For Aoi24's Multiverse AU Challenge. All of these are set in the same universe, just different scenes and are the length of a traditional drabble (100 words). Some are pretty vague, but that's how they were meant to be.
Rules
1. Write minimum five drabbles.
2. The setting must have an obviously AU slant in a very overt way.
What if the Strawhats were composed up of different members?
In which the adventure begins.
"What the hell Luffy! You said that there was nothing dangerous in front of us!"
"But, there wasn't."
"There's a whirlpool right in front of us! A whirlpool! And, in case you've forgotten, neither of us can swim!"
"Shishishi. Don't worry, Ace, I have a plan," Luffy laughed, not at all worried about their impending doom. Ace twitched, holding back the urge to whap his baby brother on the head as it really wouldn't do any damage to the rubber man.
"And, pray tell, what is this plan of yours?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"We'll hide in the barrel!"
In which they find themselves a swordsmen... err, women.
"Did you see that Ace?"
"I'm busy, Luffy!"
"She just took down that takoyaki dude in one strike! So cool~!"
Ace blinked, turning his gaze from where he was fighting the other two fishmen to the woman that Luffy was talking about. Sure enough, there was a felled fishmen at her feet. Again his attention was quickly stolen by the fishmen.
Luffy, on the other hand, was looking at the women with stars in his eyes.
"Lady! You should join my crew!"
The woman blinked once, pausing in the action of sheathing her katana. "Why?" she asked.
"Because you're awesome~!"
In which they find themselves a cook... and an okama.
"Bon-chan! You have to join my crew!"
"But I couldn't possibly Mugi-chan!"
"But you have to!"
"But I couldn't!"
Ace twitched as the two continued to banter, idly wishing that he would have a narcolepsy fit so that he didn't have to hear it. "Would you two just be quiet already?"
But the two just ignored him, causing Tashigi to giggle and Ace to slump against the table in defeat. And after what felt like hours (actually only a few minutes) one of them finally gave in.
"But you have to Bon-channnnn," Luffy whined.
"Fine. I'll be your cook, Mugi-chan."
In which they find themselves and unexpected doctor.
"I can't believe that you've lasted this long without a doctor."
"Honestly? Neither can I."
The two men sighed, casting their gazes down on their sleeping brother for a moment before Sabo looked up and grinned mischievously at Ace.
"I can't believe you actually let him be the captain."
"I didn't let him! We played rock-paper-scissors for it!"
"And Luffy won," Sabo laughed, earning a slight glare from the elder before even Ace started laughing.
"You do know that I'm coming with you right?" Sabo asked as his laughter died down.
Ace grinned.
"We wouldn't have it any other way."
In which they find themselves a musician.
"I'm coming with you."
The Strawhats looked up from what they were doing to find a determined-looking Conis standing behind them.
"Are you sure, Conis?" Tashigi asked, taking a step towards the girl. "This life isn't easy."
"I know that, but..." Conis trailed off, her eyes downcast.
"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, causing everyone to turn their gazes to him. "Its okay if you come with us, Conis."
"Really?"
"Yup~! Especially since your a musician and that's what every pirate crew needs!"
"I... thank you very much!" Conis said, bowing low to the crew who saved her home.
The crew simply grinned.
In which they find themselves a surprising shipwright.
"Are you sure about letting him come with us, Luffy-san?" Conis asked.
"Yup."
"But what about Franky? Can't we take him instead?" Tashigi asked, her grip tight on the hilt of her sword.
"I already asked. He said that he didn't want to leave Ice-ossan and Water 7."
"He tried to kill our brother, Luffy," Sabo said, his voice surprisingly even.
"I know."
"Then why?"
Luffy grinned. "Cause giraffes are cool!"
There was silence before, "LUFFY!"
"Shishishi."
The room quieted after that for a moment before Luffy spoke again, his eyes lingering on Ace's unconscious form.
"Everyone deserves a second chance."
In which they find themselves a lookout... and princess.
"You-?" Tashigi began, her eyes widening in shock at the person in front of her.
"How uncute," Perona scolded, crossing her arms. "That's no way to address me."
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm stowing away, of course. Did you really think that I would stay on that island?"
"But I thought-"
"We are enemies, especially that Hiken, but I'd rather stowaway on this ship then a different one."
"But why?"
"The people on this ship are cuter."
Tashigi sighed. "I'll go tell Luffy but you have to come with me."
"How uncute," Perona pouted, but followed after the swordswoman.
In which the crew find themselves a (sexy) seamstress... and gunner.
"Marguerite! You should come with me."
"I'm not allowed to leave the island."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not a Kuja Pirate."
"That's stupid."
"Its the law."
oOo
"You're a Kuja Pirate, now?"
"Yes. I trained hard this past two years."
