Originally, I was kind of iffy about portraying Luffy and the Straw Hats in a different pirate crew in a challenge story whether it be any crew from the Four Emperors and the Seven Warlords, or even the Foxy Pirates, but a series of conversations between me and FFN's singasongthatnooneelseknows had me consider giving some serious thought to the idea. This particular challenge presents the possibility of Luffy meeting the Big Mom Pirates early.
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 his Fairy Tail story which I gave my patronage for, Ascension of the Second Apocalypse, even if he's silent right now.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does.
[SJ]
Sweet and Juicy
[SJ]
"No wonder every New World pirate tends to stick to the New World." Charlotte Cracker commented with a sigh as he sailed in calm waters before exclaiming in exasperation. "The East Blue Sea is damn straight boring!"
Being the tenth son of the prominent pirate, Charlotte Linlin, a rising member of her crew, the Big Mom Pirates, and a Prince of Totto Land in every sense of the word wasn't exactly easy for Cracker, or even any of his siblings, given their mother's controlling influence in their lives from what they were supposed to do to who they were supposed to marry. The reason he was in the East Blue in the first place, twelve years upon the execution of Linlin's one-time rival, Gold Roger, was due to the Island of Rare Animals supposedly located in the East Blue, and since the Marines didn't know Cracker's true appearance, it made sense for him to be dispatched in secret to locate the Island of Rare Animals and collect the unique animas that were supposed to live there for his mother's "collection" of special creatures. However, it had been a sizable amount of time, and he still hadn't found the Island, if it even existed. With his patience wearing thin, Cracker contacted his mother about the lack of progress, and she agreed to have him return home, if he brought back something worthwhile.
"If it's not rare animals, I expect a good amount of sweets, money, or even something on that fool of a Marine, Garp!" Was what she said to her son.
Therefore, Cracker, bored, yet dutiful, sailed for Dawn Island to see if he would get any of those things for Linlin, or not. While he wasn't exactly in the mood to go up against someone of Monkey D. Garp's strength and reputation, he was definitely not in favor of bringing his mother's wrath down upon himself. Eventually docking at a secluded wilderness on Dawn Island, Cracker then made his way to observe the village Garp was supposed to frequent when he was off-duty. If he wouldn't find something there, he intended to put on his biscuit armor before rampaging the nearby capital of the Goa Kingdom for all it's worth.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!" A young voice exclaimed nearby as Cracker trekked his way through the forest which was shortly accompanied by a yelp of pain. Ignoring the kid's mishandling of how own technique, however, Cracker noticed that the way it was said sounded like something a Devil Fruit user would attempt and, judging by the name, it must've been the Gum-Gum Fruit. Out of curiosity, Cracker decided to find the source and see for himself who it was. If nothing else, the Big Mom Pirates would always have need for another crewmate.
Reaching the spot, he found a straw hat-wearing boy under the age of ten training to make use of his stretchable body parts. In spite of the brat's enthusiasm, however, his next attempt to throw a stretched-out punch ended up with hitting himself in the face once more. Cracker couldn't help but shake his head in nostalgia at that, considering he and the other Devil Fruit users in his family had some similar incidents when it came to master their own powers in their youth. When the little moron was about to go for another try, Cracker decided to make himself known.
"Hey, kid." He called out just before a repeat occurred which made the Rubber Human regard him curiously. "Having trouble with your Devil Fruit power, I see."
The boy then grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, but I'm doing the best I can, still." He then smiled expectantly. "Do you have a Devil Fruit power, Mister?"
Cracker nodded. "Yeah. Like yours, my ability doesn't seem like much at first, but, in the right hands, it can be exceedingly useful. I'm Cracker by the way."
"My name's Monkey D. Luffy!" The boy laughed energetically. "Nice to meet you, Bone Cracker!"
Cracker smiled widely at both the apparent new epithet of his as well as the interesting knowledge for Garp's tie to Dawn Island. "Right back at you, boy."
