First of all, let's get the disclaimer out of the way.

I do not own One Piece in any way. I am not making any money off of this, and I'm writing this for my own enjoyment, and hopefully yours too. Any original characters you see are my own concepts, and will play minor roles as the plot requires.

Now that that's out of the way, I hope you all will bear with me. This is my first attempt at writing in the One Piece fandom. I admit I'm a bit rusty on canon (which I'm working on fixing, but with 600+ anime episodes to go through its taking a while). So I'll apologize up front if I make mistakes with characterization and such. This will be based primarily on the anime, and may have references to filler arcs.

I am also looking for a beta reader who can help me with characterizations, to bounce ideas off of, and to give me a kick in the butt to get going (if needed). Other beta reader-ish help is welcome too.

Outside of canon pairings, this will be a gen/friendship/nakama fic. Sorry to disappoint. There may be some moments that you choose to take one way or another, but that's your choice and are likely not intended as romantic. This will mostly be focused on adventure rather than romance.

This story is set sometime after Punk Hazard. This chapter rated T for Sanji's mouth. Rating may change later.

The basic plot of this fic has some similarities to another fic I read, but the author encouraged me to write my own thing anyway. So, here we go.


NEW WORLD DAWN


CHAPTER 1

The storm had come up out of nowhere in the early hours of dawn before the morning watch change. Robin had taken the last night watch shift and was easily able to drag everyone out of bed (in some cases literally with her extra arms). Despite Sunny being designed for a small crew, the sudden storm was bad enough that nearly all hands were needed on deck. Sanji literally kicked Caesar below decks so he wouldn't be swept away and drown, and Momonosuke and Kin'emon stayed below as well to keep an eye on him, and keep out of the way.

Even with the whole crew, and even Law, running on deck as Nami shouted orders, the Sunny was still blown off course by the wind and wild currents. The storm lasted nearly all morning before the clouds began to break. By the time the waves began to calm everyone was tired, especially with having skipped breakfast.

"Sanjiiii…" a moan accompanied by a loud stomach gurgle rose from the lanky teen splayed out on his back on the grass on deck. "Food…"

"Che." The blond cook's swirly eyebrow twitched as he straightened up from where he leaned against the stairs. "Of course you'd think of that first, rubber bastard." His response was a stupid grin and another monstrous stomach gurgle. Sanji scowled but was too tired to stalk across the deck and kick his idiot captain. Instead, he straightened his tie and his ruffled, rain soaked shirt before shimmying up the stairs to where Nami leaned on the railing overlooking the deck. "Nami-swaaan~! Robin-chwaan~! I'll have a hot lunch ready soon~!"

"That's fine, Sanji-kun," Nami replied distractedly as she examined the log pose strapped to her wrist.

"Thank you, Sanji," Robin smiled from her seat by the mast.

"Yay! Food!" Luffy bounced up off the floor and lunged for the galley door, but Sanji intercepted him with a foot to the face that tossed him back onto his butt.

"It's not ready yet, idiot!"

Luffy just sat back up with a pout, completely unaffected by the kick. "But Sanjiiii. I'm hungryyy."

"You're always hungry! You'll eat when it's ready!" Sanji growled as he stomped into the galley to get started.

Luffy flopped back onto his back as another growl echoed from his stomach. "Hungryyy…"

"Tired…" panted Chopper from where he lay in the grass by the swing. The little reindeer was back in Brain Point after running around in Heavy Point to help handle the rigging during the storm. The green-haired swordsman lay beside him, up against the tree, already snoring now that the storm had broken.

"Is it just me, or is the New World weather getting worse?" the long-nosed sniper groaned from where he lay slumped against the railing.

"We knew the weather was going to be rougher before we came to the New World," Nami replied, glancing up from the log pose. "We're off course, but we still have our heading, so it's fine."

"Long-nose-ya has a point," a cool voice spoke up for the first time in a while. Law looked up from where he sat against the wall, nodatchi propped against his shoulder. "That storm was particularly bad for this area."

"It's no problem! Sunny can handle worse than that!" Franky declared as he joined them from the helm.

Suddenly, a shout from above cut off any further conversation. "Ah! An island! I see an island! …even though I have no eyes, Yohohohoho!"

"An island?" Nami looked up with a confused frown.

"ISLAND!" Luffy whooped as he leaped to his feet, hunger momentarily forgotten. One arm stretched up until he caught the rigging near the crow's nest before he rocketed himself up to join Brook. "Where, where, where?" his voice echoed excitedly down to the deck below.

"Island?" Usopp glanced up to see which direction Luffy was looking. Then he stood up to peer in that direction as well.

Chopper's hooves squeaked against the deck as he jumped up and ran across to climb the railing next to Usopp. "Where is it? Do you see it?" He bounced excitedly on top of the railing, trying to get a better view.

