Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece; all rights go to the man himself, Eiichiro Oda.
A/N: I'm going to try and shake up my writing with this piece, so bare with me; I'll be working on this quite a lot, hopefully. Meaning a lot more of me around, especially in the One Piece section. This is going to be a long series, spanning quite a lot of arcs and stories, so please, enjoy.
FYI:
Words written in italics represent thoughts and emphasis;
Words written in bold represent attacks;
Words written in bold & italics represent time-skips, locations or a change of the POV.
The story, as of now, will be starting off just as the
It was as pristine and as beautiful as ever, Fishman Island – though, over the past few weeks, the pirate attacks on the island have increased exponentially.
With each and every attack, they just get more and more viscous. Some come for the loot but, what most come for, is to kill. It's true, the humans and the fishmen are very different but the one thing they all have in common, is the hatred they share for each other.
A ship. A really, really large ship docked at the port town, Coral Hill. The ship was even larger than the legendary ship, the Moby Dick; towering over it in size and length. The ships jolly roger depicted an upside-down skull with the jaw missing, on a set of crossed-swords. The right eye of the skull was covered by four scar-type markings. The sails were red with a vertical stripe design, complimenting the gold-accent on the ship.
The figurehead of the ship seemed to be a pair of mermaids alongside a forward facing cannon. Behind the ship, 30 others were closely behind. Not as big as their flag-ship, but still of considerable size. They all bore the flag-ships jolly roger, signalling that they were of the same crew.
As they were docked, there didn't seem to be any demands or threats, just a large amount of ships – pirate ships. Enough to scare even the sturdiest of men.
A few minutes later, a man was seen on the deck of the flag-ship. One after the other, more and more people started appearing on the deck. The man – that looked to be the captain – jumped off of the ship, landing on Fishman Island.
The Coral Hill seemed to be under siege by some rival pirates, as the place was on fire and in a state of dismay. He landed on the ground and brushed the dirt off of his shoulder; he was much larger than "Whitebeard," Edward Newgate, in height and size. He was very tall and very muscular, he sported long, black hair that flowed back in a dragon-esque fashion; an achor beard, mustache and light side-burns that met his beard. His eyes were a piercing emerald green with his right eye bearing four scars.
He was completely top-less from the waist up, showing off his toned physique and the tattoo – of his jolly roger – that covered the left side of his chest, placed where his heart's located; he had many scars on his upper-body, the most noticable one, stretching from his right peck to his lower-left abdomen. He also wore a yellow mala-bead necklace that hung from his neck, dangling just below his pecks.
He sported a set of ivory trousers, held up by a very ornate belt. The centre-piece of the belt was a skull, the eyes, instead of being hollow, had jewels embedded inside of them. He wore a pair of black boots, nothing too out of the ordinary. He also had a very large – even larger than Squards' katana – nodachi-class sword on the right-side of his waist and a bazooka on the left; this bazooka, unlike others, had four chambers and seemed to be in the shape of a pistol, albeit larger than one and more destructive.
Shortly after, his crew came plummeting towards the ground. One after the other, they stood behind their captain, waiting for his next move. Sixteen, in paticular, were right next to him, signalling that they had a high-standing with the pirate-captain.
"This... This place, was once the territory of my old... late friend." he bellowed as his voice echoed throughtout the submerged island.
"You have all forsaken his will!" he yelled in a great rage, clinching his fists as he contained his anger.
"From this point on, I, Gobego D. Sage, declare this land, Fishman Island, my territory!" he said as he signalled for one of his crew-mates – that had been carrying a flag with the crews' jolly roger on it – walked out from the crowd, and stood next to his captain, dwarfed in comparison.
"Anybody who fails to respect this, can answer to me."
The entire Island stood quiet – if a pin dropped, you would be able to hear it – the raids seemed to have stopped, as all the present pirates stared at the captain like he was crazy. One of the pirates that had been raiding one of the nearby houses, stepped up in an effort to show-off. "Who are you to us?! We're the legendary pirate crew-!"
