Hello! Here I am, another story. Should be updating the other stories soon.. (I hope) Well, here is an AU version of One Piece. Be warned, there will be spoilers for everything that comes after the Saboady Arc. Remember to Review! It gives me the sense that my readers are actually reading Now, on with the story;

"Socho, socho," Coby was rudely shaken awake. "What is it?" he asked the marine beside him, while rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palms. "Vice-Admi-, uhh I mean, Garp wants to see you." The nervous attendant replied. Coby immediately perked up. Upon the ending of the war, he had been taken to the infirmary, where the wounds that he had sustained were treated. Something that came as a surprise was the Kenbunshoku Haki that he had discovered in the course of the great marinefold war. Haki, as explained by Fleet Admiral Kuzan, formerly known as Admiral Aokiji, was the intrinsic power that the human mind possessed. It was also known by many other names, including, ambition, will, and fighting spirit. Having seen the destructive powers of Haki during the battle of Marinefold, Coby was more than wary of what this power could do.

However, to a certain extent, Coby was glad that he had gained that power. It would allow him to compete with the more well known marines and pirates in the field, and would probably earn him his promotion in due time. Wondering what Garp had in store for him, he sighed, and got up from the bed, and opened the door to his room. The nervous attendant was still outside, tapping his foot on the floor in a display of impatience. Coby glared at him. Indeed, he had changed, greatly due to his Haki, which allowed him to more or less 'read' people. But currently he could only sense a few things that were not normally noticeable, such as the stiff posture of the attendant, as well as the tension in his shoulders.

With practice, he would be able to see attacks before they hit him, and anticipate the moves of an enemy. He followed the attendant past many twists and turns, and finally they reached a dilapidated bar with the sign "The Golden Boar" written in faded faint letters hung over the entrance. He stepped in, immediately sensing that something was wrong, the atmosphere was silent, too silent to be any good. Garp was a loud and rambunctious man, and the silence in the bar did not suit him. As Coby's eyes adjusted to the darkness around him, he noticed Garp seated on one of the bar's seats, with his friend Helmeppo standing in front of him.

"Coby, come here," Garp said with a scratchy voice. Coby obeyed, even though Garp was not his superior anymore, he was still the former hero of the Marines, a man whom had gone head to head with the likes of Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard, and Coby respected him for that. Immediately he could see the differences in the face of his former superior. He had not seen the man since he and Sengoku had started to fight the Blackbeard pirates. Garp's face was more lined, and seemed to hold an aura of immense sadness around the man. Coby knew that Garp was still feeling grief over the death of his adoptive grandson, and anger at Admiral Akainu, which was probably the reason that Garp had resigned from the marines.

Garp started talking once again, and Coby fixed his fullest attention on him. "Coby, Helmeppo, this age that has come... it is one of danger and murder." He said his voice fully serious. Coby nodded, and Helmeppo chose to remain silent. "In this era you will witness many atrocities, many killings, much strife and grief and pain. Are you ready for that?" Garp asked. Helmeppo moved to say yes, but reconsidered seeing the weight of Garp's stare. Gathering his courage, Coby spoke, "Yes sir, with some rest and some training I believe we will be ready to carry out our justice again sir!" Garp snickered at him, and Coby saw a glimpse into the man he had known ever since he had taken in himself and Helmeppo into his tutelage. But soon enough, Garp sobered, and said "Then you are a fool Coby." Coby could feel his indigence begin to rise, but deflated as the memories of the Marinefold War came back to him, of the many powerful foes that roamed in the second half of the grand line.

"So what do you propose then," Helmeppo broke in. Garp sighed, and said, "I will teach you to use Haki." Immediately Coby felt elated at the prospect of improving his newfound powers. "But I don't have it." Helmeppo muttered dejectedly. "Nonsense!" bellowed Garp in a good-fashioned way. "Everyone has Haki! It is just that many are not aware of it!" This was followed by Garp explaining to the two young marines about the basics of Kenbunshoku and Busoshoku Haki, otherwise known as the Colors of Observation and Armaments respectively. Coby was quite nonchalant about the entire affair, having already heard it from Fleet Admiral Kuzan, but Helmeppo, having heard none of it, was immensely interested, especially in Busoshoku Haki, which would give them advantages over devil fruit users and at the same time nullify the advantage that the fruit users had over them. Garp rose, and simply said, "Attack me." A second after Garp had uttered those words, Coby and Helmeppo sprung into action, having faced this scenario many times in their trainings with the old man.

