Chapter 1: The Boy with Incredible Potential
"Stupid forest. Stupid Ji-Chan."
This was mumbled by a little boy, who was currently in the middle of a forest.
The boy was standing at a height of 3'3, had shaggy black hair, black eyes, and was wearing a regular white t-shirt, blue shorts, and some pair of sandals.
This boy was 5 year old Monkey D. Luffy.
Luffy scowled to himself as he thought back to what happened a few minutes ago.
Flashback
Luffy was seen being held by the back of his collar as he was carried by an old, but tough-looking man.
The man was a tall, tanned, broad-chested, muscular old man who has a beard that was black, but his hair had some gray hair on the sides of his head. He had black eyes like Luffy and was wearing a pair of brown sandals, a red tropical shirt with yellow flowers, and white colored shorts.
This man was Monkey D. Garp, Grandfather of Luffy and a Marine Vice-Admiral known as 'Garp the Fist' or 'Garp the Hero'.
Luffy struggled, trying to get out of his grandfather's grasp, but eventually gave up and just settled for glaring up at Garp.
"Where the hell are you taking me, you old fart?!"
Garp gained a tic mark on his forehead and smacked Luffy on the top of his skull with his right fist.
*WHAM*
"ITAI!"
"Is that how you should be talking to your loving grandfather?!"
Luffy, with a smoking bump on his head, just stared at Garp with an angry confusion expression on his face.
"How is hitting me love?!"
Garp gained another tick mark on his forehead.
*WHAM*
"ITAI!"
"Don't talk back to me!"
"Then stop hitting me!"
*WHAM*
A couple arguments later, Luffy was seen with several bumps on his head as he dangled from Garp's grasp and Garp was grinning in satisfaction with a smoking right fist.
"That's more like it."
After a while, Luffy stared up at Garp and asked the same question, only this time, he asked politely.
"Where are you taking me, Ji-Chan?"
Garp, glanced down at Luffy, before he looking back up to watch where he was going.
"I'm going to take you to a forest and leave you there for a month."
Luffy's eyes widened and he asked,
"Why?"
Garp's grin grew wider and he said,
"To make you into a strong marine like me, of course!"
Luffy instantly scowled and crossed his arms, looking to the side.
"I don't want to be a stupid marine."
Garp went from happy to angry in a second and scowled before he hit Luffy in the head with his right fist again, yelling,
"IS THAT ANOTHER WAY OF CALLING ME STUPID?! TAKE ANOTHER OF MY FIST OF LOVE!"
Luffy didn't really mean to indirectly insult his grandfather and was about to explain to him, but he knew that arguing with his grandfather was pointless so he decided that saying nothing was the best bet.
Hearing no more complaints from Luffy, Garp nodded, thinking that he finally got Luffy to stop disrespecting him.
They reached the forest after walking a couple of minutes and Garp dropped Luffy to the ground, causing said boy to hit the ground face first.
He then turned around and started to walk away, waving his right hand.
"I'll be back in a month, Luffy! You better be stronger when I come pick you up or else you'll be tasting a lot more of my fists of love again!"
Luffy got up from the ground, rubbing his sore face and stuck out his tongue at Garp's back before getting up and walking away.
Flashback End
Luffy's stomach grumbled, causing him to place his left hand over it.
"Guess I got to find some food."
Luffy nodded his head and stared to venture into the forest, hoping to find some food.
6 Days Later
Luffy was panting with his hands on his knees, but had a triumphant grin on his face as he looked at the prize he's been working so hard to get.
A knocked out boar.
During the first 2 days Luffy's spent in the forest, he was able to find a good spot to rest, and was able to find some fruits like oranges and apples to satisfy his hunger for a bit until he started to get hungry about an hour later.
Due to this, Luffy decided to go fishing and made a fishing rod out of the materials provided by the forest, which his grandfather taught him how to do whenever they went camping.
He was able to catch enough fish to satisfy his belly like he wanted for the third day, but for Luffy, it still wasn't enough because it couldn't match up to his favorite food.
Meat.
Anything that was made out of meat, besides human of course, Luffy would eat and instantly love it. No matter what type of meat, or even if it wasn't even cooked fully, Luffy would eat it with a grin on his face, proclaiming for more meat.
So for the fourth day, Luffy, not surprisingly, started to look for an animal to eat.
He eventually found some boars roaming around an area that was pretty close to his campsite and tried to fight them on his own with no plan whatsoever or weapon.
