Avisa's Secret is Out

After realizing that her devil fruit actually did do something, Avisa dedicated all her spare time—and even some of her working time—trying to practice using her new ability. It seemed that the devil fruit gave her some sort of telekinetic powers that allowed her to move things with her mind or exert force on anything with mass. It was a tricky power to perfect the use of though, because it required a concentrated mind and it felt so different from her regular senses. To move physical matter by nonphysical means was very strange. But also, very fun.

Most of the crew was thrilled to see her powers in use and would often ask her to move certain objects with her mind just for fun. The trouble came when she tried to move heavier things—like people. That required a greater amount of effort and often led to disastrous consequences. Like when Luffy asked her to try and make him float in the air and she accidently pushed him into the sea. She immediately jumped in after him to save him since she knew he couldn't swim. Of course, in her panic she had forgotten that she couldn't swim either and they both quickly began to sink beneath the waves.

Thankfully, most of the crew had been watching this and Zoro and Sanji yelled, "Idiots!" before they jumped in to get them. With an exasperated sigh, Sanji dropped Avisa down onto the deck as she sputtered and gasped for air. "Don't do that again you idiot!" Avisa nodded her head and then looked over to see that Luffy was just clenching his belly in laughter. It seemed she hadn't hurt him at least.

For the next few days, Avisa continued to practice her skills, but much more carefully. She still made mistakes, but she was starting to get the hang of some larger objects now. Sanji eventually banned her from using her abilities in the kitchen though. After a few bad instances with knives, she couldn't really blame him. What really got him angry though was when she tried to move some juice over to the table with her abilities and ended up dumping it all over Nami. She had never had her angry at her before, but that day Nami yelled at her like she had stolen money from her. It was intense. But not as intense as Sanji's anger for having done that to his sweet "Nami-san." He had offered to throw the stupid "mind-freak" into the sea to make up for it. Apparently, Sanji had a new nickname for her. She wasn't particularly fond of it. Thankfully, they cooled down, but she was much more careful about where and how she used her abilities after that.

The rest of the week went by fast, and she became even closer with the crew. The next island was only a week away and she began to feel a little sad at that thought. She knew she couldn't stay with the Straw Hats indefinitely. She needed to gain as much distance as possible from the people she cared about and now that included them too.

...

A week before the next island, Avisa walked into the dining room and noticed the crew was quieter than usual. Nami had a paper in her hand, and they were looking at it very seriously.

"Hey, what's going on?" Avisa tried to sound chipper even though she was nervous about the mood in the room.

The crew turned their attention to her and Nami held out the paper as she said, "It looks like you've got a bounty now."

Avisa took the paper and when her eyes saw the picture of her, she froze.

This can't be happening.

The picture had two sides, one with her disguise and one that pictured how she looked normally at home on her island—as a woman. On the bottom it read:

DEAD OR ALIVE

Alexei D'Angelo/Avisa Moreno

1,000,000

Avisa's hands began to shake as she held the paper, and her heart began to beat so rapidly she could feel her pulse in her ears.

"Are you okay?" It was Chopper that asked the question. He looked up at her with a concerned frown.

"No, this is really bad. I-I don't know what I'm going to do."

Robin stepped forward and asked with a serious expression, "What does this mean for you?"

Avisa took in a shaky breath and sat down at the table as she put her face in her hands. "It means the man I stole from won't just come looking for me. He'll go for my family too."

She looked up to see that the crew members were staring intently at her, waiting for her to go on.

"I disguised myself as a man for many years in order to keep my life as a thief and my life with my family separate," she explained. "The man I stole from was one I have stolen from many times, and I was especially careful to keep my true identity hidden from his men and informants. He knows my family and this poster was likely his doing. He won't hesitate to take his anger out on my family now that he knows who I really am..."

Oh, god. He's going to kill them.

Avisa felt lightheaded as she started to cry. This was her worst fear and she felt helpless. So helpless. She knew if her family died at the hands of her enemy that she would never forgive herself. It would be just like when her dad died all over again.

"Then we'll have to go protect them." She looked up to see that Luffy was looking at her with an intense expression and he continued, "We'll set the course for where your family lives and we'll stop him before he can do anything. Tell us where they live."

She looked up at him through her tears and felt a glimmer of hope. She knew that her island was still fairly far from here, but if they took her on the Sunny, and she didn't have to find her own means of transportation, they just might make it in time.

"They live on an island called Kenonee Island. It's small island probably about a couple weeks from here. But if we take a swift current and the wind is good, we could maybe make it sooner." She looked up at Nami as she said the last part. Nami nodded and started to give orders to change their course.

Luffy came up to her and kneeled, so he was face to face with her, and said softly, "Everything is going to be okay. We'll fight with you and make sure your family is safe. Alright?"

Avisa let out a little sob as she nodded. She hoped he was right. She couldn't live through losing more family and she knew that her other brother was planning to visit around this time too. She could lose her entire family if she didn't make it in time.

The crew became busy with preparations for getting to Kenonee as soon as possible as Avisa continued to sit frozen and stare at the bounty poster. Suddenly, she heard a throat clear and looked up to see Sanji looking at her.

Oh, fuck. I guess he knows my secret now.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid. Even the slightest misstep with my disguise could have meant that the man I stole from could find out who I truly was." Avisa looked at the poster, fidgeting with a corner, and continued, "And I knew it would be hard for you to pretend I'm a man, so I just continued to deceive you. I'm sorry for that but I knew I'd be leaving soon anyways so it wouldn't hurt anything to continue." She sighed and looked back up.

Sanji stood there with his hands in his pockets but finally took a drag from his cigarette and said, "I understand. I'm still angry, but I get it. I'm also just sorry I didn't know. I would have been nicer to you."

Avisa let out a little chuckle and said, "Well, you can always start now. Though I think you are a pretty good friend anyways and I don't mind your aggression too much. I think I got to know you a lot better than I would have if you had known I was a woman." She smirked a little as she saw Sanji blush.

He swept his hand through his hair nervously as he said, "Ya, I probably wouldn't have said a lot of things if I had known."

"Well, don't worry about it. Because it only made me like you more," she teased.

Once again, Sanji blushed a little. Avisa was starting to like this.

Their conversation was interrupted as Nami and Robin walked in and grabbed Avisa by the wrists. They pulled her towards the doorway as Nami said, "Now that your cover is blown, we want to get you out of those ugly clothes and get you into something more comfortable."