Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga/movies/etc. that I write about; otherwise I would be a millionaire NOT writing on fanfiction publishing my own ideas.
Summary: What if Luffy ate a different Devil's Fruit as a child? Not just any fruit, but the most powerful of the Zoan fruits, the Chimera-Chimera Fruit. It is a legendary Zoan fruit that allows the user to take on the forms of any Zoan fruit users, as well a true form as the mythical chimera. How will this change the course of the One Piece world? Pairing most likely Luffy/Boa Hancock, but not till much later.
Chimera Luffy
Years ago there was a man named Gol D. Roger, or as he was better known as "Gold" Roger, who held the title of Pirate King, due to his conquering of the toughest sea known to man: The Grand Line. Before his execution, he was asked where his vast treasure was. His final words were, "My fortune is yours for the taking, but you'll have to find it first. I left everything I own in one piece." This started the golden age of piracy where every pirate in the world went searching for 'One Piece' in hopes of becoming the next ruler of the seas as the Pirate King.
Time passed and we find ourselves ten years later in the quiet town of Windmill Village. Or not so quiet, since a band of pirates under the command of "Red-Haired" Shanks, one of the Four Emporers of the Sea, four of the most powerful pirates of that era. What would this vicious band of bloodthirsty sea-dogs be doing in such a remote part of the world you ask? They were partying like there's no tomorrow in the local tavern with some of the locals. At the bar of the tavern we see a young boy by the name of Monkey D. Luffy and Shanks, captain of the Red-Haired pirates. Luffy is a young seven year old boy with jet black hair, a white shirt with a picture of an anchor on it, blue shorts, and a bandage currently under his left eye while "Red-Haired" Shanks is a slightly average height man wearing a button down long-sleeved white shirt, black pants with a sash holding them up, sandals, three vertical scars over his left eye, and a straw hat over his bright red hair, hence the nickname. The reason for the celebration was also the reason Luffy currently had the bandage under his eye. In order to prove his manliness to the pirate crew, Luffy had taken a dagger and cut himself to prove that he could withstand pain, despite the fact that he had tears in his eyes and was obviously trying to hold out crying like a little baby. The crew had decided to hold a party to, in their own words, 'celebrate Luffy's craziness.'
"That didn't hurt at all!" said Luffy in a voice that would make it obvious to a brainless monkey that he was lying.
"Liar," said Shank's, his crew, most of the people in the village, and anyone who's ever read the first chapter of the One Piece manga.
"I'm not afraid of pain at all! Next time bring me out to sea!" exclaimed Luffy in the excited voice of a child ready for an adventure, "I want to be a pirate too!"
"You can't handle being a pirate! Being able to swim is a pirate's greatest weakness!" Said Shanks while supporting a knowing smile on his face, most likely thinking back to when he first wanted to become a pirate.
Luffy, with a ticked off look on his face shot back, "As long as I stay on the ship I'll be fine! Besides my fighting is pretty good too! I've been training my whole life and my punch is as strong as a pistol!" Luffy finished with a proud grin on his face.
Shanks seemed skeptical at the young boy's high opinion of himself, but his crew wasn't helping the matter by telling Luffy how awesome the life of a pirate is. Luffy listened enthusiastically, his eagerness only increasing by the minute. Shanks tried to act as the voice of reason by telling Luffy that he was still too young to live the life of a pirate, which Luffy heatedly denied.
"Don't be mad, here have some juice," Shanks said with a mischievous smile. Luffy thanked the pirate and drank the juice down with the usual child-like enthusiasm. As soon as Luffy was done with the juice Shanks could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing, "You really are a kid! That's too funny!" He gasped out between bouts of laughter.
"That was a dirty trick!" Luffy cried indignantly as he watched the captain laugh at his expense. Luffy left the bar table in a huff muttering about the indignity of it all when he noticed Shanks' first mate, Ben Beckman, make a come here motion while lighting up a cigarette.
"Luffy, while I understand that you're upset, you should try to understand the captain's feelings," the pirate said between puffs of smoke. Seeing the small boy's confused expression, Ben explained, "While the captain knows that being a pirate is interesting, he also knows that the life of a pirate is hard and very dangerous. You understand? He's not purposely teasing your ambitions of being a pirate."
"I don't understand!" Luffy said irritated. "Shanks just takes me for an idiot," Looking in said man's direction, Luffy noticed Shanks stifling his giggles about the prank he just pulled. "See?!" Luffy shouted while pointing an accusing finger in Shanks' direction.
