"Get outta here, you dumb dog!" roared the large man, stinking of smoke and alcohol. The stray whined, sniffing at the man's boots. "I said GET!" yelled the man, giving the puppy a swift kick. The mongrel yelped and scurried out of the bar, dragging his injured leg behind him. He scampered through the streets until he found a small alleyway. Whimpering, he lay down and began nursing his wound. He was licking the bruise when a shadow fell over him. Frightened, he leaped up and began snarling, only to fall back down from the pain. He looked up to see a dirty, white-haired boy holding a baseball bat embedded with nails and a loaf of bread.
"Hey little guy," said the boy, reaching out his hand. He allowed the dog to sniff at him, and finally decide that he was no danger. Giving the boy a small lick, he layed his head back down.
"Someone sure gave you a clobbering, huh?" said the boy, inspecting the bruise. The dog whimpered in agreement.
"You hungry" asked the child, ripping off a chunk of bread and offering it to the puppy. The puppy gladly accepted, and chomped down on the doughy morsel.
"I'm sorry there isn't more," said the boy, "Food is scarce these days. Those stupid pirates just loot and pillage all they want. It's disgusting…" he trailed off.
"I'm Smoker by the way," said the boy smiling. The puppy wagged his tail in response, and gave a resounding 'Woof!'.
"You don't have a collar on you," said Smoker, "so you must be a stray. How about I give you a name? How does 'Inoue' sound?" The pup barked in approval, and licked Smoker's cheek.
"Stop that!" laughed Smoker, wiping his cheek, and sitting Inoue on his lap.
"You know, I think it's bad what those pirates did to you. Real bad. Ever since Roger's death, there've been pirates everywhere. But there are heroes everywhere too." A dreamy look settled on Smoker's face. "The marines, Inoue. They do cool things, like beat up bad guys and make awesome weapons. But they do good things too. They protect us all in the name of justice. And that's the coolest of all, don'tcha think?" Smoker scratched the Inoue behind his ears, and Inoue gave him a content sigh. "I wanna do that one day. Protect people and make sure things like this don't happen," he said, gesturing to Inoue's leg. "Now wouldn't that be great?"
A.N.: So this entire thing was kind of inspired by Oda's depiction of what Smoker looked like as a child. This would be a good one to continue, but I think I'll leave that to be requested. Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! See you on March 16th for Tom!