Authors note: This story is a reimagine of the One piece story with an OP Luffy, a Smarter Luffy but deadlier enemies. This is my first attempt in writing stories so please be patient.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of it's characters.
Thoughts 'example'.
Speech "example."
Wealth, fame, power. Gol Roger the king of pirates obtained this and everything else the world has to offer. His dying words drove countless souls to the seas. "You want my treasure? You can have it! I have left everything I've gathered in one piece. Now you just have to find it!" These words lured countless men to the grand line, pursuing dreams greater than they ever dared to imagine. This is known as the great pirate era.
Monkey D. Luffy was a young kid of ten with jet-black hair and piercing black eyes. He was standing on the docks as he glared at the man in front of him, as he laughed with amusement. That angered him since he felt that they were always mocking him, making fun of him and didn't take him seriously.
He might be a kid but he was strong enough to break stone if he tried. His grandpa had taught him how to train his body before he left to do whatever it was that he did about one year ago and with nothing better to do, Luffy spent most of his time exercising, meditating and learning as much as he can about the world around him. That meant that at the very least they shouldn't dismiss him so carelessly.
With a shout Luffy grabbed a dagger that he found on a table and walked until he was standing a few feet away from red haired man that was wearing a straw hat and had three scars going across his left eye. Luffy glared up at him with determined eyes. "That's it! I'll prove to you that I'm strong enough to be a pirate and head out with you!" He declared, raising the knife above his head.
The red-haired man eyed the dagger wearily for a second before chuckling down at Luffy. "Bwahahahaha! Let's see what you are going to do!" Despite his words and the grin on his face, Shank's eyes never left the dagger in Luffy's hands.
"Oh, look. Luffy is going to do something stupid again!" Said one of the crewmembers loud enough for everyone to hear which resulted in all the other men laughing as they turned towards Luffy with an expectant look on their faces.
Luffy gritted his teeth at the sound of their laughter before his hold around the handle of the dagger tightened and he twisted his wrist and brought it down towards his face. He closed his eyes in preparation for the pain, ignoring the abrupt stop of the laugh of the other pirates as he did so, only to not feel pain exploding from his face. Instead, he felt a calloused hand wrapping firmly around his wrist and he opened his eyes, flinching when he saw that the knife was just a few inches away from puncturing his eye, surely to damage it irreparably forever.
"You idiot!" Shouted Shanks as he quickly knocked the dagger away from Luffy's hand and then punched him on the top of his head, knocking him to the floor of the deck. "You could've seriously injured your eye? What possessed you to that, Luffy?!"
With tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, Luffy looked up at Shank from his position on the floor. "I just wanted to show you that I have what it takes to become a pirate like you! I'm tired of being stuck on this island!"
Shank's grew somber and with a sigh he grabbed Luffy and set him on his feet. "You are still far too young to go out into this world Luffy. Maybe in a few years, if you are strong enough, I'll take you with me if you still want to, deal?" He proposed, carefully hiding how impressed he was with the kid. Not even members of his own crew were willing to harm themselves in such a manner just to prove a point.
Luffy perked up at that and he nodded his head vigorously as he tightened his tiny fist and flexed his arms. "Yes! I'll be sure to train extra hard from now on! And when you come back I'll be stronger than even you!
Shanks could only laugh at this, the rest of his crow joining in.
Luffy only glared while turning red with anger. "Hey, Shut up! Don't make fun of me!"
A few hours later Luffy, Shanks and his crew were at Makino's Bar, the only bar in Foosha Village. They were all just having a good time, with Shanks and his crew eating, drinking and laughing at Luffy who, despite hating how they made fun of him, genuinely enjoyed their company. Other than Makino, the pretty dark-green haired girl that tended to the very bar whom he would occasionally help with her chores in exchange for food, he had no one else to spend time with.
Luffy was currently pouting and sulking as he sat on a stool. He had to deal with Makino being angry with him for trying to do something as reckless as stabbing himself. He promptly ignored Shanks once again making fun of him, this time about the fact that Luffy was not that good of a swimmer yet. When Shanks was finished, Luffy turned towards him with glare. "So, what if I can't swim yet?! I'll just stay on the ship! Besides, I'm plenty strong! I've been training a lot! My punch is strong as a pistol!"
"Bwahahahaha!" Laughed Shanks as he looked down at Luffy. "Is that so? Are you willing to prove it?"
