The life of Dracule Mihawk was really simple.

At first it was only a journey to become the strongest.

Then it became a conquest, and endless travel to find a worthy challenger.

His quest brought him to Red Haired Shanks, a man with prominent swordsmanship. He frequently challenged the pirate to a draw and the two would usually share a drink before Mihawk would head out to challenge another.

His boredom grew as he became stronger, and only Shanks became a challenge for him.

Marines took notice of his immense strength as they extended an invitation for him to join the Warlord program. An alliance of sorts giving him unlimited freedom in exchange for his services to the marines. He tossed the paper to the side as he headed to Dawn Island, the last known location of Shanks.

As fate would have it, he overheard a monster amongst the residents of Dawn Island.

It was there he met Luffy, his new Captain. It was strange to submit himself after another man's leadership, but this was the man who he would help raise to the ranks of the Pirate king.

Presently, he trains on the deck of the ship known as Red Force. It was there where he performed his daily training regimen.

He brought his massive black blade, Yoru, over his head, counting each swing. 998...999...1000. Sweat dropped furiously on his face as he completed one part of his training. He then switched his grip to his right hand and began again. 1...2...3…

His life was simple, his goal was only to become the best. If he wasn't the best, then he failed.

It only took an hour to complete his daily regimen. And this day was special, for it was the day that they arrived in Sabaody Archipelago.

The calm belt was fun, as usual. He managed to bathe his blade in sea king's blood. Though he only attacked those that attacked their ship. Mihawk demanded everyone to stand down as he performed the ship's security by himself. Luffy gave him the approval to do so while Shanks was happy to let him get loose.

Mihawk fended off as many Sea Kings as he could, but to those that broke his perimeter, he had to end their existence. Hopefully the king of the seas does not seek him for vengeance, not even he would want to challenge the power of King Neptune.

The King of the Sea could rival the strongest of the surface world, and hopefully he did not awaken his wrath.

As they near Sabaody Archipelago, Mihawk took the opportunity to take a quick shower, resting his mind and body for his captain's plan. He knew full well what the ending was for what they were about to do.


Luffy could not contain himself as the Red Force docked on the island. Remembering his last two experiences on the island wasn't the most pleasant of times. The first of which caused the separation of his crew, the second, a reunion. But with Sabaody, came the human trafficking, slavery, and celestial douche bags running around the achipelago.

"I'm going to meet an old friend, behave yourself Luffy. And no matter what, do not engage the celestial dragons!" Shanks disembarked from his ship joined by Lucky Roo and Ben Beckham. They eventually disappeared in the crowd. It was then that Mihawk joined him.

"Ready Captain?" Mihawk asked, he wore his usual attire although he did not bring his coat for this encounter. He was shirtless with white wrapping on his waist. He wore his usual black pants and shoes. His beard was perfectly tripped with his cross necklace hanging from his neck. Finally, the most notable of his features was Yoru, the black blade along his back.

Luffy finally stood up, his face was fuming with anger. He could feel their despair. People were crying as their spirits withered away for a lifetime of unwilling servitude. Slaves. Several different species have been pushed to the lowest in order to further the pride of Celestial Dragons. Slaves. They were forced to do as the slaver's pleased, unimaginable things that dehumanized them.

It was wrong, and Luffy knew that today will be the day that legal slave trading will end in Sabaody.

Luffy led the way as he followed the area with the most restless aura in the entire island. He held his head high as his eyes flared in anger. Every step he could feel his emotions swelling. In front of them a celestial dragon rode another human, another human...laughing along as he made his slave eat the grass on the ground.

"I want another one, this one is old and useless." Mused the piece of shit. "I ought to just kill you here and now, but I'm kind, I'll let my new slaves kill you."

"Please sir...I have a family..." The man cried as he chewed on the grass off the ground, forced by the celestial dragon to consume.

"Did I say you can talk trash?!" A jolt of painful electricity coursed through the body of the poor man as the celestial dragon wanted to punish him. "Your name is now Trash and you do not speak ever, TRASH!"

Despite the inhumane treatment, many people chose to ignore what was happening. What could they do? The celestial dragons have a firm grasp on the world. They are worshiped as god-like beings. So what could they really do? Nothing is the answer.

