A/N

Hey guys, sorry for taking a while on this chapter, I was working on some stuff that you'll be seeing a little bit further down the line towards the end of the East Blue Saga.

I hope you enjoy the chapter, I'm quite happy with how it turned out

Disclaimer: What if I did own One Piece, Haha just kidding... Unless?

Episode of Luffy: Romance Dawn

After jumping into the orange-haired thief's boat the journey of the currently unknown pirate Monkey D. Luffy had finally began.

However, his story was first set into motion twelve years prior to his departure from Foosha Village, at the bow of a rowdy galleon, moored in the small town for close to a year now.

"Oi Luffy!" Yelled a certain straw hat wearing pirate "Get down from there before you fall into the sea, I know you still can't swim!"

"I'm not gonna! Shanks, you said you wouldn't take me out to sea because I'm not strong enough to be a pirate," The small boy asserted as he pulled out a pocket-knife, holding it just under his left eye "I'll show you just how tough I am, then you'll have to take me with you!"

"Luffy, I don't know what you think you're doing but just get down here and we can talk about it!" Commanded the red-haired captain, trying to desperately defuse the situation with extremely limited success as more of the crew were arriving to check on the commotion at the head of the ship.

"No! I'm gonna go with you on your next journey!" Luffy shouted before plunging his small knife into the side of his face, "Ow It Huuuuuuuuurts!"

A unanimous scream was let out by the entire crew as the child that had befriended them had carved into his cheek before dropping onto deck, passing out from the sudden pain.

"Haahahahaa! Cheers! To Luffy's guts and our great journey!" One pirate exclaimed as everyone present raised their tankards high into the air before taking a hearty gulp of booze.

Makino's bar was usually quiet throughout all the time Luffy had spent hanging around in the village tavern, however the introduction of such a raucous pirate crew taking any excuse to party and drink had transformed it from an dull, empty shack into a bustling carnival filled with the only people Luffy had ever met that could be called 'criminals'. He had deeply admired Shanks and what he and his crew shared; a close bond different from simple friendship, as well as the freedom to do whatever or go wherever they wanted. This was the freedom he wanted more than anything else, aside from the things his grandpa would tell him on his occasional visits, he wanted to know about and see the whole world, without anyone to tell him what he could or couldn't do, that was his dream of becoming a great pirate, the very best, maybe even the king.

"It din't hurt at all." He whimpered, barely suppressing tears thanks to the thought of his dream

"That's a lie, don't you ever do such a stupid thing again." Luffy shrank back as Shanks scolded him. However, he quickly recovered his optimism and retorted the pirate captain.

"It's not a lie!" He could only insist "I'm not scared of getting hurt! So take me on your next voyage, I wanna' be a pirate too!" The young boy pleaded, much to Shanks' amusement as he laughed in the wannabe-pirate's face'.

"As if you could ever be a pirate! What use would I ever have for a weak kid who plummets underwater like an anchor, you'd only slow the rest of us down" He quickly said between bursts of laughter and chowing down on as much food as he could fit in his mouth.

"I'd be fine as long as I stayed on the ship! And besides, I am a strong fighter; my punch is as strong as a pistol!" He said, making sure to demonstrate to the captain.

"Oh really? Pistols?" Shanks mocked as some of the crew began to side with Luffy thinking 'well, why shouldn't the kid come' until their captain spoke up "If you want him to come so much one of you switch places with him." This caused a resounding choice to return to their drinks to sweep through the tavern.

"Weren't you siding with me just a second ago!?" Luffy shouted out, wounded by the loss of his former supporters.

"It's pretty simple Luffy, you're only six years old." Shanks stated very matter-of-factly "Get back to me in maybe ten-to-fifteen years and I might consider it. Now relax and have some milk."

"Wow, thanks!" Luffy politely said, oblivious to Shanks' trick, quickly gulping it all down like a man who survived a week without water.

"That's exactly what a kid would do!" The captain announced, causing him and his entire crew to burst into laughter as Luffy complained at how unfair his trick was before skulking away form Shanks further down the bar before asking Makino-the positively overworked yet extremely positive- bartender for a plate of delicious food, which she readily supplied despite not being the best cook in the village by a long shot however, Luffy's bar for what counted as a delicious meal was notoriously low, so she didn't worry too much.