A distraction came in the form of the bar's owner Makino asking Luffy if he wanted something to eat. Never one to pass down food, especially food of the meat variety, Luffy eagerly plopped down next to Shanks and dug in to his food. Luffy then asked how long the pirates would be staying and, after finding out they would be staying for the year, promised Shanks that he would learn to swim by that time. Suddenly the tavern's door was kicked open by a man who looked like a cross between a hobo and a street thug walked in. Eyeing the pirates seated around the bar, the obvious meth addict made a snarky comment on the pirates' appearances despite the obvious fact that he was obviously outnumbered 50:1 against superior opponents, which let us know that the man has an IQ that makes Luffy seem like Steven Hawking. Everyone was looking at the sad excuse of a bandit that they never noticed Luffy eating an oddly colored and shaped piece of fruit, not even Luffy. The hobo man walked up to the bar and introduced himself as a bandit and demanded ten barrels of sake for he and his men. When told that the sake was sold out, the self-proclaimed bandit leader frowned and looked around the room.
"Oh, that's strange, then what are they drinking? Is it water?" the bandit, whose name was Higuma, asked.
"No it's sake, but it's all we had," explained Makino to Higuma.
"Sorry about that," said Shanks trying to diffuse the situation. "Looks like finished all the sake here. Here, if you don't mind take the last bottle." He said while holding up the unopened bottle of sake, which Higuma promptly smashed sending sake splashing all over the pirate captain, much to the shock of Luffy and the other's present in the bar. Most likely they were shocked at the stupidity of the bandit once again ignoring how outnumbered and out classed he was.
Higuma went into a small rant on how he was the prime fugitive figure around the village and how his head was worth $8,000,000 and blah, blah, blah. Shanks ignored the man in favor of cleaning up the newly created mess on the floor. Higuma, seeing as no one seemed to give a crap about what he was saying took out his sword (not like that, you perverts), and proceeded to smash all the glassware on the bar right on top of Shanks. Seriously, you'd think he'd quit while he's ahead. With a few more condescending words, the bandit leader stormed out of the tavern. As Makino checked on Shanks to see if he was all right, which he assured that he was, the rest of the pirate crew started cracking jokes on what just happened, with Shanks joining in to the laughter. The only person not laughing, however, was Luffy.
"Why are you laughing?" Luffy shot out while looking quite ticked. Seeing Shanks' puzzled expression, Luffy went on a slight rant saying, "That was disgraceful! Why didn't you fight him?! So what if they have more people? Who laughs after getting picked on? You're not a man and not a pirate either!"
Shanks paused for a second before saying, "Look Luffy, I know how you feel, but it's just a bottle of sake. There's nothing to get worked up about." Seeing as Luffy didn't like this answer and was leaving towards the door in a huff while calling Shanks a coward and that he didn't want to see him again, Shanks reached out to stop him saying, "Oh come on. Don't go Luffy…"
Shanks stopped mid-sentence as Luffy suddenly came to a halt gripping his stomach as if he was in pain. "Luffy are you all..?" Shanks started to ask before Luffy fell to the floor screaming in pain. "My body feels like it's on fire!" Luffy managed to say before continuing his screaming and withering. Shanks and Makino were about to get a doctor before they and all the pirates in the bar noticed Luffy go through a startling transformation. Luffy's head and body became like that of a lion with goat horns, his arms became reptilian like with sharp claws but maintained their opposable thumbs, his back legs took the shape of a goats, and finally a long, lizard-like tail elongated from his spin. The entire bar was silent, save for Luffy's slightly animal-like gasps as he tried to steady himself. All the pirates and Makino stared wide-eyed and pale-faced at what Luffy had just become. Shanks was the first to compose himself, seeing similar things during his many years on the Grand Line.
"Luffy, are you all right?" Shanks managed to ask in a voice just above a whisper.
"Y-yeah," Luffy managed to stammer out in slightly deeper voice, not that anyone really noticed or cared at this point. "Whew that was weird, almost felt like my entire body was being turned inside out. Must have been something I ate." Luffy mused before turning and noticing that most of the other people in the bar were still staring at him in wide-eyed shock. "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Luffy asked while everyone in the bar felt the urge to face-fault despite the shock they were still feeling. Most of the pirates were starting to get over their shock and took a closer look at the transformed boy. Despite his animal appearance, Luffy wasn't much different than when he was human. He was larger, but only by about 6 inches, his new mane was as black as his hair had been before the transformation, his eyes still held the child-like innocence they once held, only with slitted pupils. He still wore his clothes, but they seemed bulky under his new form and his bandage fell off, reveling a small scar under his left eye. What finally brought the pirates out of their daze was the confused expression held on Luffy's feline face, something that would make most little girls squeal on how cute it looked.
