AU: My latest attempt at being creative. For those who realize that there may be some striking similarities in the story to Teamhalo13's story, yes, this is in one way or another connected to her story DoRHS. It's hard to really explain what all has occurred between me and her, but the point is that there is an understanding between me and her and that she is alright with this. We have some sort of joint ownership in this deal.
For the most part this is really like an alternate version of her story where things really split off from hers from the very beginning.
And for those that have no idea what I'm talking about, forget it and see for yourself what this is about.
Disclaimer: Nobody owns One Piece, but Oda-sama, we clear? All we have is the right to screw around with what he makes. All that is not Oda's is the OC's, but I don't even own-well, I sorta do and and I don't... *sweats* THIS VERSION OF THE CHARACTERS IS MINE! With minor ownership by Teamhalo13.
word~ means extended speech
Chapter 1 (Revised)
To say Coby was nervous was an understatement. He wanted to run away. Far, far away and never have to come back to his horrible life as Alvida's abused cabin boy. But he'd learned a long time ago it would do him no good. And he didn't believe he had the nerve to try anymore. So he'd taken everything submissively with a good dose of fear and continued on with his retched life.
He'd retained some form of forlorn hope over the years that maybe one day Alvida would be arrested by the marines. Every time he saw a marine ship he'd wonder if this was the time that the tyrannical woman would be brought to justice and he'd be able to explain his situation and be freed, but every time his hopes were dashed away with the canon balls that would fire from the Alvida pirates and sink the government vessels.
Now, on this random ship that the Alvida pirates had chosen to raid, he'd had an encounter that would change his fate forever. Although, he'd only figure that out later. Much, much later. For now, it was only because of an uncharacteristic spur of the moment choice that he wasn't bolting out of the room to avoid getting found fraternizing with the resistance. Or as many soon called them: the dead. And for what? Curiosity. That and a moment of human interaction with people that he didn't have to fear who might at least give him a bit of respect, if only for a moment.
It all started when he was trying to avoid the pirates as they plundered. He'd caught on early that it was better to stay out of their way and not draw attention to himself while they were carnage bent.
He'd wandered into the ship's abandoned kitchen and found a curiously large barrel. Before he could inspect it any further he'd been found out by some of the pirates. More specifically the ones that often bullied him (one second thought, he supposed that wasn't very specific, seeing as all the pirates he lived with took advantage of his lack of a back bone every day of his life). And, sparing no seconds of their time, they already began to 'convince ' him not to tell Alvida about them drinking (from the barrel he found) on the job.
Sadly, that in itself was common during the pillages, but what happened afterward was anything but.
"This sucker's heavy," the fattest of the pirates said as he turned the barrel up right and then proceeded to crack his knuckles. "Hold on boys, I'll open it the old fashioned way," pulling his fist back, he was about to strike. This blow surely packed a punch of frightening force that, had it been directed at Coby, would make him sore for day-
At that moment the man was slammed in the face and knocked out cold as a grinning teenager shot and out of the barrel with his fists in the air.
"AH~! I~! SLEPT~! SO~! GREAT~!" the teen yelled boisterously. He suddenly pulled a blank expression as he noticed he was, in fact, in a room filled with people.
Upon further inspection he was wearing a red, yellow buttoned vest with blue pants and had a scar under his left eye. Another distinctive feature was the pith helmet straw hat he wore on top of his choppy, black hair that had a red ribbon strung around it.
"Huh, who's that?" he asked looking down at the pirate he had just unknowingly punched. Turning his head toward the other two wide-eyed pirates standing in front of him, he asked stupidly, "Who the hell are you guys?"
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" they shouted back in anger and annoyance.
"Your friend will catch cold sleeping like that," he advised as he stepped out of the barrel, revealing his scandals, completely ignoring their question.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KNOCKED HIM OUT!" The young man then found himself with a sword in front of his face as the two marauders looked at him, both nervous and angry at the same time.
Suddenly a loud yawn rang out from the same barrel the boy just exited and everyone watched as a gloved hand clutched the rim of the barrel. They followed it to reveal an arm that lifted a girl around the same age as the boy out of the barrel for all to see, who stared into space with bleary eyes, blinking once or twice.
She had a head of long red hair that was tied back in a braid that reached close to her hips and a red sash of a darker shade than her hair tied around her hips, covering the top of her black pants.
She scowled, saying, "Would whoever's making all the noise shut it? I am trying to sleep," though her eyes were still focused on nothing but thin air. She sounded very irritated by her tone, in large contrast to the other mysterious boy who made his appearance with a smile.
Yawning again, the girl stood up and stepped out as well to show her black boots that had the ends of her pants tucked inside.
