Hello Everyone, this time I bring you all a different type of fic. Rest assured that I'm ahead on chapters and it will be updating regularly. Also, I swear this is not a Mary Joe kind of fic.
This fic is set in possible future, since we have no idea how One Piece is going to end, let's just all assume Luffy becomes Pirate King and then keeps on sailing with the rest of the crew to complete everyone's dreams. Obviously we could have new crewmates in the future but I'm sticking with the guys we have and adore now.
I've read some of my older fics and I'm so ashamed of some obvious grammatical mistakes I keep repeating over and over. Since English is not my first language I tend to think in a language and then try to type in the other, resulting in stupid mistakes that get past word's orographic correction tool.
And even thinking in English while writing on the same language I make stupid mistakes, for example on a previous fic I meant "he yelled" instead I wrote "he shelled" the meaning is totally different, I know this much, but for me both words sound the same at the moment of thinking and writing up the words.
I would adore having a beta reader that points me in the right direction and of course someone who would give me feedback about my story so far. If anyone is interested, of course it has to be anyone that loves LuNa pairing.
I'm sorry for the long rant, and hope you enjoy.
The Wind of Change
Chapter I
The pirate era had changed and nothing was quite the same anymore, impressive changes had taken place in the world in a relatively short period of time following a clash between rebels, pirates and the Marines.
The Celestial Dragons had been uncovered by what they really were and dethroned from their privileged place in society, the revolutionaries had achieved their goal, and a new global regime was taking order. After so many changes, so much war, destruction and loss - on all sides - the Neo World Government was slowly but successfully regaining trust and confidence on its citizens and member governments.
A new fleet Admiral was in charge, and all over the world hope that under the watchful eye of the lazy but just Aokiji a new kind of justice and world peace could be archived.
In the pirate world things had changed dramatically as well, many were claiming it was for the worse, and others said that things were better, but fact was that things were quite different, the order had changed.
Emperors, Warlords, Rookies, still existed but now new Pirate King stood in the world, and a new generation of rookies aspired for the title. Gone were the days where pirates were searching for the legendary treasure of the One Piece on the mystic island of Raftel, now, the vast majority of rookies were trying to find the new Pirate King and his infamous crew.
It was rumored that Monkey D. Luffy would reveal the location of Raftel, the treasury and the legendary weapons to anyone who could achieve the incredible feat of beating him in combat and defeating his crew. Whether this was true or not, nobody knew, since the new pirate King never denied nor confirmed the rumors.
One thing was for certain, lack of certainty never stopped a few fools of trying, and even if the rumors proved to be false, in the end the mere prowess of defeating the pirate king and loot his famed ship would be a memorable feat in itself. A one way ticket to fame and fortune.
Out of all the aspirants, one of the most notorious was a man of the West Blue called Kazé, adventurer, handsome and especially powerful. The captain of the Wind Pirates was gaining fame and reputation each passing day.
What a surprise it had been to the inhabitants of the world when notice spread about the whereabouts of the Straw Hat crew, one day they were in the confines of the New World and the next people knew about them, they appear as if nothing on the other side of the Red Line, over the East Blue.
Being that no one knew the exact route the new pirate king was following, or his intentions, there were only rumors in this regard; the most popular of them was that the pirate King simply wanted to conquer all the seas, since he had already conquered the Grand Line.
So far only a crew was close enough of tracing the whereabouts of the pirate King and were practically on their heels, the most difficult challenge so far had been following the Straw Hats across the Calm Belt on their route to the South Blue sea.
The lack of wind was not a problem because Kazé was a user of a Logia's Devil's fruit… a fruit that gave him a very interesting advantage both in combat and navigation.
Obviously the ability to thrust their well-crafted ship was important, and while the crew of the pirates of the Wind was composed of powerful warriors they were unable to do almost anything when a giant sea King attacked them.
After a hard struggle they managed to flee, not without receiving severe damage in their main mast, being practically left adrift. Later, after several hours floating at the mercy of the currents a cry of joy went out the watchtower.
"Captain! Captain! There is a Ship at sight sixty degrees to port ", the young Cabin Boy shouted in glee.
Exited, their captain ran toward the direction indicated and one of his crew members gave him a spyglass, a wild, rebel smile rose up to his eyes when he spotted the flag that he had craved to see for a long time.
"Send a distress signal!", he ordered with a commanding voice. Immediately, they shot a flare that broke out strong with a splash of red color in the broad sky of the afternoon.
