A Good Ship
Xipholynx
Summary: Reincarnation doesn't always land you in the same type of body as your previous one. Luffy sets sail from his home in a living ship and goes on a journey to "gather a crew, find the greatest treasures, have the greatest adventures and become King of the Pirates." AU
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings, etc. of One Piece are the property of Oda Eiichiro. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter One: A Pirate and His Ship
"Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom." - Captain Jack Sparrow
Early in the morning of the fifth of May which coincided with the seventeenth birthday of a certain boy named Monkey D Luffy many things around the world were happening.
In the New World the four Yonko had a surprisingly low key day all things considered for them. Big Mom enjoyed a decadent picnic on Jelly Island in her territory. Kaido drank a galleon's worth of of sake and had one of his energetic cheerful drunk moods. Whitebeard drank a brig's worth of sake which was smuggled in by his sons even under the watchful eye of his mother hen of a doctor's surveillance. Then, of course, there was Shanks who drank a sloop's worth of sake just because he was in a partying sort of mood.
At the Marine Headquarters on the other hand the Fleet Admiral and all three Admirals of the marines separately began to encounter headache inducing problems. Sengoku's problem involved his (regrettably) closest friend Monkey D Garp breaking down (another) wall to enter his office in order to announce that he was immediately going to be taking a trip to visit the East Blue (again) instead of patrolling the Grand Line like what was required from him.
Admiral Kizaru found that an entire filing cabinet worth of files full of Marine supply routes and out of the way service stations had completely vanished after a new blond lieutenant with a burn scar had volunteered to put them away for him so he would be free to take a quick nap in his office. Losing those files was going to generate even more work for him now.
Admiral Akainu had found that a bonsai that he had been cultivating for over two decades had been completely removed of all its leaves which had then been sprinkled mockingly around the pot and the trunk had been whittled completely down into a mess of splinters. He eventually found, after interrogating the nearest office workers, that it could only have only been done by a new blond lieutenant with a burn scar and no one had gotten the lieutenant's name.
Admiral Aokiji suddenly had to deal with about three years worth of reports suddenly appearing on his desk indicating sightings of a certain Nico Robin appearing in the Grand Line, indicating she had probably left the West Blue at least two years before that. She was apparently cozying up to a bounty hunting group known as Baroque Works and was in close proximity to a certain Grand Line kingdom known for its ancient history and hidden poneglyph. He silently despaired and wondered why that girl wouldn't stay hidden somewhere modern for once instead of an ancient and historically significant world government kingdom.
The fresh wave of rookie pirates that would one day soon be referred to by the world as the Supernova Generation were already making their way into or just beginning to make their names known all across the world as they began to cross into Paradise.
With no way of knowing that a force of nature unparalleled since the time of Roger himself would soon be intersecting in their lives and scattered all across the East Blue, the future crew of Monkey D Luffy somehow were independently of each other having pretty bad days. Truly there was nothing like being tied up or being forced to be a slave to an island invading pirate to really put the spice back in your life. Regardless of the things occurring around the world and locally Luffy in the meantime was ready to leave home and nothing was going to stop him.
Nothing but his ridiculous ship anyway.
"DAWNIE! YOU'RE TOO BIG! I wanted to sail out for the first time in something smaller like Ace's ship!"
The small crowd which had gathered at the docks of Fuusha Village was treated to the sight and sound of their somewhat beloved village idiot shouting up at a large beautiful ship. It had an intricately carved figurehead that resembled a dragon's head with a mouth that grinned wide with sharp pointy teeth and wings up along the rail all the way back to the aft. The hull of the ship was a rich green, with smooth, flowing lines from bow to stern. The primary mast held large, white and yellow sails while slightly smaller, triangular, purple sails were up on the shorter foremast. Really it put to shame most other ships that had ever been docked at the village and it was close to the same size as the Red Force which had famously docked at Fuusha Village a decade prior.
It was also much to big to be sailed by a single person.
"I just wanted you to see how big I can be. I can shrink down a lot but my insides will shift and you'll have to stay up on the deck since I won't have any room for you on the inside."
The quiet whispering voice was only heard by a few and so the majority of the crowd gasped in shock when the large ship began to shrink before their very eyes down to a smaller one of only about thirty feet long from bow to aft with just a single mast with a square white sail in the center of the deck. The dragon figurehead seemed to be pouting now instead of sporting the previous proud grin.
Mayor Woop Slap lived up to his name and smacked Luffy in irritation across the back of his head, taking care to avoid displacing the golden straw hat, while he launched into a lecture. "You little hooligan, I knew you were up in that jungle learning magic tricks from a mountain witch."
