Hello one and all and welcome to a brand new One Piece story. This will deviate quite a bit from the canon story with lots of new characters along with some Canon characters. I'll be uploading chapters as I finish them and well…that's all from me for now.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
I do not own One Piece…not even a little bit.
The Blue Light Pirates
[Enter Jericho D. Malick]
"POSEIDOOOOOOON!" a voice called, the sound traveling across the seemingly endless landscape of the heavens.
"What is it brother?" Poseidon responded.
The god of the seas had opened a portion of the cloud floor to overlook the world below. He had neither definable size, nor shape and his only explainable characteristic was the vibrant blue color of his aura. He looked fondly upon the world to which he and his brothers were masters and couldn't help but smile at the vast amount of water on the planet.
It had been millennia ago when Poseidon, Zeus and Apollo found themselves in a heated argument. A raging Poseidon caused the water to cover the majority of the planet and it had been that way ever since. More recently, Zeus had become fed up with Poseidon's arrogance and made a bet with the god of the seas. The bet had something to do with bedding a woman while in the shape of an animal. Poseidon, having faith in humankind as well as in himself, took the bet without hesitation and a day later he returned. Knowing full well that Zeus had been watching, he simply gave the god of thunder a nice toothy smile before returning to watch over the world.
While Zeus had his qualms with Poseidon, it was Hades who detested a world with water. In an attempt to bound humans to land, Hades created a fruit that would bestow a supernatural power upon the eater but in return, they would be stripped of their ability to swim, causing them to sink in the ocean like a hammer. Zeus, who was also fond of the idea, began making his own fruits. Once they were finished, he would simply toss them from the heavens to land in random locations on earth. It didn't take long for the rest of the gods to join in and it gave them great pleasure to chip at the foundation of Poseidon's arrogance and on top of that, it gave them an opportunity to shape the humans into their likeness. The competition began and soon the world was filled with what the humans named, Devil Fruits.
To Poseidon's dismay, he watched as hundreds of humans, drunk with their newfound power, perished at the crests of his beloved waves.
In an attempt to counter the other gods, Poseidon created humans that were not human but mostly fish. Thinking proudly of himself and the powerful creatures he had created, he could never predict the discrimination that his designs would incur.
But then, 20 years ago came his first ray of light. A man by the name of Gol D. Rogers took to the seas and conquered them all. The best part being that he was a normal human with no devil fruit and no fishman abilities. He had fought through the god's trials and won. Then something brilliant happened. The world had turned to the Pirate Age and, as everyone wanted a piece of Gol D. Rogers treasure, they took to the seas, devil fruit or not.
As Poseidon watched the world progress through the Pirate Age, he became angry. A portion of the human race had deemed themselves protectors of the seas giving themselves the name Marine. He watched as they continually fought the Pirates in the name of Justice. Poseidon, livid with anger, took to crafting the perfect devil fruit, one that would trump the rest. Putting his very aura into the fruit, he cast it down to earth. But the god of the seas was not so naïve to believe the other gods would let his actions go unnoticed, and in an attempt to hide the fruit from his brethren, the god cast his creation into the depths of the ocean.
This brings us to the present. In a world filled with devil fruits, fishmen, Marines and other yet unnamed beauties and horrors, the Pirate age had been in full swing since the death of the famed Gol D. Roger.
"POSEIDOOOON!" Zeus called once again, his booming voice carrying across the infinite landscape.
"I heard you the first time brother. What is it?" Poseidon responded.
Standing to his feet, the god of the seas disappeared only to reappear in front of his brother.
"I've received some interesting news from Hermes. It seems your fruit has been located," Zeus said, a smile creeping its way onto his face.
"And? What of it?" Poseidon asked.
"HOHOHO," Zeus's smile turning into full on laughter.
"It's in the hands of those Marines. I just wanted to remind you that from here on out, we are not allowed to interfere. Once someone eats your fruit, the fruit which, by your word, is the most powerful, then the games begin and anything goes." He continued referring to the competition the gods had made out of Pirate Age.
