I don't own One Piece!

Good friends don't let you do stupid things...alone.

~Unknown

I realize that humor isn't for everyone.

It's only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life, and feel alive.

~Anne Wilson Schaef

Chapter 2: Salvo Island

Salvo Island is a small spring island that is half Marine territory, half Pirate territory. The north half of the island is occupied by a small Marine Base populated by no less than 500 Marines at any given time. The south half of the island is controlled by a Civilian-Pirate town. There is a shaky peace that was established barely a year before we arrived between the two when the ruler of the island put his foot down after a particularly vicious battle with multiple civilian casualties.

Lord Luka, the ruler at the time, was a Devil Fruit User, the first I had ever encountered. He was a Mythical Zoan, with his form being that of the Western Sea Dragon.

Those who are unaware of what Devil Fruits are, well, I'll explain.

Devil Fruits are exactly as the sound, fruits of all kinds. They are always unique in color, and are usually pattered with odd swirls that immediately differentiate them from a normal fruit. They come in three known categories, though it is speculated that there is a fourth. Legend has is that all Devil Fruits are the incarnation and powers of the Sea Devil, the Spirit of the Sea that was brutally murdered thousands of years ago. It is universal however that once you eat one, you'll gain a special ability, but you will never be able to swim again. They're powers are often seen as sorcery or curses, and they are worth quite a pretty beli on the Black Market. Unfortunately, every single devil fruit is positively disgusting to eat, as they all are completely rancid, and a single bite of the fruit will transfer the powers to the eater.

Zoan, the first, is the most common, with the subsection of Mythical Zoan which are the rarest of them all. Zoans cause those who eat them to become Animal Hybrids. The first to come to mind when I think of them was a man named Victorio who proudly fought all challengers with his Cat Cat Fruit Model: White Lion.

Paramecia Fruits are far more common, and utterly variant in their abilities and uses. I knew of a young man who could stretch his limps to ridiculous lengths, another woman who could form and control soap bubbles from thin air, another man who could magnetic and figured out a way to control all the metal around him with it, and many many others. One of the most famous Paramecia Users however, is actually one of the four emperors, the great and powerful Whitebeard himself with the Rumble Rumble Fruit.

Logia however, are rare beyond all belief. They give their eater the ability to literally become and control a random element. These ones are beyond rare however, and it is extremely unlikely to encounter one of these outside the upper ranks of the Marine Corps, or outside of the New World.

The fourth category however is made up of several fruits who's existence have been rumored throughout the ages. Fruits with the ability to literally turn those who eat them into the equivalent of earthbound gods. I can personally vouch for the existence of three such fruits, but for the safety of the ones who ate them, I will not elaborate further.

Mythical Zoans are a subsection of Zoan, and do exactly the same thing as regular Zoans, however they turn those who eat them into Mythical Animals, usually with at least one or more elements that they could control. Off the top of my head, I can name a grand total of three Mythical Zoans alive today. Marco 'The Phoenix' the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, 'The Buddha' Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and a third that requested I leave out his name and powers for his, and his family's, safety.

Needless to say, no one wanted to get on Luka's bad side seeing as how he could control the sea itself, making Devil Fruit powers a nonissue to his rule. Despite his power Luka was a surprisingly good ruler, loved by his people and equally respected and feared by Pirates and Marines alike.

He was one of the few people that Roger respected without any hesitation, and one of the few people I recall fondly even to this day.

It was there, that we also met the man who eventually become Roger's greatest adversary.

Monkey D. Garp, the highly acclaimed, decorated, and respected Hero of the Marines today.

Back then, he was Captain Garp 'The Fist', a newly promoted captain who had been stationed on the island in a hopeful effort to try and cut off the few pirate crews who made it past the test of Reverse Mountain. The truce of the island however prevented any fighting on the island itself, so I assume that someone didn't quite think that decision through when they assigned him to the base.

We didn't stay on the island for long, since it only took twelve hours for the Log Poise to set, but in those short twelve hours Roger managed to meet both Luka and Garp over a cup of sake, impress Luka to the point of our entire crew being granted permanent asylum on the island, piss off Garp to the point of discovering several new shades of the color red and the color purple, and lead Garp on a merry half-joking chase through the streets as Luka eagerly egged them on from the sidelines. At the end of it all, Roger practically jumped aboard The Herald and ordered us to set off for the next island as fast as we could.

That one short chase would kick off a nearly twenty year long epic between two men who would become the best of friends and the bitterest of rivals. The two men who would become world renowned as the second and third strongest men in the world.

I still remember his hysterical laughter as we left Garp screaming curses and throwing cannon balls at us back on that beach after we sabotaged all the marine ships on the island.

To be perfectly honest, the rest of us were laughing just as hard as him at some of the words that the esteemed Marine Captain was screaming. Especially when Rayleigh looked at him with a mock insulted face and loudly demanded, and I quote: "You kiss your mother with that mouth Marine?!"

Garp turned yet another ten new shades of purple, before turning around and practically barking orders at his men to begin preparations for a long chase as his entire body rapidly and furiously twitched in rage fueled frustration to our utter glee.

We set off in high spirits, leaving behind Salvo Island with smiles on our faces as we pointed our ship towards the next Island on our journey.