Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, That right belongs to Eiichiro Oda
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Chapter 1: The Great Pirate Era
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Wealth, Fame, Power... Gol D. Roger, the king of the pirates, attained this and everything else this world had to offer and his dying words drove countless souls to the sea.
"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it."
These words lured men to the grand line in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine. This is the time known as The Great Pirate Era
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In a small sea port somewhere in the East Blue, laughter rang through the air in a small local bar. A young boy of seven stood up indignantly towards a red haired man, clutching a glass of juice.
"HEY! YOU TRICKED ME!"
The sound of bottles and glasses hitting wood reverberated through the bar, their contents being drained promptly before being replaced with more sake. Sounds of singing and barrels were being displaced with the occasional laughter or joke. Right now the men erupted in Rambunctious laughter.
"STOP LAUGHING!"
If anything that only made them laugh more. The sight of a small kid comparing the strength of his punches to the shot of a deadly pistol made them crack up. The East Blue was known as the weakest of all seas in the grand line, ensuring little to no pirates in this particular village, the most danger being the few bandits that roamed around small villages like this.
"THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT! "
A green haired woman polishing a glass behind the bar, smiled warmly at the scene. The bartender had known the boy for some time now, familiar with his stubborn antics.
A shadow towered over the bars' saloon door. The sound of a crunch rang out, followed by a crash as the saloon door bar was torn off its hinge. The sound of the crash as the door tumbled on the ground paused the jovial atmosphere. A long shadow greeted the entrance of the bar, followed by a group of men. The uninvited figure spoke, his tone, deadly arrogant, filling the temporary silence.
"Excuse us"
All the men inside the bar looked on silently, paying their full attention to the unannounced man. The only voice alive being the clanking of cutlery on a plate emerging from the red haired man. Makino watched on silently with a frown, a hint of uncertainty lacing her features. A snicker escaped the intruder's lips.
"So these are what pass for pirates around these parts." Footsteps reverberated through the planks as the unnamed man stamped through the broken saloon door, flattening it like cardboard, The crater of a footstep permanently imprinted on the broken piece of wood.
"Looks rather sad to me," he strode towards the bar counter, right beside the red haired man still munching away at his food. Luffy stared at the rude man in silence, unsure of what to make of the situation. Makino hastily comes to the tall man's service, answering with diplomacy.
"Welcome gentlemen, what can I get for you?" The man's appearance reveals a long face framed by long black hair, partially tied by a topknot, A dark goatee resting over the collar of his reddish brown cloak with a cutlass hanging loosely by his hip. A condescending grin rested upon his face as he spoke.
"We're mountain bandits, But we didn't come here to tear your place apart. All we want is some sake, let's say ten barrels should do…"
Behind him a group of twenty or so men, all dressed in similar plain bone white attire stood menacingly, savage grins plastered upon their faces, their eyes concealed by the thick durag they wore despite the summer heat.
"I'm sorry, but actually we're fresh out of sake right now," Makino answered appeasingly as the red haired man at the counter continued eating, ignoring everyone. The unspoken tension in the bar grew to exponential levels, so thick it was almost palpable.
"Interesting, These other pirates seem to still be drinking, is that water in their glasses?" He asked, pointing at one of their glasses.
"No, that just happens to be the last of what i had stocked up" she politely replied. The bandit's grin disappeared, an annoyed sneer overtaking his features.
The red haired man stops chewing for a moment and looks up from his plate; "my apologies gentlemen, looks like me and my friend drank the whole place dry" he paused. "But, you can have this if you want," he offers politely, forfeiting up his own bottle of sake. "It hasn't even been opened, go ahead," he encourages with a smile, almost oblivious to the bandit's growing annoyance.
The bandit reaches out to accept the bottle, but suddenly smashes his fist through said bottle being offered, the content splashing over the man's straw hat and shirt, soaking it wet. Silence dominates the room as Makino gasps, whilst the pirate crew watches over silently, still half drunk yet relaxed, no one moving an inch. Luffy looks over in shocked silence as sake drips out of Shank's straw hat.