Luffy didn't react to being smacked since he was made of rubber and said with conviction. "I don't have magic tricks just rubber ones. Good idea though mayor. I'll look for a magician for my crew and a musician."
Woop Slap rolled his eyes and muttered with irritation, "Running off to be a pirate like this on a bewitched ship. What kind of reputation will you give to our village like this?"
Luffy couldn't stop the smile from growing on his face as he declared, "Doesn't matter because no matter what I'm going to be the King of the Pirates! Just you wait Shanks. I'm setting sail today!"
"Bye Luffy!" Makino waved her hand to her departing younger brother figure with a sunny, proud smile on her face, "I hope you get to go where no one else has ever gone, do what others have never done, live like others have never lived and make sure to come back one day to tell me all about it!"
"I sure will Makino! Take care of Dadan since she'll come down to the village when she feels lonely, won't you?" Luffy requested.
"I will, don't worry. Get going now." Makino encouraged.
With an enthusiastic standing jump Luffy landed in the center of the deck of his ship and pumped both fists up into the air. "Time for us to go now Dawn! Let's go on an adventure and make some friends! I want to sail you until we get out of the bay though!"
"Fine, fine. If you fall in the water I'll pull you up with a net like you're a fish though." The shrunken down ship threatened without any heat.
Luffy happily adjusted Dawn's sails and managed to do so without tangling any lines. Her sail caught the breeze coming down of Mt Colubo and Luffy took hold of the helm in order to sail out to the edge of the bay where it spilled into the open sea. Before too long Luffy reached the furthest distance he had ever been in the bay and stopped Dawn's movement to lie in wait for his fated opponent. He couldn't hear any sounds from the village this far out, just the sound of water hitting the hull of Dawn and the still familiar sounds of seagulls crying out what seemed to be warnings. Luffy grinned.
"Ah, the weather sure is nice today, don't you think so Dawn?" Luffy seemed to be eager for something to happen. The water rippled and a face that was scaly, grey and at least ten feet long poked its head up out of the water before it straight out growled at Luffy.
"There you are, sea monster. I was waiting for you. Let me show you what I've learned over the past ten years." With a wide grin Luffy wound up his arm and punched the Lord of the Coast in the face with a shout of, "Rubber Pistol!"
After taking care of the barracuda shaped sea monster Luffy let Dawn take over sailing as he laid back flat on the deck and let out a loud and very stretchy yawn. He had already been awake for hours before the sun had risen out of his excitement over the beginning of his journey and the ebbs and swells of the sea were rapidly pulling him to unconsciousness.
"Go find us an adventure while I take a nap, won't you? Oh and try not to sink or else we'll both die." Luffy lackadaisically gave his first order as a captain on the sea.
"I won't sink, just go to sleep future pirate king." Dawn huffed as her sail caught a breeze and she began to travel westward. Luffy pulled his hat over his eyes to shield them from the sun and instantly fell fast asleep.
After a few hours of event-less travel, which was accompanied by the snoring coming from Luffy, Dawn heard a loud cracking sound and focused her attention over in the direction from which it came. A shape was just visible along the western horizon and after adjusting her sail to go towards it faster the details of the shape became clearer.
"Another ship." Dawn mused out loud and focused on the ensign on top of the other ship's main mast which sported an elongated grinning skull superimposed over a crossed pair of bones on a black background and corrected herself. "Another pirate ship. I'm sure Luffy can find an adventure over there. Luffy! Adventure!"
At the loud sound of Luffy's third favorite word (after 'meat' and 'brother' but slightly in front of 'hat' and 'nakama') he opened his eyes and tilted his hat up in order to squint up at the sky. "Huh? Dawn? Is that a weird ostrich or a flying panda?"
"A what?" Dawn asked.
There was another cracking sound from the pirate ship which Dawn suddenly realized was actually the sound of a gunshot and there was a sudden heavy thud as something very big hit the deck in front of Luffy. It was a very fluffy feathered bird with black and white feathers in a pattern that was reminiscent of a panda with a giant white beak almost a meter long. Its body was longer than Luffy was tall and it must have had a wingspan of at least seven meters. It was also bleeding sluggishly from a gunshot wound right at the junction between its right wing and shoulder socket.
"Oh, its hurt. What happened to it!? Wait- this is a mystery bird! Awesome! You're the best Dawnie! You found an adventure so fast!" Luffy cheered as he gave Dawn's mast a triple wrapped hug in joy and shook it in excitement.
"BALLOON! Run away! Fly far away!" A forceful girl's voice shouted from high up on the deck of the pirate ship.
