Disclaimer: How often does it need to be typed before it's understood?

WARNING ON THE FIRST CHAPTER! READ IT BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Odyssey of the Will of 'D'

Chapter 2

Differing Fates

"Can I wear my dad's hat one more time before you leave Luffy-nii?" Rose asked her brother in all but blood the day before he was supposed to set out from Foosha Village. The two of them were at Makino's bar having dinner while waiting for Rose's mother to close down the bar. He smiled down at the ten year old girl and ruffled her hair before taking off his treasured Straw Hat and placing it on the redhead's noggin.

"Just make sure to give it back to me before I set off okay?" he told her with his wide grin. His little sister grinned back in response before reaching over and hugging him, peals of laughter coming from her mouth. Makino just smiled from her position behind the bar at her daughter and adopted son.

"He's gonna bring bad luck upon us for this," Woop Slap muttered as he gazed out at the slowly receding shape of Luffy's dinghy.

"You're just worried about Luffy aren't you Woop?" Makino teased the older man, her left hand over her mouth while her right hand was held by both hands of a crying Rose.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Mayor muttered before turning around and slowly making his way back to Makino's bar.

"He'll be fine Makino." The green haired mother smiled at the strawberry-blonde haired older woman beside her. "Both he and Ace will just be fine."

"Is that a mother's intuition Rouge?"

"Something like that," Portgas D. Rouge answered mysteriously with a smile before scooping up Rose and tickling her belly, a happy look on her face.

"How's it going Coby-chan?" A young pink haired boy looked over his shoulder at his traveling companion and shrugged at her. His friend was a rather beautiful thirty-two year old brunette with a rather stunning figure in some revealing clothing. The two of them were currently traveling on a cruise ship along with dozens of other passengers with its destination being Loguetown which was two weeks away. "What's wrong?" the lovely lady asked her charge as she laid a dainty hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Do you really think I'll be able to become a Marine?" Alvida sighed once more and gently bopped him on his head for his foolishness. They had talked about this numerous times after she had saved him from a dinghy traveling to a pirate ship.

"You need to the determination to do so Coby-chan," she told him with a kind voice as she looked out at the sea. "So long as you have that then becoming a Marine should be easy. Even though we'll be on opposing sides when I finally find a pirate crew to join," she snickered as she ruffled his hair once more, finding it amusing that she was helping someone who could one day be the reason for her capture. Her eyes became shadowed however as she remembered the travesties instigated by the Marines at the behest of the World Government. She decided not to rain on his parade with her dark thoughts and just smiled down at the boy. The two of them were startled however when one of the members of security ran in shouting that pirates were attacking.

"Alvida-san?" Coby asked as he looked up at her. She just smiled down at him before ruffling his hair.

"Find somewhere to hide okay? I'm going to get my mace to deal with them." She did not wait for her charge to nod his head as she had already dashed past the crowds of passengers back towards their cabin to arm herself against the imminent hostile boarders.

"Man that was a nice nap!" Luffy shouted out loud as he burst out of the barrel he had decided to sleep inside. The seventeen year old had not even noticed that he had knocked out the living daylights of a pirate that had planned on deciding to destroy the barrel he was sleeping inside of. "Hmmm? Who are you guys?" he asked as he noticed the three other pirates surrounding his barrel.

"WE SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT YOU BASTARD!" One of the more hot-blooded pirates surrounding Luffy had decided that this odd bastard had to be dealt with quickly and drew his sword in an attempt to gut the stranger. Unfortunately that was not going to end well for him. As soon as he showed hostile intent toward the Straw HatTM totting young man a wide smirk grew on Luffy's face and he momentary disappeared before reappearing within the arc of the pirate's blade. His fist flew forward, the pirate having only a few moments to change his slash into a guard. That was not enough though as the punch hit the sword with enough force to break the shoddy piece of blacksmithing into five pieces.

The jaws of the two other pirates dropped at the show of force from this young man. They were even more frightened when the fist impacted their comrade with enough force to send him flying through the wall into the adjacent room. The sound of another wall being shattered was soon heard followed by two more.

"Whoops, I forgot that most people can't handle a punch from me," Luffy muttered as he stared at the hole in the wall. He then turned around and looked at the other two trembling pirates. The moment they made eye contact with the young man they shrieked in fright before fleeing in fright, but not before retrieving their two unconscious crewmates.

"Captain, there's a monster down in the kitchen!" one of fleeing pirates shouted once he and his comrades had regrouped on the deck of the cruise ship. They were panting due to exertion and fright, having seen the power of the mysterious young man. However they feared their captain more than they feared the Straw HatTM totting young man.

"A monster, eh?" The captain drawled with a bored look on his long face. 'Six Sided Spiel' he was known as to the whole world. A man with a Twenty-five Million Beri bounty due to his raiding of twelve villages and razing seven of them to the ground along with attacking nine merchant ships. The overall kill count from his raids now numbered at one-hundred and nine civilians and twenty-five merchant sailors. However that did not count Marine casualties as Spiel always vanished before any Marine patrol could intercept him. "Monsters don't exist you fools, or did you forget that?"