"Of course!" Shouted Luffy, gathering the attention from everyone else, before jumping down from his stool and getting into a fighting stance as he nodded his head. "I'll never say that I can do anything without being able to back it up!"
With another laugh, Shank set his glass of booze on the counter and stood from his stool and crouched down so he was at a similar height with Luffy. He raised one hand and showed him his open palm straight up for him. "Go ahead then! Show me how strong your punch is!"
Everyone looked on as Luffy had a serious expression on his face as he stared hard at Shanks' hand. After a short moment he cocked his fist back and shouted at the top of his lungs as he brought his arm forward, his fist a precision that Shanks noted to be oddly high for a kid his age. His eyes widened, however, when the punch connected with his palm and his palm burned.
Shanks hid the wince of pain that threatened to show on his face. At Luffy's age he punches should no where near be as strong as they are. Shanks exchanged a look with his crew, all of whom looked a bit more serious now, and they nodded to confirm that they also saw how fast and hard Luffy was.
"Oh, that was quite the punch, Luffy! I kind of tickled!" He said with laugh, downplaying it easily and enjoying the angry expression on Luffy's face. "Who taught you how to do that by the way?" He asked nonchalantly.
Luffy jumped towards his stool before answering. "Oh, gramps taught me how to train my body before he left. He told me to do everything in the instructions books he left me and that I better be stronger by the time he comes back or he'll introduce me to his beloved 'Fist of Love', whatever that is."
Shanks was gobsmacked 'Is Garp really training Luffy?! I wonder if he is teaching him haki? It being a thing of chance Luffy may have an innate talent to use haki because no way was that a normal punch.' He thought with a drop of sweat on his brow.
He quickly schooled his expression and laughed. "Then you better start training harder! I've heard about your gramps. He's supposed to be very scary, that Monkey D. Garp."
Luffy nodded his head. "Yes! Gramps is very scary! Everyone except for the mayor and Makino hides away whenever he is in town. It's pretty funny, actually," said Luffy with a laugh before perking up in happiness as Makino put a plate full of food in front of him along with a glass full of juice. "Thank you!" He beamed up at her brightly which resulted in Makino giggling and ruffling his hair fondly.
So focused was he that he didn't even notice when the door of the bar was forcefully opened by a tall dark skinned and black-haired man with a scar on his forehead and a goatee who began to mock Shanks and his crew.
Luffy looked up from his plate when he heard the sound of glass shattering and he turned towards the source only for his eyes to widen when he saw Shanks covered in sake while a man sneered at him. Makino gasped and she was looking on with wide eyes.
"Just who do you think I am, you dang pirate?!" asked the man mockingly. "Don't make fun of me! One bottle isn't enough!"
Shank while ignoring the man focused on the floor. "Oh, bother… Why did you do that? The floor is all wet now." He ignored how the man pulled out his wanted poster and began to brag about his bounty, the amount of people he has killed and the things he had done in the past, picking up a piece of the bottle and turning towards Makino, an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry about the mess, Makino. Do you happen to have a mop handy?"
"Ah! No worries! I'll clean it up!" She stammered nervously.
The man, now identified as Higuma, clicked his tongue in annoyance and he pulled out his sword. Luffy saw this and his eyes widened when he saw that Shanks wasn't apparently paying attention, meaning that he was going to be killed by this bandit. So, not wanting for the person he looked up to the most to get hurt, he jumped forward to stand in front of Shanks as Higuma brought his sword down in a vertical strike. "Don't hurt Shanks!"
Luffy dives forward and knocks Shanks to the ground again, while the blade connects to his ankle only to slightly bounce off. "What?!" the room yells as Shanks swings his foot around knocking Higuma out of the bar. As Higuma gets up he yells at his crew to run away.
As the bandits escape Shanks picks himself back up and reaches his hand to help Luffy up only to have Luffy slap his hand away "Why are you such a coward! You let that bandit walk all over you without you doing a dang thing!" Luffy shouts only to hear the rest of Shanks' crew burst out laughing.
"Fine I guess you're not a mighty pirate I thought you were" Luffy cried as he ran out the door leaving a dumbstruck Shanks behind. Luffy just runs not thinking of where he is going, he ends up at Mt. Corvo, a place where his gramps always take him to train. Luffy thinks about his gramps' training where he is thrown down ravines and left to survive or large barrels being swung by ropes where Luffy has to dodge for hours on end.
