Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or One Piece.
Hey guys! New fic, one that I'm really excited for and I hope you guys like it. First, I'll give a summary and then say a few things.
Summary: The Strawhats finally arrived onto Drum Island, and Luffy carried his sick and injured nakama all the way up to Drum Castle. There they met two brothers who will join their crew, the human-reindeer with a blue nose, Tony Tony Chopper, and the raiju-human with whisker marks on his cheeks, Naruto Uzumaki. The adventures of this amazing pirate crew are forever different, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Stronger Strawhats, Canon Divergence (is that the right term), probably no romance (we'll see, but if there is then harem (not just Naruto, but also Luffy, Zoro, maybe even Sanji, but One Piece isn't the best for romance)
Author's Note: So to begin with, I just want to say that from now on, any messages here will just be about abandoning fics (not happening to this one, don't worry!), reasons for late upload (hopefully this decreases), important news (like new fic or something like that), and a couple of other things I can't think of right now. I will mention to read the notes after the story, because they are important. In there will be me explaining why I did certain things (I like doing that, I'm not doing it to appease anyone, I just want to explain my vision and if people have any comments, I'd honestly love to hear them), I'll also foreshadow some things, and talk about future events (if they're not spoilery like Luffy recruiting Zoro or something). READ AUTHOR'S NOTE AFTER THE CHAPTER
So something I forgot to mention is that Naruto won't enter until the Drum Island arc, so until then it will be sort of like canon. There will be differences, mainly in how much easier the enemies will be compared to Luffy, who will be stronger than canon (you'll see, I have some interesting ideas). Also, if you want an expanded crew, please tell me so I can think about it. Also explain why, just a sentence or two (there are people I won't even think about, I'll just say no to cough cough Alvida cough cough, I don't understand why some authors include her, I mean she's not Strawhat material, she's evil, she honestly just sucks)
Regular Speech – "Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Thoughts – 'Meat!'
Chapter 1: Luffy's Past Part 1
"Wahahaha" he chuckled, everyone seeming to quiet down. "So, you want my fortune, my wealth, my treasure! Well..." he paused, and everyone could see his smile widen further, "you can have it. Travel to that wonderous ocean and search for that island. Search the entire sea to find Laugh Tale, that's where I left it all. That's where I left the One Piece!"
At the port of a small seaport village, a pirate ship has been anchored for a year or so. A wind is blowing from the east over this peaceful village.
Standing atop the brow of the ship was a young boy, around 7 years old, with wild black hair and large innocent eyes sparkling with determination. He was wearing a white shirt with the word 'ANCHOR' printed on it with the image of an anchor behind that, a pair of blue shorts and sandals. He was holding in his hands a knife and seemed rather angry at something.
"Hey, Luffy, what are you doing?" yelled a tall and muscular man, one with an imposing figure. The most prominent thing about him is his neck length, blood red hair and the straw hat on his head. He had tanned skin and black eyes, and he has three scars across his left eye. He seemed rather laid back and amused by what the boy, or Luffy, was doing.
"I'm not kidding!" Luffy shouted, "I'm really serious! I'm so pissed! I'm gonna prove it to you"
"Dahahahaha. Yeah, show us! I wonder what you'll pull off this time," said the red-haired man.
"Knowing Luffy, it'll just be something childish" someone said.
Becoming more determined, Luffy held the knife with both hands and pointed it towards his face. Sensing something's going to happen, the red-haired man stops smiling and seems slightly worried. For good reason it seemed, for Luffy did something extremely stupid, he stabbed himself under his left eye.
"Ouch!" Luffy yelled.
"You idiot! What are you doing?!" yelled the red-haired man, worried about the kid.
"It hurts!" Luffy screamed and sobbed.
After sometime, we find Luffy and the motley crew at a bar called 'Partys Bar'. Music was playing and there seemed to be a party going on.
"Men! Let's have a toast! To Luffy's guts and our great journey!" yelled somebody.
"Cheers!" was heard throughout the bar, as the men drank and partied.
Sitting at the bar was Luffy, although now he had a bandage under his left eye and was trying hard to hold back his tears.
"Oh, it didn't hurt at all!" he lied, clear as day how hurt he is.
"That's a lie. Don't do stupid things like that" responded the red-haired man to him.
"It's not a lie! I'm not scared of getting hurt! Take me on your next voyage! I wanna be a pirate too!"
"Dahahaha, as if you could ever be a pirate!" the red-haired pirate told him, "It's a fatal flaw for a pirate to be an anchor!"
"So, what if I can't swim?! I'll be okay as long as I don't fall out of the ship!" Luffy exclaimed, "and I'm good at fighting too! I'm well-trained so my punches areas like pistols!"
"Pistols? Oh, really?" said the red-haired man mockingly, making fun of the boy.
"What's that mean?!"
"Hey, Luffy!" called a rotund man, smiling and cheery. He was wearing a green t-shirt with white vertical stripes on it, a bandana with a similar pattern, white pants, green shoes and he also had a pair of goggles over his eyes. His name was Lucky Roo, and he asked Luffy, "You seem excited, boy."
"Come have some fun with us!" said one of the men hanging on to the large man.
"That's right! Being a pirate is fun!" said a blond man with wavy blond hair. He was wearing a headband with 'YASSOPP' written on it, possibly his name. He was also wearing a dark-blue shirt, dark green pants and blue shoes.
"The sea is vast! And every island brings new adventures!" said another one of the drunk men.
"More importantly, the –" one man began saying before receiving a kick to the face.
This got Luffy all excited, while the red-haired man sighed.
"Don't encourage him, you guys! Don't teach him such silly stuff"
"But it's true! Right?!" said Lucky.
"Captain, what could go wrong?" asked a random crewmember, "We could take him with us once."
"I think so too!" shouted another.
These words seemed to get Luffy even more excited and happy, as if his dreams were about to come true.
"Then one of you trade your place on my ship to him" the red-haired captain said with a tone of finality.
This seemed to get the men to drop the idea and for Lucky to say "Okay, we're done talking! Let's drink!"
"What type of friends are you?!" Luffy exclaimed angrily.
"In short, you're too much of a kid. I'll consider it when you're 10 years older!" the captain told Luffy.
"Stupid Shanks! I'm not a kid!"
"Now, now. Don't get upset. Have some juice!" the now named red-haired captain, or Shanks, responded.
Smiling at that, Luffy ran towards the drink, barely getting out a "Wow! Thanks!" before he started drinking.
Laughing with tears coming out of his eyes, Shanks said, "See! You are a kid! You're killing me!" As he was laughing, he began remembering how he met this strange kid.
= Flashback Begins =
Foosha Village tended to be rather peaceful, with very little excitement to course through this small village. So, it came as a large shock when large shouting was heard throughout the village.
"PIRATES! PIRATES ARE COMING!"
This was true as nearing the docks was a large ship with a dragon figurehead, and this ship was flying a black flag with a jolly roger. This jolly roger had a skull with what looked like three scars going over the left eye and two sabers crossed behind it. This was the symbol of the Red Hair Pirates, led by a powerful pirate that goes by the name of Shanks.
