~"

Large, pearl-like tears rolled down her face, dripping onto Cifer's shoulder.

"Looks like our fight will have to wait for another time!"

With the little girl causing such a commotion, he lost the will to fight any further. He lifted her off his neck and into the air, looking at the little thing.

"Mhm!"

Akainu was a bit disappointed not to see Cifer's final form, but he had only wanted to gauge his strength. Regardless of his final form, there was no doubt he possessed Admiral-level power.

"Little one, when did you arrive on this island? How were you able to evade the senses of both of us?"

Cifer questioned. He and Akainu were top powerhouses in the world; how could they have been fooled by a little girl?

Cifer and Akainu sat down on the ground, but she refused to, saying the ground was too hot and insisting on sitting on Cifer's shoulder.

As for why she didn't sit on Akainu's shoulder, perhaps it was because the first person she saw on the island was Cifer, or perhaps Cifer had some kind of attraction for her.

And so, on Cifer's shoulder, after more than ten minutes, she finally explained her origins.

The little girl's name was Joni. Some time ago, while traveling at sea with her family, they encountered an attack by a pirate crew. In the ensuing chaos, they found a small lifeboat to escape.

She was originally on that lifeboat, but a large wave knocked her into the sea, and she fainted. When she woke up again, she found herself washed ashore on an unknown island!

Based on Joni's description, Cifer and the others deduced that the shore she had landed on was on the other side of the island. As for how she had evaded Observation Haki and Neural Scan, they had an answer in their hearts.

Devil Fruit!

Cifer and the others' senses were focused on the ground, while this little one had burrowed underground!

According to her, at first, she was too scared to enter the forest and didn't dare to. It wasn't until she was unbearably hungry that she secretly sneaked in to pick some fruit.

While wolfing it down, she ate a very unpleasant one. However, since there weren't many fruits, she couldn't bear to throw it away and forced herself to eat it.

A few days later, she discovered she could burrow into the ground. Gradually, she dared to emerge from underground to find food and drink in the forest, immediately burrowing away when she encountered danger, and sleeping underground when she usually slept.

Originally, she had never dared to venture deep into the forest. Before that, she had seen two super large eyes that shone like lanterns!

She was so scared that she didn't dare to enter the forest for several days. It wasn't until later, when nothing happened, that she looked for food in the outer areas of the forest.

However, in the past few days, the wild beasts that usually lived deep in the mountains had been fleeing towards her area as if they had gone mad.

She also felt that something was happening on the island. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occurred day and night, scaring her so much that she didn't dare to come out from underground.

But if she didn't come out, she would have nothing to eat. She was so hungry that she made up her mind to burrow further, thinking that perhaps she could find something to eat on the other side of the coast!

She burrowed for a whole day. When she reached the vicinity of Cifer and the others, due to Akainu's abilities, the underground also became incredibly hot. Thus, she couldn't stand the heat, jumped out, and happened to land on Cifer's neck.

"Are you two also stranded on this island?"

Joni didn't consider that the events of the past few days on the island were caused by the two people in front of her. She only thought they were in the same predicament as herself.

No, they were even worse off. Both of them were shirtless, and one of them had quite a few scars.

Cifer and Akainu's faces flushed with embarrassment.

"No, we came here to relax!"

Relax?

Joni looked around. The area was filled with volcanoes and ruins. Was this a place to relax?

"Come with us, we can take you away from here."

Akainu, unlike Cifer who made up excuses, directly changed the subject.

"Really?! That's great!"

Joni's tears, which had stopped, began to flow again, this time representing joy.

"Vice Admiral Jonathan! Admiral Sakazuki and the others have returned!"

The Marine, who had been holding his post for three days, finally saw them descending from the sky and rushed into the ship's cabin to report.

"We can finally prepare to set sail!" Jonathan let out a deep sigh. As the base commander, being away from the fortress for so long was not a good thing.

Jonathan stood up, stretched, and slowly walked out of the ship's cabin. Then, seeing the scene on the deck, he rubbed his eyes hard.

He saw various delicacies being carried out from the kitchen. Cifer, Akainu, and a little girl were sitting on the deck, feasting.

Cifer and Akainu were both shirtless and didn't seem to be in any serious condition. Jonathan was curious about the small hole on Cifer's chest.

"Big brother, why do you have a hole here? Does it hurt?"

Joni, the little king of appetite, while devouring food at an astonishing rate, also asked a question that everyone present wanted to know. Akainu, standing nearby, couldn't help but perk up his ears.

"This, ah~"

Cifer held a bone in one hand and touched his chest with the other, showing no concern. Such things were inherently difficult to explain.

"Let's just say it's a racial characteristic! It's just that I'm the only one left of my race."

Everyone was instantly stunned. Jonathan pondered which race could be so peculiar, while Tina had already imagined a tragic epic in her mind.

In Akainu's mind, Cifer transformed into a tragic, passionate youth who had lost his entire race as a child, drifted alone on the sea, was bullied by everyone, and could only fight and grow stronger every day.

At this moment, he finally let go of his slight prejudice against Cifer becoming a Shichibukai.

They were both people with tragic destinies. Even if they stood in different positions and from different angles, they were walking the same path: one that could not tolerate evil! Upholding Justice!

Thinking this way, Akainu found Cifer to be much more agreeable.

When he snapped back to reality and reached out to grab more food, he found that Cifer and Joni were already lying on the deck, patting their round bellies. There was no food left on the ground!

"Hina doesn't understand, how can this child eat so much too?!"

Hina had watched Joni, Cifer, and Akainu fight over food. The amount she ate in one sitting was enough for her to eat for several days.

"Joni's been hungry for days! She's not usually like this!"

Hearing Hina's surprise, Joni's small face turned completely red, and she started to feel shy.

After Cifer's explanation, everyone finally understood why they had suddenly gained a child after fighting for several days.

"So, what are your plans? Joni, do you remember where your home is?"

Even after hearing that she possessed Devil Fruit abilities, Jonathan's first reaction was to send her home, as she was just a child.

Cifer and Akainu remained silent. They felt that Joni's story about her origins was only half true.

Joni's expression became unnatural, and she stammered, unable to explain clearly. Jonathan also noticed that this little girl didn't seem entirely honest, and he had his own ways of dealing with dishonest children.

"You can't remember? Then I'll just have to leave you here. That way, your family will have an easier time finding you."

As soon as Jonathan finished speaking, Joni couldn't hold back her tears and threw herself onto Cifer:

"Please don't abandon Joni, Joni doesn't want to be an unwanted child anymore!"