Silk

Silk (シルク) was the abandoned child of a pirate and a character from Romance Dawn V.1. She aided Monkey D. Luffy in her efforts to defeat Crescent-Moon Galley when he attempted to take over the town she was living in. She said she had heard of Shanks when Luffy mentioned his savior as a child and that he was one of the most famous pirates in the world.

Appearance
Silk is a tall and slim woman with blond hair and brown eyes. She wears a blue T-shirt and a green and white skirt.

Personality
She is very protective of her town and considers it her treasure. She is willing to risk her life to defend it. She understands that not all pirates are bad and shows compassion towards pirates like Luffy. A lot of the people in the town do not take her seriously, suggesting her confidence is high but her actions do not usually yield results.

Abilities And Powers
Silk wields a sword and she is very skilled at fighting with it.

History
As a baby, Silk was abandoned by pirates who raided her village. The people in the town took her in and raised her as their own without any ill-will toward her, even though the pirates who left her had ravaged the village.

When the people in her town saw that Galley was coming to attack them, Silk urged everyone to take up arms against the pirates and protect the town. The people told her not to do anything, as her involvment would do more harm than good. When she first sees Monkey D. Luffy, she mistook him for Galley and thought such an infamous pirate would look tougher. When Luffy entered the restaurant where Silk was staying, she said hello and promptly attacked him. After he explained he was not a pirate yet, she stopped attacking and served him food. While he was eatnig, Luffy explained to silk about the two kinds of pirates. When she asked if he had any treasure, Luffy told her about his hat and about Shanks. When he finished, Silk asked him if Shanks was the same person as "Red-Haired" Shanks, a legendary pirate, confirming that they are indeed the same. After Luffy said that he aspired to be like Shanks, Silk told him that she was actually the child of pirates. She then tells Luffy that she does not want anyone in the town to be sad and she will fight for them no matter what. She then asks if there were pirates on the ship Luffy had arrived on. Luffy instead begins to leave, thanking the old woman behind the counter for food, completely ignoring Silk, much to her irritation.

When they get outside the restaurant, she tries asking Luffy about Galley again. Before he can answer, Galley shows up, very much annoyed that Luffy defeated him. Luffy then realizes that the man Silk had asked about earlier was the captain of the crew he had defeated, and then tells Silk that Galley was in fact on the ship with him, which is by now obvious to her. She then asks what Luffy did to make the pirates so angry. When Galley ordered his men to attack, Silk called them cowardly for attacking unarmed opponents, but was surprised when Luffy started beating them without any weapons at all. When he used his Devil Fruit to stretch his arm, Silk was surprised by his ability. When Galley shot Luffy in a surprise attack, Silk screamed in terror but was shocked to see that not only was Luffy okay, he even rebounded the bullet. Silk is still surprised by Luffy's strange abilities as he runs off.

After the other people in the town mistakenly capture Luffy, thinking he was Galley, Silk rushes to tell them their mistake. She arrives too late, though, as the real Galley is already there. Silk tries repeatedly to attack the pirates but each time is knocked to the ground. Eventually the mayor orders her to stop. Silk protests, saying that if they comply with the pirates' demands, their town will only become an easy target and attract more pirates. Silk stops, albeit reluctantly, and is surprised when the incapacitated Luffy angers Galley by making fun of his mustache. Later, when the pirates are loading their ship with all the stolen goods they collected, Silk and the mayor are watching their activities from behind a crate, the mayor feeling guilty about what they did to Luffy. Silk insists that Luffy is not a bad person, despite the odd circumstances surrounding his arrival. She watches as Galley is about to step on Luffy's hat, the latter threatening to kill the former if he does. Silk remembers what Luffy said about his hat being his treasure. She is then shocked to see one of the pirates throw Luffy out into the ocean. Silk can no longer sit back and watch, and dives in to rescue Luffy. She tries to ask Luffy if he is alright, but he only asks her where the pirates are. She tells him that he cannot reach them. She tries to sympathize with Luffy's desire to protect the things that are important to him. Luffy protests, saying their desires are the same and runs off, leaving her confused. She is surprised to see Luffy propel himself through the air and onto Galley's ship.

After Luffy leaves, Silk is standing on the docks, looking out on the ocean, thinking about what Luffy said about peace mains.

Trivia

 * Silk appears in the anime remake of Romance Dawn that aired on November 24, 2008. Not only was she redrawn to match Oda's current style, but her "Nami-like" appearance is far less apparent than in the original manga version.

Early One Piece
Silk was Oda's first attempt at a Nami-like character. She shares much of Nami's personality, however was much more kind and seemed to boast more leadership skills rather then relying on force to make people do things, although that could be put down to Romance V.1 Luffy being far more intelligent than the final version. Appearance wise, aside from her hair being long, everything about her (including her choice style of clothing) was almost identical to Nami.

Her background story was much closer to Nami's own background story than Ann's background story was. Both girls were parentless at very young ages and both experienced their hometowns being subjected to pirate related suppression. The difference is that while Silk encouraged the townsfolk to stand up to the pirates, Nami did not want anyone to fight them through fear of someone being hurt. Coupled with this was the difference in reaction from the two hometowns--Silk's hometown did not want to fight the pirates where as Nami's were prepared to die trying.

Silk was later followed by Ann in the next version of Romance Dawn, Romance Dawn V.2.

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Silk