AN: Hello everyone! Well, I finished my editing and I'm ready to re-post the story starting with the original first 4 chapters; I didn't feel the need to change anything in the very beginning though I did fix all the typos I could find.

Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimer here...I do not and never will own One Piece.

A Pirate's Tale

Prologue

A Boy and a Bird

25 years ago a brave young man and his crew of misfits mastered the Grand Line and in doing so waged war on the World Government. This man was the Pirate King and with his crew of powerful dreamers he attempted to bring reform to the world. However, all did not go well, shortly after achieving the title of Pirate King he was captured by the leaders of the World Government and executed. Just before the Pirate King was executed the crowd asked why he was smiling, he answered, "Because there are still Adventures to be had, and Treasure to be found, and if any of you want it then you'd better hurry up and go find it 'cause it won't wait forever." And with those words the Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy died and set the stage for the next Great Age of Pirates.

It's been 20 years since Monkey D. Luffy and his crew achieved their dreams. In this time the World Government has become even more corrupt and evil, doing everything in its power to capture the existing pirate crews and stop new ones from forming.

-/-

It's a peaceful quiet day in the South Blue, the sun is shining brightly and there is not a cloud in the sky. The sea is calm and drifting smoothly across it is a small boat, in this boat a young man is sleeping with a brown leather tri-fold hat pulled down over his eyes. This young man's name is Griffin D. Troy. He has short dark red hair, pale blue eyes, and pale skin, with a slim build and standing about 5 foot 9 inches tall. Altogether he is a handsome young man who wears simple clothing consisting of brown pants and boots and white long-sleeved shirts. There are two brass hilted falcata sheathed on his left hip, and he has a brass hilted dagger strapped to his right leg. However, none of this matters at the moment as said young man is sleeping, leaned against the mast with nothing but a clear blue sky above him.

A few minutes pass when a large white hawk swoops down and lands on the top of the mast. It looks down at Griffin D. Troy and makes a trilling noise, when he fails to awaken it screeches loudly. The young man snorts and mumbles for a moment before falling back into a deep sleep, when suddenly the hawk swoops down and snatches the hat from his face. He awakens with a start and sits up looking at the white bird lazily gliding around the small boat. He glares at the bird before standing, "Alright I'm awake. Now give me my hat back, Crown."

The hawk circles back around to land on the mast and drops the hat onto Troy's upturned face "Ha! That always works to wake you."

Troy sets the hat upon his head and says, "Of course it does, now what was so important that you couldn't have waited for?"

"There's an island about a league to the west of here."

"Really!" Troy exclaims, "Then we should make it there in time for a late lunch."

As he works on turning the boat towards the island the hawk looks down and laughs, "Ha! You always think with your stomach Griffin, and that's fine as long as you save some for me." Troy merely snorts and works on getting to the island as fast as possible.