They didn't have to wait very long for the other pirate ship to change course over their direction. Kazé felt his hands tremble in anticipation while he stood there griping the railing so hard his knuckles turned white. His brown hair fell in gentle waves to the base of his neck, his jaw set firm in determination. The captain's clothing was simple but elegant, a silky white shirt, with a brown vest and a thick black belt with gold buckle holding everything in its place, pants to the tone and some sturdy leather booths complemented the attire. His height and pose spoke volumes about his strength, anyone could tell he was in charge of the situation; certainly at twenty six years old and with some six years at sea he didn't lack combat experience.
A hand rested suddenly on his shoulder Kaze's gaze fell towards his second in command, the other man was smiling knowingly. He was a young thief who had been the first to join Kazé's crew a few years ago, skillful with a dagger and words, they had caused ruckus together since the day they met over at the West Blue several years ago.
The pirates of the wind were a mostly and adventurous crew, and there was no record of attacks to civilians by this band of Pirates , of course that didn't stop being chased by the Neo Marines.
"This is the moment that we were waiting for, captain", Loto smiled, the first officer, dressed in a shirt of dark red, a white sash and black pants, his hair was black and bushy almost covering the left eye. Kaze only nodded
When the pirate ship with a figure head of a cheerful Lion was close enough Kaze spotted several figures observing them from the distance, his eyes scanned the other deck, but couldn't find at first glance who he was looking for with more eagerness.
Suddenly he saw a figure climbing the bow, a young man dressed in a simple red jacket riveted with gold, black short pants and the characteristic straw hat, a jovial voice welcomed them in greeting.
"Oi! Need help? Franky is the best shipwright ever!", and thus, without much ceremony Kazé met the man he admired so much.
The crew of the Wind Pirates, with some thirty members (small for the normal standards of a pirate, but big compared to the Straw Hats) hovered cautiously behind his captain in total expectation.
Quickly the crew of the pirate King steered the Sunny besides the Zephyr, which had a figure head consisting of a half horse with gusts of wind coming around its torso, it was a sturdy ship with two masts and large cabins, built to be fast and just a little bit bigger than Sunny but the damage done by the Sea Kings was evident.
With the Ships already almost in parallel positions, Kazé and Loto were able to observe the crew that came to their aid with more detail, some faces smiling and friendly, others colder, cautious. Despite never having been seen them in person, Kazé knew them all, he had studied them in detail and gathered all the information he could get about them, wanted posters, newspaper clippings, he even carried a log with annotations of sightings and rumors.
He knew almost in detail all their abilities, and he recognized each face immediately.
"Kazé Anemoi, a rookie worth 600 million berries", - a deep female voice whispered behind him.
The wind pirates where startled and most jumped in fright when they saw the woman suddenly appear on their deck
Kaze was put on guard and turned over in a hurry. A beautiful middle-aged woman regarded him with cold blue eyes; she wore a beautiful summer dress with a floral pattern and rich gold jewelry.
Kaze smiled slightly, -"Nico Robin, I presume"
"You presume correctly, by order of our captain, Monkey D. Luffy we are responding your distress call", she announced it in a tone of voice that never manifested hostility… nor a warm welcome.
Kaze lifted his hands defensively and smiled,
"And thank you for your quick response mylady, our intentions are entirely peaceful"-
A thing similar to a long arm clung to what was left of the main mast of the Zephyr, a figure propelled itself from the sunny, and moments later the pirate King landed as if nothing on their deck, adjusting his hat.
His face was a little more mature and had changed compared to his first Wanted poster's photo , a light shadow like beard covered his somewhat stronger chin, his stature was nothing legendary but the straw hat and that smile had not changed a bit.
"Robiiiinnnn".he whined with a childish tingle in his voice, "Stop scaring guys away, I haven't kicked some serious asses for a while. If they wanna fight all the better shishihihi", he said while hitting a palm with a fist.
Robin simply nodded and smiled gently. Kaze raised his hands in a friendly manner while his crew muttered behind them different comments of the kind: this guy is the pirate king? He doesn't seem so strong; our captain is stronger!:
Kaze just smiled widely
"We don't want a fight! As you can see we suffered serious damage while passing through the Calm Belt, and although I have a couple of good shipwrights, we do not have the materials here to complete such big repairs", he paused a moment and then inclined his head slightly towards Luffy in respect.
"It is an honor to meet you at least, Pirate King",
Loto, the second in command opened his mouth to say something, but in the end chose to keep the words to himself, recognizing that their captain might have something planned for later.
Robin noticed this and simply narrowed her eyes.
"Shihihi, that is not really necessary", Luffy said dismissing the formality, but anyone could tell he was enjoying the ass kissing big time.
