Here's another One Piece challenge story involving Luffy and the Donquixote Pirates.
No unnecessary bashing: seeing characters grow up and show hidden strengths is all good until it looks like the writer is purposefully making the character in question look like an unlikable nuisance at best and a complete villain at worst. Trust me, it's best to show both the positives and negatives of those in a story. And since this is an AU, I'm working forward to some people growing up differently, especially in a positive manner.
No slash: I try not to judge people who have different "bonding" preferences compared to mine, but I really don't think that characters that weren't listed as canonically yaoi in nature should be depicted as such. Not that I like gender bending much either.
Keep the content at a controlled level: meaning that it's probably best to be mindful of which direction the story/stories will go. I like straight lemons as much as the next fellow, but given how things all are iffy on certain websites like FFN, it would probably be wise to just walk first before jumping.
Don't shy away from asking me for advice or beta reading: however, I won't dictate your execution as it should ultimately be your decision. I'm doing fine with it so far with digemsmack over their Fairy Tail story which I gave my patronage for, Ascension of the Second Apocalypse, even if they're silent right now.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does.
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Black Marketer
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Upon hearing about Sabo's death, Monkey D. Luffy couldn't help but runaway into the forest of Dawn Island with tears in his eyes. He just couldn't believe it. One of the two boys he had come to look up to like a brother was murdered by a World Noble, and if Curly Dadan was to be believed, there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. The World Nobles were above any law and order.
As he ran in the forest, it didn't take long before his sadness became anger at the world and even hatred for the person who showed Sabo no mercy. These feelings were so fierce, that in time, he felt a power within himself that seemed even more unbelievable than his own Devil Fruit ability. Just when Luffy was about to be pounced upon by a large, stalking tiger that had been preparing to make prey of him, he decided to let that power out which caused the tiger to fall unconscious as if it was overpowered by a stronger will. Upon seeing the result, Luffy's mind thought to process what happened and why it seemed familiar until it finally hit him.
'That felt like last night with Ace and back when Shanks saved me from getting eaten.' He thought with realization.
Before Luffy could decide what to do with his newly discovered strength, he heard a wicked chuckle not so far from him. "Oh, my. I honestly didn't expect to see a young Conqueror in the East Blue of all places. It appears I shouldn't have been presumptuous in my way of thinking."
Turning to the sound of the voice, Luffy saw a taller man with blonde hair who hid his eyes behind a pair of sunglasses and wore flamboyant clothes, smirking sinisterly at him.
"Tell me, kid, what got you so upset enough to awaken your inner willpower?" The man asked Luffy.
Although he felt a certain danger about the man in front of him and had little understanding about what he meant by "willpower", Luffy decided to be honest in a calm voice. "I heard that someone I thought of like a big brother was killed by a World Noble and it made me even more angry when I was told that none of us could take action against the guy."
The man sighed in seeming understanding. "Yeah, those fat bastards can be an irresponsible pain in the ass, but I suppose that's what happens when those ugly pricks have Navy Admirals for emergency situations. Well, that's assuming you're not strong enough to handle those pawns and have the D. in your name to back you up."
Luffy tilted his head curiously, even though he had an idea of what the smirking man was talking about. "What does the D letter have to do with anything?"
The man chuckled, although Luffy could somehow feel his anxiety. "The World Nobles have a silly belief that those who carry the D. in their names are meant to be their sworn enemies. I don't suppose one such person who comes to this island every now and then by the name of Monkey D. Garp?"
Getting the idea that telling the full truth to him wasn't a good tactic, Luffy decided to a half one instead. "He comes and goes. Never shuts up about the Marines. Personally, I'd prefer being even greater than Gold Roger was when he was alive than to follow the rules that old man loves so much."
The tall man laughed. "Yeah, this world we live in is too messed up for any kind of justice anyway. By the way, I'm Donquixote Doflamingo. My crew and I came here from the North Blue in the hopes of starting a little ruckus with the "honorable" Saint Jalmack of the World Nobles." His smile then grew fiendishly. "Care to join in on the fun?"
Luffy decided to ask a question first before agreeing. "You know more about that willpower stuff I did?"
Doflamingo chuckled knowingly. "I can teach you all I know about it if you join my crew."
Luffy nodded with narrowed eyes. "Let's go then, Captain. And call me Luffy."