But the man who could care less was there that day. Monkey D. Luffy walked towards the celestial dragon, each step causing a crater to form under his feet. His fist was curled in his rage.

The Celestial Dragon took notice of the man approaching him. "Hey! Hey! Stop where you are. Do you know who I am?" His guards blocked Luffy's path, but they were quickly forced out of the way as Mihawk took the defiance as a sign to cut them down.

He took Yoru and slash the guards across their chest, effectively eliminating them from Luffy's path. Their blood floated in the air as time seemingly slowed down for the celestial dragon.

No words were said that day as Monkey D. Luffy took every ounce of his strength to bring his fist back, every pent up emotions he built up throughout this time travel debacle, his anger to not being able to save his friends in his timeline, finally being released to the skull of the Celestial Dragon. His fist connected, sending the celestial flying throughout several hundred yards, crashing through buildings. If it wasn't for his protective suit, he would be dead.

Mihawk cut the cuff that bound the slave, and before it exploded, Mihawk had swiftly tossed the exploding collar to the sky.

"I'm free!" Exclaimed the former slave as tears flowed from his eyes. "My family...oh my family.." He then began to run towards the port, unsure where to go but as far away from the celestial dragon is the way to go.

The celestial dragon finally stopped at the footstep of the auction house, where an auction was currently taking place.

...

The announcer had just presented a powerful fishman for sale.

"SOLD! For 1 million Beri!" Where the highest bidder happens to be the father of the celestial dragon that Luffy sent flying. As he was given his prize, he danced gleefully at obtaining a fishman for a slave; those were rarities in their market.

"Listen here you filthy maggot, bend on your knees and be my footrest!" Exclaimed the slaver. The fishman did not comply, giving him a deadly glare. "Oh, you need to learn quickly..." It was then that the slaver shocked the collar which held the fishman. This caused him to scream out in pain, finally collapsing to his knees. "That's a good boy." It was then that the slaver placed his feet on the back of the fishman and laughed to himself as he successfully submitted the fishman to his will, albeit it was despicable. "Learn your place scum…you fishman are merely objects meant to be possessed by humans. People have this delusion that you can ever be above what you truly are, but you can't, you are nothing but bottom dweller, mere footrest for us, listen well as I..." Though shock quickly filled the room as a commotion occurred in the entrance of the auction hall. The celestial dragon's son passed out in the entrance way, visibly twitching uncontrollably. His suite was filled with blood, royalty blood that means so much to them.

"What is the meaning of this!" Exclaimed the elder celestial dragon. Though his throat suddenly found itself at the mercy of a giant black blade sitting diagonally across his body. Beside him a man with a straw hat sat comfortably though he had been rubbing his hands together, seemingly containing himself from a violent outburst. The elder slowly took his foot off of the fishman, quietly putting his hands to the sky. The fishman stepped back a little, giving a scornful look at his slaver and an equally disdainful look at the bladed human and the strawhat wearing human.

"I'm going to tell you what happens now." He said in a low voice, then addressing the crowd who were too scared to move. "You pieces of shit who participate in this need to clear out...NOW!" People began to flock out leaving Luffy, Mihawk, the slaves on the stage for auction, and the fish man slave beside the elder celestial dragon. "Listen to me, and listen to me real carefully, This auction will no longer take place ever again or next time we meet, your neck will not be attached to its body."

"You think you will be able to get away from this!" The elder celestial dragon exclaimed, as he did not even show an ounce of fear.

"What you fail to understand is that I do not care." Luffy said coldly, it was at this moment that he looked at the saw shark fish man his eyes remained ablazed. Then within a millisecond, the cuff that covered his neck exploded in the sky. Luffy had used a technique he learned from elder Hyou back in Udon Prison. This seemed like centuries ago but in reality it was only a couple of weeks ago.

"How did you…" The man asked. "..doesn't matter, you will die soon enough." But he also found himself with his eyes behind the back of his head. The fish man had been freed, and he took this opportunity to chop the man's shoulder, effectively knocking him out.

