Hello to new readers, and welcome back to the older ones.
So, I've returned, I have finally found the will to start re-posting these chapters and editing and improving the writing. I'd like to sincerely apologize as it's been around nine months since I said I was going to be doing this. I guess it just slipped my mind while I was occupied with other things. From personal experience, I know how frustrating it is when a story you enjoy suddenly stops updating and I feel really bad for being so lax with my own.
As of right now I can't make any for sure promises, but I will do my best to push out quality chapters once a week. If I can't feel free to spam me with PM's and whatever to remind me. Also as a quick side note I'll be leaving the previous version of this story up simply as a reminder to myself of where I came from as an author. I have no delusions that I've improved tremendously or anything, however at least now I'll hopefully be able to give you guys something worthwhile.
Edit: Thanks for letting me know about the formatting issue! Here's the original chapter!
Please R&R
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
Chapter one: Introducing Monkey. D Luffy!
-O-O-O-
It was a clear sunny day in the east blue while the large cruise ship floated through the calm waters. Inside the passengers were enjoying expensive wine, dancing, and luxurious food. This was obviously a rather expensive and high-class affair and the people enjoyed themselves without a care in the world.
Meanwhile as the guests were enjoying themselves outside the sailors and deck hands were lazing about clearly wishing to be elsewhere. It was a nice day and in the East Blue especially pirates there was not too much to be concerned about. Two of the men in particular were leaning over the rails tossing down a rope over the edge of the ship at a barrel bobbing up in the waters below.
"Almost got it..." One said gritting his teeth as the rope flew past the barrel by inches, the other man cheered him on. "Come on mate! It could be anything in side there imagine, what if it's wine. No even better Whiskey!"
His companion growled, "Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate here!" and pulled the rope back, winding up his arm he threw again. To their happiness the throw was spot on and the long rope lassoed around the barrel.
"JACK POT!" They shouted in unison, throwing each other a congratulatory high-five, with plenty of straining and pulling they managed to heave it out of the water and onto the ship.
"Damn. This is heavy," Sailor #1 grunted as it finally rolled onto the deck. Sailor #2 wiped his brow and nodded in agreement unable to stop a large grin though, after all the heavier the barrel the better chance of something good. The two sailors were about to open it to inspect the coveted contents, but were interrupted by a loud shout from above in the crow's nest of the ship.
"PIRATES! PIRATES ARE COMING!" With identical looks of fear, they both ran off to prepare, the barrel they had worked so hard to capture left forgotten to roll down the stairs into the hold.
-O-O-O-
The Alvida Pirates had arrived and the large ship was not prepared in the least.
Before the Captain of the cruise ship had time to react, they had already fired on them. Destroying the main mast making escape nearly impossible, the ship hands quickly prepared rustling up anything they could to fight off their assailants, but were fast overwhelmed by the stronger more ferocious pirates jumping aboard and as swiftly as they prepared they were defeated.
In the midst of the battle however an unwilling cabin boy named Coby had been kicked to the cruise ship after refusing to fight. Coby was a scrawny boy with pink hair and a pair of round glasses. Surprisingly he had been able to make to the hold without engaging in any fights or encountering sailors. When there he decided to hide and bemoan his unfortunate situation of being forced to be with Alvida and her crew.
The pink haired boy had no aspirations of pirate hood at all, you see. He had merely stumbled onto the pirate's ship on accident, thinking it had been a fishing boat, this mistake had led to disastrous consequences as Alvida, the captain, had been in need of a decent navigator and it had been just his luck that he had the necessary skill for the job. Coby was not a brave child and instead of even attempting to escape he had stayed fearing for his life.
In the aftermath of their success, three of the Alvida pirates made their way down the stairs to the hold, loudly bragging to each other about how many sailors they had killed and grinning about the amount o loot they were going to get from the ship. They entered the hold and were surprised, obviously not expecting there to be such a large barrel on this ship or Coby for that matter.
"Eh what's this, Coby?" The first man said grinning cruelly, the other two goons behind him doing so as well. He cast a quick look around the room, his eyes alighting on the large barrel in the corner, " You've been holding back on us. Hiding down here with the real treasure!"
The three laughed uproariously and made their way over to the barrel, as Coby tried to assure them it was not the case, "N-nonononono, T-that's not it at all! I-I-I just s-slipped down her, you see. The floor it was r-really wet and..." The pirates ignored him examining the barrel, after several attempts to pull open the top the largest one finally had enough.
"This is pissing me off!" He shoved his crewmates to the side, " I'm going to open this up the old-fashioned way!"
Coby immediately blanched, "Don't Alvida-sama will be really mad!" he shivered, unwanted memories resurfacing. Disregarding this most likely sound advice he idiotically raised his hands above his head, and let out a roar, before he brought his hands down on the barrel destroying both it and its valuable contents.
Or at least that's what was supposed to happen.
Instead, right before he hit the barrel, the lid burst off, and out of it came a young man. One of his outstretched arms conveniently striking the large man in the head sending him into sweet unconsciousness. The other two pirates stared their eyes comically bulging out of their heads and mouths dropping open in pure shock.
