One Piece: Truly Precious
Well, the Prologue has gotten some favorable reviews so far. I'm glad people think this is a decent story. I hope you like this chapter too.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Enjoy.
On a pirate ship sailing in the East Blue, a VERY large woman with a iron mace was walking across the deck. This was the feared pirate, Iron Mace Alvida.
"Alright you sea swabs," said Alvida, "who's the finest woman on the sea."
"You are Captain Alvida!" said the crew.
"Set sail!" said Alvida, "there's treasure to steal!"
"Aye Captain!"
Meanwhile on another part of the ship, a pink haired boy with glasses named Coby was leaning on the rail. Unlike the other members of the crew, Coby wasn't a pirate. He had gotten on the wrong boat one day and got swept up into the pirate crew with no chance of escape. He was forced into becoming the cabin boy for the crew.
"Hey Coby," said a pirate as he and his friend walked up, "what're ya up to?"
"N-nothing," said Coby.
"Hey," said the second pirate, "what's that barrel over there?"
"Maybe it's full of grog?" said the first one, "Let's fish it out."
"B-but Captain Alvida will have your head," said Coby.
"Not if you don't tell her," said the first pirate threateningly, "you wouldn't do that, would you?"
"No, of course not," said Coby nervously.
"Good then," said the first pirate, "let's fish it out."
The two pirates fished the barrel out of the water and took it bellow deck, dragging the unwilling Coby with them. Just as they were about to smash the lid open, a figure wearing a red shirt, blue shorts, and a straw hat shot out of the barrel, knocking the two pirates unconscious.
"Wow," said the figure, "that was a great nap."
"Who are you?" asked Coby.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy," said the teen in the straw hat, "who are you?"
"I'm Coby," said Coby.
"Nice to meet you," said Luffy.
"How did you end up in a barrel?" asked Coby.
"I fell asleep," said Luffy with a smile, causing Coby to sweatdrop, "so where are we?"
"You're on my ship, stowaway," said Alvida as she lumbered into the room with several
"Who's the fat hag?" asked Luffy, causing the crew to gasp.
"What did you call me?" growled Alvida, "Men! Who's the fairest lass on the sea?"
"You are, Captain Alvida!" said the pirates.
"Are all of you people blind or something?" asked Luffy, "Look at her. She's the size of a house."
"You little brat!" growled Alvida.
"Better to be a little brat than a large whale like you," said Luffy.
"Why you!" growled Alvida as she raised her club and brought it down on Luffy's head, not noticing his smirk.
When the club was inches away from his hat, Luffy activated his Aramament Haki, creating an invisible shield over his body that both deflected and destroyed the spiked mace.
"You're not so tough," said Luffy, "what do you think Coby?"
"Wh-what?" stammered Coby from being put on the spot.
"You got to stand up to these people," said Luffy, "otherwise they'll never let you go."
"Stand up to them?" mused Coby as Alvida got to her feet.
"Oi, Coby," growled Alvida, "you wouldn't be thinking of mutiny? After I was kind enough to let you join our crew?"
"W-well…I…" stammered Coby, causing Luffy to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Coby," said Alvida, "who's the most beautiful woman on the sea?"
"W-w-well," stammered Coby.
"Well?" pressed Alvida.
Coby then steeled his resolve and shouted, "DEFINITELY NOT YOU YOU FAT OLD HAG!"
"Atta boy Coby," said Luffy.
"You two," growled Alvida, "boys, rip them apart!"
The pirate crew roared and charged at them with their swords and guns, but Luffy just smirked and narrowed his eyes, releasing a wave of Conqueror's Haki that struck the crew and caused them and Alvida to pass out.
"C'mon Coby," said Luffy, "let's get out of here."
Coby could only nod blankly and follow Luffy to a lifeboat that the two of them used to sail away, leaving the ship with its unconscious captain and crew.
xXsceneXx
"What are you?" asked Coby.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy," said Luffy, "I ate a Devil Fruit and became a rubberman."
"But how did you beat all of them without even moving?" asked Coby.
"That's," said Luffy, causing Coby to lean in eagerly, "…a secret!"
Coby facefaulted at that answer, causing Luffy to laugh, "Shishishi, you're really funny. So Coby, why were you on that ship?"