The result was to be expected and Luffy was instantly running away from some angry boars with a bunch of bruises on his body.
That night, Luffy's dinner was fruit and fish again, which made him full, but he wasn't satisfied as he pouted at not being able to get some meat.
Luffy started to finally start thinking straight around the fifth day and made a plan to capture a boar.
Pretty much his plan was to make a bat or some kind of weapon out of wood and knockout the boar.
It wasn't really that different from his previous attempt, but at least he had a weapon.
The second attempt, or course, ended in a failure, but Luffy was grinning as he got back to his campsite because he was able to damage the boars to some extent.
He wasn't even mad about not having meat for dinner because he was finally getting somewhere.
Finally, on the sixth day, Luffy came up with a better strategy than his previous attempts.
When he approached the boars, Luffy started taunting them, instead of attacking them, causing them to get angry and charge him.
This time, as Luffy ran away, he maneuvered around trees to confuse them and slowly started to separate them by taunting them when the other boars weren't looking.
His plan worked and he was face to face with one boar.
With a makeshift bat in his hands made out of wood, Luffy ran at the boar and jumped up smacking it in between the eyes.
The boar shrieked in pain as it stepped back, but then shook it's head before glaring at Luffy.
Luffy wasn't deterred that the boar wasn't knocked out and just stuck his tongue out at it and pulled down his left eyelid with his left hand.
The taunt worked in Luffy's favor as the boar charged at Luffy, not seeing the tree behind him, and when Luffy jumped up, knocked itself out.
Luffy felt so exhausted, but his grin increased as he took a deep breath and yelled in the top of his lungs while throwing his arms in the sky,
"YATTA!"
That night would be the night that Luffy finally had meat for dinner in such a long time(well for him) and couldn't be any happier.
24 days later(Day of Garp's Arrival)
Luffy stood in the same place that Garp left him with his arms crossed, some bruises and cuts, and a huge grin on his face.
The difference, though, from when he first arrived and now was how well built he looked now.
Where he used to previously look like a scrawny kid with no meat in his bones, Luffy now had a slightly muscular yet lean body, which was extremely abnormal for a 5 year old, but considering his family tree, it's really not that surprising.
The days after his successful capture of the boar were incredibly easy for Luffy.
As the days passed, he started to get stronger and faster at an exponential rate that he would be able to take on 3 boars at once, then 6 boars at once, and this pattern continued on until he was able to take on a horde of boars on his own.
Luffy, after being bored of fighting boars, started to fight bigger animals like bears and tigers until he was able to fight them with barely any bruises or cuts on his body.
This explained why his body, which used to be very scrawny looking, was a lot more muscular looking, just like his grandfather was when he was a kid, if all the story's he says is true about his childhood, which probably is considering how much of a monster he was now.
Luffy suddenly frowned as he remembered encountering an animal that was ten times stronger than any of the animals he's faced in the forest.
Flashback(1 week before the Day of Garp's Arrival)
"Man, I can't wait to go back and cook this bear!"
Luffy licked his lips in anticipation as he carried a bear two times his size over his head, easily, and was walking in the night to his campsite.
He suddenly froze when he felt an incredible dose of killer intent from the forest.
Luffy shivered and quickly dropped the corpse of the bear to the floor, jumping back into a fighting stance.
He stared deep in the darkness of the forest until he saw glowing red eyes appear, which made him gulp, but he narrowed his eyes in determination.
When the creature with the red eyes stepped out, Luffy was wide eyed and was sweating.
The creature was shown to be a Crimson Red Lion that was easily ten times his size and was currently glaring down at Luffy and the corpse of the bear before it let out a roar.
"RRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Luffy, knowing that he had no hopes of winning, immediately dropped his fighting stance and ran away.
When the Lion started to eat the corpse of the bear, Luffy ran as fast as he could away from the beast, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough.
True to his words, the Lion was already done eating and already caught up to him within seconds due to it's size.
This just made Luffy run even faster, despite the pain of his legs telling him to stop, and eventually reached a dead end.
Turning around, Luffy gulped and stared in the Lion's eyes with fear.
"I am so dead. There's no way I could beat this thing."
Luffy dropped his head down and clenched his fists, preparing to die.
The Lion roared and lifted it's left paw, ready to end Luffy's life, when Luffy suddenly brought his head up and glared at the Lion with a fire burning in his eyes so bright that the Lion actually froze for a second when it felt a wave of immense power wash over him.