"Woah! A pirate ship and you're trying to run away? Are you about to abandon your friend up there?" Luffy asked crossly as he shook his hand at the bird an irritated scolding motion.
The bird glared at Luffy and produced an irritated squawking "gwaah" before using its giant beak to bite Luffy's head which simply squished like a compressed marshmallow and reinflated once the bird released him.
A different slightly wheezing voice from high up the other ship's deck interrupted Luffy and the bird from further messing around with each other.
"Straw hat youngin'! Carry that bird onto the deck, please."
"Well he did say please. I haven't heard of a polite pirate since Ace left. I'm going up! Come with me weird bird!" Luffy grabbed the bird with one arm and prepared to climb up the rope ladder that was dropped over the side of the galleon's hull.
"Luffy don't forget to take a lure with you so I can find you when you run off. The ocean's a lot bigger than the mountain and I could lose you if you don't." A lizard that looked like it was made out of green leaves and tiny purple and yellow flowers landed on top of Luffy's straw hat with a barely audible pliffing sound.
"Okay Dawnie, just don't let it eat my hat while its up there." Luffy lectured even as he crossed his eyes to look at the leafy lizard now hanging out just on the edge of the brim of his hat.
The leaf lizard stuck a vine tongue out at Luffy and said with an identical voice as the ship's. "I'd never do such a thing. Straw is gross anyway."
"I hope I make a new friend! Up we go then!" Luffy cheered even as he scaled up the ladder to the deck of the galleon pirate ship.
As soon as Luffy arrived on the deck of the other pirate ship four rather burly pirates dove at the panda bird and began hustling it to a cage up by the galleon's forecastle deck right across from the main mast. There, looking about as angry as a forcibly restrained cat, was a teenage girl tied up in a way that seemed almost nostalgic to Luffy. She had apple fleshed skin, licorice black eyes and wore her short cotton candy blue hair back with a pair of pink clips on both sides of her head. Her voice carried clear through the air even above the loud talking and shouting of the pirates on the deck.
"How dare you! Why'd you bring Balloon back here?"
"Balloon?" Luffy replied even as he sat on the rail of the other ship closer to the girl.
The girl's eyes were as sharp as polished black ice as she continued her accusations toward Luffy. "He got caught by them because of you! You brought him up here - I was watching!"
Luffy's own eyes lit up as he finally connected the dots of information he was provided. "Oh, is the flying panda's name Balloon then?"
"HE'S NOT A PANDA!" The captured girl's teeth seemed as sharp as daggers as she snarled even more savagely at Luffy.
Luffy carried on his conversation without a single change in his demeanor or tone of voice. "He was shot and landed on Dawn ya know."
"That's 'cause he was shot by Hexagon Spiel."
"Spiel? Who's that?"
"This ship's captain. He's a black magic user and a pirate. He invaded the village I was living in and even though all the people the raised arms to fight him off he used his magic and was able to completely massacre them. No one could even get close to him."
"Captain on deck!" One of the pirates shouted and they gathered crew stood in rank and file in two groups leading up to the mast causing Luffy to frown in displeasure. Why the heck a pirate crew was acting like a bunch of boring marines was a mystery he wasn't in particularly interested in investigating. The girl explained their weird behavior anyway.
"That's him - Hexagon Spiel. Even his crew is absolutely terrified of him. It's because of him the village I lived in was destroyed. If you fight him, he'll kill you." The girl seemed terrified and her voice quivered but Luffy was unmoved by her act. She wasn't struggling like he had done when he had been tied up and terrified for his life like that after all. More important to him though was the other pirate captain.
The approaching pirate didn't seem very old but he had a false smile that exposed hippopotamus like teeth in a wide thin lipped grin. His complexion was like the inside of a jackfruit with skin that seemed to be stretched tightly over a long oval face. He had a distinctive, long, thin scar over the left side of his face that bisected over his eye without having it missing. He wore his mottled wheat colored hair in a hairstyle of six pigtails, a black tricorn hat on top of his head and carried an old broom in his left hand while wearing a pair of pistols stashed in a sash around his waist. When he finally spoke his voice was both reedy and a bit wheezy.
"You're... the one who helped capture the roc. Thank you youngin'... Ahhahhahhah!"
Luffy stared fixated on Spiel's face before abruptly lifting his hand to point and matter-of-factly declaring. "You have a funny looking head."
The captive girl and assembled pirate crew gaped equally aghast at Luffy's insulting statement with only the captive girl having enough of her senses to shout. "Stupid! Did you listen to a single thing I said!?"
