In a small village somewhere in the East Blue, a small boy wearing a white shirt, shabby shorts, and a pair of slippers, was holding a knife with his left hand.
He was on the prow of a pirate ship, but instead of being annoyed or angry, the crew seemed like they were having fun with the situation.
"NOW YOU ALL ARE GOING TO TAKE ME SERIOUS!"
"Hahaha, what are you going to do now Luffy?"
The captain, a man with red hair using a straw hat, brown pants with marks that go until the knees, a white shirt with golden buttons but that is just buttoned until his chest, a black cape, and a sword in his waist.
The thing that got more attention, besides the color of his hair, was three scars in his left eye that looked like they were made by some animal claw.
"A stupid stunt? Or you are gonna try to tame another animal? You should open a zoo!"
Someone in the crew said.
Everyone started laughing until the boy sticks the knife under his left eye, making him bleed while also screaming in pain.
Even with the pain and some tears, didn't take the knife, which was already tainted by blood as well as a part of the prow. It was necessary intervention from the pirates to stop him.
...
Some time passed after the small incident, in a bar of the village it could be heard the sound of commemoration.
"A cheer to Luffy's courage and idiocy!"
The men cheered with their cups of beer, some were eating meat, and others were trying to steal food or drink from their companions, always ending with everyone drinking.
"Are you stupid?"
Shanks screamed, irritated with how careless the boy was, while also drinking a cup of beer.
"Shut up! I proved my courage, now take me on a trip with you guys!"
As he already did a lot of times before, Luffy was demanding that the red-haired took him together on the boat.
"Hahahahahaha. Are you kidding? A brat like you? What are you gonna do? Piss your pants? Can you even swim? You are just gonna be a dead height."
He was watering after laughing so much.
Luffy's eyebrows twisted with his rage.
"Shut up! I am a lot, a lot, a lot strong! I train every day and one day my punch will be as strong as a pistol!"
"Yeah, sure..."
He talked with obvious disinterest, annoying, even more, the black-haired kid.
Some members of the crew were trying to cheer Luffy up by saying how the pirate life was fun. The sea, the treasures, the women, the freedom. One or another tried to convince their captain to let the kid go with them, at least once, which raised his hopes, until they fall again when Shanks puts a condition no one is willing to accept.
Enraged the boy goes to another part of the bar while grumbling.
"Hear Luffy, the captain doesn't do it with no reason."
Said a man with a ponytail, a green t-shirt, a range on his waist, and black pants. He had some scars on his arms and had just lightened up a cigarette.
"One day you will understand that being a pirate is not so easy, especially being the captain, you have to take care of all your crew, make sure they don't die, fight for them, and another thousand things to do along the way. Being a pirate is not a game. Of course, I am not saying this to upset you neither is the captain trying to make fun of you."
He pulled the smoke from the cigarette and expired it.
"I have my doubts."
Said pointing to the red-haired making faces to him. Ben just laughs and goes back to drinking.
"It's good that everyone is having fun."
Said the bar owner, a woman with green hair. She used a long shirt, a skirt covering all her legs, and scarves on her head. She was behind the counter and was carrying the last barrel of beer they had, which didn't last more than a few minutes thanks to the crew.
"So Luffy, wanna eat something?"
"Meat!"
She smiles seeing the obvious answer from the boy, and that he already had the cutlery in his hands.
"Shanks, how much longer are you guys staying?"
The boy looks at the scarred man with his big eyes questioning. Shanks puts his hands in his bear, which still needs to be done, thinking.
"I think we will do two or three trips before going. And we are not taking you in any of them."
He smiled, making fun of the kid.
Makino puts Luffy's food on the counter and the kid, that didn't last long. Still wanting more he looked around and saw a chest. Opening it, there was a weird fruit there.
At the same time, the door's bar is kicked with violence, stopping all the noise and plays inside.
"Look, idiots, I mean, pirates. Basically the same thing."
A man with a red coat, white shirt, black pants, a collar of gold hitting on his chest, and a sword on his waist goes inside with what looked like his underlings. He was a famous mountain bandit, Higuma, famous in the areas around for his many crimes.
"No need to worry cutie, I just want ten barrels of beer for me and my men, and then we go away."
Makino takes a step behind, scared.
"S-sorry, but we don't have more beer."
The mountain bandit sighs and looks around annoyed.
"And what is this that they are drinking?"
"It was our last barrels."
