The man known as the next pirate king slowly walked up on stage. He was Monkey D. Luffy, a notorious pirate and today would be his last day. Today was the day of his execution, heavy seastone shackles were around his wrists and a chain connecting them was in the hands of the guards. They lead the infamous pirate up to the stand and shoved his head into the stockades. On his head sat the infamous straw hat the one Gol D. Roger had passed down to Shanks and Shanks had passed down to Luffy. The hat that was infamous for starting a pirate era…however, it was obvious that Luffy wasn't going to pass this down to anyone. It was still on his head…was it possible that…that there wouldn't be a second great Pirate Era? The straw hat cast a shadow over Luffy's face, making it impossible for the onlookers to see if he was wearing a smile or a frown.
(-Some time ago-)
"Ze ha ha ha ha!" laughed Blackbeard with a ragged voice. His chest was rising and falling rapidly. He had become drained after this tiresome battle with a truly powerful foe. Luffy wasn't even half of his size and yet he was doing fairly well against him. Around him, the final island for all pirates, Raftel laid in ruin. Several blasts from his Gura-Gura no mi had ruined the ground, tearing it up and destroying the trees. The battle was truly a fight meant for this island. The greatest battle ending the greatest journey all in search of the greatest treasure that lay behind him. They had come this far, he wasn't going to let Luffy steal it out from under him. "Liberation!" Chunks of trees, building, and other miscellaneous junk started to fly out of his body and straight at Luffy.
"Shishishishi," breathed Luffy as he looked up at Blackbeard, a man twice his size with two Devil Fruits. A man like no one else. Luffy didn't like him, but he had to admit it like him, Marshall D. Teach was definitely Pirate King material. Luffy stepped back and wound up his arm. He was growing tired as well. His Haki had waned out, luckily for him Teach's Devil Fruit didn't make it a requirement to hit him. Luffy swung. "Gomu-Gomu no…PISTOL!" Luffy's fist stretched out and broke straight through each building wall, it broke through them all and finally it cut through all of them until it finally snapped into Teach's left cheek. Blackbeard's face was thrown back and hit the ground with a thud.
Luffy let out a deep breath, just realizing that this journey had come to a close. He looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of his crew coming up. All of them victorious from their battles as well…he was sure they would be. He believed in them. Finally he turned his attention forward to the small golden chest that laid before them. "One Piece," he said breathlessly. This was it. His entire journey had cumulated into this one fine point. The moment that he opened that chest and became King of the Pirates. His faithful crew gathered around him.
"Don't get cold feet now, you hear!" shouted Zoro offering a boost. They had started out their journey as pirate and bounty hunter, but now they were the closest of friends. They trusted each other with their backs completely, despite Zoro's first profession. They had seen the hardest of times together and without him, Luffy didn't know if he would be standing here. At the pinnacle of pirates! Without any of his crew, he wouldn't be here.
"Come on, hurry it up, I wanna see the gold!" Nami egged on, more for the reason she had stated than because she wanted to see the Pirate King. Her interest in money had gotten them in trouble more than once…but it was also the reason why they had met. Arlong forcing her to work the high seas, stealing from pirates, made them butt heads early on and she has been an invaluable navigator and friend ever since then.
"Do you need a hand from brave Captain Usopp?" asked the long-nosed sharpshooter. Always eager to try and cement his place as 'captain'. With his skills, big-heart, and at times bravery Luffy was certain if Usopp hadn't joined his crew, he would've started his own. Becoming a capable pirate in his own right with help of his own crew. And Luffy would've loved to run into them any time of any day to fight or to play around.
"Don't keep the ladies waiting," urged Sanji nodding back over to Nami, who was still flashing her beli eyes. He lit another cigarette as he waited for his captain. A man whose kicks, cooking expertise, and love of the ladies was unmatched, that was how Luffy would describe Sanji to anyone who asked. That and a loyal friend.
"Hurry, hurry!" rushed Chopper, jumping up and down. His eagerness showing through, he was still young compared to the rest of the crew, but he was growing up, becoming a man and a more than reliable doctor. He had cured illnesses Luffy had never even heard of, he had become someone Luffy could trust in a pickle to take care of the crew and despite being the only doctor around, managed well. The rest of the crew has made it this far as a testimony to his skills.
"You're not going to keep us waiting forever, are you captain?" questioned the ever enigmatic Robin. They had started off as enemies, originally on different sides with Robin alongside a Shichibukai, but that soon changed and now Robin was with them. She was smarter than most and she was a loyal nakama to the end.
"Come on! Turn this thing into a SU-PA-H party!" bellowed Franky, eyeing the chest with the same high expectation as everybody else was. They had also originally been enemies, but Franky was there when they needed him, saving Robin, building their latest ship, and turning the world on its heels.