"I will not die! I will live and beat this thing, even if it's the last thing I do!"
The Lion shook it's head and swiped it's paw at Luffy, sending him flying into a boulder, instantly killing him as his body exploded in a shower of blood and gore.
Luffy blinked, not knowing what he saw, until he noticed the Lion shake it's head similar to the vision he just witnessed and immediately jumped in the air, dodging the paw that passed under him harmlessly.
While in the air, Luffy noted that the Lion's expression would be described as astonishment and disbelief, not expecting him to be able to dodge his attack like that.
He couldn't blame him because he was also in awe and disbelief that he was able to dodge that attack as well.
Once his feet touched the ground, Luffy saw another vision.
The Lion, quickly getting over the fact that Luffy dodged his attack, got angry and slammed it's right paw over Luffy, destroying his body in an instant, painting the floor where he was red with his blood.
Luffy, knowing that he somehow was able to see what was going to happen, pushed his feet against the ground and dodged forward, making the Lion's paw miss him, causing him to be directly under the Lion's belly.
He didn't know why, but he felt a sudden rush of power burst from within him, so he used that power and concentrated it into his right fist.
He decided to wonder about why his hand turned black later and just threw the punch, directly in the middle of the Lion's stomach.
The effect was amazing and unbelievable to Luffy.
As the punch came in contact with the Lion's stomach, a ripple burst from where he punched that traveled throughout the Lion's whole body and the sound of a shockwave occurred as the Lion was sent flying, destroying several trees and boulders in the process.
Luffy just stood in the same place with his right arm still out, wide eyes, and a open jaw.
When he snapped out of his dumbfounded state, Luffy followed where the Lion flew and found it at least 2 miles away deep inside a boulder, dead with his fist print embedded into it's stomach.
After realizing that he wasn't in anymore danger and that he defeated the Lion, Luffy was grinning from ear to ear, jumping around in joy, yelling out things like 'Hell yeah!' or 'I'm awesome'!
That didn't last long, though, because the adrenaline rush, which he received from experiencing such a terrifying event, vanished from his system along with him using more energy than he was used to, caused him to felt overwhelming exhaustion and he passed out right there.
Flashback End
The day after facing the Lion, Luffy woke up early in the morning and wondered what happened until he recalled everything about the previous night and how he used some kind of energy to predict the opponent's moves and to enhance the power of his attacks.
He spent the rest of the week, trying to bring out that energy again as he went hunting, which ended up being a success, but he was still having some trouble.
Luffy was able to predict his opponent's attacks about twenty percent of the time and could cover his hands the same black color from the fight with the lion, but most of the time he would fight, it would always shut off after a couple minutes of fighting.
Even though he only mastered this much, Luffy still is 5 years old so for a boy his age to at least know this much would impress most people that were at least Grand Line level.
Thanks to this, Luffy was prepared to use his newfound power against his grandfather until he started to think about what would happen if he did and he paled.
He was one hundred percent sure that if he showed his grandfather this power, Garp would, without a doubt, beat him harder than before, which could ultimately lead to his death.
Not wanting to die after already experiencing a life and death situation a week ago, Luffy stuck to just fighting with his strength and speed he acquired from fighting the many animals in the forest.
Luffy lost his frown and stood straighter when he heard footsteps approaching.
After a couple of seconds, Garp was seen standing in front of Luffy, wearing sandals, black pants, and a red Hawaiian shirt.
Garp narrowed his eyes looking at Luffy up and down, making said boy nervous, until he grinned and nodded.
"It seems you've gotten stronger so you won't have to experience my fists of love."
Luffy relaxed and placed his left hand over his chest, sighing in relief.
Seeing this, Garp's grin turned more sinister.
"Well, if you are able to dodge it, that is."
Luffy immediately lost his relieved look and turned pale, staring up at his grandfather in horror.
That horror increased when he saw Garp's eyes glow as he cracked his right knuckles with his left hand.
*BOOM*
"YOU COULD'VE KILLED ME, YOU OLD FART!"
"QUIT YOUR WHINING, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT!"
*BOOM*
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Luffy was really glad that he didn't show Garp his power or else he might've actually had it worse than this.
"I don't even want to know what could be worse than this!"