Robin stood up as well, though she was watching as Nami's frown deepened as the navigator searched the horizon for the island as well. She made her way up the stairs to stand beside the other woman. "Nami?" she questioned.

Nami frowned again, then glanced down at her log pose. "That's strange. There shouldn't be an island in this area. There wasn't anything on the maps either…"

"Ah! I see it!" Luffy's shout echoed across the ship as he pointed enthusiastically into the distance. "Island!"

Nami moved to the railing to get a better look. It was hard to see with the way the ocean was still rough from the storm, but not too far off she could make out a low, dark shape against the waves and sky. It was actually surprising they had gotten so close to it before they'd even seen it.

Usopp had spotted it as well. "Ohh, we must have missed it because of the storm. Not much of an island, though. I don't see any trees, just rocks…" Just as Usopp announced this, the ship jolted and lurched with a shocking crunch as they crashed into something. "Whaa-!" Usopp flailed as he lost his balance, nearly pitching over the railing. Everyone else staggered or lost their balance. Chopper shrieked and flailed as he was thrown off the railing. Usopp lunged and snagged the back of his shirt before the little reindeer fell into the sea.

"AHH!" The shout from above was the only warning as Luffy was thrown off the rigging and plunged down towards the rough waves.

Zoro was suddenly at the railing beside Usopp. But before he could jump over after his anchor of a captain, even before Luffy hit the water, a rubbery arm stretched out and caught the front of his clothes. Zoro only managed a startled grunt as the recoil pulled him forward against the railing, and then Luffy rocketed into him and Usopp, who was still holding Chopper, sending all four of them tumbling across the deck in a tangle of rubbery limbs.

Usopp moaned into the grass of the deck, face down beneath the pile, nose squished at an awkward angle. Zoro sprawled awkwardly on top of him, lying on his back. Chopper had plastered himself onto Zoro's head, fur on end and his eyes spinning dizzily. Luffy, meanwhile, sat upright on Zoro's chest after a moment with a laugh. "Whew! That was close! What happened?" He glanced around before noticing the two men, and reindeer, flattened under him. "Ah! Did you guys fall too?"

Zoro and Usopp abruptly threw the rubber captain off of them as they sat up and snarled accusingly, Chopper still clinging to Zoro's head, "That was your fault!"

Luffy just sat back up and laughed, "Ah? Sorry, sorry!" Then he glanced around the deck. "What was that, though? Did we hit something?"

Zoro just grunted as he struggled to pull Chopper off of his head.

The galley door was thrown open just then, "What the hell is going on up here?!" Sanji snarled as he stormed out onto the deck and glared around. The soup he'd been making had nearly been thrown off the stove by that jolt.

"This is bad!" Nami's shout cut him off.

Sanji instantly turned towards Nami with hearts in his eyes, "Nami-swaan~," the hearts turned to fire as he glared at the pile-up of idiots on the deck, "what did these shitheads do?" he growled.

"We hit a reef!" Nami continued on without pausing, despite Sanji's mood swings.

"Sunny!" Franky wailed as he ran to the railing and leaned over to try to see if there was any damage. The waves caused the ship to lurch again with another scraping sound. "I'll go below and check for damage!"

"I'll help!" Usopp scrambled to his feet and hurried after the cyborg as they ran below decks to make sure there were no leaks.

"Ah!" Luffy scrambled over to the railing to peer down at the side of the ship. "Sunny's okay, right?"

"I don't see any damage above the waterline, but the reef is mostly underwater. I don't see any currents that would indicate a large hole, though…" Nami replied.

"Good. Franky will fix her." Luffy assured.

Nami glanced up at him. "We should move off the reef, though, to prevent the waves from shoving us against the rock and doing more damage."

Luffy nodded, and there was another rush of activity as they pushed Sunny off the reef and out to deeper water. Usopp came back on deck partway through the maneuver.

"There's no serious damage below deck, but Franky wants to be sure and check the outer hull before we sail on." Usopp announced as he glanced around the activity on deck.

"We'll need to drop anchor, then," Nami replied as she eyed the reef and the small rocky island not too far beyond.

Luffy planted his fist into his palm and then nodded sagely. "Right. TO THE ISLAND!" he shouted, flinging his arms into the air.


I'd originally planned more for the first chapter, but this seemed like a pretty good place to stop.

Hopefully I did alright with the characterizations. This is the first time I've tried writing the StrawHats, and I know some barely got any screen time, but there are just so many characters, it's hard to fit them all into a scene. I thought Luffy would be harder to write, but he's both simultaneously difficult and easy to write. It's weird, but it also makes sense, because that's just how Luffy is – a contradiction.

Review and let me know how I'm doing. Send me a PM if you're interested in being my beta/sounding-board.