"I am well aware of the rules, my dear brother and there is no need to worry. I will keep my hands off until the time comes," Poseidon responded, turning once again to sit and watch the earth from his ledge in the heavens.
"Be sure that you do. We wouldn't want this competition to turn into a free for all. HOHOHOHO," Zeus bellowed before disappearing with flash of lightning, some time later as he reappeared somewhere within the heavens the sound of rolling thunder made its way to Poseidon's ears.
"As cocky as ever…now what are you up to my little one?" Poseidon thought to himself as he looked more closely at the scene below.
As the god of seas watched, a woman, around 35 years of age, walked out of her cottage, located on Bell Town Island, at the far end of North blue. The woman was wearing jeans, rolled up to mid ankle, a red and white plaid, button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and a white cloth that she kept wrapped around her head keeping her light brown hair from falling into her face. She had a cute button nose, a fairly large bust, a lean figure and curves in all the right places. In short, she was a beautiful mess. She had just finished cleaning the fireplace and had soot stains all over her clothes and face. As Poseidon watched, she moved up the mountain, a little ways past the town, heading towards a river. A sigh escaped the god's lips as he watched her splash water onto her dirtied face, the droplets reflecting the light of the bright midday sun.
"Mariel! ... Mariel! Where did you run off to?" A deep, gruff voice yelled from down the road that Mariel had just walked.
"I'm by the stream," she called before, once again, splashing water on her face.
The voice belonged to her adopted son Jericho.
Jericho, who was 17, looked nothing like a normal 17-year-old should. He was 6 feet 6 inches tall and had a lean, extremely muscular physique. His wingspan was 8 inches more than his height and his hands and feet were larger than any 17-year-old Mariel had ever come across. The only thing that looked young about the teen was his baby face and the strange fact that he hadn't grown a single hair on his body aside from the messy, thick, dark brown hair on his head. He wore tan shorts, along with brown sandals and was shirtless, which seemed to be normal for him.
"I've finished chopping the wood for the party tonight. There should be enough to keep the shindig going for 3 weeks," Jericho said as he walked up to Mariel, giving her a smile that would have had girls and women swooning over him.
"Good work! I've just now finished cleaning our chimney. Next time, don't make the fire so big. It almost burned our house down," chided Mariel as she finished drying herself with the cloth on her head.
"You're the one who said it was cold," Jericho shot back before jumping into the river.
The splash from his impact with the water drenched Mariel.
"Ow, ow. I stubbed my toe," Jericho complained grimacing slightly and completely ignoring the death glare on Mariel's face.
"Serves you right. Now hurry up and get ready. The party starts in an hour and I should hope that you will be wearing a shirt and some different shorts," Mariel said as she walked back down the road to the cottage to help the townsfolk prepare for the big party.
"But I like these shorts," Jericho said, only just noticing that Mariel had already left.
As night fell, the party burst into life. Numerous fireworks lit up the dark sky and the sound of merry making carried across the sea in all directions.
The town itself was set up in a circle. The town square, also circular, served as the center point and the three roads that went left, right and up, led to more houses and establishments while the singular road that went down, led to the docks.
"Alright how do I look now?" Jericho asked as he finished putting his light blue button up shirt on.
Mariel, who was completely dressed and somewhat annoyed at how long Jericho was taking, stood up from her favorite chair and moved towards her son.
"You look handsome, but you should button your shirt up or you will have trouble breathing with all the girls that will be after you," Mariel said with a wide smile before heading out the door.
Jericho quickly did as he was told, leaving two buttons at the top of the shirt unbuttoned, before following Mariel.
The town square was really a sight to behold and Jericho had to stop for a moment to take it all in. There were bright lights and music and all sorts of games to play. The alcohol was flowing and everyone was in a party mood.
"AH! JERICHO!" Yelled a teenager his same age.
Jericho snapped out of his trance and turned towards the friend he had known throughout his youth.
"Gabriel! Looks like you fit right in with the party life," Jericho observed.
