The Pirate King and the Rose Queen
Chapter 1
~Into the Great Beyond!~
I heard stories when I was young, stories of men with ships that sailed the seas looking for adventure and thrills untold.
However, I did not have an easy childhood like most children of my time. The only memory I have, or I think have are very short and very vivid.
...blood...tears...good-byes...gunshots...
The only thing I have of my parents are an antique ebony flintlock pistol and a locket that holds rare lipstick inside.
Two key items to my predeccessors, you see, I grew up in place called the Islands of Loana with my two best friends, Nova Catalina and Alexander Digger.
I know this sounds bad but,...we're pirates.
When I turned 16, I inherited a ship called the Rose Queen that used to belong to my mother. She held the title of the Rose Queen, A Ruler of the Other Seas and thensome, I heard she was quite beautiful when she was living.
I have been journeying the Loanan Seas for three years now with my best friends and a crew of great men and women all brave and all loyal.
Some are in it for the money, some for fame, others just for adventure but all of them are loyal to me equal.
However, the only problem is...I have never left the seas of Loana, ever.
What kind of freakin pirate am I? I'm supposed to be a terrorfying and widely-known pirate, not a stay at home cabin boy!
"Spade! Get over here!"
Alexander "Spade" Digger, he's a 21 year old man and I've known him all my life, we grew up together. His parents were killed when some burglars invaded the house, i'm the one who taught him how to survive on the streets. He had black hair and green eyes. His skin was always pale, though. He's my First Mate and Navigator.
Spade walked over to me with his usual glum disposition.
"Captain?" he responded to me in his normal, respectful manner. I was his captain so I don't expect any less.
"Get the crew ready for sail. I wanna go somewhere..."
"Where exactly are you planning on going, Captain?" A feminine voice appeared from my right as I looked on from the bowsprit.
Nova Catalina, she's a 19 year old woman, she came to the Islands a few years ago. To her surprise, the Islands were quite something and wasn't like where she was from. She told me her parents abandoned her when she was 16 so she came here to the Islands and we've been friends ever since. She has curly blonde hair and blue eyes, her skin was pink and always looked sunburnt. She was my Second Mate and Chef.
"We've only ever explored the Loanan Seas, doesn't that bother you?" I ask Nova her opinion expecting a clear answer, she shrugs.
"Nah, not exactly. I've always liked the Loanan Seas, they're always calm." Alexander slightly chuckles at her answer, knowing where my mind was.
"That's the problem, it's all too calm. I wonder how wild the seas can truly get."
"Captain, what do you suggest?" Nova questions me as Spade hands me a map.
"This, Captain, is a map of the Red Line...It's north of the Islands of Loana but on the downside, it's on the other side of the sea." The wind's sweet crisp scent swept my nose as I looked at the Red Line.
Is this what the seas of the Red Line smell like?
"Hmm, it seems interesting." I said with a smirk and my hand at my revolver strapped to my waist. Spade nodded and chuckled, he turned to the crew.
"Prepare yourselves for sea!" Spade shouted, my crew then began to scramble and move. I turned to my men who were excited and at the same time scared, I laughed.
"Jeffrey, tighten that sail, I don't want her slipping! Niala and Tony, check both topsails and make sure they are ready. Bobby, if those booms ain't right, I'll kill ya! And you two!" I turned to my friends and mates.
"Nova, check the rudders for waxy finish!" "Right" Nova nodded and went on her way.
"Spade,...start navigating..." I ordered, Spade bowed to me and opened up the map.
"Peter and Paul, when we're ready to sail, steer'er straight and true!" Spade said.
"Yes, sir!" The men responded to Spade's order as I looked off the bowsprit.
The sound of sails in the wind, the shuffle of boots on the deck, and the smell of waxy finish...Sigh...this is gonna be good.
Meanwhile, on the Red Line...
"You'll do great, General!" Supporters of the Marines all shouted to their hero as he prepared to embark on a journey no man has ever even tried to fathom.
Near the docks of the Red Line's Marine Headquarters, people are gathering to say good-bye to a Marine General who has been proclaimed a hero in their eyes.
Pirates conceal themselves from the Marines, some are afraid of them and some just don't want the trouble.
However, in a dark alley away from the scene, a boy with black hair and his navigator are watching the General being cast off.
"Hey, what's going on over there, Nami?" the boy asks, the woman turns to the scene with surprise.
"Whoa! That's the general that took Rudy Blackshot down."
"You mean that uppity bandit lord?"
"Yup!"
"Huh!...Wanna follow' im?"
"Nah, besides he's going on an around the world trip. We don't have supplies for something like that..."
"Aww! Oh well! I bet he'll meet some fun people on the other side of the world." The boy chuckles.
The General gives out his final farewells, his ship prepares for sea and takes off.
On shore, the boy was still wondering what the General might find because for some reason, the palms of his hands felt really warm like something was heating' em up. His hands wanted something, wanted to touch something desperately but that something was on the other side of the world.
But no worries, he thought, that something is coming straight to him by none other than the seas.
