After some thinking, I've decided to make a challenge story centered on Luffy, Sabo, and Ace becoming pirates together as a way of celebrating the recent One Piece Magazine volumes and all the information they bring. Before we get started, here's some guidelines and a disclaimer.
No unnecessary bashing: seeing characters grow up and show hidden strengths is all good until it looks like the writer is purposefully making the character in question look like an unlikable nuisance at best and a complete villain at worst. Trust me, it's best to show both the positives and negatives of those in a story. And since this is an AU, I'm working forward to some people growing up differently, especially in a positive manner.
No slash: I try not to judge people who have different "bonding" preferences compared to mine, but I really don't think that characters that weren't listed as canonically yaoi in nature should be depicted as such. Not that I like gender bending much either. If you want some ideas for straight pairings, check the bottom.
Keep the content at a controlled level: meaning that it's probably best to be mindful of which direction the story/stories will go. I like straight lemons as much as the next fellow, but given how things all are iffy on certain websites like FFN, it would probably be wise to just walk first before jumping.
Be mindful how the story goes: as much as I'd like to see Luffy do great with his brothers by his side, I am concerned by how much would be lost as much as I'd be interested in what is gained. To be more specific, I can't imagine One Piece that has Luffy without his canonical crewmates from Zoro to Brook, not counting Jimbei, or Sabo without his Revolutionary comrades, and while I did find the Marineford events to be tragic, I think that Ace and Whitebeard's deaths helped shape the next half of the story in an incredible way. I hope you know what I mean. Even if they do happen differently, please keep the consequences of such divergences apparent.
Don't shy away from asking me for advice or beta reading: however, I won't dictate your execution as it should ultimately be your decision. I'm doing fine with it so far with digemsmack over his Fairy Tail story which I gave my patronage for, Ascension of the Second Apocalypse.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does.
[LSA]
It's LSA, Not Elsa!
[LSA]
On Dawn Island in the East Blue Sea, three boys, aged from seven to ten, shared a dream of becoming pirates. Each of the three self-proclaimed brothers had their own reasons for wanting to sail under a Jolly Roger from understanding the greater world as well as themselves through adventure to simply being free. Within their first year of brotherhood, however, they faced difficulties from the Goa Kingdom of Dawn Island, thuggish pirates, and a slavering visitor from Marie Jois that almost took the middle brother's life. Fortunately, a cloaked man, claiming to have a similar view on freedom as the three children, saved the second oldest boy, Sabo, from death, and encouraged all three to grown up strong and determined.
After the incident with the Goa and World Nobles, Sabo went through a period of amnesia that lasted for some time, but eventually recovered. The oldest of the three, Portgas D. Ace, however, feeling protective over his brothers, decided that once the youngest, Monkey D. Luffy, turned fourteen and the rest of their trio was seventeen, they would leave Dawn Island as Co-Captains of the same pirate crew, so that they could better have each other's backs. For seven years, they trained hard and, after thinking it over, learned harder with what means they had with the few people who supported them outside the Goa Kingdom's city. Finally, on Luffy's fourteenth birthday, Ace and Sabo having become seventeen-year-olds in the months before, the three brothers headed out.
On a small boat at sea, the three brothers looked upon the distance with pride and excitement. They had chosen their path, and had no attention of straying from it.
Ace couldn't restrain an eager laugh. "This is it, guys. From now on, we are true pirates."
"Yeah." Sabo replied with a smile as Luffy nodded.
"So, has anyone thought of a good name for our future crew?" Luffy asked with unrestrained wonder.
"I was thinking we'd call ourselves the Spade Pirates, but that sounds more like something I would do on my own." Inputted Ace.
"Why not something that shows all of us together, like the ASL Pirates?" Suggested Sabo before he got hit on the head by an irate Luffy as Ace shockingly looked on.
"You idiot!" Snapped Luffy. "Just because it has all of our names in it, doesn't mean it has to sound like Ace is first among equals or something! Plus, I actually asked Grandpa about it once, and he told me it almost sounds like we're taking our brotherhood to a more physical level!" Ace and Sabo paled and shivered in revulsion. "That was my thought, too." He finished a bit calmer.
"Okay, then what would you chose, Luffy?" Asked Ace in hopes of moving on from the awkward topic.
