I shouldn't be doing this...I should not be doing this. SIGH but alas I am, I'm starting a new story, and a long-winded one at that! Oh well, 'kay so I've noticed these 'After OP' stories for awhile and have recently had the priveldge of reading a few really good ones so I've decided to try my hand at them, with a few noticeable differences to set it apart...I'll let you figure them out for yourself!

'kay so the template for OC's is at the bottom, I'd love to hear any and all ideas, just please try and be original! Take into account that this is roughly eighty years after the start of OP...so characters backgrounds should be different. For example I don't want a pirate attack for every other OC (granted if it's a good-idea I will gladly use it) but the Marines curently rule so an over-taxed village is more understandable. I'll try to incorporate all OC's unless they're obvious Mary/Gary Sues...even then I'll try and adjust them so that they can be used...so please, your ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Pice, but hey if Ryuu's lucky then maybe he will!

Chapter One
Stowaway

A hundred years have past since the execution of Gol D. Roger;

The age of Piracy has all but ended, the Marines now rule.

But one sea has managed to retain it's independence, and hidden deep within this sea is One Piece,

the treasure that will make your dreams come true.

"Hey, Ryuu!" a little girl of roughly seven called from the top of a two story house. "Watch out!" She laughed while tipping a bucket of water out the window. A 9 year-old boy rolled over in his sleep avoiding the splash. "Grr…" she mumbled while dashing down the stairs and out the front door only to find that the boy, Ryuu, had disappeared.

"Boo," Ryuu called from behind the door causing the girl to jump from surprise and wheel on him in anger. "Heh, sorry Annabelle but you're such 'n easy target," he commented while scratching the back of his head.

"Grr…Ryuu, you're…you're horrible you know that! You're leaving today with sensei for who knows how long and rather than spend some time with me you…you SLEEP!" Annabelle cried her blond head bobbing up and down. Ryuu's green eyes peered sadly at his younger sister bending down so that he was her height he gently reached over and hugged her.

"I'm sorry Annabelle but I gotta go, the orphanage is great 'n all but it's no place to learn swordsmanship. If I ever plan to follow 'n our ol' man's footsteps then I gotta start trainin' now."

"But…but his dream is what landed us here, besides you don't even like father that's why you took on the orphanage's name as your own ." She reasoned determination shining in her blue eyes. "You said you wanted to be known by what you had accomplished, not what he hadn't."

Chuckling and shaking his red hair Ryuu turned to leave but not before muttering, "I don't like the guy but I like the idea, just you wait Annabelle, The Age of Piracy I'll brin' it ta the world…as the Pirate Kin'!"

10 YEARS LATER

"Hey if we poke him do you think he'll wake up?" A voice questioned scared.

"Not sure Dodge, why don't you try and find out?" a second voice mocked turning to pull on a string illuminating the small cabin with light and showing a 19 year-old man fast asleep, a sack of flour as his pillow. "Yo! Get up," the second-voice commanded kicking the man in his bare chest.

"H...hey Strike be careful, he has a pair of katana's," Dodge whimpered pointing at the two swords wrapped in a denim jacket resting next to him. "Those have been outlawed by the Marines; if he hasn't been caught with them then he's no ordinary stowaway."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Sheesh Dodge you're such a coward, there hasn't been a real pirate from West Blue for twenty years now, and yet you still jump every time you here a name with D."

"Did some'un say D?" a voice questioned. Both Dodge and Strike lowered their heads to stare at the not-so-asleep stowaway smiling up at them, "ya wouldn' happen ta be talkin' 'bout me would ya?" He questioned standing, stretching, and dusting himself off.

"Wha…what do you mean?" Dodge questioned cautiously, "Who exactly are you?"

Smiling the man reached down fastening both katana's to his side and putting on his sleeve-less denim jacket before extending a hand to Dodge. "Nobouyuki D. Ryuu Swordsmen, Capn' an' future Pirate Kin' at ya service!"

"Pirate kin? As in the Kin of a pirate? What are you going to do, marry into a pirate family?" Strike laughed while shaking his head at the poor deluded sap. "Well sorry to break this to you kid, but you won't find any pirates here. In fact North Blue maybe the only place with any pirates, accept the Grand Line. But the Marines have put a temporary hold on all merchant ships heading to that Godforsaken place, so no luck there...not that I think any pirate would marry you in the first place."

"Not marryin' kin royalty kin'," Ryuu answered not the least bit deterred, "ya know like ol' Gol Roger, an' Strawhat. I'm gonna be a pirate like the likes of 'em...but firs' I need ta find maself a boat an' some nakama."

