Summary: Shanks and Luffy's good bye had one small difference. When Shanks met with Rayleigh, he gets interested in the boy and decides to seek him out to meet the boy himself. Will the world be ready when three young boys trained into men by The Dark King begin causing chaos in Paradise and the New World?
This is just a story I came up with while I was sitting here without internet. So I decided to give it a shot, let's see how it turns out. :)
I do not own One Piece or any of the characters/story.
Story Start:
~Dawn Island~
"I won't ask you to take me with you this time." a small boy says to the captain of the Red Hair Pirates.
"I wouldn't take you with me anyways. You couldn't become a pirate even if you tried!" the captain teases the boy. The boy gets angry and glares at the captain.
"Shanks! Just you wait! I'll gather my own crew! And some day, we'll challenge your crew and defeat you! I'll become the King of the Pirates if I have to!" the boy declares full of resolve, a small inkling of Conquerors Haki reaching his voice. Shanks eyes widen, and most of his crew stop what they are doing to stare at the young boy in shock. Shanks' face quickly forms into a wide smile as he takes his hat off.
"Then become a King, Luffy! We'll be waiting for you in the Grand Line. I'll leave my hat to you for now." he says excitedly as he places the straw hat on the boys head, overshadowing the boys shocked eyes. "When you become a true King, seek us out and return this hat to me. Don't keep us waiting for too long, Anchor!" he says as he turns his back to the boy and starts to walk away. Another King has been born this day. Shake the world, Luffy!
Luffy stands on the pier crying as he watches his idol's ship sail away. Wait for me, Shanks. I'll come before you know it! Luffy turns and walks back to Makino's bar, a glint in his eyes that most wouldn't notice unless they knew what to look for.
~Three Months Later- Sabaody Archipelago~
Shanks has been telling Rayleigh about his travels since his captains death. He's told him all about this little boy he met in East Blue, and about his travels through Paradise again.
"What happened to your arm anyways, Shanks?" Rayleigh asks while drinking.
"I gave it up for the next generation, Rayleigh." Shanks responds. "And jeez, if he's any indication of the generation to come, this entire world is going to shake! The boy awakened the King's Disposition at the age of seven!" Shanks declares proudly. Rayleigh freezes stock still, and slowly turned to look at Shanks wide eyed.
"He awoke the Color of the Conquering King at the age of seven?" Rayleigh asks in disbelief.
"Yeah, it sure shocked me good! I never expected to find someone in East Blue who had that kind of power hidden in them, let alone them being only seven years old!" Shanks says as he laughs. "I wonder if the world will be ready for him when he does finally come?"
Rayleigh goes silent as if thinking about something. "It's been many years since I've visited East Blue, maybe I should take a vacation." He muses aloud. Shanks chokes on his drink and turns to Rayleigh.
"You don't mean..?" Shanks trails off in shock. Rayleigh smiles widely.
"Yeah, I'm going to go search for this child. You mentioned he lived on Dawn Island in East Blue, correct?" Shanks nods still wide eyed. "If I like him, I may take him as an apprentice for a few years. Who knows?" Rayleigh has a wide smile. Rayleigh and Shanks party away the next few days talking about nothing and everything all at the same time.
~Three Months Later - Dawn Island - Early Morning~
Makino is cleaning glasses as an old man walks in. He's carrying a single sword, and wears glasses and has a scar over his left eye. "Welcome, what can I get you today?" she asks the old man.
"I'm looking for someone. I was wondering if you knew where Luffy lives?" He asked with a small smile. Her eyes narrow into a glare at him.
"Why are you looking for Luffy? Who are you exactly?" she asks.
"Call me Ray, Shanks told me about an interesting young man he met on this island. I thought I'd come and meet him myself." He notices her eyes soften when he mentioned Shanks.
"Shanks, huh? He lives up on the Mountain. His grandfather left him with some mountain bandits to raise him." disappointment is clear in her voice as she tells him. "When you see Luffy, can you let him know Makino misses him?" she says with a wide smile.
"Of course,Thank you for the help, young lady." He says and leaves towards the mountain. I hope you don't disappoint me, Luffy!
~Dadan's Hideout~
*Knock Knock* Someone knocks on the door and wakes up some of the bandits.
