Our story begins somewhere in the mountains, where a swift wind was blowing through the area as the sun shone brightly. A figure was seen walking across a bridge, wearing blue shorts, a cape, and a hat that covered his eyes. He paused in order to look at a village ahead of him.

"Legend tells of a legendary warrior, whose kung fu skills with the stuff of legend. He traveled the land in search of worthy foes."

The man calmly walks to the village, and into a restaurant, which, at the moment was loaded with rogue pirates and bandits. They all glared at the warrior with their evil eyes, while the customers were hiding and quivering in fear.

As if he didn't notice, the warrior found a seat and started eating as a bandit named Higuma came over, glaring at him.

"I see you like to chew, eh? Maybe you should chew on my fist!" Higuma suddenly brought his fist down onto the table hard, but the warrior remained unfazed; continuing to eat.

"The warrior said nothing for his mouth was full; then he swallowed and then he spoke."

"Enough talk, let's fight." he said in determination. He suddenly shot up and began fighting Higuma, the bandits, and the rogue pirates. One by one, each pirate and bandit were beaten by the warrior as the innocent watched in amazement, especially when his fists stretched out longer than a normal human's would.

"In fact, his moves were so deadly, that his enemies would go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness!"

"My eyes!" a pirate named Caribou shrieked.

"He's just too awesome!" another pirate, Bellamy yelled.

"And attractive." a girl named Vivi added.

"How can we ever repay you?" her father, Corba asked.

"There is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness." the warrior replied; before giving a wide grin. "But some meat might be good; right after I beat up the rest of these guys." With that, he broke through the roof, taking out the bandits as he went, one or two at a time.

"It mattered not how many foes he faced. They were no match for his mordacity, whatever that means."

The warrior continued to take out the bandits, gradually getting faster with each hit. Suddenly, a ton load of pirates rained down on him, determined to take him out. Without a hint of worry, his fists suddenly turned black and he yelled "Gum-Gum GATLING!" He threw a series of rapid punches, causing the pirates to fall into the waters around the bridge as he calmly walks on it.

"Never before had a man been so feared and so loved."

He paused and glanced at a nearby mountain. From it, five figures leaped down and landed safely on the ground; they then bowed before him.

"Why, even the most heroic heroes in all the East Blue, the Furious Five, bowed in respect to this great master."

"We should hang out." a well-built man with blond hair said, as he blew out some smoke.

"Agreed." the warrior replied. The six then struck battle poses, with two of them bringing out weapons, and another grow larger. They are about to confront more pirates and kick butt as if fighting in a war.

"But hanging out will have to wait, because when you're facing the ten thousand members of the Demon Mountain Armada, there's only one thing that matters! And that's…"

"Hey, Luffy! Get up already!" the blonde suddenly said in a different voice.

"You're going to be late for work!" a female voice rang out.

The warrior blinked in confusion, then yelped as he ended up tumbling down…


...to the floor. The whole adventure was nothing more than a dream, made by an absent-minded dreamer, who had just fell out of bed and woke up.

The dreamer yawned as he laid the floor. He was a 17-year boy with short, black hair and wearing a red vest, blue shorts, and sandals. His name was Monkey D. Luffy, a teenager who ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, and dreamed of becoming a great warrior someday.

"Luffy! Please get up!" called the same female voice from before. Luffy sighed as he looked around the room he shared. It was filled with kung fu stuff, mostly on Luffy's side, a picture of the Furious Five, and figurines of them as well. He sighed, realizing it was just a dream, before lying back down again; deciding to try getting up like a warrior. He attempted once but failed. He tried again but failed again.

"Hey Luffy, what're you doing up there?" the same male voice asked from downstairs.

"Uh, nothing!" Luffy lied, before trying one more time; and failing. He settled for getting up with his hands, before standing before his figurines and acting like he's fighting.

"Robin, Chopper, Sanji, Nami, Zoro!" Luffy made a growling sound like Zoro would before stopping upon seeing Makino looking surprised at him while watering flowers. Luffy tried blaming the figures by pointing at them, but Makino simply giggled and waved. Luffy waved back before, embarrassed, tried hiding in order to avoid further embarrassment.

"Luffy, let's go! You're late for work!" an older sounding male voice called.