"You, who are you?" Mihawk took his blade and placed it over his shoulder. He was referring to the fish man who knocked out the celestial dragon.

"I am Arlong the Saw. Who the hell are you, humans." His voice was coated in venom as he openly hated them. Filthy creatures in his mind, only truly seeing their evil side and not their good side.

"I know exactly who you are." Though Luffy finally stood up, staring at the collapsed form of the celestial dragon. "You're more than welcome to do anything at this point." Luffy took the time to hop on the stage and took the collar off of each and every single slave present in that auction. "You can all go now, be safe." Trembling erupted outside the auction hall, as the celestial dragon pressed their distress signal. Now an army of Marines enclosed the auction house along with the impending arrival of an admiral. Any minute now one of the powerhouses of the marines will reign on their parade. This was not something Luffy thought of carefully, as dying or getting caught here could result in a game over scenario. But he thought he had enough failsafe with Mihawk and Shanks on his side.

Disco, the man who held the auction, had his hands up, he feared for his life at the arrival of Dracule Mihawk and the strange man with the Straw hat. Despite the arrival of the marines Luffy remained calm now with his sights set on Disco.

"You need to tell whoever is in charge, that I will be coming for his head." He then joined Mihawk and Arlong at the entrance way, where a group of marines were surely waiting to ambush them.

"Are you stupid? You are openly challenging the Donquixote family?" Disco exclaimed. Sure of himself that the strange man will tremble in fear at the name mentioned.

"I don't give a fuck who owns this place. I'm putting an end to it." Luffy answered then punched Disco in the face, knocking him out. He then turned to the two people beside him. He considered them people, not human, not fishman, people.

Even though he had his qualm with Arlong, he could hopefully be redeemed in this timeline. Hopefully.

"Outside these doors are an army or Marines. Possibly a Marine Admiral arriving soon. Our way out is Shank's ship located at the northern port of Sabaody." He then kicked the door open without warning.

"I didn't agree to work with you Human!" Although it was too late, as Luffy, Mihawk, and Arlong found themselves surrounded by hundreds of marines, cannons and guns pointed in their direction. Before the marines could mouth off their warning, Luffy activates gear second, dashing past the marine's blockade.

Arlong looked at Mihawk who smirked and brought his blade forward, disappearing in the same manner.

"Fire!" Exclaimed the marine captain, although the marines did not know which direction to fire.

Arlong had a split second to contemplate his choices, he opted into following them for now, just to escape. If they say his name with hatred common with humans, he will kill them himself.

Despite being on land, Arlong was able to keep pace with Luffy and Mihawk, although Luffy was much faster than the duo.

One second Mihawk and Arlong were running and the next they were met with a massive explosion as the force of a powerful haki infused smash, hitting the ground before them.

Mihawk and Arlong stop in their path as a certain purple haired Marine Admiral has two arms covered in the black resin like armor known as armament Haki.

Luffy felt it, this man was non other than Zephyr…Fuck...he did not think about him. Out of all the marine admirals that could come, he had to be the headache. That got him to thinking, who were the other admirals at this time? Was it Sengoku and Tsuru? He wondered.

Luffy quickly stopped in his tracks and returned to aid Mihawk and Arlong. He couldn't let Mihawk die now, and Arlong, well he can fuck off but he felt sort of responsible for him for the time being.

Arlong was the first to rush Zephyr not knowing full well who this man was. He found out quickly that he was severely outmatched as he was flattened with a stomp in mere milliseconds. Even Mihawk, who charged the Admiral, found that his blade was deflected easily and met a powerful punch squarely on his jaw. Within seconds, Marine admiral Zephyr has defeated Arlong in his prime and Mihawk during his younger days. "Dracule Mihawk, you were supposed to be one of those dogs that the world government was going to bring in. Guess your answer is as clear as day."

As he prepared the cuffs, they were knocked off of his hands by a man with the Straw Hat. A jet stamp on Monkey D. Luffy has returned.

"Who might you be and how did you bypass my observation…" Zephyr stated, slightly intrigued by the new arrival.

But Luffy did not have time to chat, so instead of wasting time, Luffy bombarded Zephyr with a rain of punches. 'Gomu Gomu no Gatling!'

