Hello all! Thank you for taking the time to read my VERY FIRST published FIC! EVER! I came up with this a week back, inspiration provided by the lovely HESMUS. She doesn't realize this though :P don't tell her *hush*hush*. This actually is the second fic I got going, but the first one to be sorted out and actually written. My other monster-of-a-fic is a bit crazy, I have everything from characters, battles, pairings, everything! Even the ending! But just not the beginning. Terrible, I know.

This story, however, will not be monstrous. Hopefully no longer than 20 chapters. I will try to update often. No actual schedule, just uploading once the next chapter is complete and ready! Hope you all enjoy!


Prologue

*BON*

*BON*

*BOUN*

The cannonballs' blasts rang out through the air, black smoke filled the midday sky, spreading darkness across the land. A massive rolling roar pounded into his ears. The ground beneath his feet rumbled and shook, reverberating in his chest. Bright lights flash and swirl about, rainbow bubbles blinding his vision. He rubbed the heel of his palm against his eyes. Sight adjusting, the pounding in his chest easing, he opened his eyes.

Projected upon the black sky were two great images, the bounty posters of the two pirate captains. The crowd around him cheered out, chanting their leader's title. "Oyabin! Oyabin!", they called. Nearly 500 pirates surrounded him; Nami to right, Robin and Chopper somewhere near the top of the bleachers. Usopp had taken it upon himself to be Luffy's second. Over the loud roar of excitement, he heard the unmistakable sound of the world's most annoying bird,

"Nami-swan! Nami-swan! Where are you?"

The Katorisenkoku* was currently quacking out his mating call, searching for the self-proclaimed love of his life, the Numimajo*. As the Katorisenkoku approached, Zoro casually straighten a leg out, successfully tripping the blonde sack of crap. Sanji fell face first into the ground, getting popcorn and cola in his tresses.

"Watch where you're going, kuso* cook.", Zoro lazily stated.

"Eh! You shitty bug! You did that on purpose!", Sanji wailed, reaching out and grabbing a fist full of Zoro's hair.

"You got a problem, curly bastard? Maybe you should watch where your aho lovelyn* ass is going!" Zoro grabbed the back of Sanji's shirt, trying to tug the blonde's weight off of his shoulders. They each grabbed each others' faces, pulling hair and poking eyes.

"ARG!", Sanji's shirt sleeve got caught in one of Zoro's earring, causing the marimo* to cry out in pain. Zoro pinched at Sanji's eyebrow, plucking out a few hairs.

"Itai*! You shit! Leggo of my eyebrow!"

"URUSAI!*" Two small fists, two grunts of pain, two head lumps, one groaning marimo, one giggling love cook. "When will you two ever quit?", huffed Nami.

"Ah, forgive me, Nami-swan!", Sanji chirped, heart eye pulsing with adoration. "Please excuse this poor example of a swordsman and his bad manners. Here! I brought you some cola and popcorn!" Sanji stood and shoved Zoro to the side, settling himself next to the redheaded navigator.

A crackle broke through the air,

"Today's match up! A battle between two captains!" was heard from the den den mushis* scattered around the arena. The crowd cheered loudly, calling out praises and rants to their captain. "Entering first! The man who declines no challenges! With a record of 920 wins and 0 losses! The man who wins at every game! Our Oyabin; Silver Fox Foxy!" An explosion of screams and cheers erupted from the stands as Foxy and three … backup dancers? … step out onto the figurehead.

"I wonder if Luffy will be alright.", a concerned Nami points out. "That Split Head guy has that freaky beam, for sure he's going to cheat. Plus, they're on his ship, who knows what crazy weapons and traps he has there."

"Don't worry about Luffy," Zoro says. "He can hold his own just fine. Besides… He's got Usopp", he adds with a snicker.

"I don't think that helps any, Marimo. Now shut up, he's coming out."

"And entering from the right corner, hailing from East Blue, the captain of the weaker pirate crew! -"

"Oi", argues Nami, a tick forming above her brow.

"- A man worth one hundred million belly, known as 'Mugiwara*', the challenger, Monkey D. Luffy!"