"Ahaha," laughed Coby emberresdly, "I meant to get on a fishing boat, but accidentally got on a pirate ship. I became their slave so they wouldn't kill me."
"Shishishi," laughed Luffy, "I know a guy like that. He did the exact same thing when we were supposed to meet up with the rest of our crew."
"Your crew?" asked Coby.
"Yeah," said Luffy, "he's my first mate."
"By crew, do you mean pirates?" asked Coby nervously.
"Yeah," said Luffy, "but we're not like those guys back there. We simply follow our dreams wherever they take us."
"What's your dream?" asked Coby as he became a bit less scared.
"To gather my crew and be the Pirate King," said Luffy.
"But why?" asked Coby, "Why do you want to be king of the pirates? They are criminals!"
"Because I made a promise," said Luffy as he took his hat off, "to the man who saved my life. I would become a strong captain and return this hat to him. But enough about me, what are your dreams?"
"My dream?" said Coby nervously.
"No need to worry," said Luffy, "I'm sure it's a great dream. So what is it?"
"Well," said Coby, "I want to join the Marines so I can make the seas a safer place and put away people like Alvida."
"That sounds like a worthy goal," said Luffy.
"What do you mean?" asked Coby in a confused voice, "If I become a Marine, I'd be your enemy!"
"Do you want to be my enemy?" asked Luffy.
"No, but…" began Coby.
"Then we have no problems," said Luffy as he cut him off.
"…So," said Coby, trying to change the subject, "the crewmate you told me about. Who is he?"
"Roronoa Zoro," said Luffy.
"Wait," said Coby, "you mean Roronoa Zoro the Bounty Hunter?"
"That's the one," said Luffy.
"But he hunts Pirates!" said Coby, "How is he on your crew?"
"I asked and he said yes," said Luffy simply, "I'm hungry. Do we have any fishing gear?"
Coby could only watch with his mouth hanging open as the pirate in the straw hat looked through the little boat for fishing supplies.
xXsceneXx
After a day or two of sailing, the small boat docked in a small port town. The Pirate and the former cabin boy got off of their small craft and looked around.
"Alright," said Luffy, "now to find Zoro!"
That declaration caused the townspeople to shrink away in fear.
"Luffy," said Coby, "you're scaring them. Excuse me, do you know if there's a place I could enlist in the Marines close by?"
That questioned emptied the streets faster than they could blink.
"That's weird," said Luffy with a grin before he walked off toward the large Marine base located deeper in the town.
"Where are you going!?" exclaimed Coby.
"I'm going to find Zoro," said Luffy simply.
"But that's a Marine base!" said Coby.
"So?" asked Luffy.
"Why would Zoro be there?" Coby asked.
"Dunno," lied Luffy, "I'm just following my gut."
The two of them continued to walk until they arrived at the gates to the base. Tied to a post in the center of the courtyard was a man with a white shirt, dark green pants and black boots. Around his waist was a green sash and a dark green bandanna was tied around his head.
"Oi Zoro!" called out Luffy, causing the man to look up.
"Ah? Luffy?" said the man tiredly, "I'm not quite sure how I ended up here again."
"It's a long story," said Luffy, "so, ready to join my crew as first mate again?"
"I don't recall ever leaving," said Zoro, "same deal as last time. Get me my swords and we'll deal with the fop and his father."
"Alright," said Luffy as he jumped over the fence leaving Coby behind.
"Wait," said Coby, "so you really are a part of his crew?"
"Of course," said Zoro with a smirk, "someone has to keep the idiot out of trouble."
xXsceneXx
Luffy was currently in a bind. He thought it would be an easy job, grab Zoro's three katanas and rush back to his first mate, and then he realized that he had forgotten which room the swords were being kept in. This led him to start checking every room he came across for the swords, eventually leading to him having to run from a platoon of Marines that were in the rooms he was checking.
'DAMNIT!' groaned Luffy in his head as he ran from the pursuing Marines, 'Where are those swords? I'll check in here.'
Luffy opened the door to the room and to his relief, Zoro's three katanas were there leaning against the wall.
"Alright!" said Luffy, "Now to get back to Zoro!"
Luffy grabbed the swords and turned toward the wall with his fist reared back. Calling upon his Armament Haki, he coated his fist, transforming it to a shiny black color. Punching forward, he blew a hole in the wall and jumped through, landing in the courtyard just as a blond man was terrorizing a young girl for brining Zoro some riceballs.