Luffy, meanwhile, was started to get annoyed that no one was answering his question and hurried over to the mirror near the bar table, not noticing the changes to his body because a) now that the initial pain was over his body felt just like it always did, he just couldn't figure out why his clothes suddenly felt tight and why if felt like his spine was longer somehow and b) this is Luffy we're talking about. He probably wouldn't notice a forest fire unless someone pointed it out to him. When Luffy reached the mirror and looked in he gave a startled yelp and fell backwards. Getting up he went to look in the mirror again and noticed the strange, wide-eyed creature in it was following his movements exactly. It was then he looked down and took notice of his body. Luffy felt his panic growing as he looked over the changes his body had and looking behind him he finally noticed his tail. "HOLY CRAP! I HAVE A TAIL!" Luffy shouted out in shock. This caused any remaining shock the residents of the bar were feeling to disperse and they all sweat-dropped.
'He only now noticing the tail?" everyone thought with exasperated expressions on their face.
"Hey captain," said Lucky Roo, a slightly fat member of the Red-Hair pirates who was almost constantly snacking on a drumstick, "you don't think Luffy…Oh no!" he shouted, "The Chimera fruit from our chest is gone!" Lucky exclaimed while looking at the now empty chest next to where Luffy was sitting. Quickly going over to Luffy, Lucky pulled out a drawing of the fruit from…somewhere and asked the monster-like boy, "Luffy, did you eat this?!"
Luffy, with a slightly confused look on his transformed face said, "Well yeah, isn't that dessert? It tasted pretty bad tough."
Shanks ran up to the animal hybrid and shouted out, "That was the Chimera-Chimera Fruit! It's one of the most powerful of the legendary Devil's Fruit! It's said whoever eats it can become any animal the person can think of as well as the mythical beast, the chimera!"
Shock seemed to go over Luffy's face before he broke out into a wide Cheshire-cat grin, "You mean I can become any animal? Like a tiger or an eagle?" He asked excitedly.
Shanks, able to calm himself down some, looked at Luffy with a serious expression, "Yes Luffy, you can become all that and more. The Devil's Fruits are one of the rarest treasures of the sea. There are three types of Devil's Fruit: the Parmecia, which gives the user super-human abilities like being able to stretch like rubber or separate their body parts; the Zoan, which allows the person to become a certain animal as well as an animal-human hybrid; and the Logia, which turns the user's body into an element like fire or lightning. You Luffy, ate a Zoan fruit. Unlike other Zoan-type Devil's Fruit it is not limited to one type of animal or human-animal hybrid, as well as gives the user the form of the legendary Chimera, like what you are now. That is why it is considered a Mythical Zoan fruit due to its ability to turn the user into a legendary creature. However, it is said whoever eats a Devil's Fruit is cursed by Sea Devils and will never be able to swim!"
Luffy gained a shocked expression and cried out, "Whaaaaat?! Are you kidding me?!"
"You idiot!" yelled Shanks.
Time skip
A few weeks had passed since Luffy ate the Chimera fruit, and after a few hours of concentration he didn't know he had, Luffy was able to finally shift back into his human form. He was still trying to figure out how to shift between forms at will, as well as how to shift into other animals, but so far the only progress he made was being able to change his hands into the reptilian claws of his Chimera form. Life had went back to normal in Windmill Village. The Red-Haired pirates had gone sailing for a few days, the mayor of the town was annoying Luffy by repeatedly telling him to avoid hanging out with the pirates, and Luffy was getting the tar kicked out of him by Higuma and his gang of bandits…wait, what?
Let's rewind a bit. Luffy was back in the bar talking to Makino about Shanks when Higuma and his men came barging in and demanding sake and soon started insulting the Red-Haired pirates. This soon escalated into a fight between Luffy and the bandits as Luffy tried to force Higuma to apologize about the bar incident with Shanks. Luffy then tried to use his Fruit's powers to transform into his chimera form to teach a lesson to the bandits, but thanks to his crappy control over his powers and his increasing anger towards the bandits, he was only able to make his arms into their reptilian claws like usual. Not one to back down, Luffy still tried to attack Higuma but was easily knocked back, only managing to slightly tear the end of the bandit's coat.
"You're a different type of human, aren't you," Higuma observed while looking at the slight tears in his coat, "and you've ruined my best coat. Maybe I should sell you to the circus as payback, hm?" Luffy made several attempts to clobber the bandit, but said bandit was able to easily knock the Chimera boy around like a kicked puppy. The mayor and Makino came and tried to apologize for Luffy's actions, but the bandit decided to kill the seven year old out of sheer annoyance due to Luffy constantly insulting the man. Just as it looked like the end for Luffy, and a really crappy start of a story, Deus Ex Machida decided to raise its head in the form of the Red-Haired pirates returning to port. Shanks noticed the lack of welcome and, deciding to check out what was wrong, came upon the scene just as it looked like Higuma was about to kill Luffy.