"Coming!" Luffy called as, noticing the weapon on the floor, he tossed it at the wall; but it failed to stick. He tried again, only for it to bounce off, before deciding taking it with him. Patting his head, he realized he forgot something, before stretching his arm to grab the straw hat hanging on his bedpost and putting it on his head. Too bad he ended up tripping and falling down the stairs, yelping in pain each time. By the time he landed at the bottom, three people were waiting for him.

"Sorry guys." he apologized to the three figures already working. Carrying the heavy pots, albeit with a bit of difficulty, was a skinny teenager, same age as Luffy, with black wooly hair, a long nose, and wore an olive green bandana on his head, along with a pair of goggles, a blue and white striped armband on his left arm, brown overalls with a white sash, and dark green shoes. His name was Usopp, commonly known as the village liar, and Luffy's best friend and roommate.

Helping serve the noodles was a girl with long platinum blonde hair, wearing a simple dress and brown boots. Her name was Kaya, Luffy's sister, and a good friend of Usopp. In fact, Luffy had noticed that the two have been getting especially close to each other.

And lastly was an older man dressed in a neat suit and tie, with short curly white hair with brown tuffs resembling ram horns. His name was Merry, caretaker of the 3 teenagers and owner of the restaurant.

"Sorry doesn't make the noodles," Merry scolded.

"What in the world were you doing up there?" Kaya asked.

"Yeah, we heard a commotion coming from our room," Usopp added.

Luffy flinched and looked away. "Oh, uh, nothing, it was just a crazy dream."

"Really? About what?" Merry asked as he chopped up some green onions.

"Let me guess: kung fu again." Usopp said with a grin. He and Kaya were practically the only ones who knew about Luffy's secret dream to become a kung fu warrior. Of course, the three of them were careful not to tell Merry, as he seemed firm on one of them inheriting the restaurant from him.

"Uh, what was I dreaming...uh" Luffy gulped, knowing Merry wouldn't be happy if he knew what he was actually dreaming about. "I was dreaming about, uh… noodles?"

Kaya and Usopp flinched, knowing Luffy couldn't lie to save his life. Luckily, Merry didn't seem to notice as he chopped a root in half. "Noodles? You were really dreaming about noodles?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, what else would I be dreaming about?" Luffy asked as he passed out the noodle soups. He yelped as the weapon he took downstairs ended up in one of the bowls. "Gah! Careful that soup is...sharp."

Merry grinned. "Oh, happy day! My ward, finally having the noodle dream! You don't know how long I've been waiting for this moment!"

"Uh, what do you mean?" Usopp asked as Kaya helped tie an apron around Luffy's waist.

"This is a sign, a sign!"

"A sign of what?" Luffy asked, more confused than usual.

"You, Luffy, are almost ready to be told the secret ingredient of my secret ingredient soup," Merry explained. "Then, you will fulfill your destiny, and take over the restaurant! Just like I took it over from Kaya's father, who took it over from his father, who won it from a friend in a game of Mahjong"

"Look, Merry, it was just an ordinary dream," Luffy said.

"He's right, nothing special about it," Usopp said as he helped pass out the bowls.

"No, it was the dream; we are noodle folks; broth runs through our veins," Merry explained.

"But Merry, didn't you ever wanted to anything else; I mean besides make noodles?" Luffy asked hopefully. Maybe, if Merry has something he wanted to do besides noodles, then it would be okay for Luffy to tell him what he really dreamed about.

"Well, when I was a young and crazy lad like you, I thought about running away and learning how to make tofu," Merry confessed to them.

"So why didn't you?" Usopp asked as he helped chop up some lettuce.

"Oh, because it was a foolish dream." Merry answered. "I mean, can you three imagine me making tofu?" he laughed a little, then stopped. "No, we all have our place in this world. Mine is here and yours is…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know; here." Luffy said with a pout. Looks like there's no point in telling him what his dream was.

"No, it at table two, five, seven and twelve." Merry said, passing bowls to Luffy and Usopp.

"Service with a smile, guys." Kaya added, moving Luffy's mouth so it formed a grin.

Luffy watched as his family got back to work, then sneaked a glance at the dojo at the top of the mountain. That's where his heroes, the Furious Five lived with their master.

"Don't worry Luffy, I'm sure one day, you'll become a great warrior like them too." Usopp assured him.

"Yeah, like them." Luffy sighed. He knew the chances of him getting into the dojo were close to nothing, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Or was there?