Luffy walked out onto the Silver Foxy's figurehead, gloved fists raised above his head, belting out a battle cry. The Mugiwara Pirates (plus Robin and Chopper of the Foxy Pirates) cannot believe their eyes. There, in front of them, stood Luffy; red shorts, shirtless, black elbow sleeves, a strange blue flaming dokuro* painted on his chest, and upon his head an … afro? Usopp is standing behind him, posing like the cocky bastard he is, dressed in his own getup with Luffy's treasured strawhat safely perched on his own.

"Ooh! Nice hair, Luffy!" Sanji exclaims in awe, arms thrown skyward. "What the hell is that?" questions Zoro. Nami stares at her captain, wondering if she made the biggest mistake of her life joining this crazy crew. 'What the hell is Luffy doing? What's the afro for? Is he really that stupid? Mattaku.*' Chopper's eyes sparkle brightly, amazed by how cool Luffy looks. Robin simply giggles in agreement.

The weird mouth announcer, Sludge Worm*? Was that his name?, then explains the rules of the fight; apparently to win the match, one fighter must throw the other off of the ship. Luffy throws a few practice punches as Usopp gives him words of strength, wisdom, and encouragement.

"Listen here, Luffy." Usopp grunts, dropping his tone to lower vocal register. His charisma bleeding through his words. "You're not the boy you once were, Luffy. That hair style awakens the beast in the heart of every man. You may ask 'Does the afro make the champion? Or does the champion make the afro?'. That is a question yet to be understood by modern science. Luffy, When you don that afro, your punches gain power."

Luffy chuckles, voice deep and mature. "Let's get to it, Ossan.*"

"Oh, yeah!" the call in chorus.

"The Davy Back Fight's fateful final round, Combat, is about to begin! ..."

The crowd roars. The two captains stare each other down, one trying to psyche the other out. Luffy, fists raised, glares fiercely, yet confidently, at the Split Head bastard. Foxy, on the other hand, just stands across from him, posture relaxed, with a cheeky grin on his creepy face.

"... But first a word from our sponsors!"


Author Notes and Glossary (Hell yeah! Maybe I should add an appendix as well XD)

And there you have it! The prologue! So, as you may have noticed, this is pretty short. It doesn't really have much to do with the main plot, but it's all connected to this day. I didn't want to add too much detail into this scene and dragging it out too long because, really, the story doesn't revolve around this. I hope that makes sense. Let me know if it doesn't. I'll try and have the next chapter up soon!

Bon - the sound of cannon fire (refer to manga).

Oyabin - boss

Katorisenkoku - a pun on Katorisenkou (mosquito coil), Tori (bird), Koku (cook). He quacked because the animal he resembles most is a duck. [Noted in SBS 20. Robin, Franky, and Brook were noted in SBS 50]

Numimajo - a pun on Nami, Umi (sea), Majo (witch) [Took me 20 mins to make this up -.- mattaku]

Kuso - shit

Aho - stupid, idiot, dumbass

Itai - ouch

Marimo - moss ball. One of Japan's natural treasures.

Urusai - literally 'noisy', can be used as 'shut up', 'annoying', 'irritating', etc.

Den Den Mushi - also known as 'Snail Phone' or 'Transponder Snail'. Used for transmitting audio and visual information.

Dokuro - means 'skull', meant as 'Jolly Roger' or 'Skull and Crossbones'. (Also a very cute PS game. I recommend it to all those with a PSVita)

Mattaku - 'honestly', 'jeez', 'seriously', or 'good grief' (love you Charlie)

Sludge Worm - the game official's name is Itomimizu, which translates as 'Tubifex Worm'. It is a species of tubificid segmented worm. They are also known as 'sludge worms' or sewage worms'. They looks like pink seaweed.

Ossan - 'old man'/'uncle'. Not to be confused with Jijii (old man [Sanji to Zeff]), Jiichan (gramps [Luffy to Garp]), Oyaji (pops/dad [sons to Whitebeard])

Thank you so much for reading! Please review! Find any errors? Typos? OOCness? A better title? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Compliments? Interpretive Dances? Just let me know! I'll do my best to answer them all.

Also, if you noticed, my tense goes back and forth from past to present. Like, Sanji says, Zoro exclaimed, etc, etc. If this bothers you or sounds funny, please let me know and I will fix it. I had a lot of fun editing this. My beta and I did nothing but fight and yell at each other the whole way through. We are kind of the embodiment of Zoro and Sanji, respectively.

Thank you all again! Until next time, ciao!