"Does that mean that you can join my crew now?"
"That's up to Hebihime-sama."
"Oh. Oi! Hancock!"
"Yes Luffy, my love?"
"Can Marguerite join my crew?"
"Of course she can! Anything for you."
"Shishishi, thanks Hancock~"
"You're welcome. Marguerite watch over my beloved husband."
"I-I will, Hebihime-sama."
"Come on, Marguerite! You have to meet my nakama! You'll definitely love them!"
"Coming!"
Explanations
Ace - I really don't know what I was thinking for this. Luffy just needed a navigator/first mate for his crew. The fourth drabble explains why Luffy's the captain and not Ace, though. The scene is set when they first set out and Luffy leads the two to a whirlpool. Its safe to say that they made it through by hiding in the barrel like Luffy suggested, even if it must have been cramped.
Tashigi - I really like Tashigi's character and design, even if other people might not be fond of her, so I decided that she would be the swordswoman of the crew. She also has the level-headed feel about her, even if she's clumsy and a swords fanatic, so she could probably keep the other more rowdy members in order. I set it in Cocoyashi Village for two reasons: one, is that the only other place to set it would be Loguetown but I wanted Tashigi to be the first to join Ace and Luffy and that wouldn't work as Bon-chan joins from the Baratie, second is that Tashigi isn't a marine in the AU but she still does have a sense of justice so I figured that if she heard about Cocoyashi she'd want to do something about it.
Bon-chan – Finding a cook was just as hard as finding a Doctor and then I remembered that Bon-chan thought of himself as an excellent cook and so wham! Bon-chan's the cook for the Strawhats now. And yes, he still is an agent for Baroque Works. There's not a particular reason why I set it at the Baratie, really. I just thought that it would work better that way.
Sabo – Ah, Sabo. One of my biggest headcanons for One Piece is that Sabo is still alive. Whether he's a revolutionary or not, I have no idea, but in this verse he is/was and trained as a doctor under the doctors in the revolutionary army. I chose him as the doctor because I couldn't find anyone else to be the doctor besides Law, and someone already used him so I wanted to be original. Plus, Sabo's awesome. The setting is Alabasta after Luffy beat Crocodile because I figured that the Dragon would know that something was up with Alabasta (he's a smart man) and send someone there to check it out.
Conis – There were probably others I could've chosen for the position of the musician but I went with Conis because, frankly, she's awesome. Despite being kinda meek, she proves that she's not a damsel-in-distress and I even thought that she would be the Strawhats' musician after the Skypeia arc was over and was quite disappointed when she wasn't. Its set in Skypeia, of course, right before the crew leaves.
Kaku – Honestly, who doesn't love giraffes? And when I went through the options for who could be the shipwright in Franky's place, I instantly thought of Kaku. Out of all of the CP9 he seemed like the one most regretful to leave Water 7 and his disguise behind. And instead of Robin that the World Government was after, it was Ace which is quite plausible with him being the son of Roger and all. It was set in Water 7 when everyone was resting, but right before Gaarp appeared.
Perona – She is easily my second favorite female One Piece character. She's just made of win (not the mention her design after the time skip is beautiful) and I can see her getting along with the people I've chosen to be in the AU Strawhats. And her comment on how Hiken is her enemy means that she views Ace as her enemy more then the other members, because he wasn't affected by her Negative Hollows and all. (I gave that position to Ace because I figured that he'd be the best for it, since he is quite the negative person if you think about it.) It was set after the crew set off away from Thriller Bark and Perona managed to hide in the ship before Kuma found her.
Marguerite – They needed a gunner and so I figured someone from Amazon Lily would work out fine and I chose Marguerite, mainly for the fact that, besides Hancock, she's the one with the most contact with Luffy. And Hancock let her go with him because she can't refuse a request from Luffy and she'd probably feel a little less worried about him if she sent on of the Kuja with him. Its set right before the Kuja drop Luffy off a Sabaody after the timeskip.
As for the ships, they did have the Going Merry because, after they picked up Tashigi at Cocoyashi, they found themselves at Syrup Village and Kaya gave them the Going Merry as thanks for stopping Captain Kuro. And Franky still built the Thousand Sunny as a thank you for the Strawhats for saving his and Iceburg's life and Luffy allowed Franky to name it.
Umm, long explanations right there. And if you read through them all, thank you very much. I'm also thinking of making this into a full length story, starting at the beginning when Luffy and Ace left Fuusha. There would be differences between the manga and this AU as there are different members of the main crew which means different strengths and all, but I'm not positive yet. If I do write it, then I'll post an author's note here telling you what its called and all so if you want to put this on alert even though its finished go ahead.
As for my readers of Chasing Freedom, the next chapter is in the works so don't fret or anything.
Birdie.