Not Your Average Pirates

by Grand Imaginator

What happens when you turn magic into devil fruits, overpower a couple of things, and toss two legends into the same world? Look at the title. That is the title of the story that answers that question. Watch as Luffy gathers a crew with his best friends Natsu and Happy, kicking ass left and right to become King of the Pirates! Also, no adult content, just lots of swearing.

3. A Dream

Shit... Sorry for the two month... Been diverted to far and had assessment after assessment, and with me being lazy elsewise, I have no real excuse. This could have been ready an entire month ago, but I was lazy and mindless, and working on assessments. And I still am with half-years in a week.

You've probably not noticed yet, but I'm doing song of the day, where I feature an awesome song I like, a lot of the time relating to the chapter at hand, and show it's title at the end of the chapter. Anyway...

Oda Dramaticy: Alright, this is a big one. This is where everything turns a white shade in the background and particles are moving through the air, everyone slightly darkened like they're being covered like shadows, hence the name due to it being a Dramatic and Suspenseful environment. These are pretty common later on, so it'll be [OD] and [END OD] to make it short and sweet from anything past this chapter.

Also, in my stories, pouting is having the mouth like it's being squished (lips at a side angled 3, if you will). That's all for that bit.

Onward, peasants!

---

Out in the middle of the ocean of the East Blue, seagulls and calm waves, was a small dingy, though larger than average, with a large sail. The dingy was about the size of half an average house in suburbia in comparison with a small room that could compare to about 3/10 of the boat. The sail was a large, black colour with a Jolly Roger on it that looked like a dead clown. There was also a lifesaver on a hook in the middle of the outside wall of the room.

On deck were three men. One wore an orange short shirt with purple collars on his neck, sleeves and bottom and maroon pants with a green sash and brown shoes, as well as a dark-grey beanie with a yellow fuzz top with the Jolly Roger on it.

The second man had had orange hair that went into the style of that of a class B clown (Pointed towards the edges whilst flat), wearing a purple and yellow striped shirt with a turquoise sash, grey pants and brown shoes.

The last man was a large, half-darker skinned man with an almost bald haircut and a small beard, like a flat goatee, as well as a monobrow. He wore a simple black vest-like over shirt with light grey pants and a pale green sash, along with brown shoes like his friends.

At the moment, they were looking through a treasure chest with gold and jewels filled to the brim, supposedly from a minor raid.

"That's two in a row!" The beanie man declared with a small smile. "Boys, we're on a streak today!"

"Yeah." The orange haired man replied. "This should keep Buggy under control for a bit."

The large man looked out, spotting something. "Hey guys," He spoke. "What's that out there?"

The other two turned and all three saw a small dingy, similar to theirs, except it didn't have a room, with a small cross-triangle sail. It was just floating there, doing nothing but gliding across the water.

They had now reached a verdict of the situation. "Let's go check it out." The beanie man stated simply.

On the boat was a small orange haired girl, just dangling over the railing like she was dead, or desperate more likely. She was wearing a white V-neck with three blue stripes in the middle, getting smaller from top to bottom, and two blue stripes across all collars and sleeve collars. She wore orange shorts with white figure 8s, one on each side, with a darker shade of orange inside, almost red, more so brown.

The boat the three men were on slowly moved to the side of her boat, both slightly moving up and down from the calm waves surrounding them almost infinitely.

As they pulled up beside the desperate-looking girl, they took a look at her. "Heh. It's a little lady…" The orange haired man stated with a grin.

"Alright kid, wake up." The beanie man stated, asking her to get up.

The girl looked up with a pleading face, despite the needing smile she wore. "I beg you, tell me this isn't a dream…" She pleaded, sounding tired. "I've been stuck out here for days…please, I really need water…" the three men were grinning, or smirking to say the least, at this show before them. The girl held her hand out to a treasure chest behind her, a mahogany-coloured wooden one. "Please, you can have as many valuables as you please…just help me…I beg you, my life depends on it…"

The three men were really grinning hard now. "Sure, we'll help ya out." The beanie man concluded. They then walked towards the girl's boat toward the treasure chest. "But first thing's first, let's see what ya got here." The three walked across to her boat, now at the chest. The beanie man was struggling to get it open, as it appeared to be locked. "Fuck, this is tight." He grumbled under his breath. He heard a click after a bit. "Oh, hold up, here we go." The chest opened, only for a panda on a spring to launch up, scaring the living hell out of the three men from the jumpscare.

Behind them, they heard a slightly feminine laugh. They turned to see the girl floating away on their boat. "You know what, keep all of it! I got what I needed here!" She smiled, hand against the room's outer wall.

The three men were pissed. "Oi!" The beanie man called out in anger. "That's our boat! You tricked us!"

The girl continued to smile merrily. She looked off to her right, hand over her eyes to block off the sun's glare. "You see those clouds over there?" She asked. "That will probably lead to a Coldfront." The three looked above them to see some clouds rolling over them. "You'll soon find some heavy winds and some rainfall, as well as some harsh tides. Capsizing is likely in that small boat, by the way!"

That was the last thing that was said by anyone as long as that boat stood. It started to rain a bit, then harder, until it was pretty much an average rainstorm pace. The waves began to pick up around them, and the winds pushed them into a loss of balance. They could barely stand up in the harsh conditions.

After what seemed like hours, which was no longer than a mere 2 minutes, the boat began to sink on one side. "Bingo!" The girl declared once the ship was no longer seen. "See ya!" She called out. "Oh, and thanks for the treasure you left me. You really shouldn't have!"

The three men in the water were pissed at her. "YOU BITCH! GET BACK HERE!" Most of this was covered up by the gurgles of the water surrounding the three men and the panda, which the spring was somehow detached from the chest was now floating, the same gurgles that followed, desperate to stay afloat for air.

---

"Ugh…" Luffy groaned in agony. "Sooo hungry…"

"Agreed…" Natsu and Happy replied, just as tired.

Luffy turned over from his back being over the end of the boat to leaning over it face down, looking into the water. "When are going to reach land, anyway…"

Carla looked up from lying down. "Who's to say we will reach land anyhow?" She groaned herself.

Zoro was baffled, and in any way but a good one. "Ironic." He stated in disappointment. "A guy who wants to be King of the Pirates and he can't even navigate, let alone the rest of his crew."

Luffy continued to look down into the ocean. "This is what we've been doing 'till now. Just sailing along the waves and letting the wind drift us by…" He then looked up to Zoro, now sitting upright. "What about you? Aren't you an infamous Bounty Hunter who took down any Pirate he saw?"

"I don't ever recall a Bounty Hunter being my occupation." Zoro replied bluntly. He looked up. "I went searching for a single man in order to accomplish my dream, but I couldn't find him. What's more, I couldn't find my way home again, so I had to hunt down and turn in Pirates for a living."

Luffy looked like he had an epiphany. "Oh, I see." He said, slightly sympathetic. "You're lost."

Oda Anger was written all over Zoro. "FUCK OFF!" He roared. "You are the lost ones here!"

He then had his face normal again, arm still resting on the bow of the dingy. "I still can't believe that you guys are a Pirate Crew and even some that are accompanying them, all added up, have zero navigation. Goddammit, you guys really need to get a Navigator for this crew." Zoro stated. He was actually right. For the Grand Line, as well as the ocean in particular, a Navigator is a given.

"And a Chef!" Natsu and Happy added.

"And a Musician!" Luffy and Wendy continued. It appeared Wendy liked music as much as Luffy did.

Aaaaaand, back to Oda Anger. "What the hell are you all going off on?!" Zoro demanded in fury.

However, as he demanded this, he pushed the boat down, causing it to rock. This rocking caused Luffy's signature Straw Hat to fly off and drift by the wind, up the sail, and almost into the water.

"Not my Shanks hat!" Luffy called out in fear.

Fortunately, as they reached out to grab it, Zoro managed to catch the hat, which caused Luffy to have a memory, a red-haired man catching the hat, same time that Zoro did, and bringing it up to his head. The man looked at Luffy and smiled.

Luffy just sat there, not moving for an entire five minutes, remembering it all like it was yesterday. An entire decade, it was.

"Oi Luffy, you want the hat back or not?" Zoro's call snapped Luffy out of what he was thinking.

"Hm?" He looked at Zoro, who was offering him the hat. "Oh, thanks." He thanked as he put the Straw Hat back on his head. He then looked up with a straight face, appearing to be deep in thought.

After about ten seconds, Natsu nudged the Straw-Hat, grabbing his attention. "Thinkin' about that aren't ya?" He asked, though it was more likely he stated.

Luffy nodded in confirmation. "Yeah." He said calmly with a smile, taking the hat off again and holding it in is hands.

"Hey Luffy." Luffy turned to see Wendy. "I have a question. The hat seems more important to you than anything in the world. What does it resemble?" She asked politely.

Luffy looked at her for a few seconds, then looked back down at the hat. After about five seconds, he smiled. He then looked back up at Wendy with the smile. "I made a promise, a long time ago." He then looked back down to the hat. "It's already been ten years since that day…" He said, mostly to himself.