"Luffy, stay here and don't leave until I get you! Do you understand me?!" a green haired woman told a small child with black hair. These two were standing in what appeared to be a bar, and it seemed that the green haired woman was the bartender here.
"But Makino," Luffy began saying.
"No buts," Makino stopped him sternly, "you'll stay here, alright?"
Without waiting for an answer, Makino left the bar and began heading towards the docks. Awaiting the pirates at the dock was a small group of people, presumably the townsfolk, led by an older man, presumably the mayor or another similar position. The townsfolk took it as a good sign that the pirates didn't come attacking and are instead docking, so they figured the pirates are probably here to buy supplies or something along those lines.
The townsfolk were about to see as what seemed to be the captain of this pirate crew, a red-haired man with scars across his left eye, and a couple members of the crew were approaching the group of villagers. The first thing the captain said was, "Don't worry, we're not here to attack or do anything like that. We're only here to rest, trade and drink at the local bar."
The mayor responded with, "Alright, but let me warn you, this village is the home of a famous marine vice-admiral, so don't try to start anything!"
"I understand," the red-haired captain said bemusedly, as if a vice-admiral wasn't that much of a threat, "so can someone show us where the bar is here?"
"So, you guys are pirates?" a voice suddenly asked, and the source was Luffy popping out from behind some barrels.
"Luffy! What are you doing here? I told you to stay where you were!" Makino scolded him, "I'm disappointed in you!"
"But Makino, I just wanted to see the pirates" Luffy whined.
"No buts, you won't be getting dessert tonight." Makino finished telling him, before she turned towards the pirates and told them, "if you follow us, we'll show you the way to the bar."
"Thanks! Oi, men, finish up and meet us at the bar!" the captain answered her before talking to his men.
As Makino began walking towards the bar with Luffy and the pirates following her, the pirate captain began giggling a little.
"What's with you?" Luffy asked him, upset because he isn't getting any dessert.
"Dahahaha," the captain couldn't stop his laughter, "you got in trouble!" Following him, the rest of the pirates with them also began laughing.
This just served to piss Luffy off, and he began shouting at them, "SHUT UP! STOP LAUGHING!"
All that did was cause them to laugh even louder, and that only infuriated Luffy even more.
"SHUT UP TOMATO HEAD!" stopped the pirates, before they began laughing at their captain and saying "He's right, you are a tomato head!"
"HEY I'M NOT A TOMATO HEAD!" the captain began shouting, but that only served to make his crew laugh more and Luffy joined in. After a moment or two of sulking, the captain also began laughing with them. Makino hearing all of this, smiled, happy that Luffy managed to make new friends. Finally reaching the bar, Luffy and the captain sat at the bar, while the others began to fill out the place.
Quickly the pirates began to drink, eat and party, something that Luffy just couldn't help but join in. As he was eating and having fun, the captain finally asked him, "so what's your name kid?"
"Hmmm," swallowing the food in his mouth, he answered "my name is Monkey D Luffy, nice to meet you!"
"It's nice to meet you too, Luffy! The name's Shanks." Shanks told him seeing as how he hadn't already. After several moments passed, Shanks stilled and asked Luffy, "say, you aren't related to Monkey D Garp, are you?"
"Yup, he's my grandpa!" Luffy answered cheerfully.
"WHAT?! THAT MAN HAD A KID, WHO THEN HAD A KID! WHO THE HELL WOULD EVEN SLEEP WITH GARP?!" Shanks shouted out in panic.
"You know gramps?" Luffy asked him, not at all weirded by this odd behavior.
Calming down a bit, Shanks replied with, "you could say that. He chased my captain all across the Grand Line and back!" Laughing a bit, he continued by saying, "I still remember the first time I met Garp. Oh boy, was that painful."
"What did he do?" Luffy asked.
"Well, I was still a pirate apprentice at that time and I wasn't on the crew that long. Even back then, Garp was a legend, he was someone all pirates feared. So, when he came and was going after captain Rogers, I told the captain to leave and I'll buy him some time. I went and charged at Garp, and when I reached him," Shanks took a drink and saw the wide eyes of Luffy, clearly entranced in the story, "he smacked me from the island we were on to another one. Oh boy, did that hurt!" Shanks then began laughing and Luffy joined in.
The gears in Luffy's head, which were rarely used, clinked and he asked Shanks, "your captain was Rogers, Gold Rogers?!"
"Took you long enough to figure it out! Dahahaha," Shanks chuckled a bit, "but yeah, and his name is Gol D Rogers, like the D in your name."
"Wow! Tell me more stories!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.
Shanks told Luffy various stories over battles and adventures he went on, with the Roger Pirates and as the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. Later that night, the crew was singing and Luffy began to grow sleepy.
"Gather up all of the crew!
It's time to ship out Bink's brew!
Wave good-bye, but don't you cry
Our memories remain.
Our days are but a passing dream,
everlasting thou they seem
'neath the moon we'll meet again, the
wind's our lullaby!
Gather up all of the crew!
It's time to ship out Bink's brew!
Sing a song and play along
For all the ocean's wide!
After all is said and done,
you'll end up a skeleton!
So spread your tale, from dawn till dusk,
upon these foamy seas!
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho."
These were the last things Luffy heard before he fell asleep at the bar with a smile on his face.
"Oh, I guess Luffy fell asleep!" Makino stated as she moved to carry him to bed.
"It's okay, I'll carry him." Shanks told her and he scooped up Luffy in his arms and followed Makino to a room above the bar. "Say, why did the kid just approach us? I mean he did know we were pirates right?"
"Yeah, but Luffy is a lonely kid. While his grandfather was around more when he was a baby, he kept on getting longer and longer assignments so he can't be around that much. Luffy knows that his grandfather helps a lot of people, so he doesn't hate him and isn't angry that he isn't here. Also, none of the kids really like Luffy and make fun of him, I think it's because he's much stronger than them and is, err, a bit weird."
"The kid being a little weird is the ocean being a little wet" Shanks snorted.
"I guess you're right. So, when you guys came, you all were new people he could be friends with and he jumped at the chance."
"Hmmm. So, Luffy stays with you when Garp isn't around?"
"Well, he stays here or when I'm away getting supplies or something he stays at mayor's house. Garp-san sends more than enough money to take care of Luffy, and I really do love having him around, so I don't mind, but this still doesn't change the fact that he's rather lonely."
"Don't worry, we'll be staying here for a while, I think the crew deserves a vacation from the Grand Line for a bit. But, do you know when Garp is coming, because I need to know when so I can run away."
"Hahahaha," Makino giggled as they reached Luffy's room, "well you can rest, he'll be gone for a bit more than a year."
"Oh good," Shanks said, as he set Luffy on his bed and began tucking him in, "you mentioned that Luffy was stronger than the other kids and I think I remember him saying something about Garp training him?"
"Yeah, a year or so ago, Garp-san began training him. He taught him how to throw a punch and a kick, he had him survive in the forest, he had him fight monkeys and a couple of other things that I can't remember off the top of my head. He always makes sure that Luffy's safe though, like when he left him in the forest to survive, Garp-san always made sure to be near in case Luffy got over his head, he always helped him when it seemed like he needs help and he makes sure that Luffy doesn't get too hurt."
