Full summary:

Monkey D. Luffy is the Pirate King. Roronoa Zoro is the World's Greatest Swordsman. Nico Robin has found the Rio Poneglyph, etc. The crew has accomplished their dreams, and a week after Raftel they sail to the East Blue. Sengoku knows he's lost, but he's got one last ace up his sleeve. He has a plan, and it goes far beyond the boundaries of even Nami's world map, reaching all the way and pulling back Lin, a girl from our own world who only happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now in the midst of her favorite manga, Lin has no clue on what to do when offered a place in the Pirate King's crew. Nothing left to do, really, except find her way over the horizon to either home, the Grand Line, or a whole new adventure of 'other worldly' proportions... Language. No romance. Post Raftel. Oh Lordy.

Congratulations, you've stumbled into Horizons. My first tribute to the amazing category of One Piece.

For an amazing professional adventure, go to Will of D. For a real LOLing good time, go to Ruth Monroe: Not Your Cup O' Tea. For an adventurous post-Raftel story that still features the Straw Hat pirates...

... Go to Endgame: All Blue in Seven Courses. Or you could hang around here. :D This story is one of those usual 'girl falls into One Piece and joins the Straw Hats', but I've taken the ultimate liberty of her arriving the week after Luffy finds One Piece. This is actually based on a comic I once read a long time ago, somewhere in the Danny Phantom category. It was the idea of multiple universes colliding and various heroes and-(NOT SPOILING THINGS) and I couldn't actually write this plot in my head without introducing an OC to join the crew. :X

So yes, Lin does join the crew. But no, Lin is not the absolute focus of this story. I can not stress this enough. It's an OC-insert, but only on the side. It's actually focused on a post-Raftel plot of the World Government and... well, you need to read it. It starts out slow, but then everything goes BAM.

This is also an AU, granted. We all know that there are more than likely many more new characters to be introduced to the One Piece cast, and even more nakama to be introduced into the crew. Do you know what this means? I have declared anything that happens in the New World to be irrelevant to this fic, besides basic placement of islands and some characters. You'll see. I do have a plan.

But I ask that you at least attempt to read this story to how far it's gotten, and then you could judge this humble little story! If for some reason you feel the need to drop Horizons mid-chapter because of something I've added that may offend or bite, please let me know before you drop it like a hot potato and hiss at your monitor! I can't help myself if I don't know what's wrong! I'm attempting to improve my writing with each passing chapter, and my improving flexes with each review telling me what's okay, what's gone weak, what's my strongest point, and that means so much to me!

Disclaimer Time!

I do NOT own One Piece or any of Oda-sensei's characters! Just Lin. And this odd plot. I've never seen a post-Raftel OC-insert. Ever. This scares me. Hasn't anyone else considered the idea? ... Anyone?

"Now then, give me that horizon."

~Captain Jack Sparrow

Somewhere, sometime, an eighteen year old girl was walking down the street. A girl with dark hair under a black cap and a weird strip of blond hair running down the side of her face. A girl wearing navy blue jeans, black boots, a blue shirt, black jacket, and black fingerless gloves. Not that you care.

Dudes and dudettes, this is Lin.

Lin was walking down a sidewalk in a town that shall not be named. She was walking with a brown backpack with a small keychain of a pokéball on it. She was walking with her head facing down and a blank expression. Not that she was depressed- oh, no. She was simply thinking. Really hard, and about silly things, but only thinking.

Her feet were on autopilot as she steered down the street, the route from school to the library practically engrained in her head. Lin managed to snap out of her daze as she walked into the old building, a slight smile on her face. It really was her favorite place, from the brown bookshelves lined with novels to the racks practically stacked with newspapers (though they were rarely updated; the latest was from six months ago). And today, she was a bit more excited about her trip than usual. Not that you can tell.

Giving a small wave to the receptionist, she made her way to the row of computers and quickly logged in her card number. As the familiar home page booted, she could only wonder what was next. You know what I'm talking about; Lin was reading One Piece. And it was time for the weekly update, and Lin had met each chapter with equal enthusiasm for the past year. Today was no different, and she read each panel thoroughly until she had finished.