"Yo ho ho ho! I wanna lay my eyes on that treasure…wait, I don't have any eyes! Yo ho ho ho!" laughed Brooke cracking one of his horrible skull jokes even at a time like this. Brooke was basically saved by the crew when they met, but still it was reassuring to see that even their oldest member, who had actually died once before was still laughing and having fun.
"Okay," said Luffy turning away from his trustworthy nakama and to the fateful golden chest that held wealth beyond their wildest dreams. "I'm doing this! I'm finally KING OF THE PIRATES!" The small chest creaked open and before their eyes they laid their eyes on it. The treasure they had fought to see, they had wagered their lives on numerous dangerous battles, and now it was cumulated into this one perfect moment, the moment their captain achieved his wildest dreams, the moment they all saw the greatest treasure in existence, the One Piece. The chest was finally open and its contents on display for everyone…or they would be…if anything was in it.
An empty chest stared back up at them and the entire crew's faces fell as they looked at the obviously empty little box. "Where the hell is my treasure?!" shouted Nami shoving Luffy out of the way and charging into the small treasure chest all by herself. "Where is my mountain of gold?"
"I'll admit it, I'm a little disappointed myself," muttered Sanji as he looked at Nami's upset face. He hadn't any real need for wealth beyond his wildest imagination, but he still wanted to see the One Piece.
"Well, this is a pretty big island and the One Piece is supposed to be a big treasure, maybe this chest is just a leftover," offered Usopp. Gol D. Roger supposedly had mountains of gold, maybe the gold all fit into different chests and this one was just empty anyways. "Let's go look for more. Maybe we just didn't find the right chest yet." The crew mumbled beneath their breath, all of them upset over the empty chest, especially Nami, who hefted the chest up and into the air and threw across the ground and into the lake nearby. Nobody tricked her when it came to money.
The crew frantically searched for the treasure. They had all picked different spots amongst the land and soon even Blackbeard had woken up and took note of what was going on and joined in. In the end as a pirate and as a believer he didn't care if he got a cut of the gold. He wanted One Piece to be real and he wanted to see it for his own two eyes.
"Found it!" shouted Usopp and Chopper, one duo, along with Robin and Zoro, another pair, as each of them hauled up a treasure chest. Nami stopped what she was doing pushed Usopp aside and both her and Robin pulled back the lids to reveal…more nothing. Little by little more and more treasure chests were brought to the surface, but no one had any luck finding any actual treasure. It was like a sick joke.
"Maybe the chests are worth a fortune," said Usopp as he reclined in the shade of some of the nearby trees, a little tired from the day's worth of digging. He had come up with another possible idea, but a quick check on the wood and the metal trim around it revealed each chest only came up to about 100 belies…combined they had made about 3000 belies, but Luffy's bounty was about a hundred thousand times that.
"Maybe somebody beat us to it," Zoro said coming up with quite possibly the worst case-scenario.
"Or it just never existed," brought up Robin, with the actual worst case scenario.
"Of course, it exists!" shouted Luffy, "Gold Rogers said it did! So, did old man Whitebeard! They don't seem like the kind of guys to lie," obviously Luffy had never considered the fact that both of them were pirates and lying was kind of secondhand nature to most of them.
"Ze ha ha ha ha!" laughed Blackbeard as he stood up and wiped some sweat from his brow, "You got to admit it; it is pretty fishy, kid! All this work to get here and we find nothing! It is not like many people can manage this. Even with the Marines' resources such an act is impossible! We've been made fools of, Strawhat! We've been double-crossed by our hero and his friends! It is an amazing act that he managed to create and one we bought hook, line, and sinker! Why the hell would a pirate save his treasure, anyways? Gol D. Roger handed himself over to the Marines, he probably gave his gold to his old crew, rather than siphoning it away for some youngsters in the future to find it." The crew fell silent realizing that they really had bought a rather impossible tale, something that didn't make any sense. Why would Gol D. Roger keep all of his gold and hand himself over to the Marines? It really did sound like a stupid fairy tale the more they thought about it.
"And let's face it we weren't the only ones fooled!" continued Blackbeard watching the crew's faces fall as he went on, but he didn't stop, "Ze ha ha ha! The Marines fell for it, all those idiots on the Blue Seas fell for it, and all those people who died to get here have fallen for it! It was an amazing trick! It was an amazing dream!" Blackbeard let out a heavy sigh; despite both his huge stature and obnoxious attitude it was obvious that he had wished for the treasure to be real more than anyone else had. "It was definitely an amazing dream. Come on…let's shove off and tell the world…the One Piece doesn't exist!"
