Past - Akari Arc
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I am what you'd call a reincarnated person.
The memories are almost completely gone now, but in my previous life I was a nurse who lived to about twenty-five. I think the last thing I remember was getting a call during my night shift about an emergency patient, and going in to help.
After that, I met a goddess in that white place and was reincarnated. I had to wait forever, but I passed the time chatting with the goddess.
Apparently another reincarnated person had just woken up and was asking their assigned god lots of questions.
I'd panicked when I learned I'd died, but this person lit up a cigarette to calm down and kept asking the god questions, trying to understand and accept the situation.
The goddess said this was unusual—most people just hurled insults and abuse. I got interested and asked her to give me a play-by-play of this person's conversation with their god.
The questions covered everything from how they'd died to parallel worlds. I was shocked when I heard they'd started crying about suppression.
Learning why I hadn't been interested in the opposite sex in my previous life was actually helpful. I declared to the goddess that this time I'd definitely get a boyfriend, then had a fun girls' talk about ideal types.
After that, I decided on my reincarnation perks and was reborn. I was sent to Wano Country.
Born into the Shirakawa family in Wano's Kuri region, I was called a child prodigy.
I'd asked the goddess to let me use Haki from birth, which is why. Also, being reincarnated meant I had knowledge from my previous life, making me smarter than other kids my age.
But more than anything, the biggest factor might have been that my previous life's experience had gotten me used to blood. Thanks to that, I didn't need much time to develop the resolve needed for fighting.
The Shirakawa family earned their surname when my great-grandfather founded a sword school and had his skills recognized. I started training in swords and Haki when I was four.
By seven, I was comfortable using Haki and started going to sea with my father. Around that time, I ate a Devil Fruit taken from pirates and gained the power I'd asked the goddess for.
Zoan-type Horse-Horse Fruit, Model Unicorn.
This was the Devil Fruit I'd wished for.
I had the transformation ability limited to just growing a horn instead of full transformation, and specialized in healing power instead. I could imbue my bodily fluids like tears and blood with healing power—pretty convenient.
Growing a horn and using healing power eventually got me called the Unicorn Princess Akari by people around me.
When I turned eight, marriage proposals started coming to the Shirakawa family. Honestly, asking for an eight-year-old girl as a bride was pretty questionable, but with pirates around and life being uncertain, I guess marriage talks starting early compared to my previous life couldn't be helped.
Wano had been isolationist for a long time, so you might wonder about pirates, but there were still some places where limited trade was allowed, so pirates, Marines, and merchants did visit certain ports. Kind of like the Dutch trading post in historical Japan.
But I wanted to choose my own husband, so I turned down every proposal. Even when one came from a retainer serving the Kozuki family who ruled Wano, I refused that too. My father was eager to join the daimyo's service and tried to convince me, but I still refused. He even threatened to disown me, but I wouldn't budge.
My mother supported me, but eventually my father kicked me out of the house.
After that, I lived alone. Well, I'd lived independently in my previous life, so housework wasn't a problem, and I'd already seen real combat, so I decided to become a bounty hunter.
Getting a ship was tough, and I didn't know navigation, so I could only stay in coastal waters. That meant less money and poor returns, so I decided to make money using my healing abilities to play doctor. That let me earn enough to get by. This disappointed my father.
He'd apparently planned to arrange an engagement if I came crying back to him, but when I couldn't do that and was supporting myself instead, he lost face with the family. Since he was an adopted son-in-law, he'd wanted to make a good impression...
My father wasn't a bad person. Actually, the way he and mom acted around each other was tooth-rottingly sweet, and he was devoted to his children. But he was the type who charged ahead once he'd decided on something...
This whole marriage business was just him trying to secure my future and getting carried away. Otherwise he was fine... He was probably getting thoroughly scolded by mom right about now...
Later, I rented space at a community center in the village next to my hometown and opened a clinic-like practice. After becoming friendly with the neighbors, bandits started coming to trash my workplace.
But with real combat experience, Haki, and Devil Fruit powers, I easily drove them off. When they kept coming back persistently, I tried to hand them over to Wano's magistrate office (like a police station), but the bandits said they'd been hired and begged me to let them go. When I asked who hired them, it was my father. What the hell, old man...
I had thoughts about my runaway father, but I talked with the bandits and decided to let them wreck the clinic just enough to justify their payment and call the job complete. I didn't want him hiring different bandits I couldn't handle.
After that, the bandits became a regular feature at my clinic. The patients and villagers adapted, taking bets on what would get broken each day.
The bandits got into it too, putting on little performances while deciding what to break, making the betting crowd cheer and groan. I wasn't allowed to bet since I was still a kid, but it was really fun.
Using my healing abilities at the clinic taught me about my power's limitations. I could heal injuries and poison, but not all diseases. More precisely, I couldn't cure diseases caused by viruses.