Natsu smiled himself. "And so, the story is recited once more!" He cheered.

The other three recent travelers were baffled that Luffy had made such an important promise an entire decade ago, and the main symbol was his straw hat. It truly was surprising to anyone who first questioned. After all, what looked like an every day straw hat, this was his treasure.

"Ten years?!" Wendy asked, shocked both in her voice and her appearance. Carla was wearing a slightly similar shocked expression. She was just as amazed.

Though it wasn't as strong a shock by far, Zoro was definitely impressed. "Damn." He muttered in awe with a smirk.

Luffy then smiled at them. "Want to hear the story?" He asked, slightly eager himself to tell it.

Wendy clasped her hands and nodded eagerly. "Yes, please!" She replied politely with a smile.

Carla, who was for some reason sitting on Zoro's head, smiled. "This should be entertaining." She said to herself.

Zoro nodded from under her. Carla looked down to him. "Why am I sitting on your head?" She asked with a frown in slight disgust.

The Santoryu user simply shrugged. "How the hell should I know?" He shot back, looking up at her. "I didn't put you there."

Luffy grinned widely, amped to tell the tale. "Alright everyone, listen up!" He declared. "This is the tale of Shanks and the Straw Hat." He looked down at the hat with the same smile. "It all started ten years ago…"

---

…In the town of Fushia Village, located on Dawn Island. This was a quiet place, not many people, and rather calm and friendly. The name of the Village originates from one of their most familiar trademarks; their windmills. There were quite a few of them in this area.

The town was about 2/3 the size of an everyday suburbia in comparison. It had a few houses and a couple hotels, as well as a couple bars. One of them, though, outshone in popularity all the others; Party's Bar. The place was always thrilling with excitement, per there are more than three people in there at a time, and had some of the best alcohol in Dawn Island, namely Sake.

On the port of the island, since it's on the coast, there were the docks, which held house to a few small dinghies. What really stood out though was the giant ship in the middle. It was a large ship; no arguing that it was a Pirate Ship, an average one with three masts and a sturdy build.

On the wooden dragon-headed mast was a young Monkey D. Luffy. He was wearing a white shirt with an anchor on it with the word "Anchor" In the middle of it, blue jean shorts that reached his kneecaps, and his trademark sandals. At the moment, though, something was strange. He had a wide mouth, but it was equal edged and hat huge gritting teeth, seemingly very pissed. He also, for some reason, had a small pocket blade in his left hand.

"Oi, Luffy!" One of the pirates called out on the ship. "What are you doing now?"

Luffy was still wearing the same angry expression. "I'm not kidding now!" He demanded. "I'll prove it this time! YOU'LL SEE!"

One of the pirates on the ship with red hair and a hat cheered him on. "Go for it, Luffy!" He encouraged. "Come on, show us what you got!"

Luffy then held the blade to his face. He looked at it slightly scared. After a bit, he pushed it against his cheek. After about ten seconds, he went all the fucking way…

He pulled the blade back again and stabbed himself deep into his left cheek with the small dagger, spurting a slightly dangerous amount of blood, seeing as he put an entire fifth of a blade into his fragile 7 year-old face.

"WHHAAAAA…?!" The pirates aboard the ship were shocked that, apparently this time, Luffy had gone that far.

The man with red hair looked at Luffy with an Oda Shock like most of the Crew around him. He then looked at him with angry eyes, though his mouth was just as wide as before.

"HEY!" He demanded. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Luffy still continued to scream in pain, but that didn't stop him from keeping the knife in for quite some time. This was how he got his cheek scar.

In the bar mentioned earlier, Party's Bar, the Pirate crew, known as the Red-Hair Pirates, were partying and celebrating for two main reasons: Luffy's craziness, and their greatness/achievements. They had sake going all around the small bar, with meat being shoved down in satisfaction and happiness. Everyone was smiling. Everyone.

Even the self-cheek-stabbed Luffy, with his eyes watering from the "pain" he felt from that, yet tried to keep a straight smiling face. "That…" he barely croaked. "didn't hurt at all…"

The man with red hair glared at Luffy intensely with shark teeth. The only reason you couldn't call it an Oda Anger was that he still had his pupils and iris' in place.

"LIAR!" He roared. "DON'T DO SOMETHING SO STUPID AGAIN!"

Luffy immediately wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled even wider than he already was. "Don't worry, I'm fine!" He exclaimed. "I'm not afraid of pain! Please, take me to sea with you! I WANT TO BECOME A PIRATE TOO!"

The red haired man smirked. At a full view, he was an average heighted man with bright scarlet red hair, thus giving him his alias. Across his left eye were three scar lines. He wore a white button-up shirt that was unbuttoned at the top half, a red sash around his waist that the shirt was tucked into, slightly loose brown trousers, and black large sandals with a sabre to the right of his shirt in a small sheath. He also wore a golden straw hat with a red ribbon. Sound familiar?

This man was Red Hair Shanks, captain of the Red Hair Pirates.

"You don't have what it takes to become a pirate, Luffy!" Shanks told the young boy with a smile. "You can't even swim! How can you become a free sailor of the world when you have one's greatest weakness?"

Luffy snapped towards the man. "It doesn't matter wether I can swim or not!" He scowled. This caused shanks to frown, though only his mouth had the reaction. "All I have to do is stay on board and I'll be fine!"

Luffy then aimed to the side of himself with a smirk. "Besides, I've trained really hard over time!" He punched the air in front of him. "My punch is as strong as a pistol shot!" You could actually see a pistol being fired behind him with his words if you put enough imagination to it.

Shanks was the exact opposite. In fact, he looked disappointed and bored. "Wow..." He groaned sarcastically. "Pistols he says…"

Luffy had an Oda Anger just for this very moment. "WHY THE TONE AND FACE?!" He screamed in anger.

About ten of the other Red Hair Pirates came towards the childish duo, two of them some of the core members of the crew.

One of them was a slightly skinny man with a slightly dark skin. He had black hair put into tight curls, yet formed into loose waves separate from one another, and wore a dark blue/turquoise button-up shirt, top third unbuttoned, like his captain, and dark green pants, almost considered black from how dark the shade was. He also wore a blue headband with his name written in white. This man's name was Yassop.

The other was a rather large man, almost perfectly spherical in the body. He wore a large grin that was usually like Luffy's when the latter was happy. He wore white/yellow goggles over his eyes, a red and white striped shirt with a bandana the same colour, and white shorts with a red sash. This man was known as Lucky Roo.

Five of these pirates gave Luffy words of encouragement for adventure.

"Luffy!" A bald pirate with many stitches called out from the right side (Luffy's P.O.V). "You seem unhappy! Cheer up!"

"Let the sea take you anywhere, and be glad to face what lies ahead!" Yassop declared, slinging over the other's shoulders, like every other pirate coming towards Luffy and Shanks.

"Yeah!" Lucky Roo added and confirmed. "A pirate's life is great! Better than anything you can imagine!"

"The sea is wide and deep, filled with adventure!" Another pirate called out, whom had his hair stuck up in a loop like a half-samurai and a sword in his right hand. "Seek out any island! Seek out any challenge! Face it with a smile!"

Another pirate came by to the left side, still in Luffy's view, and still smiled to the lad even though the pirate who literally just spoke last kicked him in the left side of his face. "Freedom lies on the oceans ahead! No such thing is a greater treasure, Luffy!"

Luffy smiled at their words of encouragement and excitement wide and high. He was getting more and more anticipated for some day going out to the ocean just like his role model and his crew.

Shanks turned to his crew with a frown and a spoon in the middle of his teeth. "Come on guys, no need to rile him up with stupid ideas…" He sighed in disappointment, knowing Luffy was obviously going to take the words to heart and want to go out to sea even more than he did before.

Yassop and Roo looked at each other with smug agreeing looks. "But it's the truth, riiiigghht?" They asked in half-mockery, concluding this was for the best, and in their defence, it was the truth. The sea was indeed a vast place.

"RIGHT!" Every nameless pirate there agreed.

A pirate with a spade (poker suit) tattoo on his left eyebrow looked behind himself towards the captain. "Oi, captain!" He called out. "Why don't we take him on a small trip once? It won't be that big of a deal." A few other pirates agreed to this idea, seeing as even if it was a small run, Luffy should be fine and would love it.

"Yeah!" Luffy was psyched to see that over half of the crew was agreeing to bring him with them. There were very few things that could prevent him coming now!

Unfortunately for the 7 year-old, what Shanks said next was one of them. "Alright then, just let him take your place and you should be just fine."

This caused the pirates to skip shoulder-to-shoulder and smile and cheer towards the tables once again the same way they approached Luffy.

"Enough said!" Roo declared. "Let's drink!"

Luffy was pissed at them for just abandoning him like that. "What kind of friends are you guys?!" He roared with the same angry expression he had through every other turndown and insult thrown at him.