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Upon regrouping with the Donquixote Pirates which Luffy could tell were no less colorful or ruthless than their captain as well as the subordinate Bellamy Pirates that traveled with them, Luffy was given a brief, but useful course in Haki before they all left their ships to travel on foot to the Goa Kingdom with Doflamingo himself explaining the plan. Initially, he and his followers came to the East Blue to look for a runaway Devil Fruit user with a power that would've been useful to him before they then heard about a World Noble visiting Dawn Island which gave him a good idea to tighten his leverage over the World Government.
The plan called for Bellamy and his crew to cause havoc for the Goa authorities as well as the security detail from Marie Jois while Doflamingo and the crewmembers he referred to as his family captured Saint Jalmack himself. Once that was taken care of, Doflamingo then intimidated Jalmack by telling him that he had, much to Luffy's irony, a D. in his crew that wouldn't hesitate to make his final moments the stuff of nightmares which eventually brought Jalmack to use his limitless political influence to officially declare Doflamingo one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Due to a World Noble's authority, such an inauguration couldn't be easily taken back without going against the World Nobles themselves. However, while Luffy got to see to a degree why Doflamingo wanted the title, Sabo's death hadn't left his mind which convinced him not to let Jalmack off the hook.
As soon as Doflamingo's acceptance to the Warlords was delivered, though, he saw how mixed Luffy was about the situation, and with a cruel smile gave him a good, optional release of anger.
"Not that I'm a Warlord, kid, Jalmack is no longer needed." He started with a treacherous sadism. "Which means you're more than welcome to do whatever you want with him."
Therefore, Luffy, having gotten the quick basics of Armament Haki earlier, attacked Jalmack until he was an unrecognizable and unliving mess on the floor which prompted an insane chortle from Doflamingo as the rest of the Donquixote Family either looked on with amusement, or horror.
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With the Donquixotes' plans finalized and Luffy recognized as an official member of their crew, it was time for them to depart to the Grand Line. With Doflamingo's permission, however, Luffy was able to head for Makino's bar where he said goodbye to her and asked him to deliver his farewells and apologies to Ace and the Mountain Bandits he had come to like over time. Arriving back to the pirate ships, Luffy saw one of the younger Donquixote Pirates holding a Devil Fruit in contemplation.
"Hey, Sugar." He called out. "What do you have in your hands?"
Turning to him, Sugar replied. "Maybe you can help out with something, Luffy. A while back, the Young Master gave Monet and I Devil Fruits which he said could make ourselves useful to his goals. Monet likes hers just fine, but while I do want to be important to the crew, I'm not sure about sacrificing my ability to age just to get a special power."
Luffy looked stunned a bit before responding. "That Devil Fruit stops its users from aging?" When Sugar nodded he then said. "That's a pretty stupid Devil Fruit to hand out. No matter what it does, it's not worth keeping yourself from getting stronger on your own, don't you think so?"
Sugar thought it over before showing a small smile. "Honestly, what held me back so far was the possibility that I'd never find love if I was stuck as a ten-year-old forever, but that's a good point, too. Maybe I'll take it back to the Young Master to keep it in reserve until we actually do need it."
Luffy grinned. "Sounds good to me."
Getting back onboard their ships, the Donquixote Pirates and their subordinate crew then sailed for the Grand Line.
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I didn't know when Bellamy became Doflamingo's subordinate, so I decided to let it be not so long ago when Luffy got his signature straw hat. I also kept Sugar from eating the Hobby-Hobby Fruit to show that Luffy could make a difference in how the Donquixote Pirates operate later on, even though I realistically doubt that psychopath Doflamingo could ever be reformed, and because if she grows up naturally, she'll be an available romance option for Luffy in this setting. I suppose Baby 5 could also grow close to him as they get older given her "faithful" personality and there might also be chances for Monet, the Bellamy Pirate girls if you wanted to give those minor characters a shot, Kyuin if she has a Smooth-Smooth Fruit-like change, Viola if she sides with the crew for whatever reason, and maybe Rebecca if possible, but excluding Rebecca and Kyuin, the other options are either presumably teens, confirmed as such, or close to that compared to presently seven year old Luffy. I'm not saying it's impossible, but a good amount of development would be needed to make said older women eventually see him as a man.