"Of course not Captain!" the two conscious pirates shouted as they saluted their terrifying captain.

"It doesn't matter. We'll wait for this 'monster' to appear in due time," he told his mean with a grin as they held an impassive faced Alvida at sword point a distance away from a pinned Coby who was cursing his powerlessness. They did not have to wait for too long as the Straw HatTM totting young man slowly ambled his way up onto the deck of the cruise ship not even five minutes later.

"Oh, so this is where you guys went," Luffy said aloud with a blank look on his face. He then noticed the brunette held at sword point and the pink haired young man pinned to the deck. His face did not change from its blank look when his eyes landed on the face of 'Six Sided Spiel'. "Ah, who are you?" he asked aloud with a curious tone.

"I'm 'Six Sided Spiel! A pirate worth Twenty-five Million Beri! Who the hell are you?" Spiel asked with an annoyed look on his face. Luffy simply ignored him as he looked past Spiel towards his ship.

"You got treasure on your ship?" Luffy asked, his finger pointing towards the ship.

"Of course we do," the pirate captain sneered. "All of that treasure is from both this ship and the towns and merchant ships we sacked," he told the young man with a snicker.

"Ah, I see." A beat. "Well I'll be taking all of your treasure then."

"WHAT!" Spiel and his crew shouted.

Without preamble Luffy disappeared with a grin on his face before rematerializing near Alvida with his arm wrapped around Alvida's waist, surprising the older woman. He then disappeared before reappearing in front of the men pinning Coby down, surprising them before a fist and mace impacted upon them and sent them flying away from the pink haired boy. Alvida helped her charge stand before hugging him to her side, both her eyes and his focused on their unexpected savior.

"Who are you?" Alvida murmured with wide eyes, questioning how this odd person was able to touch her despite the abilities granted by her Akuma no Mi.

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy," he turned his head a little to look over his shoulder at her, a wide grin splitting his face in half. "I'm going to be the man that's going to find One Piece and become the next Pirate King!" Silence followed his declaration before Spiel's entire crew and himself burst into raucous laughter.

"YOU?! PIRATE KING?! DON'T MAKE US LAUGH!"

"OUR CAPTAIN WILL BE THE ONE TO DO SO YOU LOSER!"

"RUN BACK TO YOUR VILLAGE KID AND LIVE HAPPILY BEFORE WE DESTROY IT!"

Several quick punches from two outstretched limbs silenced the laughter of a number of pirates. Alvida and Coby's eyes were wide as they beheld the powers displayed by the youthful pirate.

"An Akuma no Mi user," Alvida muttered with awe.

"So cool," Coby whispered with an even greater awe in his own voice.

"I could take you on for real if you want me to," Luffy told the pirate crew with a grin on his face. His eyes slowly surveyed the men standing before him a gunshot rang out, stunning Alvida and Coby as they saw Luffy recoil in surprise most likely indicating that he was the target of the pistol. Spiel's look of triumph was morphed into a look of fear as Luffy did not fall over dead, but rather seemed to stretch before the pellet flew back at Spiel, cutting his cheek in the process before impacting the wall behind him.

"Guns and most physical attacks don't work on me," the young pirate explained as he suddenly extended his neck up a good two meters, effectively freaking out everyone who was looking in on the situation. "I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi," he told all with a grin.

"Akuma no Mi are real?!" a beautiful orange haired young woman whispered quietly as she beheld the spectacle from Spiel's ship. She currently had a massive burlap sack full of treasure beside her and was dressed in a stripped white and blue shirt and black shorts. This 'thief' was a former passenger of the S.S. Ferry Bound that was waiting for any pirate crew to attack so that she could rob them blind in return and escape with their treasure so that she could collect enough Beri.

It was all for the cause of saving her village and Bell-mère.

"G-Get 'im!" Spiel shouted as he drew his sword. "Kill that bastard!"

Once more their fear of their captain overrode their fear of the Rubber Man before them and they charged recklessly at him, knowing they stood little chance against this youthful pirate. Luffy just grinned in excitement before jumping into the fray, his arms punching all who came close enough while his legs kicked anyone stupid enough to think they could get the drop on him. He was not even relying on his powers, seeing as he did not expand his limbs or even dodge in a way no human could possibly hope to achieve.

Alvida just watched on with interest, swatting away any morons attempting to harm her charge. The only reason why she had been surrounded before was simply due to her not wanting Coby to get hurt since he had been taken hostage. But now that he was safe behind her, she could let loose on these fools.

"C-Captain!" one of the pirates still standing shouted in fright after five minutes of battling with Alvida and Luffy. "W-What do we do?! He's too strong!" A gunshot once more rang out followed by the fearful pirate falling over dead from a gunshot wound to the heart. The battle screeched to a halt once the pirate died at the hands of his captain.

"Kill him! Anyone who retreats even a single step will be shot on the spot!" Spiel shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.

"You just did that?" Luffy asked quietly, his voice carrying across the deck due to the silence that had fallen. Unbeknownst to them all, Nami, the orange haired thief, was listening in action, wondering why a pirate would care if another pirate, and a captain at that, executed his own comrade. "You're men place their faith and trust in you and you pay them back by sending them to fight someone that easily outmatches them and then execute them if they want to live?"