Coby somersaulted, and brought his foot down in a violent vertical motion, shouting "Rankyaku!" sending a line of air at Garp. Meanwhile, Helmeppo had not been idle. He had drawn his swords and vanished with a muttered Soru, speeding towards Garp, intent on cutting him with his kukri. Garp just stood at his position until at the last moment, where Helmeppo had almost reached him, and bent down and simply gave a light push upward, sending Helmeppo flying straight up into the rapidly approaching Rankyaku blade. Coby had seen this, and using Helmeppo as a distraction, he sped towards Garp using Soru, and reappeared in front of him, and curling his fingers, unleashed a barrage of Shigans at Garp. Garp smirked, and there seemed to be an aura about him as he simply batted Coby's palms away. Then, Garp gave him what appeared to be a light shove, but in fact sent him flying away. Now Coby understood what had happened to Helmeppo.

Helmeppo, meanwhile had somehow dispelled the Rankyaku blades, and brought his swords down violently, creating a travelling air blade similar to a double Rankyaku. Garp tilted his head slightly to the left, and said, "Now, I shall attack." Coby and Helmeppo were both on guard as they heard this, but nevertheless, they weren't prepared for Garp to vanish. Now, one would think that Coby and Helmeppo would be easily able to see Garp, since they themselves were users of the Rokushiki technique Soru. However, Garp was travelling at a speed which had transcended the speed of Soru. Garp appeared in front of Coby, and gave a strong right hook, which sent Coby smashing into the ceiling of the bar, and then went in front of Helmeppo, and kicked him upward, also sending him straight into the ceiling as well.

Garp simply dusted off his shoulders, and sighed, "Youngsters these days, can't even take a good solid punch."

Helmeppo woke to a light blue ceiling, and wondered where he was. Immediately, memories of his fight with Garp came to mind and he sat upright, looking around as to ascertain his exact location. He saw Coby in the bed next to him. He shifted his eyes to the door, from which he felt a presence hovering. He felt the presence enter the room and saw Garp come into the room at the same time. Helmeppo immediately deducted that the presence that he was feeling was Garp. "Could it be.. Kenbunshoku haki?" he questioned himself, excited at the prospect that his haki might have been 'unlocked'.

Just then, Coby regained consciousness, and clumsily sat up and saw Helmeppo and Garp in the room. Immediately, a huge grin stretched across his face. "Garp! I can feel you now!" he exclaimed, and Garp nodded, and explained, "What I've done is activated the dormant Haki that you posses. I did it by using a large amount of my Haki to influence you while you were distracted with fighting me." "Now," he continued, fully serious, "tell me what are the disadvantages of Kenbunshoku haki?" he asked, directing the question at Coby. Coby answered, "Even if you can predict the moves of your enemy, you might not be able to move fast enough to avoid them." Garp laughed. "So how will you fix that problem?" he asked. Coby and Helmeppo scratched their heads, unsure of how they could fix the problems that Garp had put in front of them. Then, Helmeppo said, "Could we use Busoshoku Haki to create an armor to protect ourselves?" Garp nodded sagely. Helmeppo continued by asking "Garp, how come you are still on marinefold? Haven't you resigned from your position as Vice-Admiral?" to which Garp replied, "Yes, I have. Sengoku seems to want me to go and look for the escapees from Level six of Impel Down, but Kong wants me to stay here to train the marines." "Train the marines? What do you mean?" Coby asked.

"Coby, you have seen the power which Whitebeard, and by extension Blackbeard holds. Teach is not a noble a man as Whitebeard. He would use the powers of the Gura-Gura No Mi to devastate the world. If it came to a fight between Blackbeard and the marines, who do you actually think would be able to stand up to him?" Helmeppo answered, "Fleet Admiral Kuzan, Admirals Kizaru and Akainu, maybe the shichibukai?" Garp replied, "Hahaha! The shichibukai would rather let their positions be revoked rather than try to face a man with two devil fruit powers." Leaning closer, he told them "Actually, the only few whom I think can defeat Blackbeard in a one on one fight would be Sengoku and I." Coby and Helmeppo were both shocked. To think that there was a man out there who could take on almost any marine and beat them was horrifying. "Don't worry! Kizaru or Sakazuki may be able to fight him to a stalemate. After all, he doesn't have full control of his Gura-Gura No Mi powers yet." He remarked. "That is why Kong told me to train up some of the marines, mostly Vice-Admirals and above. Haki was what kept us alive during the Roger's era. Hmph! Now any youngster going around with a decent devil fruit is known as a terrifying pirate!" Garp said. "Are you ready for your training?" asked Garp, only to be met with enthusiastic nods.

Time skip: One year later.