Although thankful for the resilience and strength the training awarded Luffy wished it wasn't so difficult. Lost in his thought he is startled by the sound of snapping twigs, Luffy runs behind the tree and pushes himself against it. Closing his eyes tight he waits for the intruder to leave when he hears "No use in hiding back there young man" a voice says.
As Luffy inches out from behind the tree Luffy sees an old lady with green and white robes with a small walking cane. Luffy asks "how did you know I was behind the tree old lady?" the old lady laughs "haha, well you're no twinkle toes so I heard you clear as day" she said while pointing to her ears.
Upon closer inspection Luffy exclaims "your blind?!" and steps backwards from her "well blind I may be but I see clearer then you, the more important question we have is why a scrawny brat like you is doing this far into the mountain area?" the old lady says.
"Well I got mad at this pirate named Shanks when he didn't defend himself to a lowly bandit and I ran here where my gramps would train me so that I can be the strongest." the old lady laughs "well you must think you're tough" she giggles as she swings her cane at Luffy to have him jump away, she then hits the ground with her cane as she jumps forward using the cane she vaults over Luffy kicking him in the head as she lands she says "you wanna get stronger then?" with a nod from Luffy she reaches into her backpack and pulls out this big, brown fruit that was vaguely potato shaped with green swirls around the top.
"Here catch!" she says while tossing the fruit toward Luffy to have Luffy quickly snatch the fruit out of the air and in one motion he bites and swallows the fruit "UGHGH YUCKY" Luffy yells spitting on the ground. Luffy, feeling nauseous, starts to cough until a chunk of his face flies off and hits the old lady in the face.
"Well that's unpleasant but expected" she said while laughing. "AHHHH, my face" Luffy screams while clutching his face. The old lady walks forward and presses her hand against his head "you are fine" she said in a sing-song voice as his face reforms. "Oh thank goodness" Luffy said, feeling his face "is this going to happen every time I cough?" Luffy says with tears in his face. The old lady starts to giggle "well without proper training I suppose it would but do not worry, I will help you out there" she said while still laughing.
The days flew by as Luffy and the old lady talked and helped Luffy to get centered so he could control the powers.
The old lady was as brutal as Gramps with her training.
"Remember the Earth comes from the roots, you need to meditate so that you can listen to the earth beneath your feet." The old lady said while sitting on the ground while Luffy is trying to form and reform faster and faster "To root yourself you first learn the concept of rooting: connecting to the underground and becoming firmly established, settled, or entrenched. The easiest way to understand rooting is to look at a strong tree and see the way that the plant is firmly connected to the ground, yet moves freely in its branches and leaves. Trees derive their great strength by rooting to the ground. Meditation is the best way to center yourself, the more centered you are the greater control you have over your power" She said while standing up
Days later after grueling training where she would chuck rocks at him and he would dodge or lob them back or he would have to focus and create a rock armor around his body. Days of using elements of his body to launch them at the trees or walls, Luffy find himself mediating creating a spinning wall of rocks swirling around him he hears a "ahem ahem" behind him and as he turns around he sees a cane hitting him across the face knocking him toward the ground, bouncing off the ground Luffy reforms himself then he jumps and tosses a lobby of rocks from his fingers at the old lady only to have the old lady dodge. As the old lady regains her balance she says "You have done well this past week but I think you are trained enough to figure the rest out on your own using your imagination and strength." Luffy then starts to sit down being happy the training seems to be at its close the old lady starts to walk away.
"Hey! Old lady!" Luffy yells as she starts to walk away heading toward the mountain. She turns around to see Luffy with the biggest smile on his face yell "Thank you!" she starts to chuckle, adopting a slight smile she says "Well you weren't a complete failure so I'll leave now, goodluck and succeed" She said while lifting her hand in the air giving the peace sign..
Watching the old lady leave and Luffy being exhausted from his training and exhilarated that it's now all over, decides to climb a tree to find a nice place to get a breeze and look out over Foosha village and promptly falls asleep.
Waking up to the smell of burning wood Luffy looks out to see Makino's bar being caught on fire, Luffy jumps out of the tree and lands knee deep in the ground while at the same time the ground pushing him forward toward the bar. Luffy arrives at the bar to find a bleeding Makino and Higuma standing over her with a sword he says "you think you can calm our anger with money! I have a bounty of ฿ 8,000,000, nothing this dump could offer will placate my anger" Higuma raises his sword to slash down on Makino only to have it stop halfway.