2 years later
After Luffy was done being beaten by Garp, where he was only hit 5 times, which was impressive since Garp at least sent out 30 punches, Garp dropped him off back to his hometown, Foosha Village, where he was taken care of Makino, and told Luffy that he would stop by from time to time to train him, making said boy scared to death.
He was right to be scared because the times that Garp visited in the past 2 years, Garp would leave Luffy in insane conditions, telling him that it was to get him stronger.
Seriously, what kind of grandfather sends their grandchild flying with balloons, into a dark pit full of wolves, and a dark, creepy forest by themselves?!
Despite these unorthodox methods of training, Luffy did in fact get stronger because of it, except for that balloon one because Luffy truly believed that was just Garp enjoying torturing him.
Anyways, Luffy was able to get stronger and faster from these experiences where he can now take on a large group of bears by himself and easily deal with them in a couple of minutes, but you can't expect anything less from the grandson of 'Garp the Hero'.
Also, Luffy, when Garp wasn't at Foosha Village torturing the crap out of him, was able to work on his Observation Haki and Armament Haki.
He actually learned what the power he unlocked was called because Luffy just straight up asked Garp if everyone had a 'mystery power', as he called it at the time, within them.
Garp, being someone who couldn't even keep any secret and enjoyed saying anything he wanted, explained to Luffy what Haki was and how there was three types of Haki, which was Armament, Observation, and Conqueror's Haki.
Luffy didn't know if he had the Conqueror's Haki, but it didn't bother him that much because of how far he's got with his Observation Haki and Armament Haki.
His Observation Haki's level increased and his ability to predict his opponent was around ninety percent. He also started to be able to sense the presences of living things and currently he could sense everyone from Foosha Village up to the creatures and people in Mt. Colubo.
His Armament Haki's level, Luffy would say, didn't increase as much as his Observation Haki, but it was at a level he was satisfied with. Luffy could now cover his legs and arms at the same time now along with any weapon in his hands, but if he wanted to cover his head or chest, he would have to dissolve it from his hands and legs. He also learn that it could be used as a defense to make most attacks useless, unless the other person was using Haki as well or a devil fruit power.
Overall, Luffy was already at Grand Line level, but Luffy had a problem during the 1 year of his training.
That problem was what he was he going to do with his future because he didn't want to be like his grandfather.
The solution actually came to him when pirate crew called the 'Red Haired' Pirates made Foosha Village their base after 1 year of his training.
Luffy met with the captain, Shanks, and his crew, where he instantly became friends with them, and was awed by their stories of their adventures that they went through, inspiring him to be a pirate.
When he told them that he was going to be a pirate they laughed, angering him and this just fueled him to train even more.
After 2 years, Luffy was ready to show them how strong he was, but then he recalled how most of the crew, including Shanks, all had scars from their adventures, making Luffy believe that having a scar shows true strength.
Sensing Shanks and his crew, Luffy quickly runs to meet them with an insane and stupid idea in his head.
What Luffy didn't know was his ultimate dream would soon be realized.
Foosha Village
In the small and peaceful village, within the a bar that was known as 'Partys Bar', joy filled laughter could be heard as several men enjoyed eating meat and partying like crazy.
One big rounded man, wearing a white and green striped shirt and bandana and some pair of sunglasses, held a big barrel of sake up to the air.
The man known as Lucky Roo let out a a loud chuckle and yelled out,
"A toast to Luffy's courage and our great voyage!"
The other men in the bar yelled out 'Cheers' and started drinking an incredible amount of sake.
Said boy was seen sitting on a stool, staring down at the counter of the bar with some tears in his eyes, but a big grin on his face.
"It didn't hurt at all."
The man sitting next to him scoffed and said,
"Liar. How could you do something so stupid and reckless?"
The man in question was a muscular man, but more like a runner's body, lean. He had dark red hair and three scars over his left eye. He was wearing a half buttoned up white dress shirt, brown shorts, a pair of sandals, and a straw hat with a red band.
This was 'Red Haired' Shanks, a previous member of the Pirate King's crew and a Yonkou in the New world.
Luffy just continued to grin and stare up at Shanks.
"I just wanted to show you that I'm not afraid of getting hurt so why don't you take me with you on your next trip? I want to be a pirate like you!"
Shanks gained a huge smile and turned to Luffy, staring at him mockingly.
"There's no way you could be a pirate! You can't even swim!"
Even though Shanks said those words, he was actually impressed by how much Luffy has grown and knew that he could take care of himself.
