INTRODUCTION

My first story I'm publishing here , involving powered up strawhats due to changes made to their pasts, along with an expanded crew as well. Certain characters will be changed along with this in terms of their personality also however they will remain mostly in character, unless that goes against character growth.

All of the crew's backstories will be added as a full supplemental chapter when appropriate and there may be additional chapters in the future if anything additional is revealed, e.g. The Sabo Flashbacks and The Vinsmoke Family

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece (shocker I know)

Feel free to review your thoughts on the story as it progresses along with any constructive criticism

Chapter 1: Bon Voyage

Wealth, fame and power...

Twenty years ago, Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates obtained these things along with all else the world had to offer. As he faced his execution his dying words drove countless souls to the seas.

"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it! "

These words lured men to the end of the grand line, pursuing the One Piece and dreams greater than they could ever dare to imagine. Thus setting in motion the period only known as the great pirate era.

Years have passed, and the luster of the late Pirate King's final message have all-but faded away in the eyes of the world, many people that could once have been called dreamers have been stripped of the spark that pushed them forward, leaving only bitter, crushed husks, afraid of true strength.

Facing the end of an era, how will a world that has fallen into amenity endure the rise of a new generation of dreamers and the era that develops around them?

Can the old world persevere, or will it come crumbling down in the impending storm...

A tempest that eventually forms around the second King of the Pirates.

A young man clad in a red button-up shirt and an old straw hat stared out from his small fisherman's boat back towards Foosha Village, the humble seaside town that raised him, before giving a glee-filled wave and shouting out, at a volume only describable as head-splitting;

"Goodbye everyone, by the time I get back you'll be looking at the greatest pirate in the world!"

As he turned towards the ocean and pulled his straw hat up to his head as he drifted further from the harbor,

'Thanks for taking care of me all this time' he said under his breath,

Winding up his arm before hitting into a large sea monster, incapacitating it in one shot. Feeling ready for any challenge that comes his way. However, he was quickly proven wrong on that account as his boat suddenly lurched to the side.

After riding out the massive whirlpool within a cramped barrel, Monkey D. Luffy – Currently mid nap- had wound up in the hold of a ship mid-pirate attack. Suddenly waking up to hear what seemed like a young boy entering wherever he had been stowed away and three thugs crowding around the barrel.

Coby looked on in horror, his eyes almost bursting from his head as someone punched through the solid looking wooden barrel, completely knocking out two of the three massive men who had taunted him so mercilessly before finding the ship's hold

"I SLEPT SO GREAT!"

Coby didn't know how to respond to the strange man, who apparently was fast asleep through cannon fire and a ship being commandeered and curled up in a barrel no less. After knocking out the remaining pirate after he tried to attack the strange teenager fresh from their nap, Coby had run out of time to think about what was happening around him as the strange man suddenly spoke to him

"Hey, I'm really hungry, have you got any food around?" He had said in such a calm manner that Coby - Who was quaking in his thin boots due to the man who had taken down three of the people who had tormented him without any effort whatsoever.

"…"

"Um…" Coby was almost in as much awe as he was terrified of the man in the straw hat

"Oi, can you talk?" Coby responded at once to the threat although he was the only one who saw it as a threat, to the strange man it was a genuine question, sprouted from his worry about trying to talk to a mute person.

"T…There should be food a couple of rooms down the hallway!" Coby worriedly yelped as he bought hie hands in front of his face as if to defend himself.

As the short pink-haired boy took the lead, opening the door to a storage room he was pushed aside sharply by his follower, who gluttonously dove into a sack of apples in the center of the small room.

Coby could only watch as apple after apple was torn through, until he was finally broken out of the stupor he had been stuck in since the barrel had been forcefully opened and as he regained his sensibilities he had become even more mortified than he was previously

"D…Don't you know what you've done!" he started worriedly shouting whilst being sure to keep a low volume so no one would come to search for the source of his worried squeaks

"Those were all 'Iron Mace' Alvida's men" he continued,

"She's a big-name pirate with an 5,000,000 beri bounty" he looked down at his feet thinking about what to say next until he finally spoke meekly

"Thank you for saving me from those guys, they always bully me around, but I can't ask you to stay here, she'll just kill you, and probably me too after they wake up and tell her…"

Coby was completely blindsided by the man's following questions,

"What's your name, kid?" was his first, and then he followed up

"And what the hell are you doing with these pirates?"

Coby had no idea what the nature of these seemingly kindhearted questions were, so he could only answer them.

"I was going fishing two years ago and I walked on the wrong ship," Coby was going to continue however the strange teenager burst into a fit of laughter as the story of his plight disheartening Coby slightly until he bought his roaring jubilance to a halt and pressed for a name

"Uh… Coby"

"Coby huh… I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who's gonna be King of the Pirates"

"…"

"King… of the Pi…" Coby trailed off until finally responding

"Impossible…"

"Impossible…"

"It can't be done…"

"Impossible…"

"Imposs…"

Bonk

"Why'd you hit me?" the confused Coby asked.

"It's never right to insult another man's dream!" Luffy announced as Coby looked on in admiration

"Say Coby, do you have a dream?" Luffy smiled at him, a big happy, comforting smile, that just seemed to melt all of Coby's worries away.

"I…know it's not quite as grand as yours, but I…I want to become a marine!

"A marine?" Luffy inquired

"Yes, it's always been my dream to capture wanted criminals and protect people, ever since I was a little kid. Maybe I can stop being a slave and escape to join them!" Coby happily announced "No, I definitely will, and I'll come back here and hunt down that fat slob Alvida"

"Shishishishishishi" Luffy let out a pleased laugh "Now that's more like it!"