The leafy lizard on top of Luffy's hat hissed in either glee or warning and Luffy started to laugh. "Shishishishi, but look at him! He looks so weird!"
Even as Luffy continued to laugh and the girl continued to rage at him a vein of fury popped up on Spiel's forehead and with a snarl ordered. "IMPRISON THOSE FOOLS RIGHT NOW!"
Not five minutes later Luffy and the girl were locked together in the ship's brig below deck. The underling pirate who locked them up parted with a teasing grin as he put the keys on the ring next to the door and said, "Be good kids and try not to have too much fun down here."
Luffy happily looked out from a porthole and said, "Ooh, what a great view."
The girl sat hugging her legs and sulking angrily on the floor by the bars of their shared cell and muttered, "I wanna kill you."
Alarmed by her statement Luffy's eyes widened and he blurted, "Please don't."
"This is all your fault. Who are you anyway?" The girl demanded even as she glared up at him.
"Me? I'm Monkey D Luffy. Who're you?"
"Ann. Just Ann. Now how am I supposed to get Balloon out of here?" Ann worried planning to ignore Luffy now that their introductions were out of the way.
Luffy however was not one to be ignored. "Balloon? That big ostrich of yours?"
"He's not an ostrich! He's a roc!" Ann seemed to transition from angry to wistful very quickly as she spoke in a more gentle tone of voice. "I've been with him as far back as I can remember. We've played together, slept together, traveled together and have never been apart. To others he might just be a bird but to me he's someone I can trust more than anything else in the world. My very best friend. I just want to free Balloon and never feel caged ever again."
Luffy stared at Ann in silence for a few seconds before nodding and saying, "I see then. Why were you kidnapped by these guys?"
"It's because they think I'm cute." Ann replied with an accompanying wink and cheesy sparkle effect. The effect was lost on Luffy though whose expression didn't change a bit. Trying to distract his line of thinking she continued. "Forget about that, though. What about you? Why'd you set sail and what's with the weird lizard on your hat?"
Thrilled to segway into his favorite of all topics to talk about Luffy wore a huge grin as he proudly declared his dream. "Me? I'm going to gather a crew, find the greatest treasures, have the greatest adventures and I'm going to be the King of the Pirates! And Dawn here is going to be my ship though the entire journey and beyond!"
Ann looked at the lizard on Luffy's hat and then back down to stare at Luffy's completely excited and serious face. Upon coming to the realization that she was trapped in the brig with a mad man she very carefully pointed out. "You realize that is a lizard and not a ship, right?"
"I'm actually a plant not a ship. This is a lizard shaped lure." Dawn finally spoke through the lizard causing Ann to make a noise a bit like a mouse encountering a tiger by mistake as it walked through the grass.
Luffy laughed and plucked the lizard off the brim of his hat in order to bring it closer to Ann's face so she could see it better, though she shrunk away from him a bit. "This is a little thing Dawn can make with which lets her find me when I leave. When I was a little kid I was almost killed a couple of times. One of those times I was thrown into a jungle at night. That was when Dawn was only a plant that lived in a tree and she used these things to bring food from further away than she could reach, since she was stuck in the tree. She almost ate me by accident but when I talked to her she became my first friend instead. About a year later I got my hat from the person who inspired me to become a pirate. This hat is my object of treasure and Dawn is my first treasure."
"Aw, you're my first treasure too, Luffy." Dawn said through the lizard with the fondness carrying clearly in her tone of voice.
The entire time Luffy spoke Ann listened but fixated her eyes on the smiling lizard-like plant. It flicked its vine like tongue out at her and Ann couldn't help but smile. "It does smell really nice. The scent actually reminds me a little of spikenard. So she's your treasure, huh?"
"Yep. Though I don't know what spikenard is." Luffy said even as he twirled his hat with his free hand in a playful mood. "What's yours?"
"If that's the case then mine's Balloon." Ann said with a satisfied smile.
Luffy though, within a millisecond after asking his question, had already been distracted by a fantastic sight out the porthole window. "Oh wow, a whale! I've never seen one before!"
"Listen for the answer when you ask a question, idiot!" Ann yelled before deciding it would be in her best interest to ignore Luffy for the time being before she actually did start to actively plot how to murder him out of irritation.