"Wait Pirate King," Dodge questioned, while backing away slowly, "as in you're searching for One Piece!" Ryuu just nodded his head. "You're crazy you know that! You're a few decades too late, there hasn't been a real pirate from West Blue for..."

"Twen'y 'ears, I know I heard ya two yackin' before." Ryuu yawned scratching his mess of red hair. "I should know 'twas my ol' man ya was talkin' 'bout...not that I member it much, I was only tree when I came back from the Gran' Line with ma sis." Shaking his head as he made his way to the door he added, "an' tree 'ears off a sprin' island does not a true pirate make."

"Hey Dodge," Strike whispered, "did you catch any of that?" Shaking his head 'no' Dodge made his way after the stowaway. After all this was a first-class vessel, and his captain didn't take well to stowaway's, even less to pirate stowaways...or so he's been told. So he was eager to see the fate of this kid.

Meanwhile in a small marine base off the coast of Purpisia Island an old man was smiling from his seastone prison. "So son," he mumbeled his blue eyes shining through the dark, "you've finally set out."

"Hey Stocks put a cork in it!" A marine-grunt grumbled, "seriously I don't know why the Vice-Admiral keeps you around. I don't care who your father was, if it were me you'd be 7,000 feet under, in the Seafloor Plains."

"Nice ta know ya care Joe!"

"My name's not Joe, and drop the stupid accent! You're not aboard your ship anymore captain so there's no reason to put on that act."

"Right, right sorry about that," Stocks commented while moving around to get comfortable, "I'm just a little excited. I got a letter from my daughter the other day, looks like my boy is finally following the family business.'

"Family buisness? What piracy? Please, what's the use of doing that now?" The Marine scoffed as he began to clean his gun, "the Age of Pirates are over, granted it's still strong in the Grand Line but HQ is fixing that. They're tightening up on Reverse-Mountain patrol, and with no rookies to keep it going the spirit of D. is slowly dwindling away."

"That's why I'm so excited kid," Stocks chuckled, "my boy's just the rookie to keep the spirit of D. alive, heck he'll do more than that. Just you wait kid, in couple of years the only difference between here and the Grand Line will be the quality of pirates." Here Stocks smile stretched, "just like the old days."

Back on the merchant ship we find our young Hero bound, in the brig, with two fist-sized lumps growing painfully from his head. "Dahaha," he laughed, "I guess I got wat was comin' ta me, pickin' a fight on an empty stomach an' all." Stretching his tied limbs behind his head, and peering sadly at his two sheathed katana just outside his grasp, Ryuu promptly fell asleep.

"Hey, Strike?" Dodge questioned nervously from the wooden bench infront of the jail cell. "Are we really going to turn him in...to the Marines, just for being a stowaway?" Looking at the sleeping boy, Dodge was overcome with guilt, "it's not his fault he was hungry!" After all times were tough on everyone.

Since the Age of Piracy ended sea-trade commerce had picked up, which would seem like a good thing, except for the fact that working sailors don't have time to stop and relax on an island. Reveling in festivities and attributing to the local towns economies. Economy, now there was the real problem. Pirates had been the life of the small villages the world over, without them the little villages were cut off from the world and slowly began to disappear.

Devoid of little villages, everyone was forced to make their way to bigger metropolitian-like cities...and a diversty of people stuck together in one area caused problems. Crime increased, not petty thefts or arson like piracy, but rapes and mass-murders and such. Gangs popped up, the fact that they mingeled with the citizens, rather than distinguish themselves with a billowing Jolly Roger, made it hard for the Marines to signal them out. But most devestating was the complete lack of jobs...so many people starved...so many suffered.

"Hm...well the Captian's already called them, so there's really nothing we can do...but maybe?" Looking from Dodge to the boy Strike sighed. "Well you said he was hungry right?" Without waiting for a response Strike continued, "so maybe we can feed him...yeah! You wait here and I'll go get some food ri-"

"Did somebody say FOOD?"

"Uh yeah," Strike answered staring at the now standing boy in surprise, "I was just about to get you something...so I'll be right back."

As soon as the door closed behind Strike Ryuu turned his stare to Dodge. "So..." Dodge questioned uncomfortable, "you said you want to be Pirate King?" Ryuu just nodded his head. "Well...um why?"

"Simple," he answered, accent gone. "The Age of Pirates, is the Age of Dreams. The world can't survive without dreams, you kill them, you kill the world." Reaching a leg though the bars towards his katana Ryuu grunted, "and the world is busy dying." While the profound statement settled Ryuu managed to hook his feet on his katanas only to have them fall even farther from his grasp. "Kuso," he muttered to himself.

