Author's Note: Hello. This is my first fanfiction on the Internet. If you have any comments regarding the story (flow, grammar, spellings, etc.), please do comment. It will be much appreciated (especially if the characters are a bit out-of-character)

Also, I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda-sensei does. Although, there'll be some original characters and fruits to look out for… Those are mine.

Chapter 1 - The Boy of Sealock Island

How do you start your day? Do you jump-start your morning by chatting with your friends? By walking leisurely to school? Or by simply enjoying your wonderful walk around your neighbourhood as the cold breeze brush your hair?

Well, for me, my morning is simply normal... like any other morning I experience...

Take note... Like any other morning I experience...

...

"Get back here!"

"You dare mess with us, you brat!"

"B-But... I didn't do anything wrong with you guys!"

"Simply passing in front of us destroyed our morning, you insolent brat! Get back here so we can give you what for!"

Yup. That's my daily routine - getting chased by thugs hanging out near the harbour early in the morning even if I didn't do anything wrong to them, nor am I planning to do anything to them at all! Like always, I plan on starting my day by getting myself energized by the salty air coming from the sea. Living a few blocks away from the harbour, I tend to walk to where the fishing boats and the occasional pirate ships dock. Yup, that's right. Pirate ships. Although they don't really pass by the island that often since the Wano Kingdom is practically the one hogging all tourists and pirates approaching the vicinity.

But, Wano has closed its doors for quite some time now, so… yeah.

Anyway, back to my fate. To make sure I don't pass by any thugs, I decided to do detours along the way, all different routes to the harbour every day. But, for some reasons unknown to me, they really know how and where to find me and really chase me up to the harbour, just to suddenly stop along the way and allow me to get a hasty getaway. And to top all that, I still have not found out as to why they constantly target me even if I did not do anything to them. At all.

Today, I see a new ship docked at the harbour as I continue on running for my well-being. It's a big pirate ship, apparently a brig sloop, with a somewhat cute design of a lion as its figurehead. Or is it a sunflower? I couldn't tell. As I pass on its side, I see a big number 1 painted on it for some reasons. But, for sure, that won't help me with my current situation... As the guys behind me get closer ... and closer!

"You little brat! Making us chase you all the way here to the harbour! Once we get our hands on you, you'll never walk again!" As I slightly turn my head around, I see one arm stretched towards me, and it's getting closer and closer to my sweaty arm.

"G-Get away!" Out of reflex, I abruptly halted and crossed my arms in front of me with my shaking palms spread open, covering my scared face as I turned it sideways with my eyes shut.

Again, as if by magic or by divine intervention, I felt that something was about to reoccur. As I opened my once darkness-infested eyes, I saw the two buff guys that chased me all the way to the harbour in a standstill while looking sideways, one on the left and the other on the right, as if they both saw something of importance. Seeing an opportunity, I slowly backed down and dashed off to the opposite way for safety.

"Robin-chwan~~! Care to have some delicious crème brulee? Fresh from the oven..." Sanji waltzed flirtatiously with one hand holding a tray with the aforementioned custard placed on it to where the crew's archaeologist was sitting comfortably while reading her book of the day.

"Thanks, Sanji." The woman borne from Ohara smiled kindly at the blonde-haired cook.

"You little brat! Making us chase you all the way here to the harbour! Once we get our hands on you, you'll never walk again!"

Being the only ones on the Thousand Sunny at that time, it was quite peaceful. No Luffy running amok, no Zoro constantly arguing with the curly-browed pirate, and no Chopper nor Usopp idolizing the cyborg shipwright. The other members of the Straw Hat Pirates decided to take a short break from all the stressful shenanigans that have happened previously by going to the heart of the island they just docked on. Robin, feeling bored of walking, decided to stay on the ship and read instead. Sanji, on the other hand, planned on doing an inventory check first before heading down to buy their necessary supplies, but seeing one of the two females of the crew stay behind, he first took the opportunity to have some moment with the Hana-Hana no Mi user.

That peace, however, was suddenly shattered when the two pirates heard a sudden ranting early in the morning, intrigued on what was happening on the harbour, Robin and Sanji approached the side of the ship and saw three men - two buff ones chasing a skinny, and somewhat younger man.

The usual harassment of thugs, huh. Sanji thought while looking down onto the skinny lad wearing tattered clothing.

What happened next left their eyes motionless. As they saw the skinny lad cross his arms, the two pursuers suddenly came to an abrupt stop and immediately looked both ways. After a while, the pirates saw the young skinny lad, with both worry and relief clearly visible on his sweaty face, dash away to the other side of the harbour, leaving the two thugs behind him in a complete stop.

"Robin-san... Was that..." The blonde-haired pirate tried to speak his mind while processing what just happened before him.

"I'm sure that was not Haoshoku no Haki. If it was... those two should have fallen onto the concrete already." The shocked archaeologist explained with her arms crossed in front of her.

"A Devil Fruit User?"

"Could be. But judging from that lad's expression earlier, he had no idea how he did it." The tall woman then turned around and took from the table her previously scanned study. "Sanji..."

"Yes, Robin-san?" Sensing that Robin was a bit serious, the cook decided to forget to act amative towards the fellow pirate and listened attentively.

"Can you look for that lad for me? I find him... interesting."

With a slight look towards the male behind her, Robin saw Sanji creepily grinning from ear to ear. To the cook, it has been a while since the lady archaeologist asked him to do something unrelated to cooking. So with determination and a hint of flirtatious intent, Black Leg happily stormed off, with hearts fluttering around his being.