"Why is Garp training the kid?" Shanks asked, as the two of them left Luffy's room.
"Well, he wants Luffy to become a marine, but Luffy doesn't really want that. He finds all the rules and laws the marines have to follow boring, and all he wants to do is to do what he wants, I even heard him say he'll be a pirate a couple of times to his grandfather." Makino tells Shanks as she closes the door.
"Dahahaha," Shanks chuckles, "the kid wants to be free above anything else. He'll definitely end up a pirate, dahahaha."
"Well, if he does, then he'll give his grandfather a stroke" Makino sighed, knowing that Luffy will want to be a pirate after meeting and befriending Shanks and his crew.
"Now, let's get back to the party!" Shanks proclaimed as they returned to the bar.
= Flashback Ends =
"That wasn't fair, Shanks!" Luffy yelled at him, and walked away muttering, "I'm tired now! I even cut myself just so I could ask him."
The first mate of the Red Hair pirates was a rather tall man with long black hair in a ponytail, pronounced tear troughs and a perpetual cigarette in his mouth. He was wearing a black shirt, green pants and buckled boots. He went by the name of Benn Beckman and he told Luffy who was near him, "Luffy, you gotta try to understand how the captain feels."
"First mate!" Luffy asked.
"There's no denying that he's the head of a pirate group. He knows how tough and dangerous being a pirate is more than anybody." He lectured Luffy, "Don't you see? He knows you're determined to be a pirate. It's not like he wants to break your spirit."
"No, I don't! Shanks is just making fun of me!"
As Luffy was saying that, Shanks called out "Anchor!" referring to Luffy, who was incapable of swimming, and began giggling to himself.
"See?!" Luffy told the first mate with a tick mark on the back of his head.
"I guess you're having fun as usual." Makino said as she was doing some cleaning.
"Yeah, I like teasing him." Shanks told her.
Smiling, Makino called out, "Luffy, do you wanna eat something too?"
"Yes! Put it on my treasure tab!" Luffy told her as he sat on a stool near Shanks.
"The treasure tab again?" Shanks asked him, "That's fraud, you know?"
Getting a knife and fork, Luffy told him, "No, it's not! Once I become a pirate and find some treasure, I'll come back here and pay for it."
Makino giggled at his declaration and told him, "I'm counting on it."
"Shishishishi," Luffy laughed before saying, "Shanks!"
"What?"
"How much longer are you gonna stay in this village?" Luffy asked as he was eating his steak.
"Let's see … We've docked here for more than a year. I think after two or three more trips, we will leave this village and head north."
"Two or three more trips, huh?" Luffy said with his mouth full, "I'll practice swimming while you're here!"
"That's good. Knock yourself out."
Suddenly, the one of the swinging doors came flying in with a crash. The cause of this was a large man kicking it in, a man that was clearly rotten scum, and was probably a bandit. This crashed killed the jolly mood inside the bar, and everyone looked at the person responsible.
"Sorry for interrupting. So these are pirates, huh? It's the first time I've seen one. They look like idiots," said the man, who was rather tall, had black hair and looked rather stupid. He and his men entered the bar, and came towards the counter.
"We are mountain bandits. But, we didn't come here to mess up the bar. We want some sake. Ten barrels."
"Sorry, but we just ran out of sake." Makino told him.
"That's strange. It seems the pirates are drinking something. Is it water?"
"All the sake that we have is out there."
"My apologies." Shanks interjected, "Looks like we drank the whole place dry. Sorry." He then offered the lead bandit an unopened bottle of sake, and said "If you want, you can have this. It hasn't been opened yet."
This act of kindness wasn't well received, as the bandit then broke the bottle and spilled the sake onto Shanks. "Hey, you bastard! Who do you think I am? Don't you dare try to make a fool of me. One bottle of sake ain't even enough for a bedtime drink!" the bandit said.
Shanks sighed and said "What a mess, the floor is all wet."
The bandit took out a bounty poster out of his pocket, one that showed his face, name and bounty. The bandit's name was Higuma and was worth 8 million Beli. "Have a look. There's a bounty of 8 million Beli on my head. I'm quite the big shot. I've killed 56 people. Guys like you, you're just trash. Get the message. You'd better be careful from now on."
As the bandits arrogantly began leaving, Shanks bent down to clean up the mess they caused, and he began saying, "Sorry, Makino. Do you have a mop?"
"No, just let me clean it up", as she went to help him.
Suddenly, Higuma uses his sword to cut up a bunch of booze bottles and plates, causing a larger mess and said, "since you like cleaning so much, you'll enjoy this even more." As he was leaving, the arrogant bandit had to have another word in, "See you around, cowards."
"Captain-san, are you alright?" Makino asked worried about Shanks, "Are you hurt?"
"Oh, I'm fine. No problem", Shanks began saying before he began laughing, and his crew joined in.
"You look ridiculous, Captain!" shouted Lucky Roo, "He sure got you good!"
The only person not finding the entire scene amusing was Luffy, who yelled at everyone, "Why are you all laughing?!"
The laughter suddenly stopped, and Luffy continued, "That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them?! So what if you were outnumbered?! You should have fought like real men! Aren't you guys' pirates?!"
"I understand how you feel, but it's just some spilled sake. It's nothing worth getting mad over." Shanks told him.
Something important had happened earlier when Higuma came into the bar. After Luffy finished his meal, he was still hungry and saw a treasure chest sitting on top of the counter, probably left there by the pirates. Curious about what's in it, Luffy opened it and saw a fruit inside, however odd it was with its purple color and swirl patterns on it. Figuring the pirates were saving it for dessert, Luffy did the logical thing and began eating it. It tasted terrible, like burnt rubber mixed with ash and dirt, but if there's one thing Luffy learnt from his grandfather and Makino, is that you never throw away food, no matter how bad it tastes.
Trying to stop Luffy from leaving, Shanks grabs his arm and tells him, "Hey, wait a minute, Luffy!"
"I've had it! I don't wanna be a coward like you!" As he was saying this, Luffy kept walking and his arm began stretching, shocking everyone in the bar.
"His arm stretched!" Shanks shouted in panic, with others in the bar doing the same, and Luffy was no exception to this as he was surprised and scared of what's happening to him.
Yassop seemed to have figured out what happened, as he began saying "Don't tell me you … !"
Suddenly Lucky yelled out, "The Gomu Gomu no Mi we got off the enemy, it's gone!", as he checked the treasure box on the counter. Everyone shouted out, "What?!" and Lucky showed Luffy a picture of the fruit that he ate, and asked him "Luffy, don't tell me you ate a fruit like this!"
"I-I did … It tasted so bad." Luffy answered, while beginning to worry that he ate something dangerous or poisonous.
Freaking out, Shanks grabbed Luffy's cheeks and stretched them out, while yelling at him, "That was the Gomu Gomu no Mi! One of the treasures of the sea called the Devil Fruit. If you eat it, your whole body will become rubber, and you will never be able to swim!" As he said those last words, Luffy became extremely panicked over what he had eaten.