"Who the hell would come up here?!" Dadan nearly yells as she pulls the door open. "What the hell do you want?!" she yells at an old man wearing a smile.
"Hello, I was wondering if a boy named Luffy lived here?" he asks as her eyes narrow and she reaches for her club.
"What business do you have with Luffy?" she asks.
"I merely wish to meet him. I shall bring no harm to the boy, so you need not worry about whether I am a threat. My name is Silvers Rayleigh." He says with a small bow. Dadan's eyes widen comically and she drops her mace in shock.
"T..The Dark King?!" She screams waking the rest of the people in the house, including three boys. "What the hell is the Vice Captain of the Roger Pirates doing here?!" Ace's eyes widen before he glares at the old man.
"Like I said, I wish to meet Luffy. Which of those three boys is Luffy?" He asks as he looks at the three boys. That one looks like Roger... "What are you names, young men?"
"I'm Luffy! Who the hell are you?" the youngest one says with a wide smile as the other two smack him over the head.
"Don't just answer some strange man!" Ace yells. Sabo simply shaking his head.
"Now, Don't worry young ones. I merely wish to meet Luffy, Shanks told me all about him when we met." Luffy's eyes widen and sparkle at the mention of Shanks.
"You know Shanks?!" Luffy says as the other two boys groan.
"Not again! We just barely go him to stop talking about him every second of the day!" Ace complains.
"Why don't you boys come outside so we can talk? I merely wish to get to know you a little." Rayleigh says as he walks into the yard and sits down. The bandits are frozen stiff unsure of what to do, while the three boys follow him and sit side by side in front of him. Ace still glaring at him.
"My name is Silvers Rayleigh, what are yours?" Rayleigh asks the boys.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" The youngest one answers smiling widely. Hmm, Is he related to Garp?
"I'm Sabo, nice to meet you." The blonde answers with a small bow.
"..." the other one says nothing, simply glares at him. Sabo elbows him to get him to answer. "Ace." he finally responds.
"Ace, huh? A fitting name for one with such a legacy as yours, Gol D. Ace." Rayleigh says shocking the boys to a core while Ace grabs his pipe.
"Don't call me that! I hate that man!" Ace yells at him. Rayleigh looks at him a little surprised.
"Why do you hate your own father?" Rayleigh asks him.
"You should know what my life has been like being related to him!" Ace screams at him again.
"I can understand that, but you should be proud you had a father that was a great as him." Rayleigh says simply.
"Why should I be proud?! He went off and died, leaving my mother alone, where she died giving birth to me!" Ace yells again revealing the real problem without meaning to.
"Ah, I see. That's why you hate him." Rayleigh says sadly. "Whether he got executed by the marines or not, he still would have been dead before long afterwards." He says shocking the three boys.
"W...what do you mean?" Ace asks sounding unsure.
"Roger caught an incurable disease a few years before his death. Our doctor prolonged his life, but he would have died within a few months of when he was executed either way." he explained. Ace looks at the ground. Sabo and surprisingly Luffy being quiet the whole time.
"So no matter what, even if he didn't get captured, he still would have left my mother alone." Ace says through gritted teeth. "The bastard knew he'd be leaving us behind the entire time."
"Roger wasn't captured." Rayleigh says shocking the boys once again. "Roger gave himself up, a year before his execution, the Roger Pirates split up. We all went our seperate ways, while Roger disappeared for that year. I met him a few weeks before his execution. I don't know if the creation of this Era of Pirates was his intention or not, but he created this Era." Luffy's eyes are shining as he's learning about the man he plans to surpass.
"I'm going to become the next Pirate King!" Luffy declares suddenly, a small amount of Conqueror's Haki lacing his voice again. Rayleigh's eyes widen slightly and look at him.
"So that means you are going to conquer the Grand Line, correct?" He asks him. Luffy looks confused.
"What's conquer mean?" he asks childishly. Rayleigh blinks and laughs.
"Right, right. Sorry about that. To conquer means to take over by force. Make everyone understand that it belongs to you, and you alone." Rayleigh explains. Luffy brightens up and smiles widely.
"I don't want to take over anything." Luffy explains and Rayleigh looks right at him. "I want freedom. The Pirate King is the man with the most freedom on the sea, right?" Rayleigh's eyes widen as he remembers Roger saying something similar. Ace and Sabo look at Luffy surprised, never before hearing this reason before now.