Luffy watched the whale pass by and followed that by trying to find ways to entertain himself. He started off trying to be active by pacing the cell and squeezing the plant lizard's tail which caused a pleasant floral scented spray to mist out and freshen up the stale air but lost the enthusiasm to do so after a few minutes. Then he pretended to play an imaginary accordion but couldn't figure out how the keys went. He played with the plant lizard again by repeatedly moving his hands around a foot away from each other to let the lizard lump from 'ledge to ledge' before winding down and letting it settle up on his hat again. He did a handstand for about thirty minutes before the blood rushing to his head gave him a headache and made him stop. He demanded for Dawn to tell him a pirate story which was fun and interesting enough to capture Ann's attention for a while. Following the story of "The Treasure Planet" he sang an extremely out of tune version of one of the songs from said story. He practiced trying to picking the lock on the door for a few minutes and then finally fell face down on the floor and tried to take another nap. After only ten minutes he decided that napping wasn't working.
"...I'm bored and hungry. I'm getting out of here to find something to eat and then I'm going to go back to Dawn." Luffy announced as he yawned and stood up.
Ann sighed and said, "Stop dreaming, there's no way you can leave."
"Oh that's true. Dawnie stayed behind so it might take a while for her to get here." Luffy realized. "I'm still hungry though."
"What I meant was that we can't get out of this cell." Ann corrected even as she rolled her eyes at him. She then noticed him standing outside the bars of the cell and shouted. "What!? How did you get out? Let me out too!"
"The keys are right here." Luffy said and he picked the keys off the ring by the door and tossing them back to her. Ann caught them and unlocked the cell door to free herself.
"Hey, so does this mean that you can do magic like Spiel?" Ann asked with curiosity.
"Nope. It's not magic though it might be similar. Where are you going?" Luffy asked noticing Ann going back towards the deck of the ship.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to rescue Balloon. Will you help me?" Ann asked.
"Not right now. I want to eat." Luffy rejected turning away from her.
"Help me!" Ann demanded.
"No, I'm hungry. Do it yourself if he's so important to you." Luffy said before he began to sniff at the air to find the ship's food storage over the scent of the now flowery scented brig.
"Stingy!" Ann shouted at Luffy as she made her way angrily out to the deck of the ship.
"Some people can be so impatient and demanding. Have you ever met anyone like that Dawnie?" Luffy complained up to Dawn as he made his way to the food storage hold.
The plant made a huffing sound and said, "Maybe once or twice in this life."
Up on the deck of the ship Ann crept around as carefully as she could to get close to Balloon's cage and grinned with delight upon seeing nearly the entire crew laying around in the late afternoon sun.
"Now's my chance to get Balloon." Ann whispered but stiffened when she heard the sound of a sword being drawn.
"You're craftier than I thought girl." Spiel said as he smirked mockingly at her and motioned for one of his men to step forward. "I'll make you a deal, girl. If you can defeat my bosun in combat with a cutlass then I'll give you the key to the roc's cage and let the both of you leave."
Ann narrowed her eyes and took a look at the stocky huge bosun smirking at her. She would free Balloon with this challenge no matter what so she nodded her head once in acceptance. "Fine. Give me a cutlass and I'll fight then."
Luffy had already eaten all the dried meat left down in the hold and was crunching his way through an armful of apples including the cores even as he carried a bigger sack filled to bulging with even more. As he wandered through the interior of the ship he sing-songed cheerfully to himself feeling especially pirate-like. "~Shiver my timbers, shiver my sides ~Yo ho, heave ho ~There are hungers as strong as the wind and tides ~Yo ho, heave ho ~Found food, good food.~ Ready to go Dawn?"
The lizard on the brim of his hat grinned again and said, "Yep, I'll be at the ship in half an hour or so. Try not to drown before I get there."
"You always say that and I never do." Luffy argued. "Does the lure-y need an apple?"
"Nah, you can let it wind down. I know the lure is almost out of energy but I can see the other ship from where I'm at so if it doesn't work I can still find you. See you again soon, Luffy."
Luffy shishishi-ed and shoved another apple into his mouth. Time to go back up to the deck then.
Ann in the meantime had laid out her opponent in their match with the cutlasses. She felt a lot of pride in her victory and said, "You looked down on me, 'cause I'm a teenage girl, didn't you? Now let Balloon go like you promised."
Spiel made a motion with his hand and Ann had to jump back when her downed opponent suddenly combusted into flames. Ann's eyes were wide and nervous thinking she might be set on fire too but Spiel's ire seemed only to be directed towards his subordinate as he chillingly hissed. "Scum. Losing to a little girl like that. I have no use for someone like you."
The rest of Spiel's crew stood as still as possible while still quivering and as a whole hoped their captain wouldn't turn his ire over on them. Instead of another flashy magical attack though the faint sound of clinking was heard as a key was dropped onto the deck in front of Ann. "One key to the winner as promised."