Luffy was taller than the average 7 year old, being 4'3, and had the same build he had 2 years ago, muscular yet lean, but you could see that he was a lot more muscular than before. He was wearing a white shirt with the word and symbol of an anchor on it, blue shorts, and a pair of sandals. His hair got slightly longer than before and he had a bandage right under his left eye after the stunt he pulled just a few minutes ago.
Luffy got angry and scowled as he stood up, glaring at Shanks.
"So what? I'll just make sure that I don't fall off the ship!"
He suddenly gained an excited grin on his face.
"Also, I'm really good at fighting! I beat up several animals by myself when my grandpa left me alone in a forest!"
Here, he threw his right fist forward.
"My punch is strong as a canon!"
Shanks gained doubtful look on his face and rested his head on his right hand.
He expected Luffy to brag about his strength, but he didn't expect Luffy to compare it to a canon. Maybe a pistol, but not a canon.
So with an uninterested tone, Shanks said,
"A canon? Really now? That's amazing."
Luffy gained a tic mark above his eyebrow and his teeth turned razor sharp as yelled,
"Stop mocking me, you jerk!"
Some of Shanks men, which included Lucky Roo and Yasopp, came up to the pair, dancing in a line and one of them said,
"Aw, come on, Captain. What's the harm in bringing Luffy with us on one voyage?"
The others put in their own comments, describing how amazing it was to be a pirate.
Luffy gained an awed look on his face as he stared at them and got really excited at the thought of actually being able to go on an adventure as a pirate.
Shanks gained a mischievous smirk on his face and said,
"Alright, but then one of you has to stay behind."
This immediately made the group leave and say things like 'Well, back to partying.'
Luffy yelled out 'Traitors!' and Shanks turned around to stare down at Luffy, pointing the spoon he had in his left hand as he ate, with smile on his face.
"You're still a kid, Luffy. Maybe when you're a little older, I might take you."
Luffy grit his teeth and yelled out,
"I'm not a kid, you stupid, ugly jerk!"
Shanks waved his right hand and said,
"Calm down, Luffy," Shanks grabbed a glass full of orange juice and put it on the counter by his seat, "Here, have some juice."
Luffy lost his angry look and gained a grateful look on his face as he rushed to the seat and grabbed the glass.
"Thanks!"
Once he started drinking it, he heard laughter and turned to Shanks, who was laughing so hard that he was crying.
"Ha! It's hilarious to see how much of a kid you are!"
Luffy got pissed off and walked away from Shanks.
"Ugh, I'm so tired of Shanks making fun of me!"
"Don't let the captain's words get to you, Luffy."
Luffy made a 'huh' sound and turned to the voice who was speaking to him and saw a man smoking.
The man had jet black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and a cigar between his lips. He was wearing a black v-neck shirt, green pants with a long yellow sash, and a pair of black boots. By his chair was a normal looking rifle.
This was Benn Beckman, Vice Captain of the Red Haired Pirates.
"Vice Captain."
Benn motioned for Luffy to come closer and when he did come closer, he explained to him that Shanks was a captain, despite his appearance, and he just wanted Luffy to know his risky it is.
Luffy didn't believe him and stated that Shanks was just having fun teasing him, which was proven correct when Shanks made the comment of him being an anchor, making Benn sweat drop.
Suddenly, Makino came in to the bar with a big barrel of sake and walked behind the counter.
"It seems your having a blast, Captain."
Shanks grinned at her and said,
"Teasing Luffy is how I have fun."
Makino giggled and looked at Luffy, who was staring back at her.
"Luffy, do you want to eat?"
Luffy's eyes sparkled and he nodded his head as he quickly got back on the stool by Shanks.
As he was eating, Luffy started to talk to Shanks about how long he was going to stay and Shanks told him that he would leave after 2 or 3 more trips since they been docked for a year.
Luffy's attention was pulled away from Shanks, who decided to talk to Makino, to the chest that was by him.
Opening it up, he saw a strange looking fruit.
It was a large and round light purple fruit made up of many small upside-down teardrop-shaped things with swirl patterns, and green leaves sprouting from the top.
It reminded Luffy of a pineapple so his mouth watered as he thought,
'Desert.'
Luffy grabbed the fruit and took a huge bite out of it.
He didn't expect it to taste so horrible and was ready to throw it up, but he was taught never to waste food, so he endured it and finished the rest.