"Are you kidding me?!" Luffy screamed.
"You dumbass!"
Eventually everything quieted down, and the party returned, but now Luffy was upset. Shanks didn't help matters with his teasing, "Dahahaha, now you really are an anchor, dahahahaha!"
However, it looked like Luffy wasn't in the mood, and Shanks noticed that and stopped teasing him. After a moment or two, Luffy asked Shanks with tears in his eyes, "does this mean I can't be a pirate?"
Thinking for a moment, Shanks answered him by saying, "Of course you can still be a pirate. Some of the strongest people in the world, a number of them are pirates by the way, have eaten a devil fruit."
"Really?" Luffy asked as he began to cheer up.
"Yup, in fact the three strongest pirate crews out there, the Whitebeard pirates, the Beast pirates and the Big Mom pirates, their captains and several of their strongest members have eaten a Devil Fruit. Whitebeard, who's considered the Strongest Man in the World, ate the Paramencia Gura Gura no Mi. Kaido, who is often called the Strongest Creature, ate the Mythical Zoan Ryu Ryu no Mi Model: Seiryu. There's Charlotte Linlin, or Big Mom, who ate the Paramencia Soru Soru no Mi. Most of the Warlords of the Sea, who are basically pirates employed by the World Government, don't ask me why because I don't get it, have eaten a Devil Fruit. Even in the marines, some of the strongest members have eaten a Devil Fruit. There's the Fleet Admiral, Sengokuo, who ate the Mythical Zoan Hito Hito no Mi Model: Daibutsu, the three Admirals, who each have eaten a Logia. So, don't worry Luffy, I'm sure you'll still be a great pirate, and that Devil Fruit will probably help you, because they most certainly don't make you weaker."
"Umm, what does 'Paramencia' or 'Mythical Zoan' or 'Logia' mean?" Luffy asked confused by these terms.
"Hmm, I guess I'll have to explain to you some things, so make sure to pay attention Luffy, because this information will help you later on when you become a pirate, ok?"
"Ok!"
"All right! First thing you must know is that Devil Fruits are considered to be gifts and curses from the Sea Devil or from the Sea Gods, and I personally think that's somewhat true, but that doesn't matter. The reason why people think this, is that regardless of what power your Devil Fruit gives you, you will always be an anchor in the ocean, you'll always sink in sea water. Now, you can swim in rivers, lakes, ponds and you can take baths and drink water regularly, it's sea water or the ocean's water that affects you. There's also this material called Kairoseki, or Seastone that does the same thing as the ocean does. Something you should take note of, is that the ocean and seastone only weaken you, they don't cancel out your Devil Fruit powers, so for example if you were in the ocean, you could still stretch, if the ocean doesn't sap all of your strength." Taking a drink from his bottle, Shanks continued, "I heard somewhere, that the marines have some special type of seastone that can cancel your powers, so be careful. Now that I'm done with the general weaknesses of all Devil Fruits, you should know the weaknesses of your own. The Gomu Gomu no Mi transforms its user into a Rubber person, meaning that blunt attacks and bullets have no effect on you."
Shanks demonstrated this by lightly punching Luffy on the head, who realized that while he felt the punch, he didn't feel any pain. Shanks continued, "but you can still be affected by blades and Haki."
"What's Haki?"
"Hmm, well you can consider it the weaponization of your will," and Shanks gave an example of it by turning his finger black and flicking Luffy on the head, and he clearly felt it.
"Ow! So, it's a mystery power!" Luffy concluded and smacked his fist into his hand as if answering an extremely difficult problem.
"Dahahaha, I guess you could say that, and you can ask your grandfather about it more, he'll probably end up training you in it. Anyways, now Devil Fruits come in three types: Logia, Paramencia and Zoan. Logias allow their user to transform into an element, like fire, ice, sand and even things like candy. They can also produce an unlimited amount of their element and use it to fight. Most people consider Logias to be unbeatable, and to the regular person they are, and that's because they can transform into their element to avoid being damaged. Now, you can actually hurt Logias using Haki, seastone or their natural weakness, like using fire to fight an ice man. Zoans allow their user to transform into an animal or mythical figure, be it man or beast, and they're usually classified into three categories. Regular Zoans consist of most if not all animals you will encounter, like tigers, rabbits, dogs and cats, and they can be further categorized into Herbivore, Omnivore or Carnivore, but that's not importan. Ancient Zoans can transform into extinct animals like dinosaurs or mammoths and are among the rarest Devil Fruits. Mythical Zoans can transform into a mythical animal or figure, like a phoenix, dragon or even a buddha. These Devil Fruits are considered the most powerful and the rarest of them. Zoans in general are combat based fruits, because the user keeps on growing stronger, Mythical Zoans even more so. Paramencias are everything else, but the general description is that they give the user superhuman abilities. Most people consider Paramencias to be the weakest, but I disagree, because some of the abilities that they grant are extremely terrifying, like the Gura Gura no Mi. Using it Whitebeard can destroy islands in one punch and the fruit has even been said to have the potential to destroy the world. The man reason though why I disagree, is that it's how the person who has the Devil Fruit wields his power that makes it strong or weak. There are some ridiculous Paramencias though, like I heard about this one that turns the user into a jacket. Dahahahaha," Shanks began laughing and Luffy did too at such a ridiculous ability.
"You're Devil Fruit is a Paramencia in case you were wondering," Shanks mentioned.
"Ok. Now I have to figure out how to fight with it," Luffy muttered and began trying to think, something he rarely did.
"If you want, me and some of the boys can help you out tomorrow, what do you say?"
"Hmph!" Luffy huffed and turned away, still rather pissed at Shanks.
"Fine, I guess it's a no for tomorrow, but hopefully you might change your mind. By the way, we're leaving tomorrow morning an we won't be back for a couple of days, so stay out of trouble."
Several days later, Luffy was at the bar drinking some juice and talking to Makino.
"Captain-san has been away for a while now. Do you miss them, Luffy?"
"Not one bit! I haven't forgiven them for the thing with the bandits yet." Luffy growled out as he drank some juice. "I overestimated Shanks and the others. I thought they were the coolest pirates. What a disappointment!"
"Really? I think being able to laugh after what happened is much cooler."
"Makino, you just don't get it. There are times when a man must fight."
"Really? I guess I don't understand those things", she told him all the while smiling and having a knowing look.
"Yep, you don't."
As he said that, the doors to the bar were opened and Higuma, the bandit came in.
"Excuse me. The pirates aren't here today. It sure is quiet." There was some snickering from the bandits, before he continued, "We were passing through, so we thought we'd stop by for a drink."
As all the bandits sat down, Higuma said, "Why are you just standing there? We're customers! Give us some sake!" He said and smashing his palm onto the table with those last words.
"Yes! Of course!" Makino said worriedly.
Luffy was angry, and was becoming even more so with everything the bandits began saying.
"We had a great time that day."
"Did you see the look on those pirate's faces?"
