The chains had fallen — but freedom didn't feel like salvation.
It felt like fire.
Ada ran until her legs gave out, until her throat burned and the world blurred around her. The air stank of salt, blood, and smoke. Behind her, the slaver ship was a burning silhouette on the horizon — her first victory, and her first sin.
She had stolen a pistol from one of the guards.
It was too big for her hands, the metal cold and heavy — but when she pulled the trigger and heard the man fall, she didn't flinch.
She only breathed, for the first time in years.
North Blue Sea Circle Calendar Year 1481 – A Year after the Escape
Rain poured down over a coastal estate.
A noble's mansion — tall, white, and cruelly beautiful — gleamed behind iron gates. Inside, laughter spilled from the ballroom windows, music echoing over the gardens.
No one noticed the girl on the roof — soaked, shivering, and dressed in black.
No one ever did.
Ada's eyes were hard now — no longer those of a child. Her crimson dress, torn and faded, fluttered in the wind.
She whispered to herself, voice cold and steady. "They took everything from me. Now I take everything from them."
She moved silently, a blade clenched between her teeth, her pistol holstered at her thigh.
"You'll never make it out alive," she whispered to herself — her voice calm, almost detached. "But neither will they."
She dropped from the roof, landing lightly on the balcony rail.
Two guards turned — but she was faster. The first bullet silenced one; the knife silenced the other.
She moved like a ghost — slipping past guards, stepping through hallways scented with perfume and greed.
When the noble turned, half-drunk and smiling at the sight of the girl in red, he didn't even have time to scream.
Inside, she slipped through the crowd like a shadow, unnoticed amid masks and laughter.
When she reached the noble lord — the same man who had once reported her parents to the World Government — she didn't hesitate.
Her pistol pressed against his chest.
He stammered, recognizing her eyes. "Y-you— impossible— we killed—"
Bang.
The music stopped. Screams erupted. Ada vanished into the chaos.
A few days later at the Marine Headquarters, North Blue Branch.
The air was thick with cigarette smoke and tension.
Papers were stacked high on the desks, reports coming in from the ruins of Lord Fedor's estate — blood, fire, and silence.
Vice Admiral Derix slammed a file onto the table.
"This is the second noble family attacked in six months. But this one— this one was different."
A younger officer swallowed nervously.
"Sir… Fedor was directly connected to the Celestial Dragons."
The room fell silent.
Derix opened the folder. Inside were grainy photographs — a burned ballroom, shattered windows, a bloodied crest.
And in the center of it all, one clear footprint in crimson.
He exhaled slowly, his voice low.
"Whoever did this knew exactly where to strike."
The door creaked open. A Cipher Pol agent in a black suit entered, sliding a report across the table.
"Her name's Ada Wong. No family records, no origin, no allegiance. She's a ghost."
Derix scanned the report — sketches, rumors, sightings.
He frowned. "How old?"
"Ten. Maybe eleven."
That drew a few startled and shocked looks around the room.
"A child?"
"That's impossible—"
"She killed twenty men in under a minute—"
Derix slammed his fist on the desk, silencing them.
"Age doesn't matter. Intent does. Print the posters."
The agent nodded, turning to leave.
"And make sure the bounty reflects the message," Derix added. "We don't negotiate with monsters."
Moments later, the new bounty sheets rolled out of the press — ink still wet.
Derix stared at the poster, expression grim.
"A girl who kills nobles… if she keeps this up, the world's going to remember her name."
He lit another cigarette, watching the smoke curl toward the ceiling.
"And I've got a bad feeling we're watching the birth of something we won't be able to stop."
Weeks Later
A bounty poster flapped on the walls of a North Blue tavern.
WANTED
Ada Wong — The Crimson Shadow
Bounty: 100,000,000 Berries
Dead or Alive
For the assassination of Lord Fedor, a member of the World Nobility's extended family.
Inside, the patrons whispered.
"A kid? That's no kid. They say she burned the whole mansion down."
"They say she killed him in front of fifty guests."
"A kid did that?"
"Not a kid. A demon. She doesn't leave witnesses."
