Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

"One Piece." – Speaking

'One Piece.' – Thinking

One Piece. – Flashbacks

One Piece. – Devil Fruits and Techniques

Deadly Drinking Pirate

The Last Door to the Grand Line Opened!

Previously on Deadly Drunken Pirate,

"Glad you guys came or I will have to bulldoze myself through that army all by myself. What a waste of good time?" Luffy remarked and his crew weren't really appreciating it. They had to pass Tashigi who was clumsily debating to aid or stop her 'big brother' so it was easy to move around her, while only wasting a second of their time.

"I thought you would have known that the red nose was about to ambush you Captain. With your Haki of course!" Alvida shouted but Luffy just nodded.

"Yeah, I need to sharpen up my Kenbunshoku Haki and my instincts. That clown face had managed to hide his Haki signature so it didn't appear on my radar." Luffy said. "Guess that even the blackest of sheep can hold diamonds. Too bad he is still a coward."

"Just what do you know about big nose Captain?" Gin asked as it is what the whole crew wanted to know as well. But they never got their answer that evening when,

"Not so fast you brats!" The Strawhats stopped right in front of some man that just suddenly appeared. And it seems that this was no stranger to Luffy who started to shake a little in fear. "What the hell were you think of calling your old man as a pirate, using a marine reserved line!?"

"Like you stopped me from being friend with Shanks and eating that accursed fruit. You weren't even there to love me but pound me to the ground for not being as strong as you when you were the same as age as I!" Luffy shouted back. "Besides, you didn't break Coby and that idiotic captain's son right? Grandpa Garp?"

"Grandpa!" The Strawhats shouted.

Garp is a tall, tanned, broad-chested, muscular old man who is bearded and has a scar over his left eye. His eye colors are blue and his hair gray. He was one of the few to have special shoulder-pads; his was black and red whereas the standard color is blue.

"I just wish that our family reunion was of better circumstances." Luffy said with sweat down his neck along with the rain and his hands were nervously holding his blades. "But we are in a hurry."

"I didn't come to see you off to be a lowly pirate like that idiot Shanks!" Garp retorted but didn't say anything else. That was what got the Strawhats confused, all except for Luffy that is.

"But someone else is doing it right Gramps?" Luffy said, "And I bet it will nice for you to see your son again." Luffy said and the Strawhats all saw that there was someone behind them. A large man with a green cloak covering most of his body. The occasional lighting strikes only showed that this man had some kind of tattoo over the right side of his face.

"How dare you show yourself here in the East Blue brat!" Garp suddenly ignored the Strawhats and focused on this man behind the pirates.

"Don't be like that Father. I missed you."

"The feeling isn't mutual brat! Not since what you did to your wife and to my grandson Dragon!" Garp retorted but then noticed the sound of steam. In fact, everyone saw that Luffy was suddenly pink in skin color and steam was emitting from his some sections of his body.

"Sorry Gramps but I don't want to ruin your chance with your son so I will move out of your way. Grab on and don't let go everyone!" Luffy shouted and when his crew grasped on tightly, they all disappeared in a flash of light. But, there was this that seemed to be left behind by Luffy,

"…thanks for the few seconds and Good Bye, Father…" That was to be faint, like in the wind but both Dragon and Garp heard it clearly. Dragon raced and grabbed his own father by the collar,

"You told him about me!?" Dragon was outraged, enough to strike at Garp who was in shock as well. It was like Luffy wasn't supposed to know this for whatever reason Dragon has to justify not being there for his son until that same evening.

"N-no…I…" Garp tried to make out all this but at least, the Strawhats managed to get to their ship. Meanwhile, Smoker was in shock himself.

'Is that why the boy smiled!? Because he knew that his father will not let him die!?' Smoker tried to make something out of this. 'In that case, I better not let them know or it will be denied of what my destiny is with that man! If Strawhat thinks that he will continue to outrun me then I will show him! I will show them all!' And just like that, history is about to repeat and nobody saw it like that, yet.

"Well there goes the lighthouse Nami, for here we are counting on you to find the way in this muck." Luffy said wearing a rain coat and looking through a telescope in the rain storm they ran into when they were able to leave Loguetown. "And where have you been all this time? We almost forgot about you, Kuro."