Gabriel was 6 feet 2 inches tall, with shoulder length blonde hair that he kept tied in a ponytail. He wore black pants and black dress shoes along with a white t-shirt, covered by a black suit jacket. His cheeks were flushed red and a huge smile graced his handsome face.
"Welcome, welcome. You know how I get when there's a party going on but what took you so long? Everyone has been waiting. I hear that Cynthia has gotten all dressed up just for you." Gabriel said before putting his hand on Jericho's right shoulder and leading him through the throng of people.
Jericho gave a quick wave to Mariel to show that he was leaving but she was already into a game with the Mayor involving rings and bottles.
The two friends walked past the giant bonfire at the center of town, moving towards the docks. They were stopped, on multiple occasions, by groups of girls wanting to spend time with them but Gabriel was a sweet talker and quickly came up with an excuse before the two were dragged away.
"So everyone's by the water?" Jericho asked once they finally made it through the throng of people and were walking down the road towards the docks.
"Where else would they be?" Gabriel said before running towards the group of people sitting on the docks.
"Oh? You want to race?" Jericho challenged, a big smile on his face as he took off running, his long strides allowing him to quickly gain ground on Jericho.
Just before Gabriel reached the change from concrete to wood, indicating the docks, Jericho, who was right behind Gabriel, jumped into the air and over him.
Spinning 180 degrees while flipping, Jericho landed on the docks, facing Gabriel, a huge, boastful smile on his face.
"Ah, damn it. If I wasn't so drunk that would have probably gone differently," Gabriel said.
"Probably," Jericho replied before turning to face his group of friends.
For Jericho, with Gabriel shoving drinks down his throat and the suggestive looks coming from Cynthia, the night turned into a blur. Waking in the morning with Cynthia lying naked next to him, a sound came to his ears that alerted every sense in his body. It was the sound of a rain.
The first raindrop splashed against his shoulder and, just before the drop started its trail down Jericho's collarbone, the sky opened up, dumping buckets of water on Bell Town Island.
With the rain pounding against his face, Jericho noticed something out of place. There were three long rowboats moving in the direction of the island and each of them had a jolly roger waving from their masts.
The group of friends in the area woke quickly, due to the rain, trying to grab their belongings before they took any more water. Jericho was quick to move, grabbing a now clothed Cynthia and running over to the group, all he had to do was point at the boats coming their way to get his point across.
The group took off for the village, moving to alert the rest of the town's people.
"GABRIEL!" Jericho yelled, thinking to find him still lying in the grass.
His eyes went from, the entrance to the docks, from the town square, to two identical trees on either side of the road, and down to the matted down grass where everyone else had been sleeping.
"Yeah yeah, I hear you but there's no reason to shout so loud at this ungodly hour," Gabriel responded from up in the tree to Jericho's right.
"What are you doing up there?" Jericho asked, forgetting, for a moment, about the impending danger of a pirate attack.
Gabriel deftly jumped out of the tree, landed cleanly on both feet and walked towards Jericho, his hand on his head and a grimace on his face.
"You know…I'm not really sure. I remember my lady friend thinking that a passing squirrel was cute and, being the undying gentleman that I am, I of course tried to catch it for her. Long story short, it was a long night, I slept in a tree and now that squirrel won't stop following me around," Gabriel finished, pointing with his thumb, at the squirrel sitting just behind him.
"Huh…that's…weird," Jericho responded bending his body so that he could see the squirrel around Gabriel.
"Wait…I almost forgot. There are pirates headed this way," Jericho continued in an unusually calm voice.
"The timing is pretty good. We just finished the final chapter in Mayor Milton's training course. I'm going to go get my gun," Gabriel responded before running up the road.
"I'll be waiting here but I can't promise that there will be any left for you," Jericho said and turned back towards the docks smiling inwardly at the tell tale sound of Gabriel quickening his pace.
The Pirates were already pulling into the docks.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Jericho asked as he approached the pirates who were tying their rowboats off at the docks.
"I think you know quite well what we want. Now you have two options, either you join us, or we kill you," the lead pirate offered.
