LW: Okay so here it is, a flashback chapter O_O! Yeah it's taken me 21 chapters what took the anime 4 episodes, but we finally get Luffy (and Kaos) origin story… or at least the 1st part.

Rubber King and Mirror Master – Origin of the Straw Hat

Dawn Island – Fushio village (Makino's Bar)

'You gotta take me with you on your next adventure Shanks' the boy pleads, while the red head in a straw hat laughs

'Yeah right, like you could be a pirate'

'See kid, you may be a great swimmer and all, but it take a lot more than that to be a pirate' Yassop argues

'But I'm a great fighter too. My punches are as strong as pistol shots' an 8 year old Luffy boasts as he sits by the bar, the man beside him chuckles lightly, pushing his old straw hat out of his eyes

'Really, a pistol you say? That's impressive. Here have a drink on me'

'Yay!' Luffy cheers, gulping down the juice as the pirates start laughing

'Ha ha, only a kid drinks juice' the red head wheezes between laughs

'Shut up asshole!' Luffy screams back angrily

'Relax Monkey, just finish your juice' and amused voice purrs and Shank's attention is drawn to the other kid in the bar: pale and bony, if it weren't his notably prepubescent voice and confirmation from Makino he'd think the kid was at least 13 rather than the 10 that was the purplette's actual age. He was Kaos, Luffy's big brother, or good as given they'd been raised together as such, since Garp practically dropped them on Makino's doorstep as a baby and toddler respectively many years back.

Suddenly the door was broken off it's hinges, a scruffy looking gang of men enter the building

'We're mountain bandits, but we're not here to wreck the place, provided you give us all the booze you've got' their leader orders

'I'm sorry but we're fresh out' Makino answers, partly apologetic, and partly worried

'Then what are all these guys drinking? Juice?' Higuma yells, pointing at the clearly intoxicated pirates all around him

'Well he is' Kaos mutters, waving his hand in Luffy's direction and getting punched in the ribs because of it, though not for self-preservation reasons, he just didn't want people to know he was drinking juice

'No, but they did drain me dry'

Shanks nods before reaching behind him 'Sorry about that, but here's an unopened bottle. I hope this helps'

Higuma sneers and smashes the bottle with his cutlass

'One bottle ain't going to do, I'm a wanted man with 8 million beri for my head'

[HAHAHAHAHA! That's cute, need I remind you that in the last month Luffy's bounty jumped up to 1.5 BILLLION! And this guy thinks 8 mill makes him some kind of badass… okay in the East Blue where the average is 3 I'll admit its okay, but it's nothing special]

Shanks clearly as the same thoughts as the brackets above as he didn't even react to the bandit's threat 'Oh no. Now the floor's all wet' he whines, the reaches down for what remains of the bottle 'Sorry about the mess Makino, you got a rag back there I can borrow?'

'It's fine Shanks I'll clean it up'

Smash

Higuma clearly didn't like being ignored as he proceeded to destroy the entire counter, knocking its contents all over the floor

'Seeing as you like to clean so much, might as well give you a worthwhile job' he then sighs and turns to go 'Move it men, if there's no sake there's no point in sticking around this backwater little town' he grunts as he walks out the door.

Once all the bandits had left the pirate's erupt into laughter, even the currently soaked Shanks

'He's got you good captain' Yassop laughs, Lucky Roo nodding around his mutton

'What the Hell was that?' Luffy yells angrily 'You should have fought back, what kind of pirates are you?'

Shanks laughs 'Luffy, sometimes it's just not worth fighting against some guy being a dick over booze, it's pointless'

Luffy growls and sits with a huff, his eyes flicked over to a swirly blue fruit in a medium sized chest, along side a smaller silver and swirly fruit 'Hmm?'

'Hey Luffy, it you stress eat like that you'll become even more of an anchor' Shanks jokes until he sees the swirls on the food he's eating 'Oh no please not that' he thinks before running over 'What are you eating?' Luffy gulps, his face pale 'Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!'