"Adjusting to the life as a pirate again Captain and since I was the one with a recognizable face unlike your first mate, I had to try and give you the less trouble I could." Kuro said. He did disappear sometime between Luffy teaching Haki to his crew at the time and when the said crew had escaped Loguetown. "And I must thank you captain for letting me try out those deadly techniques that you called Rokushiki."

"No problem. You may not be a captain anymore but you still are strong in your legs, Sanji almost as good as you." Luffy responded casually around a man who managed to retain his deadliness in speed and his claws, even after doing nothing but butler duties for three straight years. "I just hope that you won't bully Usopp and Kaya now that you are back on this ship, for real."

"…" Kuro said nothing and then sighed which was surprising that both a current pirate captain and a former one are having such a casual conversation in a rainstorm. "Captain, I wanted to be the best planner and strategist in the world but being a marine just wasn't going to help me achieve that dream so I became a pirate. Then of course, I let my pride turn me arrogant because I truly felt like the smartest sailor in the world. But when I became Lady Kaya's butler, she truly treated me the complete opposite of when I was a pirate, so I guess that I felt loved instead of hated." Luffy was silent as Kuro continued. "I now feel bad that I tried to hurt such a caring and strong girl like Kaya so I hope to make up for it the best I can."

"Then you will feel right at home in this crew Kuro." Luffy then said. "After all, there isn't a single person that sails under me that doesn't have a dream to fight for."

'A dream to fight for.' Kuro thought over with a sudden smile on his face, not one of malice or bloodlust, but of actual happiness.

"Hey!" The both of them turned to hear Nami's voice loud and clear despite the heavy rainfall. "I have just found out the entrance into the Grand Line but you really need to see this! Everyone else has already deemed it impossible!" Luffy and Kuro looked at one and other and shrugged.

They both then entered one of the cabins on the King's Gourd to where a dining table had all the crew around, which made Luffy twitch one of his eyes. "So what is wrong Nami-chan?" Luffy asked and his girl could only blush slightly and pout like an unsatisfied girl.

"It's just this map to the Grand Line that you helped me steal from the big nose clown of Orange Town." Nami said and pointed to the illustration of some kind of a mountain that had some kind of rivers moving from the center and apex. "This is what you have been calling 'Reverse Mountain'. And apparently, it is an entrance because on the side facing the East Blue, the water goes up the mountain!"

Everyone looked down as they did laugh at the idea but even Kuro knew better not to do that, especially not with Luffy around; the captain is still that scary about how his girl is treated. "First, if everyone is here then who is stirring my ship!?" Everyone gasped, they didn't think of it. "I was hoping to let you know and especially you Nami, we are headed north and around Reverse Mountain!"

Nami's face had gotten pale. "No…NO!" Nami tackled her boyfriend while chanting 'no' over and over. That was when everyone noticed that the shaking of the ship stopped and the sound of the rain had all but disappeared. But also that Luffy stared at them with disappointment.

"Now thanks you idiots, we are in the Calm Belt."

XXXXX

When everyone went out onto the deck of the King's Gourd, the storm had indeed disappeared. There wasn't even wind since the sails were sagging like the cheeks of a fully depressed person. "Why are you worried Luffy? This is actually nice compared to the storm that we were in." Zoro said without a care in the world but Luffy shut them up with his glare once again.

"Shut up and listen. I don't like to repeat myself. The Calm Belt is called that because the Grand Line is between two sections of the Calm Belt in each of the Blue Seas." Everyone nodded. "But since there are never any storms or wind, the sails are useless. And then there is the greater danger here than storms."

All of a sudden, the water started to shake the ship again but much worse than the storm back in the East Blue did. Everyone was wondering if there was some kind of a seaquake but once they looked down, they saw something indeed worst.

Their ship was on top of a Sea King and that gigantic one with stripes like a zebra was among various other Sea Kings. And they all made the King's Gourd look like a pebble on the nose of the zebra striped one. "The Calm Belts are breeding grounds for all the Sea Kings in the world." Luffy said with Nami almost fainted in his arms.

