Episode One: Strange Men on a Small Island

The countryside around him was silent. He was situated on the island of Mazraea, a rather small island in West Blue. Said island was rural and poor, and most of its citizens did not go more than five hours away from where they were born and raised in his or her lifetime. The main occupation was farming wheat or rice; however, there was one somewhat-rural area that held two pubs, a hotel, and some markets that sold foreign things barely anyone could afford. This was considered the capital, and the people had named it Saghir.

Saghir had a very loose government, as in, just a yearly meeting between the ten richest members of the island. Nothing was really ever discussed, and the last major decision that had been made in the last one hundred years was the "country"'s choice to join the World Government.

Despite the world being in the middle of the Great Age of Pirates, no one on the island had ever seen a pirate, only heard about them through the wanted posters that the marines delivered. Most liked the marines, as they were nice and provided information from the world outside the small island. As were to everything, this rule had many exceptions-though the overwhelming majority agreed that the marines were beneficial to Mazraea Island.

That day was like any other in Saghir: the merchants were yelling for the richer to buy their goods, the pubs were the liveliest part of town, and the marines were prowling the streets, looking for the bandit group that went by the name of the Woodland Bandits, whom had recently become rather infamous. He was one of those marines, and was actually the highest ranking officer on the island at that point in time. After searching all day for those damned bandits, he called off the search until morning.

It was about dusk when his pack of marines strolled into the bar and seated themselves in the back. The pub was nearly empty, save an elderly couple eating peacefully at a table, and a man seated at the bar with a long black overcoat, hood pulled up. He, above the other marines, noticed the strange man, and was so focused on the mysterious presence the man had, that he failed to notice that the waitress had come over to get their liquor orders.

"Oh sorry ma'am," he apologized as his friends snickered behind his back, "I'll just have some sake." The woman smiled and trotted off, his having been the last order she needed.

A friendly chatter had started up among the sailors around the marine, talking of which he did not partake in. His attention had been drawn back to the mysterious man, who the bartender (a portly man with a handlebar mustache) seemed to talk to familiarity. The marine would normally dismiss this, as it seemed to be a normal reaction between two friends. He just couldn't shake the idea that maybe, just maybe, that man in the overcoat should not be overlooked.

"Oi, Captain!" One of the soldiers called out as the marine stood and walked to the bar. He ignored the call, and sat next to the mysterious man. He held up his hand when the bartender offered a drink.

"Excuse me, sir, but could I ask your name?" The marine asked the other man.

"Akvo Kai." The man said shortly, taking a long swig of his sake after doing so.

"Well Akvo-san, can I ask for your occupation?" The marine pressed on.

"Travel."

"Oh, that's an interesting profession. Have you been in it long?"

"No." Kai replied shortly.

"Is travel all you do?" The cloaked man grunted in affirmation, taking another swig. "Nothing else interests you?"

There was a pause, wherein Kai seemed to be contemplating. Then, "What's it to you, Navy?"

"Oh? Can I not just ask a mysterious man, whom I've never seen in this town before, his profession?" The bartender placed a glass of sake in front of the marine captain, then glanced worriedly at Kai, and started cleaning some glasses with a rag.

"I'm not whoever you're looking for, I can assure you." Kai said, anger flaring a bit as he turned towards the marine captain. Caramel-colored eyes blazed from under the hood of the cloak. "So get off my back."

The marine narrowed his eyes. "How'd you know I was looking for somebody?"

Kai scoffed. "That's all you marines do!" He finished off his glass, and slammed it down onto the bar. "This is a completely useless and ridiculous conversation. I'm leaving."

"I'd advise against that..." A hand landed on Kai shoulder, and was shrugged off almost immediately. Kai got up, leaving his cup and a couple beli to pay for his drinks, and trudged to the door with a dramatic wave of his cloak from the motion (though his hood never fell off). The marine got up and quickly, easily, caught his arm.

"Akvo-san, if you walk away I will have my men arrest you under the suspicion of being one of the bandits," the hand around Kai's arm tightened, as if attempting to threaten the man through sheer contact, "I, Captain Eagle-Eye Jason, believe you to be one of them."

Kai yanked his arm out of the grasp of the other and pushed open the pub door. With his hand still on the door, with words that were barely heard, he said words that would stick with Captain Jason and his men, and even go so far as to haunt them. "I'm a pirate, just you try and make me, Navy."

By the time the marine captain followed through the door, Kai was gone.

%•%•%•%

Down in the cellar of the only hotel in town, a man with pure golden hair, golden skin, golden earrings, blackened (but richly-made) clothes, and deep navy blue eyes leaned against the wall. He was currently hired as a bodyguard for a very greedy bandit leader in a small island in West Blue, Mazraea. The man, known to the hired bodyguard as Kokoan-san, had started being hunted by the marines and, seeing how his men were weak, had hired Kōjō Raion as his personal bodyguard.

Raion did not care whom he was hired by and would be loyal to a fault, as long as his boss kept supplementing the funds. This boss, however, was testing his limits of patience. Especially right then.