'Um…'

'Cough it up Luffy, cough it up now!' Shanks orders as he shakes the kid upside down… right until his neck stretches and his face hits the floor

'Ahh!'

'Luffy do you have any idea what you've done?'

'Nope'

'You've eaten one of the Devil Fruits, so now you can't ever swim again'

'And if you eat another you'll explode!'

'Not helping Yassop' Ben grunts at the sniper

'Can't Swim? Explode?!' Luffy yells in panic

'Yes, you ate the Gomu Gomu no mi, so your entire body now has the properties of rubber, you're a rubber boy now kid'

'Really?' Luffy sits there for a moment before he sticks his fingers in the corners of his mouth and pulls them back into a wide grin. He then releases his hold, his face snapping back to it's normal shape 'Awesome!' he cheers

Later, back home

Luffy gasps 'Is that?'

'Yes, it's another of Captain Shanks' Devil Fruits' Kaos says with a wide grin

'Are you sure about this Kaos? Weird powers in exchange for never being able to swim' he asks

'Well I never could swim very well in the first place, might as well have an excuse' Kaos answers with a shrug and a childish grin

'Okay then' Luffy smirks back before frowning 'You do know these things taste awful right?'

Kaos grimaces 'And it's not exactly a good idea to eat a lime straight in the first place'

'This is going to suck to be you, shishishi'

Fushou Village the next day

'Mayor! The mountain bandits have Luffy!' Makino yells as she runs into Woodslap's office, the man gulps and follows her quickly to where Higuma was kicking the crap out of the small boy, reaching them just as Kaos got tossed back by one of the bandits.

'You shouldn't have opened your mouth kid, nobody who's pissed me off has lived to tell the tale' Higuma growls, drawing his sword

'Please stop, don't kill the boy. I don't know what he's done and I don't plan to fight you over it, but I'll do anything so long as you spare the poor, foolish boy's life' Woodslap pleads, falling to his knees as he does so

Higuma smirks 'At least some people understand the way of the world, but I must decline, this brat's already made he angry, so he's got to go'

'You bastards!' Luffy yells from under the bandit's boot

'No'

'Stop! Please'

'So this is where everyone is' Makino jumps as Shanks and his crew appear behind her 'Hey Luffy, I thought you said your punches were strong as pistols' he chuckles

'Not now Shanks' Luffy chokes

'You should go, before something bad happens to you. But incase you're just slow as well as weak I have just the man to deliver the message' Shanks doesn't even flinch when a pistol is pressed to his temple, in fact he smirks just a little

'Now you've drawn your pistol are you willing to use it?' he asks calmly

'What?'

'Guns aren't for making threats they're for action. You draw one…'

BANG splat Gulp

'…someone is going down' Shanks finishes as the bandit dies due to Lucky Roo shooting him in the face

'You bastard, you're dead!'

'These guys fight dirty'

'Dirty?'

'We never claimed to be saints or anything, we're pirates' Ben adds

'Shut up, we just want the kid, so stay out of it' one of the bandit's yell, but is ignored by the pirates

'Listen very closely here. You can pour booze on me, drop food on me, even spit on me and I'll probably just laugh it off. But you harm a friend of mine, you'll pay for it regardless of your reason, and I will make sure you do' Shanks' eyes were cold and serious, sending chills down everyone's spines

Higuma laughs 'You're going to make us pay? Well men, kill these pansies'

Ben sighs and steps forward 'I'll handle this boss, shouldn't take to long' he then proceeds to beat the bandits with his rifle, not even bothering to shot them, just using the weapon like an improvised club.