Jericho scanned through the enemies with his eyes. The one that just spoke was obviously a leader among them and the 14 other pirates seemed eager to get moving into the town.
"You seem so confident. Making your own terms. Has it even crossed your mind that you might be at a disadvantage?" Jericho asked standing to his full height, the anger in his face caused an uneasiness to sweep through the pirate crew.
"I care not for your petty words. Kill him, then take the town," the lead pirate called out, causing the 14 other pirates to rush towards Jericho from their boats.
Jericho moved quickly with inhumane speed and punched the pirate that was unlucky enough to be at the front. The power behind the attack sent him hurtling into one of his allies, effectively knocking both men out. Jericho moved again, sprinting towards the next two pirates bearing down on him with swords raised. Jericho jumped at the pirate on the left and, grabbing onto the man's hands to stop his sword from coming down, he turned his body to be horizontal with the ground and kicked the pirate on the right in the face. The momentum produced by Jericho's kick allowed him to swing all the way around the pirate whose attack he had stopped, landing behind the man and with a sharp kick to the back of his legs, causing the pirate to fall to his knees, and a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, the pirate was sent hurtling off the dock and into the grass, falling unconscious before he even stopped rolling.
Without warning, another pirate came sprinting towards him with four close behind. Jericho smiled and sidestepped the first pirate's downward slash before spinning past the man and grabbing the two knives on the pirate's belt. Coming out of his spin, Jericho crouched down on one knee and threw both knives, one after the other. The knives flew true and pierced their intended targets through the eyes, killing both pirates instantly.
There was no time to relax as the pirate he had spun past, was already swinging his blade at an upward angle, intent on slicing Jericho, who was facing away from the assailant. Avoiding the attack by back-flipped into the air, his head within 3 inches of the blade, Jericho kicked down on the pirate's shoulders with both his feet as his body swung back around. The force of the attack caused the pirate's feet to break through the wood of the dock, rooting him to the spot. Jericho, having used the man's shoulders as a trampoline, was still in the air. Going into another backflip, he kicked out with his right foot as he fell towards the dock and connected with the man's chin. With his legs rooted, the pirate slammed into the dock, bending at the knees.
After landing deftly on both feet Jericho quickly grabbed two swords that had been dropped by his most recent victims and turned to face the next two pirates. Going into a full sprint, and then sliding on the slick surface of the docks, he crouched low to avoid both pirate's attacks and slashed at their legs as he slid past, the two pirates falling to the ground, screaming in pain. Continuing to slide, he jumped into the air before crashing into the remaining four pirates just as they were drawing their swords. While flying towards them, Jericho slashed at the group with his left hand sword, the attack disarming the pirate on his right and continuing into the remaining three swords, creating an opening for Jericho's right hand sword, slashing horizontally at the now unprotected pirates, cutting all four across the neck.
There were four lifeless 'thuds', a background sound consisting of the whimpers and yelps of the two men Jericho had left alive, the rest unconscious, and a look of utter terror on the lead pirate's face.
"Aren't you supposed to be the strongest?" Jericho questioned as he watched the lone pirate moving at a high speed to jump into the rowboat, grab the oars and row to safety.
Jericho motionlessly watched the pitiful display, and it wasn't until the man was well away from shore that Jericho turned to Gabriel who had just arrived, holding a rifle.
"Don't kill him," was all Jericho said before dropping the swords, sprinting across the docks and swan diving into the water to retrieve the escaping pirate.
"Man, you always have to make it a challenge, I mean he's so far away… BANG... what did you expect?" Gabriel said talking to himself and smiling slightly.
The bullet flew in a straight line, piercing the pirate through his right shoulder, causing him to stop rowing and lean against the low guardrails of the boat, blood flowing out and onto the hand he was holding against the wound. Jericho reached the boat 5 seconds later and quickly rowed it back to shore, the pirate now unconscious.
[Midday the Next Day]
Jericho was sleeping on the deck of a fishing boat that the two teens had borrowed from Bell Town Island. It wasn't anything special but it did have a cabin, a cabin that Gabriel was quick to claim as his sleeping quarters.
