Hey everyone! So, this idea has been rolling around in my head for awhile and I finally decided to write it. I just want to see how this will go over. Before I get asked, yes this is a LuffyxOC story! I can say now that a lot of my stories probably will be. Well, please enjoy and let me know if this is something worth continuing. I know it's only the first chapter, and it's kind of hard to judge by this but I'll post a second chapter soon and we'll see from there. But anyway, I don't own One Piece.

Sails in the Sky

Chapter 1

Searching

"Where did she go!?"

"Find her!"

"I think she went this way!"

The shouts echoed down the alley, reaching the hidden girl as nothing but unintelligible commands. She ducked down further into the dark corner and pushed her back up closely to the wall. Thumps of feet faded away from the entrance of the alley but the little girl didn't dare to move. If she got caught now than they would take her back to her parents. That was the last place she wanted to go.

Sighing quietly in exhaustion the girl pushed her messy blonde hair out of her face. She glared at the strands. Her hair had always been too long for her liking. Every time she asked her mother to cut it shorter she got the same reply, "Rich men love woman with long blonde hair dear." She never really understood why a man would love someone with hair that's so long you accidently pull it every time you sit down. Besides, she was only six, she hardly thought that counted as being a woman.

Adults were weird.

Assuming the coast was clear by now, the girl stood up and sauntered over to the alley's entrance. A quick peek around the corner proved that none of the men after her were in sight.

The girl grinned in triumph. Finally she could get out of this stupid city!

Without hesitation she bolted through the streets not caring that the people she passed looked at her with disgusted or that they pulled their children away from her like she was disease ridden. The only thing she was focused on was the gate up ahead.

To her, this gate led to a whole new world. A world where the people fought through garbage and stunk of dirt and waste. A world where no one cared how others looked. A world where no one was afraid to get dirty.

A world where everyone was free.

The whole idea made her giddy and excited. She had never known a world like that. The only thing she knew was from the stories her brother told her.

The thought of the only family member she actually cared about made her double her speed. Her brother used to tell her stories at night to help her sleep after another day of neglect from their parents. He told her stories of a place that sounded horrid and scary and disgusting yet beautiful and amazing at the same time.

Her brother was brave enough to sneak out and go to this mysterious place, only to return with a new story and a big smile.

But one day, he never came home.

She knew he had good reason. Her brother would never leave her alone otherwise. She figured that he wasn't able to come get her, so she would have to go to him.

It was her turn to be brave and the first step was passing that gate.

Luckily for her, people from outside the wall were coming in with tradable goods, meaning the guards would be to distracted to notice a tiny six year old leaving the city.

And right she was as it was almost too easy to slip passed the city guards as they approached a wagon to inspect its contents.

When she was finally at a safe distance away from anyone who would drag her back she stopped. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened in complete awe.

Garbage was piled in mountains as far as the eye could see. Men scrounged through the unwanted junk to find anything of value. The smell was so much worse than her brother's stories that it almost made her gag.

Nothing had ever looked so appealing to her before in her life.

This was freedom.

Not living in some big shiny house with servants lurking in every corner.

Her heart thumped with energy, trying desperately to soak it all in. She was just too happy! Now there was only one thing left to do. It was time to find her brother.

With a determined grin she set out. Honestly, she had no idea where to start. Everything was completely different here. With a slight hum she decided to look all over the heaps of trash first and maybe ask some of the people if they had seen her brother.

Okay, so maybe asking people wasn't the greatest idea. In the time it took her to search every square inch of the dump she had witnessed three murders, twelve stabbings, twenty robberies and what she assumed could have been a kidnapping.

But this wasn't what scared her the most.

She had yet to find any sign of her brother and she could feel fear grip her heart. Doubt flooded her mind as she wandered between two large pieces of discarded metal. What if her brother wasn't here? What if she really was all alone?

The tears were welling up in her eyes at the prospect that she might never see her brother again and she chocked back a sob.

Flopping down dejectedly she buried her face in her knees, curling into a tight ball.

What was she going to do? She couldn't go back home and she had no idea where her brother was. None of these people seemed very willing to help, not without a payment of some kind, and she had no money.

Her stomach groaned loudly.

And she was hungry.

The sound of shifting metal beside her caused her to jump. She half expected to get stabbed in the back by one of the creepy men she'd seen earlier but when she looked up she came face to face with an upside down boy. He seemed to be hanging by his feet from a metal pole that jutted out from a nearby pile.