"She's got eyes like fire."
Ada sat in the corner, hood pulled low, sipping water from a cracked glass.
The whispers didn't bother her anymore. They were the only music she knew.
She had no need for fame — only purpose.
Her eyes flicked to the poster. Her name — Ada Wong — written in thick black ink.
It wasn't her real name, but it was hers now.
The only one she would let the world remember.
A man tried to sit beside her once — a bounty hunter.
He didn't get back up.
Months Turn Into Years
The killings spread — from one noble estate to another.
The legend of the Crimson Shadow spread like wildfire and so did her bounty. Nobles trembled. Slave auctions vanished overnight. Marines called her a menace. The underworld called her efficient.
She learned to fight with twin pistols and short blades, each motion fluid and precise. She learned poisons, stealth, and how to vanish in plain sight. Her crimson dress became her symbol — a promise and a warning.
Each time, Ada left no witnesses. Only a red stain and the same mark burned into the walls — the letter "A" carved in her blade's wake.
The Marines called her a demon in human skin.
The common folk called her vengeance.
And Ada… called it justice.
But the nights were long.
When she cleaned her weapons, she sometimes saw her reflection in the blade — eyes too old for someone her age.
One night, under a blood-red moon, she found herself standing before a cliff overlooking the sea. Her hands trembled, not from fear, but exhaustion.
Her parents' voices echoed again — distant, fading.
"You must live, Ada. That's the only way to fight them."
She knelt there for a long time, tears mixing with rain, whispering their names until the wind carried them away.
In time, whispers of her deeds reached the underworld.
Rumors of Ada's kills reached even the New World.
Pirates spoke her name in hushed tones.
Government spies placed her on watch lists.
Some called her the Shadow of the North.
Pirates, mercenaries, and spies began to seek her out — not to kill her, but to hire her.
She refused every job.
Until one fateful meeting.
Sea Circle Calendar Year 1485 - 1 year before the God Valley Incident
Ada currently dealing with the bounty hunters sent after her said. "Who sent you?"
Before the bounty hunter can reply. A man stepped into view and said. "Easy there, girl. You'll put an eye out if you keep twitching that finger."
Ada turned, lowering her weapon only slightly. Her stance didn't falter, her finger stayed on the trigger. "You're not with them."
The man smirked. "No. I'm worse."
The voice came from the shadows below, deep and commanding. Ada turned, sharp, eyes narrowing at the figure who stepped into the moonlight. He was massive, his aura suffocating, like the ocean pressing down from all sides. A mane of wild hair framed his face, and his grin was both menacing and amused.
"Who are you?" Ada's tone carried no fear, only calculation.
The man laughed. "The name's Rocks D. Xebec. Remember it. I'll be the king of this world one day."
Ada looked at him — at the madness in his eyes, the conviction, the weight of destiny she couldn't name.
That night, the sea roared as a storm rolled in.
And under the flash of lightning, Ada Wong — the Crimson Shadow, the girl who carried the will of the D. — took her first step toward infamy.
End of Flashback
The lanterns flickered as Ada finished her story.
The Roger Pirates sat quietly — Roger, Rayleigh, Gaban, and the others, listening with a mix of awe and sympathy.
Rayleigh exhaled. "So that's how you met Rocks."
Ada nodded, eyes distant. "Yes, He offered me something far greater than just revenge"
Roger leaned forward, smiling. "Still, you took the hardest path possible and lived. That's strength most people will never understand."
Ada's gaze softened. "Strength's the only thing the world respects."
Roger chuckled. "Maybe. But sometimes, strength's just surviving long enough to find a reason to live."
Ada looked out toward the endless horizon, her reflection glimmering faintly on the waves.
"Maybe I'll find that reason here."
Roger chuckled, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Then maybe you finally boarded the right ship."
Ada's lips curved in a small, tired smile.
"Maybe I did."
Roger then grinned, teeth flashing beneath the starlight.
"You did. That's a promise."
The ship sailed on, cutting through the night. And for the first time in years, Ada felt the faint warmth of something unfamiliar in her chest.
Not vengeance.
Not rage.
But peace.