Having seemed to have lost all hope for any shut eye when she saw her audience, she stretched briefly before she started to fix her clothes that had gotten a bit ruffled from sleep. Her head was slightly bowed as she rubbed her eyes. The top of her head adorned a long white bandanna whose ends fell a few inches above her waist. Matching in color, was the plain white t-shirt she wore. Oddly, on her right hand she wore only one black glove that had the top half of the fingers missing and a dark green ring over the glove on her middle finger.
The young man, who was presumably her companion smiled at her. Spotting him she, in turn, lost her scowl and gave a light, groggy nod.
"Hey, Yuuki," the boy greeted brightly. "How do you feel?"
"Like I've been stuck in a cramped barrel for who knows how long with a moron who sailed us into a whirlpool," the girl, now known as Yuuki, snapped with a face devoid her cranky mood. After another very brief session of stretching her face softened as she began to wake up. "But I guess you did good this time by inhaling all the food we had. Who would have thought that your eating habits would save our lives one day?" she mused. "Without an empty barrel we would've wound up dead."
"Yep!" the teen, now known as Luffy, grinned proudly, disregarding her insult.
"Hold up! Are you two messing with us when you know good and well that we're vicious pirates? Huh!" demanded the pirate with the green tattoo over his eye.
Looked like they'd finally had it with being ignored.
"I'm starving, you got any food?" Luffy asked Coby with slumped arms, not seeming to recognize the kid was gaping at him, stunned and not likely to give an audible response.
"I'm talking to YOU~!" he bellowed as their presence went unacknowledged. The pirates were almost at their limit with the two strange teens.
"I'm hungry too. I wonder what they've got to eat around here," Yuuki, still dazed from her sleep, started to walk around the room, looking for something to settle her and Luffy's appetite, walking right past the two pirates as if they were as visible as air.
That was it for the pirates.
"Arr, you damn kids!" The men aimed their weapons at the teens separately, the tall one went for the girl, who had her back turned to everyone looking for food. Meanwhile, the green tattooed pirate ran for the boy. All the while Coby covered his eyes in fear as the swords were swung, not wanting to see the people be slashed to their deaths.
A few moments passed and he heard nothing but thumps. Expecting to hear cries of pain and registering nothing of the sort, the vision impaired boy chanced a peek and was surprised to see the two pirates on the floor, back to back, cowering in terror at their respective 'victims,' who were unharmed. Luffy, was looking at them both with a questioning, concerned look on his face, as if he were silently asking if the two needed a psychological assessment while the girl, Yuuki, stared at them with bright green eyes no longer hidden by her head binding.
"What is wrong with you two?" the teenage boy asked.
"You're guess is as good as mine," Yuuki shrugged.
"W-Who are you?" the green tattooed pirate seemed to be hyperventilating at this point.
"Oh, my name is Monkey D. Luffy. Hi," Luffy smiled proudly.
"The name's Kou S. Yuuki, Mr. What's-your-face," Yuuki stared at them evenly.
From here the pirates screamed bloody murder and quickly stumbled out the door. Amazingly, dragging their friend along all the while, who still hadn't retained consciousness yet.
The three of them were silent.
"So… what just happened?" Coby asked, having sunken to the floor on all fours in awe.
"You got me."
"Dunno," were the simultaneous answers of the mysterious pair.
That was when the reality kicked in. "Quick! You gotta run! If those guys come back here with their buddies, then they'll kill you both on the spot!"
"I don't care about that, I'm hungry," Luffy responded.
"We're in luck. This looks like a kitchen. Oh, and if you're gonna pay if you eat it all before I get some," Yuuki warned him, knowing his habits of eating anything and everything edible in sight, and sometimes even trying things that weren't out of pure curiosity or as Yuuki called it, stupidity.
"How can you blow this off like that! There are hundreds of them up on deck and they're waiting for the opportunity to kill anything," he explained as Luffy sniffed the air for food like a dog.
As he started walking forward he was held back by Coby, who cling to his arm in futile attempts to stop the straw hat wearing youth.
Yuuki simply trailed behind them knowing where Luffy went food was not too far away.
And that was how he came to hiding out in a storage room with two strange strangers.
"Ha, ha, ha! It's a gold mine! Food, food, food, food!" Jumping down into the lower part of the food storage room Luffy laughed satisfaction while looking around to see the variety of his find and babbled on about food and what to eat. He was followed by Yuuki, who was just as happy, but less ostentatious about it as she searched the stock for something appetizing.
"Who knows, maybe we'll be safe in here as long no one else gets hungry," Coby murmured after looking out of the door carefully and closing it to ensure that they wouldn't be discovered sooner.
"This looks promising. Apples! Excellent!" Luffy continued on to laugh, still full on his food fueled high. "Heh, tasty," gazing at two apples in his hands he began to chow down, but bit into nothing. Confused, but too hungry to care he hungrily dug into the whole crate of fruit.