Lin closed the window and typed in another address, but the connection seemed to be on the fritz-flickering on and off, it was impossible to get a decent signal. Lin sighed as she stood and began to walk around, deciding to try later, after all, she had the whole day to herself before she returned to her apartment. It was Friday, and next week was Spring Break. Senior year at high school was the hardest, and she welcomed any kind of break whole-heartedly.

Lin slowly walked along the shelves, taking her time as she took in the titles one by one, forgetting them almost instantly as she continued down the row.

Pausing slightly, she picked up one book that stood out. 'Batman comics, my favorite'. Grinning at her luck in finding the particular set, she practically flew to the counter in her haste to claim the book before someone could make a call to reserve it (because that happened quite often).

Lin walked up to the counter to check out her find, nodding in acknowledgement to the receptionist, before rummaging through her backpack for her card.

"Evening, Lin. Find something good?" Lin presented the card with a flourish as she grinned in response. "I did indeed, just as I was considering calling in for it, too!" The man could only shake his head as he took the card and checked out the book. He reached under the counter as he picked up a One Piece book and placed it next to her hand. "Yer order came in; I don't suppose you'd be wanting to check that out?"

"Always!" Lin practically snatched the book away from the desk, almost forgetting about the Batman book in her haste. After some mental redirection from the receptionist, she walked upstairs to sit at her favorite chair and read her books.

Only to find it was occupied. A tall, thin man was sitting right in her chair, at her table in a fixated position, reading a large volume that almost made Lin's head hurt at how professional it looked.

Still scowling a bit at the loss of her favorite seat, Lin decided to instead sit at the second farthest table from the usual bustle of people, which was usually occupied by a stocky senior lady that could almost always be seen there with a thick book on the table and drool dangling precariously off the edge of her lips. Usually. But today was surprisingly dribble-lady free, so Lin gladly took one of the chairs and immediately began to read the latest American One Piece comic collection.

She had already read what had happened, granted. But it was nice to see the words of her favorite characters not nearly as distorted as on the online scanlations. She was about a quarter through the first chapter when a cough caught her attention and she looked up with a start.

Sitting across from her, drool-free, was the same lady that usually occupied the table. Lin quickly detected an interested gleam in her eyes and resigned herself to the fact that she would not be finishing her books before the library closed; she would instead be conversing with the woman in front of her until the receptionist saved her. Steeling herself and pushing her hat above her eyes, she politely said "Hello." The woman grinned, though not nearly as toothy as it might have been twenty years ago. "Hello."

Lin waited until she was sure she wasn't going to continue. "How are-"

"How are you?" Lin twitched. "As a matter of fact, I'm great!" the woman continued, ignoring Lin's glower. "Not many people seem to care in this town, but you come in here every day, always reading One Piece, if not Batman." Irritation forgotten (and replaced with a bit of creep-out factor), Lin stared at the woman who only smirked at the look in her eye before continuing.

"You seem to be in a great mood too, eh? Ah! No need to answer! I can see it in your eyes." The woman seemed to have a bit of a cackling fit at this. By now Lin was quietly putting her books into her backpack, slipping it on her back in preparation of escaping the crazy old woman.

"Hah-HAH! But my point is, deary..." Before she could finish, the book she was holding had slipped to the floor, tumbling under the table. Lin automatically reached down and grabbed it when she noticed something other than gum or graffiti under the tableside.

A small, round hole was bored into the table. From her angle, she could see right through the hole into a... blue sky? Did skies even get that blue? Shifting her cap and leaning a bit closer, she felt a small breeze blow by her, chilling her slightly. Lin was so transfixed by the small hole she barely noticed that it seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, the color blue wrapping her vision until there was nothing else to be seen, nothing to be felt but the cool wind, nothing to be heard but the cackling of the woman as she began falling. And screaming; there was much screaming as she realized just how far off the ground was.