CRASH

Just as Luffy had gotten through his meal and eaten some of the strange dessert loosely stored in the chest next to his plate, one of the saloon's doors had been kicked clean away from its hinges, landing just in front of the shocked captain.

"Sorry for intruding." One of the men forcing their way to the bar said in a mock tone. The man who Luffy could only assume to be their leader due to him being the only one in unique clothes, then followed up on his colleague's remark,

"So, these are 'pirates' huh "The threatening looking man said before letting loose a tired sigh "They look pretty damn pathetic to me…"

"Um, how can I help you gentlemen?" The always polite Makino inquired of the gang of thugs "If it's alright with you, I'm going to have to ask you to pay for…"

"We're mountain bandits." He cut off the poor bartender "But don't worry, we're not here to tear things up, just load us up with booze!"

"Oh, I'm sorry… but I've just ran out of alcohol, we have juice if you'd like."

"We don't want any of your damn juice, give us booze!" One of the cronies yelled out before their leader continued "These pirates seem to be drinking something… Is that the juice you mentioned?"

The pirate captain finally piped up "My apologies. Looks like we drank the place dry, Sorry!" he said with a strange sincerity unbefitting of such a situation "If you'd like you could have this bottle, it still hasn't been opened yet I don't think." Offering a small bottle of sake as his apology.

The bandit stared at the captain with a raw disdain.

"Hey, hey, you bastard. Who the hell do you think I am!" He yelled as he smashed the bottle into the red-haired pirate's face, littering alcohol and broken glass across the floor. "This swill isn't enough for a bedtime drink. Now politely apologize, after all you wouldn't want to get on the bad side of a man with an 8,000,000 Beri bounty" He smugly threatened, just as his thugs started cheering for him,

"Show him who's boss Higuma!" yelled his gang, almost as if this was something that happened often.

However, Shanks suddenly cut them all short, "I'm terribly sorry sir, I didn't mean to offend you. But please this just a saloon, why don't we just relax and drink together, after all… "He turned his sight to Luffy, "There are times when a man shouldn't fight."

"Your miserable scum, how dare you taunt me!" Higuma roared as he grabbed the pirate's head and smashed it through a table before winding up a punch and loosing it into Shanks' floored body. As he prepared another strike against the defenseless man, Luffy couldn't take watching his idol take any more punishment before running to grab the bandit's leg, pleading,

"Leave Shanks alone! He apologized so please just leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you! Please!" The boy sobbed as he gripped harder into Higuma's legs. The bandit leader had become thoroughly ticked off at the weeping infant at his feet as he shrieked,

"Piss off brat!" Kicking the boy with all his might, sending him careening straight through a window into the street.

"LUFFY!" screamed Makino and the rest of Shanks' crew,

"Woah boss, are you sure that's not going a bit to far…" Several of the other bandits voiced their objections until each of their voices was silenced "If you have a problem with how I do things prepare to back yourself up, otherwise let's get going…" He said as he began to walk out the door.

Just as he reached the door he turned around in reaction to -assumedly- one of his crew tapping him on the shoulder, only to be met by the fist of a furious captain, and his positively outraged crew.

"There's no such thing as a man who would attack a child in tears trying to protect someone he cares about, only an inhuman monster lacks that small amount kindness in their heart" A hateful Shanks informed as the bandits surrounding Higuma dropped to the ground one after the other without even being lightly touched. Shanks stood motionless in front of the chief bandit, only showcasing fear across his terrified face.

"Y…you…I…" The criminal couldn't force a word out between his quivering lips

"You're scum." Shanks corrected the Higuma's incomplete speech before slamming his clenched fist into the bandit's lower jaw, propelling the man's now limp, concussed body into the street, rocketing on top of the unconscious criminal, continuing to beat his body in an enraged trance, coating his fists in a fine red mist.

"S…Shanks?" A scratched boy came out into the street, only to see the captain turn towards him with a frightening scowl, quickly transitioning into a smile as the color returned to his face.