Meanwhile, Yuuki enjoyed (at a normal pace) the apples she had just swiped from her black haired friend.
"Hey, my name's Coby. You're Luffy and Yuuki, is that right? That was pretty neat what you did with that barrel back there," Coby approached the two from the stairs. Yuuki said nothing, choosing to simply eat her apples and watch Coby's movement with curiosity and interest.
Coby sat down next to the two politely so that the three formed a triangle. As he did this, Luffy stopped his inhaling momentarily, turning only to comment: "These are awesome," before continuing his feast. "So, are we on a pirate ship or what?" Luffy asked, still stuffing his face.
"No, it's a passenger ship that's being raided by pirates. Pirates under the command of Lady Alvida," Coby's voice turned weary as he spoke her name.
"Lady Alvida, huh?" Yuuki mused. "Do you know if there are any boats on board?" she asked as she finished her apples.
"I think there are a few."
"Great, 'cause ours got stuck in some big whirlpool," Luffy chirped in. Yuuki quickly snatched up another apple from the crate, evading Luffy's hands that were sure to try to bite into her limb before noticing that what he had in his mouth was a bit more solid and alive than an apple.
"That one outside? No way!" he exclaimed. Coby paused in thought. "No one could have survived that," although he did vaguely remember hearing Yuuki say something similar earlier, but then again, he was a bit too dumbfounded at the time to know for sure.
Luffy gave the boy with a jubilant smile. "Heh, heh, yeah. I gotta say it was a big surprise!" Yuuki smiled briefly at Luffy's carefree attitude as well, feeling much better about the memory now that she was awake, had food in her stomach and wasn't in the cramped barrel any longer.
"So, are you one of the pirates?" Luffy asked.
"Or a passenger?" Yuuki added.
Coby blinked at then looked down, recalling his 'fate' as he called it and told them his story. It really wasn't as dramatic and tragic as he made it out to be. It turns out he was fishing for dinner one day and mistook a pirate boat for a fishing boat and ended up stuck with them somehow. True, he was now stuck on a pirate ship as a cabin boy doing a bunch of crap work everyday so that his life would be spared and he'd been living this way for two years with people who could kill him at any second if they pleased because of it. But it wasn't as if the pirates had deliberately attacked and raided his village, killed his entire family in front of him and then kidnapped him forcing him into a life of piracy and killing in cold blood. Yes, his life may have sucked, but it all happened more due to bad luck than fate or anything spiritual having to do with destiny.
Luffy sat beside Coby and Yuuki sat at his front, both looking at him as he finished his story.
By now Luffy had eaten his fill, or at least was full enough not to eat, and stared at Coby.
After a moment of silence Luffy broke it.
"You're pretty stupid, you know that?" Luffy said truthfully.
Yuuki immediately hit him on his straw hat covered head, muttering, "Shut up," but Luffy didn't seem to have noticed.
"Gee, thanks for your honesty," Coby bowed his head lower at the insult.
"If you hate it, then leave," Luffy advised him.
"I know I would," added Yuuki.
"Are you kidding! I can't do that! No way, nuh-uh, not a chance. Just the thought of Alvida finding me scares me so bad I wanna throw up!" he babbled shaking his head back and forth.
"Wow, is she some hideous monster?" Yuuki asked.
"You're a moron and a coward," Luffy grinned widely and laughed. "Ha ha, I hate people like you!" Luffy continued laughing as Coby cried a river at the teenagers brutal, painful honesty.
And he was still laughing.
Yuuki, on the other hand, was a bit more sympathetic and patted his shoulder to try to comfort the younger boy.
"Yeah, you're right," Coby admitted, recovered from his momentary emotional collapse. "If I had the courage I could drift alone in a barrel and be rid of these pirates. I actually have my own dreams. Someday," he paused, "I'd like to live out all of them." Coby had a nervous smile on his face, looking down as he reflected on said dreams. Luffy and Yuuki watched him quietly until he looked up at them.
"So, what about you guys? What was it that first got you to set sail on these seas?" His question caught both of their attentions and they both smiled.
"Well, I'm gonna be King Pirates," Luffy stated.
Coby gawked at him incredulously, turning a very ghostly shade of white at the same time. He then shakily turned his head to Yuuki like a sprinkler, asking silently, "And you?" hoping for something a bit closer to the realm of sanity.
"Me too, but I guess it'd be more accurate to say I'm gonna be the Queen," the girl paused thoughtfully, then shrugged. "Eh, same difference," at this point he seemed about ready to keel over, sweating profusely and looking a bit nauseous at their statements. It was as if a bomb went off in his head and his mind was momentarily frozen.
The two barrel drifters just stared at him, content at their proclamations, waiting for him to respond and soon enough, the hamsters wheels in his brain began to turn.
