"The second great pirate era has begun, the government will try to stop it. But let me ask you this; have you ever seen a ship not sink when on top of a great maelstrom?" - Roronoa Zoro, first mate of the pirate king.

Chapter 1 – A series of (un)fortunate events

A sigh escaped Picard's mouth when he finally managed to dock on the nearby rocks. The week turned out from bad to worse to holly fucking shit, in that particular order. On Monday he went to work just like he usually did, exactly six thirty in the morning, well he came in a bit late which was tradition; could you really blame him? Loguetown was big and buzzing with life so he got distracted along the way due to the beautiful ladies. But I digress, he didn't get two steps into the small thrift shop before the old geezer chewed him out, one thing led to another and he was fired at seven.

On Tuesday, he met up with Ayame – his girlfriend, only to get ditched because apparently she couldn't have a future with a lazy bum. After some much needed booze he returned home only to get chewed out by the landlord because he was three months late on his rent. Of course he couldn't afford to repay since he blew all of his money on the aforementioned booze he found himself living on the streets by Wednesday.

The condition wasn't anything new. He had moved from island to island ever since his old man kicked the bucket so he was used to it. Then things turned eerie when some thugs attacked him. He briefly wondered why anyone would try to mug someone living of the streets but long story short the thugs and he got arrested by the marines only to end up escaping the cell with the same thugs who started calling him aniki after he mauled their heads in. He found a small boat to steal, which he did and now here he was on Friday sitting in a stolen boat, while hiding from the marines near the north side of the island. A bottle of booze in his hand and the sun shining. On a hot summer Friday, Picard's life would change for ever.

"Oooooh! That's a nice boat you have there!" an excited voice yelled out to him. Picard cracked an eye open to look at the intruder that disturbed his peace and quiet. The teenager was about his age, nineteen, blonde hair and his grin was abnormally stretched across his face. Not seeing a point to disguise the origin of the ship he decided to answer. Later on in his life he would wonder why he decided to entertain the stranger? What made him trust him?

"It's a stolen one, I was kicked out by my landlord so I had nowhere to live" he answered with a shrug, not really ready to spill the unbelievable chain of events that led him here.

"I see. What's your name?" he asked.

"Picard." he said.

"I am Naruto! I think we were destined to meet Picard!"

"Destined?" Through a raised eyebrow, Picard really couldn't decide whether the man in front of him was stupid or some sort of mind reader. Any other day of his life he would have scoffed and ended the conversation there. However meeting the man in an abandoned area after this crazy week he was starting to wonder if everything happened for this point in time.

"Yeah! Sail with me, let's storm the world together, Picard!"

Picard shot a deadpanned look at the man in front of him. "Destined? Go away let me sleep in peace." he said.

Naruto ignored him and jumped into the ship. "Nah, I decided! Join my crew Picard! Kihahaha"

Picard was quickly getting annoyed at the blond. Which part of 'go away' didn't he understand? "Don't decide for me you bastard! Get out of my ship and go look for someone else to join your crew!" he yelled quickly losing his composure. "I had a really shitty week so I definitely don't need some stranger telling me what to do. " he said calmly this time shooting a soft look to Naruto who remained silent through the rant.

Naruto jumped out of the boat and turned to look at Picard. To his confusion Naruto grinned and his eyes closed reminding Picard of a cunning fox. "Fine. Remember Picard, that Naruto D. Storm, the future King of Pirates decided to have you as a first mate!" he said and walked away.

Picard's eyes widened and he smirked. "Tell the future pirate king to make better choices next time!" he yelled at the retreating figure.

"Kihahaha, his decisions are never wrong!" he heard and barked a laugh. 'What a weirdo'.

The next day Picard decided that he didn't want to go on anymore. His rotten luck stroke again when he met an Admiral. Not any Admiral but the Admiral. Admiral Coby the Hero. Trained by Garp himself he rose through the ranks during the second golden era of pirates and was said to have fought the pirate king to a standstill dozens of times. The admiral who kept the Yonko in place just by being stationed in the new world. 'WHAT. THE. FUCK IS HE DOING HERE!' Picard raved in his head while sweat started running down his neck. Picard was never one to fear someone. All his life he made through with his fists, although admittedly it was small fish pirates that tried to go against him. An Admiral however was out of his reach, these guys could destroys islands with their bare fists, so why was a monster like him in Loguetown?

Picard turned around to run lest the Admiral spots him. His goal of escaping failed however when he felt a palm touch his shoulder. He froze and turned his neck to see the seven feet pink haired Admiral behind him. "Ara. Hello there esteemed citizen of Loguetown." he started with a smile. "I am Admiral Coby and I am looking for someone". Picard started sweating like a pig and his life passed through his eyes. Given it wasn't exciting or anything but it was his life damn it!