Zephyr covered his face and body with both arms as the punches had some weight within them. Though as soon as the barrage ended, the dust cleared out. His two prisoners as well as the straw hat fellow were gone. He smirked to himself and closed his eyes, sensing the trio in the distance.

...

Luffy had bought himself enough time to retrieve Arlong and Mihawk. He would run faster if he would drop Arlong...no that would be wrong...maybe he should leave the giant blade...no Mihawk won't be Mihawk without his beloved blade.

So now he was stuck carrying dead weight.

In the horizon he can finally see the red force.

"Shanks let's go!" Screamed Luffy at the top of his lungs. Despite the distance, he could see that the Red Force had been fully coated already.

"Luffy you dumbass! I said be good!" Shanks wasn't actually understanding why the Marines were demanding for him to anchor at port, but now he knew the reason. Luffy had done something real stupid.

So Shanks had been conversing with a marine who had been forcing him to anchor and instead of continuing diplomacy, he socked him in the face.

Luffy tossed Arlong and Mihawk on the ship, panting frantically as he ran at full speed. "We got to go now!"

"All hands on deck men!" Commanded Shanks as he could see a purple streak coming swiftly their way. He was not going to let them go easily and the Red Force just needed a little extra time before it could fully submerge.

Shanks pulled out his blade, Gryphon, and disappeared in a red streak of his own.

As the Red Force was going down into the ocean, Zephyr had caught up, attempting to stop the pirates from escaping although before he could make contact with the pirate ship, he was met mid air by a red haired pirate. The marine admiral suddenly found himself pushed slightly backwards giving the pirate ship enough time to submerge.

"Bye Marine!" With that simple exclamation, the red haired pirate switched direction mid air and dove after his ship.

"Red Hair! The hell?" Zephyr exclaimed out loud as he landed on the port of Sabaody. Two pirates actually slightly altered his trajectory. This could only mean one thing, he needs to get stronger…'maybe even take up vegapunk in his offer for a powerful mechanical arm that could enhance his own strength.

Just maybe.


Aboard the Red Force

Shanks finally penetrated the bubble, joining the people on deck of the Red Force. Luffy smiled at the pirate captain where Shanks had been panting heavily from the clash with the marine admiral.

"Thanks Shanks." Luffy said as he sighed in relief. He would have been happy to take care of Zephyr in a similar manner but Shanks was strong, really strong. He was going to be an emperor after all.

"Well it was all of our hide that was in danger, so I had to do what a captain needs to do." Shanks states, causing his crew to laugh at their captain, despite his light hearted nature, Shanks took his job seriously. "So now we'll be heading to Fishman Island."

"Captain, we have a problem." Ben Beckham stated as he looked through a periscope.

"What is it Ben?" Shanks asked as he was handed the periscope. Ben pointed directly in front of them, several hundred yards in the distance he could see a jolly roger of a very powerful personality. "Crap."

"What? Why? Who is it?" Luffy was handed the periscope and it took a minute to focus on the jolly roger in the distance. "By the way, how did your meeting go with Rayleigh?" Luffy focused on the jolly roger that waved on top of a bunch of ships. "Okay it's a big pirate crew, what's the big deal?"

Shanks slapped his forehead. "It went fine, wait how did you know...never mind, just look again. Carefully." At this point Arlong and Mihawk finally came to their senses. But Arlong had found his hands were not bound. A strange feeling especially at the presence of humans, it was like they thought of him as equal, almost as if he was not just a fishman filth. In the presence of humans, his people are treated as nothing but animals, objects to be possessed. But in the presence of the strawhat man, he was not having this feeling. Why?

Mihawked shook out of his daze, finally regaining his footing. He mentally beat himself up for not reacting properly to the situation. He ended up being manhandled by a marine admiral. He needs to be better, he has to be better.

Luffy smiled at Arlong and Mihawk who were finally getting back on their feet. He then finally looked again as instructed and now he could see why Ben and even Shanks was so worried, for several hundred yards from them, the Jolly Roger that currently was in Fishman Island belonged to none other than…Edward Newgate, or as the name he was best known as...

Whitebeard.

Oh no.

...