Chapter 1
Two Ships, Two Hats
When the landscape is an endless blue and white it can be seen as beautiful, vast, terrifying, boring, or the visualisation of an awaiting adventure; it depends on which spyglass is used. Oceans are many things, depending on where you stand. A doctor sees it as a comparison to the size of his problems, a navigator sees it as a challenge worthy of her attention, for a sharpshooter the ocean is a beast to conquer. The ocean for a chef is an oyster chock full of selection and enchanting mysteries, for an archaeologist it is a meditative plane, a swordsman sees the ocean as a path leading to victory. What is an ocean to a captain?
It is a place where they are all together, the Straw Hat Crew…
"And this is our endless blue!" Usopp continued, extending his arms to show off the waters behind him. "Which I, the Great Captain Usopp, will rule over!"
"Ahhh, Usopp! You're amazing!" Tony Tony Chopper shrieked and giggled as the sharpshooter continued his story telling.
"For me this blue of the Grand Line is only a puddle compared to what I have seen… though these waters look calm and undisturbed-"
""I see a disruption," Zoro muttered from across the deck, lifting a weight with one hand and another with his foot.
"Zoro! That's so mean!" Usopp whined, turning away from his enraptured audience of a reindeer and a rubber boy.
The green haired swordsman ignored his younger crew mate's complaint and pointed with his free hand to the horizon. "I'm telling the truth, there's something there."
"Oooh, is it the marines? Can we fight 'em?" Luffy stretched himself over to where his swordsman stood near the Going Merry's railing.
"Oi cook! Stop ogling the ladies and do your job!" Zoro yelled up to the crow's nest.
Sanji, who was currently angling the telescope to observe the lovely Robin-chwan lounging near the figure head with a book, bristled at his crew mate's words. "Shut up, shitty swordsman!" Regretfully the cook averted his eyes away from their dazzling archeologist and returned to scanning the horizon."There's a small dinghy starboard!" he called down to his crew.
"Any crew aboard?" Nami called up, having come onto the deck at the sound of the raised voices.
"Are you worried they might have been caught in a storm and are hurt?" Chopper asked worriedly, shouldering his backpack and clopping over to the navigator.
"I want to see if we have to fight anyone to get any treasure that might be onboard."
"She's a witch!" Usopp and Chopper sobbed, hiding behind the meagrely repaired mast.
Sanji's heart filled voice floated down to the pirates on deck. "I can't see anyone onboard, Nami-swan!"
Luffy cackled and turned to look back at his crew. "I smell adventure!"
Judging by the glint in the flame haired navigator's eyes, she smelled beli instead of adventure. "Usopp, hard to starboard! Zoro turn the sail! We're getting that dinghy!"
The action on the Going Merry was energetic and routine as the crew jumped to obey commands. Even in the choppy waves of the sea, the ship turned smoothly under the guidance and care of her crew. The dinghy, by comparison, rocked with the waves sadly and all alone. It's directions on the sea was unguided and slow which only aided in the Straw Hats attempts to come up alongside it.
There was no flag at the top of the mast, the sail was folded and secured.
Perhaps it was blown out of port during a storm on a nearby island," Robin speculated as Usopp and Luffy lowered the rope ladder.
As soon as the captain's sandals hit the wind smoothed wood he wrinkled his nose. "It smells salty," he whined.
"What did you expect?" Usopp huffed, cuffing the back of the boys head, "who knows how long it's been in the sea." The sharpshooter quickly tied a line of rope around on of the dinghy's hooks so as to keep it from drifting too far from the Merry.
Ropes and planks lay all about the miniscule deck, but it didn't hinder the two explores as they inspected further, the rest of the crew watching from the Merry. Besides the junk on the deck there was what looked like a pile of supplies, covered by a tarp.
"Let's see, let's see," Luffy giggled excitedly, and reached forward to unveil their discovery.
The sharp bang was almost lost in the wind, but the sight of the Straw Hat's captain jerking back as his shoulder stretched behind him from the force of a bullet was not carried away by the breeze. With a snap, Luffy's shoulder returned to its proper place and shot the bullet back where it had come from, the tarp covered pile.
"SHIT!"
"The Straw Hats had their weapons and stances ready for an attack before the unfamiliar voice had even uttered his curse.
"Who's there?" several of the crew said at once. There was no answer.
Usopp, hiding behind Luffy, had his slingshot out. His voice quivered as much as his knees. "I'm warning you, whatever you are, we've got you surrounded. My 8 thousand men are waiting for my signal to attack. Show yourself!"
"Liar."
A response that usually would have come from the crew, who were all too familiar with the long nosed lies, came instead from the one hidden under the blanket.
"How did you know?" Usopp wailed.
Hands appeared on the deck of the dinghy, surrounding the supplies, and swiftly removed the covering to unmask the new enemy. Amongst the cluttered boxes and sacks, a figure laid reclined against them for support. His long black coat hid most of his physique and his position made it difficult to see him clearly, but he couldn't have been any taller than Zoro or Sanji. The mystery man's face was concealed by his tattered, brown tricorn hat that sat low on his brow. The gun that had fired at Luffy was still in his raised hand, although the laxness in his arms didn't indicate another attack.