"Most importantly, you're too young." Shanks pointed out to Luffy, pointing at the latter with the spoon he was using. "Come back in ten years and I might let you join then!"

"I'm not a kid anymore, Shanks!" Luffy argued back with a slight tantrum. "I'M A GROWN UP, NOT A KID!"

"Calm down, Luffy." Shanks said calmly with a smile. He then handed Luffy a glass. "Have some juice and calm down."

Luffy quickly grabbed it and started drinking it. "Okay! Thanks!" He said with a childlike smile.

Shanks turned to the left side of him, completely and utterly failing to hold back the tears and laughter of what he saw before him. He went crazy at the sight before him.

"Congratulations, kid!" Shanks could barely speak from how much he was laughing. "You're the first 'Pirate' to drink juice!"

Luffy snapped toward the captain with a huge open mouth that covered an entire half of his face with narrowed eyes. He had never been so angry with the captain fro his antics in his life, let alone anything to that day.

"CHEAP SHOT!" The lad hollered in fury and accusation.

The kid had had enough. He got off the barstool he was on with his juice and walked off. He heaved out a large amount of annoyed air. "Damn, Shanks…" He muttered in anger. "I cut myself and got a scar, and he still won't let me come along…"

"Luffy…" Said boy looked up to see Shank's First Mate, Ben Beckman. The man was a rather tall one, about a foot above Shanks. He had jet-black hair pulled back into a ponytail, with a slightly curly bit hanging from the left side, a three-quarter black short-sleeved shirt with a yellow sash around his waist that hoisted an extremely large rifle, and loose dark green pants that tucked into his black boots with golden-coloured front air soles.

Benn Beckman, as usual, had a long cigarette in his mouth, in which he had one about 99.86% of the time you were to see him, currently lighting this one. "You should try to understand the Captain's feelings and his reasons for his decision." He reasoned, continuing.

"Understand his feelings?" Luffy asked, slightly confused.

"Indeed…" Ben Beckman confirmed. "He is our leader after all. You see, he may know that a pirate's life is interesting and full of adventures beyond thought, but he also knows that it is a very dangerous one." Luffy looked on with a confused, yet slightly understanding look. Half lost would be a good conclusion.

"Do you understand, Luffy?" The first mate asked with a slightly raised right eyebrow. "Shanks does not try to insult you on purpose, nor does he try to tease your piracy ambitions directly."

Luffy looked on in slight frustration. "How can I believe or understand that when Shanks keeps taking me for no less than a fool?!"

Said future-Emperor looked back at Luffy with his right hand over his mouth while resting his elbow on his leg, trying to cover his amused smile and laughter. "Can't swim!" He snorted between hard-to-keep-in snickers.

"YOU SEE!?" Luffy shouted, pointing at the Red Hair in accusation. Even Beckman had to conclude; he had just ben ¾ corrected. The sweatdrop on the back of his head was more than enough proof.

"Captain." A sweet, cheery voice called. It belonged to a young woman, coming in with a barrel of sake, holding the ropes around it. "I assume you're rather happy by the looks of things!" She assumed, smiling.

"Yep!" Shanks confirmed, though no longer laughing, in the same level of a happy mood. "Making fun of Luffy; no better joy exists!"

Luffy looked back at the first mate, pointing to Shanks with his index finger. "I rest my case." He muttered with a frown.

The young woman simply giggled at the scene before her. She was an average heighted woman for someone in their early twenties, with brown eyes and black hair. She wore an orange blouse with black sleeves, a long light blue skirt and orange sneakers with white soles. She also wore a yellow and orange kerchief on her head. This was the bar owner of Party's Bar, Makino.

She looked over to Luffy with a kind smile. "Luffy, would you like to eat something?"

It didn't really take that long for Luffy to quickly perk up. "Yeah! I'll pay for it with my treasure!" He shouted enthusiastically.

Shanks looked over to Luffy with a half cocky grin. "Luffy…" He said. "You aren't lying again, are you?"

Luffy snapped back to Shanks. "No!" He defended. "I'm going to find treasure when I become a Pirate and pay her back with it!"

Makino laughed at the childish, yet set mind before her. She went to prepare some food. "Alright." She smiled. "I'll be waiting!" Luffy smiled himself, cutlery in hand; one of the few times he'll do so. Even though Makino would gladly give him food anyway, she still loved to hear the boy's heart speak to her.

After they got their food, not much was said except for the cheering and partying behind them from the rest of the crew.

Luffy decided to cut the silence with an important question; "Shanks?"

"Hm?"

"How much longer are you gonna stay here?"

Shanks quickly swallowed his mouthful while Luffy finally snapped off a chunk of his meat. "Well, we've used Fushia Village as our base for about a year, so we're planning to go a couple more times and then fully head north."

Luffy frowned at these last words whilst still chewing. "A couple more times…" He muttered gloomily.

Makino sighed with a smile. The two were idiots in a way, but were closer to one another than anyone else here.

"By then, I'll be able to swim!" Luffy cheered. He always had a positive point in something, didn't he?"

"Alright!" Shanks encouraged. "Best of luck!"

Luffy smiled, glad Shanks still supported him even through the playful antagonising. That was when his stomach decided to fit as the negative.

"Still hungry…" The anchor groaned, hand on his gut. He looked left, where Shanks was chatting with some of his crewmates, and in front where Makino was making some more booze for everyone.

Though when he looked to his right, he spotted a small chest with some sort of round fruit inside. "Hm?"

That was when one of the saloon-like flap doors was kicked off the hinges, landing directly at Shanks' feet. Someone, with lots of people behind them, put his hand on the door arch, pushing it by as, what was now defined as a he, walked in.

"Excuse me!" he called out. After the huge bang, he already had the attention of everyone inside. He snickered, as did the guys behind him, who had on long white shirts, black pants, and beige bandanas wrapped around their heads, as well as matching sashes and their own sword each. "So this is what pirates look like, eh?" He muttered. "Look pretty pathetic if you ask me."

Everyone was staring at him in slight confusion; Lucky Roo, who was still smiling as usual with a shank of meat in his mouth, Benn Beckman, Makino, who was slightly scared, Shanks, who didn't pay much mind at the moment, and Luffy, who was eating something.

The man put a hand on the bench of the bar, intimidating Makino even more, as well as getting Shanks' attention, who was opening another sake bottle.

The man was a skinny, yet tall one, about as tall as Beckman. He had black hair that parted at the front, like Makino, that was pulled up a bit at the back. He wore a white shirt and black trousers, like his colleagues, but also had on a red coat with yellow circles, a golden circle necklace, and a large sheathed sword on his right, like Shanks. He also had a cross-shaped scar above his right eyebrow. This was the Mountain Bandit, Higuma.

"We're bandits." Uh… I just said that… "Don't worry, we're not looking for blood. But we are looking for a better substitute: Sake. 10 Barrels, thanks."

Makino looked intimidated like she saw Satan himself. However, she still kept her sweet smile. "I'm sorry…" She apologized. "But we're out of sake."

Higuma frowned, looking behind him to the pirates behind him. "Odd…" He muttered. "Mind telling me what they're drinking then? Water?" He asked in slight mock confusion.

"Unfortunately, that's the last of the sake." Makino replied, not really in her bright mood anymore for being unable to satisfy a customer.

Shanks looked up to Higuma with a smile. "Oh. Sorry about that." He apologized himself. "Looks like we drank all the sake here, huh?" He then held up the bottle he just opened, still full. "Here, you can have the last one if you want-"

That was when Higuma had had enough and slammed the bottle with enough force to almost entirely decimate it, splattering all of it over Shanks. Makino was shocked and intimidated to the fullest with wide eyes, the rest of the bandits smirked and a couple snickered, the rest of the Red Hairs continued to look on the same way they had when they walked in, and Luffy was halfway between, mouth wide open after eating half of a weird fruit.

"Who the hell do you think I am?" Higuma asked, pissed. "You should know that a single bottle won't do for all my men, so don't try something so stupid!"

Shanks frowned, sighing. "That's just great…" He muttered in sorrow. "The floor's wet…"

Higuma pulled out a flyer. "See this?" Below an image of him, it had his name on it with the symbol for beris, which is a Latin "esh" over a capital B. It had the number 8,000,000, therefore reading the poster:

Wanted

Dead or Alive

Higuma

(Beri) 8.000.000

It was a Wanted Poster.

"My head is worth 8.000.000 Beri. I'm one of the East Blue's prime fugitives. If you want to be a cocky little bastard, then you can join the other 56 people I've killed."

He then looked directly at Shanks' eyes. "Good, you now know who I am. Don't act so high and mighty around me again! You should know well that bandits and pirates don't mix."

Shanks proceeded to pick up the base of what was the bottle, one of the last bits of the bottle still visible. "Hey Makino," He called out from below. Said bartender snapped her attention to him, still at the other end of the bench. "You got a mop?"

"Uh…" She stuttered. "I-It's okay. "I-I'll clean it up."

Higuma had no time for this. He grabbed the hilt of his sword, brought it out, and sliced yet another bottle, scaring Makino and making her scream in fear, and soaking Shanks even more.