There was a short silence as the children inspected each other.

The boy had silky locks of raven hair half hidden by a too-large straw hat that dangled from a string around his neck and dark owlish eyes that stared at her curiously. Under his left eye was a thin curved scar that seemed to complement his facial features. He didn't look much older than her.

The boy crossed his arms and tilted his head. She mimicked the action, intrigued by this upside down person. This was the first child she'd seen so far.

The boy looked the little blonde girl up and down. Her eyes were a bright blue that reminded him greatly of the ocean and they stared back at him with wonder. She wore a cream coloured dress that was smudged with dirt and grim but she still managed to look pretty despite this.

His mind backtracked for a moment. He had never used the word 'pretty' to describe a person before, but now that he thought about it, there really wasn't any other word that fit right.

"Why were you crying?" The boy asked. The girl puffed out her cheeks irritably.

"I wasn't crying!"

The boy wasn't convinced and he hoped down from the pole, just barely managing to land on his feet. "Yes, you were." He said after regaining his balance. "Your eyes are all red and puffy." He poked her cheek just under her eye, trying to emphasize his point.

She batted his hand away and pouted, burying her face between her knees again. The boy blinked at her, not understanding why she didn't answer his question. He tipped his head trying to see around her knees. Every time he just caught a glimpse of her face, she would turn and hide again. It quickly became a sort of game for him to find out where he could see her face from next and he swore he heard her giggle every time he guessed correctly and would catch her gaze.

Eventually the girl peeked out from behind her knees and faced the boy. He was glad to see her eyes no longer had tears in them. "What's your name?" She asked almost shyly. She was new at meeting people. Normally her mother introduced her when they had guests. Apparently she did something right because the boy lit up with a massive smile.

She couldn't help but let out a quiet gasp at the happiness that shined in his eyes and reflected off that smile. It warmed her heart to know that the smile was directed at her, and it wasn't forced or devious or hiding secret meanings. It was pure.

"Monkey D. Luffy! Who're you?"

She smiled back at him and sat up straighter, unfolding herself to sit cross-legged. "I'm Sora. Nice to meet you Luffy!" They shook hands eagerly.

After a short silence Luffy decided to try asking his question again, now that the girl, Sora, seemed happier. "So why were you crying?"

Her smile faded slightly. While Sora didn't feel scared any more, now that Luffy was here, she was still missing her brother greatly. "I was just lonely."

Luffy frowned at the all too familiar word. He knew what it was like to be alone, despite growing up in a peaceful town, the only people he had were Makino and his grandpa. But both were always busy and they couldn't come play with him. Garp wasn't even there half the time (Which was probably a good thing). Of course, there was the mayor and the other children but the mayor had to run the town and the children were scared of him, though some pretended they weren't.

At times when Luffy would have to sit alone in the rooms above the bar or at the docks watching the ocean, he often wished he had someone to hug him and tell him it was okay, that they would be there for him.

And now, seeing his new found friend with a look of loneliness in her eyes, he wouldn't deprive her of that.

Luffy scooched to sit beside her and wrapped his small arms around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. Sora was shocked for a moment before she hugged his middle and tried not to cry. "You don't have to be alone. I'm here now! So don't worry, okay?" Luffy encouraged.

Sora could only manage a small nod against his shoulder. Just when she opened her mouth to thank him, her stomach let out a large gurgle. They both pulled away and looked at her stomach then at each other. Luffy's stomach decided to mimic the sound and let out its own gurgle.

The two broke out in laughter. Luffy jumped up and grabbed her hand. "Let's get something to eat!"

Sora followed Luffy, rather curious to find out how people got food around here. She hadn't seen any restaurants. Actually, she hadn't seen any buildings at all really. Only little make shift shacks. So wherever Luffy was leading here, it wasn't in this area.

As they walked Luffy didn't let go of her hand, keeping it firmly in his. Sora was thankful for this, without the support she probably would have fallen on her face multiple times as they climbed through the trash. Not long after, a tree line came into view and Sora gasped.

"Is this where we're going?" She asked, hoping that he would say yes.

Luffy looked at her quizzically not understanding why she seemed so excited about a forest. Hadn't she seen tree's before? He pushed the thought away and beamed at her. "Yep! I'm in the mood for some crocodile!"

They reached the forest and continued on. Sora was running everywhere and exploring, Luffy right on her trail. The raven haired boy was all too eager to show her all his favourite insects when he found out she didn't cower away and scream "Ewww, get it away! Get it away!" but actually showed just as much interest in them as he did.