'Damn it all, kill the brats so we can leave' Higuma yells, one of his men rushing at Kaos with his sword, the kid tenses, before his arms loses all it's colour and gains a reflective, silver sheen to it

'Damn brats, looks like they both decided to steal Devil Fruits from me' Shanks internally grumbles

Gurk

Everyone stood there in shock, Kaos most of all as his chrome coloured limb cleaves through the blade and imbeds itself in the bandit's chest, impaling his heart on his long fingers

'What kind of freak are you?' Higuma gasps

'What's going on? I can't see'

Luffy's outburst caused the pirates to kick back into gear, Ben continuing beat down of the lower tier bandits, while Kaos yanks his arm back out of the cooling body, skittering back until he collides with Shanks chest, the captain holding the kid steady before he could fall

'Hold on, you'll be fine' he whispers as his first mate finishs off the canon fodder

'That's it! To Hell with all you pirate bastards!' Higume yells angrilly before dropping a smoke bomb, managing to escape before Ben or Shanks could get to him.

'Damn it, he got away' beat 'Oh shit! He's still got Luffy!' Shanks yells loudly

Transition

'Ha, they'd never expect a mountain bandit to escape by boat' Higuma laughs as he thinks about how smart he is, while dangling Luffy over the side of his boat

'Damn it, let go of me you dickhead!' Luffy screams angrily, flailing around in an attempt to get free

'If you insist. Say hi to the fishes for me' the bandit chuckles before tossing Luffy overboard, laughing as he makes a loud splash and begins splashing around aimlessly. This laughter ended quite abruptly when something erupts from the water right behind him: a sea king, it's body a greyish brown and it's eyes blood red. Higuma had little more time than to express his confusion before the great beast had eaten both him and his boat.

'I'm going to die' Luffy's panicked mind screams as the Sea King barrels toward him, the boy colliding with something solid as their jaws barely miss him. Looking up Luffy's eye widen 'Shanks!' he yells then screams when he sees Lord of the Coast double back

Rather than show fear Shanks' face was cold and stony 'Pick on someone your own size. Get Lost!' he orders, the 2 stare for a moment before the massive beast whimpers and swims away 'there we go Luffy, safe and sound' he says with his usual cheerful demeanour

Luffy sniffles 'B-b-but Shanks, your arm' he cries into his chest, most of the pirate's left arm having been bitten off by the sea king

'It's just an arm Luffy, nothing I wouldn't give to save a friend' he pulls the lad closer with his remaining arm and begins to kick towards land, his crew and Kaos there to meet him

'Captain, quickly, you need to get to Doc Mills' Yassop yells worryingly to which Shanks nods

'Sure thing, Luffy stick with the men, me and your brother need to see the Doc'

Luffy gasps, looking to the taller boy 'Kaos got hurt?'

Shanks smiles, ruffling his hair 'Nothing major but best get him checked out anyway' Luffy nods sadly as Shanks pushes the mostly unresponsive DF user in front of him

The Red Force

'Shit, this is going to take a bit of work Shanks' Zelena sighs, hands running through her thick, red hair.

'Don't worry Z, I'll live and you'll patch me up just fine, same as you have everyone else' the captain grins then turns to Kaos 'So want to talk kid?'

'I killed him' the purplette meeps 'I killed someone, I'm a monster' he sniffles

Shanks frowns but lightly squeezes the kid's arm 'You're not a monster, even if you are a killer'

BANG

'That's not helping!' Z|elena yells with shark teeth

The Yonko whines as he rubs his head 'That wasn't nice Z' he pouts before turning back to Kaos 'You know you weren't the only one to kill today'

'I wasn't?'

'Nope. You know Lucky Roo?'

Kaos nods 'Yeah, he's the one who gets all the best meat, Luffy doesn't like that about him'

'Yeah well he also killed a bandit, shot him in the face. Is he a monster?'

'No' Kaos answers 'but he's an adult. Despite Luffy trying to be all grown up, I know we're still kids'

Shanks nods in understanding 'Very true and I'm sorry you had to do so, so early in life. But he attacked you and you were trying to save your brother from the bandits. That's self defence in my book'

'Really?'