"Looks like you enjoy cleaning." The bandit spat. "Thought I'd do you a favour."

He, along with the rest of the bandits, walked out of the bar. "Later, you bunch of chickens." Higuma snickered. They continued to walk out of the town until they were on the outskirts. "A pathetic town this one." Higuma muttered. "They don't even have any booze! Come on, off to the next town!"

As soon as the bandits left, Makino immediately rushed to the Red Hair's aid. "Captain, are you okay?" She asked with a concerned voice, holding out a small rag to clean him. "Did you get hurt?"

Shanks simply raised his hand in politely passing it up. "No, I'm good, Makino. Thanks though."

After about five seconds of silence, the captain huffed out a "Phew!" with a smile, and then an attempt to hold in laughter. Soon, the entire crew was laughing at the little incident that just happened.

"That guy got you really good, huh?" A random crewmate with blonde hair heaved.

"You looked so silly, Captain!" Lucky Roo commented, giving his own heartful laugh.

It didn't take too long as Shanks laughed as well, taking off his hat, while Makino cleaned his shirt up anyway.

A certain boy had watched this entire scene unfold before him, and he was pissed. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!" The shout got Luffy the attention of the whole bar. "THAT WAS THE MOST DISGRACEFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN! WHY DID YOU JUST SIT THERE?! WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT BACK!? IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE THEY HAVE, YOU CAN'T LET YOURSELF GET PICKED ON LIKE THAT! YOU AREN'T A MAN! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE CALLED A PIRATE!"

Shanks simply looked at Luffy blankly for a moment before putting his hat back on. "Luffy, look, I understand your feelings," He sympathised. "But it's only some sake. It doesn't matter. Nothing to get worked up about."

Luffy then began to walk off, still angry at Shanks. The latter grabbed his arm. "Come on, Luffy, don't leave…" Shanks half-pleaded, eyes softened.

Luffy huffed and continued to walk. "Don't talk to me again, coward!" He growled. It was then that something happened that would change Luffy's life, as well as everyone's around him, and cause things impossible to be done, to define Luffy as who he was and something that would change the world as we know it.

It stretched.

As Luffy continued to walk away from Shanks, who still held onto his arm, it continued to stretch. This caused eyes to stretch forward, Oda Shocks to slack, and spit-takes rose high. "WHA-?!" That was the sound almost every pirate in there made as this happened.

Shanks' face immediately came between fear and a cringe. "No way…" He muttered in fear. "His arm is stretching! That's…"

"No way…" A couple crewmates muttered the same. "You…"

Luffy screamed in fear of his now extendable joints. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" He hollered with a disoriented Oda Shock.

"IT'S GONE!" Everyone turned to Lucky Roo with their faces squished tight and afraid.

"WHAT?!" They shouted back. They had put two and two together and this was the only explanation.

"The fruit we took from the enemy isn't here!" Lucky Roo continued. Apparently, it was in the chest he was searching through in his huge hands.

He quickly sketched something and showed it to Luffy. Even though he was smiling, as he always does no matter what, the sweat on his exposed round belly and face was more than enough proof he was just as scared as everyone else.

He then pointed to the sketch. "Luffy, did you eat this?!" Luffy looked hard at the drawing. It was, as Luffy would dub it, a Mystery Fruit. It was a round shaped fruit that made it look a lot like a Yubari King. It was a purple colour and, if Luffy remembered correctly, a pale yellow inside, with a two-way stem with one going slightly down and then slightly up, and the other slightly down and then slightly up before shaping a full-cycle swirl, like a mosquito coil.

Luffy immediately recognised the fruit. It was that horrible fruit from earlier. "…Yeah…wasn't that dessert?" He asked, sweating behind his head himself. "Tastes like crap though…"

Shanks immediately grabbed Luffy's head in fear of what he had just done. The area around them had grown dark, and an Oda Dramaticy had formed. "Luffy, that was the Gum-Gum Fruit!" He bellowed, even at the point of their foreheads in contact. "It's known as a Devil Fruit, the creations of the Sea Devil and one of the rarest treasures in the sea!" He was sweating up himself as much as anyone now, if not more. Luffy had also begun to open his mouth in fear and realisation. "Eating the Gum-Gum Fruit turns your entire body to rubber! EATING ANY DEVIL FRUIT WILL REMOVE YOUR ABILITY TO SWIM FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

Luffy had evidently got the drastic message as his mouth and jaw were dripping like a thick mustard, along with his eyes bulging in shock. The ultimate Oda Shock.

"WWWWHHHHHAAAAAAAAAATT?!" The boy asked with fear of not being able to swim. That part hit him flat down like a truck. "You're kidding, RRIIIIIGGGHHHTT?!"

Shanks could not believe what had happened. Luffy had accidentally eaten a Devil Fruit and had just now realised the consequences. He let out three simple words in a bellow that shook through the entire town and depicted Luffy at this point onward that would eventually be 10% of the things people say to him. His mouth was even as far down as Luffy's and had his hands in a begging-like pose with shark teeth.

"YOU! DAMN! IIIIIIDDDDDDIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOTTT!"

---

A few days later, everything had seemed to calm down. Other than the fact that Luffy was now rubber and couldn't swim, nothing had really changed much.

At the moment, said rubber man (Or boy at the moment) was walking down the middle of the valley with cows and a couple windmills. After a brief walk and a couple moos from the huge milk producers, Luffy had reached the centre of town. Wearing a white shirt with a blue collar and blue sleeves, along with brown shorts, he approached the fish shop, which had a fish above with the letters O and U on the fish.

Luffy walked up to the glass display counter, giving his signature giant smile while chuckling, the former now much easier to make due to his elastic properties.

"I'd like some fish, Mr. store keeper!" He asked, smiling all the way.

The storekeeper, Gyoru, who had on a yellow shirt with a black apron, the traditional butcher/fisherman uniform, smiled at Luffy. "Looks like someone's in a good mood today, huh?" He asked. "The pirates leave you again? Either way, you realise you can no longer swim, right?"

Luffy's grin never faltered. "It's fine!" He answered simply. "I'll just be a Pirate who doesn't fall into the sea!" He then stretched out his face as far as he could with his arms. "Besides, the Gum-Gum Fruit has made me even happier! Check it out!"

"And that's good how?!" Everyone nearby turned to see the Chief, or Mayor of Fushia Village, Woop Slap. He had a small moustache line that thinly went across his face, as well as a finely trimmed stubble. Along with his yellow glasses, he wore a yellow button-up shirt, pants that reached the ankles that had a white and red stripe pattern, and a hat with the exact same pattern as his pants that looked the shape of a lampshade.

You see, Woop Slap wasn't too fond of having a Devil Fruit User as a resident, but still slimly tolerated it. What he did not allow at any costs was Luffy's choice of dream.

"Maybe everyone else loves the fact that you're made of rubber, but tell me, what purpose could it have?!" He then looked at Luffy angrily; smoke puffing a little from him. "I will tell you again, Luffy; don't become a Pirate! Shanks may look cool and all, but his ideals are infectious! Stay away from him as much as possible! Our town's reputation would be tarnished if you become a criminal!"

Luffy did nothing more than give a pout and turn away with his tongue out and his index fingers in his ears.

"They've been gone for a while. Don't you feel lonely, Luffy?"

It had been about an hour since Luffy went to get some fish from Gyoru, and the former decided to go to Party's Bar. With him was Makino, serving. Currently, it was just them, with Makino asking Luffy said question as Luffy finished drinking a glass of juice and was leaning on the bench while sitting down, playing with the cup a little with his jaw as it lay flat down like a small log with four ice cubes still in it. Makino was wearing the same skirt, but a black shirt and a fully yellow kerchief.

"Nope!" He declared, still slightly angry. "I haven't forgiven them for their cowering from the bandits!" He sighed, biting a little on the cup. "I overestimated him. I thought Shanks was awesome. It's really disappointing…" He pouted.

"Really?" The bar owner asked softly, continuing to dry and clean a wine glass. "I thought that people that can take all that in and laugh it off are pretty brave."

Luffy sighed as he pulled the glass and he rested his chin between his arms, crossed on the bench. "You don't understand, Makino." He sighed. "Sometimes, a man needs to fight back for what he believes is right!"

"Oh?" Makino giggled a bit. "I guess I have no clear idea then, huh?" She asked.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah."

There was then the sound of a light creak as the door flaps opened. "Excuse me." Makino turned to the door, wondering whom it was.

Luffy recognised the damn face all to well. He gaped a bit with a small open mouth.

"Well, looks like the pirates aren't around?" Higuma smirked. "Good to know. The place is actually quieter now."

In a few mere seconds, every bandit was sitting down, shocking Makino.

"Well, don't just stand there, woman! We're customers today!" The bandit leader demanded as he lazed over the back of the chair. "BRING US SOME SAKE!"

---

Footsteps could be heard, getting louder and louder. These were identified as running. It seemed rather desperate.

