LW: So, this will look familiar to everyone who's been reading the main story, but where else to begin my side story, but with the Origin story of the main guys? Better than chapter 21 this time at least ;). Plus it's revamped and edited since it was first written what, 4 years ago at this point. So enjoy.
Drop in the Ocean – Origin of the Straw Hat
Dawn Island – Fushio village (Party's Bar)
"You gotta take me with you on your next adventure Shanks" the boy pleads, while the redhead in a straw hat laughs
"Yeah right, like you could be a pirate"
"See kid, you may be a great swimmer and all, but it takes a lot more than that to be a pirate" Yassop argues
"But I'm a great fighter too. My punches are as strong as pistol shots" a 7-year-old Luffy boasts as he sits by the bar, the man beside him chuckles lightly, pushing his old straw hat out of his eyes
"Really, a pistol you say? That's impressive. Here have a drink on me" the man smiles as he pushes a glass over to the boy
"Yay!" Luffy cheers, gulping down the juice as the pirates start laughing
"Ha ha, only a kid drinks juice" the redhead wheezes between laughs
"Shut up asshole!" Luffy screams back angrily
"Relax Monkey, just finish your juice" an amused voice purrs and Shank's attention is drawn to the other kid in the bar: pale and bony, if it weren't for his notably prepubescent voice and confirmation from Makino he'd think the kid was at least 12 rather than the 9 that was the purplette's actual age. He was Kaos, Luffy's big brother, or good as given they'd been raised together as such since Garp practically dropped them on Makino's doorstep as a baby and toddler respectively many years back.
Suddenly the door was broken off its hinges, and a scruffy-looking gang of men enter the building
"We're mountain bandits, but we're not here to wreck the place, provided you give us all the booze you've got" their leader orders
"I'm sorry but we're fresh out" Makino answers, partly apologetic, and partly worried
"Then what are all these guys drinking? Juice?" Higuma yells, pointing at the clearly intoxicated pirates all around him
"Well he is" Kaos mutters, waving his hand in Luffy's direction and getting punched in the ribs because of it, though not for self-preservation reasons, he just didn't want people to know he was drinking juice
"No, but they did drain me dry"
Shanks nods before reaching behind him "Sorry about that, but here's an unopened bottle. I hope this helps"
Higuma sneers and smashes the bottle with his cutlass
"One bottle ain't going to do, I'm a wanted man with 8 million beri for my head"✦
Now given the captain was a Grand Line veteran and former Roger's pirate, Shanks honestly didn't see this loud brute as anywhere near a credible threat, given rather than react to his threat… he was focused on the mess "Oh no. Now the floor's all wet" he whines, the reaches down for what remains of the bottle "Sorry about the mess Makino, you got a rag back there I can borrow?"
"It's fine Shanks I'll clean it up"
Smash
Higuma clearly didn't like being ignored as he proceeded to destroy the entire counter, knocking its contents all over the floor
"Seeing as you like to clean so much, might as well give you a worthwhile job" he then sighs and turns to go "Move it men if there's no sake there's no point in sticking around this backwater little town" he grunts as he walks out the door.
Once all the bandits had left the pirates erupt into laughter, even the currently soaked Shanks
"He got you good captain" Yassop laughs, Lucky Roo nodding around his mutton
"What the Hell was that?" Luffy yells angrily "You should have fought back, what kind of pirates are you?"
Shanks laughs "Luffy, sometimes it's just not worth fighting against some guy being a dick over booze, it's pointless"
Luffy growls and sits with a huff, his eyes flicking over to a swirly blue fruit in a medium-sized chest, alongside a smaller silver and swirly fruit 'Hmm?' Luffy thinks as he feels drawn to the fruit, as well as a thumping in his own chest, not like his heartbeat… more a drum beat
"Hey Luffy, if you stress eat like that you'll become even more of an anchor" Shanks jokes until he sees the swirls on the food he's eating 'Oh no please not that' he thinks before running over "What are you eating?"Luffy gulps, his face pale
'Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!'
"Um…"
"Cough it up Luffy, cough it up now!" Shanks orders as he shakes the kid upside down… right until his neck stretches and his face hits the floor
"Ahh!"
"Luffy do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Nope"
"You've eaten one of the Devil Fruits, so now you can't ever swim again"
"And if you eat another you'll explode!"