When he finished, he stuck out his tongue and gained a disgusted look on his face.
'Blegh! That was horrible! Why was this even here?! That was so gross!'
He shook his head and decided to forget about it since he already finished it.
The bar suddenly went quiet when the bar's doors were kicked up, with one of the doors landing on the floor, and a bunch of bandit walked in with the leader, Higuma, staring at Shank's crew.
Higuma then walked up to the counter and asked for sake, but Makino said that they didn't have any more left, pissing him off. Shanks tried to placate him by offering one bottle, but Higuma just responded by breaking the bottle, spilling the contents all over Shanks, bragging that he had a bounty, and mocked Shanks before leaving.
When they left, Shanks and his crew just burst out laughing while Makino went to Shanks to ask if he was okay.
Luffy, not being old enough to understand the situation, got mad and shouted,
"Why are you all laughing?!"
Everyone turned to him and he continued,
"That was embarrassing! I thought you were a pirate! Why didn't you fight back?!"
Shanks grabbed his hat from his head with his right hand and shook it a bit to get rid of most of the sake before putting it back on his head.
"Luffy, it's not worth fighting over some spilled sake."
Luffy grit his teeth before he scoffed as he walked towards the exit.
"Forget you guys. I'm not a weakling like you guys."
Shanks decided to explain it to Luffy in greater detail and went to grab Luffy's left arm with his left hand.
"Wait, Luffy-"
He didn't finish his sentence because as soon as he grabbed his arm, his hand went through him and Luffy's arm turned into black smoke.
Everyone in the bar freaked out as Luffy wondered why they were.
Looking behind him, his eyes grew large as he saw his hand was still in the form of black smoke.
Lucky Roo quickly rushed to the chest that was on the counter and saw that it was empty.
He turned around to stare at Luffy with a picture of the exact fruit that Luffy ate not to long ago in his left hand.
"Luffy, did you eat this fruit?!"
Luffy, after his hand reformed back into a normal hand, turned to Lucky Roo and nodded nervously.
Shanks jaw dropped and he got in Luffy's face.
"You idiot! You just ate the Yami Yami no Mi! It turns you're whole body into darkness and you won't be able to swim ever again!"
Luffy realized the his serious the situation was and he yelled out,
"EH!"
"YOU IDIOT!"
A week later
Luffy was sitting in a stool as he rest his head on the counter and messed around with a glass with his mouth.
Makino, who was behind the counter cleaning a glass with a cloth, decided to make a conversation.
"They sure have been gone for a while. Don't you miss them?"
Luffy frowned and turned his head to the side.
"No way. I'm still mad at Shanks for not fighting those bandits. I overestimated them."
Makino just giggled at his childish antics and continued to clean the glass in her hand.
Luffy sat up and put a piece of ice in his mouth from the cup as he looked down at his hands.
Concentrating, Luffy watched as his hands transformed into the same black smoke from last week, but this time you could see a rough outline of a hand, which made him slightly grin.
For the week that Shanks and his crew been gone, Luffy continued with his training that he didn't reveal yet to them and included mastering his powers to his training regime.
After he got over the fact of not being able to swim anymore, he was still amazed at the powers he got from the fruit and experimented with them after he finished training his Observation and Armament Haki.
He learned that he could control all things that involved darkness like shadows, where he could travel through them, and he noticed how the darkness seemed to have a pulling effect on things and wondered what would happen if something was absorbed into the darkness.
He tried this on a rock with his left hand and when he saw that the rock was successfully absorbed into the darkness in his left hand, Luffy cheered, but wondered where it was.
So he attempted to do the opposite of what he first did and this resulted in the rock, which he absorbed from before, to launch out of his left palm.
Although, the rock came out of the darkness in several pieces.
Luffy was really excited at the capabilities of his powers and wondered how strong he would be with them.
He was brought out of his thoughts when Higuma and the other bandits came into the bar and started asking for some sake.
Makino was quick to get him and the other bandits sake.
Higuma then started to make fun of Shanks and his crew out loud as the others added their own input.
Even though he was still mad at Shanks, Luffy still respected him as his idol so he got really mad at their words.
Luffy grit his teeth and after hearing another insult, decided he had enough.
He got up from his seat and yelled,
"Stop making fun of Shanks and the others! They aren't cowards at all!"
Makino tried to tell him to stop, but Luffy wasn't finished yet.