Sage, without hesitation, appeared next to him, promptly cutting him off. By the stance he took beforehand, it had looked like he was readying himself to start running. Sage towered over him, as he leant in beside him, "Sage." he said as he pulled his right arm back, charging up a very powerful punch. Within seconds the attack had reached a substantial amount of power, allowing Sage to let loose and send the pirate flying across the island.
From where Sage was standing, you could see the man laying down in a pile of rubble – his chest had a large, hand-shaped hole from Sages' attack.
He took a few steps back before stretching his hands behind his head. "Anybody else have anything to say?" he asked as he rotated himself around, looking at everybody who could be deemed an enemy.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, focusing their vision on Sage. People couldn't believe how powerful Sage was, especially after what he did to that mouthy pirate. Nobody semmed to want to accept Sages' offer, even though there were many high-profile and powerful pirates' and pirate-crews.
"Mhm." he muttered as he looked down at the floor. "That's exactly what I thought."
He turned around and signalled for everybody to get back onto the ship, which they did. Sages' personal ship – the flag-ship of his fleet – was very large. Large enough to make Sage out to be a normal sized human, when viewed atop his ship from a distance.
Four weeks later:
"Sail next to that ship," spoke Sage as he pointed his finger towards the large ship in the distance. "I'm going alone; do not attack the ship, under any circumstance!"
"Yes!" his crew yelled as they all walked about the ship with a keg of sake in their hands. "Good... Now, hopefully they don't mistake us for enemies." he said with a grin.
"Captain!" yelled the scout on top of the ships mast. "There's a ship coming towards us from the stern, they're approaching really quickly!"
"What should we do, Captain?!"
"They haven't shot at us yet... So perhaps they aren't enemies... I guess we'll have to wait and see." replied the Captain, surprisingly calm and collected for a pirate. "Yes, sir!"
Back on Sages' ship:
"Tammy, slow that ship down," the Captain said as he pointed towards the ship. Tammy, a girl of average height – a dwarf when in the presence of her captain, Sage – with wavy, verdant hair that touched the bottom of her back. She sported a yellow, thin-strap singlet with floral designs covering the bottom-left portion; while also wearing a brown, short-cut skirt with a v-shaped slit on both of the sides. She also donned a pair of open-toe platform sandals that ran up her leg, stopping below her knee.
"On it!" she yelled, as she hopped down from a higher deck, landing next to Sage, who had his eyes set on the ship. She walked as closely towards the ship as she could without falling into the water. She then extended her hand, with her palm to the sky and retracted her arm, causing a large thunderstorm to appear infront of them – mainly towards their targets' ship.
The powerful storm sent large gusts of wind at both ships, slowing them down greatly. Sage took another swig of his sake, closely studying his targets' ship, "Oi, do something about that, would ya?" he said with a laugh, as he pointed towards another crew member – Jayce. "I got you." he said, as he stood up from his cross-legged position on the deck.
Jayce has a dark skin tone, smooth complexion, dark-brown eyes, and white, spiky hair. He covered his upper-body with a sleeveless, dark-gray, hooded-vest, exposing the multiple tattoos on both his arms. Jayce also donned a pair of loose, black, cotton-pants that cuffed around his ankle, held up by an ordinary belt with a pair of black sandles. He had a large rifle on his back, also.
He made haste towards his ships bow, inevitably being slowed by the powerful gusts of wind being sent at the ship due to the storm. Though, that did not stop him. He made it to the bow with time to spare.
As he got there, the ship they had been pursuing for the past while could be seen not too far off in to the distance. It was hardly even moving, the winds from the storm made it unable to continue forward – allowing for Sage and his crew to catch up to them.
"Quickly! While they're stationary!" Sage yelled as he stood up from his cross-legged position. The ship started speeding up, due to Tammy using her Weather-Weather no Mi to help speed their ship up.
Within seconds, Sage was 30 metres from the ship, subsequently knocking out all the weak-willed members aboard, even from such a distance.