"Not helping Yassop" Ben grunts at the sniper
"Can't Swim? Explode?!" Luffy yells in panic
"Yes, you ate the Gomu Gomu no mi, so your entire body now has the properties of rubber, you're a rubber boy now kid"
"Really?" Luffy sits there for a moment before he sticks his fingers in the corners of his mouth and pulls them back into a wide grin. He then releases his hold, his face snapping back to its normal shape "Awesome!" he cheers
Later, back home
Luffy gasps "Is that?"
"Yes, it's another of Captain Shanks' Devil Fruits" Kaos says with a wide grin "Snagged it while everyone was panicking over your stretchy face"
"Are you sure about this Kaos? Weird powers in exchange for never being able to swim" he asks
"Well I never could swim very well in the first place, might as well have an excuse" Kaos answers with a shrug and a childish grin, not wanting to admit, that he felt drawn to the fruit, that something about its energy tugged at his senses
"Okay then" Luffy smirks back before frowning "You do know these things taste awful right?"
Kaos grimaces "And it's not exactly a good idea to eat a lime straight in the first place"
"This is going to suck to be you, shishishi"
Fushou Village the next day
"Mayor! The mountain bandits have Luffy!" Makino yells as she runs into Woodslap's office, the man gulps and follows her quickly to where Higuma was kicking the crap out of the small boy, reaching them just as Kaos got tossed back by one of the bandits.
"You shouldn't have opened your mouth kid, nobody who's pissed me off has lived to tell the tale" Higuma growls, drawing his sword
"Please stop, don't kill the boy. I don't know what he's done and I don't plan to fight you over it, but I'll do anything so long as you spare the poor, foolish boy's life" Woodslap pleads, falling to his knees as he does so
Higuma smirks "At least some people understand the way of the world, but I must decline, this brat's already made me angry, so he's got to go"
"You bastards!" Luffy yells from under the bandit's boot
"No"
"Stop! Please"
"So this is where everyone is" Makino jumps as Shanks and his crew appear behind her "Hey Luffy, I thought you said your punches were strong as pistols" he chuckles
"Not now Shanks" Luffy chokes
"You should go before something bad happens to you. But in case you're just slow as well as weak I have just the man to deliver the message" Shanks doesn't even flinch when a pistol is pressed to his temple, in fact, he smirks just a little
"Now you've drawn your pistol are you willing to use it?" he asks calmly
"What?"
"Guns aren't for making threats they're for action. You draw one…"
BANG splat Gulp
"…someone is going to die" Shanks finishes as the bandit dies due to Lucky Roo shooting him in the face
"You bastard, you're dead!"
"These guys fight dirty"
"Dirty?"
"We never claimed to be saints or anything, we're pirates" Ben adds
"Shut up, we just want the kid, so stay out of it" one of the bandits yells, but is ignored by the pirates
"Listen very closely here. You can pour booze on me, drop food on me, even spit on me and I'll probably just laugh it off. But you harm a friend of mine, you'll pay for it regardless of your reason, and I will make sure you do" Shanks' eyes were cold and serious, sending chills down everyone's spines
Higuma laughs "You're going to make us pay? Well men, kill these pansies"
Ben sighs and steps forward "I'll handle this boss, shouldn't take too long" he then proceeds to beat the bandits with his rifle, not even bothering to shoot them, just using the weapon like an improvised club.
"Damn it all, kill the brats so we can leave" Higuma yells, one of his men rushing at Kaos with his sword, the kid tenses, before his arm loses all its color and gains a reflective, silver sheen to it
'Damn brats, looks like they both decided to steal Devil Fruits from me' Shanks internally grumbles
Gurk
Everyone stood there in shock, Kaos most of all as his chrome-colored limb cleaves through the blade and embeds itself in the bandit's chest, impaling his heart on his long fingers
"What kind of freak are you?" Higuma gasps
"What's going on? I can't see"
Luffy's outburst caused the pirates to kick back into gear, Ben continuing his beat down of the lower-tier bandits, while Kaos yanks his arm back out of the cooling body, skittering back until he collides with Shanks' chest, the captain holding the kid steady before he could fall
"Hold on, you'll be fine" he whispers as his first mate finishes off the canon fodder
"That's it! To Hell with all you pirate bastards!" Higuma yells angrily before dropping a smoke bomb, managing to escape before Ben or Shanks could get to him.