"Ooh. R-Really? And who would that be?" he said with a stutter. Picard almost fainted when he saw the admiral fall asleep while standing. A huge bubble coming out of his nose. 'What the fuck! He fell asleep!' Not believing his own luck he started walking away, he didn't make two steps before the bubble 'popped' waking the admiral up. "Ara, sorry I fell asleep. Hahahaha!" the monster barked a deep chortle.

"ahaha... " Picard wanted to sink into the ground and disappear from the face of the earth. "So who were you looking for admiral-san?" he asked unsure whether he should remind the marine of his objective.

"Uh? I was looking for someone?" he asked absentmindedly while scooping his nose.

With a sigh Picard released the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Yeah, you said you were looking for some..." He was interrupted however when the Admiral clapped an open palm with his fist. "Ah.. You wouldn't happen to be Pierre Le Picard?" he asked.

'Shit. Shit. Double shit.!' Picard didn't wait around to see how things would end up, he turned around and started running as fast as his feet would take him. A gust of wind hit him and he fell backwards on his butt. The tall admiral standing above him. Death. The admiral's eyes were covered by the bangs of pink hair, but he somehow knew that the admiral was staring at him. For the first time ever since his mother's death at the hands of that man, he felt fear. It wasn't the kind of fear one felt for his life. Neither was it fear for someone else of himself. Picard saw his own death a thousand times, stabbed, kicked, strangled. His bones shook and for a moment he decided that he didn't want to feel like this ever again. The unadulterated fear that he was feeling right now. He didn't want this. He was weak. He was an insect. If he somehow made it through this ordeal he would make sure that he would never feel weak again. A recent memory covered the fear. A blond teenager grinning like a loon. 'Sail with me, let's storm the world together, Picard!', then darkness.

Naruto jumped away from the roof he was perched upon. Although strong in his own right he doubted he could save his comrade from the admiral. The uneasy feeling in his stomach, that he had never felt before prevented him from jumping right in and soaking a punch in the man's face. He landed upon a balcony and closed his eyes to feel Picard. It was a skill he had ever since he could remember. The voices of things, assisting him into the things he wanted to accomplish. People thought he was crazy when he described the feeling. Nature spoke to him, not like humans who used words and their body to communicate. No, it was like touching something or smelling. A sixth sense. Later on he found out that even other people and animals 'spoke' to him. A punch from right, a left hook, kick, slash, jump, danger, trust him, avoid him. This and many other things occurred to him during fights and encounters.

For the first time in his life the voices stayed silent. A warning to run, as if nature itself didn't know how to assist him. It took him seconds to realize that it wasn't really the voice of things that didn't want to help him. It was just that anything he did at the moment would end up in his loss. So he went back to wait and find a way to save Picard. The marine base of Loguetown was quite famous for stopping countless pirates from making it to the grand line. Loguetown was after all the 'start and the end' of all pirates' destination. Anyone making it through and into the grand line was already set apart from the small time pirates that haunted the four oceans. Just on the other side of the red line that was a week's travel, was Raftel and the theorized location of the 'One Piece'. However a sailor would have to sail towards the other side of the red line to access it. The reason being that you could only pass the reverse mountain from the other side where the 'New World' was located.

Naruto didn't mind, the whole point of finding one piece was the adventure after all.

Naruto jumped on top of the roof top with his plan finalized. Which consisted of three stages. Find Picard, save him, escape Loguetown and sail away. Easy right?

Picard woke up with a groan, he was sprawled on the floor. He tried to stand up only to realize that a heavy metal ball was attached to his foot. The cell was small, it had a dinky bed with an even dinkier toilet right next to a small sink. The smell of the dank room hit his nose and he retched a bit at how smelly a single cell could be. It was unlike the last one where he was detained with the thugs, so he assumed that they isolated him so he couldn't escape.

With a little effort he picked himself up and sat on the floor. Looking at the front where the bars were located he noticed a small white terrier dog that had a key ring with multiple keys on top of it. The tiny dog was staring at him with a cold look. Picard moved closer to the bars and pushed his palm outside gesturing the dog closer in hope of retrieving the loop. The dog didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Leave it be. That little bastard would never bring the keys over." said a voice from the nearby cell. Picard pushed his head through the bars to look at the old man. He had long white hair and looked sturdy for a man his age. The weird vertical red lines under the eyes confused him a bit but he shrugged it off as some weird tattoo.

"You've been here long old man?" he asked.

"Old man?" he asked amused. "I am still in my prime you brat!" he yelled half joking.