Ann smiled with delight as she picked up the key, not stopping to notice the malicious grin on Spiel's face as she practically skipped towards her caged friend. "Yeah! I did it Balloon! I'll let you out now!"
Craak!
Right as she reached the front of the open air cage the sound of the gun firing reached Ann just before the bullet did and in a split second decision Ann allowed the bullet to hit her instead of Balloon. She landed face down on the deck just in front of Balloon who was distressed and screeching towards her in panic and worry. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she heard Spiel's crew laughing and mocking her even as Spiel loudly shouted, "Ahhahhahhah! Who's gonna let you take him out when we finally have him? Fool!"
"Huh, what's going on out here?"
The drama of the moment reached its peak just as Luffy emerged from the hold of the ship, a sack laden with stolen food slung across his shoulder and no sign of the ten apples he had just consumed. Luffy's eyes zeroed in on the prone from of the girl in front of the cage and his expression went eerily blank as he dropped the sack of food at his feet.
"And just where are you heading off to, youngin'?" Spiel demanded drawing Luffy's attention over to him.
Without a single blink Luffy said, "It looks a bit like a mayfly. Your head, I mean."
While the jaws of everyone dropped again Luffy ignored them and walked over to where Ann lay belly down on the deck. "Hey, why are you trying to take a nap when you're still bleeding?"
Ann sat up, pointed to the bullet wound in her arm and shouted. "I was shot and fell down! I thought if I played dead for a little while I'd have a chanc-"
Luffy looked up and jumped in front of both Ann and Balloon even as, with a rat-a-tat-tat, Spiel unloaded all of the shots he had in two pistols at the annoying teens, all of them striking Luffy in the chest.
"Oh no!" Ann cried out as she covered her mouth with her hands and tears pricked her eyes again. She hadn't wanted the charismatic boy to get hurt, let alone killed on her behalf.
Spiel arrogantly scoffed and said, "Learn your place, fool."
Luffy exhaled and the bullets bounced off leaving him completely unfazed. Spiel broke out into a cold sweat and stuttered out a shaky, "Wha-?"
Ann was equally astonished. "What just happened?"
Spiel's crew collectively bagan to have a nervous breakdown as they screamed. "He bounced back the bullets! Is it black magic!? Is he a black magic user like the captain!?"
"Magic hammer!" Spiel shouted transforming his broom into a giant mallet and crushing Luffy flatter than a pancake onto the deck of the ship.
Luffy decompressed instantly when the hammer was lifted and he crossly picked off the flattened lizard shaped lure off of his hat and crossly warned. "Cut that out or I'm gonna get mad. Your lucky this doesn't hurt Dawnie."
"No way!" Spiel shouted and climbed up the mast to the crows nest to escape Luffy in five seconds flat. "Get away from me you devil!"
"You're the one that started it." Luffy warned as he drew back his fist. "Oh and climbing up there is pretty useless."
The next thing Spiel saw was Luffy's fist just as it hit dead center on his face. Spiel and his broom fell with a clatter back onto the deck. Ann got to her feet and cautiously approached Luffy as Spiel's crew chattered in fear around them.
"Did you see it?"
"His arm, it stretched!"
"Are we having a dream?"
"What is this guy?"
It was Ann who he answered as she hesitatingly asked, "W-what exactly was it that you just did?"
Luffy's grin was as wide and bright as ever as he replied. "Isn't it funny. I told you earlier right? Before I got my hat I ate the Rubber Devil Fruit. So now I'm made of rubber from head to toe in exchange for not being able to swim."
"You skipped that part in your story!" Ann shouted as she freaked out and watched Luffy stretch his cheek out approximately two feet to the side of his face.
"R-rubber man!?" Spiel's crew shouted even louder as they flipped out again.
"Gwaaah! Gwaaah!"
"No! Balloon!" Ann called out as she looked up.
Luffy and Spiel's crew followed the direction of her gaze up at the distressed bird noises to see Spiel up in the sky on his broom while holding Balloon captive with a chain. Up came the calls of his subordinates. "Captain!"
"Don't bother calling me that any longer. I have no use for you or this ship anymore. You stretch yourself there for the rest of your (short) life youngin'. I got the treasure I wanted and even though I was a little disgraced by your actions but I'm going to excuse myself now." Spiel's face twisted into a maniacal smile as he growled one last time. "Farewell rubber man. You can sink with the ship!"
Spiel formed a gesture with his hand and with a crash what seemed to be an explosion cracked the giant galleon in half causing the crew, Ann, and Luffy to fall down into the ocean water below.
"Uwa! Water! Dawnie isn't here with a net- I'm gonna drown!" Luffy shouted and uselessly struggled for a bit before sinking into the sea.
"Balloon!" Ann cried looking up to where her friend was being lead further and further away into the sky. Ann hesitated for a moment but turned her gaze back to the sea and dove down under the waves.
There was thirty seconds of relative silence while Spiel's surviving ex-crew found their way to surviving lifeboats and then with a large spray of water Ann heaved Luffy up onto the barely floating deck of the destroyed galleon.
Luffy sputtered and blubbered as he greatfully thanked her. "I was saved! Thank you, thank you so much for saving me! Dawn would've killed me if I drowned when she told me not to!"
Luffy's grateful thank yous stopped suddenly when he heard a tear splash down next to his head onto the deck and he looked to see Ann weeping with her hands pressed up to her eyes beside him. Not sure what to do since he hadn't ever encountered a crying girl he simply asked. "Hey?"
Ann broke down and explained as she sobbed. "Balloon...Balloon is probably the last roc that exists. A roc's blood is supposed to carry great magical power so that's what Spiel was after... that's why I was kidnapped because Spiel knew Balloon will always come after me when we're separated. I wish he wasn't magical or rare! Even if he wasn't special he'd still be my treasured best friend!"
Luffy stood up and as he wrapped his arm multiple times around the exposed mast of the cleaved ship said. "It's not over yet. Don't give up, you said it yourself, right? He's your treasure. I'll always help protect my crew's treasures."
Luffy tightened his hold and just barely heard Ann ask, "When did I join your crew, exactly?" before he launched high, high up into the sky in a direct arc towards the escaping Spiel.
Spiel in the meantime was congratulating himself on a job well done, "Ahhahhahhah! I sure know how to make a exit! Even if I fought a Devil like that kid it'd do me no favors. All I need is the roc's blood and my power will increase tenfold!"
"Gwaaah! Gwaaah!"
Spiel felt tugging on the chain holding the roc and he scowled and turned to the roc as he scolded. "Hey now stop struggling, we've already come this far."
Luffy sat perched on the back of Balloon and waved his left hand at Spiel. "Yo!"
"What!? How did you-!?" Spiel sputtered but Luffy was already leaning over Balloon's head to touch and mess with the bristles of Spiel's flying broom.
"I envy you since you can fly. How's this thing work anyway?"
Spiel punched Luffy ineffectively in the head, displacing his hat by knocking it askew as he shouted. "Stop messing with things you don't understand youngin'!"
"Hey!" Luffy's left hand shot up from the broom bristles and caught Spiel's wrist in a vice grip. Spiel took a look at Luffy and his pallid complexion went even greyer as he unconsciously dropped his end of the chain that held the roc. The expression written across Luffy's face was a promise of a lot of pain. With the chilling voice of a truly dangerous pirate Luffy growled. "Don't you dare touch my treasure!"
Spiel suddenly realized he wasn't holding Balloon any longer and yelped. "Ack! The roc!"
"Don't worry, it'll be here soon." Luffy announced with a mischievous smile he had probably learned from his brothers.
"What will!?" Spiel despaired as tears of fear dribbled down his face.
"My right hand." Luffy said. "Rubber High Caliber: Pistol!"
There was the sound of rubber smacking into a face after travelling a thousand yards and with a twinkle in the sky Spiel flew away, this time without his broom. The broom fell and so did Luffy but Balloon swooped down and saved him from taking a long dive into the sea.
"Thank you for not letting me fall but isn't there a better way for you to carry me?" Luffy asked, his head once again compressed like a beach ball in Balloon's beak as he returned to Ann who was waiting on the deck of Dawn since the galleon that had once been Spiel's ship had vanished already beneath the sea.
Balloon released Luffy when he was twenty feet above Dawn's deck and Luffy landed on his feet with a short laugh as Balloon settled down next to Ann with only the sound of a pleased croon upon his landing. Ann immediately clung to Balloon with a happy shout while Luffy looked on pleased with himself. The dragon figurehead of Dawn held a grin that was both cheery and proud.
While Balloon was preening gently at her wounded arm Ann, though she was thrilled to be reunited with her best friend, turned to look over to Luffy and asked, "What exactly are you trying to imply by claiming me as a member of your crew, Luffy?"
Luffy smiled and with excitement said, "Well since we're friends now and you're a nice person I thought you could be my second crew mate. You said you wanted to free Balloon and never feel caged again right? Balloon can join too."
"You realize you're asking me to become a pirate right?" Ann asked with a raised eyebrow and tone of skepticism in her voice. "Why would I do that when I can have Balloon fly me to a new island and not live a life on the run from the marines?"