Shit... Where's that kid now?

Amongst the crowd, Sanji was practically on alert as he turned his head left and right looking for the lad he and Robin saw a few minutes back. However, despite his effort in looking for the boy, it was already an obvious fact that the curly-browed chef was already lost in the sea of people, and he was already on the verge of screaming his frustrations out in the air at that point.

What did Robin-san see in that kid anyway? Just because that kid could be a Devil Fruit User? Or is there something else?

Scratching the back of his head, the blonde then took a few minutes to breathe in and analyse his next step. Seeing that the flow of people was much concentrated on the main road, he decided to look for possible alleyways he can take.

"Come on, Zoro! I'm hungry!"

I should have stayed behind and slept instead... Accompanying his captain, the green-haired swordsman walked lazily down the road with his two arms crossed behind his head acting as a pillow while letting out a big yawn. "Then why did we go down here if you were just planning on going back on the ship to eat anyway?"

"I thought they'll have some nice restaurants or bars in this place. But instead, I'd rather eat Sanji's delicious cooking."

Seeing his crew member sigh in defeat, the rubber man continued on running towards the Thousand Sunny, leaving his companion way behind, dodging the approaching people with ease. As Luffy was about to continue on dashing, he felt something hit him in the abdomen. Halting, the straw hat-wearing captain saw a young lad in tattered clothes sitting down on the ground, slightly rubbing his somewhat hurt pelvis on impact.

"Are you okay?" With a small degree of worry visible on his face, Luffy slightly lowered himself, crouching in front of the white-haired stranger he apparently bumped into.

"I-I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking for where I was going!" Without raising his head, the lad on the ground immediately prostrated in front to the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, not seeing the slight combination of worry and relief on the latter's face.

"Shishishishi! It was partly my fault for running. Come on, I'll help you get up." With that, Luffy stretched his right arm to the fallen guy, expecting the boy to grab it as the latter stood, but was instantaneously ignored as the white-haired lad instead used both his arms to push himself off the ground and, after a few bows and more apologies, immediately dashed away from the scene, without even lifting his face to meet the young captain's eyes. Not. Even. Once. Luffy was caught surprised by what just happened, but suddenly remembering his hunger, he returned his attention and energy into the sea of people and dashed off to the harbour.

I want to go home... Fast.

Charging towards a sea of people isn't really a good idea for me, a skinny 17-year old wearing tattered, dirty clothes. I wish this island could have just stayed peaceful and free from a lot of tourists and pirates, but NNNOOO, the recent turn of events in the Wano Kingdom just had to affect its surrounding islands, including this Sealock Island. People like me had to get away from all the people coming and going to the town to continue on living normally.

Currently, I'm in a dark alley, and after a few twists and turns within the darkness, I found myself staring into a stream of unfamiliar faces.

Great. Just great. And if I want to return to my place, I have to get past these tourists and reach the other side of the road. Ugh. I just want to go home and rest now...

Around this time, Luffy should be back on the ship and is looking for something to eat. I have to find that brat. Fast.

Sanji was almost exasperated. Almost tired of running around the town, the suit-wearing pirate stopped along a dark alley and took a few minutes to catch his breath.

Have I seen this dark alley before? Curious, the chef slowly ventured into the narrow path where the light of the rising sun was gradually penetrating, granting the blonde easy access as he continued his slow pace. After a few turns inside the newly found path, Sanji found himself a few metres away from a sea of tourists.

As he slowly took a few steps out of the dark alley and into the light, his attention shifted to a young white-haired boy crouching behind some garbage bins. And then it hit him. That white-haired lad in front of him is the one he is asked to look for, that one lad that got the attention of himself and of the crew's archaeologist. Slowly, he extended his arm towards the shoulders of the unsuspecting boy. As he finally laid contact into the tattered clothing of the lad in front of him, he noticed a sudden shiver coming from the receiving end.

All of a sudden, the white-haired lad faced the curly-browed chef with shock, fright, and a dash of horror visible on his face.

"W-Who are you?" Without further notice, the lad clad in tattered clothes immediately hid his face full of fear behind his dirty arms while budging into the trash bins behind him. Fright became very noticeable as Sanji saw the boy in front of him shake all the way from his head down to his legs. "W-What do you want with me?"

"Calm down. I'm not here to hurt you or anything." Sanji tried to convince the shaking boy but was ignored. Exhausted, he let out a small sigh. "Ok, now look-" Now, with a hint of irritation in his voice, the blonde again slowly extended his arm towards the shoulder of the boy but halted when the latter suddenly screamed.

"G-Get away!"

The lad closed his eyes and turned his head sideways, still behind his dirty hands with his palms now wide open, as if ordering the cook to stop advancing. Sanji tried to reach for the white-haired boy a bit more when his arms suddenly came to an abrupt stop and found himself turning towards the left, facing the concrete wall with his arm still extended. The next thing he knew, when he turned back to where the boy supposedly was, there was no one there anymore. All that's left were the garbage bins and the view of multiple faces passing by.

Shit! Where did he go!? Immediately, Sanji jumped passed through the garbage bins and looked both to the left and to the right, trying to look for the target, but all he saw were hats of different styles and sizes and hairs of multiple colours - red, blue, yellow, black, but no white.

W-Was that... Remembering what just happened, the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates slowly looked down to the palm of his hands, formed fists with them again and again, as if he lost control of them once and was glad to be reunited with them again, and returned his head to the stream of people passing in front of him. Robin-san was right. That was a bit interesting.