"Yeah, and I am in the Pirate King's crew. " he said sarcastically.

The man's eyes widened a bit "Really?" he asked to which Picard sweat dropped. "Are you an idiot?"

"Who are you calling an idiot, idiot!"

"Shut up"

"Annoying brat."

"Stupid geezer!"

Their bickering was interrupted by a snicker. "And here I thought my first mate needed me, and what do I find? Him bickering with an old man! Kihahaha" Picard turned around to see Naruto hanging from the small bar covered window.

"Oi, didn't I tell you that I you that shouldn't decide for me?" Picard asked annoyed.

"hmm. Did you really?" Naruto asked absentmindedly.

"Ugh.. I give up, don't talk anymore." Picard said with a huff.

"Fine then, since you want to decide for yourself, I'll let you decide. If I save you, will you join my crew?" he asked with a grin. Picard who had his arms crossed opened an eye and smirked at the blonde. "There is an admiral on the island you know, if you manage to get me out then I'll join, I'll even let you have my ship."

"Kihahaha! Fine then." Naruto tossed him a small plastic bag that had cooked meat inside of it,. "What the hell is this? Are you kidding me?" he yelled in frustration. To his confusion Naruto starting laughing. "My gramps used to bring me to the cells in order to show me what happens to criminals. He wanted me to become a marine." he scoffed. "You see that dog? His name is Charlie. He only eats cooked beef and would probably mutiny if he wasn't fed right. However there is one thing that Charlie can't resist and that's cooked beef that came from the Moo village in eastern Polestar island." Picard's mouth was left hanging open while the old man start guffawing.

"Tsk. Fine then." Picard opened the bag and started shaking it in front of the tiny terrier.

Charlie sniffed the air and looked around him to make sure that no one was looking. He shot Picard a cold look, warning him to not deny him the tasty treat and walked slowly towards the edge of the cell. Picard, who seriously doubted the blonde's advise was astonished that the dog would actually cave in due to some meat, but decided to to look a gift horse in the mouth. Snatching the key loop that was now laying on the floor next to the cell he quickly opened the door and walked out, hindered by the metal ball that weighted quite a lot he walked next to the old man's cell and unlocked it. The man shot his a confused look. "What the hell are you doing? Close the door again." he said.

"Are you senile you geezer? I am letting you go free!" he yelled.

The old man scoffed. "I am here because of the free food damn it! Now close the door and get out!"

"Huh?" Picard sweat dropped at the man's attitude. He smacked the door shut. "Fine have it your way!" he said dismissively.

Naruto was watching the on goings from his perch outside the window. The feeling of the man told him that he could easily escape if he wanted too so he didn't really care whether the man escaped with them or without. "Old man, what's your name?" Naruto asked.

The man looked towards the origin of the voice that was now perched upon his own window. To Naruto's amusement the man jumped up and struck a Kabuki pose, "I am the man that is feared and admired by all men! The man that every woman loves! I am Jiraya! The sage of Wano kuni!" he finished off with a clap. Naruto and Picard were speechless at the man's introduction. Picard wondered if the old man's metal ball was lighter because he moved freely while he had to drag the thing behind him. Naruto broke into hysterical laughter at the display. "I like you old man! Hope to see you again. I'll be waiting at the ship!"

Picard sighed and started his way towards the exit. He was surprised however when Jiraya pulled his metal ball and broke it of its chain. "I wish you a good trip with your captain you shitty brat" he cackled. "Well, thanks and fuck you too!" he smiled when Jiraya's laughter grew louder and walked away from the cell.

To Picard's surprise the base seemed empty in comparison to its size. The corridors that led outside where numerous and confusing but he ended up on the south exit of the base. After avoiding a couple of patrols that mostly consisted of 'in training' cadets he took the exit which was guarded by a sleeping man who could easily pass for a fat lady. So here he was in front of the ship he had stolen but a few days ago ready to sail the seas with a man he knew nothing about. Only one thing remained from the last week in his mind and that was the powerlessness and fear he felt when facing the admiral. He would never let himself feel that way ever again.

Jiraya was eating the dingy loaf of bread he procured from the marines. The base broke into a pandemonium when the same inmate escaped for a second time in the same week. The tall admiral walked into the cell room. "Jiraya, the toad sage of Wano. I don't really know what an official of the revolutionary army is doing in East Blue. The new world is where your people like to dwell is it not?"

"Shahaha. They must be really worried if they sent you to get me to Impel Down."

"Yeah you could say that your arrival here raised quite a few questions in the Gorosei. I guess you want to do this the hard way?"

The man smirked as he looked up to Coby. "The ladies wouldn't like me if I didn't like it hard, now would they?"

"Chapter 1 - End"