I know it seems unusual that Luffy would want to become another pirate captain's crewmember when he wants to become King of the Pirates, but this occurs when he's at a down point in his life, and like Doflamingo, he wants revenge on the Celestial Dragons as much as the chance to be free. Not that I think he'll turn out into a complete bad guy, but most likely darker than you'd expect. And just because he's working for Doflamingo at the moment, that doesn't mean it has to stay that way forever for any reason. I honestly have been thinking of a few ways to end Doflamingo's life here and there if a cruel mercy isn't enough for him.
Other than Hancock and her Kuja people, I also have some similar concepts for Shanks and Kaido's crews, but I'll save those until I get a better idea for how they are as Emperors from how they operate to who else is in their crews other than the obvious. As for Whitebeard, Blackbeard, and any other promising pirate crews that come to mind, I'm kind of doubtful about the latter due to the way he operates and how he started his captaincy, and I think I already made Whitebeard an option with my Luffy, Ace, and Sabo voyage challenge.
However, at the end of Sweet and Juicy, I talked about the possibilities of Victoria Cindry "living" through Thriller Bark before getting paired with Brook and that there might yet be someone for Franky in future arcs, but I'm honestly not sure if anyone would approve of the Zombies and Homies surviving the defeats of their creators, even if it were possible, considering all these guys were made from people's bodies, shadows, and souls. In fact, I think Chopper actually made a valid point that Cindry's loved ones from before her death wouldn't be happy that her corpse was robbed and turned into a completely different person. The reason I discussed the previous topics was because, at the time, I had three One Piece stories I wanted to write at full-length in the future, and it sounded good at the time for the potential girlfriends of Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper to have Straw Hat membership depending on the story, but since three and four clash, I thought I could work on potential love interests for Franky and Brook, then divide them with the established four among the three stories that I think would fit the scenario such as Marine Tashigi for one example. Nonetheless, while I can't say it's impossible that we'll see someone for Franky at least, it's probably best that I don't keep my hopes up about Brook, even if it means that I'll have to come up with ideas for at least one more story, which I did for the umpteenth time.
I have long been considering on and off about a Germa 66 Luffy, considering how prominent that faction has become in at least two years since its debut, and I can imagine Luffy acting like a mix between Johnathon Irons from Call of Duty and Gihren Zabi from Gundam, but considering it's a thalassocracy (seaborne polity) in practically every sense of the word, I keep thinking that under Reiju it would join the Straw Hat Grand Fleet in either canon or in my Pirate Luffy story. And that's without theorizing how Crocodile's operations and the Cipher Pols would make their comeback in the spotlight. With all these ideas, it's a bit tricky to determine who would be in the Straw Hats per story, or which lucky lady would be in Luffy's harem per story. I could just be overthinking the whole uniqueness angle, but I hope you all understand my point.
Anyway, in my last challenge story, I talked about the possibility of a Death Note-inspired Devil Fruit in One Piece and what effect it would have on the setting, not counting the Soul-Soul Fruit, not so different from a similar Fairy Tail challenge story I'd like to work on in the far future, but for a while, I have been wondering on writing something directly based on Death Note alongside certain other anime/manga/visual novels such as Overlord and others that are listed on profile. However, while I do have some ideas, I'm kind of uncertain about my chances for successfully making a good beginning, middle, and end for an anime/manga such as Death Note that compared to One Piece was short, had an unfortunate ending, and even seemed to have a closed circle for events, if you know what I mean. Nonetheless, I'm not sure about making challenge stories for those either because there's a lot of chances for things to go unintended as well.
In addition, for stuff like Overlord, and please understand my biasness, but I prefer watching anime, especially when it is dubbed in my native language. As I explained to the author of the Log Horizon/Overlord challenge on FFN through personal message, if it's not adapted to an anime form which reaches a proper conclusion and is also English dubbed, then I can't exactly watch through it. With all though respect to those who feel otherwise, I like understanding things word for word both vocally and through closed captioning, and I also feel that animation/live action tend to be more attractive than reading materials. Not that books aren't without their appealing natures, it's just that hearing and seeing go a long way.
Finally, take your time in figuring out all this for yourselves, everyone. Just let me know what you think. I think I can understand why some people are getting tired of me making more challenges and one-shots instead of actual stories, but I am incredibly busy these days and I don't trust my FFN or whatever profile to immediately grab attention for such ideas like some authors usually do. On the bright side, however, I do at least add some real dialogue and events compared to typical narratives some others prefer doing, so please try to understand and don't back sass me for incredibly annoying reasons like a few others have done.