"NO!" shouted Luffy adamantly.
"Come on, captain," said Usopp, his defeat evident in both his tone and his use of the word 'captain'. His dream had been shattered as well, he had wanted to be captain and find the One Piece himself, but he had given up the first dream to be on Luffy's crew and now…he realized the second dream was a load of baloney anyways. "The One Piece isn't here."
"NO!" Luffy repeated. "Gold Rogers said it was and I believe him! The One Piece is here! It has to be!" he stood astride the rocks and looked out to sea, choosing to believe in this fairy tale if just for a moment longer. One Piece existed, he may have said throughout his entire journey that he didn't care if it did, that he didn't care if the One Piece was actually here upon the great grounds of Raftel, but seeing those empty chests, he felt like his dream had just been ruined…what kind of King of Pirates didn't have any treasure?
"Come on, Luffy! Let's go!" shouted Sanji as he motioned for the ship. Chopper, Nami, Robin, Franky, and Brooke had all left to get aboard it already. Luffy repeated that same word again, 'NO'. "Fine then have it your way! Zoro, Usopp, let's drag him!" His two crewmates nodded and walked forward, grabbing a hold of Luffy and started to pry him from his spot. They finally managed to strip him of his spot and drag him onto the ship, but he was kicking and screaming the whole way there.
Robin walked to the edge of the ship and looked at Blackbeard, who also hadn't moved. He was sitting there, looking at the approaching sunset and was sighing as he looked at the marvelous yellow sun close down on the ground. "You want to catch a ride?" she offered, looking at the former great rival. He managed to nearly win, surely if he had won, he would be feeling like Luffy was right now.
Blackbeard paused for a moment, taking deep and heavy breaths. "No," he managed to choke out as he turned to face her, his face was flushed and it was obvious he was trying not to break down like Luffy. "I think I'm going to sit here for a little while longer…enjoy the view and try to think about what that bastard Gold Rogers was thinking about it when he created this lie." People had died chasing this dream, people had been killed because of his dream, the Marines were overworked catching the people who chased this dream, and the people who chased this dream were locked up. Was this just some sort of sick final joke the hero had decided to pass down on to the new era of pirates? He didn't pass down treasures, but did he really pass down a death sentence?
The crew sailed about, returning each of their members to their proper homes. Franky received a warm welcome from his Franky Brothers. "Boss!" they had shouted as they ran up to him, wrapping him in their arms, overcome with the return of their legendary brother, who had sailed the entire world and built a single ship that managed to do so.
Robin was dropped off at a legendary school. She studied and researched Poneglyphs after that. She certainly would've been happier had her old family from Ohara been there, but they were gone. Nonetheless she threw herself into her work. She taught people of the ancient mysteries of the old worlds, the Void Era, which still needed to be researched, and even admittedly one of the few talents that made her truly unique, the ability to read the Poneglyphs.
Chopper was returned to Dr. Kureha, who despite being an even older biddy was still managing to hold on to life. They wowed each other with their impressive chats, both had learned more about medicine since their last encounter and now they were determined to show it off. Chopper wanted to impress his former mentor, while Dr. Kureha wanted to prove to Chopper that he still had a lot more to learn.
Brooke was re-united with Laboon, an island whale. There was some tension in the air until Brooke began to play Laboon's favorite song. The music and the laughs seemed to remind the young whale who the skeleton was more than the afro had. But nonetheless Brooke still swore he'd keep it until the day he died (again).
Nami returned to her sister. Despite not getting the wealth of One Piece, she was still well off. She had stolen from many pirates in her days and managed to make a nice living, a nice enough one that she would never have to lift a finger again for as long as she lived. Bellemere, Genzo, and the rest of the island were just happy to have her back though.
Sanji went to the Baratie, boasting tales of the All Blue. Chef Zeff still calls him a 'Baby Eggplant', but there is definitely a smile on his face as he does so now. Patty and Carne seemed equally happy that the 'crap' chef was back.
Usopp returned to Kaya, who was a doctor who was just starting out, but she still had times for Usopp's many, many tall tales…but this time the tales weren't so tall. They were all true (mostly true) stories of how the brave captain Usopp defeated the god of Skypiea, escaped from Impel Down, and even managed to defeat the one and only Whitebeard! Okay, the last story was completely untrue.
Zoro returned home to find his old dojo was still in one piece. He walked in and was greeted like a son, although Zoro still didn't feel complete. People from all over the world came here, eager to test their strength against the World's Greatest Swordsman…or to learn from him.