"They couldn't do anything, even after you drenched their captain in sake."
"What a bunch of cowards."
There was a bunch of laughter from the bandits, and Higuma said, "those pirates make me sick. I had an urge to kill them. Well, they were just pirates, not worth anything."
The bandits erupted in laughter, and this seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel's back, as Luffy suddenly jumped out of his seat and yelled out, "Stop it!"
"Don't talk about Shanks and the others like that! They aren't cowards!"
Makino went and tried to hold Luffy back, "Stop it, Luffy!"
"Don't talk about Shanks and the others like they're idiots!" Luffy shouted as he got away from Makino, "So apologize you damn mountain apes!"
The mood plummeted and Higuma began growing angry, and asked, "apologize for what?"
"APOLOGIZE FOR INSULTING SHANKS! HE'S A BETTER MAN THAN YOU'LL EVER BE!" Luffy shouted at him, enraged at the insults to his friend.
Ticked off, Higuma said, "is that so?" and grabbed Luffy by his shirt and threw him through the bar's doors. "Boys, let's rough him up a bit and teach that brat a lesson."
Remembering his grandfather's lessons, Luffy rolled as he fell to the ground and quickly got back up as the first bandit rushed out of the bar. Now the bandits had been drinking for a small while, so they were slightly intoxicated and that made them clumsier and slower to react. Upon seeing the first bandit rushing at him, Luffy took a stance and as the bandit neared him, Luffy rushed him. The bandit attempted a sloppy punch, which Luffy ducked under it and threw a powerful right hook into the bandit's gut. This punch sent the bandit to the ground and he hit his head hard on the ground, and these two blows knocked him out.
The second bandit stumbled over the first as he came to attack Luffy, and this gave Luffy the chance to jump and punch him in the throat. The bandit began choking and his hands went to his throat and Luffy took advantage of his dropped guard by jumping, grabbing his shirt and headbutting him. While Luffy didn't feel any pain, as he's made out of rubber, the bandit was knocked out.
Another bandit came at him and punched him, though Luffy's rubber body made that attack pointless. As the bandit was stupefied by what had happened, Luffy took that chance to enter the bandit's guard and hit him with a right uppercut in between his legs. A crack was heard, and the bandit went down wide eyed and holding his family jewels.
The bandits at this point had started surrounding Luffy, and while their attempted attacks were being avoided or ignored, Luffy took advantage of one of the bandit's punches missing, by grabbing onto it and lifting himself to punch him square in the jaw with a left hook. This sent the bandit to the ground with his head bashing into the ground and losing consciousness. The fight continued for another couple of minutes, with Luffy knocking out another two bandits and causing a lot of damage to the rest. The injuries the bandits got ranged from bruises and black eyes to cracked bones and concussions. Luffy took little damage, but the fight took a great toll on his stamina and by the end he was tired. At this point, Higuma had grabbed Luffy and was holding him by his cheek, which stretched due to Luffy being rubber. Even with several of their friends knocked out, and most of them injured greatly, the bandits had the gall to laugh at Luffy.
As he was holding him, HIguma began saying, "This body of yours sure is interesting. Yeah, looks like punches and kicks have no effect."
"Damn! Say you're sorry!"
"A rubber person, huh? I never imagined there could be such a strange creature."
"Damn jerk!" At this point Luffy began to unconsciously use his powers, as his punches and kicks began stretching slightly.
After being thrown, Luffy was still enraged and determined, "Shit! I won't ever forgive you!"
"A different type of human! He might be worth good money if we sell him."
Luffy came charging at Higuma with a piece of wood acting as a club, but unfortunately Luffy was exhausted, and couldn't dodge Higuma's stomp.
"You're really stubborn," Higuma began saying, and after stomping on Luffy and having his foot on his head, "you brat!"
The citizens were watching from their windows, afraid of doing anything, but nobody really noticed or cared about them as Higuma continued speaking.
"All we wanted was a nice drink and to relax a bit. Did I say something you didn't like?"
"Yes you did! Apologize! Damnit!"
When Luffy was thrown out of the bar, Makino knowing she couldn't fight them decided to go get the mayor, who would know how to handle the situation. Makino and the mayor then came running back towards the bar, where the fight was happening.
"Let the kid go!" the mayor came shouting, and kneeling before the bandits. "Please! We have no intention to fight you and we can even pay. But please spare the kid!" The mayor bowed as he said those last words.
"Mayor …" Luffy muttered
"This old man sure knows how the world works. But it's too late! I cannot spare him! After all, he made me mad. I can't allow a kid to insult me in front of everyone."
"You started it! You ugly mountain ape!"
"Fine, I'm not going to sell you now." Higuma said as he drew his sword, "I'll kill you instead. Here and now.
Even after saying this, Luffy wasn't scared or begging for his life, but rather he was angry and pissed.
Makino cried out, "Luffy!" and behind her was the outline of a small group of people who were coming nearer.
"P-Please! Spare him" the mayor begged.
A sudden gust of wind caused a cape to flap, and this made Makino turn around and standing there was Shanks, who was coming nearer, and everyone turned to look at him.
"There was nobody to welcome us at the port, so I was wondering if something bad had happened." Shanks said.
"Captain!" Makino shouted.
"If it isn't the bandits from the other day. Luffy! Didn't you say your punch is as strong as a pistol? Though I guess you knocked out several of them, and the rest look like they're barely standing, alright for an anchor." Shanks teased, and also brought home the point to the bandits that the small kid who beat them all up, was only taken down because of their numbers.
"Shut up!" Luffy shouted at him.
"Pirate, you're still here?" HIguma asked arrogantly, as if he still had the upper hand, "Are you done cleaning already?"
Shanks began walking closer, and as he saw this Higuma said, "I don't know why you're here, but I suggest you run away before you get hurt. If you come any closer, you're a dead man, coward!" These words didn't have any effect on Shanks, who kept on walking towards Luffy.
As he got closer, an idiot bandit loudly asked, "Didn't you hear what he said?" and pointed a gun at Shanks' head, "Don't take another step, or else I'll blow your brains out!". The other bandits began laughing, even though Shanks didn't seem to be even slightly scared of the threat.
Instead, Shanks began saying, "Since you've drawn your pistol, I assume you're ready to put your life on the line."
The bandit eloquently said, "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying a pistol isn't used for making threats."
That seemed to be the last things the bandit heard, as Lucky was suddenly near his captain, a piece of meat in one hand and a smoking gun in the other, with the bandit dead on the ground. The rest of the crew seemed to have caught up to their captain.
"You killed him! You bastards!" were what the bandits cried out.
"Cowards? Don't be naïve," Benn began saying, "Do you thinking you're dealing with saints?"
"The people in front of you are pirates" Shanks continued and then began to speak in a tone that nobody could ignore, "Listen, bandits. You can throw food and drinks on my head. I'll just laugh that off. However! No matter the reason, I will not forgive those who hurt my friends."
"Shanks…" Luffy muttered, amazed by the great man standing there.