"I see. What about your dreams, Ace, Sabo?" Rayleigh asks with a wide smile.
"I just want to be free. I don't care about being the Pirate King, I simply wish to do what I want, when I want to do it." Sabo answers with a toothy smile. They all look to Ace, who is simply looking at the ground in thought.
"What about you, Ace?" Rayleigh asks. Ace looks up at him with a sad expression.
"I simply want to prove my existence and leave my mark on the world." Ace says quietly. "I'll prove that I'm not the son of the Pirate King. I'm Portgas D. Ace." He says strongly at the end.
"I've got a question for you boys, so listen up, as I won't repeat myself." Rayleigh says bandits listening in from the shack all lean in closer in anticipation. The three boys nod and stare at him. "How would you boys like becoming my apprentices?" he asks with a wide smile and their faces light up.
"What?!" every single bandit screams at the same time.
"Learning from the Pirate King's right hand man?! Hell yes!" Sabo says excitedly. Luffy is bouncing around in joy. Ace is simply sitting there staring at Rayleigh wide eyed.
"Why would you want to train us?" Ace asked. Rayleigh smiles at him warmly.
"You all have admirable dreams, and I wish to help you reach them." He says simply. Their generation will surely shake the whole world. "Don't mention to anyone that I'm here. It would cause many problems with the World Government if they learn that I'm here." the three nod. "I'll be around for a few years, how much you can learn will be up to how hard you work. I have high hopes for you!"
~A Year Later~
Over the last year, the three boys have learned a lot. They were taught how to fight properly, instead of simply brawling. The Bluejam pirates caused problems, but his crew was quickly taken care of by the boys. Rayleigh took care of Bluejam himself, saying that they weren't quite ready for him yet. Ace awoke his Conquering King's Haki during this, but has no idea what it is. Rayleigh told them he'd explain it in the future to them.
Sabo's father spotted the boys, but quickly lost their trail and never found him. Rayleigh has put them through a grueling physical workout to make their bodies stronger. Luffy can now aim where his punches go properly, though they still go off course from time to time. When the boys spar each other to see how much stronger they are getting, Luffy wins one out of ten matches, which tells him he's improving greatly.
Garp visited a few months ago, but Rayleigh seemed to have disappeared while he was there. He was surprised that the boys were getting strong so fast, and delivered "The Fist of Love" to them for still wanting to be pirates. He threatened that he would be training them harder the next day, so they moved out in fear of their lives and built a base for themselves to live in.
They now find themselves following Rayleigh towards a den of giant wolves that they found.
"You've done well improving over this last year. It's time I begin to teach you how to harness Haki." Rayleigh says. The boys all look confused.
"What's Haki?" Sabo asks.
"It's a latent ability that all humans have. Presence, Fighting Spirit, Intimidation. It's no different than the senses that all humans already have." He stops in from of the den of wolves and turns to the boys.
"Most don't ever learn of their power, or how to bring them out until the very end." A wolf larger than the rest stands up and stares at them.
"Having no doubt. That is what makes you strong." He closes his eyes. "Watch carefully. There are two forms of Haki that anyone can use." The wolf stalks up behind Rayleigh and gets ready to attack him.
"Look out!" The three boys yell and grab their pipes. Rayleigh raises his hand to them.
"Don't worry. He's going to swing with his left paw as he jumps at me." Rayleigh says as he moves aside as the wolf jumps past him.
"The ability to feel others presence more strongly, also called Observation Haki." The wolf continues to jump at Rayleigh while he simply moves to the side enough to avoid it.
"If you learn this power, you can find where your hidden enemy is, as well as how many there are, and what they will do next."Rayleigh explains with his eyes closed avoiding every attack from the wolf. The three boys watch with stars in their eyes before the wolf turns to the boys, apparently giving up on Rayleigh.
"The second form Armament Haki. This form is like wearing invisible armor over your skin." The wolf jumps at the boys and Rayleigh appears in front of the wolf with his hand extended. Just before the wolf connected, it was sent flying backwards and nearly lost consciousness.
"If the armor is strong enough, it can be used offensively." He walks over to Luffy.
"The most useful part of this form of Haki is.." He pinches Luffy's cheek and pulls, but it doesn't stretch, shocking the three boys. "It bypasses a devil fruit users abilities. This is the only real way to battle a devil fruit user without finding their fruits weakness."