'Of course, in fact…' he meets eyes with Zelena who sighs and nods before walking over to the wall with a grumble and pulling out a small box from a hidden compartment

'You better know what you're doing' she hisses in his ear before placing it between them

'Well? Open it' he says to Kaos who looks at him in confusion before he nods and opens the box, revealing a gold coloured khopesh with a black/purple serpent coiled around the hilt, itself appearing to be wrapped in snakeskin 'This is the Hebi no Oni no mi' he explains 'And I think you'll find a good use for it'

'You're giving me a sword?' the boy looks confused as he picks up the weapon. Once he does the snake animates, sliding under his sleeves and up his arm. Kaos hisses and clutches his shoulder in pain, swaying a few times before steadying himself 'Whoa!' he gasps

'Yeah. This blade belonged to a man I greatly respected' Shanks began, Kaos noticing tears in Zelena's eyes, the red head missing her former captain 'the fact it accepted you means you will carry on his legacy. I will admit he was probably 20 kinds of crazy but he had a good heart and treated his crew like family. I see great things for you and Luffy in the future, now get out there before Anchor has a complete meltdown' he teases, ruffling his hair before the lanky kid runs out of the infirmary

Once he was out of earshot Zelena hits the straw hat wearing idiot (A ginger smacking a straw hat wearing idiot… sounds familiar) 'Ow' Shanks whines

'Do you have any idea what could have happened? The only consolation would have been that it was a quick death'

'Relax, I knew what I was doing'

'No, you didn't, you took a chance like with this' she gestures to the stump she was still treating 'I don't care if you gamble with your own body or even your own life, but those kids… I know you're not that kind of man, or at least I hope you aren't now'

Shanks sighs 'I know Z and I'm sorry, but it just felt right, like him and that blade slot together like a single unit'

'I know, it's the only reason I gave you it in the first place, rather than send you flying across the room' there was an awkward silence for a few minutes

'I can't thank you enough for taking this position'

'Nonsense, you needed a Doctor and it's clearly needed given you did this like an idiot'

'No, I mean it, you have a chance away from this life, and because of me you could be dragged back into it' he explains, wincing when she tightens the bandage.

'Idiot. You are a friend Shanks, I've never had a problem helping my friends' she smiles before slapping the back of his head once more 'Besides, it's just till you find yourself a new doctor, and I already have some other work lined up with Grima and Henry'

1 week later

'Do you have to go?' Luffy asks sadly as Shanks crew loading up their ship

'Yeah we do, we've been on this island and East Blue in general for too long, we need to go. You still want to come with?' he asks with a smirk

'No thanks, I'm going to make my own crew one day'

'That's great because we wouldn't have taken an anchor like you around anyway' Red Hair Shanks laughs and Luffy yells

'That's not nice you jerk! I'm going to be the Captain of the greatest pirate crew the world has EVER SEEN! And we'll find the greatest treasure there is and I'll become King of the Pirates'

Shank's laughter fades to a warm smile 'The greatest huh?' he chuckles, reaching for his hat before placing it on Luffy's rubber noggin 'Here's an idea, you keep this hat and bring it back when you have this amazing crew of fearsome pirates okay?' he hears Luffy sniffle though can't see the tears behind the hat 'Hey Kaos' the taller kid stops helping Ben fill a crate to nod 'I know wherever Anchor goes you will be, I won't ask you to stop him from making stupid decisions, we both know that's impossible, but try keep him from getting killed'

'Hey! I don't need his help I'm going to be a great pirate' Luffy complains

'That may be true Luffy but every pirate Captain needs a 1st mate, and who better than your own brother?'

Luffy pouts for a moment before nodding 'Hey Kaos, want to join my crew?'

The purplette nods with a grin 'Sure, I expect a pay rise though'

'Okay'

Shanks smiles as he watches the brothers from the ship's deck, knowing they were going to take the world by storm…

TOGETHER

TBC

LW: Well there we go, the origin of both of their Devil Fruits, Luffy's hat and even Kaos' sword. I hope you all enjoyed this little stroll through Flashback Land, back to regular time in 2 weeks.

We're finished with the East Blue now, next chapter we hit the Grand Line!