"I can't believe how much they've learnt.." thought Garp as he gazed upon his two young protégés. He was rather shocked at how much Haki they had learnt, especially at the adaptive abilities that they had gained in order to better themselves in the deliverance of justice. "Coby! Helmeppo!" he shouted. "Your training is over, oh and by the way, something dropped by in the mail." He said, handing the two young men two official looking letters. Coby, being extremely excited, ripped his letter open, and read,

Marine HQ

Commander Coby,

As of the point you receive this letter, know that you have been promoted to the rank of Captain, and have access to all privileges and powers that this rank entails. Also note the provision of a new ship. Crewmen will be provided by Marine HQ. Your area of Patrol will be in Saboady Archipelago, under the direct orders of Rear Admiral Kezarn. You may collect your ship at Grove 61 on the second week of the fortieth moon cycle of 1522 AOP.

Regards,

Fleet Admiral Kuzan

Coby exclaimed, "I'm a captain now!" all the while grinning and looking at Helmeppo, who had received a similar letter stating his promotion to Commander. He would be second in command to Coby in the as-of-yet unnamed ship. The two of them had progressed quite far from their Master Chief Petty Officer and Chief Petty Officer posts that they had held approximately a year ago. They had alternated between three months of intensive training with Garp, and three months of hunting for bounty heads to further their rank. However, after six months of training with Garp, they were not yet ready for the New World, and as such were assigned to Saboady.

Upon reaching Saboady, the two immediately went over to Grove 61 as stated in their appointment letters. Upon reaching the Marine Base situated at the Grove, they met up with Rear Admiral Kezarn, a person who was formerly from the Sky Islands, but was recruited in the aftermath of the Great Marinefold War. It was unknown how he had achieved his high rank in such a short period of time, but what was known was that he was a cold antisocial person, which made him the one best suited to remain on Saboady Archipelago in order to prevent events like Strawhat Luffy's assault on the Tenryuubito.

"Hello there, you must be Captain Coby and Commander Helmeppo." The cool rear Admiral remarked in a polite tone, extending his hand. "Yes sir, a pleasure to meet you Rear Admiral Kezarn." Replied Coby, taking the offered hand. "Come, your ship is just over the other side of the base." He said, beckoning them to follow him. They followed him, all the while taking in the place that looked to be their home until they were promoted or reassigned to another location. The decor was pleasing, not too bright but not too dark, tastefully done. They emerged onto a balcony which overlooked a lake at the rear of the Grove. Their ship was a standard Marine-issue vessel. Coby and Helmeppo walked over to the ship and immediately were all over the place examining the entire ship from head to toe.

Apparently satisfied with the condition of the ship, the two of them walked back to the balcony where Kezarn was waiting. "Allow me to give you a tour," Kezarn said. He led them around the base, showing them the entrances and exits. After the tour, the rear Admiral led the duo to the kitchens, where they fell upon the food like people who had been starved. "Fw'n j'll d'f'e f'ar'?" mumbled Coby through the ton of food that was in his mouth. "Your duty will start as soon as you are done with your meal. I suggest you walk around the entire archipelago to check out the surroundings." Replied Kezarn, apparently unfazed by the speed at which Coby and Helmeppo were inhaling the food on the table.

Agreeing to what he said, the duo set off to see the various places in the location where they would spend quite a significant amount of time.

"Run! Its George Black!" screamed a man outside the Amusement Park. Instantly pandemonium reigned. The masses who were gathered at one of the main attractions of the Archipelago ran out of the amusement park as quickly as they could in order to avoid the notorious pirate. George Black walked slowly to the Ferris Wheel and sighed, "Why are they all so scared of me? It's not like I did anything to them." He looked to the outside world as a young man who just wanted to have some fun, but was not unaware of the state of the world as could be seen from the two swords crossed at his back.

George Black closed his eyes as he dreamt of the blood that would flow. He imagined the thick, warm liquid running all over his body, and he arched in desire, eyes snapping open to reveal orbs crazed with bloodlust. He licked his lips, and told his companion, Roche Tomson, "Shall we walk out of here? I need to feast." Just then he saw two young marines walking towards him.

The country of Fritistia was a peaceful country by all accounts. That was until George Black arrived at its shores. For the first few days, he was just another friendly pirate, leisurely sailing the seas for the sake of adventure, not for treasure or power or any other reason like that. On the fourth day of his arrival at the island, two young girls had disappeared in the night, and reappeared with horrific wounds. One of the girls had an arm missing, while the other girl had a gaping hole where her heart would be situated. They both had signs of being brutalized. As the new guy in town, all suspicion fell on George Black.