After three days at sea, the General found himself already halfacross the world and was quickly reaching the other side. He began seeing abandoned islands and new waters of brighter shades of blue. The smell of the mist was filled with the scent of rosewater. The seas were aromatic and calm until he reached the Seas of Loana.
"First Mate Zachary, where are we?" The General asked, his skinny and timid navigator scurried to him.
"W-We appear to be in the seas of...L-..Loo...Loana, sir." The navigator shivered in fear of his captain, the General growled and snatched the map from him.
"Hmph! What kind of hick country is this?!...Ha! If i'm the first one to find this place then I'll be a worldwide legend! Let's go, men!"
The General ordered his men to speed the boat up, they did as he asked but it wasn't long before the General saw a rather large, rosewood ship approaching them.
"Halt!" He yelled as the men scrambled to stop the boat. "Not you, you idiots! Them!" The General points to the ship that was passing them on the ocean.
Another marine came with a megaphone and yelled out to the boat, "By the authority of the Marines, we order you to stop your vessel and prepare for to be boarded!"
On the Rose Queen Ship, however...
"Hmm, they wish for us to halt...Oh well, do as they say. I don't feel like getting into an open sea battle yet." I ordered my men to halt the ship while the "marines" were getting ready to board us.
After about five minutes, they finally docked us and boarded. The Marine General was a tall and arrogant man, I could see it in his eyes that he thought very highly of himself. I turned and saw that even the men of my crew saw that in him.
But I do not accept pomposity or pride on my vessel, pride gets people killed unnessacarily.
"Hello, I am a General of the Marines. What is the name of this vessel?" The General spoke with a deep voice as he looked at me.
"This ship is titled the Rose Queen. We are her crew and caretakers, general." I talked to him with an eloquent and calm voice, something that men like him aren't too used to.
"And who are you?" He asked, I took off my hat and revealed my face. My appearance shocked a few of his men, he chuckled.
"I mean,...where is the captain of this vessel? I wish to speak with him." The General said, I put my left hand to my hip.
"I am she."
There was a awkward silence, after two seconds, the General and his men all laughed blatantly in my face.
"What's so funny?" I crossed my arms and put one foot forward, the General could barely contain his laughter.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You? A Captain of such a fine ship! Be serious! No woman can sail the seas, especially such a petite young thing! Ha ha ha!"
The General and his men continue to laugh, I turn to my crew with eyes of anger and vengefulness but I kept by subtlety in the eyes of my peers.
All the people in my crew are Loanan, in Loana, to be laughed at is an embarrassing act so not many jokes are thrown around. My men did not understand the language that the General spoke so I made it clear to them.
"Tsien koho, le generales, mienta ha. Kehl hem..." My men picked up their swords and nodded to me, the General noticed the hostile aura too late.
It wasn't long before my men wiped out his, I stood on the quarter deck and watched the small battle and sighed.
"Take his ship down as well! He will not leave this place!" Nova ordered as her bomb squad jumped on the Marine Ship, they went into the ship's hold blasted away the bulkhead making the entire boat collapse on itself.
The general was in awe of the teamwork and swiftness of my crew. He glared at me, realizing that he was losing. He turned to the forecastle deck and tried to take the wheel of the ship.
Alexander stopped him by beating him upside the head with his oak cane, it's an oak cane so it wasn't likely to break.
Enraged by the attempted hijacking, my men tried to kill him. But when the time came, I did not allow them to kill him.
"Stop!" I ordered, "This is a matter between captains." I slowly stepped down from the quarter deck and walked up to the unnamed general. He stood tall and angered but was too tired to fight back.
"When I told you I was the captain of this ship, what did you expect to happen when you revolted?" I spoke to him as I steadily walked around him in a circle.
"I expected...to win." The general growled, I chuckled.
"And how is that dream coming along?" My joke made my crew laugh but only for a second, this man dared to defy my authority. He must be dealt with.
"Do you know who I am, General of the Marines?" I looked into his green eyes and twirled my finger around his orange hair.
"No, I don't know who you are...But I am not just a general of the marines, I am Ste-" I quickly put my boot to his chest, making him silence himself. I put my right pointer finger to his pink lips.
"Shh. After today, you will not be remembered, anyways." I chuckled.
"You whore...Who are you?" The man gasped for air, I laughed.
"I am the Rose Queen of the Loanan Seas,...I am Cereza Ann Lucrezia and I am the woman who killed you." I took in another breath and through the heel of my boot, a small bullet penetrated the General's body. Blood splattered on the ground made the smell of metal being burnt. My crew cheered silently as I blew away the smoke from my pistol heel.
"Boys, take what you want of this man's body but all gold and jewelry belong to me. After your done, throw him overboard, I don't want him stinking up my beautiful ship." I ordered, my men did as I asked and threw the general's dead body over the rails of the ship.
"The rest of you, back to work." I said, the men went back to tightening the shrouds and my cabin boy, Elliot, started cleaning the blood.