She said with a forced smile.
"Don't worry about this Makino."
He takes his bottle of beer and offers it to Higuma. The man smiles, takes the bottle, turns upside down, and punches the red-haired man with it, breaking the glass and making all the beer fall.
"Hear well, I am a big guy here with a bounty of 8.000.000, and you are just a bunch of fuckers pirates. We are natural enemies, so just thinking about drinking the same thing as you make me sick."
"What a mess hmm."
He lowers to get the pieces of glass and Higuma looks at it with disdain. He proceeds the destroy more bottles and throwing more food onto the floor.
"If you like cleaning so much, this will probably keep you busy. Let's go."
In contrast to when they got, everything was quiet now that they were gone. For only one second.
"Hahahahahahahahaha."
"They got you, captain!"
"Your face was priceless!"
Even Shanks was laughing.
"Hahahahaha. Yeah!"
Luffy was hearing everything and rage were growing inside of him. He pressed his fists and furrowed his forehead. No one realized yet, but there was a small amount of dark smoke getting out of his hands.
"ARE YOU GUYS KIDDING? THIS WAS A SHAME, WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING? AREN'T YOU PIRATES?"
The captain looks at him, still smiling.
"Come on Luffy. This is not a reason to get annoyed at anyone, why would we start a fight for worthless killing?"
"SO YOU THAT MUCH OF A COWARD?"
The dark-haired boy turns around extremely annoyed. More smoke was getting out of him, and this time not only on his hands but in his whole arm and back too. Finally noticing this, Shanks widened his eyes.
"Luffy, wait!"
He stretches his arms, trying to reach the boy.
"DON'T SPEAK WITH ME! I AM GOING AFTER REAL PIRATES!"
He dodges Shanks' hand and something that looks like dark fire but with no heat, gets put off his hand, destroying the closest table. Luffy's chin looked like it would fall onto the floor, just like the crew, including the captain.
At this moment a fat man looks inside the chest that was on the counter. But it was open and empty.
"Captain! It's gone!"
Lucky gets a near drawing of the fruit and shows it to Luffy. In the drawing, there was a purple fruit that looked like a bunch of grapes in the shape of tears with swirls inside, and with some green leaves at the top.
"Luffy did you eat this fruit?"
The kid does a small "ah" with his mouth.
"I thought it was a dessert. And it was pretty bad."
Shanks put his hands on his head, in despair.
"Shit Luffy! That was a devil fruit! And one that we had a lot of trouble to get!"
It was hard to say if he was enraged or worried, but the calm he showed before was gone.
"D-devil fruit?"
The kid does a doubtful look leaning his head to the right.
"A DEVIL FRUIT! And not anyone, it was just the Yami Yami no Mi! First that you will never swim again, second-
However, the kid was so surprised that he didn't let the captain finish it. Making a face of despair, more dark smoke get out of him.
" WHAT?"
A small explosion happens.
...
Some days later.
Luffy was walking to Makino's bar, greeting the people from the village while passing through them. The mayor screaming with him, saying that he would not let the kid become a pirate, acting similarly to the dark-haired kid's grandfather. And just like how he did with his grandpa, Luffy just ignored.
He was in good mood. Even if still not used to them, his powers looked powerful. There was still the need to learn how to control them well, otherwise, his emotions got out of control, the same thing that happened before would repeat. And he still no idea what was the fruit's properties.
The boy goes into the bar and waves to the owner.
"Yo Makino."
He was smiling.
"Hi Luffy, do you want something?"
"I think that just a juice."
While he was drinking the bar was filled with silence.
"Do you miss them?"
He warps his mouth.
"No, I judged them bad. They are just cowards."
"I don't know, I don't think a coward would laugh in a situation like that."
The two hear the sound of the door opening again. The mountain bandits were back.
"This place doesn't stink so much without pirates."
He and his man take every sit of the bar, acting as the owners of the place. Makino put Luffy behind the counter.
"So cutie? Where is the beer?"
The green-haired forces a smile, fills several cups and goes delivering them. The bandit's whistle while she passes, even trying to touch her. Luffy shows extreme hate on his face, and once more that dark smoke gets out of him. The boy even thinks of acting, but Makino makes a signal for him to stop.
She passes a cup to Higuma and goes behind the counter. He looks at her with a despicable smile.
"Those guys from the other day were a fucking joke. I was this close to killing that asshole. Fucking coward."