"Luffy, what's wrong? Didn't you say your punch was strong as a pistol?" Shanks asked as he casually walked up to where the bandits were. Higuma, annoyed by the interruption, threatened Shanks to mind his own business while one of his men pointed a pistol directly against Shanks' head. "Well since you pulled out your gun, I guess we have to fight. You know, you really shouldn't use guns to threaten people." Just then, Lucky Roo appeared out of nowhere, killing the bandit with a quick shot to the temple with his own pistol. The bandits and villagers stared at the scene in shock. Higuma recovered his senses and started yelling on how the pirates were using dirty tricks. "Dirty? Don't make me laugh. The people standing in front of you aren't saints, we're pirates," stated Shanks calmly, "Now listen well bandits, you can insult me, you can pour drinks on me, but one thing I can't forgive no matter what the reason, NOBODY hurts my friends!"
Higuma laughed this treat off and sent his men to kill the pirates. Ben Beckman stepped forward and, using his rifle as a club, beat all of the bandits in a matter of minutes. Higuma, realizing how screwed he was tried to defend his actions by saying Luffy started it. Shanks easily dismissed this, saying they'd just turn in the bandit's bounty. The leader of the downed bandits threw a smoke bomb and escaped in the confusion, taking a beaten Luffy with him. Higuma went out to sea on a small dingy with Luffy and, seeing as he didn't need the kid as a hostage anymore, cruelly kicked Luffy into the ocean were he immediately started to drown. Higuma was so busy laughing at Luffy's expense that he didn't notice the huge shadow raise up behind him. By the time he turned around, he and his boat were already being swallowed whole by a large, eel-like sea king. The large serpent then tried to snatch up a struggling Luffy, but he was pulled out of the way just in time by Shanks. "Get lost," Shanks stated while giving the sea king a look that would make most men lose control of their bowels. The sea-king immediately swam off leaving a sobbing Luffy and Shanks bobbing in the ocean. "Makino told me what happened. Thanks for sticking up for us Luffy." Luffy continued to sob and Shanks said, "Oh come on Luffy, boys don't cry."
"But…Shanks…YOUR ARM!" Luffy cried out while looking at the bleeding stump that used to be Shanks' left arm. "It's nothing, just an arm. As long as you're alive."
Luffy learned a valuable lesson that day, that the sea could be a very dangerous place, which was why Shanks didn't want the boy to become a part of his crew. However, Luffy soon noticed a problem, they were in the middle of the ocean with no boat in site, sense Shanks' lifeboat drifted off during the excitement and Higuma's boat was in the belly of an over grown eel. Luffy then notice how pale Shanks' was starting to look as well as the amount of blood pouring out of his new handicap. 'I've got to do something!' Luffy thought, 'Shanks may die, and it will be all my fault!' Realizing the seriousness of the situation, and that his new found hero's life may be in danger, Luffy gathered on previously unseen determination in himself.
'I've got to save him! I can't let him die like this! Stupid body won't let me swim! Please, give me the strength to save him, let me…huh?' Luffy then noticed a change to his body, while he might feel as natural as he normally did, he realized he was no longer sinking, in fact he was swimming! He also noticed that his body felt more powerful in a way and it felt like he could hold his breath longer, and when he breathed in it almost felt like he was taking air in from the top of his head.
As this was happening, Shanks was busy thinking on the fastest way to get to land. 'Okay, I have no boat and I'm fairly injured with a seven year old who can't swim. It'll be tough, but I should be able to make it back to land and to a doctor with plenty of time to spare. Now to grab Luffy and…what the?' Shanks noticed he was no longer holding onto a small child; instead he was gripping the dorsal fin of a young dolphin! "Luffy? Is that you?" Shanks asked incredulously. "Yeah Shanks, it's me! Looks like I learned how to swim after all, and with a Devil's Fruit too!" The porpoise happily chirped "No time to question it, we better get you back to land!" Shanks nodded dumbly as dolphin shot through the water with him holding on tight. 'This kid, he just continues to surprise me.' Shanks mentally chuckled.
Time skip
A few weeks had passed since the bandit incident, and it was now time that the Red-Haired pirates had to set sail from Windmill Village. Luffy was standing before Shanks as the pirate captain asked the young boy if he was upset over their leaving.
"Yea but…I won't force you to take me with you any longer. I'll become a pirate by myself!" said Luffy.