"Sit down, relax, Kōjō-san! Let the beer do its thing..." Said boss drawled lazily, sitting on a couch with his arms spread out and over the shoulders of two busty, scantily-clothed women, who to Raion, seemed to have little brain function. His legs were spread, and he held a half-empty wine bottle in his scarred hand. All around the room there were Kokoan-san's men, being loud and destructive due to their alcohol-induced minds. The room smelled of booze, and judging by the cries and songs issuing from around the room, Raion knew that all of the men in that room, except for himself, were incapable of protecting their boss.

Raion hated this room, detested actually, but knew that though his boss insisted he enjoy himself each time he was told to guard this room, Raion knew he must not. Kokoan-san was his most vulnerable in this room, falling prey to the alluring urge to drink his cares and pains away. Raion had to be at the top of his form.

Raion's senses suddenly snapped him out of his thought. Distant sounds were coming from upstairs-screams, feet stomping, and something different... He found it odd that his acute hearing couldn't identify the sound.

"Come on, Kōjō-san~ come have some-"

"Be on guard Kokoan-san." Raion said flatly, listening intently to the steadily-growing noises. "I sense enemies."

The boss sobered up a bit. "Then what are you waiting for? Go do what you're paid to do."

"Hai." Raion silently opened the door, and exited the room. He dashed down the cold hallway and up the stone steps, then opened the door from the cellar to the main hotel, only to come face-to-face with at least five marine guns pointed at his temple.

"Well well...the "Golden Mercenary", Kōjō Raion." Said a marine lieutenant from behind his men with guns. "What brings the infamous hired assassin to this small island in West Blue?"

Raion kept his face neutral, but on the inside was racking his mind of whether or not he'd met this marine before. "Ah, have we met, sir?"

"No need to call him sir, criminal. We know you're working for our target, Kokoan the Bandit! We're here to arrest him for his crimes, and you for associating with him!" Yelled one of the marine privates with guns.

Raion couldn't resist a smirk. "You drivel, arrest me? I'd like to see you try..." Raion lowered himself into a fighting stance, one of the throwing knives he kept hidden up his sleeves sliding down into his left hand. He tensed, waiting for his opponents' move.

They attacked him all at once, and Raion was forced to drop to the ground and roll forwards to avoid all the bullets. He slit a man's ankle, then stood up properly and cut a man's nose off. While the four remaining marines recovered, Raion flicked his wrists in such a way as to make two more knives slide down his sleeves on his left arm and three slide down on his right. He gripped each knife in the crook between two fingers on each of his hands. He grinned, glad to have his "claws" back between his capable fingers.

The guns were pointed at him and firing again, and Raion flew forward. He danced around the three marines holding and attempting to fire guns, making seemingly-random slashes in the air around their bodies. He crouched once he'd finished, and smiled again, this time with a somewhat feral-like sneer. "Flying Lion's Strike." He said clearly.

The marines' necks, arms, and torsos suddenly started intensely bleeding as slash wounds started opening all at once. All three men collapsed with gasps and cries of pain, and Raion stood and faced the only remaining marine. The lieutenant.

"You're as good as the rumors say." The marine commented, looking down at his fallen and dying comrades with a sigh. "Too bad, they were quite good, too..."

Raion pointed his clawed left fist at the marine. "Surrender now and I might make your death painless." He said coolly. The marine narrowed his eyes, hand reaching for a sword on his hip.

"Don't give me that shit," he spat, "mercenaries kill anyone threatening their mission. Isn't that right?"

Raion deemed it unnecessary to reply, and jumped forward and slashed the man's thighs and calves, making him stumble to his knees in agony at the sharp pains. Raion raised his clawed right fist to stab through the marine's throat, but was halted by another voice.

"Not so fast." It exclaimed, the owner walking into view from behind a set of double doors. The man that had spoken was hidden beneath a dark, black cloak. All Raoin could make of him was that cloak. The cloaked figure raised a finger and pointed at Raoin's chest. "You, I want you."

Raion raised his eyebrow at the finger that had been extended at him after the man spoke. "Oh? And who might you be?"

"Akvo Kai, captain of the Aqua Pirates." The man said a bit wistfully, then lowered his hand. "I want you on my crew, you've more than proven yourself to be part of the Aqua Pirates."

Hello, and welcome to Voyage of the Aqua Pirates. This story is just a spawn of me catching up on One Piece the other day. I hope you like it, and all the chapters will be about as long as this one, I promise. I'm thinking anywhere from two to three thousand words. That seems to be about the average length for a fanfic's chapters.

Anyhow, I must say I'm extremely excited for this story. I'm planning to update every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday since that fits well into my schedule. I have some of the story planned out already, and all of the members on the crew. I also have the main antagonist, and the marine captain, Jason, that's mentioned in this chapter...but that's about it on the marine front. Suggestions are extremely welcomed.

Another note, if you see any mistakes in any of my chapters, whether it be in this one or a future one, please point it out to me. I need all the help I can get! And if you are wondering why I entered this story as "M", I'm accounting for the future use of vulgar language, action/fighting scenes, and adult content.

Again, thank you for reading. Tune in next time, and until then, stay snazzy!