He told the townspeople again and again that he did not commit the murders, but they condemned him for something he told them he had not done. That night, a member of Black's crew disappeared. He too turned up the next day without the entire lower section of his body starting from his hips. On the sixth night, all the citizens of Fritistia died. Upon arriving at the island, marines would only find two men in the centre of the village, engaging in a carnal activity of cannibalism, all the while entwined together, kissing and stroking one another.

They bathed in the blood of the town, and as the marines lifted their weapons at them, they only had time to send half a warning to Marine HQ, as they were murdered. None of their blood was wasted though. George Black and his first mate, Roche Tomson had drunk it all. When the World Government investigated, they found that Roche had slaughtered the rest of his comrades while his captain killed the villagers. The duo had gained a bounty of 143,000,000 berry and 112,000,000 berry respectively, and were considered dangerous to approach. When George Black was finally found by the marines, after the slaughtering of three more islands, it took two Commondores from Navy HQ to defeat them. They were thrown into the depths of the Freezing Hell, Level Five of Impel Down, never to see the light of day ever again..

"Hey Helmeppo, that guy looks familiar doesn't he?" Coby asked, pointing at the George Black. "Hmm.. I wonder why Saboady Park is so deserted." Muttered Helmeppo. Coby, ignoring his warnings, ran up to the stranger and asked for his name. "I'm George Black, and my partner here is Roche Tomson!" he replied, smiling. "Are you a marine?" he asked Coby. Coby replied, "Yes I am! I've recently been posted here." By then, Helmeppo had reached Coby. "Recently posted? It is such a pity you have to die then.." Muttered Black.

Black immediately unsheathed his swords, swinging them in opposite direction, clearly a decapitating blow, at Coby. Coby bend backwards at the waist and looked at his newfound adversary. "I never even got to introduce myself. How rude." He remarked. "Anyway, I'm Captain Coby of the Marines and I'm here to take you in!" he stated firmly. George Black only laughed at him, saying "Don't you know who I am kid?" Helmeppo decided to chip in at this point "Nope, but we are going to take you down!"

Roche Tomson stood behind George Black, cracking his knuckles menacingly. Helmeppo remarked, "Coby, switch." He then ran towards Coby, who had stood up. Helmeppo leaped into the air, and upon linking hands with Coby, threw Coby over Black's head and towards Roche. He then drew out his two kukri knives, and got into a battle stance. "It seems that the two of you honestly do not know me," remarked Black as he got into his own battle stance. "My speed is on a level you have never seen before, kid. You will die before you even know it." He said arrogantly.

Meanwhile, Coby was facing off with Roche Tomson. Roche said quietly, "I give you one chance, surrender and I won't kill you." "Heh. Like I'd believe that." Replied Coby. Roche stood tall, but suddenly started to loosen, until he was almost falling to the ground. Coby saw this and smirked. "You won't stand a chance fighting me that way!" Coby immediately used Soru to get to Roche, and upon appearing in front of him, said "Shigan!" sending a finger speeding towards Roche's left shoulder. Roche seemed to tense for a moment before grabbing Coby's hand with his left hand, and using his right hand to slam upward into Coby's unprotected elbow. "Arghhh!" shouted Coby, as his elbow nearly snapped in two. Coby jumped away from Roche and tried to use his Kenbunshoku Haki to observe what his next move would be.

To his surprise, he could not detect anything from Roche. Roche started to stagger toward him, and suddenly turned three hundred and sixty degrees on his left foot, and slammed his open palm into Coby's unprotected chest. Coby flew away, thinking "What the hell was that! Why couldn't I see his moves coming!" Roche never left his advantage. He ran underneath Coby, and jumped, bringing his legs to wrap around the stunned Coby's torso. He then pulleddownward, bringing Coby's head smashing down into the pavement a mere second after Coby had used Tekkai. Blood flew from Coby's open mouth, and he felt light headed.

Coby shouted, "Rankyaku!" bringing his leg downward, creating an air blade which cut Roche in the chest. Roche let loose a gasp of pain, and relinquished hold of Coby. Coby flipped from the ground to a standing position, and glared at Roche, angry at himself for being taken by surprise. He immediately started to kick multiple times, shouting "Ryankaku 'Akisame'!" sending a hail of horizontal air blades at Roche, each acting as a sword. Roche seemed to just close his eyes and stumble through the blades, miraculously not getting hit by any of them.