Woop Slap was greatly annoyed. He was greatly annoyed at many things. Being the mayor, half of said things were trivial to the average villager and need not be explored. About one eighths were a result of the grinning man in front of him, who had been separated into his own category after recent events. The rest was from Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who had shipped off in a rowboat two years ago with a hat, a grin, and a dream to become the greatest. Now, as the villagers prepared for his returning party (although the mayor was sure that no amount of preparation would save them) the 'guests' had started arriving.

Starting with the grinning fool practically towering over him, Akagami no Shanks. Many of the older villagers easily remembered the man from twelve years ago, and were thereby amused with the ongoing argument. The rest were staring nervously at the man and silently begging the pirate to leave them alone. But every single one thought the mayor was crazy for standing up to one of the Yonkou, although they all had different reasons for such thoughts.

Said all-powerful pirate turned and smirked at his first mate, Ben Beckman, before turning back to the diminutive man before him. "Aw, come on mayor! You know how much this means to us! We haven't seen our little anchor for years! Besides, you let us stay without this much of a fuss last time!"

Woop Slap tried to look as intimidating as he could with his height, (and his name) before growling up at the pirates before him. "I already told you! Luffy's grandfather, Garp. The. Hero. Is coming to see Luffy too! The last time Garp got into a fight with a man of your strength he DESTROYED HALF OF THE TOWN! And it was Marineford, one of the most heavily guarded places in the world! If you two got in even one little fight our entire island would be blown away!" Shanks could see where the man was coming from, but he could also never let Luffy down.

Shaking his head at the man in front of him, he argued "But we won't get in a single fight! You have my word as a captain! Even if the geezer attacks us first (and he most likely would), we won't raise a finger! C'mon, we need to be here for Luffy!" The pleading look of a child on a grown man's face was almost too much to bear for Woop Slap. But it was that same look, thirteen years ago, that had gotten the man in his town for what he had claimed to be 'one quick drink'. And look at where they were now. Luffy had just become the Pirate King because of this man, and no amount of begging was going to break the mayor down!

The mayor opened his mouth to tell the man every logical reason for not allowing him to stay, but instead resorted to what he would tell Luffy in his younger days. "The day I'm struck by a flying girl is the day you get your way!" Woop Slap was quite content with the shocked look on Shanks' face.

Shanks, however, quickly thought of a solution. He was about to explain his logic to the man when loud screaming drew his attention to the sky. And no amount of sailing on the Grand Line could prepare him for what happened next.

A girl, about eighteen years old, was indeed falling from the sky. She had brown hair with an odd streak of blonde in it, and a brown backpack on her back. She was also clutching a black hat to her head and a thick book to her chest. And that was all anyone could see of the girl before she landed.

Right on top of Woop Slap.

The crowd could barely believe their eyes; about ninety percent of them (logically) wondering what the hell had just happened while the other ten percent (ten times as logical) thanked their lucky stars that such an event had never happened while Luffy was in town. Shanks took one look at the unconscious mayor, briefly glancing at the unconscious girl, before he turned to his men with a carefree grin on his face, casually filing away the events as a 'Mystery'. "Men, looks like we can stay!"

As the men cheered and scrambled off the ship for the Party Bar, Shanks looked a bit sheepishly at his first mate standing next to him. Ben sighed in resignation."... I'll take care of the mayor."

Shanks sped down the road before his irate comrade could even consider changing his mind. Deciding that revenge could be saved for later, Beckman picked the mystery girl in one arm and the tiny mayor in the other before turning to the nearest gawking bystander.

"Which way to the doctor's?"

I must say, that landing scene looked a hell of a lot funnier in my head. -;; Remember, this is only my prolouge! I please ask that you read at least as far as I've gotten before completely judging this story! Or at least review and let me know why you just couldn't swallow this story!

Oh, and one more thing: There is no romance. Subtle (which I fail at) hints of pairings and consequential teasing? Maybe. Funny moments that make people slap their foreheads? YESH. Actually getting together? No. Never.

Hey! Where are you going?