Makino quickly opened the door to Woop Slap's office. The old man was wearing the same things as a few days ago.

"Chief! Come quick!"

He turned to see a panicking Makino, slightly confused. "What's wrong, Makino? What's this fuss about?"

Makino's face hadn't left it's panicked state yet. "Luffy…He was kidnapped by the bandits!"

---

Outside, the bandits had surrounded Luffy, just finding out about and intrigued by his new abilities. Higuma was holding the Devil Fruit User off the ground, the latter struggling and trying to kick his way out of the former's grab.

"Hm…an interesting body indeed…" The bandit leader spoke in malicious awe. "Yep, seems like punches and kicks won't hurt him, or any blunt attack at all."

Inside, the villagers were panicking that Luffy had been taken away. Most wanted someone to go save him, but an equal amount suggested they would be killed; a fraction of said people claiming it was Luffy's fault to begin with for messing with them.

"DAMN IT!" Luffy shouted to the bandit. "APOLOGISE RIGHT NOW!" He attempted to punch Higuma, but the bandit just swayed his head to the left with ease.

"A rubber man, huh?" Higuma questioned. "Who would have thought this would exist in this world?...Too bad it makes you WEAKER!" He then proceeded to fling Luffy from where he had grabbed his mouth and made the boy fly into the ground and roll.

Luffy grabbed his head from the impact. He could take most blunt attacks, but he had yet to be capable of handling landing impact. "Damn it!" He cursed in rage. "You will PAY!"

Higuma smirked and put a hand to his chin. "I wonder if there's a circus around here?" He said to himself, partially to his subordinates. "If there is, they would pay big to have this kid…"

Luffy had already got back up and was charging toward Higuma with a large branch, releasing a battle cry as he ran.

Higuma rose his foot. "You are quite a strong…" He then brought it down. "BRAT!"

Luffy was too shocked to dodge as the bandit had slammed his foot down, with Luffy between it and the ground, being crushed. If he weren't made of rubber now, he would have a concussion at the least by now. He was still in pain.

Higuma smirked again. "You know, we weren't doing anything wrong, kid; just drinking and talking." He stated. "I have to ask, did we say something that pissed off your little head?-"

"EXACTLY!" Luffy roared from underneath. "NOW APOLOGIZE, DAMNIT! AND MOVE YOUR DAMN FOOT!"

Whilst the villagers were commenting on Luffy's hotheaded demeanour, a voice had called out from the side in plea.

"Let him go! Please!" Everyone turned to see Woop Slap with a sad Makino, slightly shocking the bandits. The Chief bowed down to them. "I have no clue what the child did, nor why all this has happened, and I don't wish to argue, but even if it means paying, I'm begging you to let Luffy go!"

Luffy was just as shocked. "Chief!" He called out in surprise.

Higuma just had a stoic glance at the moment. "As expected, the elders are always the ones to properly solve the situation and know what ways to help…" He then stroked his small beard, face slightly darkening. "But it won't do any good! The brat has no hopes of escape or bail, because he angers me!" he then repeatedly stomped on Luffy. I will not tolerate a little brat insulting me!"

Luffy looked up at him from under the boot. "YOU are the one at fault here, damn baboon!"

Higuma had concluded it here; Luffy had crossed the line. "Alright, fine." He proceeded to unsheathe his sword. "No circus for you. It's death instead!"

Neither of them liked this. "LUFFY!" Makino shouted in fear.

They then felt a presence behind them. "I was trying to find out how come nobody was at the docks…now I can see why…" They turned to see Shanks, a small smile on his face. He, along with his crew had returned. He looked directly at Luffy and the bandits. "Hey. It's you guys from yesterday."

The two townsfolk were slightly shocked from the Red Hair's sudden appearance. "Captain!" Makino cried in shock and relief.

Shanks turned to Luffy, the former still smiling. "Hey, Luffy." He called out. "Didn't you say you had the punching power of a pistol?"

Luffy was in no way in the mood for this. "Shut up…" He muttered angrily through gritted teeth.

Higuma turned to Shanks with a scowl, giving a 'Hmph'. "You again…" He muttered in boredom. "Let me guess, cleaning the entire village now?

"I highly suggest you should leave now, coward. You don't want something bad to happen, do you?"

That was when Shanks heard a gun click to the right side of his head, ready to fire. There was a bandit with a crooked nose pointing down with his pistol at point blank range, ready at any call.

"I'll blow your head off if need be, but that lays upon your next move, my friend." The bandit smirked. The rest of the bandits, turban-like bandanas shadowing their eyes, chuckled evilly at the cornering before them. Higuma snickered, glad that his subordinates perfectly knew well the system. There were three ways this could go; 1. Shanks surrenders and gets dragged away by the bandits with Luffy. 2. Shanks walks further and gets shot down, all hope for Luffy lost and causing the rest of the pirates and villagers to surrender.

3. This…

"Would you risk your life?"

The bandit looked at Shanks, confused by his words. "Eh?"

Shanks continued to smile, eyes shadowed by his hat. "Now that you've drawn your pistol, are you willing to use it?" He muttered coolly with seriousness.

This still confused the bandit. He didn't really get what kind of message Shanks was trying to send. "The hell are you talking about?"

Shanks' eyes became unshadowed, still smiling. He looked at the bandit, pointing at the pistol at his head. "I'm saying guns aren't for threats, they're for action."

*click* BANG!

A gun was fired. Blood spurred out of the skull as the body became nothing more than a hollow corpse, dropping what was in its grasp.

As Lucky Roo held his just fired pistol in one hand, ripping off a piece of the meat he was holding in his other, the bandit fell to the ground, lifeless as his blood made a small pool on the dirt.

This sudden action shocked Makino, Woop Slap, and most of all, Luffy. The boy had seen someone be killed right before his eyes.

The rest of the bandits were furious. "YOU'RE DEAD, BASTARD!" One off them roared.

Another was right by his side. "That was dirty!"

The pirates were now confused. "Dirty?" Yassop asked.

"Don't make us laugh…" Beckman muttered. "We never said we were saints, did we?"

Shanks smirked from under his hat. "Gentlemen, the people ahead of you here are a group of Pirates."

The bandits looked like they couldn't care less. "Shut up!" One shouted, though he sounded slightly uneasy. "We're just taking the boy! It ain't your business!"

Shanks' voice quickly darkened. "Listen well, bandits," He began. "You can pour drinks on me, you can throw food at me, hell I'll even laugh off you spitting at me…however…" He looked up with his left eye that had three scars; with a look that would make Satan himself shit his pants. "If you hurt a friend of mine, you will pay for it dearly, regardless of your reason! YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN!"

Luffy felt himself tear up slightly. "Shanks…" he muttered in awe.

Higuma bursted out laughing at the sight before him. "'Won't forgive' he says!" He hollered. He pointed at them with a cocky grin. "You scurvy disgraces, who sit on a ship all day, want to challenge us?!" He asked, shocked, yet still smirking at the stupid thought. "WE WILL DESTROY YOU!"

Letting out a battle cry, all of the bandits charged forward, most loosely swinging their swords to prepare before reaching them. "Go to hell!" One of them roared.

Beckman stepped forward, rifle in hand. "I'll take care of this myself. I'm more than enough anyway." He suggested. Shanks stepped out of the way as Beckman calmly walked toward the charging bandits.

He grabbed the cigarette from his mouth just as calmly as a bandit charged forward. As the latter swung down his sword, Beckman swiftly moved to the left, avoiding it completely before extinguishing the still active -so to speak- smoke in the middle of the bandit's nose, directly in between his eyes.

After a few seconds, the bandit immediately fell down, holding his forehead and screeching in pain. "HOOOT!" He cried. As the rest of the bandits came charging towards Beckman, letting out a battle cry once again, the first mate grabbed the front of his rifle, smirking, and began to beat down every bandit. You could hear the brutality from anywhere on Dawn Island.

It didn't take long before Higuma, who hadn't even charged, was the last one left, looking on in shock. Beckman already had another cigarette in his mouth and was currently lighting it with his right hand.

"Don't underestimate us, bandit, or overestimate yourself." He said calmly, his left hand aiming his rifle at Higuma with a finger on the trigger. "If you really wanted to fight us so badly, you should have gone as far as brought a Marine fleet with you."

Luffy, Makino, and even Woop Slap were looking on in awe at what just happened. "Amazing…" Makino muttered in shock and amazement.

Higuma had an intimidated and shocked look on his face. "…Hold up!" He cried in defence. "The brat messed with us first!"

Shanks had the same look from earlier; not a lone shit given. "That doesn't matter." He said. "You have a bounty, remember?"

Higuma started to sweat quite profusely, trapped with hardly any way to escape. He had lost. But if that were the case, he wouldn't go down alone!

He threw down something before a huge cloud of grey surrounded him. "Hmph!" He grunted.

Everyone covered himself or herself over from the unexpected move. "Smoke Bomb!" Shanks cried. However, as they covered over, they heard two very distinct voices and what was happening.