"A King?" he paused, "and Queen?"
"Yep," Luffy still stared, lightly smiling.
"Are you serious?"
"Uh-huh," Yuuki replied.
"Bu-But that would mean that you guys are pirates too~," his voice quivered.
"Right," they both said.
"Y-your crew?" Coby implied.
"Don't have one yet, but we're looking for 'em. Yuuki's a start, but she's the Vice-Captain, so we're gonna have to look," Luffy told him as the boy's jaw somehow dropped lower and he got a really funny look on his face.
Eventually, they both noticed he looked somewhat troubled and both leaned a little closer to him to investigate. Luffy began by waving his hand in front of the glasses wearing boy and when that didn't work Yuuki started to poke him in the head, trying to get a reaction from him.
Coby stood up abruptly, seeming to finally snap out of his daze. "King of the Pirates is a title given to the one who obtains everything this world has to offer! You're are talking about seeking the great treasure of wealth, fame and power!" at this both Captains nodded. "The treasure that you seek is the One Piece!" Coby accused as he threw his hands out for emphasis.
"Yeah."
"Of course," the young pirates confirmed.
"'Yeah'! 'Of course'! That's it! Pirates from all over the world are looking for that treasure, ya know!"
"Yes, we do know that." Yuuki was a getting a little impatient with the kid reciting the same information they knew to them as if it was some big news. Just what was he getting at? They were going to find One Piece and then become King and Queen of the pirates. Was that really so hard to grasp?
"No way! It's impossible, impossible, impossible!" he started to shake his head wildly again and Yuuki was seriously wondering what problems this kid had and thought that he might want to seek some help in the future, "There's no way anyone like you guys could ever reach the pinnacle during this great pirate age! There's just too many that are meaner and better-ah!" at this Luffy stood up to hit Coby on the head sending him to the ground holding his injured cranium in pain. "Ow~, why did you hit me?" he moaned.
"'Cause I felt like it," Luffy said simply.
"'Cause you're being a pessimist," Yuuki added.
He moaned again. "Oh well. I'm used to that stuff, my ship mates smack me around a lot," he laughed humorlessly. "All the time, in fact."
Luffy placed his hand on his head and Yuuki crouched down lazily, resting her elbows on her knees.
"It's not about if we can," Luffy smirked.
"We've thought about this before, despite what you may think," Yuuki shut her eyes and rocked back on her heels.
Coby looked up at them in confusion.
"We're doing this because we want to," Luffy finished.
Coby's eyes widened at them.
"I decided long ago that I'm gonna be King of the Pirates." He was showing his rarely seen side of seriousness and Yuuki could tell he was mind was only partially on his conversation and part of it was stuck somewhere else in his head.
"I will find the One Piece," Yuuki said slowly, opening her eyes.
"If we have to die fighting for that, then we die," Luffy said looking at his hat in his hand, which he had taken off, with a hint of a smile.
"But we'll die with no regrets. Which is more than most people can say."
Coby looked at them, in awe of their resolve and bravery. To think that these were the same people he had just taken for fools to even have the thought of obtaining the title of ruler of the pirates and were now determined gamblers of fate who were unflinching in the face of uncertainty and death. The risk, the unknown obstacles they would have to face, their lives; it all meant nothing in the face of their dreams.
And as if a switch had been flipped, Luffy replaced his hat on his head and walked away with a grin that had 'doofus' written all over it.
"Alright, now that my belly's full, I'm gonna go get me a brand new boat. They might even just give me one if I ask nice enough," Yuuki jumped up and walked off after him, sending Coby a polite nod as she walked by.
"We should ask for directions too. I wonder if we can get some food to go before we leave," Yuuki mused as an after thought.
"Maybe they're generous people," he thought optimistically as the pirates left the boy on the floor in deep thought.
"I guess I never thought of it like that," Coby spoke to himself. "If I put my mind to it; if I'm prepared to die for it; could I do something like that?"
The pirate duo stopped on the stairs as they heard his thoughts.
"Like what?" Luffy seemed to be curious, making him give Coby his full attention. Yuuki also looked at him expectantly.
"Do you think... do you think I could ever join the marines?" he asked with his head bowed, on all fours.
"Marines?" both teenagers chimed.
Coby stood up abruptly with raised, fisted hands and turned to them with determination shining in his eyes.
"Yes! Catching bad guys is the only thing I've ever wanted to do! It's been my dream since I was child! Do you think I could do it!" he asked them.
"How should I know that?" Luffy said chuckling.
"What are you asking us strangers for? That's something you gotta ask yourself?" Yuuki said, also amused at Coby's change of demeanor.
