Annie

"Annie? Why did you bring me here?" Seeing that this little girl seemed to bear him no ill will, Locke began talking with her.

"I just wanted to find a place to chat with you!" Annie suddenly became embarrassed after saying that.

"You wanted to chat with me? Then why did you hide in the back and refuse to come out?" Locke asked again.

"I was just attracted to your dream world!" Annie said shyly.

"So that was why you kept following behind me?" Locke said helplessly.

Little Annie nodded cutely.

"All right! Tell me who you are and what exactly you wanted to talk to me about." Seeing Annie staring at him with those adorable eyes, Locke simply could not get angry.

After hearing Locke's words, little Annie began telling him her story and what she truly wanted to discuss with him.

Annie turned out to be a resident of this island. Back then, the island had not looked like this. There had been mountains, water, forests, and a group of simple, honest people.

The people of this island had worshipped a tree for generations. They called it the Divine Tree. Every two hundred years, it bore three Devil Fruits, and whoever ate them gained all kinds of abilities.

Whenever the Divine Tree bore fruit, the village chief organized a ritual. Children between the ages of six and twelve were chosen by lot to eat the fruits grown by the Divine Tree and become the island's guardians.

Annie had been one of the guardians chosen during one such ritual. However, her fruit ability had been rather unusual. After eating it, she displayed no abilities at all. Although the villagers had been dissatisfied and believed Annie was someone abandoned by the gods, unworthy of becoming a guardian, the village chief stopped them.

A month after becoming a guardian, Anna had still been young and had not understood why the people in the village suddenly disliked her after she became the Divine Tree's guardian. She ran alone to where the Divine Tree stood and poured out her troubles to it.

It was at that time that the village was attacked by pirates. The other two guardians stepped forward to fight, but because they had possessed their abilities for too short a time, they could not wield much power and were quickly killed by the pirates.

After the two guardians were killed, the villagers were slaughtered by the pirates for resisting. In the end, when the pirates reached the Divine Tree, they discovered Annie, who had been trembling there because of the screams outside.

By then, the pirates had gone mad with bloodlust. Even when they saw such an adorable little girl as Annie, they still struck without mercy, killing her with a single slash. Then they ignored her and continued toward the Divine Tree.

What they failed to notice was that a dim blue glow appeared on Annie's body after they killed her. Then, with a flash, a transparent blue Annie appeared above the fallen Annie.

The newly appeared blue Annie looked around blankly, completely unaware of what was happening. But at that moment, the pirates had already reached the Divine Tree and were preparing to pull it out.

At that moment, Anna's eyes suddenly turned blood-red, and she lost her mind. When she regained her senses, she discovered that most of the island had been sunk, leaving only what Locke could see now.

Only then did Anna learn that the fruit she had eaten was the Ghost Fruit. She had to become a ghost to gain its power. Not only could her ability enter other people's dreams, it could also confuse their minds.

It was very similar to Locke's fruit ability. Both confused others and caused them harm. However, Locke's fruit caused physical damage, while Anna's caused mental damage.

After becoming a ghost, Anna discovered that she was not only afraid of seawater, but also especially afraid of sunlight. After burying all the island's residents, there was no living person left on the island. Yet she always remembered that her duty was to protect the Divine Tree, so she fell asleep within that altar.

After Anna fell asleep, this small island somehow became what it was now.

When Anna woke again, she discovered that the Divine Tree had disappeared. Then she saw Locke fighting Sis outside and sensed the Divine Tree's aura from Locke. At that time, Locke was being brutally beaten by Sis.

In Annie's young heart, handsome Locke was naturally a good person. To keep the Divine Tree from falling into the hands of bad people, he had eaten it himself. And Sis, the bad person, had flown into a rage from humiliation over this and wanted to kill Locke.

Just as Locke was about to be killed, Annie used her ability to plunge Sis into a terrifying nightmare. Locke seized the chance to finish Sis off. Then Locke lost consciousness, and Annie pulled him into the dream, wanting to ask what had happened and whether it was truly as she had imagined.

"So you were the one who saved me just now?" Locke asked after hearing Anna's story.

"Mhm!" Annie nodded obediently.

"Then thank you, Annie. Annie is amazing."

"I'm not that amazing." When she heard Locke praise her, Annie's face instantly turned red, and she lowered her head shyly.

"Big brother, can you tell me why the Divine Tree's aura is on you?" After getting over her shyness, Annie asked Locke again.

"Just like little Annie thought, big brother ate the fruit crystal so the bad guys wouldn't get it," Locke told Annie.

Although Locke had indeed wanted to keep Sis from obtaining the Awakening Fruit when he ate it, the fruit's ability itself had also tempted him greatly.

Still, Locke was not really lying to Annie. He was merely leaving out part of the truth and telling only one part of it.

"I knew it! Annie is so smart." After receiving Locke's confirmation, she happily jumped up.

"That's right! Annie is the smartest!" Locke played along.

"Hee hee hee! Of course!" At that moment, Annie was like a beautiful little swan, proudly lifting her head high.

"Can Annie travel with big brother from now on?" After being happy for a while, Annie asked.

"What, does Annie want to come with big brother?"

"Yes! Annie's duty is to protect the Divine Tree. Now that big brother has eaten the Divine Tree's crystal, big brother is the Divine Tree. Annie will protect big brother from now on!" Annie said seriously.

Looking at Annie's adorable little face, how could Locke bear to refuse her? He nodded, agreeing to it.

"Great! Annie will definitely protect big brother properly from now on." With that, Annie happily began spinning circles around Locke.