Apprentice Of The Gods

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful, sunny day in the middle of the ocean. The sky was a beautiful blue, the sun shining down on the water. A cruise ship was drifting about, dances in the ballroom, the cafeteria piled high with food, and the crew having a relaxing day. So far, it was a perfect day.

"Hey, look! A barrel! It's probably full of Sake! Let's reel it in," said one of the sailors on the cruise ship. With a grunt of effort, he managed to heave it on board, but damn it was heavy! "Let's open it and have a few shots!" The crew shouted in agreement, and they were about to pry the top off, when...

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! IT'S IRON CLUB ALVIDA AND HER CREW!" the sailor in the crow's nest called out. Subsequently, there was panic, everyone on the dance floor running in a frenzy, trying to find a place where they would go unnoticed, and hopefully, uninjured. All, except for one. She was fairly unnoticeable, blending in well, except for the fact that she had the brightest orange color of hair that you'll ever see. The dress she wore fit right in with the fancy cruise guests. She snuck out the back door of the ballroom to creep her way over to Alvida's ship.

The barrel, forgotten in the panic, rolled through a door, down a hall, through another door, and finally ended up crashing into a few barrels in the corner of the room it rolled into. A few minutes later, a short boy with extremely pink hair came in, saw the barrel, and started rolling it outside.

"Coby! What are you doing? Don't you know that if you don't do something, Lady Alvida will crush you again?" a man asked. He was clearly part of Iron Club Alvida's crew, just from a look of his clothes. They were dirty and loose fitting, nothing at all like the clothes the passengers of the cruise wore. Well, that and the sword he was holding up. There were two people behind him. The pink-haired boy, Coby, suddenly started shaking in fear. He knew what those swords could do to him.

"N-No sir! I-I was j-just getting this barrel of s-s-sake for Lady Alvida!" Coby stuttered out. The man smirked.

"Well, I was just getting thirsty. Right, boys?" the man asked. The two guys behind him nodded with smirks on their faces.

"W-Wait! Alvida-sama will get mad if you drink any!" Coby warned them.

"Then don't tell her, brat!" the man answered.

"Y-yeah, okay, that'll work, have at it," Coby said quietly. The man smirked.

"Time to open this the old fashioned way!" he yelled. He reared his hand back, preparing to punch the barrel open (Seriously, when is that old fashioned?). When he brought his hand down, the barrel suddenly exploded open and a boy no older than seventeen popped out, spreading his arms out in a stretch like one would do after sleeping. He had a straw hat on his head, a red vest, and cargo shorts. He was also quite skinny.

"WHAT A GREAT NAP!" the boy yelled out, subsequently knocking the big guy's jaw with his fist and knocking him out. The boy blinked a few times, then looked at the guys in front of him.

"Who are you?" he asked. The guys started shaking in fear, but still pulled their swords out and spoke.

"We are pirates of the great Alvida-sama's crew!" they shouted, before looking over and noticing he wasn't paying any attention.

"Hey, kid, where's the food? I'm hungry," the kid said to Coby.

"Hey! Don't ignore us!" the pirate on the left shouted at him, then both brought down their blades on him. However, what they weren't expecting was for their swords to break on his skin. He turned around.

"A strike to the back is unfair!" he shouted, not even fazed that he just had swords swung at him. He threw his fist back haphazardly and hit what seemed to be the leader of the group. When they ran away with their unconscious leader, stuttering out an apology and that they wouldn't bother him again, he turned back around.

"Hey kid, take me to the food on this boat," the straw-hat guy said.

"You need run and hide, now! You'll be targeted by Alvida-sama's whole crew!" Coby shouted at him, worried. The manchild grinned.

"First, food!" With that, he started walking toward a door he saw on the other end of the hall, Coby trying unsuccessfully to drag him the other way. When they got inside, Coby decided it wouldn't be that bad in there.

"By the way, what's your name?" Coby asked. The kid grinned before stuffing three apples he found into his mouth.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the one who's going to be the King of the Pirates!" Luffy said. Coby's jaw dropped in awe, before going off on a rant about how it was impossible for him to do that.

"What? Impossible! You know the King of the Pirates is the one who has everything in the world?" At this, Luffy nodded. "Treasure," nod. "Fame," nod. "Wealth," nod. "Power," nod. "One Piece?" Another nod. Man, this is getting repetitive. "Impossible, impossible, impossible, impo-" suddenly, he was his on the head. He looked up at Luffy.

"Why'd you hit me?" Coby asked.

"Because I wanted to. You were getting annoying. I don't go after the One Piece because I think I need to, it's because I want to. If I die trying, then I die trying," Luffy explained. Coby looked awed at the mini-speech. Then, he began to wonder.