The stranger didn't respond to Usopp's cry in the slightest, and though his eyes were hidden beneath his hat's brim, the crew could feel themselves being cautiously scanned.
"Who are you?" Robin finally spoke up, her hands crossed in front of her, prepared to control her disembodied limbs to subdue the man.
The man's head twitched in Robin's direction, and the sun was reflected in distrustful green eyes. "What's it to you?" came a snarky reply.
"Oi, bastard! Don't you dare be rude to the ladies!" Sanji barked, setting his foot up on the railing threateningly.
The stranger let out an unamused laugh. "I'd say, you're the rude ones. Boarding a vessel without permission."
"The boat look abandoned," Nami defended angrily.
"Thing are never what they seem," the man growled. With an uneven lift and hop, he raised himself using the box he had been leaning on. "Now that you know this boat is occupied, you can be on your way and leave me be."
"I don't know about that," Zoro mused, resting his hand against his katanas, "you did just shoot our captain."
"In self-defence, and by the looks of it, he is completely unharmed," the man growled gesturing towards the boy with his weapon.
The captain in question let out a cackle at that. "You're right, bullets won't work on me 'cause I'm a rubber man."
"I don't care," the black coated man said bluntly. "Just get of my ship."
"Aww come on," Luffy whined, "stay and chat!"
"Luffy!" the crew roared in reprimand.
"Why would I do that?" the man sneered.
"Because you must be really strong, to be sailing the Grand Line all by yourself," Luffy grinned, "you probably have lots of stories to tell, too. Come on, Sanji's an awesome cook! We'll have a feast!"
"No, I am not interested in spending any more time than I have to with you."
"Is it because we're pirates?" Luffy asked curiously.
"You could be pirates, marines, or a traveling sea circus, I still would refuse your company," the stranger growled.
"Don't be like that," Luffy pouted. "Isn't it lonely, sailing by yourself?"
The man took a pause before deigning to answer the question. "It's… what I prefer…"
"No fun!" Straw Hat said. Then his arm stretched forward and grabbed the man's tricorn hat right off his head.
"Hey! Give that back!"
"Cool hat!" Luffy snickered, twirling the tricorn in his hands. "Can't you at least tell us where you're going?"
"GIVE IT BACK!"
The man bolted towards Luffy's, but his left leg crumpled and sent him sprawling to the deck.
"Luffy, stop! He's hurt!" Chopper cried, jumping over the railing and onto the dinghy.
"Give it back this instant, you bastard! Get away from me!" the man was practically shrieking as the reindeer tried to approach him. When the doctor didn't back off, the man pointed his pistol at the youngest Straw Hat pirate. "Don't touch me!"
All the rest of the crew bristled at the stranger's threat towards Chopper. However the doctor stopped his advance, although he didn't retreat. "But you're bleeding," the blue-nosed reindeer insisted. He was correct, the man left pant leg was completely soaked with dark blood.
"Why the hell you care, just give it back and get away from me!" the panicking man took his pistol into a two handed grip to try and emphasis his demand.
"Is this hat important to you?" Luffy's quiet, stern voice spoke up.
Soul burning anger crackled in the man's eyes as he turned his gaze to the young captain. "Just…. Give it back…" he forced out.
"How bad is he, Chopper?" the captain said, turning to their ship doctor.
"I can't tell unless I examine him, but he's bleeding too much for me to turn my back on him as a doctor," Chopper worried, keeping his eyes trained on his potential patient.
Luffy walked over to the man slouched on the deck of his own dinghy. Though his grip tightened on the gun, he didn't fire as the pirate came closer.
"I'll give this hat back to you, if you let Chopper treat you."
The stranger's eyes widened, his gaze darting between his hat in the captain's hand and Luffy himself. A couple of the Straw Hat crew above them made faces of dislike and disagreement, but the captain's eyes never left the man.
Almost glacially slow, the pistol was lowered and a nod was given in consent. Once permission was granted, Chopper bolted forward to finally care for his patient. Luffy gave a firm nod and handed the hat back. "Sorry, by the way," the boy said seriously, "this is obviously your treasure, I'm sorry for taking it without asking."
The man said nothing. He only clutched the worn brim of the hat tightly in his fist and averted his gaze. Leaving the doctor and patient in the dingy, Luffy motioned at Usopp to follow him up the ladder.
"Mind explaining, captain?" Nami hissed in annoyance.
"Yeah, why are you helping the guy?" Usopp muttered. "He doesn't seem like someone we can trust."
"I want to learn more about him," Luffy said simply, a big smile gracing his face. "He's interesting."
"We still shouldn't let our guard down," Zoro warned.
"Shishishishi, of course!" Luffy snickered. "If he ends up being trouble we'll just kick his ass."
"By the way, Luffy," Robin spoke up, coming closer to the captain, "why did you take his hat in the first place?"
"I dunno," the black haired boy shrugged, "I wanted to see if would fight the way I thought he would, I guess."