"Now what do we do!?" Usopp shouted, his usual cowardly demeanor nearly taking over again. Luffy glared at everyone instead of giving a good answer.

"You? You guys are getting your training three times harder for getting us into this mess!" Luffy shouted and everyone cringed, their training was already difficult and torturous already from their previous punishment. "As for me…" Luffy said before suddenly stretching his arm in speeds matching that of a rocket. And into the nose of the Sea King they were all stranded on; where he plucked a nose hair! "Now we all wait." Luffy then dropped the gigantic nose hair into the water and then sat on the deck calmly while his arm retracted. Then there was this distinctive sound coming from the sea king they were on,

"Is that…?"

"Sounds like…"

"…this monster is…"

"…Going to sneeze!" Everyone shouted in a creepy fashion while Luffy smiled and nodded.

"Exactly. Brace yourselves." Luffy said and right on cue, the beast sneezed so strong that the ship was launched right off. And it just happened to be in the right direction as well; back into the East Blue. But of course, back into the storm as well.

"Are you sure we need to do this?" Zoro asked but then everyone glared at him, "Never mind." He muttered and ran off to do something since it was impossible to take a nap during a rainstorm.

XXXXX

But the storm didn't stop them from reaching the entrance to the Reverse Mountain. "There it is!" Luffy shouted into the distance with all but two of his crew on the deck, trying to get a better look. Zoro happened to have the binoculars for much greater view,

"I don't believe it." Zoro could only say. "The sea, it is flowing upward on the side of the mountain!" And pretty soon, the rest of the crew spoke in similar responses. All except for Luffy who could only smirk at the sight of the entrance until he spotted something off.

"Hey! We are going to crash into the gate! Whoever is steering my ship, try to keep her steady!" Luffy shouted into the cabin room only to notice that it was empty. Luffy then cast a glare towards his crew again; they had forgotten about steering for their excitement at the Reverse Mountain. "I guess that I will have to do things myself."

And just as Luffy mumbled his way to the steering wheel, he gave it a sudden a sharp turn that surely got the crew's attention and they got through the gate without a hitch. And when they did get caught in the current, everyone gathered themselves together, just in time to see Luffy take out a barrel.

"Now that we all are heading to the World's Greatest Ocean, it is time." Luffy said as he placed the barrel right onto the deck. "It is time to make our dreams known. Once they are known by all then we know each other better and can protect each other better as well. We all are dreamers so you shouldn't feel embarrassed by it at all." Luffy announced and soon, everyone got it and was glad that the barrel was unusually big; enough that they all were able to surround it. "I will go first and I dream to be the Drunken King of Pirates!" Luffy did proclaim that dream without any fear or hesitation as he placed his right foot on the barrel.

"To be the World's Most Beautiful Woman!" Alvida went second

"To be the World's Greatest Swordsman!" Zoro went after.

"To draw a map of the world!" Nami fourth.

"To be the warrior that my father gave birth to!" Usopp was proud that he was able to speak with a single stutter.

"To learn every single healing technique in the world!" Kaya went after Usopp, having taken the time to find out what she wanted to do in her life.

"To be the world's greatest planner!" Kuro felt like a kid again to join.

"To find the All Blue!" Sanji went as number eight, still as proud as can be.

"To be the best fighter I can!" And now everyone finally learned what Gin's dream was decided.

"And with that all said, we will brave the Grand Line if it meant to achieve our dreams!" Luffy finished and everyone yelled as they raised their legs and crushed the barrel with all their strength in their feet.

"Yeah!"

End of Chapter 9

*Hey everyone! I thank you for still following my stories. And to be blunt, I barely found myself motivated to make this story. And it is pathetic because I couldn't think of way to make up for forgetting about Kuro as part of the crew. So I am going to the best I can with this chapter and maybe do better in the future.

And I know that it is short but it is the best I can think of to finish with the East Blue Saga and finally begin on the Grand Line Saga. My chapters are going to be a lot longer from now on, even if I will something to say about it. Wish me luck!*

Translations:

Rokushiki – Six Commands/Powers/Styles