Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to own the great anime/manga One Piece, which was created by the great Oda Eiichiro! But I do have the rights to this story and any original characters that do not appear in said anime or manga!
A/N: Hello, this will be my first multi One Piece fict excluding NSIC. Hopefully it will be fun and to note: I tend to have a wild imagination with romance and the other kind of romance along with making OC characters. Err, hopefully, this won't bore you or put you to sleep or the worst case scenario, have you zone out with question marks saying what the hell's going on. I know about the recent OP chapters but this takes place after TB and yes, I am certainly putting Brooke in so heads up for those who don't like spoilers!
Crimson Silver
Chapter 1: Encounter with the Mystery Crimson Hat Man!
All was…rarely calm on the Going Merry. Zoro the Santoryuu swordsman was sitting inside the crow's-nest, acting as lookout. Robin the archaeologist was sitting in a chair, a small table near her with her coffee still hot while she read one of her usual books. The most recent crew members were doing what they did best, Franky the shipwright was busy tuning up the Soldier Dock System and Brooke the musician was playing on his violin for Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper for what was probably the hundredth time. Sanji was in the kitchen, cooking up lunch for the crew, and Nami was in her room, continuing to draw her dream, the map of the whole world. So far she has drawn out the map starting from her home village of Kokoyashi in East Blue to their present location, the last island they had recently stopped to stock up and map out which was far from Thriller Bark. All was typically a usual afternoon except for the occasional chase by the Marines.
"OI!"
Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, Brooke stopped playing for the trio as they all ran to Zoro, wondering what the hell he was shouting out about. They saw him point his finger into the distance, as Usopp, with his zoom-in goggles was able to see that a shipwreck had just occurred and could see that there was someone hanging onto for dear life. He was hanging onto a piece of driftwood and seemed to be nearly at his end.
Usopp lifted his goggles up and turned to the crew. "There's someone over there! Luffy?"
Everyone had turned to their Captain as the black haired boy nodded. "Go."
"Nani!? What if it's a Marine!?" Nami shouted at him. It was just yesterday that they were chased by the Marines, again. Luckily it wasn't Smoker; just some hotshot Marine that thought he could gain fame and wealth for catching the dangerous but tempting 300,000,000 bounty on Monkey D. Luffy. It didn't take long for Luffy to go Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun before the whole fleet sunk, with the stupid Marine screaming for help. Oh, life as a pirate was just like that.
"I doubt he's a Marine." Robin said, as the oldest female of the crew scanned the wreck they were entering. "I don't see any signs that could explain he was a Marine?"
"Maybe the piece with the logo sank?" Sanji said.
"You might be right, Sanji-kun."
At that moment, his eyes went all heart-shaped. "AM I NAMI-SWAN?"
Chopper was the first to see that the person wasn't a Marine. "He's wearing a dark red coat and black pants. He's also wearing a dark red hat on his head."
Luffy grinned like usual. "Is it a straw hat like mine!?"
Chopper shook his head. "No."
Luffy was disappointed but looked up and turned to Zoro and Sanji. "Oi, Zoro, Sanji-"
"Are you sure, Luffy? He might be a Marine in disguise!" Zoro said, his awareness kicking in. Sanji's face grimaced.
"Unless that's a beautiful woman who is adrift, then no, I won't go."
Although they had a point, Nami couldn't help but feel as if they had to save him. But of all the possible savers, Zoro and Sanji were it. Luffy, Robin, Chopper, and Brooke were out of the mix since they had Devil Fruit abilities, Usopp would easily be crushed by the stranger's weight and she wasn't physically strong enough. Well, there was Franky but he was busy with the ship at the moment. So…
The swordsman and chef both fell, lumps on their heads. "BOTH OF YOU, GO HELP HIM!" They complied rather quickly, well, Sanji. Zoro just 'humph' and dove off the ship.
------
The entire Straw Hat crew stood around the man. He was unconscious shortly after Zoro and Sanji had reached him and had begun to sink. This made Robin's conclusion that he has Devil Fruit abilities true since he could have swam over to them instead but they had no idea that he had blacked out and yet somehow seemed to be hanging onto the driftwood. Franky heard the news about the rescue and went up to see the person in person.
"Oi, is he okay?" Usopp asked, unsure of whether to move closer to inspect or to cower behind the mast. Everyone else seemed hesitant but Luffy just got down and waved his hand over the man's face. It didn't take long for his impatience to step in.
"LUFFY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING!?" Nami shouted.