By then, Coby finally noticed that Roche did not have a set straight thinking pattern, which allowed him to avoid being read by Coby's Kenbunshoku Haki. The Kenbunshoku Haki relied on the target having a fixed pattern of thoughts, but random movements could not be foreseen by it. Coby finally understood, and he stood tall. Although he did not like to use the Busoshoku Haki, and was in fact relatively poor at it, the situation which he had stumbled into definitely called for it. Gathering the invisible armor around him he proceeded to charge at Roche.

Coby unleashed his full arsenal of Rokushiki skills, improvised on his own as well as those copied from the assassins of CP9. He sent airblades, finger bullets and anything that he could think of at Roche, but the man continued to avoid them seamlessly. It was then that Coby realized that in order to defeat Roche, he had to take him by surprise. "Tekkai!" Coby intoned. His body becoming akin to steel, he lumbered forward slowly.

The two opponents staggered and lumbered towards one another. Suddenly, Coby seemed to perk up, and shouted "Semei Kikan, Kami-e Bushin!" this allowed his form to grow more compact from his already lean form, making him much faster than normal. He held a hand out, gathering his meagre Busoshoku Haki around it, and slammed it into the air in front of him. This sent out an attack similar to Bartholomew Kuma's attack, an outstretched palm of air flying towards Roche. Roche was unable to avoid the attack, and Coby took full advantage of that fact, hammering him with the many shigan attacks, and finally finishing him off with a shout "Ryankaku 'Hakurai'!", sending a Ryankaku made with both his legs crashing into Roche.

After checking to see the state of Roche, Coby then sat on the ground and proceeded to sleep.

Helmeppo meanwhile, was having the time of his life. Out on his voyages, he had never encountered a swordsman as skilled as this with the exception of Roronoa Zoro. George Black was swift and merciless, punishing every slight miscalculation that Helmeppo made. Helmeppo started to fight back, putting some of his Busoshoku Haki into his attacks, making Black falter. Suddenly, Black struck with amazing accuracy, thrusting his left sword towards Helmeppo's right shoulder. Due to the little Kenbunshoku Haki that Helmeppo possessed, he was able to avoid the attack, and send one of his own flying thrusts towards Black.

The attack, which was similar to a Shigan, but done with a sword, pierced the right side of Black's abdomen. Instead of making any noises of pain as Helmeppo would have expected, Black made a noise of pleasure, and he licked the blood off the wound. "Ah! The taste of blood!" With that crazed scream, Black threw himself at Helmeppo, with a series of decapitating thrusts as well as upward slashing attacks. Helmeppo deflected all of the attacks sent at him with a little difficulty.

Helmeppo's eyes widened. "Is it just me, or are his attacks getting faster?" he wondered. He decided to attack on his own, sending a wall of flying thrusts, as well as sending multiple Rankyaku at his adversary. Black fluidly dodged, and sheathed his swords into the X shaped sheaths hanging on his back. He then settled into a stance which put his body low onto the ground, and put his hands in an X-shape to withdraw his two swords. "Battou-jutsu" Black murmured, and drawing his swords, disappeared completely from Helmeppo's view. With his Kenbunshoku Haki, Helmeppo detected that a direct attack was coming to his stomach, and he raised his swords to defend himself.

However, he was too late, as Black's speed was much greater than Helmeppo's reaction time, and his swords had left a cross shaped wound on Helmeppo's stomach. Helmeppo fell to the ground in pain, but did not make any noise of discomfort. Black stood up from his crouched position and said "Not bad, you survived that. But you haven't faced my stronger attacks yet!" Once again Black took his stance and withdrew his swords halfway, but this time, he murmured "Battou-jutsu, Black Pearl!" and he disappeared from view, and rushed towards Helmeppo.

Helmeppo knew that if he took the attack he would be dead. He shouted "Busoshoku, TEKKAI!" and made his body as hard as steel, with the added protection of his Haki. Black sliced through him, only to hear a "Clang!" and realize that he had not cut through Helmeppo as intended. He whirled around to look at Helmeppo, only to find he wasn't there.

Helmeppo had jumped into the air the moment Black's back was to him, and kicking his legs out in a V-shape, he yelled, "Rankyaku!" and he slashed with his Busoshoku infused blades in an inverted V-shape. Finally, he slashed his swords horizontally, forming two overlapping triangles, one facing away from him and one facing towards him. He yelled, "Rankyaku no Busoshoku, Sangyo!" These two overlapping triangles smashed into Black, knocking him unconscious. Looking over to the other side of the Amusement Park, Helmeppo saw Coby finish off Roche and sit down and sleep.

"It would do me some good to sleep, anyway. It's not like my wounds were killing me or anything.." thought Helmeppo as he fell asleep.

TBC. Will have some Kezarn action in the next chapter.(: