Finally, a Mature rated fiction that will, hopefully, be rated Mature because of violence and mature themes, not pornography. I've seen too many good fictions go bad that way, no offence. Please review. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going. I do not own One Piece. Thanks to Sacred Sakura and to Solo Loco Ellingston Rose for previewing the first four chapters. I needed that. Updates will only come with reviews.
Inherited Will, Destiny of the Age
Prologue: What Never Should Have Been
A stocky man of about twenty-seven sat alone in a wooden room, the door behind him shut tight. He stared at the open journal before him, the pages crisp, fresh and unmarred by ink. Absentmindedly, he played with the end of his straw-colored ponytail as he thought of what he could write. The first page was always crucial. After a while, he adjusted the spectacles so that they sat on the bridge of his nose and took his pen to the clean paper.
"Ambition," he wrote. "The Logbook of the Mugiwara Kaizokudan and their Adventures."
The man looked over the words again as the room rocked back and forth gently, the waves outside bobbing the ship in the light thundershower that was directly overhead. He turned the page and began writing again.
"Log Date: Year of the Sea, 1542 July 9
"Twenty years ago, the world fell into darkness. The World Government, the force that once so graciously protected the citizens of the Five Seas from chaos and anarchy, fell to the hands of the Revolutionaries, a group that at first was welcomed, but quickly scorned. Pirates of the worst kind wreaked havoc on the islands of the world, destroying families, homes and businesses. Things were bleak for everyone. Families split apart and children went without their parents. People starved through the chaos. Madness overwhelmed the world, first in the Grand Line and eventually spreading to the other Seas throughout the years, first the South and West, then the North and East.
"That was when the Mugiwara Kaizokudan was first formed. Inspired by the defiant and carefree actions of a pirate that had been executed before her eyes as a small child, a young woman of roughly twenty-one called 'Mugiwara' Rika set sail from her home of Shell Town in the East Blue in search of nakama with enough heart and drive to bring into the light the pirates of her childhood; those that could even at times be considered 'kind'. She wore the straw hat of the man who inspired her, in order to keep his dreams alive as well. It was her dream to find One Piece and as King of the Pirates, bring peace to the world.
"While sailing, Rika discovered a dinghy in the water, carrying three men just a few years older than herself. The men were all unconscious and barely alive. She boarded their craft and quickly found an island where she nursed them back to health. The three men were eternally in her debt and joined as the first of her crew. Piiman had always wanted to become a master carpenter, yet had settled for becoming a deadly shot. Ninjin had dreamed of opening his own tavern, yet was instead resigned to martial arts in order to stay alive. I, Tamanegi, have achieved the closest thing to my original dream as possible: I had wanted to write novels and am now a chronicler. We three were the only survivors left in an attack on the East Blue village of Syrup; some of the cruelest type of pirates ravaging our hometown and killing the young man who we idolized as one who was going to become a great and honorable pirate himself. It was a godsend that our paths had crossed with Rika's. We four swore allegiance to one another, sealing the first pact.
"A few years passed and we drifted all about the East Blue. None of us knew how to navigate properly. Piiman could lead us from island to island in excellent weather, but we were often plagued by bouts of storms. One day, the latest boat that we had unfortunately stolen was tossed about inside one of the largest squalls any of us had ever seen. We were shipwrecked on a rocky isle, this time Rika being the one who almost failed to survive, as she was knocked unconscious upon hitting the water. Ninjin was forced to carry her as Piiman and I scouted the path up ahead. We came upon a solitary shack, occupied by a dying old man and two men two years older than myself. They were half-starved as well as threadbare, so we shared what provisions we had been able to salvage from the shipwreck. They were thankful and allowed us into the house.
"The old man was named Genzo and he was once the mayor of one of the island's villages. Fishmen pirates had taken over the island, destroying the people and even sending the island's best cartographer to her untimely grave. All the other humans that had once lived on the island were long dead, save for Genzo and the two young men. Chabo had been made an orphan by the Fishmen's ferocious attacks. Kappa was actually a refugee from the Grand Line, his face lined with a gaunt sort of realization of the world. When Rika awoke in the morning, the old man's corpse was laying in state and the rest of us were ready for action. After burning the shack, the six of us made way for Arlong Park. That was where we men proved our mettle and Rika demonstrated that she was more than a mere woman. It turned out that she had a Devil's Fruit ability. She pulled invisible wires in the air, jerking the movements of the living and dead alike. Arlong might have slit his own throat, but Rika was the one pulling the strings.
"We stole a sloop and made way for Reverse Mountain. Once in the Grand Line, it was incredible the amount of demoralized cutthroats and citizens alike we encountered. Kappa, who was an excellent navigator, had us dock in his home country of Alabasta, which had been reduced to rubble and ashes. It was a miracle our own throats were not slit during our visit, though it was when we discovered when Kappa was a flirtatious pervert when it came to women other than our captain. Chabo had defended a young, frail-seeming woman from a group of men who wanted more than just to look at her. Our navigator would not stop flirting with her, despite the fact he never laid a single finger on her other than on her hand to kiss it. To this day I do not remember if Rika was simply angered or jealous, for she immediately picked up the habit of abusing Kappa after one of his flirting sessions, both physically and verbally. Moda became one of us, demonstrating the superior culinary skills she picked up, paling any Rika had ever gained from growing up in a tavern. We all became family. Nothing seemed to matter, as long as we had one another.
"Soon after encountering Moda, we discovered that the ship we had lifted from Arlong Park was falling apart. Moda, being a Grand Line native, told us about how there was a city that was once famous for their shipwrights and carpenters just further down the island path. Piiman immediately demanded to go. The decision was not difficult for the rest of us either. We agreed that we were going to seek out the last of the Galley La shipwrights and implore him to build us a ship. It was a fool-proof plan, provided the man was still alive.
"On our way to Water Seven, we came across a teenaged girl, passed out in a dinghy just as Ninjin, Piiman and I were years before when Rika saved us. Rika immediately took her on as our resident swordsman, not caring about her background. The green-haired young woman named Tashigi never gave us anything more than her name that day. It still unnerves me, how little we know about who she is other than her occupation, hair color and given name.
"That was a week ago. Now we are docked in Water Seven, the port crawling with thieves, villains and seedy dealings. The girls and Ninjin left three days ago to find our shipwright. I pray that ill will has not befallen them.
"So I end the first entry of 'Ambition' with a full conscious and a heavy heart. This should have been written sooner, but now is as good a time as ever to begin the story. We, after all, are the ones who are going to find One Piece. Our captain shall become King of the Pirates and with that title, bring about the golden age of piracy once prevalent in our world. Chaos with order shall reign. Our kind of pirate, the kind with dreams, aspirations, ambitions… we shall rule the Five Seas once again."
Tamanegi sighed and rubbed his temples. He took a small piece of leather from his pocket and placed it between the pages where he halted his writing. He smiled at the faded green leather, once part of his idol's slingshot, before closing the book. Above him, he could hear the hurried footsteps of the others onboard. There was shouting, including that of what was unmistakably Rika scolding Kappa and a voice he had never heard before.
The pirate sighed and tucked the book in his shirt before walking out the door. It was time to keep the peace once again.