Higuma, the idiot that he is, began laughing and said, "Will not forgive, you say? Pirates who float around in the sea challenging bandits? What a joke! Kill them all, men!" With those words, the bandits, who clearly haven't learned their lesson and were the epitome of idiocy charged at the pirates.
Benn stepped forward and said, "I'll handle it. I'm more than enough," as he took out his rifle in one hand and the cigarette in the other. As one bandit charged and attempted to attack him, Benn retaliated by putting out the cigarette in the bandit's face. Benn then beat up the rest of the bandits using the butt of his rifle, doing the task very quickly. He then aimed the rifle at Higuma and said, "Don't flatter yourself, bandit. If you want to fight us, you should bring a warship with you."
"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed.
Higuma finally realizing the disparity between their strengths, began to say "Wait … this kid provoked us."
Shanks didn't really care one way or the other, and responded by saying, "Whatever. Aren't you a wanted man?"
This seemed to finally break any resolve Higuma had, no matter how little it may be, and he threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared with Luffy, though there was a lot of shouting as Higuma was kidnapping him. As the smokescreen disappeared, Shanks began panicking, "Damn it! I got careless! Luffy was … What do we do guys?!"
Lucky also worried exclaimed, "Don't panic, Captain! Let's all split up and find him."
Benn, the ever-calm person, muttered to himself, "seriously, this guy … "
Higuma had ended up taking Luffy with him on to a small boat and was sailing away, and proclaimed proudly while laughing, "We got away. They will never think of looking for a bandit at sea. I brought you as a hostage, but it seems I don't need you anymore."
Those words removed the fear Luffy had of the ocean, and instead reminded him of who had kidnapped him. Getting up, he quickly threw back his right arm as he was preparing to throw a punch at the bandit when it stretched a small distance. This seemed to shock Higuma, so much that he didn't even notice Luffy grinning. While his arm stretching shocked him for an instant, Luffy had an idea, something that rarely happened with him, and he began bringing his arm back with his fist ready for a punch. Fortunately, his aim was spot on, and with a scream of "Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy struck the bandit in the middle of his stomach and sent him flying.
His flight however was interrupted by a large figure popping out of the water and eating the bandit. This large figure was a local sea king, that was called Lord of the Coast, and looked like a very humungous eel, one with teeth the size of a grown man. The bandit wasn't a filling meal, and it set its eyes on Luffy and it moved to attack Luffy.
"Someone … help me!" Luffy finally screamed, afraid for his life.
As the sea king came down and ate the boat, Luffy wasn't there and instead he was in the arm of Shanks who had saved him. The sea king attempted once again to eat Luffy and now Shanks, however as it was attacking, Shanks just stared at it with an intense gaze and said "Get lost." The now terrified monster ran away, leaving the red-haired man holding the sobbing kid.
"Makino told me everything. Thanks for sticking up for us," Shanks began telling Luffy with a grin on his face, "Hey, don't cry. You're a man, aren't you?"
Luffy just looked at him with tear filled eyes and kept on sobbing, only able to say, "But… Shanks… Your arm!"
Shanks' left arm was gone, bitten off by the sea king when Shanks saved Luffy. "It's just an arm, it's nothing. I'm just glad you're okay."
This didn't lessen Luffy's cries, but instead only made them worse as he finally began realizing just how great of a man Shanks was. Shanks began swimming towards the shore, though that was a difficult task with only one arm that was occupied with carrying Luffy, but he was able to make his way to the shore. By that point, Luffy had fallen asleep, the day's events exhausted him physically, mentally and emotionally. The pirate crew were waiting for the duo at the shore, and once they saw their captain's injury, they rushed to help him and take Luffy off his hands.
"It's alright, I can walk by myself" Shanks complained, as he was held up by Yassop and Benn, while Lucky caried Luffy.
"Captain, you just lost an arm and you need to see a doctor." Benn told him.
"Now that you mention it, I have lost a lot of blood and am feeling a bit woozy. Dahahaha!"
Getting Shanks to their ship's doctor, who after looking over Luffy at Shanks' insistence, began checking up on the captain. At this point, Makino had arrived at the ship and took Luffy from Lucky, and after hearing he was alright and just asleep relaxed. Knowing that once Luffy wakes up, he's going to want to see Shanks, and being worried about the captain herself, she decided to stay and wait for some news. Several crew members went into the medical room on the ship, and Lucky who was waiting outside along with Makino and Luffy told her that they were donating blood for the captain.
After a couple of hours, the doctor came out and began informing the people who had gathered near the medical room. "The captain will be alright, he lost a lot of blood, but the donations that the rest of you gave helped a lot. He's asleep for now, and he'll wake up tomorrow morning, so you can visit him then."
Relieved that the captain was going to be alright, Makino took Luffy back to the bar and into his own bed, and went to bed after this stressful day.
Not too late the next morning, Luffy woke up and began remembering yesterday's events. His eyes widening, he quickly ran out of his room and down to the bar to find Makino. As he got down there, he didn't see any of the pirates, who decided to hang out early at the bar, and immediately went to Makino.
"Makino! Where's Shanks? Is he alright? What happened?" Luffy asked her as he was panicking.
"Dahahaha, worried about me anchor?" a voice behind him asked.
"Shanks!" Luffy shouted and hugged him, hoping that what happened yesterday was a nightmare, but as he looked at Shanks and saw one of his arms gone, he began tearing up.
"Now, now. None of that, anchor." Shanks said as he wiped the few tears on his face, "Crying ain't gonna get my arm back, now, is it?" he finished with a grin.
"Alright." Luffy responded, before his stomach began growling with hunger.
"Here you go Luffy, Captain-san." Makino said as she brought each one of them a large plate of food.
As they were eating, Shanks began telling Luffy that they were going to stay for several weeks, "With my arm gone, I have to get used to fighting with one arm, and that's gonna take a while. So we might as well stay here. Dahahaha!"
Luffy began to get upset at the mention of the arm, and Shanks decided to put a stop to this now, "Look Luffy, was it your fault that the idiot bandit was a coward, who decided to run away? Where you the one who decided to bad mouth us like idiots? Were you the one who ate my arm?"
"No. But-"
"No buts, Luffy. The life of a pirate is one filled with risks, and I knew that from the day I began and I accepted it. By becoming a pirate I swore that I will live my life freely , where the choices and decisions I make are my own, so I have no regrets in losing my arm, because it meant being able to save you. If you're gonna cry about it, then you wouldn't be respecting my decision. I chose to save you, even if it meant losing my arm, so stop feeling so guilty about it!"
"But none of this would have happened if I didn't start the fight!"
"You defended our honor, and losing an arm doesn't come close! Besides, do you actually think I can't fight anymore; do you anchor?"
"I don't know."
"Dahahaha, don't you know there's a whole bunch of pirates who've lost limbs. Hell, there's Shiki the Golden Lion, a rival of Gol D Rogers, who lost both of his legs. Even without them, he's an incredibly dangerous man, and I only lost an arm."
"Really?" Luffy asked.
"Yup, he replaced them with swords."
"That's stupid." Luffy pointed out.
"Pretty much, I mean you ruin any shoes you wear and think about all the rugs you poke holes into."