[SJ]
"So, after you found out about his blood tie to Garp, you brought him here, Cracker?!" Perospero, the eldest son of the Charlotte Family and Totto Land Minister of Candy, screeched in anger upon his brother's report upon returning to the Whole Cake Chateau on Whole Cake Island in Totto Land. "Are you out of your mind?! Has occurred to you what those damnable Marines will do should they learn of this?!"
"Uh, calm down, elder brother." Said the eighth daughter, Brûlée, in an attempt to reason with Perospero. "It's not like the Navy can do anything against us, anyway."
"I don't want to hear a single word out of you!" Perospero snapped to his sister before returning his attention back to Cracker. "Now what do you have to say for yourself?"
Cracker sighed, having expected this, but responded calmly all the same. "All I was doing at first was showing the brat the ropes around his Paramecia, even gave him his first dose of Armament Haki, but then that old fool Garp started bellowing his voice about "Fists of Love" or whatever, so I made an admittedly rash decision."
"And by "rash", you mean you brought the boy straight into the Mirro-World to escape a cantankerous Vice Admiral you weren't exactly confident of defeating." Deadpanned the fourteenth daughter, Smoothie.
Cracker shrugged in an annoyed, yet non-proud, manner. "I did leave a bomb on the ship I used though. Garp probably doesn't even know his grand-brat is with us."
The second son, Katakuri, then interjected. "Perhaps, Cracker, but is it worth it? What use could this Monkey D. Luffy be to us?"
On her throne nearby, Linlin laughed eagerly. "Perhaps more than any of us know, my son." Grabbing everyone's attention, she explained. "After Cracker told me about the Straw Hat boy, I started pressuring the usual contacts, and they told me that while Garp serves in the Navy blindly like a common dog and his grandson dreams of becoming the King of the Pirates, the one in-between is the leader of the Revolutionaries."
While Linlin laughed once more, the others in her chambers either gasped in surprise or narrowed their eyes in interest.
"You believe we could get Dragon and his Army in our crew, Mama?" Katakuri asked in an attempt to see the picture.
"Even if not, someone with the child's connections and resolve to find the One Piece would be inexcusably appealing to have by our side." The Queen of Totto Land explained wickedly before turning to Cracker with a serious face. "Cracker, you brought him here, so he'll be your pupil for the moment. Make him strong, make him smart, and help him grow loyal to my nation, crew, and family."
Cracker gulped unsurely. "Forgive me for my concerns, Mama, but when I told the boy about joining our crew, he said that the future King of the Pirates can't have a boss. He's surprisingly stubborn about that."
Linlin scoffed but didn't appear too bothered. "Tell him that he'll have a better chance of finding the One Piece by being by a rival's side than against them. I don't expect him to already pick a future bride among my daughters, but he'll be useful to us one way or another, that I'm sure of."
[SJ]
Wrapped this up quicker than I thought I would, but I wanted to let any challenge takers fill in the blanks if they wanted to. Before anyone starts making Luffy a downright villain protagonist, allow me to state I wouldn't want him to change too much, maybe a bit more cunning and refined, but not maliciously sadistic like Doflamingo. As for pairings between him and anyone, or more, among the Charlotte Daughters, I guess he could realistically find more common ground with ladies around his age just as Pudding, Joscarpone, Myukuru, and anyone on the female side of the Charlotte Decuplets, but I'll leave that to anyone interested to figure out. Just let me know.
Also, on a side note, while I know there's only a slim chance Franky will find a potential significant other like Chopper did with Milky, Sanji with Pudding, and Usopp with Kaya, I did recently wonder about Brook's chances in an AU setting between him and a Zombified Victoria Cindry who somehow remained alive in spite of Margarita getting her shadow back still. I'd still have to think about the details, but it's probably the closest he'll ever get throughout every depiction of One Piece, considering his undead status. I'm open to some pointers until I can give that thought as well as anything that could happen between Zoro's bounty hunting duo and the Square Sisters some serious effort, though. Just let me know.