Freedom under Fire
Author's Note: I don't own One Piece. I don't own anything. I'm currently homeless.
Here's a story about it.
Sea air calmed him.
Or it had, once before.
It had for most of his life by allowing him to envision his future as a great man sailing the seas with nothing to interfere with his fun, but today… The taste of salt assaulted his senses, and the cool breeze felt sharp on his skin. The rain had gone, but the night air remained humid, and the dark clouds kept up, ominously watching him from below.
"You have no chance as you are now."
Standing on the cliff side of Mt. Colubo, the young boy, just recently turned 14, looked troubled.
It was not a familiar expression. Though he had dealt with many challenges in the past, and had faced fear itself, he had never felt this… small.
"They will come for you."
His eyes shut tight and his mouth twisted, a twinge of sour on his features. Oh how he wished Ace was here right now, but he had left for his own journey last week.
Without him.
Monkey D. Luffy gripped his strawhat, bringing it over his eyes, his only source of his comfort.
Little brother was alone now, and Ace would be ashamed to see him as he was now, panicky and apprehensive. Would he have to live this life? Looking over his shoulder at every moment?
The clap of thunder may have stirred him originally, but it was the sight before him that had woken him and left him curled up against the wall, having fallen on his rump in shock.
A man in a dark green robe stood in the center of his room in Dadan's hut.
Strong winds whipped his robes and had seemed to blown in his window, from the glass spread across his cot and hardwood floor. Rain floated in through the gap in the wall, soaking them both, but neither of them moved. All he could do was cower in his intruder's presence.
His big voice and indomitable will was snuffed like candle light under the PRESSURE this man radiated.
Lightning struck outside, reverberating through the thin walls of the hut and shaking it by it's foundation.
"Ac-" Luffy almost called for his brother, but realized he was alone. The second cot was still fresh with his scent, but that didn't change the fact that Ace had been gone for a full day. His lips tightened and shut, knowing that he was alone in this situation.
Luffy gripped the plastered wall, and attempted to stand, but his legs wobbled and elastic legs fell beneath him, dropping him back on his rump.
Whatever this feeling was, he had to get away, it was insufferable, heavy on his shoulders and hot on his skin. He saw his chest raising and falling, but the sound of his ears ringing blocked out the sound of his own breath.
There were mutterings from the robe, impressed at his consciousness, but the Robe spoke for him.
"As you are now, you WILL die."
The voice was booming and loud, drowning out the banging and beating of the wooden door behind him, held back only by his back as the bandits behind it attempted to force their way in.
Luffy shook his head pitifully, attempting to speak. The word die riled him up, and his aggressor seemed to notice. "N-Not until I fulfill…"
Head cocked, he wondered aloud, "your ambition?" There was a curiosity to his tone.
His hand lifted, and he grabbed at his own straw hat, looking for strength.
Angrily, Luffy raised his head, for just a moment, spoke in outrage, his voice feeling louder than it ever had, "The freest man in the world… King of all Pirates!"
There was a pregnant pause, silence almost more terrifying than the berating he had been receiving. And just like that, the pressure increased two fold, and the fight was taken right out of young Monkey D. Luffy.
"Your existence is a law broken in their eyes, you must be more than you are now if you wish to survive." He boomed, speaking with the volume of a megaphone, but to Luffy, he might as well have been speaking gibberish. The pressure was only increasing, and rattling his brain.
It took all he had to stay awake.
"Who?" He had managed to choke out the single question.
These were not the threats of a man after him.
Luffy may be ignorant, but he was still able to decipher this message. This was not an attempt on his life, this was a warning.
There was a pause, but Luffy caught sight of big teeth, a grin reminiscent to his own, shining in the newest flash of lightning striking the forest nearby.
"This WORLD." He answered, as the winds grew stronger, and the man's mental assault only intensified. This foreign feeling of another man's intrusion on his very soul kept him shook, and he didn't know if he would be able to stay awake much longer, the edge of his sight already darkened.
"Remember this suffering. And you may survive yet," He finished. He took a step forward, barely moving from his spot, but the door cracked open behind him, Dadan's face attempting to squeeze through the miniscule opening.
But there was no use, winds grew more turbulent and with one harsh look, Luffy dropped backwards, his limbs growing limp, sweat drenching him, and unfamiliar foam gathered in the back of his throat.
"Your freedom is under fire."
Lightning flashed once again, and with just that inch of space separated between them, the man's face was clear to him, lips twisted into a minatory smile.
"Good luck."
Thunder clapped, and Luffy was alone again.
By the time Dadan and her crew entered, his head slumped.
Luffy had been here for hours, there had been no doting on him by the bandits, he had been yelled at for "hooligan" shenanigans in what he assumed was Dadan's cover for her fear of having her fortified territory broken into so easily, but Luffy did not bother to address her concerns. His mind was elsewhere as he looked to the ocean.
Concern for Ace weighed on his mind, realizing this man must have come from the same seas that his brother currently sailed.
But Ace had his own adventure. He didn't need his little brother worrying for his, trying to protect him. It would offend his brother to chase him after seas. He wasn't allowed to follow Ace, for either of their sakes. Not for three years.
It would be breaking their promise.
He owed Sabo that much.
His head was beginning to simmer, he was thinking too much on all this.
But he couldn't help but keep thinking, why would this man warn him? Who was he? What was coming? Did they have the same strength that his attacker possessed?
For a moment, the thought filled him with apprehension, he had never been so afraid in his life.
However, something more important was on the line. Someone wanted to take his dream from him? And once again, his one-tracked mind showed itself and got to work.
His digits tightened into fists, and a growl forced its way from his throat. Whatever mysterious entity wanted to come for him, whatever strength they had, they were no stronger than the promises he had made.
Not stronger than his promises to Sabo, not stronger than his promises to Ace.
And certainly not his promises to Shanks. He had to become a great pirate before he met Red-Hair once more. He had to bring back the man's hat, as proof of them being equals.
And then the promise to himself. That wasn't enough though, clearly. This ambition of his, it had to be said not to individual men and women, but to be thrown into the world.
"LISTEN HERE! MY NAME IS MONKEY D. LUFFY!" He screamed purposelessly, not directed to anyone or anything, his voice echoing through the heavy forested area, and elicited an angry protest and yelp from Dadan and her bandits.
'You won't ever have to worry again… Ace!'
"I DON'T CARE WHAT STUPID MIND POWERS YOU HAVE," He felt more powerful than he ever had, able to confidently use his voice again. He vowed to never be so silent.
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU ARE," The pressure that had buried him earlier was now his strength, and he resolved to never feel that weakness again.
"I AM THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME…" He leaned back, balled up fists shaking as he screamed to the heavens, the most conviction he had ever brought into the world.
He would train more until he was the strongest in the world.
Giants would have to look up at him, as he would carry himself taller than any other.
He would never be seen as weak again. Not being a crybaby wasn't enough any longer. He would have to carry his conviction on his back.
People would only be able to see him as the one true…
"PIRATE KING!"
And that's all folks. Chapter one complete.
Here's the Prologue to my newest story, something that I've been thinking about for a while but couldn't help putting to the screen last night.
Hopefully you guys are all for the ride, and hopefully it's bump-free.