"Damn it, he got away" beat "Oh shit! He's still got Luffy!" Shanks yells loudly
Transition
"Ha, they'd never expect a mountain bandit to escape by boat" Higuma laughs as he thinks about how smart he is while dangling Luffy over the side of his boat
"Damn it, let go of me you dickhead!" Luffy screams angrily, flailing around in an attempt to get free
"If you insist. Say hi to the fishes for me" the bandit chuckles before tossing Luffy overboard, laughing as he makes a loud splash and begins splashing around aimlessly. This laughter ended quite abruptly when something erupts from the water right behind him: a sea king, its body a greyish brown and its eyes blood red. Higuma had little more time than to express his confusion before the great beast had eaten both him and his boat.
'I'm going to die' Luffy's panicked mind screams as the Sea King barrels toward him, the boy colliding with something solid as their jaws barely miss him. Looking up Luffy's eyes widen "Shanks!" he yells then screams when he sees Lord of the Coast double back
Rather than show fear Shanks' face was cold and stony "Pick on someone your own size. Get Lost!" he orders, the 2 stare for a moment before the massive beast whimpers and swims away "there we go Luffy, safe and sound" he says with his usual cheerful demeanor
Luffy sniffles "B-b-but Shanks, your arm" he cries into his chest, most of the pirate's left arm having been bitten off by the sea king
"It's just an arm Luffy, nothing I wouldn't give to save a friend" he pulls the lad closer with his remaining arm and begins to kick towards land, his crew and Kaos there to meet him
"Captain, quickly, you need to get to Doc Mills" Yassop yells worryingly to which Shanks nods
"Sure thing, Luffy stick with the men, me and your brother need to see the Doc"
Luffy gasps, looking at the taller boy "Kaos got hurt?"
Shanks smiles, ruffling his hair "Nothing major but best get him checked out anyway" Luffy nods sadly as Shanks pushes the mostly unresponsive DF user in front of him
The Red Force
"Shit, this is going to take a bit of work Shanks" Zelena sighs, hands running through her thick, red hair.
"Don't worry Z, I'll live and you'll patch me up just fine, same as you have everyone else" the captain grins then turns to Kaos "So want to talk kid?"
"I killed him" the purplette squeaks "I killed someone, I'm a monster" he sniffles
Shanks frowns but lightly squeezes the kid's arm "You're not a monster, even if you are a killer"
BANG!
"That's not helping!" Zelena yells with shark teeth
The future Yonko whines as he rubs his head "That wasn't nice Z" he pouts before turning back to Kaos "You know you weren't the only one to kill today"
"I wasn't?"
"Nope. You know Lucky Roo?"
Kaos nods "Yeah, he's the one who gets all the best meat, Luffy doesn't like that about him"
"Yeah well, he also killed a bandit, shot him in the face. Is he a monster?"
"No" Kaos answers "but he's an adult. Despite Luffy trying to be all grown up, I know we're still kids"
Shanks nods in understanding "Very true and I'm sorry you had to do so, so early in life. But he attacked you and you were trying to save your brother from the bandits. That's self defense in my book"
"Really?"
"Of course, in fact…" he meets eyes with Zelena who sighs and nods before walking over to the wall with a grumble and pulling out a small box from a hidden compartment
"You better know what you're doing" she hisses in his ear before placing it between them
"Well? Open it" he says to Kaos who looks at him in confusion before he nods and opens the box, revealing a gold-coloured khopesh with a black/purple serpent coiled around the hilt, itself appearing to be wrapped in snakeskin "This is the Hebi no Oni no mi" he explains "And I think you'll find a good use for it"
"You're giving me a sword?" the boy looks confused as he picks up the weapon. Once he does the snake animates, sliding under his sleeves and up his arm. Kaos hisses and clutches his shoulder in pain, swaying a few times before steadying himself 'Whoa!' he gasps then zones out, a dark prescience filling the room causing both veteran pirates to tense
'That's not haki, this shouldn't be possible, especially not at his age' Shanks thinks, reminding himself it's just a kid, in order to keep Gryphon out of his hands…. hand.
