Disclaimer: Ms. Dragon of owns nothing of the One Piece franchise. Everything you see that has been mentioned in the manga/anime series is owned by Eiichiro Oda and Shonen Jump. Anything you see that is not within the series, such as characters, places, and the plot, are owned by Ms. Dragon. This will be the only time a disclaimer will be seen in the story.
A/N: On with the story! Ready for something new? Well, you've got it! I would really appreciate if someone reviewed, or even alerted. That makes me very happy.
Prologue
The Beginning of an End
"We do not remember days; we remember moments."
-Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand
Some things are meant to be forgotten. Somethings are meant to be remembered and stored away into journals and diaries just for the sake of letting man know that they were real. Somethings are meant to be locked away into the dark depths of one's mind, just so no one thing could ever use that as their weakness.
Some things are meant to be told in stories, so that mankind can remember the past, understand why it happened, and keep it from happening again.
I write this memoir, not for your sake, but for mine. Maybe if I go over those foolish moments, I might remember why I did what I did. But it's obvious, that if asked if I would do it all over again, I would answer with an non-hesitate and passionate "yes".
My story begins long ago, long before any of you were born; where life moves on without thought and question. It was a small coastal town, yet still busy from the coming and going of fishers and merchants and pirates, known as Loguetown.
A woman, long into her elder years, stopped her left hand from continuing on with its messy scribbles that she called cursive. Her wise-old green eyes could understand what she had just written, for she knew that passage by heart and could say it now in her sleep. That's what happened when one thinks of something for so long that it is embedded into their mind.
Her short gray and black bangs swept back and forth from the sea breeze that came from the open window that she sat by.
The faint sounds of a town full of bustling people could be heard off in the distances, and she could see the specks of them even with her horrible eyesight. So many colors of everyday life in the fabric that they wore…
"Grandma! Hey, grandma!" a soft, musical voice sounded just outside of the room she sat in. She turned her head, instantly smiling at the girl with a head full of bouncing black curls.
"Well what a surprise to see you. Come give your old grandma a hug!" The little girl's smile widened as she ran over and jumped into the old woman's lap.
There were giggles and laughter, mostly from the little girl as she squirmed under her grandmother's ticklish fingers.
"Mia! Oh Mia, didn't I tell you to wait?" The old woman turned away from her granddaughter and smiled at the young woman who now stood in the doorway.
Anne smiled gently at her mother and daughter, bouncing a young baby boy on her waist. The small baby gurgled and reached out for the elder woman.
"But mom," Mia whined, stretching out the word, and finally slipped away from her grandmother's delicate hands and sat in the chair just a few feet away. Anne shook her head with a sigh and readjusted the baby on her waist.
A pair of arms came from behind the young mother that still stood in the hall, and clasped hands were held tightly in her front. Anne rolled her eyes, turning her head to give a small kiss on the cheek to her husband, and then was released to go and greet her mother.
Mia bounced with a giggle in the chair at seeing her father, and then turned back to her grandmother.
"Grandma, grandma! When are you going to finally tell me the story of how you met grandpa?"
There was a sudden silence, only the sounds of the town below and the creak of the chair that Mia was bouncing in could be heard.
Anne did everything but held her breath in the tense air. She knew the subject of her father was one that should never be spoken of. She had been told once, and that was the only time she was told. The man had long been gone.
The old woman smiled; something that surprised Anne but she didn't say a word. Silently, Anne and her husband sat down on the small couch on the other side of the room and watched as the scene unfolded.
"Well, seeing as I might not get to see you in the soon future," Anne choked slightly at her mother's words and gave a worried look. "I shall go ahead and tell you now."
Mia began to bounce again, her eyes getting larger from the excitement that welled up in her.
"You see that old brown book over there?" her finger pointed to the book that lay closed, sitting by itself, on the bottom self of a small bookcase. Mia nodded, flashing her eyes away from her grandmother to the large book. "Bring it here. I think it best to show you something in it to help start the story."
A head of bouncing black curls disappeared from the chair and to the bookshelf. Mia picked up the book with a slight huff at the heaviness of it, and brought it back to her grandmother.
"Good, now, let us start…" The old woman's thin fingers flipped through pages trying to find the correct one. "Where should we start?" she thought out loud to herself once finding the correct yellowing page full of greens, blues, and browns.
"At the beginning, grandma!" Mia put in her small opinion.
She smiled, nodding, and placed the book in Mia's lap, pointing to a certain small red dot on the map.
"Log… u… town. What's Log-u-town, grandma?"
The old woman laughed, shaking her head, and corrected the small girl.
"It's Loguetown my dear. That is where the beginning is."
Anne leaned back against the couch, softly rocking her baby boy to sleep. It was rare to see her mother speak anything of her father, let alone Loguetown. This is one of those moments where she wanted to memorize every word her mother said.
"Around sixty-five years ago, our world was not as we knew it. The world, those sixty-five years ago, was ruled by pirates and the Marines. There were no neutrals, no not taking sides, and no excuses. You were either for the pirates or for the Marines-"
"But why, grandma? What did they do to make it like that?"
The old woman smiled, her cheeks wrinkling up as she continued.
"Do you want me to tell the story or not? I can't keep stopping and answering your questions."
The little girl made a motion with her fingers that she was "zipping her lips up".
She nodded, "Good. Now, where was I? Oh yes, the pirates and the Marines. Now, sixty-five years ago, there was a pirate that every man, woman, and child either feared or wanted to be. His name was Gol D. Roger. He was famous for being known as the Pirate King because, well, he was just that. Every pirate wanted to have the power he had.
"Now, sixty-five years ago in Loguetown, he was executed for being such a famous pirate. The Marines had captured him," there was a soft gasp from the little girl who was too lost in the story to care if she interrupted, "and he was sentenced to be killed in front of everyone in Loguetown. His final words were, 'My wealth and treasures? If you want it, I'll let you have it... search for it! I left all of it at that place, all in one piece!'"
Mia jumped slightly, even more excitement written on her face.
Isaac watched with an intrigued look on his face. He had never heard the story before, so this was a treat for himself, just like everyone else in the room that was listening. He glanced at his relaxed wife, seeing that their son was already asleep. May it have been from his grandmother's voice or his mother's rocking, Isaac didn't know.
He turned back to look at his daughter and mother-in-law.
"And so, 'The Great Age of Pirates' had begun. Pirates set out to find 'One Piece', as it had been dubbed, and searched for the riches that would make them the most powerful man, or woman, in the world. You were either a pirate or a Marine. The Marines fought to keep everything under control and stop the pirates. This is where the increase of Pirate Hunters came in. The pirates, always those that were a threat to the Marines, were given bounties on their heads. It ranged anywhere from fifty-thousand Beli to up to the higher hundred million Beli!
"Years passed and pirates kept coming and going, trying to find the famous treasure, but no one was lucky enough to get it," she stopped now, taking the book back and flipping between a few more pages before stopping it again and handing it back.
This time, the old woman leaned back in her own chair and took her small notebook into her hands again. A pen was gripped in her left hand, and she began to write again.
Mia paid only attention to the words her grandmother spoke as she slowly slid a small finger over the thick black and blue lines of the map.
"Now… the story first starts off on a day much like today, in the small port of Loguetown…"