"Do you think I can too?" Coby asked quietly. Luffy looked confused.

"Do what?" he asked. Coby looked at him.

"Do you think I can become a Marine? It's always been what I want to do! To catch the bad guys to protect the good ones!" Cobe said excitedly.

"How should I know?" Luffy asked. Coby's face now shone of determination.

"I'll do it! Even though I haven't known you long, you inspired me! I'll become a Marine and catch the bad guys, like Alvida!" Coby shouted. Suddenly, it felt like an earthquake shook the room.

"Who are you going to capture, Coby?" said a rough man-womanly voice from the dust cloud that appeared somehow. Coby started shaking, not answering.

"Who's the most beautiful woman in all the seas, Coby?" the planet-sized woman asked when the dust cloud cleared out.

"O-O-O-Of course it-it-it-it-it's y-y-yo-" Coby was stuttering out, but was interrupted.

"Hey Coby, who's this old hag?" Luffy asked. The crew watching from the hole in the ceiling started whispering amongst each other in fear of his and their lives.

"He's done it now."

"He said that word."

"He's dead."

"And then she's going to kill us."

Of course, Alvida had to agree with them at the moment.

"YOU BRAT! You definitely aren't the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, but you've gotten on my nerves! For that, you'll die!" Alvida shouted. She jumped and slammed the iron club she had with her where Luffy was. He quickly jumped out of the way and picked up Coby, then jumped out of the hole in the ceiling and set Coby down off to the side.

"Okay, now you can have at me all you want!" Luffy shouted when he was a good distance away from Coby. A pirate snuck up behind him, thinking he could kill him quickly with a simple strike in the head. Too bad for him Luffy knew he was there, and dodged the attack before it could reach him.

"It's not very nice to attack someone from behind," Luffy said. The remaining part of the crew that was conscious looked absolutely shocked at seeing their own crew-mate try to sneak up on the one that seemed to be able to take them all on without even trying. They already knew that it wasn't going to end well for him.

However, Luffy simply picked up the man and tossed him overboard. Well, more like launched, as he went at least a mile out into the sea.

Luffy turned to the rest of the crew, smiled, then started running away. Of course, they chased after him, but when Luffy grabbed onto a wooden pillar and kept running, somehow allowing his arm to stretch like a rubber band. They stopped and stared at the arm, understandably confused.

Luffy looked back to see their faces. "Shihihi, got you! Gum-Gum… ROCKET!" Luffy yelled, then launched himself at the mass of pirates, knocking them all out. Then all of a sudden, the entire area he was just in became shaded.

"Hey, who turned off the sun?!" Luffy asked. Coby face-palmed off to the side.

"So you're a pirate, brat?" Alvida asked him from behind. Luffy didn't seem surprised to see her there, and just nodded his head. Then, he got a confused look on his face.

"Did you turn off the sun, hag?" Luffy asked. Alvida started to turn red with rage and swung down the club on his head. It simply bounced off, like he was made of rubber. Wait a minute…

"Hehe, I'm a rubber man! You can't hurt me like that! Gum-Gum… PISTOL!" Luffy shouted, throwing his stretched out fist into her stomach. While Coby was trying to figure out when Luffy actually stretched his arm back, Alvida flew into the ocean, right on top of the crew-mate that Luffy just threw there a few minutes ago.

"Hey, get Coby a boat. He's going to be a Marine!" Luffy yelled at the remaining crew on Alvida's ship. The crew started to lower the safety boat into the water, too scared of the straw-hat wearing teen to do anything else.

Once on the boat, Luffy looked out into the sea, and noticed a fleet of marine ships coming toward Alvida's ship. "Hey, look! Perfect timing! Let's talk to them about you getting into the Marines!" Luffy said. Coby shook his head dramatically.

"No! They'd imprison us before we even opened our mouths!" Cobe shouted. Luffy sighed in annoyance and hit Cobe on the head again.

"Ow! What was that for?" Coby shouted. Luffy shrugged.

"Just because. Who is this Zoro person Alvida talked about?" Luffy asked. Coby started shivering in fear, thinking about the monster.

"He's a monster bounty hunter. He was said to have killed all of his targets quickly and brutally. He's said to use a three sword style with deadly efficiency. I've also heard that he's locked up on an island base near here," Coby explained. "Wait, why do you want to know?"

"He sounds strong, I want him on my crew!" Luffy exclaimed. Coby's jaw dropped to the floor.

"They locked him up because he's a bad guy!" Coby said. Luffy just shrugged and continued to row.

"Oh yeah, do you know where the island is?" Luffy asked sheepishly.

,=,e

After a few hours, the duo finally made it to the island Coby was targeting.