Luffy recovered his cheerful smile before saying. "Assuming our future crewmates don't get fancy hats of their own, I'm thinking the LSA Pirates. It makes more sense that I'm in first, since I plan to become the King of the Pirates compared to you guys."
Ace and Sabo looked at each other uncertainly before the latter decided to tell Luffy an important detail. "You do realize that LSA sounds like a girl's name, right? And last I checked, none of us are into crossdressing."
Luffy felt his jaw fall to the floor of the boat before he erupted in explosive anger as his brother dropped sweat. "When I told Grandpa the name, I thought his laughter was a sign that it was a good one! I should've seen this coming! Damn you, old man! Damn you!"
[LSA]
At the Navy Headquarters of Marineford, Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru saw their old friend and comrade, Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, shutter in apprehension and despair.
"Uh, are you alright, Garp?" Sengoku asked concerned.
"No, Sengoku, I'm not." Garp replied gravely. "I don't know why, but I feel like somewhere out there a bunch of rascally brats are going to damage my pride as an all-around man worse than it ever has been before."
"You mean Dragon?" Tsuru asked curiously.
Garp shook his head. "For some reason, I only wish it were so." He then began to suck both of his thumbs much to his old friends' confusion and embarrassment.
[LSA]
What direction the story goes is up for you to decide, of course, but what I would do, if I wrote this story per my own views, is have Luffy leave Dawn Island with his brothers before meeting and fighting those from canon that could give them a good challenge with a potential physical reward such as pirate bounties so long as they don't have bounties of their own, or join their own crew, which for this point in the timeline I can imagine would include Ace's Spade Pirates that have been recently identified from the Magazine among other people, potential pirates or otherwise, so long as it's no one to unrealistically compatible to join such as Kuro. They do this from the East Blue to the New World before the "Spade Pirates" run into Whitebeard and perhaps Dragon as well, who both leave good enough impressions on an Ace who longs for a sense of belonging and a Sabo who wants to take the fight straight to the World Government, while Luffy, who respects all four but is still committed to be the King of the Pirates, decides to head out on his own to retrace his steps, so to speak, after being told by Sharley that he'll find the archeologist that will read the Poneglyphs he'll need to get to Raftel on such a journey. Not that I'm saying Luffy will come back to the East Blue alone, considering the few stories I've seen that have Luffy get some experience pirating rarely, if ever, include characters like Monet, Wanda, and Carrot among others to offer their own perspectives on certain situations. At least that's what I'd like to see before the official storyline begins, but it's up to you to decide whether you'd want them and how they would work.
I chose the name as both a joke and a sort of signification that while Luffy is the youngest, he's the one who wants to become King of the Pirates the most, as well as to be different from all the other stories that have chosen the ASL designation, which isn't bad, but sort of implies that either Luffy is subordinate to his brothers, or they are the stuff slash fans love for whatever reason. Which is definitely not what I'm going for. As for pairings, it's no secret I'm a supporter and fan of the harem genre, but the reason I'm so adamant about it for One Piece is because I can't really see Luffy being different from High School DxD's Issei in terms of having the interest of numerous female characters, even when he doesn't seem to have any idea what "romance" means other than excitement, but if you are able to do a good depiction of a single pairing story that doesn't alienate the other contenders for Luffy's heart similar to Digemsmack's Master Dragneel, I can bear with it. Also, I wouldn't want Luffy to get all the action, even if it is a harem, so how about I list a few non-Luffy-centric pairings for you to decide for yourself?
Zoro + Tashigi (as strange as it sounds, it works on occasion for Sly Cooper and Batman)
Sanji + Pudding (I know she hasn't won much fans since her introduction, but I think there's still hope for her, especially if she's given help before the Whole Cake Island Arc)
Usopp + Kaya (do I have to justify it?)
Chopper + Milky (it's probably the closest he's going to get, and if they decide to have kids someday, I'd go with the Germa cloning technology to make sure that when he kicks the bucket, his kids won't be stuck between Mink form and ordinary deer, if you catch my drift)
Sabo + Koala (same with Usopp and Kaya)
Ace + Whitey Bay (I know they haven't been seen interacting, but why no one has bothered with this is beyond me)
And as an honorable mention, Smoker + Hina (again, do I have to justify it?)
That's my input, now show me what you can do.