The bandit gives an ugly sneer; "I'm wanted, There's an $8,000,000 belli bounty on my head, one bottle isn't enough for a night nap, so don't insult me," a pregnant pause once again spreads through the room.
Shank disappointedly sighs as he glances over the smashed bottle shards, "just great, now the floor's wet." He continues to ignore the bandit as he picks up the broken pieces of glass off the floor, "Sorry about that Makino, you got a rag i can clean this up with?"
Said woman in question hurriedly rushes over to help, "Oh, don't worry about it, I'll take care of it" she stutters nervously.
The bandit, silently enraged at being ignored, unsheathes his cutlass and destroys the plate on the bar counter, the remnant of an attack leaving a long jagged scar on the wooden edge of the counter. Higuma levels the cutlass at Shank's sitting figure on the floor.
"Since you like to clean things so much, maybe you'll find this mess more fulfilling" he scoffs, referring to the broken plate and table, He sheaths his sword and begins to head towards the exit. "Place with no sake is not worth our time, let's get outta here, see you later, pansies."
Luffy grits his teeth, simmering with uncontrollable fury in silence as he watches the door swing shut as the bandits leave the bar. The swing of the remaining saloon door echoing as Makino approaches Shanks with a rag and begins to clean him up. "Captain, are you okay? Are you hurt?" she worriedly asks.
"Not a problem in the world, Makino." He sniggers after a pause. Immediately the whole crew bellows with laughter as if an unspoken joke was told.
"That fella really got you good boss" Yassop exclaims whilst dying of laughter, their captain joining in on the laughter, whilst Makino continues to dry Shanks with a rag.
"WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING!? WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" Luffy screams, breaking the laughter. The boy's brows scrunched up, his eyes filled with contempt and scorn.
"YOU SHOULD'VE FOUGHT BACK SHANKS! DOESN'T MATTER HOW STRONG THEY LOOK OR HOW MANY OF THEM THERE ARE! IF YOU JUST LAUGH IT OUT YOU'RE NOT A MAN! OR A PIRATE!" he shouted, simmering with anger. The captain responded in a placating manner, "Look, Luffy, i know how you feel." he paused and sat up, "but the guy just spilt some booze on me, it's not worth getting bent out of shape, there's some battles not worth fighting."
"Whatever" the young boy grumbled, turning away, silently fuming. Shank sighs and offer a smile
"Though I can't let you aboard my ship, I can help you get stronger" he offers. The moment those words escaped his lips, luffy completely forgets the past events, stars gleaming in his eyes, as if he'd been offered food. "REALLY? YOU MEAN IT?" he beams, as the older man chuckles at the boy's eagerness.
"Yes… After all, I wouldn't want to be friends with someone who's weak!" he teases.
"SHUT UP! I'M NOT WEAK!", Luffy heatedly retorts.
The sound of laughter once again resumed as the bar fell into its familiar rhythm, singing, tunes and chatter filled the bar as conversations and music danced through the air, all the way through to night.
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Authors Note: Hello, As so you this is my first fanfiction, so do forgive me for errors and my lack of "flow" when it comes to writing, if you dislike my writing feel free to give some pointers to me, i appreciate the feedback, however if you have a problem with the plot of this story and the direction its taking, welp i refuse to change that (unless necessary), as this is my fanfic and i decide where the story goes, though i don't mind the readers having a say in which characters should get devil fruit or decisions like that (note: i might do a future poll for devil fruit allocations). Also for those curious new chapters will probably come out every 2-3 weeks, maybe longer depending on how busy I am, but just so you're aware, I prioritize quality over quantity, and by that I mean, the characters in this story will stay as true to canon as possible. The whole reason I wrote this fanfic was because I was bored and was appalled by the one piece fanfic's on this website (there was barely a single good one, so I decided to write my own). Thanks and leave a review if you want.