"Luffy!" He ran over and hugged the small boy tightly "I'm so sorry Luffy, this happened because I didn't do anything and he dragged you into it, I never should have allowed that to happen"

"I Haven't seen the Captain lose it that much in a long time…" Three of Shanks' crew discussed, as a round man in a striped shirt spoke up.

"Remind me not to get on his bad side," Lucky Roux said as he stifled an awkward laugh

"Hey, if he didn't do something I would've... I have a son around that age, I couldn't imagine what I'd do if something happened to him." Said the man wearing a headband reading 'YASOPP' "In fact, I want to ask Shanks about something whilst we're here in the east."

The first mate then spoke up, "I can guess what you're going to ask... I can't say for sure what the captain'll say, but after something like this I can't see him refusing…"

"Shanks that incredible! You really did that for me?!" Luffy looked up with stars in his eyes,

"That wasn't something to look up to, Luffy" Shanks said, quickly growing somber "I lost my cool and almost killed that hick because of it … Remember what I said earlier "There are times when a man shouldn't fight. Now let's get back inside and patch you guys up, Makino can call the Coast Guard to take those guys away"

Shanks perked up again as he took ahold of Luffy's arm, dragging him to the building, entering the door only to find that the small boy wasn't next to him, or rather his body wasn't, looking behind him he found that Luffy was standing in the same place he was ten seconds ago, however his arm had stretched seven meters remaining interlinked with Shanks' own as Luffy walked over to return his arms to their normal length.

The entire crew's eyes went wide as dinnerplates,

"Captain it's empty!"

Shanks worriedly interrogated the stretching child "LUFFY! Did you eat the purple fruit covered in swirls that was in the chest on the end of the bar?!"

"Yeah, that was some nasty dessert, it looked kinda' tasty but it tasted like it was rotten, bleh" The ignorant boy complained as he stuck his tongue out.

"That was one of the legendary Devil Fruits, you gained the power to stretch but you'll never be able to swim again!"

"Aaahhhhhhhhhh!" Luffy screamed as if all his dreams of becoming a pirate had shattered into one-thousand pieces.

The Red-Haired pirates had began packing supplies onto their ship as their holiday in the east had finally drawn to a close. Shanks sat down with a crying Luffy, thinking that everything he ever wanted had been flushed down the drain. "Hey Kid, how're you holding up?"

"Sha…nks?" Luffy sniffled

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Can…" Sniff "Can I… still be a pirate?"

"Is that why you're crying?"

"Y…" Sniff "Yeah…"

"Of course, you can still be a pirate" Shanks did his best to console Luffy "I couldn't imagine that this would ever be enough to stop you from setting sail…"

"Could I even be as strong as you?" Luffy's asked as his sniffling faded

"Maybe if you train really hard and learn how to use that new power of yours…" Shanks said as he formed a grin that just melted the rubber boy's doubts away

"And besides Luffy, lots of the very strongest pirates have their own Devil fruit powers,"

"Really?"

"You betcha!"

"Are they even stronger than you?" An inquisitive Luffy probed

"Yeah, lots of them" Shanks smiled, putting a hand around the kid's shoulders and gesturing outwards,

"You'll meet tons of incredible people of all sorts of different shapes and sizes out there, and I'm sure that you can find a crew just as incredible as mine who will journey across the world alongside you"

Sniff "Yeah!"

"Now Luffy, I've got an offer for you. It's completely up to you so don't feel like you have to say yes, but would you like to come on a trip with us to the Gecko Islands, they're not far from here, you can come and meet Yassop's wife and his son."

"Can I really?!"

"Yeah of course, he should be about your age as well"

"Wow… out to sea" Luffy said under his breath, beaming like a star

"Now of course there are still dangers even though it's only a short distance so you'll have to be careful" He warned "And of course we can't take you to the grand line, that much is obvious. We'll drop you back here after we're done over there, alright?"

"Mm" Luffy agreed enthusiastically nodding out of excitement for his first ever adventure.

I hope this chapter was a fun read, we'll be going further into the altered backstory of Luffy as well as Usopp's dad's son who we will be seeing very soon.

We'll also be looking at Luffy's three years training before he had set out on his own after Ace left.

Next Chapter -3-3-3- Episode of Luffy: To be a Pirate