The next second Dodge bent down and picked up the two swords. Looking in Ryuu's eyes with hesitation he muttered, "but pirates are evil...they lie, steal, and kill...there bad guys!" Ryuu just hopped foreward a smile on his face.

"Nah," he answered accent returned, "they ain't evil. There's always people who do those thin's. I mean we still got gangs an' crime, only difference is all 'em bad people don' have a goal ta chase after." Realization dawning on his face, Dodge threw the katana through the bars just as Strike returned a bundle of cloth in his hands. Ryuu began sniffing the air before his face lit up, "is that?"

"Yup," Strike commented passing the bundle through the bars, "food." Ryuu immediately unwrapped the sandwich and apple and wolfed them down. As soon as the food was gone he stood up and buckled his katana in an X on his back.

"Hey thanks for da grub!" Ryuu drew his two Katana, and Dodge marveled at their unique design. The one on the right was pure white with a clear edge, the guard was a silver six-point star with six clear capsules embedded in it. It's handle was a sea blue grip. In contrast, the left sword was pitch black it looked as if it was crumbling, the edge the only metal on the blade. The black sword had no guard, only red-cloth wrapped on the end as a make-shift handle.

"In honor of ya kindness," Ryuu continued pushing a clear capsule out of the Shiroi Katana, "I'll give ya some a'vice." Breaking the capsule between his fingers the two sailors watched amazed as a white powder appeared and attached to the metal bars. "Get outta here now."

The reaction was inctentanious, as soon as the Swordsmen had spoken Dodge and Strike had dashed to the other side of the ship. They had barely mad it to the cabins before they heard a small explosion and saw smoke billowing form the brig.

"Hey Strike," Dodge questioned unsure, "how do katanas start an explosion?"

Thirty Minutes Later

"What do you mean he escaped?" The Marine corporal questioned glaring at the captain of the Athena.

"I mean he. is. not. here." She answered peeved, her glasses barely concealing the seventy-year old woman's cold glare. "I followed all of your instructions. I placed him in the brig, tied his hands together, made sure he didn't have is katana, I didn't even feed him!" Here two sailors gulped and slowly backed away.

"Next thing I know," she turned her glare on her retreating crew-men freezing them in there place. "There's a freaking explosion! I go to check it out and that kid mugged me, grabbed food from the kitchen, and escaped on a life-boat before I even had time to call for backup."

Taking a deep breath she turned back to the Marine, and glare deepining continued. "And then, he had the nerve," she spat, "to tell me that I should be honored! Can you believe it? He said, 'ya should feel honored ta be bugged by the pirate kin'!"

"Pirate kin'?" The Marine questioned confused.

Taking a gulp of air Dodge stepped forward. "Uh...sir," he mumbled and jumped when everyone's eyes were on him. "Um well you see me and my...friend, um, we were the ones who found him and well," here he took a deep breath before launching into the days odd events. When he was done the Marine's calculating face and his captains angry one greeted him.

"You mean you knew?" His captain questioned, "you knew and you didn't tell me! What's more Strike fed the kid and you!" She screamed, "YOU GAVE HIM HIS WEAPONS! Why I sh-"

"-you said he drew two katanas?" the Marine questioned, noticing Dodge's nod he continued. "But I thought you tied his hands together."

"Umm...we did, but" avoiding his gaze Dodge mumbled, "when we gave him the food he just broke through them." The Marine began to grin and signaling for his crew to follow him returned to his ship.

"Pirate King huh? Well Nobouyuki D. Ryuu I sure feel sorry for you, but you were born a few decades too late."

The crew of the Athena watched solemnly as the Marine ship sailed away. "Dodge, Strike!" The captain called to her two crew-mates, "grab your bags and a life-boat, you're fired!" Sighing the two made their way to the cabin.

"Now what?" Strike questioned shoving his clothes in a sack, "we were barely making enough money as it is, and no ones gonna hire us this time of year! Seriously Dodge you should've just kept your big mouth shut."

"Hey I never told them your name, it's not my fault the Captain knows we're brothers. Besides," Dodge smiled while walking towards the raft, "we could always be pirates."

Well there you have it! I can't update this until I get at least one OC. There will be 10 positions on the crew (below) and also many rivals/bad guys/legends etc.

Crew Positions

Captain - First Mate - Navigator - Chef - Surgeon (Doctor) - Carpenter (Shipwright) - Gunner (Marksmen) - Entertainer (Musician) - Black Smith

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