"Then I'm gonna do it! I'm not gonna get stuck here as a cabin boy for the rest of my life!" he seemed to have gained more confidence as he approached the two. "I'll break out, then I'll turn around and catch Alvida myself!"
As he finished his speech the ceiling broke through and wood and dust began falling where the pink haired boy had been standing before he dodged quickly, surprised at the sudden fall of debris. Dust was flying everywhere but at the stairs where Yuuki and Luffy stood and an unappealing, burly voice rang out through the room.
"Who is it that you plan on catching, Coby?" The dust cleared to reveal a large woman who rested a spiked club against her shoulder who was looking at the inhabitants of the rooming threateningly. This woman turned out to be the feared Alvida that Coby spoke of capturing just moments ago. "And you actually think this twig and flimsy girl are gonna help you...well?" Coby was shaking and holding his arms up in potential defense, producing a small whimper of fear. Showing no evidence of the air of confidence he just emanated. "Answer me," she demanded.
...
The woman only seemed to be getting angrier by his unresponsiveness.
Luffy was about to move forward, but was distracted by several swords being plunged through the door on both sides of his head. Yuuki looked back to see the blind attacks and got ready for a fight.
Alvida glared at a whimpering Coby fiercely before turning her attentions to Yuuki and, more specifically, Luffy. "Hm, my guess is that you're not Zoro the Pirate Hunter." This seemed to snap the easily frightened boy out of his cowering.
"Zoro?" Luffy questioned.
"And that would be...?" Yuuki raised an eyebrow for her to elaborate.
"Coby!" the wannabe marine shrieked in fright. "Who is the most beautiful of all on these seas?"
Luffy and Yuuki just stared at the older woman blankly, not really seeming to pay attention to the actual interaction, as Coby muddled through his words, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't get him killed on the spot.
"A hideous monster..." the green eyed girl muttered unconsciously to herself. Luffy pointed and Yuuki stuck a naked thumb out at Alvida, both turning to Coby. "Yo, Coby?" she began.
"Who's the fat lady?" Luffy finished rudely.
Everyone in the room stared at the pair with jaws hanging low.
...
It was silent and everyone froze, worried that if Alvida saw the slightest bit of movement it would provoke some major misdirected female outrage and violence.
"Oh no."
"Not good," whispered the pirates from above the hole in the ceiling.
Several pulse marks appeared on her face before she fully reacted.
"YOU~ RUNTS~!" Alvida yelled, swinging her spiked club at the two. Yuuki immediately grabbed onto Luffy's back, who held his hand on his hat, before jumping out of the club's path which smashed the wood that had been under their feet.
Landing in front of a, yet again, cowering Coby, he said, "let's go," and grabbed the boy by the hand. He jumped again to land on the upper deck, through the hole in the storage room's ceiling, and smirked excitedly as he saw the horde of pirates armed and ready for a fight.
One brave pirate took the lead and ran at Luffy, swinging his sword. All he was able to slice was air as the straw hat wearer leaned back so far you'd think his was about to fall on the ground. With Yuuki still attached to his back, he instantly pulled his head back up to headbutt the pirate.
As he finished his attack, Yuuki took advantage of the angle, unwrapping her arms from his neck and held onto his shoulder bringing her feet up to use his back as a platform. Pushing off and flying backwards after using Luffy as jump base, she extended one arm to clothesline a pirate, who had tried come at Luffy from behind, before falling on her back and rolling onto her hands to push off and gracefully land on feet.
"Missed me!" Luffy yelled as another group of pirates ran at him together and swung their swords at him at the same time, missing when he jumped.
Landing, he grinned at them and gripped his left upper arm with his right hand in a show of strength. This seemed to impress Coby and make the pirates nervous and not dare to approach him, but Yuuki wasn't so easily swayed.
'Show off,' she thought as she ran toward Luffy to help him fight.
She stopped in her tracks, however, when she heard a scream she recognized as Coby's (seeing as she had heard it so often during her short time on the ship) and narrowly dodged a pirate swinging a sword, who had jumped at her from the deck above in an attempt to get her from behind. Before he even touched the ground, she kicked the offender to Luffy, who stood not too far away, and caught him by the head.
"It's not fair to attack from behind," Luffy said, unbelieving that someone would be so dishonest in a fight between pirates. He then threw the guy at the group in front of them, making them topple over like bowling pins.
It was then that the teen heard an angry growl behind him. Turning his head to see a large horde of pirates he didn't waste a second as he immediately started...running away?
Yuuki surprisingly laughed at her commanding Captain as he ran past her as well as Coby, who was sitting a little ways away from her, speechless at their display of strength, with the armada hot on his heels.
Rubbing a tear from her eye that she'd produced from the excessive laughing, the Vice-Captain started in her search of the ship. Deciding to go see if she could find them a boat while Luffy was messing around she walked away only to come face to face with a pair of pirates, notably at least three times her size, with threatening glares on their faces and arms crossed.