Sage pulled up beside the ship, gave them a wave then jumped across the 10 foot gap. As he did, even some of the higher-ups' in the crew had fallen unconcious. "Oh, sorry 'bout that, eh." he said with a laugh as he looked around for the ships' captain.
"Now, where's your Captain?" he asked as he scanned the ships deck. "Over here." a bodiless voice said. A man – the man – came walking out one of the doors on the ship, this paticular one leading him to the top deck.
Red-Hair looked at Sage. "Y-you..." he said as he froze in shock, his pupils dilating. "Everybody thought you were dead..."
They scanned each other for a few seconds, before engaging in a hand-shake then a hug. "Hahaha, I knew this'd be your ship!" laughed Sage as they released grips. "I've brought some healing water, we've been meaning to catch up, haven't we, Shanks?"
"I guess we have, Sage." he said with a genuine smile. "It's been too long."
Shanks signalled Sage to follow him, as they walked over to the middle of the deck and sat down cross-legged. Sage dropped the gigantic keg he had tied to his back, so the two could get to drinking.
"Oh, and, sorry about your crew."
"You've always had an impressive spirit, I can't expect you to change this far down the line, now can I?" stated Shanks as the two laughed it off.
Five hours went by as the two caught up; they talked about past, present and future. They were drinking, laughing and having a great time – two, old friends catching up with each other – "Those were the days! I remember those days where you and the Captain would get into it, even though he considered you his son."
"Yes, yes. That's just how we were, Roger loved fighting, as did I."
"I remember you being able to hold your own against him but I'm not sure if you ever beat him." said Shanks' as he pondered on the subject for a minute. "Yeah, come to think of it, did you ever actually beat him?"
Sage looked Shanks directly in the eye as he took a swig from the keg, "I have, yes." Shanks' eyes widened as he heard this. "Many times, actually. His haki was on another level, I'm still yet to find anybody to rival – or even come close to – his skill."
"He was my mentor, my teacher... My father." Sage looked down at the deck as he said this. "He taught me everything I know."
"He must've taught you a lot."
"He did." Sage took another huge swig of sake, as did Shanks. "So, tell me... What's with that arm of yours? Something's off about it... Did you get a new tattoo?!"
"I lost it... Betting on the new generation!"
"As I presumed." Sage seemed quite interested in Shanks' arm by the way he was staring. "Twas' it for the one they call, Monkey D. Luffy?"
Shanks eyes beamed widely as Sage mentioned that name, "You know Luffy?!" he exclaimed, almost jumping up from his laid back position.
"I know of him." Sage came across his wanted poster on an he stopped at during the four weeks prior to this meeting. "He bears the hat of our late captain and, most likely, the will of him, too."
"Yup, he does, I could tell the minute I set eyes on the kid!" Shanks ran his fingers through his hair, for nostalgic purposes. "He kept yelling 'I'm gonna be the Pirate King!' and I guess I believed him."
"Mhm, you care deeply for this child, don't you?"
"Yes." replied Shanks with a smile. "There's something about him, that reminds me of the Captain.
"As I suspected." Sage looked at Shanks with great seriousness. "I'm going to give you my word, that this kid will be the successor of our captain."
Shanks looked at him in shock, then let out a sigh of relief as he could rest easy, knowing Luffy was in good hands.
"Thank you, Sage." said Shanks in a thoughtful tone. "You've never cared about yourself, have you? No matter who, what or when, you'd jump in front of a bullet for anybody you call a friend."
Sage just stared at him and smiled. "Hahahahaha!" he let out a burst of laughter from the question.
"I'm serious! That day that bullet missed the Captains' heart, you forced everbody back onto the ship, while you stayed behind to allow us to escape even though you didn't know if we'd see each other again." said Shanks as he clinched his fists. "We tried counting the amount of people that attacked us, but there were too many."
"Yes, that day, I remember it like it was yesterday." Sage looked off into the ocean pondering on the subject for a bit. "I fought for seven days and seven nights without food, water or rest. The funniest thing is, I'd do it all again in heartbeat."