"Come with me, brat!"

"Let go of me, bastard!"

As the smoke cleared, they saw that Higuma was gone. Unfortunately, so was-

"LUFFY!" Shanks hollered. He immediately grabbed his temples and started to go crazy in fear. "This isn't good! They took Luffy! What do we do?!" He didn't stop asking these questions, which was ironic seeing his position

Beckman looked on as Lucky Roo had to try and calm the Captain down by suggesting some search parties. "That Captain…" He muttered, sighing; yet smiling. It was amusing that a guy, let alone a powerful captain like Shanks, could go from #1 Badass to Panic Button in mere seconds.

---

Out in the ocean, even further back than the Red Hair Pirates' ship, was a small dingy, where Higuma had escaped to with Luffy in capture. "HAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed. "We made a great escape! Who would have guessed a Mountain Bandit would escape by boat into the ocean?!"

He looked down to Luffy, who was just getting his balance and tried to stand up. "As for you, I used you only as a hostage. Now that I'm out of reach, you're useless!"

Luffy was full on pissed at this prick after all that had just happened. He wanted to get at least one hit on him. "Go to hell!" Luffy roared before giving a punch.

Higuma gave a simple "Heh." with a smirk before kicking Luffy off of the dingy before the boy could even land the hit. "Good riddance…" He spat.

Luffy's eyes started to water a bit. He remembered that Shanks said Devil Fruits prevent swimming, and he had taken a bath a couple days ago. Although it was just once, he knew he wouldn't be able to survive alone. He wouldn't be able to keep up. "Damn it!" He kept saying as he drew closer to the water. "Damn it!"

Higuma scoffed, though still smirking. "Brat." He spat again.

Luffy was only a few seconds of the water now. "You said they're cowards, yet you ran away and blamed me! I couldn't even get a hit, bastard!" As Higuma laughed evilly again, Luffy quickly reminisced the events that lead to here, beginning with that very laugh.

Makino had quickly taken the demand to mind. "Y-Yes! Right away!" When she got back, she had gotten about ten barrels, enough for everyone. As we speak, they were laughing to themselves about the pirate rundown.

"Do you remember the expression on their faces the other day?" One of the bandits asked some of his fellow colleagues.

"I know!" Another bandit laughed. "One bottle and he's silent! What a pussy!"

Higuma smirked, yet frowned a little bit. "When I see a chicken like that, it pisses me to boiling point." He stated plainly. "Really wanted to kill him, too…" He put down his glass and fully smirked. "Pirates can do nothing more than act cool."

"SHUT UP!"

Higuma turned with a frown towards the source of the voice, which ended up being the small boy from the same day: Luffy. Said boy was being held back by Makino from getting to them for his own safety; though it did hold him back, it did little good overall.

"Don't underestimate the Red Hair Pirates! They aren't cowards!" Luffy growled.

Makino continued to struggle holding him back. "Luffy, don't! Let it go!"

Luffy didn't even listen. He was sick to death of these pricks. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE SHANKS!"

SPLASH!

Back to now, Luffy had just fallen in the water, gluging and barely able to breathe with his now extremely poor aquatic capability. What he could tell were two things. 1. Higuma continuously laughing about his –most likely- 57th murder, and how he had escaped such a situation, though he lost every man he had.

2. What was behind Higuma, which made Luffy gasp in shock when he was lucky enough to get some air.

Said Mountain Bandit felt a strange presence behind him, as well as a shadow looming over him. "Eh?" He turned around very slowly to find what looked like a beast, and a horrifying one at that. It was a large creature known to most, that is, outside of the east blue due to being one of the weakest seas, as a Sea King, a large sea monster, each in different shapes, sizes, colours, etc. This one looked a lot like an oversized brown eel with the teeth of a Crocodile/Alligator. It also had light blue and white fins, along with red eyes.

This was the local Sea King of Fushia Village, the Lord of the Coast.

Higuma immediately turned pale. "Wh-Where did that thing come from?!" He cried. He obviously didn't expect this. It was also the last thing he ever said, as he screamed as the aggressive creature snapped its jaw down, eating Higuma whole as the Bandit screamed and destroying the boat; Luffy's currently only chance of slight survival.

After finishing its meal, the Lord's attention shifted to the splashing sound Luffy was emitting whilst the Devil Fruit User was trying to stay afloat, the former's eyes turning bloodthirsty and vertically sharp like a cat.

Luffy tried screaming "Somebody help!", but half of it was muffled and gurgled from the water being pushed and swallowed.

The Lord immediately started to dart towards Luffy underwater at high speeds, popping its upper fins every so often, much like a Jaws scene. After a few seconds, the head fully came up, jaw open and ready to eat Luffy like a morsel, causing the latter to scream bloody murder, which is what it would become.

SNAP!

The jaw came down at maximum force. It tasted blood and flesh, as well as the crunch of bone. There was one difference, however: Luffy was still there, being held by something…

…Or to correct, someone…

As the Lord immediately pulled his head up and glared at the bod(y/ies), it saw the two males, one being supported by another.

Luffy looked up at the silhouette and almost immediately recognised it. "Shanks…" He muttered.

The Lord had already started to charge again, the same way as before, only the head was up the whole time.

Luffy began to cry a little at what he had just realised when he looked towards the Sea King charge towards them, but the real ignition before them was when he looked at Shanks, noticing something missing.

As Luffy and Shanks, said Red Hair looking slightly tense, but rather angry than anything, looked towards the Lord come charging towards them. The vicious beast opened his giant jaws ready to eat them whole.

Shanks had had enough. He had just lost something, he's had a long day, but on top of all that, he tried to hurt Luffy.

Shanks then emitted something powerful that from an outward position was a shockwave, but to anyone in particular, was a powerful force.

The Lord, now about 15 meters away, immediately froze, stopping its seemingly endless charge. As Luffy looked on in confusion and Shanks continued to glare at the monster, the Lord's eyes were shaking with intimidation. That was no ordinary glare. There was something else behind it.

Shanks' eyes then widened slightly as his pupils shrunk a bit. "Get lost…" He muttered, pretty much an order to the Sea King.

The Lord obviously wanted to consume them as a short but satisfying meal and be done with it, as would many Type C creatures in this world. But the look and power that man had forced it to reconsider rather painfully.

It was about ten more stressing seconds, Luffy welling up small tears from the whole ordeal, before the huge beast slowly turned around and then sped off into the horizon, causing small waves as in continued to move, considering it was an oversized eel. Silence overtook another ten seconds after that.

"Luffy…" Shanks decided to calmly break the silence. "I truly am in your debt…thank you…Makino told me everything. You stuck up for us, putting your own life on the line." He looked down to see a crying Luffy gripping his soaking shirt as they lay there in the ocean. He smiled. "Come on, Luffy, I thought you were a grown up. You can't cry over something like this…"

Luffy looked up to Shanks with puffy, wet eyes, as soaked as his own shirt. "But Shanks…" He hardly croaked "Your arm…" He cried softly. He then shouted it out again. "YOUR ARM!"

It was true. The Lord may have not eaten Luffy, but it did snag something: Shanks' left arm. It was now completely gone as a tarnished now short sleeve was dripping crimson blood into the ocean, fading into a mist of the sea.

Shanks looked at Luffy sympathetically. "Luffy…" He ushered. "It's just an arm. I still have another. What matters is that you're still alive."

Luffy couldn't take all this in. He almost died to a cocky bandit who was a coward, he almost got eaten be the local, extremely vicious, Sea King, and his role model had lost an arm because the latter had sacrificed it to save his life. In said shoes, it's hard to absorb that and leave with little scathe.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…" He cried his heart out from the emotions that flew through him like a storm.

This was the first of the three most emotional moments of his life

---

"So you're finally leaving?"

It was time. After about a month since Shanks became a pseudo-paraplegic, the Red Hair Pirates were finally leaving Dawn Island, ready for their next adventures. They were currently packing their supplies onto their ship, crate after crate.

"Yeah." Shanks confirmed. "We've been here for quite a bit. About time we left and headed north." He turned to Luffy. "Why? You upset?"

Luffy continued to smile. "Yeah…but I'm not begging you to take me with you anymore." He replied, proud. "I'm going to become a pirate myself!"

Shanks poked out his tongue like a child. "I wouldn't take you anyhow!" He stated cockily, trying to rile the kid up. "You don't have what it takes to become a Pirate!"

Luffy immediately shot to his angry, full-toothed mouth from the beginning of this flashback. "YES I DO!" He shot back. "When I get older and begin my journey, I'll find a crew that's better than yours! And then I'll find the world's greatest treasure!" He shot his fists up as he screamed into the heavens his almost catchphrase. "I'M GOING TO BECOME KING OF THE PIRATES!"

Shanks smiled at the boy's ambition. "You want to be better than us, huh?" He grabbed his hat on his head, eyes shadowed over. "Well, in that case…"

He then did it. He placed it on Luffy's head, forming another Oda Dramaticy. "I give you this hat as a gift from myself."