Letting out a breathless laugh, with a light sweat on her face, she slowly took a step back and turned, running into a wall. Stumbling back a bit Yuuki looked back to see what she'd hit-wait, were walls always that tan a color and radiating auras of carnage and death?
Gazing upward, she found another two men who had just as, if not more, menacing and blood thirsty looks than the pirates now behind her.
...needless to say, she'd prefer a wall.
"Bye!" Making a mad dash for anywhere other than the four pirates, Yuuki didn't make it very far as they ran after her, with more speed than she thought they would have considering their size. They quickly wrestled her to the ground together so that not even the light of day could reach her, let alone allow any place for her to escape.
Meanwhile, Luffy had run with a group of pirates hot on his tail. "Wah! It's even more not fair to gang up on a guy!" he yelled before catching his arm on the mast while still running, which caused his arm, to the absolute shock of the pirates, to stretch like a rubber band. "Heh, Gotcha."
"Heh, she's pretty strong for a girl," noted one of the large men as the pile they had formed shifted slightly.
"Doesn't matter, once we catch her friend, they're both in for a world of hurt! That's what happens when you mess with the Alvida pi-" black clouds began to seep out from the cracks of the men's dog pile suddenly, making them stare, frozen in bafflement and wonder.
"What the heck is thi-? Ah!" The pirates were flung away, caught in the path of two pillars of the dark substance, and shot across the deck in opposite directions. Two of the men were slammed through the ship's walls as the other two struck the bottom of the bowspit making it break it off from the ship and fall into the waters below.
Coby watched Yuuki, whose arms were outstretched to her sides, as the dark pillars covering her arms dissipated into nothing.
"That'll teach you to try beating up on a girl, you big bullies," she walked away, leaving the pirates in twitching heaps of unconsciousness. Looking around she spotted Coby staring at her, dumbfounded.
She tried again to find her black haired friend, suddenly...
"GUM-" the pirates turned and started retreating, "GUM-" but it felt like they were getting nowhere as the young pirate wound up his attack and the pirates knew that they were dead mea- "ROCKET!"
Luffy stopped running and let his arms retract, sending him flying at great speeds, plowing through the pirates, who seemed to be running in slow motion, and knocking them all to the ground in pain, if not into unconsciousness.
Yuuki brushed herself off of invisible dust. "Nice, looks like you got the most," she praised.
"You didn't do too bad yourself," he smiled at the sight of the four pirates who's eyes had rolled to the backs of their heads.
Coby walked toward the two cautiously. "Luffy...Yuuki... what are you guys?"
"Oh, I'm a rubber man," Luffy smiled while stretching his mouth out inhumanly as proof.
"Just a little storm maker," Yuuki explained indifferently.
"So you're… made of rubber...? And you can...make...storms...? I-" Coby felt a familiar presence behind him and quickly bolted on instinct, crawling forward and cowering between, and slightly behind, Yuuki and Luffy in fear.
"So, you've both eaten one of the Devil Fruits?" Alvida inquired darkly.
Luffy let go of his stretched mouth, making it give out a rubbery noise. "Yeah, I ate the Gum-Gum one," he supplied.
"Uh huh," Alvida muttered with intrigue. "I heard rumors they existed, but I've never seen any evidence of them before today," she clenched her teeth in a way that resembled a smirk.
"What's your point?" Yuuki's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"You two are more skilled than the average deck swaber. Are you bounty hunters?"
"Wrong," she chimed.
"We're pirates," Luffy corrected.
"Pirates? Ha! All by yourselves on these waters?" she mocked.
"Today's just Yuuki and me, but we'll find our crew tomorrow, or next week or something," the scarred teen declared. "We'll need-I don't know, like 10 guys...yeah,10," Luffy concluded.
"Ha! Tell me, if you and me are all pirates and we're not under the same flag, then that would make us enemies, am I right?" she asked rhetorically.
Yuuki thought otherwise. "Aw, there's no need for that. Can't we all just get along?" she said with false naivety.
"Uh, you guys? Let's go," Coby whispered, sweating profusely.
"Why?" Luffy inquired.
"We haven't even gotten our boat yet," Yuuki pointed out.
"You saw how powerful her club is, and of all the villainess chiefs in these water she's easily the most..." the cabin boy trailed as he was thrown into his thoughts, replaying the words the seemingly fearless, young, pirate Captains had uttered.
"I decided long ago that I'm gonna be King of the Pirates." He was showing his rarely seen side of seriousness and Yuuki could tell he was mind was only partially on his conversation and part of it was stuck somewhere else in his head.
"I will find the One Piece," Yuuki said slowly, opening her eyes.