"Ahhh, I slept so good!" The unidentified stranger grinned widely, before finally taking in his surroundings and realizing where he was and that he was not alone in the room.
"Who the hell are you guys?" He quizzically asked cocking his head to the side and looking quite childlike.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, YOU BASTARD!?" The remaining two pirates screamed in a mixture of shock and outrage. The young man ignored them and stepped out of the barrel turned to the shell-shocked Coby,
"Do you have any meat here?" Coby who had not expected the sudden question simply stammered uncontrollably, his face having turned as white as a sheet. This was too much for the pirates, the outrage at the strangers apparent dismissal of them and his nonchalance drove them to pull out their swords and simultaneously attack him.
*THUNK*
Faster than the eye could see both weapons were broken in half with the tips buried in the ceiling. The two men began to sweat profusely and fell to the ground, "Wh-What the hell are you?" The smaller one asked stammering slightly.
As if he was finally taking notice of them, the stranger turned around, with his ragged old straw hat covering his eyes he grinned if possible even wider than before and stated,
"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become Pirate King!"
The pirates screamed and, grabbing their friend, fled the room. Coby looked on with awe at the newly named Luffy. "What was that?! How did y-you do that?"
Luffy shrugged, "Who knows, now where's the meat?"
-O-O-O-
Luffy and Coby now sat side by side. Luffy was eating apples at an inhuman pace disappointed that there was no meat, while Coby was trying to get Luffy to explain himself.
"S-s-s so Luffy-san was it?" a nod "Where did you come from, I-I don't mean to be too inquisitive or anything." The younger boy laughed nervously as he attempted to break the, aside from Luffy's loud munching, awkward silence. Luffy blinked several times as he stared at Coby, he swallowed.
"Shishishi You see it's a funny story…"
*Flashback*
Luffy was sitting in the small rowboat with an incredibly large barrel of apples sitting next to him. Relaxing in the warm sun and enjoying the ocean breeze, (secretly however he was bemoaning the distinct lack of meat, having long ago exhausted his supply) when suddenly almost without warning the boat began leaning to the left as though it were being pulled. Noticing this he quickly stood up, so as to examine the cause of it,
"Oh," He stated blandly not even fazed. "It's a whirlpool, If I get sucked in I'll probably drown."
He glanced to the side at the barrel of apples and decided if he wanted to live, sacrifices must be made. After saying a quick apology to the lost food, he dumped out the apples, and crawled into the barrel pulling the lid over his head. Right after this, he fell asleep the powerful winds and strong tides not bothering him in the slightest.
*Flashback end*
"... And the I woke up here, pretty cool right!" As though this near-death experience was the funniest thing in the world, he just burst out laughing.
Coby sweat dropped at the laughing teenager and quietly came to the conclusion that the older boy in front of him was rather stupid. A thought came to his mind, "Luffy-san," He asked timidly "Are you by any chance a pirate?" A flicker of surprise crossed Luffy's face and he looked at Coby his previous mirth replaced with enthusiasm.
"Yeah." He said an almost serene look on his face. The cabin boy looked confused, "But where's your crew Luffy, I-I mean Luffy-san?"
"Don't have any yet I just started, I'm looking for them though. When I do find 'em though, they'll be the best, after all the future Pirate King can except nothing less right!?" He grinned excitedly. Coby however had an entirely different opinion and voiced it rather loudly.
"W-WHAT, B-BUT THAT MEANS YOU'RE GOING TO THE GRANDLINE WITHOUT A CREW!?" Luffy nodded and burst out laughing, "Shishishi that's right. I'll find the members on the way! To be the pirate king is my dream!" He took the hat off his head and twirled it on his finger. "Yeah, with or without a crew I'll go. If I didn't have the strength to try, I wouldn't be worthy of wearing this hat." He said much quieter his eyes sharpening with an unshakable determination. Coby took no notice as he continued to rant about how impossible it was to become Pirate King, until Luffy finally lightly knocked him on the head silencing him. The pink haired boy looked at him with tears in his eyes, rubbing the large bump that had now appeared,
"Ow... why'd you hit me Luffy-san?!" Luffy turned away from him and restarted eating, "Because I felt like it." He blandly stated.
Coby fidgeted playing with his hands, building himself up the straw hatted boys firm declaration of his dream having awoken something within him that he had thought was long gone. Suddenly he stood and turned to Luffy, "D-Do you think I could be a M-M-Marine Luffy?" The other boy blink and paused for a moment to swallow,
"How would I know," Luffy shrugged, reaching over and grabbing another apple, "it's your life, you decide."
"You know what, I will! I'll become a Marine! I'll capture all the evil pirates, i-in fact I'll capture Alvida herself! Yeah I'll capture her and drag her into the Marines!" At this moment, coincidentally the ceiling exploded. A massive shadow falling down into the middle of the room with a crash, crushing the remaining apples. Luffy frowned and silently sent up a pray for the destroyed food, before standing up and walking over to stand next to the shivering Coby.