He said putting his indicator above his thumb with a small distance between them.
And that was the last straw for Luffy. He jumps to the counter, Makino even tries to stop him, but can't.
"A SHITTY BANDIT LIKE YOU HAS NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT SHANKS IS A COWARD!"
Every mountain bandit looks annoyed to the brat. This time there was no smoke getting out of him.
"What did y-"
"YOU HEARD ME!"
"Tsc."
In one movement he gets out of the chair and punches the kid, that falls to the floor, heating the head first.
"LUFFY!"
She screams worried, however, the kid doesn't even seem to notice.
Screaming, he holds his stomach with one hand, and the callus in his head with the other. Never had he felt so much pain before, which was weird since he already passed through much worst stuff.
"Hahahahahahaha. This kid is just talking, he is even worst than that fucker."
All of them start laughing. Makino is in despair but has no idea what to do.
"A shitty bandit... has no right... to insult... Shanks..."
Below Luffy's body, while he was still contorting himself, his shadow looked like was changing, as if was becoming some type of dark flame. Smoke also started to get out of the boy's body. The laughs stopped at that surreal scene.
A strong wind started inside the bar, but it seemed to be going into that dark mass. A cup that was on the counter fell into that "shadow" and looked like it was completely swallowed.
This situation just took a mere seconds before Luffy run out of energy and went back to normal. Everyone was in shock, even Makino that had already seen Luffy eating the fruit, though she had no idea of the extension of his powers. The kid was still on the floor, sweating cold and breathing heavy.
"What the fuck was that?"
The mountain bandit leaders even had a small amount of fear in his eye. This until one of his subordinates said something that turned the fear into greed.
"Hey, boss, how much do you think someone would pay for the brat with a power like this?"
A smile forms on the leader's face.
"There is just one way to discover."
Hearing this Makino goes into even more despair.
"Wait, p-"
"Shut up woman!"
Higuma gives a slap in her face, gets Luffy, and goes out of the bar running with his underlings.
"Makino..."
He tries to raise his hand, but not even this the kid has the strength to do.
The bar owner gets up and starts running, but the bandit's silhouette is already out of the village, and even if they were still here, there would be no one to help.
"If at least Garp-san was here."
From far all the village looked the criminal getting away, some even wanted to help the dark-haired boy, but courage lacked for all of them.
"Damn, in what kind of shit you put yourself into this time?"
Said the mayor. Everyone was distressed, praying for some kind of miracle that would save the boy. Their prayers were heard.
"I was asking myself why no one showed up to greet us. Why the bandits are with Luffy?"
Nobody noticed the pirate's presence, and out of nowhere, he was with them.
"Shanks, they are gonna try to sell Luffy!"
The man sees the anguish in Makino's face, and more or less understands the situation.
"Of course I am not letting them do this to my friend. Men, let's go."
"Yes, captain!"
Just like with Shanks, the crew's presence was just noticed when they spoke. And as fast as they showed up, they disappeared, or at least it was as it looked like to the people of the village.
The bandits were following the coast, in the direction of their nearest base. Luffy was debating in vain since he no longer had the energy to do something. So, a strong pressure is imposed on the bandit's bodies, and they all stay petrified.
"I don't care if you make fun of me, or laugh at me. Now, if you are gonna try to hurt one of my friends, that's something I can only forgive with death."
Shanks was with a serious look on his face while saying those words.
"F-friend..."
The kid repeated weakly. The red-haired with the straw hat walked among the mountain bandits.
"S-shit!"
Once more on that day, Higuma was taken by fear. The pressure on them disappears. They all take their weapons and aim for Shanks, which was still unshakable.
Before any of them had the chance to do anything, the pirates attacked. In less than half a minute, all the mountain bandits, except Higuma, were on the floor, dead.
The leader was in shock, without understanding a single thing that happened. Even Luffy was surprised. He remembered what Shanks said about the meaningless deaths and he finally realized he was not talking about the crew.
"Let the boy go."
The leader, now ex-leader, of the bandits, was completely taken by the fear. He takes some steps back, and before anyone manages to do something, he takes a thing from his pocket and throws it into the floor. A smoke bomb.
The pirates cough a little, and when the smoke is gone both Higuma and Luffy disappeared.
"Shit!"
Shanks said, even more, pissed off.