"Let's go! I'll beat you guys all by myself!"
Higuma looked at Luffy in amusement and said,
"Oh? So you want to fight? Alright, I'll humor you. Meet me outside."
Higuma and the rest of the bandits left the bar, snickering at Luffy.
Luffy started to walk towards the exit, but Makino stopped him.
"Luffy! Apologize to them! I know they're jerks, but I don't want to see you get hurt."
Luffy turned to her and saw the worried look in her eyes so he gave her a grin.
"Don't worry, Makino. I'm not going to get hurt. I'm stronger than you think."
After he said those words, Luffy walked away with narrowed eyes.
Makino, worried for Luffy's health, went to go get the Mayor for some help.
Outside Partys Bar
Luffy stood across from Higuma and the other bandits as he crossed his arms and glared at them.
"This is your last chance. Take back your words and you won't have to get hurt."
Higuma smirked as he heard his men laugh and walked up to Luffy.
Once he was standing in front of him, Higuma bent down and stared Luffy right in the eyes.
"No."
Luffy's eyes narrowed even more and he whispered so only Higuma could hear him,
"I warned you."
Suddenly, Higuma felt his face cave in and his eyes widened as he registered the pain on his face before he was sent flying past his men.
He got up from the ground and stared in disbelief along with his men at Luffy, who had his right fist held out.
Luffy let his arm drop and crossed his arms as he stared at them with bored yet angry eyes.
Higuma immediately got angry and yelled out,
"Kill this brat!"
His men broke out of their shock and roared as they charged Luffy with their swords raised to the sky.
Luffy watched them run to him and, despite being outnumbered, felt no fear.
"Too slow."
His form disappeared from their eyes and reappeared in front of Higuma, making him jump back in fright.
When Higuma looked passed Luffy, his eyes widened when he saw all his men fall to the floor.
He stared back in Luffy with fear in his eyes as Luffy stared down at him.
"I warned you."
When he brought his right arm back to punch him in the face, Higuma, in an act to protect himself, drew his sword and slash Luffy across the chest.
He grinned when he saw it successfully go through him, but paled when he didn't see blood.
Luffy looked down at his stomach for a second before looking at Higuma.
"That tickled."
Higuma started to sweat and when Luffy cracks his knuckles, he let out a terrified scream.
A couple of minutes later
Makino and the Mayor appeared along with Shanks and his crew, expecting Luffy to be in some trouble, but what they saw shocked them.
Luffy was seen sitting on a pile of bandit with Higuma's bruised form in the front of the pile as he calmly whistled.
Luffy stopped whistling when he sensed and saw them and jumped out of the pile to greet them.
"Hey Shanks, I didn't know you got back! Look, I told you I was strong!"
Luffy then started to laugh as everyone stared at Luffy in disbelief.
After tying up the bandits and scolding Luffy, Shanks congratulated Luffy on his victory.
Luffy, of course, responded by giving his signature laugh.
Luffy, though, gained a sad smile as he said,
"I'm guessing your leaving now, right?"
Shanks nodded his head and said,
"Yeah, we've been docked here for too long. It's time for us to go."
Shanks then remembered what Luffy wanted and said,
"Luffy, do you still want to go with me? I can see how strong you are and I won't mind taking you along."
He, along with Makino and the Mayor, were surprised though when Luffy shook his head no and grinned up at him.
"No thanks.I decided to become my pirate on my own," here Luffy gained an excited look, "and I'll have a crew that'll be stronger than yours! Then, I'll find the greatest treasure and become," Luffy threw his arms up, "PIRATE KING!"
Shanks eyes widened for a second when he saw an outline of his old captain stand behind Luffy before he gained a small smile.
"So you're going to be Pirate King, huh?"
He crouched down and grabbed his hat with his right hand before putting it on top of Luffy's head.
"Then, I'll leave this hat with you. Give it back to me when you become a great pirate, Luffy."
Luffy was stunned for a couple seconds because Shanks wouldn't let anyone touch his hat.
When he broke out of his shock, he started to cry heavily, but he managed to nod.
Shanks smile grew and he stood up before walking to his ship to catch up with the rest of his crew.
Luffy with Makino and the Mayor watched as they rode away on their ship, with Shanks giving one final wave.
Luffy rubbed his eyes before his eyes showed determination burning in his eyes.
'I promise, Shanks. I will get stronger and I will become the Pirate King!'