He picked up a large beetle and held it out for her. Without hesitation Sora put her hand out flat for him to set it on. The beetle's legs tickled her palm as it lazily crawled. "What's this one called?" She asked.

Luffy put his face close to the beetle to look at its large eyes. "This one's a Hercules Beetle. They're really fast!" Luffy exclaimed gesturing with his hands. "Hey! Let's find another one and then they can fight!"

Sora laughed. "But what about food? Shouldn't we eat first?"

Luffy pondered this for a moment before grinning. "Right! We'll do Beetle Battles later. Come on, I know where the best crocodiles are."

Sora had just enough time to set the beetle on the ground before she was once again being dragged away by an excited Luffy. As the boy told her all about the forest and his favourite spots, Sora was feeling happier than she ever had in her life. She had her first real friend and she never had to return to that stupid city. Sora wanted to live here for the rest of her life.

It wasn't long before they came across a river. Luffy led Sora over to a rock and gently sat her down on it. "Sit right here! I wanna show you something cool!"

Excited to see what else her friend had in store for her she sat with a grin. When Luffy turned to the river she secretly inched a little bit closer.

The straw hatted boy picked up a good sized rock from the bank and hurtled it into the water with all his might. There was a pregnant pause before a massive crocodile burst from the river and snarled angrily at the children. Sora gasped and almost fell backwards off the rock. She had read plenty about crocodiles in the books at home but she didn't think they could get this big!

Luffy giggled and put a hand on his bicep, cocking his fist back and spinning it around unnaturally. This caught Sora's attention and she tore her eyes off of the looming danger, finding whatever the raven haired boy was doing to be much more interesting.

Suddenly Luffy's fist shot out and when Sora expected it to stop uselessly in front of him, it kept going. And going. The blonde stared in amazement as his arm stretched and clipped the crocodile's right temple hitting it hard enough to knock it off balance and it crashed back into the water.

Luffy's arm snapped back to a normal length but the recoil sent him sprawling. They sat in silence for a moment both too shocked to say anything.

"COOL!" Sora yelled jumping up and squealing with excitement.

Luffy jumped up and cheered as well but for a much different reason. "I HIT IT! On the first try!" He threw his fists up in the air and jumped around with Sora yelling and screaming in pure joy. Both children shared looks of excitement.

"How'd you do that!? You just went like BAM! And it was down! You're so awesome!" Sora asked making a punching motion at the air then throwing her hands above her head to emphasize just how awesome her friend was.

Luffy laughed and stretched one of his fingers to demonstrate. "I'm made of rubber!"

Sora, completely in awe, grabbed his hand and ran in the opposite direction. When she looked back his hadn't moved but his arm just kept stretching. She grinned and let go of his hand, it whipped through the air and knocked the boy off his feet. He hit the ground with a grunt and rolled a ways before sitting up and pouting at her. "Oi!"

She laughed gleefully, clutching her stomach. Luffy soon joined her.

After they calmed down they managed to drag the monstrous croc up onto the bank and they built a fire. Luffy taught her how to light it without matches and he showed her how to cook the meat. Sora was learning a lot in her time out of the city. More so then she had ever learned from dusty old books.

Luffy handed her a piece of cooked meet and grabbed one of his own (which was noticeably larger) and took a seat across from her. "You're ma 'ood luck sharm." The boy declared around a mouthful of meat. Sora blinked at him and tipped her head to the side, not understanding what he meant.

"I've never been able to hit anything on the first try! And this was the first time I took out a crocodile by myself!" Luffy explained after he swallowed. "So you must be my good luck charm!"

Sora grinned. She liked the sound of that. Looking down at the hunk of meat in her hand she took a hesitant bite of it, never having tried crocodile before. Her eyes widened and she took a larger bite. Luffy looked up from his third piece of meat, noticing her speed up and finish her first one in a time that could rival his.

She looked over at the rest of the crocodile with a hungry glint in her eye. Luffy noticed this as well and narrowed his eyes. In unison they both vaulted towards the pile, kicking and punching and stealing and laughing.

Sora finally felt free.

There you have it! Not much to go off of, but opinions would be greatly appreciated. Try and keep the flames to a minimum if possible... I also have never written anything from the point of view of kids before and I'm trying to keep it childish without skimping on the quality, sorry if I didn't do too well in that aspect.

- Ang3l