Luffy's return home still wasn't a happy one. He felt like his journey was uncompleted. He went to the old grave of Sabo and built one for Ace. He sat in front of their and sighed. He was sad, no, disappointed. He was clearly upset over the lack of One Piece. He laid back, flipping his small straw hat around in his fingers. He still didn't feel like his journey was complete…
"Hey, I thought I'd find you here," said Coby as he came around from the trees. Luffy didn't even react. He didn't sense any killing intent from that direction anyways. Coby was a Marine, who Luffy had met early on during his journey. Back then Coby was weak, but Coby had definitely grown up to a great fighter. Luffy felt relieved to see a friendly face, "so what was it like!?" Coby sounded just as excited as Luffy was at first. "The One Piece! Where is it? You found it, right?" Luffy pulled his small hat back on over his head, he didn't want to talk about it…but it was with Coby. Luffy explained everything.
"Wow," Coby said as he hung on every word. He couldn't believe it…the One Piece…the thing every pirate had been dreaming of was a lie. "I guess even the legends can lie. So, what are you going to do now that you know?"
"What do you mean?" asked Luffy as he laid back down into the grass.
"I mean if the One Piece really doesn't exist you should tell the Marines, tell the presses, tell the world! Imagine without the promise of gold at the end of the journey people wouldn't be setting sail and risking their lives anymore. There wouldn't be any more bad pirates, no more pointless killings…well, maybe not none period, but there would certainly be less! An era of peace could actually be ushered in! We might not be constantly at war with the Revolutionaries or pirates anymore! The Marines could get a rest and you would be a hero for doing it all!"
"I just can't believe that the One Piece…really doesn't exist," sighed Luffy as he pulled his straw hat back over his eyes and tried to block out the truth. The One Piece really didn't exist? How was that possible? How was their entire journey just a big lie? Was he even King of the Pirates without it? He sailed the sea and found nothing. What was Gol D. Rogers thinking when he spread that rumor? Luffy guessed it would be impossible for him to know. He was just a regular old pirate…not the king or anything. The king was the pirate who claimed One Piece.
'Strawhat' Luffy the man worth hundreds of millions disappeared that day. Of course, Garp and Cobi ran interference for a long while. They were keeping the Marines' eyes off of the small island, but eventually the Marines did come in search of him there. But they found nothing it was as if the 'King of the Pirates' had disappeared. Blackbeard and Cobi had kept their mouths shut, believing it was Luffy's burden to tell the world that the greatest treasure…the greatest dream alive didn't exist. They knew eventually he would come out and say it, a man like him wasn't the kind to keep his mouth shut for very long…and they were right. Luffy did have one last thing to say…and he said on the day of his execution.
(-the day of his execution-)
It happened in Logue Town. The same place and platform that Gold Rogers was executed and Luffy received the same special treatment. Pirates, news media, civilians, and even royalty were in attendance. Luffy had been all around the world and back…they never expected this moment to come. They thought Luffy would live forever. All was silent as they watched the great man accept his execution with an unfamiliar frown on his face…until a gruff almost familiar voice filled the air.
"So, where's your treasure!?" shouted the voice…Luffy knew immediately who it was. It was Zoro. His entire crew in attendance out there in the vast sea of people. However, Zoro was the only one who refused to let Luffy shirk his duty. He either had to lie about the One Piece and send millions of people to their death or tell the truth and crush millions of people's dreams.
A smile came across Luffy's face. He didn't quite realize it until this very moment the moment that the great iron blade of the guillotine hung above his head, but at that moment he understood what it was he had to do. It was his duty as King.
"My treasure?" his voice said, at first wavering and almost weak, but it quickly came back strong, "I left it all in One Piece! It is out there amongst the seas of dreams! Amongst the islands of adventure! So, I challenge you to find it! The greatest treasure in existence, the One Piece! Gather your crews, raise your flags, and set sail! The greatest treasure of them all is out there! You just got to put your head up high and set sail! Trust me with the right crew…you'll definitely find it! You'll definitely find the greatest treasure out there!"
The rest of Luffy's crew turned around, not a single one of them wanting to see the moment when the blades came down. However, all of them had to agree that without a doubt under the Jolly Roger and under that man and only that man's leadership could they have found it, life's greatest treasure.
Huh, would you look at that…no horrible joke at the end…an incredibly sapping ending, but no horrible joke like I'm used to writing. But, yeah, I started thinking about what the One Piece was and that quickly devolved into wondering if it even existed. From there the story just kind of wrote itself.
Oh, I should point out that 1) I do not think this is how One Piece will end, I imagine there will actually be treasure at the end of the rainbow and 2) this is not canon for any of my other stories either.
This was mostly done because I was wondering what One Piece was (my original thought was a piece of paper with 'friendship' on it). So I decided to build off of that and design this rather lengthy piece. It is a One Shot showing the Pirate King's pride.