"Hey Zoro!" said Luffy, "I got them!"
"Who are you?" demanded the blond man, "I should call my father and have you arrested for destruction of Marine property."
Luffy simply ignored him and walked up to Zoro.
"Hey!" yelled the man, "What do you think you're doing? If you free that criminal before his time is up, then he will be put to death!"
"Oh shut up," said Zoro, "you were going to kill me anyways."
"Well yes…I mean, be quiet you criminal!" yelled the man.
Suddenly a shadow was cast over them causing them to turn and see a large muscular Marine captain with a metal jaw brace and an axe replacing one of his hands. This was the captain of the base on the island, Captain Axe-Hand Morgan.
"Helmeppo," Morgan growled to the blond man, "what's going on here?"
"Father!" said Helmeppo, "Arrest these men! They disrespected me and are going to free the prisoner Zoro."
Morgan didn't respond and instead backhanded his son across the jaw with his hand, sending the blond fop sprawling across the ground.
"You dare to give me orders!" Morgan growled, shocking Coby as he watched all of this.
"Captain Morgan!" said a Marine as the group chasing Luffy ran up, "The one in the straw hat broke into the base and stole Roronoa's swords!"
"So one child managed to elude all of you trained Marines?" asked Morgan.
"Well," began the Marine.
Morgan didn't let him finish and instead slashed him across the chest with his axe-hand.
"Incompetent weakling," growled Morgan, "if a mere child can escape you, you do not deserve to live."
"HEY!" yelled Luffy as he stood with a newly freed Zoro, "You can't just kill your subordinates!"
"Silence, child," said Morgan, "I am the great Axe-Hand Morgan! Know your place beneath the heel of my boot!"
"You talk too much," said Zoro as he put the Wado Ichimonji in his mouth and got into a Santoryu stance.
"Coby," said Luffy, "you wanted to put away the evil and the corrupt, right? Well, let us help you do so with this man."
Morgan roared and swung his axe-hand down at Luffy, but Zoro stepped forward and blocked the strike with his three swords. Luffy then sunk his fist into Morgan's stomach causing the Marine Captain to hunch over in pain. Luffy then punched the axe with a Haki empowered fist, shattering the blade and knocked out the captain with a burst of Conqueror's Haki.
"You can go ahead and arrest this bastard," said Zoro to the Marines that were watching, "afte my captain and I get some food, we'll be leaving without any incident. So there's no need to arrest us for this."
Luffy and Zoro turned and began to leave. Coby was just about to follow them when he was stopped by a call from one of the Marines.
"You there," said the Officer, "are you with them?"
"Oh him?" said Luffy before Coby could respond, "He wants to join the Marines. Let me explain how we met. It all began on a pirate ship belonging to this huge old hag named Alvida…"
'What are you doing Luffy?!' thought Coby angrily, 'If they hear that, they'll never let me join!'
Before Luffy could say any more, Coby gave him a hard kick to the shin, causing him to glare at the smaller boy.
"Attack a pirate will you?" he said as he began to hit Coby.
"Alright stop right there!" said the Marine, "As we can see he's obviously not with you, the kid will stay with us, but you will leave the island by sunset, or we arrest you."
Luffy nodded and he and Zoro walked off, leaving a slightly bruised Coby who was starting to put the pieces together.
'Luffy did that on purpose,' thought Coby, 'it was all to distance himself from me so I could join the Marines.'
"So you want to join our ranks?" asked the Marine in charge.
"Yes sir!" said Coby.
"Alright then," said the Marine, "you will be admitted on a trial period as chore boy. Should you do good work, we'll see about getting you an official rank."
"Thank you sir," said Coby.
xXsceneXx
"So captain," said Zoro as he and Luffy sailed away from the town, "care to explain all of this?"
The two of them had been given a feast by the townsfolk and a formal sendoff by the Marines stationed at the base in gratitude for freeing them from the tyrannical grip of former captain Morgan. Now the two of them were on open seas looking for their next adventure.
"We've been given a second chance to do things right," said Luffy.
"Tell me," said Zoro, "did you find it? Did you find the One Piece?"
"I found all that and more," said Luffy, "and we'll find it again."
"As expected of my captain," said Zoro with a smirk, "so where to?"
"To find our Navigator of course!" said Luffy!