The hot, midday sun began to heat Jericho's face, forcing him to wake rather abruptly. Sitting up and taking in his foreign surroundings, Jericho recalled how they had come to be sailing away from Bell Town Island.
Mayor Milton, Jericho and Gabriel set out at dawn with the pirate that they had captured, heading for the Marine base, a day's journey from Bell Town Island. Mayor Milton did not believe in killing a man that had lost his will to fight so the three of them were going to leave the pirate in Marine custody. All of the pirates that Jericho defeated, including the on Gabriel shot, were all loaded into one of the rowboats, which had been tied to the fishing boat Jericho, Mayor Milton and Gabriel were on.
Jericho stood to his feet and stretched his arms out wide, facing the sun.
"Ah good, you're awake. We're almost there. Once we arrive, I'll need you to pick up a couple things for me," Mayor Milton said and Jericho nodded, the island loomed large just ahead of the fishing boat.
Mayor Milton was 6'2" and in his mid 40's. He wore a white, short sleeved, collared shirt and beige slacks with a black belt to hold them up, matching his black shoes. He kept his black hair relatively short and his face clean-shaven. He's often seen with a pipe in his hand or between his teeth.
"Go wake Gabriel," Mayor Milton continued puffing on the pipe in his mouth.
"Sure thing," Jericho said moving to open the door and walk into the cabin where Gabriel was sleeping.
"WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUP!" Jericho shouted, standing at the threshold of the small room.
Gabriel woke violently from his sleep and sat straight up in the bed.
"Damn it Jericho! I was having such a wonderful dream," Gabriel replied, standing to his feet and stretching his arms before putting his blonde hair, that he had let down before going to sleep, back into a pony tail.
"It seems your squirrel friend was sharing that dream," Jericho said with a chuckle, pointing to the little animal that had also just woken up, feeling the warmth of Gabriel's body disappear.
"This little guy is really attached to me. I should give her a name," Gabriel said, scratching the back of the squirrel's neck with his index finger.
"What about…Terry?" He continued, directing his question at the squirrel and receiving a gleeful chatter in reply.
"Seems like she likes it. All right Gabriel…and Terry. We're about to dock and someone needs to make sure our pirate friends don't try to escape if they wake up," Jericho said as he walked back out the door to the small cabin.
"Wait just a second! Why do I have to do it?" Gabriel complained quickly putting his shoes back on and stumbling as he followed Jericho.
"No complaining Gabriel. I've already asked Jericho to pick up a few things. They're your graduation presents and I would have asked you but you were sleeping so comfortably that I couldn't bring myself to wake you," Mayor Milton replied with a small smirk just as he pulled the boat into the dock, emptying out the used tobacco in his pipe by tapping it upside down against the guardrail of the fishing boat.
Jericho jumped off and tied the fishing boat, and the trailing rowboat, to the dock before taking in the sights of the island. He had been there a few times before when he was younger, running errands for a few of the towns people but every time he arrived, Jericho couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement wash over him. He had spent his entire life on Bell Town Island and hadn't experienced much of the world, aside from what he learned from Mariel and Mayor Milton.
Just then he heard a sound in the back of his head that made him do a double take. Pausing and listening for a few seconds, Jericho was brought out of his trance by the sound of Gabriel's voice.
"Okay so I'll just be here…a glorified bodyguard," Gabriel said remaining on the boat, his rifle in his hands.
"I'm glad you've come to terms with it," Jericho replied before heading towards the center of the island where the shops were located.
"Don't worry Gabriel, it shouldn't take long to get some Marines down here to cart these pirates away," Mayor Milton said as he followed after Jericho, heading towards the Marine base that loomed large, serving as a backdrop for the smaller buildings that made up the town.
"It's not like I have anything better to do. Right Terry?" Gabriel said talking to himself and scratching the back of Terry's neck with his index finger.
There you have it, the first chapter in what will hopefully be a long series. Feel free to give me your opinion on the chapter and I'll see you again next time.
See ya