"If we have to die fighting for that, then we die," Luffy said looking at his hat in his hand, which he had taken off, with a hint of a smile.
"But we'll die with no regrets. Which is more than most people can say."
Yuuki could tell by the look on Coby's face that he was remembering something, but what, she couldn't quite guess.
"Go on...tell me," Alvida said with deceiving encouragement.
Coby now seemed like he was holding something in as he clenched his teeth frustration. He then turned to his personified nightmare for the past two years.
"You're the most...UGLIEST THING ON THE SEA!" he yell with a passion as he left the Alvida pirates with dropped jaws in disbelief.
Alvida's eyes were shadowed by her hat and it seemed to drag on forever for a terrified Coby, who squeezed his eyes, that had tears at the corners of them, shut. He may have been awaiting his eminent death, but he was going to go down showing he had back bone by standing his ground and taking it like a man.
Meanwhile, Luffy burst into a loud, boisterous laugh, while Yuuki's face held an smile filled with humor. Neither of them looked to be even attempting to conceal their amusement from Alvida.
"What'd you say!" Alivda yelled in outrage.
"I'm leaving, and going to join the Marines," the vision impaired boy declared in determination. "Then I'm gonna spend the rest of my life beating dirty pirates like you," Coby spit out like acid.
"Do you have any clue what you're saying to me right now?" the fat lady hissed, all the while Luffy was still laughing flamboyantly.
"Of course I do. And I'm gonna do what I want and no one's gonna stop me. And when I join the marines, I'm gonna catch you're lousy ass FIRST!"
"You're dead kid! AH!" Raising her club back, Alvida was ready to clobber Coby with the ferocity of a provoked bull, efficiently making the wannabe marine scream like his life depended on it. Of course, screaming wasn't going to miraculously disable Alvida from kicking his ass to hell. He looked pretty much screwed.
"Well said!" Luffy commented as he and Yuuki moved to block the furious woman from the boy, who had a momentarily, uncharacteristic burst of bravery.
Alvida swung, hitting Luffy head center on his head, pausing waiting for him to fall over dead. However, Luffy stood strong, smirking under his hat. "That won't work," he taunted.
"What!"
"I'm rubber," Luffy started stretching his arm backwards, smirking.
Alvida's eyes widened in realization and she took a step backwards getting ready to run. "GUM-" feeling herself slip and loose her footing, she struggled to stay unright on the suddenly slippery floor. The female pirate looked down to see her feet were surrounded by gray clouds which moved to reveal the ground underneath her covered ice. "GUM-" following the receeding clouds with her eyes, the trail led to a condescending looking Yuuki, who's lower half of her body seemed to have been replaced by the dark clouds, making her look like a genie.
"Bigger they are, the harder they fall...'Fat Lady,'" she imitated Luffy with a look radiating mischief, making Alvida torn between anger and anxiety.
"You little-!"
"Better luck next time," she smirked.
"PISTOL!" Luffy brought his arm back, punching Alvida in the gut and sending her flying out of view within seconds. Luffy retracted his arm into his strong arm pose his hand clenching his other arm muscle as he did before.
"I wonder how far you sent her?" Yuuki, who's clouds had evaporated, raised her hand to keep the sun out of her eyes, trying to see if she could estimate the distance for kicks.
"Who knows. Hey, you!" Luffy called to the pirate crew, who's captain he just send soaring, effectively striking fear into their hearts.
"Yes!" they all answered attentively.
"Go find a boat and give it to Coby." Luffy demanded. "He's leaving your ship to join the Marines, and you're not gonna stop him."
"Yeah, sure," they said in fear.
"And stock it with lots food while you're at it," Yuuki threw in with Luffy in mind.
"Oh! Make sure there's some meat on board too! A ton of it!" the rubber man added, with drool at the corner of his mouth.
"Thanks," Coby gave the black haired teen an appreciative look.
All of sudden explosions shook the waters making the inhabitants of the boats loose their balance.
"Look, it's the Marines."
"Of course they're here...now that we've done their work for them," Yuuki muttered sourly. Luffy, however, sung a different tune.
"Ooo, perfect timing. Head over there and tell 'em you wanna to join," the teen suggested.
"Huh?" Coby looked at them as if they spoke another language.
"Your dream," the redhead reminded him with amusement.
"But we're pirates, so we're outta here. C'mon Yuuki!" he yelled as he jumped overboard catching his Vice-Captain off guard.
"Hey, Luffy! Jeez, wait up for me, will ya?" Yuuki complained as she also jumped over the edge of the boat.
"No, wait! You can't be serious! If I approach them like this they'll capture me like I'm another pirate!"
"Play the passenger," Yuuki suggested as they ran off.
"I can't do that! You guys!"