"Shishishishishi." Luffy began giggling.
"What happened to that bandit anyways? I didn't see him on the boat."
"Oh yeah, I ended up making an awesome move which sent him flying, until the sea king ate him." As he said those last things, Luffy made a sour face but quickly returned to talking about his attack, "I sent my arm back and it stretched behind me and then I brought it back in a punch and smacked him away, I called it Gum Gum Pistol."
"Really?" Shanks teased him, slightly mocking him but also slightly interested in seeing this attack of his.
Seeing Luffy get into a better mood, they continued talking about nonsensical things, until Luffy quickly got rather embarrassed as he wanted to say something.
"Umm, say Shanks?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember a couple days ago, you told me that you could help me get used to fighting with my Devil Fruit? Do you think you could do that?" Luffy asked him shyly, slightly embarrassed by having to ask Shanks this.
"Why? Sad you're so weak?" Shanks teased him, but that was sort of close to the truth. Luffy remembered how he lost to the bandits yesterday, and even though the Devil Fruit helped him, he didn't want to be in a similar situation ever again.
"Shut up!" Luffy shouted at him.
"Dahahahaha! Sure thing, let's finish up here and get Benn and Yassop, they'll also be helping you. Well, me and Benn are also gonna spar for a bit, to help me get used to this one arm." Shanks told Luffy, and was happy that Luffy didn't try crying or look upset at the mention of that.
When they finished eating, Shanks told Benn and Yassop to grab the chest they prepared and to meet them a couple kilometers from the village. Shanks then motioned for Luffy to follow him as they began walking there, and they were quickly joined by Yassop and Benn on the way there, though Benn was carrying a medium sized chest with him.
As they were travelling, Benn was thinking about Luffy's abilities and decided to ask him something important, "Hey Luffy, what do you know about rubber?"
While the two other pirates were confused, Luffy answered him, "It's the thing that makes rubber bands, right?"
"Yeah. What's special about them, can you tell me?"
"Are you an idiot, first mate? They can stretch and if you stretch them and let go, they can really hurt!"
"Hmm, alright thanks!"
Benn got to thinking, and decided to test something out when they got far enough from the village. They got there several minutes later, after they decided to run there. As Luffy was breathing heavily, Benn decided to test his theory.
"So, you were telling me about the rubber in rubber bands earlier, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Did you know that there are more types of rubber?"
"Really!? Wow!" Luffy exclaimed, excited at even such a mundane topic.
"There's a whole bunch in fact, but you can put them in two main categories, and that's just what I know. There's what you can call the soft rubber, basically the rubber in rubber bands. It's elastic, it stretches and it's soft and easy to cut. That's the rubber you're familiar with, and the one your body is probably made of. Now the second type of rubber, you can call it hard rubber, and you can mainly find it in certain machines and a couple of things you wouldn't know about. Now this rubber is different, it's not elastic and doesn't stretch, but it is very hard and durable, and it's very difficult to cut. I want to see if you could change the rubber type your body has now to that, and then change back." Benn explained to Luffy, and opened up the chest and took out a couple of items made from the hard rubber and had him check them out.
As he was holding one and trying to stretch it to no avail, Luffy asked him, "How do I do that?"
"Think about it, and concentrate."
Looking at him with a deadpan, Luffy closed his eyes and began focusing on changing his body to hard rubber. Doing that for several minutes, he then opened his eyes and looked at the three pirates, who where staring at him in interest.
"So, did anything happen?" Luffy asked them.
"Hmm, try to stretch your arm." Benn suggested.
Luffy tried to throw his arms out several times, he even tried to grab a tree and walk from it, but none of those things worked. Yassop decided to test it out further and punched Luffy on the top of his head, now normally in his normal rubber body, the fist would have caused Luffy's head to bend, but now it barely moved and Yassop yelped in pain.
"Ouch!" he said, as he rubbed his hand, "It was like the strength of my punch was reflected back into it. Stop giggling Captain!"
Chuckling slightly, Benn asked Luffy to try changing back, and after several minutes of intense concentration, he was able to do so. Benn had him change back and forth several times, just to make sure that Luffy can do so.
"All right, so you can change between the different rubber modes, hard and soft." As he said that Shanks and Yassop began giggling like schoolgirls, and Benn wanted to ignore them.
"Why are they laughing?"
"You'll get it when you're older."
Done giggling, Shanks asked Luffy, "Didn't you tell me you made a special attack with your powers? Can you show us?"
"Sure!" Luffy told him happily, with a wide grin on his face.
Getting into a stance, Luffy threw his arm back and it stretched several meters back and then he brought it forward. Unfortunately, his aim wasn't that great and he ended up hitting the ground instead of the tree he was aiming for and the fist came flying back at him. Fortunately, Shanks was able to catch the fist in his hand before it could hit Luffy in the face.
"Dahahahaha! You almost punched yourself! What terrible aim! Dahahahaha!" Shanks was basically tearing up from all the laughter. It didn't help that Yassop joined in and even Benn was chuckling.
Pissed off and embarrassed, Luffy yelled at them, "Shut up!" This only made them laugh harder.
Letting his laughter die down, Shanks began saying, "All right, since anchor's aim is piss poor, Yassop can help him with that and both of you try to think up some other attacks. Me and Benn are gonna spar for a bit."
Luffy and Yassop went to work on his aim, and after several hours of work, Luffy's aim improved slightly.
"Well, at least you're not hitting yourself anymore. While your aim will still need work, it's something we can work on while we're here. The duo wen to watch the spar between captain and first mate, which was still going on. It was intense, and while neither of them was using any extremely powerful techniques that could sink islands, they were using a lot of skill and finesse in their moves. This impressed and inspired Luffy to keep growing stronger. This pattern continued on for the next several weeks, with different members coming every now and then, and Luffy kept on improving. While he didn't learn any fancy sword techniques, mainly because Luffy should not be allowed to hold a sword, something the entire crew agreed on, he became better at fighting, learned how to use a knife or dagger, learned how to use a pistol, although he wasn't the best shot, and several other things.
Eventually, the pirates had to leave, Shanks had gotten back to full strength and got used to fighting with one arm, and the deadline of Garp coming back was approaching closer and closer.
At the docks the pirates were loading up supplies and getting ready to set sail, and Shanks was at the docks talking to Luffy, Makino and mayor, Woop Slap.
The mayor asked Shanks, "You're really not coming back?"
"No. We've been here to long already. Thanks for everything."
"Aren't you upset Luffy?" Makino asked him.
"Yeah! But I won't asl you to take me along anymore. I will become a pirate with my own strength."
Sticking his tongue out at Luffy, Shanks teased him, "I wouldn't take you even if you begged. You don't have what it takes to be a pirate."
"Yes, I do! I'll gather my own crew that will beat yours and find the world's greatest treasure! No matter what, I will become the Pirate King!" Luffy declared, something that made every pirate stop what they were doing and look at him and smile, not in a mocking way or teasingly, but rather seeing a young man find his dream and declare it to the world.
