Chapter 1 – The Adventure Begins

Flames scorched across the earth burning everything in its path, people screamed in pain as they were engulfed by the fire, eaten by vicious monsters and trampled under the feet of those fleeing, Villages were destroyed in the chaos and flames, animals fled the fields and forests as the fire spread throughout the entire world. The once beautiful blue sky had now turned black as night from the thick smoke that rose from the flames.

A strong gust of wind blew the sand across the darkened sky to land on the straw hat, a young man kneeled before the straw hat, his body was slightly burned, bleeding and bruised, his hair was ruffled and his clothes were singed. Tears streamed down his cheeks, one of which contained a scar under the left eye.

Monkey D. Luffy looked around at the world which was burning before his very eyes, the sand of the beach was dyed red from the blood that spilled from the dead bodies that littered the surrounding area. Screams of warriors and vicious beasts could be heard as they clashed together.

"You've lost boy"

Luffy didn't move, he stared out at the ocean which and saw lightning in the distance, the water was raging and whirlpools could be seen for miles across the sea.

"Ragnarok cannot be prevented, no matter how hard you try."

Luffy turned his head to see who was speaking, it was a man with long, smooth and shiny jet black hair, his skin was flaming red and his large white eyes had pupils of fire. The only clothes he wore was a pair of black underpants.

"I FAILED!" wailed Luffy as he slammed his fists into the sand.

"You attempted to interfere in the battle of the gods child" said the red skinned man "And now you shall join your friends" the man raised his arm and a sword of fire appeared from the air. "DIE" He swung his sword down aiming at the back of Luffy's neck intending to sever his head.

All faded to black.

X X X

Luffy woke with a start, he sat up pale and sweating "What was that?" he wondered.

Luffy shook his head and took a deep breath before realising that his feet were wet, hi surroundings came to him and he saw that he was lying on a beach with tide washing over his feet. He got up and looked around, the sky was blue, the ocean was calm and still and he could hear the sound of gulls. But no matter what he saw he knew that this was the location of his dream just moments ago.

Luffy jumped to his feet and gave a loud shout "SANJI FOOD!" but received no reply

Looking around Luffy realised he was alone, his crewmates and the thousand sunny where nowhere to be seen "Did everyone get lost again?" Luffy reached for his head and felt his hat nestled atop. "Time for an adventure to find my crew"

Luffy set of to the east across the beach and coming to a large grassy field a thick forest was to the east across the field while a large mountain sat to the north, The beach lay back to the west and the ocean stretched out over the south. Following his instinct Luffy set out across the field towards the forest.

After several hours of trying to find his way through the forest Luffy collapsed against a tree, tired and hungry he slumped to the ground and groaned.

"Why is there no animals in this forest?" he pondered as the last speck of sunshine disappeared behind the leaves and night settled in. Luffy closed his eyes and drifted of to sleep.

He awoke in the morning as the suns rays once again broke through the leaves of the trees, he grunted and stretched out before a loud rumbling sound gained his attention, he was starving and had no idea when the last time he ate was. Luffy jumped to his feet intending to find some sort of animal he could eat, but to his dismay he found nothing. The forest was empty and devoid of life. Luffy stumbled through the forest and soon came across several broken trees, somewhere snapped in half, while other roots and all had been pulled out of the ground.

Luffy grinned "Whatever did this must be big and juicy" he began to drool at the thought of the large animal he was going to eat.

Luffy followed the path of ruined trees till they split of in two directions, He decided to follow the path to the right and to his great joy he saw several wooden huts through the trees, and if there wa shuts, there was people, people with food! Luffy sped through the forest towards the huts and as he neared a stream of arrows rained down towards them, Luffy was shocked for a moment and quickly regained his composure to dodge the hail.

"WHO'S THERE!" roared Luffy

Luffy could hear voices muttering in the distance "It spoke", "Don't be fooled", "It's playing tricks with us now", "Don't drop your guard or it will eat us."

Before Luffy could speak again a second rain of arrows were launched at him and once again all failed to hit "I'm not here to fight!" he yelled "I just want some food!"

A man stepped out of the trees with his bow and arrow at the ready "Who are you stranger?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy."

"Where did you come from?" Asked the man who was wearing an animal pelt over his torso and across his groin.

"I woke up on the beach, My friends are missing I'm searching for them on an adventure, but first I need to find food." Answered Luffy

"How did you make it through the forest? Didn't you encounter it?" the man continued to ask question while looking at Luffy with suspicion in his eyes

"It?" replied Luffy "You mean the animal that destroyed all the trees, If I find that kind of animal I'm going to eat it." He grinned

"EAT IT!" roared the man in surprise "Are you mad by boy!"

At Luffy's comment several other men all wearing animal pelts in various assortments and wielding bows appeared from behind several trees

"You want to eat the Grendel boy!" laughed the men "We are eleven proud and strong hunters but once we were thirty and all of us missing were slain by the Grendel."

"Wow it sounds strong." Grinned Luffy as he started drooling again at the thought of eating it

"And it's not exactly an animal, we have no idea what the creature is, but it's big and strong and no one has been able to stop it. It attacks the villages and eats anything it can get its grubby hands on, we've lost many comrades to this foul beast."

Luffy looked at the men and grinned "I'll take care of it but I want some food first!"

"You're a fool boy, very well we shall take you to the village and help you hunt the Grendel, the sooner it dies, the sooner we regain peace."

Luffy set of with the men towards the hut which turned out to be completely ruined, there was broken doors, destroyed walls, lots of items littered th ground and old bloodstains and bones lay scattered across the area.

"This was the first village to be attacked by the Grendel, we've never found any of the villagers bodies." Said one of the men as Luffy looked around "This is what the creature your wanting to hunt is capable of."

As the sun began to set Luffy and the hunters emerged from the wood and looking down over a short cliff into a small field they saw a small village with a large wooden wall built around it.

"That is our home." Said a hunter and he pointed towards the village "We shall rest there tonight and start the hunt tomorrow."

As Luffy and the men disappeared down the steep cliff path towards the village a large hulking mass rustled in the forest trees and its eyes were glowing a pale yellow, a long tongue emerged from its mouth showing its teeth to be large pointed fangs, it licked its lips and grinned.