As Luffy spoke the ceiling above the two boys crumbled under the swing of a massive spiked club, quickly reacting he jumped on top of Cody to shield him from the falling debris, before picking him up and jumping through the newly made pathway to the deck

"What was that Coby!" Screamed a massive, boulder-shaped, man?

Luffy genuinely could not discern what he was looking at due in part to the gruff voice, acne and wart covered skin, and the folds of fat clumping around what could no longer be described as a neck. He could only assume it was a man, however he decided it best to ask Coby as he didn't really know if this was the captain he mentioned earlier or just some nasty looking dude.

"Hey Coby, who's this ugly fat guy? He questioned, with a beaming smile plastered across his face

All of them froze, even Coby and even the orange-haired thief girl who had been watching the unfolding car crash from the deck of Alvida's own ship dressed up in the attire of an unconscious pirate with a sack chock-full of all the valuables she could loot dropped to the floor beside her.

'That guy's going to get himself killed' she thought whilst stifling a giggle at the boy's comment

"Luffy, that's captain Alvida" he hissed then transitioning into feigning complements

"The most beautiful, tranquil…" finally snapping towards his captor

"…Disgusting, fat, ugly bitch in all of the East Blue!"

Everyone present was petrified, excluding of course Luffy, and then of course Alvida, who was absolutely seething.

One of her cronies who Luffy had succinctly decked earlier shouted out "Hey captain, that's the guy that beat us up earlier!"

Alvida of course didn't register the cry of her crewmate before screaming at the top of her lungs and bringing down her club directly towards Coby before Luffy jumped in front of him and said something odd under his breath,

"Tekkai"

The iron mace, Alvida's very own namesake came down onto the boy's head shattering around his head and crumbling until it was just a stubby metal stick with one of Alvida's meaty hand wrapped around it.

The crowd's eyes bulged at the seemingly impossible event, Alvida was stunned as her strike was still reverberating through her arm. However, their eyes weren't prepared for another of such spectacles as the boy in the straw hat threw his arms behind him, and they just didn't stop.

The thief from the opposite boat marveled at the sight she was seeing. They were stretching, and they kept stretching until his hands were about twenty meters behind his back by her eye.

"Gomu Gomu No Bazooka"

His arms rocketed forward thrusting into the stunned Alvida and her crew, sending them flying off into the distance. Coby looked on and could only think of one thing to say, although it wasn't the most polite thing to say to someone.

"Luffy, what… are you?" He said with a mix of fear, curiosity and bewilderment.

Luffy then responded by putting his finger in his cheek and pulling it out at arm's length from his face, much to Coby's and the orange haired girl's wonder.

"I'm a Rubberman" Luffy explained "I ate the Gomu Gomu No Mi and became made of rubber in exchange for losing my ability to swim."

"Incredible" That was the only word he could say to the man who had single-handedly freed him from slavery as well as reigniting his own dream of becoming a ranked officer in the marines.

"A devil fruit power" The thief muttered in astonishment and just a small amount of envy.

"Hey!" The sudden shout bought her out of her trance as she quickly ducked behind the railing, she was leaning over out of fear that she had been spotted by the self-proclaimed Rubberman.

"You weren't with those guys, right?"

As she peaked over at him, she was at once deeply confused by what she was seeing, the man was picking up the small pink haired boy and running towards the ship she was on

'He couldn't be…'

He was. Luffy had leapt over the railing of one ship, over the open ocean between the two ships and finally crashed down onto the pirate ship she was hiding on, landing directly opposite her in a heap just next to the mast.

"Eep…"

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will be Pirate King," He said with the most bizarre yet reassuring grin across his face, he said thrusting his arm out as if waiting for a handshake.

"…" Nami couldn't help but remain in a stunned silence at the boy in front of her

"Aw man, I swear Makino said this was how to greet someone politely…" His face went a little bit red as his smile turned into a frown as if trying hard to remember something.

This bought the orange-haired girl back to earth as she realized that he wasn't some monster, he was just a boy about her age. She had been caught up in the moment slightly but then thrust her hand out in front of her matching what Luffy had done earlier.

"I'm...Nami." She said, eyes still wide and slightly confused.

As Luffy opened his eyes he accepted the handshake he was offered and started smiling again

"Pleased to Meet ya" The boy said as he placed a straw hat back onto his head "D'you know where the nearest navy base is, Coby here says wants to become a marine." This statement was followed by several gestures towards the pink haired boy which Coby noticed as the two were talking, the young woman didn't exactly look happy at a lot of the things Luffy said from Coby's point of view although he couldn't hear them from behind the ship's mast, he only heard her final exacerbated statement

"Um... Sure, I'll take you over to Shell town, think of it as payment for dealing with that pirate lady, I was just heading over there anyway." She politely offered to the pair, immediately contrasted by her followup as the woman recollected her thoughts.

"But count yourself lucky pirate-boy because this is a one-time thing, and only 'cause you helped me out!"

Even directing each of her scathing remarks towards Luffy, the teen's beaming smile didn't budge, which took Nami aback, if only for a moment, however it was quickly brushed off as she set to loading her haul of riches into her small boat.

The trio set off together, narrowly avoiding the group of marine ships come to apprehend the pirates, perplexed by the question of who could have defeated an entire pirate crew and vanish into thin air.

Nami leaned on her arm as she looked out to sea, periodically checking their boat's heading of course, who the hell had she gotten involved with now...

That was Chapter 1, A sort of taster for what's to come, and don't worry Luffy isn't the only one that's stronger, although I wont get into that for now :D

Following chapter will probably be out in a couple of days.

Next Chapter -=- Luffy: Romance Dawn