"Oh, you're going to be bigger than us, huh?" Shanks said, and he began stepping towards Luffy, who was trying very hard to hold back his tears. Shanks placed his hand on his straw-hat, his treasured straw-hat, and said, "In that case …" and placed it on Luffy's head. "I'll leave my hat with you. It's very important to me."
= Flashback Begins =
"Neh, Shanks?"
"Yeah?"
"What's with the hat you're wearing, I mean it looks really old and can't you get a new one or something?"
"You see Luffy, this hat is my treasure. It was given to me by my captain, who entrusted it to me and it means more to me than the entirety of the world's treasures."
= Flashback Ends =
At this point Luffy began crying, knowing how important it is to Shanks, and recognizing the trust Shanks placed in him.
"When you've become a great pirate, give it back to me." Were Shanks' last words to Luffy as he began walking away towards his ship.
As they were sailing away and hearing the cheers of the townsfolk, Benn told Shanks, "He's got quite a future."
"Yeah, he's so much like the kid I used to be and he also reminds me of my captain."
Back at the port, the townsfolk returned to their daily lives, but Luffy was still standing there, looking into the sea. 'Shanks, I promise you, I will become the Pirate King, and I will return your hat to you! I swear it!'
Several days later, while Luffy was having lunch at the bar, mayor Wood Slap came in and sat by him.
"Just so you know, your grandfather is coming in a couple of days."
This caused Luffy to choke on his food and his face began to turn pale.
"I also told him what you've been up to, and all this non-sense about becoming the Pirate King."
If it was possible, Luffy turned even whiter and whimpered just thinking about the Fist of Love that's to come.
So to begin with, I'm going to mention that I hate when people bash characters who don't really deserve it in my opinion. A good example is Garp, a lot of people bash him to be abusive and crap like that, but nobody really thinks about it too deeply. This is a man, who for his entire life has worked for true justice, a form of justice which helps everyone. He has denied promotions, just so he doesn't have to take orders from the World Nobles. This is a good man, who wants to make the world a better place. Is he hard of Luffy and Ace, yeah, but he knows they're not going to want to be farmers or fishermen, the D in their name proves that (I'll explain my theory on the D later). He wants them to become marines, them and Sabo (you'll see in this fic), so that they could help him remove the corruption and free the marines from the hold of the Celestial Dragons (Sengoku is against the World Nobles, if Ace, Luffy become admirals (very likely if they become marines, and rather quickly) and if Sabo joins them, then the three admirals (Kuzan without Sabo, he respects Garp and looks up to him), along with the numerous marines who look up to them will follow their lead if they go against the World Nobles and achieve some semblance of true justice and a better form of freedom for everyone). This in my opinion is Garp's reasons why he wants Luffy and Ace to be marines. He also doesn't want to ever be placed in a situation where he has to choose between family or marines (I think he chose family, but that's just me). You can even see the results of his training, how Luffy was able to take out every notable pirate crew in the East Blue (some even being from the Grandline or at least having a member from there) in a very quick time frame and achieve a very high starter bounty for a pirate from the East Blue, which is considered the weakest sea. Could Garp have been gentler, sure, but with who their parents were, he knew the world was going to be cruel to them and he had to prepare them for it. He knew he couldn't protect them forever, and that he'd have to let them leave the nest, so to speak, at some point, and he prepared them the best way he knew how. He never asked to raise these two wild brats who constantly went against his wishes and caused him a great deal of headaches, but he still took them in, loved them, raised them and prepared them for the cruel world that awaits them.
So I think the D in One Piece stands for Dreams, or Dreamers. My reasoning is that, Oda puts so much emphasis on dreams in several areas, and makes all the members of the Strawhats have very large dreams (Pirate King, Greatest Swordsman, Map of the World, Brave Warrior of the Sea, All Blue, Cure Every Disease, Find the Void History, See his Ship Reach the End of the World, See Laboon Again, Stop Discrimination and Inequality). Woo Slap mutters "His Dream or his Destiny", this is an alliteration made on purpose. Oda could have used fate instead of destiny but he didn't, he pointed out the significance of dreams here. In Jaya, when Bellamy mouths off about dreams being just that and his entire spiel, and he gets defeated and proven wrong, that was another indicator. Hell, even one of my most hated characters, Blackbeard, says that dreams will never end or something like that. Laboon and Brook spend 50 years waiting for one another, dreaming of the day they will meet again. Hiruluk's dream of a Sakura blooming will cure the people of Drum came true. Ace's dream of being known as something other than Roger's son came true, he became known as Strawhat's brother, something he was happy to die being known as. Luffy's shadow, even after being stolen still had the dream of being the Pirate King. The entire series builds on the importance of dreams and hopes, and while I've heard some theories on the D standing for Dawn or Dusk or something like that, they don't hold a candle to Dream.
Shanks losing his arm is a very important event. Now I read some stuff about how Oda just made it and didn't give it another thought, but I don't think that. Luffy didn't know or realize the dangers of the sea and of the world, he was rather sheltered. Shanks knowing that he's a D, tried to change his mind on being a pirate without avail, and then tried to ensure that he'll survive and persevere through the cruelties of the world. Shanks clearly shows Conqueror's Haki, and we know he can use the others as well, (while Oda didn't necessarily even come close to bringing Haki in, I'm sure he was planning on it form the start, at least in some form) and he could have easily avoided the sea king, used Conqueror's Haki from the get go, or even used Armament to protect his arm, but didn't. He chose to sacrifice his arm, to teach Luffy that if he goes without thinking, without planning, by acting rashly and foolishly, he will suffer and that anything worth doing is going to require sacrifice. We even learn later one when Shanks tells Whitebeard that the bet his arm on the next generation, that he did lose his arm on purpose. While I would've liked for him to keep it, the loss of that arm symbolized a lot for Luffy and cemented the greatness of Shanks, his hero, his idol and the closest thing he ever had to a father.
So I added the entire soft/hard rubber body change for Luffy, because I honestly see so many Paramencia users able to user their fruits above and beyond what the name implies, that I'm a bit disappointed in how little Luffy expands on his own powers. I'm not saying he doesn't use them well (I mean come on all of the gears, his fighting style, he's creative and knows how to use his powers to fight), but what I want is to have Luffy be better. By adding this hard rubber body, I've added a new way for Luffy to fight in, one that will be easier for now while he still experiments and will be very useful later on (Imagine being hit by an inflated car tire very hard, that will hurt and injure you quite a bit). He's still going to have his amazing fighting style; he'll just have additional avenues of exploring his abilities. (It's not awakening, because he's just doing changing the type of rubber his body is made of, because it just specifies that it turned him into a rubber man, not what type of rubber, and if I do decide to do an awakening it will be during the two or three year time skip, and it will consist of Luffy being able to turn inanimate things in the world around him into rubber (something very useful, although I don't think many people will consider how (Imagine trying to move in rubber clothes that are impeding your movements, or a rubber sword trying to cut you, or a rubber kanabo trying to smash youm etc…, this isn't even considering how this will let Luffy control the environment he fights in)).
I hope you guys like this fic, and please I would love to read your reviews and comments!