Close from there, the mountain bandit had stolen a small boat from a near fisherman, going as far as he could from the coast. He was hyperventilating in complete despair.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
He kicks Luffy in the stomach with all the strength he had, making the kid vomit, cry and scream in even more pain.
"Scream as much as you want you fucker!"
He now had the eyes of a lunatic. Standing up in the middle of the boat, with waves constantly hitting into it, and since it was just a small boat for fishing, staying up was not the easiest thing to do.
Higuma catches the gun in his waist and points it to Luffy.
"Imagine what will b-"
Before he could finish the phrase, a marine monster, attracted by the screams from the small devil fruit user, swallowed his upper body.
For the monster, the meat and bones were as fragile as paper. A lot of blood soiled the boat, the ocean, and Luffy, that didn't give attention to that, he was way more scared with what would happen to him. The creature finishes the lower part of the old bandit, destroying the boat in the process. The kid falls into the water and the small strength he still had was gone. With his eyes almost closing, he just sees the monster's silhouette coming for him.
'I don't wanna die!'
Some force pulls him up from the water and covers him in a hug. The boy fills his lungs with air again and looks up, to the red-haired with a straw hat.
The monster opens its mouth to attack again, but Shanks simply looks at him. The creature stops and goes away with a lot of fear.
"Shanks... the things I said to you... I am sorry..."
The small one said crying. The captain puts his hand on his head, messing a little more with his hair. A big smile could be seen on his face.
"Everything is ok Luffy."
It was the first time Luffy felt so weak, and he also finally understood how dangerous the sea could be.
...
"This time you are going for good, right?"
The boy, that now also had a scar under his left eye, asked while also smiling.
"Yeah, and don't even try to ask cause we are not taking you."
The captain says with a kidding tone.
"I wasn't even going to ask!"
He puts his tongue out, answering.
"When I go to the ocean, it will be if my own crew!"
Hearing this not just the captain, but all the pirates on the ship gave a smile seeing that the boy had matured a little.
"I ask myself what kind of crew a weakling like you can get."
"A crew even better than yours! I will be stronger than you, no, I will be strongest! I WILL BE THE PIRATE KING!"
Everyone's smile grows even bigger. They knew the boy would not let them down.
Shanks lowers to look Luffy face to face, his expression a little more serious.
"I think that for now, this is goodbye. Luffy, I already explained to you the properties of your devil fruit. Take a lot of care to make sure that besides your grandfather and grandmother, no one else discovers about it."
The boy waved with his head.
"For sure. This is the perfect fruit for the future strongest of the world."
"Hahaha, for sure is. And to finalize."
He takes his straw hat and puts on Luffy's head, taking the boy by surprise.
"You know, this hat is really important for me. Until the day you became a great pirate and we see each other again, take care of him for me. Ok?"
Luffy wanted to say something, but the tears wouldn't let. So, again, he just waves with his head.
This was not yet the beginning of Luffy's journey, but without a doubt, it was what started it. The journey itself would begin ten years later.
Everyone in the village was at the harbor, looking at a boy. He was not gigantic but had well-developed and trained muscles, used an old straw hat, an open red shirt, shorts, and slippers, as well as some stolen berries in his pockets. In his back, instead of a gun or a sword, he had a pipe. He was finishing putting the supplies in the fishing boat. Next to his boat, there was another one, with a big tiger sleeping and occupying almost all the space.
Luffy finished tying one boat to the other and turned around to say his goodbyes.
"Bye guys! The next time you hear about me will be through my reward! Shishishi."
Except for the mayor, everyone laughed.
"Goodbye Luffy, have a good journey."
Said Makino with a big smile, seeing the boy finally go to accomplish his dream.
"Don't forget to bring some treasure when you come back."
Someone from the village said.
"Shishishi, count on me."
"Tsc, you are going to destroy our reputation."
The straw hat boy unties the boat from the harbor and pulling the other boat with his tiger, goes in the direction of his adventures.
He had already taken a considerable distance when a marine monster, the same from many years back, appears in front of him.
"Yo, I always wanted to meet you again."
The monster attacks, Luffy simply laughs, his right hand became covered with what looks like dark flames, but in reality, were pure darkness, and he does a punch that soon turns into a column of darkness, hitting and killing the creature in the spot, making even a big hole in its dead body.
"Uhuuuuu! Ucy, food!"
The pirate takes the body closer, and even his tiger wakes up to eat. This was the beginning of the journey of Monkey D. Luffy, the man that would become the Pirate King.