Although Luffy's face was shadowed over from the nose up, as Shanks spoke, Luffy started to tear up about this. "This is my favourite hat. It's really special to me." He then removed his hand and walked off. "When you become a great Pirate, return that hat to me. That's our promise, Luffy…"

As he neared the ship, Beckman told him "That kid's going to be big.", which the Captain remarked that he knew, seeing as how similar Luffy was to his younger and Rookie years. That faded the Dramaticy.

As the ship left off and the townsfolk gave their happy farewells to the friendly crew, Luffy looked down at his hat and smiled…

---

…Just as he did now, giving his crew mates and friends his good old laugh and signature smile.

Natsu gave his own smile. "Never gets old, huh?" He asked.

Luffy looked down at his hat again with a warm smile. "Yeah." He replied, lost in thought.

Wendy had a really large smile. "Wow!" She exclaimed. She had her hands in front of her in fists close to each other a few inches in front of her chest, showing excitement. "I never would have thought the story would be that great!" She frowned a bit. "But it's sad to hear that your role model lost his arm. That was unfortunate."

Luffy looked up to her, smiling. "He said don't worry about it, so I will too!" He put the infamous Straw Hat back onto his head.

"Hey, Luffy." Said Captain turned to his latest crew member. "From what I heard, you wanted to become a better Pirate than Shanks, correct?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah! I can't wait! Can't wait for the big one, huh?"

Zoro grabbed his white sword, still sheathed next to him. "Yeah." He confirmed. "That's a fight I can't wait for." He smirked.

Carla perked her head up. "That reminds me." She stated. "I've wanted to ask: How did you two buffoons meet?"

Luffy and Natsu looked at each other from the question for a few seconds. Then both showed their signature grins. They then turned to the rest.

"You guys want to know, huh?" Natsu asked with a grin.

Wendy then had a thought herself. "Oh! How long ago was this?"

Happy shared that one. "About seven years ago, when Luffy was ten and Natsu, twelve. I wasn't there, though, hadn't hatched yet."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Hatched?"

Carla did as well. "You too?" A brief "Aye!" Confirmed this.

Wendy turned to the Santoryu man. "You see, species like Carla and Happy aren't born like normal cats. They hatch from large eggs."

Zoro put his hand to Wendy's face while looking straightforward into the distance. "Alright, I have now seen it all…" He groaned in agony.

"Alright, our turn!" Luffy cheered. "Oh, and Zoro, don't say that! We still have a huge adventure to do!"

Natsu straightened up. "Alright, it's like this. Seven years ago…"

---

In the middle of the forest in the mountains, Luffy was trying to find his way out, apparently calling for someone.

"HEEEEEEEYYY!" He called. He had on a simple yellow shirt and red beach shorts with his sandals and hat. "ANYONE THERE?!" If you asked him, he was trying to find someone in the forest that he got split up from. In reality, he was half that half lost. "Man, I gotta get back soon…" He groaned. "She is not gonna like this…"

As he turned to his right and ran for another five seconds, he heard the chimes of rustling leaves from above. He looked up, confused, but only saw the light of the sun, making it's way through the summer flakes of green leaves to the ground. He was in a fairly shady and cool area right now, but he cared little, and had as little time to notice. So he continued to run.

The rustling occurred again, only they sounded lower and closer. Luffy could have sworn he found a silhouette sway through the deep burden of a green trap.

"HEEEEEYY!" He called out to where he suspected he saw the silhouette. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

The rustling of the leaves didn't stop. It appeared they were going around Luffy from left to right, trying to avert Luffy somewhere else.

However, being the numb guy he was, having little direction, charged straightforward.

The chase continued. The rustling was left, he climbed up a tree. The rustling was below, he took a right. This happened for a good five minutes.

Eventually, Luffy was running straightforward once more. The exit was about a couple hundred meters off now. He took another right, and it all happened in the blink of an eye…

He ran into someone who was running straight on in the opposite direction he was.

After Luffy fell down, grabbing his head from the shock, though his rubber body prevented any real damage. He immediately shot up, pissed. "Alright, who did that?!" He demanded.

When he got up, so did a boy a little older than himself, about twelve. He was wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with small buttons, red matching tracksuits with a yellow star-like pattern, and dusty brown sandals.

Despite how awesome its shape was, when he saw the colour of his hair, he had to pout to suck in the air and to hold in his laughter. After a few seconds, he could no longer hold it in, bursting out laughing.

"YOUR HAIR IS PINK!" He laughed. He couldn't stop howling out and could barely breathe. He even coughed a few times.

This seemed to anger the boy, as he had an Oda Anger directly towards Luffy, and It. Was. Intense. "SHUT UP!" He demanded. "What's so bad about having pink hair?!"

Luffy immediately knew why, so he stated one of his many pointless reasons. "You look like a cherry!" He croaked through his laughter.

"CHERRYS ARE RED, IDIOT!" The boy snapped.

Luffy seemed to hear that last part a little too well. "I am NOT an idiot!" He snapped.

"Yes you are!" The boy shot back.

"No, you are!"

"No, you are!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, YOU!"

And that's how it lead to them punching each other in a comical cloud all the way through the forest. They even went into a few trees, going directly through them and knocking them down. Eventually, they reached a hill, where they both fell down and rolled like logs.

After rolling for a good two minutes, they reached the bottom, so dirty they could fit as camouflage masters in the middle of a war.

Luffy got up, walking over to the boy. When he got to him, he sat down in front of him. "You okay?" He asked, completely forgetting what had just happened.

The boy got up and sat across from the boy. "Yeah…" He answered, slightly unsure.

Luffy immediately smiled. "Hi, I'm Luffy! Who the hell are you?" He introduced, though in a way only he and a few others would do.

The boy got up, as did Luffy. He held his hand out. "Natsu." He replied. Luffy immediately gave his hand, shaking Natsu's hard.

"Glad to meet you!" Luffy welcomed. "So, what are you doing in a forest in the middle of nowhere?" He was still smiling, despite his question.

Natsu frowned, crossing his arms. "I'm looking for my dad." He answered quietly.

Luffy was confused. "Your dad?"

"Yeah. He raised me. He taught me how to read, write, he even taught me how to fight! However, that day, a few months ago, he was gone. Nobody was there… I made a raft using some logs and vines from the forest on the island, and sailed to try and find him. Been looking ever since… He had the heart of a dragon… Hell, he pretty much was a dragon! Though nobody believes me…"

Luffy was shocked. Someone had to deal with all of that through his or her life. He then quickly remembered the last thing he said.

"Your dad was a dragon?" He asked innocently.

"…Yeah…" Natsu answered, thinking this would end the same as it always did; call him a liar and walk off. He was prepared for it, finding a good way to escape through the trees, though there was also a path to the left through a cave-

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Luffy exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

Natsu was shocked. He actually believed him? He thought his dad was a dragon like he knew? He couldn't believe this!

"You believe me?" He asked, still shocked.

"Yeah!" Luffy replied. He then frowned. "Why? You're not lying, are you?"

Natsu turned to an Oda Anger. "WHY WOULD I LIE ABOUT MY OWN DAD?!" He shouted. He then hung his head down, tears forming a bit. "Still, nobody else believed me when I told them…" He silently spoke. "That's why I was shocked…you actually believed that my dad was pretty much a dragon…"

Luffy smiled. "You know, you're pretty awesome!" He concluded. "Hey, where do you live?" He asked suddenly.

Natsu frowned. "I don't have anywhere to live. I'm searching all over, remember?" He explained.

Luffy frowned a bit. He then started to turn red. This made Natsu raise an eyebrow. He then turned blue.

"What are you doing?!" Natsu asked in fear. "Why are you holding your breath?!"

Luffy then heaved out a heap of air as he turned back to normal. "I was breathing…" Luffy huffed. "I was trying to think…"

Natsu's eyes widened at this. "Ouch…" He groaned.

Luffy's did to. "Hey, I got an idea!" He exclaimed. "When I'm older, I'm gonna become a Pirate!"

Natsu smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah! Join my crew!"

Natsu's eyebrow rose at this. "Huh?"

"Since I'm going to be a Pirate, that means lots of adventures everywhere! We can try and find your dad while we have our adventures!"

Natsu thought this through, though he had the same thinking issues his new friend did. After a a bit, he concluded. "That sounds pretty good!" He said. 'Alright, I'll join the crew!"

Luffy immediately smiled a huge one. "YEEEEEAAAAHHH!" He chanted. "My first crewmember! Wait till the others see this! They'll be so jealous!"

Natsu's stomach then roared itself. He fell over. "Sooo hungry…" He groaned with a pained face.

Luffy pulled him up and smiled. "When we get back, let's have an eating contest!" He challenged.

Natsu smirked at this. "You're on, rubber bastard!"

Luffy smirked back. "Glad to have you accept, pinkie!" They then ran on until they found a light, running through it waiting to introduce the new salamander to the others. But who are the others?

---

Back to reality, Natsu smiled. "Nothin' like a cliché meeting, huh?"