He was shaking, slapping the man's face, pulling his face, anything to get him to wake up. Just when Luffy's hand was about to connect with the stranger's face, a hand caught it. A shriek was heard as Usopp pointed shakily at the man whom was awake. "H-H-H-HE'S A-A-A-ALIVE!!"
The man's first reaction was…a scowl. "Of course I'm alive!" he held Luffy back and sat up. He shook himself a bit, trying to get whatever excess water soaked into his clothes still out, as he suddenly felt the top of his head and shouted, "WHERE'S MY HAT!?"
The crew turned to Robin, whom was holding his hat back out to him. "Here it is. I dried it for you."
The man's face suddenly flushed realizing how kind she was and how pathetic he felt with the outburst. "Aah, err, th-thanks!" He put it back on his head. He stood back up, his strange silver locks falling lightly in front of his face. He tilted the hat over his left eye, partially covering it. He then took out his right arm out of the sleeve of his coat, letting it dangle there, as he then sat back down on the deck. He then took one look at the crew before saying, "By the way, do you happen to have any food?" This caused them all to fall. Sanji was the first to answer him.
"No, in fact, we're heading over to the next port to stock up, according to the Log Pose."
"And in case you're wondering, the food we had just recently stocked up on was eaten by…him, Mugiwara." Franky said, pointing at the culprit. Luffy pointed at himself.
"Aah, me?"
"WHO ELSE!?" the entire crew excluding Robin and the stranger shouted.
Zoro was the first to actually mention the heavy object on his back. "You know, if it wasn't for that huge sword of yours, it would have made the rescuing a whole lot easier." he said, still giving the 'I don't believe anything about you' look. The man let out a sigh.
"Sorry about that. By the way, seeing as this is a ship, can I safely assume that everyone here is a crew member sans me?" he asked. Apparently he had no idea WHAT kind of crew they were. Nami grinned devilishly.
"Oh, I don't know about the 'safely', Mr…?"
"Roland. It's just Roland."
"Okay, Just Roland." Luffy replied.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" he snapped back. He then looked at Luffy as if he had seen a ghost. He cocked his head to the side.
"Finally," Nami thought. "He's figured it out!"
"Hmm…"
Luffy blinked. "What?"
Roland then grinned and pointed at the boy. "I know you, you're the Straw Hat, Captain of the Straw Hat crew that's wanted by the Marines?" as he saw their faces. They weren't surprised but they were more like wary faces, as if expecting him to reveal that he was a Marine. He saw their faces and waved a hand nonchalantly. "Relax, if you think I'm with the Marines, you don't need to worry. I'm wanted by the Marines too actually!" he said in a cheerful mood.
"How can you be happy about that?" Usopp asked.
……
Roland then stood up, slinging the strap that held his sword over his neck onto his shoulder. It dangled as everyone was surprised that he didn't seem to have been affected by the weight. He turned to Luffy. "Oi, where's the nearest town?"
"Aah? You should be asking Nami that, she's the navigator of the ship." he said, pointing in her direction. The berri-lover turned to face the man.
"Luffy, are you even sure we can trust him?"
Zoro was leaning against the wall of the ship that led to kitchen. "You can't just expect us to agree to it, do you?"
"Yosh, you're in!" Luffy said.
Everyone fell.
"BAKA!"
"You can't just do that!"
Luffy turned to face them. That was when they all remembered he was…the Captain. They all lowered their heads at a loss. Whatever Luffy said, goes. It was strange how a mutiny had never occurred between him and his nakama but it seems the Straw Hats are a different kind of pirate crew. Roland placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder.
"Well, it's settled! I'll stay with you guys a bit! Hahahahaha, it feels good to live!" as Usopp looked on at the man's cheerfulness.
"How can you be happy if you just nearly died?"
To be Continued…
Next time:
Luffy: Huh, what's that?
Usopp: Aaaaah! We're under attack!
Nami: No way, the Marines!?
Sanji: Nami-swan! I shall protect you!
Zoro: Hah, you couldn't protect a fly!
Sanji: What was that, Marimo!?
Roland: The Marines!? Already!? Did they find me that fast?
Roland: Next time on Crimson Silver. "Manipulate Time! The man that ate the Time Time Fruit." Oh wait, that's already spoiling the surprise! Who wrote the script here!?
Luffy: I'm gonna be the Pirate King!
A/N: Well, that's my first chapter. Really, I tried to do humor as it is seen in OP but it's my first time with a multi OC OP fic but as I writer, I'll take whatever you got for me. With that settled, I can get to work on the second chapter soon, hopefully?