"Hey, sir? Do you know where Zoro is by any chance?" Luffy asked a bystander. Suddenly, everyone backed up against walls and started shivering like they were naked in the middle of a snowstorm.

Coby looked at all the people around them and whispered to Luffy. "It seems Zoro's name is taboo here." Luffy nodded in understanding. Then, Coby started to speak in a more normal tone. "I heard that the Marine captain here Is Captain Morgan." Once again, everyone backed away and started shivering.

"Wow, they're really jumpy here, aren't they?"

"I guess Morgan isn't a great captain after all," Luffy mused.

A few minutes of talking and they finally decided to wander to the largest building in the town to look for Zoro.

"Hey! I think I see him!" Luffy shouted. Coby just sighed.

"I don't think they would put Zoro in the middle of the open like that." Luffy ignored him and started running to get a closer look. Coby shook his head and followed Luffy. Once Luffy got up on the wall, he pulled Coby up as well.

"AH! That's definitely Roronoa Zoro! Don't get near him! He's dangerous!" Coby kept spouting nonsense about Zoro, going the whole mile with made up stories and everything, just to make sure his new friend Luffy didn't get near him and get killed. Suddenly, Luffy saw Zoro shift his eyes in their direction.

"You two. Leave. You're annoying me." Luffy huffed and was about to jump over to talk to him, but he felt a little girl coming over to the wall. He turned around and noticed that she had a ladder and food with her. She propped the ladder up and went over to the other side, walked over to Zoro, and offered him the food she made.

"Wait, how is she strong enough to carry a ladder? She's so small!" Luffy wondered. Coby paused, then tilted his head.

"I... actually have no idea."

"We have to get her back over here before she gets killed by Zoro!" Coby shouted. (Man, Coby likes to shout!) Luffy just sighed.

"Zoro isn't bad, Coby. Can't you see it? He wasn't annoyed with her, like he was with us. He likes her. Tell me, is that the sign of a monster?" Luffy explained, a far-away look in his eye. Coby looked stunned at this explanation, since it contradicted a few things he was just telling Luffy just minutes earlier, and got him to start re-evaluating Zoro. The pirate hunter was still scary, though.

The gate to the area Zoro was tied up was opened, and in walked an obnoxious looking teenager with blond hair and a huge chin with two Marine guards behind him.

"Now, now, Zoro. No one likes a bully," the teenager said, calling Zoro a bully and completely ignoring the fact that he had the facts reversed. "Ooh! Onigiri! Thank you!" the teenager said, while taking the food from the little girl that was just offering them to Zoro.

"Wait! That wasn't for you, it was for Zoro-aniki!" the little girl protested, but it was useless. The boy had marine guards behind him. The obnoxious boy took a bite, then immediately spit it out.

"This is full of sugar! It's supposed to be filled with salt! SALT!" the boy yelled angrily. He took the other rice ball and threw it on the ground, stepping on it in a temper tantrum. By now, the girl was crying.

"Don't you know that anyone who helps Roronoa Zoro is executed? Guard! Throw her out!" the boy demanded. The guard looked hesitant. "Do it, or I will tell my daddy about your disobedience!" The guard slowly walked over to the little girl.

"I'm sorry about this. Curl into a ball please, it'll hurt less," the guard told her with shame in his voice. The girl obeyed and curled into a ball, before she was tossed over the wall. Luckily, Luffy noticed her, and stretched an arm out and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Are you okay, little girl?" Luffy asked. The girl nodded, and Luffy set her on the ground before jumping over the wall. By then, the boy and guards were already gone.

"Huh? Oh, it's just you," Zoro said. Luffy smiled his trademark smile.

"Hi! I'm Luffy! I assume you're Zoro?" Luffy asked. Zoro nodded. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you're here because of him?" Luffy asked. Zoro nodded again. "What did you do to him? Wait, never mind. Probably nothing, I can tell he's petty just by looking at him."

"I killed his dog. It was scaring Riku." Luffy raised an eyebrow at that.

"Is Riku that little girl that came here with onigiri?" Zoro grunted in affirmation. "Okay! That's great. How would you like to join my crew?" Luffy asked. Zoro just sat/stood/laid/stayed still there.

"Why would I join your crew? I have nine days left, then I'm free to go," Zoro asked. Luffy laughed.

"He's not going to hold up his end of the deal. I mean, have you seen him? He wants all the glory in the world, and you're one glory kill he'd never miss out on," Luffy said. Zoro frowned, knowing it was true. "If you want, I can make sure he's going to kill you before I set you free." Zoro thought for a moment, then nodded in acceptance.

"However, only if you have confirmation. I don't want to take the coward's way out." Luffy nodded and turned back to the wall, jumping over it when he reached it.

This was the beginning of his crew.