"You... You're not Roronoa Zoro are you? And who the hell did you just say you'd capture, huh Coby? Who's the most beautiful woman on the seas, you brat!" Stepping out of the smoke came a large woman with a massive club held in her hands, she was the self-proclaimed most beautiful woman in the world Iron Mace Alvida, with a bounty of 5.000.000 beri. The almost catatonic boy stuttered out in fear, about to say something, "I-I-Its Y-Yo-"
"Oi Coby, who is this whale?" Luffy interrupted picking his nose and glaring at the woman suspiciously, "I thought fish couldn't live on land?"
Silence. Utter Silence.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY BOY!"
*SLAM*
Alvida's mace broke through the floor where Luffy was standing mere moments before. The older boy jumped over to Coby, grabbed him and with a powerful leap flew through the hole in the ceiling and onto the deck. "MEN KILL HIM!" Alvida screamed in rage spitting saliva from her mouth, as she desperately tried to crawl up from through the broken floor. Luffy dropped Coby on the floor, where he lay muttering something about "crazy monkeys".
Luffy stood and looked at the fifty some pirates surrounding him, instead of fear though there just a look of boredom on his face. The edges of his Straw hat covered his eyes and he sighed, "So all of you against me, eh? Do you guys need a handicap, I'm not sure if this is really a fair fight?"
The pirates didn't respond the simply roared and ran at him. The young man smiled and looked up from the shadow of his straw hat, saying in a quiet voice, "Why don't you guys take a nap?"
An invisible bubble of pure willpower went out from him like a shockwave. The pink haired boy having finally regained his senses flinched as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a shiver ran down his spine. Time seemed to stop for a second before, as one, their eyes rolled back into their head and they all crumpled to the floor unconscious. Coby looked up in shock as without lifting a finger Luffy had defeated the entire Alvida pirate crew. "Wha-What was that?" He thought shocked. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him saying, "Was that a devil fruit boy?" It seems Alvida had made it out safely from the hold.
Luffy just stared at Alvida quietly, not caring to respond. Alvida let it go, and turned her ugly face to Coby a cruel smirk dancing across her lips, "So Coby, I'll ask once more who is the most beautiful woman in the world!?"
Coby opened his mouth to respond, shaking as he remembered the power of her mace. As he was about to answer he hesitated, the words of the strange straw hatted boy ringing through his head. Then he looked up at the pirate captain glaring and shouted loudly, "You're the most... Ugliest thing in the world! I've seen whales smaller then you and at least they had half a brain, you stupid hag! I'll become a Marine, NO, not just any marine I'll be an Admiral! And rid the world of pirates like you!"
Alvida looked at him shocked her eyes bulging out of her head in surprise, while Luffy burst out laughing an almost proud look flitting through his eyes.
"Shishishi, Good one Coby!"
Obviously disagreeing, the large woman howled in rage, leaping forward and swinging her club intent on crushing him. Coby gritted his teeth, tears in his eyes, "Thank You Luffy-san, now I refuse to back down from my dream anymore! Even at the cost of my own life." He thought closing his eyes and preparing for the worst.
*SMASH*
Feeling no pain, the boy opened his eyes in confusion, "L-LUFFY-SAN!" Said boy stood in front of Coby still chuckling slightly, Alvida's iron mace having shattered on his head. Not bothered in the least from the heavy blow he half turned back to face Coby.
"You did good, Coby! An Admiral huh, how ironic!" He turned back to Alvida who was now shaking in unconcealed shock and anger.
"What the hell are you!?" She spat angrily, involuntarily taking a step back.
Luffy pulled back one arm, and clenched his fist muscles bulging the very air itself seemed to stand still as he spoke with conviction,
"Who am I?" His forearm darkened to black and the pressure doubled, around the three doubled the very air seeming stale.
Coby choked and blinked in surprise, as he saw Luffy's now pitch-black forearm. "W-What?"
"I AM... *WHAM* ...THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!"
Luffy threw his arm foreword hitting Alvida straight in the gut, and in a feat, that defied gravity itself sent her flying through the air in mere seconds disappearing as a dot on the horizon. Coby's jaw dropped open spewing random words, while he looked on in pure disbelief as his tormentor vanished in the sky. Luffy however looked disappointed, sighing as his arm faded back to its normal color. "Gramps could've sent her twice as far, looks like I need more training." He turned to the younger boy and like nothing important had just transpired asked politely,
"So, Coby, do you have a boat I could borrow perhaps?"
Coby just stared.
Chapter End
So, just a few changes in this chapter, added some more dialogue, corrected grammar, and just did some general cleanup. Hopefully it's interesting enough, if there are still any problems I'd love to hear them. In the next chapter, I'll give an update as to a few changes to the general story-line I'd like to implement. But other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, not much changed but I'm more satisfied with the writing then before. As always PM's are appreciated and reviews are wonderful.
If you had the chance, would you eat a Devil Fruit?
Have a great week,
Adkop