Zoro nodded. "Sounds it, but still." He commented. "The eating part isn't a surprise…"

Luffy laughed. "Yeah. We LOVE food!" He declared, raising his fists.

Everyone laughed, enjoying the mood. It was great to have people with a highly positive disposition. Especially if they were the leader.

That was when all their stomachs rumbled like tremors.

They all fell on their backs at this. "Sooooooo Hungryyyy…" That was what they all groaned.

They all looked like they were going to have their stomachs inverted and their throats slit, before having them being shat down and turned into dispensers for hobos. Trust me, it doesn't feel nice.

Wendy then felt a shadow go across her legs. "Hm?" She was curious, and then looked up at a figure in the sky. "What's that?"

Zoro looked up to where the girl was. It was a large avian with a curved beige beak, its covered in pink feathers, dark blue on the edge of its wings. It also had some feathers sticking up on its head.

Put simply, "It's a bird." Zoro concluded.

After a few seconds of silence, Luffy had an idea that would get them into something crazy again. "Let's eat it!" He suggested with another giant smile.

Wendy perked up. "That sounds like a good idea." She smiled.

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Zoro agreed himself, but was slightly confused about the process. "How do we catch it?" He asked.

Luffy turned to face the small sail. "Wet Fleek, Happy, grab on!" He declared, arms out.

Wendy went into flat tears with a Mashima Deadpan. "Someday, Wendy, someday…" She cried to herself with an unconscious smile, hoping Luffy would get her name right soon. Either way, she grabbed on to Luffy's shoulders and Happy followed suit.

Carla wasn't too keen on this. "You attack the law. Fitting for the situation. You allow them to come into contact with your body, especially your hair. Depends wether they actually hurt you, and even that is extremely dangerous. But this is too far, child!" She was furious, as Wendy was pretty much going to fly up above the ocean, especially as a Devil Fruit User. "You sit back down right now!"

"Don't bother!" Natsu smiled his signature. "You won't be able to change their minds even if you bribed 'em!"

The white cat frowned. "You have a point there…" She muttered in annoyance. She looked back to the three. "What could they be planning anyway?"

Luffy's stretching of his arms onto the top of the sail's wood was all the answer they needed for his next move. "Gum-Gum Rocket!" He then soared up to the bird shaped object in the air with Wendy and Happy on him.

Natsu smirked whilst looking up, Carla on his head. "Thought he's do that!" He said.

Zoro looked up with his right hand covering his eyes to see it through the sun. "Makes sense." He admitted.

When they got up there, though, there wasn't a crash noise into the bird. There was a clamp noise, a chomp more so. This caused Natsu to frown, Carla to sweat a little bit, and Zoro to go "Hm" in confusion.

What had happened was the bird was much bigger than them, about as big as the dingy. The bird, known as Monster Bird Pinky, had clamped onto Luffy's head, which was looking rather pained, but in reality, crooked and stuck. Wendy was clinging onto Luffy's left leg with round white eyes and an open mouth, slightly scared and taken aback. Happy was holding onto Luffy's right foot with a Mashima Deadpan, only the line was an actual line rather than just a sketch appearance.

The bird was already gilding off elsewhere. "HEEEEELLLLPP!" Luffy called out after screaming with the others.

Natsu was laughing his ass off at their misfortune, a natural thing for the two boys to go against each other, and would laugh it off in the end.

Zoro and Carla weren't so welcoming. Carla had a huge open mouth with no teeth and huge white eyes while Zoro had shark teeth and bulging eyes. "IDIOTS!" They roared.

They were already rowing. "Jeez, the damn idiot doesn't even think, does he?" Zoro asked, furious.

"Neither do I!" Natsu added, smiling.

"NOT HELPING!" Zoro shot back with an Oda Anger that would have made Shrek bow before the former's presence.

"Oi!" A voice called from up ahead. "Stop the boat!" There were now three voices calling exactly that.

Natsu and Zoro were rowing, and Carla had to navigate, as well as couldn't lift that much, so they only had one choice.

"We can't pull over right now!" Zoro called out. "You want to get on, grab the boat as we come by!"

This shocked the three out there. "EH?!" So they 'attempted' to get on, which lead through high pace and screaming. The three barely made it on with the two boys and cat.

"Nice climbing skills!" Natsu complimented.

The three seemed unaffected by the flattery, or anything at this point. "ARE YOU TRYING TO FLATEN US INTO DOUGH FRY?!" They demanded, pissed.

They all got into battle stance, the front one with a beanie pulling out a full size bayonet. "Stop this boat." He demanded with a cold voice. "This is the territory of Pirate Captain Buggy The Clown. We'll be taking the boat now." He finished with a smirk, all of them snickering.

Before the next couple minutes, the three had no idea about the wrong choice of words they pulled out of the hat. Natsu and Zoro had one eye shadowed each and glared iron spears at the two with the unshadowed one each. "The fuck…" They asked threateningly.

With the three now rowing, laughing nervously from trying to rethink their little fuckup back there, and apologizing to Natsu, who was a powerful foe indeed, and Zoro, especially for not noticing the 'Pirate Hunter of the East Blue'.

Natsu realized something after Zoro told them to keep rowing to catch up to their friends. "That reminds me, how the hell did you get stuck all the way out here anyway?"

The three stopped rowing and began cheering. "HORAAH! HORAAH! THEY FINALLY ASKED IT!" They cheered. They then began to row again.

"The GIRL!" They immediately answered.

"The mean, but cute one!" The monobrow one added.

Whilst the beanie one beat down the monobrow, the orange haired man explained the story of how they got tricked into taking a chest and got capsized by the girl's techniques and ability to read weather. You don't know what happened/didn't read the first few paragraphs? YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE THIS FAR INTO THE CHAPTER!

After they finished, they were all impressed to say the least. "Damn…" Zoro thought. "Predicting weather… Sounds pretty unique, huh? Wonder if she might join us…"

The orange haired man immediately crunged. "Well if I find her, I'll kill her!" He declared.

The beanie man turned to him. "You gotta remember, the treasure comes first." He explained.

The monobrow man started to sweat. "If we come back to Buggy empty handed, well be in deep-"

"Buggy?" The three protagonists asked.

"You've never heard of Buggy The Clown?" The orange haired man asked in slight shock.

The beanie man's expression changed drastically. "He's a dangerous and cynical man… Torturous and horrifying, along with the power of a Devil Fruit!"

This perked their attention. "A Devil Fruit User?" Zoro asked. Another one?

---

Outside the outskirts of Orange Town, a small area on Organ Island, a very large Pirate ship was moored. It was a brightly coloured ship, mainly purple on the base, with a few tents, the front with the crew's Jolly Roger, the only one visible due to the sails being furled up. The figurehead was a colourful elephant with a cannon for a trunk, with two cannons below it. This was the Buggy Pirates main ship, Big Top.

In town, a girl was running away from three men while holding a roll up paper. "Finally…" She heaved as she ran. "The navigation chart to the Grand Line…!"

The others were running, half scared as hell. "Damnit!" One yelled in frustration. "If we can't get that map back, we're going to have an ugly death…"

Meanwhile…

"Captain!" A voice called, spotting Pinky in the scope. "An unknown flying projectile is moving in the air!"

"Well? Shoot it down!" A voice demanded that sounded like the Joker.

"Yes sir!"

BANG!

From above the chase in the streets, there was a loud explosion. The girl froze for a bit. It was then they all heard screaming from three individuals; two male, one female.

They then made impact with the ground, smashing into the concrete with the force of a bomb, causing smoke and dust to fly everywhere.

"What the?!" The girl questioned in shock of this all happening so quickly.

Eventually, three silhouettes appeared up, one of the somehow hovering. "Damn it, why did that cannon shoot us?" A male voice asked.

"I'm not sure…" A female one stated, just as surprised.

"Aye." A third voice joined in.

The dust cleared to reveal a boy with a straw hat, a girl with long blue hair in a dress, and a flying, talking blue cat with angel wings.

"Either way, we finally landed!" Luffy declared. "And that fall, was awesome!"

---

SONG OF THE DAY

TheFatRat - Monody

---

Well, there you have it. Luffy's past and a cliché meeting for the two main Protagonists! Also, I used some of A Dragon Among The Straw Hats as an inspiration on that one. Either way, I think it turned out good!

Michael Dorsey - To be honest, the next villain one is still stuck for me... I do know the next crew member, though. All the way through to Arlong Park, actually. Still, glad you like it!

Zack25King - Glad you understand the concepts so far. And yes, the whole guild would be WAY too many! I'm thinking most of the mains and a couple others, but that's for planning way up ahead. For now, just take the answer I gave Michael. Also, I haven't thought about a FT location yet. Thanks for the reminder!

Well, I'm off to go cry in a hellfire (Or complete exams as you mortals call it) and will be back with the Orange Town arc! By the sounds of things, I'm thinking I may ahve to add a chapter to all East Blue arcs than what I was planning...

Now get out of here and touch some sunlight, damnit!