"You're one to talk Monkey D. Luffy," Spiel sneered as he pointed his sword at the pirate. "You were enjoying beating my men like it was some game. Aren't you just as blood thirsty as any other pirate?"

"I like fighting," Luffy agreed. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna kill my oppenents. But captains are supposed to lead their men and always look out for them, not use them as shields to save his own ass. Pirate captains like that are the ones that annoy me to no end the most." He then disappeared before reappearing in front of Spiel and sent a punch at him that sent the pirate flying so hard that he became a speck in the sky. All eyes were on the fading Spiel save for three sets of eyes.

Luffy, Alvida and Nami had spotted the three Marine cruiser-class patrol ships and watched as smoke blooms appeared across the three ships.

"It's the Marines! We're saved!" Coby shouted in delight, believing they were to in good hands. He was proven wrong when two cannonballs shattered the mast near him and Alvida, causing it to topple over onto them. Coby covered his head, hoping to shield himself while gripping onto his guardian's cloak as tightly as he could. Alvida's eyes narrowed as she prepared to swing her mace intending to destroy the massive piece of timber, but her eyes widened instead when she felt a hand wrap around her waist and pull her along onto the pirate boat since the Marine cruisers were currently interested in firing on the cruise ship.

"Do you have room for anymore?!" Luffy shouted when he spotted a pretty girl with orange hair loading a dinghy with several bags. He landed in the dinghy without permission, a grin on his face while Alvida and Coby appeared shocked.

"Eh?!" she shouted along with Alvida and Coby. Those shouts turned into screams when a cannonball impacted near the dinghy pulleys having penetrated straight through the cruise ship into the pirate ship, causing the dinghy to rapidly fall towards the water. Coby, Luffy and Nami were able to maintain their balance on the dinghy, however Alvida had somehow slipped from Luffy's grip. Time seemed to slow down as Alvida plummeted to the waters below them.

"Alvida-san!" Coby shouted while his hand reached out to her despite the distance between them. The time around them soon resumed as Alvida splashed into the water and quickly began to sink. "Alvida-san!" Before Nami could even dive in to the water to save the woman brought along by this strange man said strange man leapt over board into the water himself.

"What the hell is that idiot doing?! He's an Akuma no Mi ability user! He'll drown!" she shouted to no one in particular, more likely due to her own shock. That shock soon turned into surprise when Luffy soon burst out of the water with Alvida over his shoulder a cocky grin on his face. He then landed on the dinghy and laid the older woman on the bench.

"C'mon, we're still getting fired at!" he told Nami with a grin on his face, not even realizing what he did was an impossible feat while at the same time making light of the situation that he had mentioned they currently found themselves in. "Get us out of here and I'll revive her!"

"R-Right!" Nami shouted in shock as she unfurled the sails and allowed the dinghy to be carried by the fierce winds that had suddenly appeared along with a storm.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" the young man introduced himself once he had revived Alvida and all four of them were a safe distance away. "Future Pirate King!"

"Pleasure," the pretty girl muttered. "It's Nami by the way, best navigator you'll find in the entire world!" she boasted, pointing a thumb at herself while a grin appeared on her face. "I also hate pirates!" she added as an afterthought.

"Alvida, pirate in waiting," the older woman replied, seeing as they were all introducing themselves while she slowly sat up. "Coby-chan, who-?"

"Ah, that would be me," Luffy interrupted while sticking his hand in the air.

"But you're an Akuma no Mi ability user!" the beauty gasped with wide eyes. "You should have sunk like me the moment you tried to dive in after me!"

"You know I thought Shanks was pulling my leg about me not being able to swim anymore," the young pirate mused suddenly, shocking the three other occupants as he had name dropped on of the Yonko like nothing. "I actually believed him since I couldn't really swim before I had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi. But a year or so later I found out that I could learn to swim, so I learned since a pirate's life is on the seas!" He laughed heartily thought, "Guess I'm an exception though! Shishishishi!"

"M-My names Coby," the pink haired, glasses wearing young man introduced himself last. "I-I want to be a Marine and bring criminals to justice for their crimes!"

"So that means you'll be turning me in?" Luffy asked while he tilted his head to the side in curiosity.

"N-No! You're a nice person Luffy-san! You saved me and Alvida-san!"

"But I declared I'd be the Pirate King you know? Shouldn't you turn me in because of that?"

"Just because you say that doesn't mean you're a bad person!" Coby shouted in defiance. "Alvida-san wants to be a pirate, but she's helping me accomplish my dream of becoming a Marine! She's not a bad person!" He pouted when Alvida, giggling all the while, ruffled his hair like a child.

"Oh! You said you're a navigator, right?" Luffy exclaimed, leaning close towards Nami's face, causing her face to go red due to the closeness. "Could you join my crew?" he asked excitedly.

"I already told you I hate pirates!" she shouted, roughly shoving his face away. "Why would I join you?!"

"So you won't join me?!"

"No means no Luffy!"

"Eh?!"

AN: Char Aznable is Shanks. Don't believe me? Listen to his voice again.