"Aw, but that would be so boring. We should have too much fun together instead of trying not to have too much fun together like earlier." Luffy complained with a pout.
Ann stared was confused for a moment before she remembered what the pirate that locked she and Luffy up together had said before leaving the room and blushed as red as a setting sun. "You idiot! You actually listened to what the guy imprisoning you told you to do! You'll be caught by the marine's tomorrow without living more carefully!"
"We don't have to know what tomorrow holds. That's why we need to live our fullest lives today." Ann startled when the figurehead of Dawn twisted around to speak to her.
Balloon on the other hand, in reaction to the movement, floofed out his feathers and curled out his wings in the imitation of a frightened owl while making a startled "Gwark!"
Luffy was nearly falling over as he laughed at Balloon's own over the top reaction which caused the tension to finally leave Ann's frame. She took pity on her friend and soothed him with a few gentle strokes on top of his head. Balloon's instincts would have already kicked in and he would be pushing her to leave if he had sensed she wasn't in a safe place. How strange was her life that the first safe space after being attacked by a black magic using pirate would be on the ship of a devil fruit using pirate?
Ann stretched out her hand towards Luffy and said, "Fine. From your words I will seal the deal. Our word is true and not to break. We speak these words: a promise we make. As long as you never betray Balloon or me. As long as you keep your word to gather a crew, find the greatest treasures, have the greatest adventures and become the Pirate King. I will stay on your crew with these conditions. I will be permitted to leave should you break your promise to me."
"I promise." Luffy said with certainty and shook her hand to seal the deal. After releasing their hands from each other Luffy wiggled his fingers in amused curiosity and snickered. "Shishishi, cool my fingers feel funny. Dawn did you see that! I got a crewmate! Now let's go find an island of adventure! I'll be King of the Pirates before you know it! Ann, do you know where another island is?"
Ann shrugged and said, "Since we're in the Goa Region there are a few islands around that we can get to within a day or so. There's Goa Island, Goat Island, Goaf Island, Goal Island, Goaves Island, Goanna Island, and Dawn Island - which ironically is where the Goa Kingdom is located instead of on Goa Island. Goaf Island was where Spiel kidnapped me from so there wouldn't be much to see there aside from survivors fixing up a husk of a village. Where do you want to go?"
"Goat Island sounds like it has meat there!" Luffy declared. "Let's go there and eat goats! Go to Goat Island Dawnie!"
The figurehead of Dawn was facing forward but turned left and then right as the ship sensed the different directions before adopting a sheepish expression and said, "I don't know how to get there. Do you happen to know where Goat Island is from here, Ann?"
Ann sighed heavily and hopped onto Balloon's back before saying, "Let me look around. How will we find each other after I find it though?"
"Here." Dawn said and smiled with the figurehead while from the top of the mast a lure made to look like a bird fluttered down like ripened fruit coming off a tree. It seemed to be shaped like a swallow, was predominately green but had purple and yellow flower patterns like the lizard shaped lure Luffy had used. It settled on top of Ann's head and Dawn's voice spoke from it when its beak opened. "This lure can go ahead with you. Just be sure to feed it something in about four hours or it will just become a bird shaped plant figurine. If something seems fun or exciting please don't finish up without giving Luffy a chance to experience it or he will pout and be a passive-aggressive pain until something fun happens to distract him again."
"Gotcha." Ann acknowledged and nodded her head at Luffy who was busy poking at Balloon's beak. "See you again soon, Captain."
"Just call me Luffy since we're friends." Luffy insisted to which Ann nodded and took off with Balloon up into she sky. He watched a bit enviously for a moment before saying, "I want a bird friend to carry me too one day. Do you think Balloon will let me fly with him again soon?"
"Probably, just let him get used to you first. He is Ann's treasure first after all. She's laughing up there and he is too."
"Good. I like my crew to be happy. Now let's go to Goat Island! Meat ahead!" Luffy cheered as he pointed his hand towards the horizon and adventures to be had next.
To be continued
Up next: Luffy is disappointed to learn Goat Island doesn't actually have any goats. There's just pink things.
Thank you for picking this story to read, it really is appreciated. As you can tell from this chapter this SI-esque AU version of One Piece is already a little off the rails canon wise. Will the canon straw hats appear in this story? Of course - though not all of them will be met in the way we met them in the original story. There will be a bit of bending of One Piece material but I can at least say that anyone joining the crew at least up 'til the Grand Line have shown up in some form or another of One Piece media. Expect more AUness, more world exploration, a pinch of magic, more adventure and random references both obscure and not. Please review and let me know what you think of the beginning.