"Oi Franky!" he shouted loudly, "I think this guys could use some help!",
"Right away Strawhat"
The Cyborg quickly jumped over the deck of the Zephir and then he started to chat with the other crew's shipwrights, measuring the extent of the damages and calculating how much material would it be needed for repairs.
"If there is something we can do to compen…", Kaze began
"Meat, got any?", Luffy interrupted bluntly
Kazé furrowed his brows and made eye contact with his second in command, who just shrugged his shoulders and commented
" I believe we have some in reserve, yes"
"And booze!" Zoro shouted from his place resting at the mast of the Sunny.
"Don't forget the booze" the greatest swordsman in the world was as always playing dumb but keeping a close eye out for his captain and crew.
Kazé and his second in command glanced at each other again and could only nod, they had no other choice.
"Great!" Luffy shouted in glee "It's a party then, bring some food over!", he unashamedly ordered to the other man's crew. Kazé's men could only nod in agreement, there was something in Luffy that willed them to obey.
"Sanji will cook a feast too!" he added later.
The Wind pirates didn't know exactly how but within minutes their ship was totally invaded by the other crew and things had turned into a party.
There was this strange skeleton man playing the guitar and singing, and the Pirate King was already dancing the can-can with a strange raccoon like creature, a long nosed freak and half the Wind Pirate's own crew.
Kazé heard a feminine laugh close by and turning towards the Sunny his gaze fell on a beautiful woman with hair like a sunset, rumor had she was one of the most beautiful woman in the world, rumors were right. The weather witch, some people called her, but most knew her as Cat Thief Nami, the bright Navigator that had led the second Pirate King's ship to the end of the world and back safely.
Kazé swallowed a lump and unconsciously brushed his hair with his fingers, he's had his moments as lady's man in the past, but he wasn't a creep or a pervert like certain cook. He couldn't help himself and soon was floating towards Nami in a half logia state, appearing in front of her in the blink of an eye.
" I don't believe I have the honor", he said making a small reverence.
Zoro still played dumb, laying there with his arms behind the head leaning on Sunny's main mast, but of course his senses where set on this stranger; he couldn't detect any ill will at the moment. Obviously neither had the love Cook or his Captain for that matter.
Nami was surprised at first but then her face took a bored expression, it was always like this, men wanting to hit on her with cheese pickup lines. She knew that all too perfect gentlemanly smiles his suitors always wore. Nami was sure all the love she needed was under lock on Sunny's vault, were gold practically overflowed the storages and were sometimes she liked to go sleeping, she enjoyed just rolling over it.
She wore so much gold on her person that it threatened to overshadow her natural beauty, today she had chosen a tick gold necklace, a long pearl necklace, several gold bracelets in different widths and several rings and on her ears dangled two gold earrings on the shape of tears. For clothing she had chosen a red miniskirt and a white silk blouse with a cut so low it almost didn't leave anything to imagination.
She glanced at the other pirate captain with contempt, "I was wondering how you guys had managed to pass over the Calm Belt, but seeing your display, I've got an idea now".
"Yeah" Kazé smiled and continued, "I think I overdid it a little while trying to escape from those giant Sea Kings and ended up breaking our main mast. If you know what I mean, those creatures where huge".
Nami's contempt was only made bigger by the weak attempt at conversation the other man was making up
"I don't know what you mean, you know, Sea Kings don't dare attacking the Pirate King".
Zoro chuckled at that but otherwise didn't move or open his eye.
Kazé just smiled, "I wouldn't expect less from the man regarded as the King of the Seas. I hope someday I can be half as strong".
It certainly wasn't the kind of answer Nami expected, usually, rookies where just full of themselves, she couldn't help her smile.
"Well, you will have to work very hard for that, I assure you", she attemped to sound cold and detached like before, but the harshness no longer reached her eyes.
Over at the other ship Luffy shouted at them, "Hey everyone, come over here already, this guys have a lot of meat, shihihi!", of course he was already munching a piece of meat on the bone.
"Nami sis, I need you over here too", Franky called over.
Nami nodded and pulled out her clima tact, and with a swift movement climbed on it like a witch climbs her broom, she flew over the other ship.
When Kazé noticed the ability to control de air pressure around her a strong feeling of anticipation cursed over his body. Beautiful, powerful, she manipulated wind. His interest had peaked a hundred percent.
Smiling, he turned into his element and floated over the other ship behind her, things where far more interesting than he had anticipated.
To be continued…
Please, review, got any critics? They hurt but they are good to improve, however praise words and threats of doom if I don't update are welcome!