Higuma's sword now being stuck inside Luffy's body with Makino exclaims "No Luffy!" only to hear "that tickles a little bit" come from Luffy. As Luffy half cut body punches Higuma in the stomach knocking him across the yard.
"Luffy? How? I mean yay but how?" Makino says in rapid succession "I ate a devil fruit, shishishi I am an earth man now" Luffy said while he slammed his foot into the ground causing the earth around Higuma to warp around him sinking him into the ground until only his head was sticking out.
"Oomph, what the heck are you" Higuma yells as his bandits surround Luffy. "Slay this freak" Higuma yelled at this crew. The bandits swipe and slash as Luffy only to have him reform and reform again. Luffy charges while a club is made out of his arm and knocks the bandits out one at a time until all the bandits are unconscious.
The town starts to gather around as Shanks and his crew arrive shortly after to see the scattered bandits and the leader buried. "Woah!" Shanks says as he sees Luffy cover the fire with dirt. Luffy how did you do this?" Shanks said while grabbing his shoulder, Luffy chuckles "You're late Tomato Head" Shanks steams to the nickname Tomato Head "Hey now! No need to call me names ~depressed~ "Now back to topic, how did you get a logia?" Shanks says seriously.
"Logia? I was given this weird fruit by an old lady in the mountains when I was going there to train a few days ago. What is a logia, is that a type of devil fruit?"
"Oh well at least you know it's a devil fruit so you're aware that you can no longer swim" Shanks says with a breath. "I can't swim anymore!" Luffy exclaims. "Ugh you accept a devil fruit from a stranger and you didn't even know what it was beforehand" Shanks yelled. Luffy depressed says "she gave it to me and it looks weird and tasted terrible but I didn't know it would do that to me!"
"So what do you know about this fruit? And moreover how do you have control so well?" Shanks says and Luffy awkwardly says "Well the old lady taught me how to do this thing called mediate and it helps me control my body" Luffy says while scratching his head and laughing slightly.
"Ok fine what is this ladies name?" Shanks says with a sigh. Luffy stepping foot to foot says "Um ya I never asked and she never told me". Shanks falls over and says "So not only did you eat something from a stranger but she also trained you and all the while you didn't even ask her name! Who taught you to be so stupid" Shanks says while immediately regretting the words since the rumor was Luffy didn't have parents. "Humph, I know enough" Luffy says with barely concealed tears. "I am sorry Luffy, I didn't mean it to be sound so mean" Shanks says trying to placate the kid.
"My Gramps taught me all I need to know'' Luffy says defiantly while staring at Shanks.
Shanks starts laughing then says "I am sure the Vice Admiral has taught you plenty but the real question is what will you do now that you have this power?"
Luffy again defiantly said "I am going to be the king of the pirates and be the most free person ever" while puffing his chest out. Shanks starts laughing boisterously "Now that's the spirit!" Shanks says with a large grin on his face "Now how about we test some of those abilities of yours" Shanks says while pulling out his sword. Luffy deadpans "You want me to fight you!" Luffy says and then gets a small smirk on his face "aren't you worried I might hurt you" he said while charging Shanks with his club only to be stopped by Shanks' hand "What?!" Luffy exclaims as Shanks tosses him backwards with Luffy falling on his butt.
"Do you honestly think you could beat me that easily?" Shanks laughs "Now raise yourself up and let's go"
Luffy jumps up and slams his foot down causing a pillar to toss Shanks straight up as Luffy pushes himself backwards to rocket himself toward him. Luffy throws his fist at Shanks to be blocked by his sword only to be pushed back by the sword and the sword connects to Luffy's leg cutting the leg off and then getting a kick to his head and thrown back to the ground in a small crater. Luffy reforms his leg and crawls out of the crater and falls on his back.
"You have a lot of promise Luffy!" Shanks says while sitting down next to Luffy. "I think you are a bit too impulsive but that is something that I can teach you while we are out on the ocean" he says with a light chuckle.
Luffy jumps up "You're going to let me come with you!" Luffy said while jumping up and down. "Well if you can handle the training I think you could learn a thing or two with us" Shanks says. "We are not planning to go to the new world for a bit so I think we can afford a bit of excitement while we are at it" Shanks says while laughing.