"Elliot, after your done, scrubbing the blood, rinse it with rosewater so it doesn't rot the wood." Nova instructed the boy, Elliot nodded enthusiastically.
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
I yawned, "Spade, run warm water for my bath, I feel dirty all of a sudden." I turned and walked into my captain's cabin, Spade bowed to me.
"Yes, ma'am. I will prepare it immediately."
I stepped in front of my wall mirror and undressed. My tan body was already covered with scars and bruises from previous fights, my black hair...
I sighed, it used to be so long but since blood kept getting into it, I had no choice but to cut it into this smooth bob. I took off my bandana to check my edges, nothing was too bad I suppose; I wrapped myself in my robe in front of Alexander, the man has such bad nerves, I doubt he's even so much as kissed a woman.
I stepped into the warm water of my bathtub and dunked my head under the water.
I sighed, my usually cold palms were suddenly heating up but only the middle, I growled. This was not good.
"Spade, send a warning note by raven to the World Government's Marines. They'll wish to know that their 'hero' is gone. I want to give them proper time to mourn before I arrive there."
Spade bowed to me, "Yes, ma'am." Spade turned from me and left to the forecastle where we held our messenger bird, Ravie the Raven. Suckish name I know but Nova's the one who named him...Yes, it's a boy raven named Ravie. I groaned.
Spade wrote the note, strapped it to Ravie and let him loose to the north where the Grand Line waited and where the Fleet Admiral, Akainu, received the note.
"Hm?...?!...What?" Akainu instantly took offense at the letter and dispersed ships to protect the Grand Line, but this was not a matter of war as he figured out. This was a heads-up, a warning.
"What?! General Stewart Evans has been killed?! By a woman, no less!" Another general was outraged by the turn of events, Akainu scoffed.
"We must not let this get out, if the people knew, they'd only lean more into the favor of the pirate life." A general spoke, but in the corner, a inconspicuous maid was cleaning and could not wait to get home that day.
As all rumors start, the maid went to her husband who told his co-worker who told his brother who works with the newspaper and boom, word instantly spreads of the hero general, Stewart's death.
People were outraged, sad, and excited because it was a woman who killed the infamous general. But this woman was on the other side of the world, preparing to arrive at the Red Line, this was recorded as the one of the most scandalous things to ever happen on the Red Line besides Gol D. Roger's execution.
In a tavern, not too far from the shore, a boy and his crew were looking at the newspaper in awe.
"Man, I bet she slept with him and then killed him." The yellow-haired man with weird eyebrows said, the navigator growled at him.
"No! I bet it was a clean shot as extremely arrogant as that general was, I don't think he would've fell for that trick!" She exclaimed, the swordsman yawned.
"Jeez, to get killed by woman that's something-" "She wasn't just a woman, Zoro. It says here that the woman is said to pirate and even the captain of ship called...the Rose Queen." The navigator stopped the swordsman in his sentence, the sniper was awestruck but the yellow-haired man was not amused.
"Oh please, flashy ship names don't get far. I bet this is nothing but a hoax!" he said, the straw hat captain chuckled.
"I don't think so you guys, this seems pretty real. My palms are practically on fire just hearing about this girl, I wonder what kind of woman she is to kill a general without a fight! I bet she's going to be prettier than any girl you've dated, Sanji!"
"Don't get your hopes up, Luffy, it's probably one of those androdgynous things. It's a guy dressed as a woman." Sanji spoke to his captain.
"Whatevs, I still wanna meet the captain of this ship, the Rose Queen. It's like fate, ain't it, Nami?"
Nami, the navigator, rose her face up to Luffy, everyone turned to him in wonderment.
"Hey, Luffy, what's up? You seem happy for some reason." Zoro spoke to Luffy who was smiling and swaying around all giddy-like. "Whaddya mean fate? this newspaper is lying." Sanji tried to make sense of the paper's words, Luffy just shook his head in disbelief.
"It's like fate. The Rose Queen and the future Pirate King, it's like it's meant to be or something!"
"That type of talk isn't like you, Luffy." Nami worried, Luffy nervously laughed as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry, you guys, I just feel good about this!" Luffy chuckled. Everyone sighed and laughed with him but the warmth in the palms of his hands did not fade, as the days went on they became hotter and hotter.
People began to doubt the newspaper, some even waited at the shores of the Red Line just to get first look at the pirate ship. But none arrived so most of them just gave up. Everyone has forgotten the Rose Queen, all but Luffy. He still believed that somewhere, a Queen was visiting and he was going to get front row seats.
Author's Note: Hi! Thanks for reading the Pirate King and the Rose Queen, this isn't my first go around with OC x Canon stories so i'm actually pretty good at this.
This story is an AU/AT story so to be clear, this is after Portgas D. Ace dies but in this world, Akainu never meets Luffy and Luffy doesn't get cut. I haven't watched the whole series since i'm just now starting to watch it.
Just enjoy the story and I promise it'll be worth your time.
Reviews = Chapters so give me some of your words to think on, Luffy and Cereza will greatly appreciate it!