I could treat the symptoms with my ability, but I couldn't eliminate the virus itself. So it would look cured on the surface but then relapse. I figured this out thanks to my previous life's experience and knowledge.
I honestly told the villagers that there were diseases I couldn't cure. They said if even a medical powerhouse couldn't cure something, then it couldn't be cured, so I shouldn't worry about it.
That was the first time I'd cried since gaining consciousness in this life. The villagers laughed. After being kicked out and separated from my mother, I'd been feeling a bit lonely, but the villagers' warmth broke down my embarrassment and made me cry.
They'd already been taking care of me in various ways, but after seeing me cry, they looked after me even more. Apparently they were relieved to see me act like a child... I wanted to dig a hole and hide from embarrassment.
I spent happy days with the warm villagers and cheerful bandits. When I turned nine, that life took a turn.
My father stormed into the clinic with a sword at his hip.
"Have at thee!"
The door flew open with a loud shout. Recognizing that familiar voice, I wanted to hold my head but responded anyway.
"That's quite an energetic patient. You're disturbing other patients, so please leave."
"Ah, I do apologize."
My father quietly closed the door and went outside...
"Why though?!"
But then he came back, making his own straight-man retort. Same old cheerful dad.
"What do you want, father? If you don't have business, get lost. Oh, and tell mother I'm doing fine!"
"Indeed, I shall tell my wife... Wait, that's not why I'm here! And Akari, why won't you call me Papa like usual?"
"I've never called you Papa, you damn old man!"
"Gah!"
He dropped to his hands and knees and got depressed. Don't be embarrassed calling you that in public, stupid dad!
"Ugh... Shiori, Akari's hit her rebellious phase..."
"I'm the one you threw out! I've had my share of struggles too!"
"That's because you refused those marriage meetings..."
"Why did refusing meetings mean getting kicked out?! You had a love marriage yourself!"
"Well, my courtship with Shiori was..."
"Don't start bragging about your romance in public, you moron!"
"Gah!"
The father-daughter comedy routine made everyone around us stifle laughter. I took a deep breath to calm down and asked my father properly.
"So what do you really want, dad?"
"Well... Before that, call me Papa..."
"I'll call you 'old man' again if you don't hurry up."
"Yes ma'am..."
My slightly deflated father straightened up and told me seriously.
"Come home, Akari."
"I already told you I'm choosing my own husband..."
"You don't have to accept marriage proposals. But at least meet them at the meetings."
"Why do I have to meet perverts who look at an eight-year-old and start panting?!"
I want a wonderful boyfriend! I don't need gentlemen who are actually perverts!
"Look, I have issues with that too, but... these are prominent families in Wano. We can't refuse to meet them and lose face."
"I get that, but I have work treating people in this village now..."
"Come home with me, Akari. Let's live together as a family again."
"Dad..."
"If I don't bring Akari home, Shiori won't share a bed with me!"
"What are you saying to a nine-year-old?! Give me back my touching moment, you pervert!"
I turned bright red and yelled at my father. I hadn't thought much of dirty jokes in my previous life, but now that I was interested in the opposite sex, I overreacted to them. Where did that thick skin I had as a nurse go?
While I was thinking about that, people from the community center poked their heads into the clinic and gave me encouraging words.
"Akari-chan, go home with your father."
"That's right, Akari-sensei! You're still too young to be working!"
"Village chief, boss..."
The village chief and bandit boss's words left me speechless.
"Akari-chan is still young. You should spend more time being spoiled by your parents while you can."
"Well, we'll lose our cushy job, but we never planned on being bandits forever anyway. We've gotten attached to this village, so maybe settling down here wouldn't be bad. Right, boys?"
"Yeah!"
"Everyone..."
Their words helped me make up my mind, but I had one question.
"Thank you, everyone! I'll miss leaving this village, but... I'm going home!"
The villagers all said "thank you too" in response. After the exchange of words died down, I questioned my father.
"By the way, dad? Why did you send bandits to my clinic?"
Everyone's eyes turned to my father.
"Hmm? That? Simple. If you became a doctor and stopped moving, your sword skills would get rusty. So I found suitable opponents for Akari's sword practice."
"You could've just sent students from the dojo, right?"
The clinic fell dead silent.
"Ah!"
"Think things through better, stupid dad!"
"W-well, that aside..."
"He's trying to deflect!"
The villagers' collective straight-man retort echoed through the clinic and community center.
"Akari, your sword skills haven't gotten rusty, have they?"
My father started to draw his sword.
"Hey dad! This is a clinic! If you're drawing swords, go outside!"
"The world has bandits and pirates—you can't always choose your battlefield!"
"That sounds reasonable, but there are better ways to deflect!"
"Enough! Akari, if you call yourself a swordsman, let us duel!"
Right after my father drew his straight sword, an even louder voice than when he'd arrived brought a giant man in Marine uniform bursting into the clinic.
"Is there a doctor here?!"