"Heh," chuckled Shanks before sticking out his tongue at the Chimera boy and saying teasingly, "I wouldn't take you even if you begged me. You don't have what it takes to be a pirate!"
Luffy got a large tick-mark on his forehead and shouted back at Shanks, "Yes I do! One day I'll find a crew that is as strong as yours! And then I'll find the world's biggest treasure! And become King of the Pirates!"
As his crew looked on in amusement, Shanks said, "Oh, you want to be bigger than us huh? Well then…" Reaching up, Shanks took the straw hat that he had on his head and placed it on top of Luffy's head saying, "This hat is my gift to you. This is my favorite hat, you know. So when you become a great pirate in the future, return that hat to me."
With that, the Red-Haired pirates hauled anchor and sailed off, leaving the waving townsfolk and the crying Luffy in the distance. They were not seen in the village again for many, many years.
Time skip
It had been 10 years since the Red-Haired pirates had left Windmill Village. The villagers were once again gathered around the ports, this time to bid farewell to a 17 year old Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy had changed a bit over the years. What was once a small boy was now an average height young man with lean, athletic muscles if you looked closely. He still carried the small scar under his left eye, but his wardrobe had changed drastically. He now wore a button down red vest and jean shorts that cut off slightly above the knees. He wore simple sandals on his feet and had Shanks' straw hat on top of his raven black hair. Also added to his attire was a semi-large Bowie knife tucked into a sheath located on his belt with a red handle and a gold guard over the blade.
Currently was on a small skiff about a mile away from his village's harbor when the water in front of his boat started to bubble and the large eel monster from his childhood suddenly burst from the ocean's depths!
"Oh hey!" called Luffy, "You come to see me off?"
The sea king nodded his large head before causing a small wave that propelled Luffy's skiff forward with the power of a jet ski. Laughing, Luffy turned around and waved good-bye to the over-sized eel, who again nodded its head before diving back down beneath the waves. What caused this sudden change in behavior you may ask? Well over the years, Luffy had perfected his Chimera powers to the point where he could become any animal, as well as any animal-human hybrid, so long as he knew what said animal looked like. A few years ago, Luffy was able to turn himself into a sea king almost identical to the one near Windmill Village. As an animal himself, Luffy was able to talk to the large sea monster and was able to befriend it, as well as most of the animals near or on the island where he grew up.
"Heh," Luffy chuckled before loudly announcing to the heavens, "I'LL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!"
Little did Luffy or anyone in the world at the time know that this one small act would lead to world changing events and life changing adventures! This is the story of "Straw-Hat" Luffy!
AN: Hey there! This is mellra just giving the standard author's note. I've been a frequent user to this site for the past year or so, and I thought I'ld give writing a shot. Now while I have many great ideas on stories, I lack certain writing skills like writing dialogue, so that's why I plan to keep as close to canon as possible with a few plot twists along the way. Now, while I may never officially 'abandon' this story, school and life as well as previously mentioned lack of writing skills will mean that the story updates may be infrequent. If someone would like to take this idea from me, please let me know and I would gladly give my consent and advice on what I had planned for latter chapters. Now I've noticed on this site that having Luffy as a Zoan user is a rarely done idea, and the ones that are out there aren't very good. I would like to thank Durphey21 who not only wrote a Zoan!Luffy story at my request, but also posted my challenge up on his user page for me. I would also like to encourage any aspiring One Piece fanfiction writers out there to try writing a Zoan!Luffy story of their own. Hope you all enjoy and please let me know what you think in Reviews and PMs. Till next time!
AN2: Went back and edited some of the story errors that were pointed out to me. Thanks so much to the people who have already favorited and reviewed this story and I hope you all continue to do so. Some things I forgot to mention about Luffy: Luffy in this story is sort of modeled after Beast Boy from Teen Titans and Young Justice, minus the green and being a vegetarian, as well as Crocidile Dundee, hence the Bowie Knife. Not only does it give Luffy more options in battle, but I can see Luffy using a large knife more than a sword like some fics have him using. He can also understand and speak to animals, thought the latter is only when he transforms into an animal himself. Luffy also has Haki to an extent, though he doesn't realise it. The way I figure it, Haki's 85 percent instincts and Luffy, being able to transform into any animal in the world, has higher insticts than normal, even more so than in canon. He can use the observational Haki as well as the Haki of the Supreme King at this point, but he isn't aware of either at this time. Luffy's Chimera form is based off the standard image of the legendary chimera, combining a lion, a ram, a dragon, and a snake all into one being. There are still a few suprises that Luffy's Devil's Fruit has, but they won't be seen till later. Again, please review and let me know what you think!