"When we came back for you, all we saw when we got off the boat, was corpse after corpse." Shanks paused as he took another swig. "Then, there you were, sitting atop a pile of corpses, eating that fruit."
"Yeah! The Captain beat my ass for that, too." said Sage with a laugh. "He hated the fact he couldn't do anything... Especially with that god-damned illness of his!"
"On our way back, Roger wouldn't speak." Shanks said as he looked over to his crew-mates. "He wouldn't answer anybody, he kept his gaze fixed in the direction of the Island. As soon as we got there, he was the first one off the ship – he didn't even wait for us to dock, he just jumped right off!"
"Yeah, that sounds like something the Captain would do." said Sage as he took an unusually large drink from his sake. "If only we could go-"
Meanwhile, off in the distance, another pirate ship was approaching. "Fire!" yelled their captain, as a cannon was heard firing.
Sage reduced the amount of haki he was emitting, allowing Shanks' crew to regain conciousness.
Sage downed the rest of his sake, then stood up from his seated position. He turned till he faced the enemy ship, noticing the cannonball was flying straight towards him, Sage did not move; his intent was pure.
The cannonball, flying at high speed, was caught, mid-flight as Sage extended his arm and stopped it with minimal effort. He then used his great strength to crush it, turning it to dust and rendering it useless.
He's still the same, Shanks thought, as he witnessed his old friend defend a ship that wasn't even his own.
Sage unsheathed his – typically – unwiedly sword from it's wooden holster. He bent his knees slightly, allowing him to gain leverage; the sword was held in a reverse grip, or "Zatoichi style." quite uncommon for a pirate, though.
He stood there with a wide stance and strange grip, looking as content as ever. More cannon fire could be heard in the distance, as the enemy ship got closer and closer.
Sage shut his eyes, awaiting the incoming cannonballs. One after the other, he sliced them clean in half, without even really touching them. He moved about the ship with such elegance and grace, something you wouldn't expect with his sheer size and weight.
Shanks stood there in awe, not because of his abilities – but more cause' he would defend his 'friends' with such vigour and tenacity. Though, his abilities were nothing short from legendary – Sage even having been able to hold his own and beat the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
"W-what's going on, boss?!" asked Benn Beckman as he made his way to his feet, still recovering from Sages' impressive haki. "We're being attacked."
Beckman reached for his rifle but was quickly stopped by Shanks. "No need." he said as he lowered Beckmans' arm. Shanks then pointed towards Sage, as he displayed his skills to Shanks' crew.
"Rockstar, you okay?" asked Shanks as he saw his friend struggling to make it back to his feet. "Y-yeah, captain." he said as he swayed from side to side, gaining leverage by holding onto a wall.
"W-who is that guy?" asked Rockstar as he rubbed his head. "An old friend of mine."
"Are you sure he'll be alright, captain?"
"Yeah." replied Shanks with a laugh. "I'm more concerned about the enemy, to be honest."
Sage stood atop the ship, staring fiercly towards the enemy ship. He then gripped his sword and maneuvered it around his fingers, making for quite a show. He decided to throw the sword up into the air, then catch it in his hand, widening his stance and having the sword gripped properly.
Sage then sliced the sword through the air with such speed and power, that within seconds, the enemy ship began falling apart into the ocean. He attacked the ship with very compressed slices of wind from his sword; the attacks were so fast that it was impossible to see whether or not something actually hit the ship.
He maneuvered the sword across his fingers once more, before he sheathed his weapon. He walked down the stairs that lead to a higher part of the deck, while the sunken pirates tried to swim to safety in the distance.
"Is everybody alright?" asked Sage as he scanned the immediate vacinity for any wounded. "Yup." replied Shanks' as he looked around. "Same goes for my ship... Thanks to you."
"Don't mention it, friend."
A/N: Most likely messed up with grammar, punctuation and dictation, but oh well. This is going to be the basis of the story, so keep that in mind.