"Logia fruit users, which are devil fruit users who control certain elements such as lava and ice, have fluid bodies that are nearly invincible, but with Armament Haki, you can attack them directly." The boys look amazed at the uses for haki.
"You can even use it in weapons, like your pipes for example." he raises his hand and lifts a finger. "Observation Haki" he raises another finger. "Armament Haki. Those are the two main forms of haki." he smirks at them."However, there are a few rare people who can use another kind of haki. Watch" the rest of the wolves have gotten up and stalking around them.
Rayleigh turns to the wolves and his eyes dilate, and the boys feel a chill run over their body and the wolves collapse foaming at the mouth. The three boys are staring at all the wolves wide eyed as Rayleigh turns back to them.
"That is the ability to intimidate your enemy. Conqueror's Haki!" His face adopts a serious expression. "The people who have made the biggest names for themselves often have this power." His eyes narrow at the boys.
"However, while you can learn how to control this power, you can not learn it by training. It is the representation of the spirit itself, and will grow with the user by them getting stronger themselves." He walks up to the boys and looks back and forth between Ace and Luffy.
"You two have already awoken the Conqueror's Haki. Until you learn to control it, do not use it though. You would intimidate innocent people around you if you did." Rayleigh turns and walks away a bit.
"Haki is not easy to learn how to use. It will take many years of rigorous training to master it. I'll be here for four years to teach you as much as I can." He smiles widely at them. "Let's get to work!"
~Four Years Later~
The three boys are at the coast, watching Rayleigh disappear into the distance on his small ship. They've all grown greatly, Luffy being twelve now, while the other two are fifteen.
"We'll meet him again." Sabo says to his brothers. They nod and smile widely.
"Sabaody Archipelago. That will be where we see him next." Ace states. They turn and walk back to their fort, thinking over the last four years.
Sabo never awoke Conqueror's Haki, but he mastered Armament Haki to a level where he can bend steel with his bare hands easily.
Ace know the basics in Armament, but his Observation Haki is his strong point, being able to sense the entire island with ease. Sabo can sense about half the island currently, behind his brother by quite a bit.
Luffy decided to learn them both equally. Being younger than his brothers, he's not as good in Haki as them. But he is still competent in all forms of it. His Observation Haki is a little weaker than Sabo's, while his Armament Haki is a bit stronger than Ace's.
Luffy and Ace were both told that they have mastery over their Conqueror's Haki, but they should still be careful with using it until they have more practical use with it.
Rayleigh taught them all the basics of Haki within three years, and used the last year to teach them basic navigation in and out of the Grand Line. He then taught them everything they would need to know about how to live safely and healthy on the sea until they find crew members for the important roles. He also told them about the Shichibukai and Yonkou, who Luffy was amazed to learn Shanks was one of.
"In two years, me and Sabo will leave. Three years after that, you'll be setting out, Luffy." Ace says excitedly. "Let's take these last two years together to master Haki together." The three boys nod and head out to continue their training.
Right now I have no idea of which direction I want to take this. I've been considering whether to recruit additional members, or just stick with the original crew. Until I figure out who I'm going to have join him, if any new members at all, I'll add more chapters to the story. But for now, This will be all. I'll probably have everything figured out in a couple of weeks or so. Feel free to make suggestions of who you'd like see join him on his journey to turn the world upside down.
Background Info: The events with Naguri happened earlier than in canon, while they still lived with Dadan. Beyond that, everything else is canon up until Rayleigh arrived. I change this simply because I wanted their argument over Ace's father to happen before Rayleigh arrived, but since Bluejam happened not to long after that, and I wanted Sabo to stick with the brothers, I pushed it ahead to during the 3 months that the brothers were together with each other after Luffy finally got Ace to open up to him. The fire happened, but they were nowhere near it at the time. They still have their treasure, and have slowly been building on it over the years when they weren't training with Rayleigh. They'll each have 5 million Berries when they set off. The boys will get close to Dadan and the others the last few years, as the majority of the things that brought them together more, like Bluejam, were taken care of without their help this time.
Let me know if you like the idea so far. It was just something I came up with laying around when I forgot to pay my internet bill. I hope I did the explanations well. I tried copying what Rayleigh told to Luffy about Haki.