Coby followed the duo in panic, not knowing what else to do, as they quickly secured a boat that had been provided by the obedient pirate crew of Alvida. The three dropped it down in a flash, causing a big splash in the waves of the ocean before they made a clean getaway from the scene of their 'crime'.
S
"We actually manged to get away," Coby said in disbelief as he finished scanning the waters for a boat in pursuit.
"Ah, what fun," Luffy laughed like a moron looking forward at their course with one of his forearms resting lazily on a drawn up knee.
"You sound surprised," Yuuki commented as she leaned against the side of the boat.
"Well, yeah," he admitted sheepishly. "A little."
"It's alright to tag along with us, but why would you?" Yuuki asked after a few minutes. "The marines were right there and we are pirates," Yuuki claimed as if he didn't believe them. "Just like the ones you're out to catch as a marine."
"They would have seen me as a pirate on that ship. I couldn't stay," he said, downtrodden. "And I couldn't pretend to be a passenger. The Alvida pirates know me and would have ratted me out. They would have taken me down with them."
"I suppose. But why stick with a couple of pirates? Marines tend to hate our kind. Wouldn't a marine-to-be be the same?" she asked somberly.
Coby looked conflicted.
When he didn't answer right away, she continued, "Or are you hoping to catch us off guard and bring us in to the Marines as a house warming gift?" with a devious smirk.
He was quick to deny it. "No! I'm not-!"
"Yuuki, knock it off! Coby wouldn't do that," Luffy spoke with confidence.
"Kidding. Kidding," she raised her hands in defeat.
Coby clenched his hands, answering regardless. "I wanted to come with you 'cause I can't face them yet! I'm not ready to be one of them just yet. But I just need a little time. On the next island I'll definitely join them!" he announced. Cooling his jets a little, he quietly explained, "and I thought we were starting to become friends. I don't care if you're pirates. It's a little sad that we'll be enemies, but I don't hate you guys. It's only pirates like the Alvida Pirates. The bad ones that I want to arrest and throw in jail."
Luffy and Yuuki watched his bow his head with vacant stares.
"I'd like to think we're friends, but-" he paused, choking on the words. "Maybe you guys don't like Marines. It makes sense that you'd feel that way about someone who wanted to become you're natural enemy," Coby sighed, accepting the idea.
"That's not true," he heard Luffy.
"We're like you. We don't just inherently dislike Marines as pirates," Yuuki told him.
Coby looked at them hopefully. "So, you don't hate Marines?"
"Well, they can be really annoying sometimes," Luffy admitted. "And so can you," he added, making Coby visibly hurt at the brutal truth. "But even then, you're alright," he grinned, making the pink haired boy smile.
"Marines. Pirates. They're just like people. Some are good and some are bad. I'd say you're pretty good," Yuuki voiced encouragingly. "And sorry about that. I was just teasing," she said apologetically.
"You guys," Coby felt tears prick at his eyes. "So, um..." he began, trying to change the subject and prevent his tears from flowing.
"Huh?"
"If you're searching for the illusive One Piece, then you have to be headed for the Grand Line, right?"
"Mm-hm," both Luffy and Yuuki nodded.
"You know, the people that I've talked to call it the Pirate Graveyard."
"Right," Luffy smiled. "And that's why I need an extra strong crew. You guys mentioned some Pirate Hunter, what's he like, Coby?" Yuuki listened in on their conversation quietly, also interested.
"Oh, you mean Zoro? Last I heard was that he was being held prisoner at some Marine Base," he told him.
"Oh well, weakling, huh?" Luffy frowned in obvious disappointment.
"No, you're so wrong! He's as violent as a demon and three times as horrifying," the ex-cabin boy exclaimed. Yuuki smirked inwardly in amusement at the boy from what, she deduced, was Coby being a scaredy-cat. She'd seen plenty of evidence of it during the little time she'd known him after all. In his defense, he'd had his show of strength on occasion, but from what she'd learned about the kid, she wouldn't put it past him to over exaggerate about some person he'd heard of.
Coby look at the redhead for a second for any reaction. When he she only stared he looked back to Luffy.
"Why are asking about him anyway?" he said, now cooled down.
Luffy smiled at the wannabe marine's enthusiasm and grinned. "I figure if he's good enough, I'd ask him to join my crew."
Coby stared at him, quite disturbed at the idea.
Yuuki smiled. "That's just like you, Luffy," she commented, but didn't show any signs of resistance in his decision.
"Chasing him down is just plain reckless," Coby argued.
"You never know, he might jump at the chance to join," Luffy said, always the optimist.
"He's a bad enough guy that the Marines caught him! There's no way, not a chance, forget it, no, no-" Luffy once again attacked the boy's head with his fist.
"Ow~, why'd ya hit me," Coby whined.
"'Cause I felt like it," Luffy answered as Yuuki burst out laughing at the two.