'Fuck, I thought that power came from the Captain's soul blending with Yig but for someone to have this darkness natural…. actually, damn it that makes perfect sense' Zelena grimaces as she realizes why the kid had been setting off alarm bells in her head since they arrived, she thought he just reminded her of her old captain, but that aura and Hebi's reaction to him, there was only one thing that made sense, she thought with growing anticipation. Reincarnation
"§After so long, once more we are joined§" a voice purrs from the void within Kaos' mind as a large serpent made of smoke enters his vision "§And you can understand, even without my help, due to a new bloodline. Interesting§" Hebi coos before brushing her face against Kaos' cheek, then notices that portions of his body currently looked like it was made of broken mirror shards "§New power, as strong as, and yet nothing like the Old One, we will have quite a lot of fun in the future won't we master?§" Kaos could almost taste the amusement coming from the snake, as well as an aftertaste of what could best be described, as madness
The aura fades and Kaos blinks owlishly as he regains his senses
"I sleep in for one day and all this crap happens" came a tired voice in the doorway, the split-toned hair of Uta peering in with an expression best described as 'done with this shit'
"Shanks saved Luffy from the Lord of the Coast, though it lost him an arm" Kaos explains, passing the beris
"YOU DUMBASS!" Uta screams, only to be ushered away by Zelena alongside Kaos, as the woman still has to treat Shanks, even if he deserves the dressing down his daughter had been about to give him
"So…."
"You felt it too right, I wasn't losing my mind?" Shanks asks
"No, when Hebi bit him, she unlocked something else. I didn't think she could, even Apophis didn't think the reincarnation theory could be proven besides using the Soru Soru no Mi to force an echo to the surface" Zelena mutters running her fingers through her thick locks, then hitting Shanks "That was a dangerous play, she could have easily killed him"
"But she didn't, and I bet she's happy for the first time in nearly a decade" Shanks sighs
Zelena nods sadly "You're right, I may not be able to understand her, but I can still hear her whispers, she's already talking to him…. and I think he's responding"
Shanks blinks "Well shit" he chuckles awkwardly then sits as he allows her to treat him "I can't thank you enough for taking this position" he tries to say
"Nonsense, you needed a Doctor and it's clearly needed given you did this like an idiot" Zelena sighs, lightly slapping his head
"No, I mean it, you have a chance away from this life, and because of me you could be dragged back into it" he explains, wincing when she tightens the bandage.
"Idiot. You are a friend Shanks, I've never had a problem helping my friends" she smiles before slapping the back of his head once more "Besides, it's just till you find yourself a new doctor, and I already have some other work lined up with Grima and Henry, will be fun to, as they say, get the band back together"
1 week later
"Do you have to go?' Luffy asks sadly as Shanks" crew loads up their ship
"Yeah we do, we've been on this island and East Blue in general for too long, we need to go. You still want to come with?" he asks with a smirk
"No thanks, I'm going to make my own crew one day"
"That's great because we wouldn't have taken an anchor like you around anyway" Red Hair Shanks laughs and Luffy yells
"That's not nice you jerk! I'm going to be the Captain of the greatest pirate crew the world has EVER SEEN! And we'll find the greatest treasure there is and I'll become King of the Pirates"
Shank's laughter fades to a warm smile "The greatest huh?" he chuckles, reaching for his hat before placing it on Luffy's rubber noggin "Here's an idea, you keep this hat and bring it back when you have this amazing crew of fearsome pirates okay?" he hears Luffy sniffle though can't see the tears behind the hat "Hey Kaos" the taller kid stops helping Ben and Uta fill a crate to nod "I know wherever Anchor goes you will be, I won't ask you to stop him from making stupid decisions, we both know that's impossible, but try to keep him from getting killed"
"Hey! I don't need his help I'm going to be a great pirate" Luffy complains
"That may be true Luffy but every pirate Captain needs a 1st mate, and who better than your own brother?"
Luffy pouts for a moment before nodding "Hey Kaos, want to join my crew?"
The purplette nods with a grin "Sure, someone has to keep you alive"
"Hey….. fair" Luffy yells, then sighs
Shanks smiles as he watches the brothers from the ship's deck, knowing they will take the world by storm…
TOGETHER
TBC
LW: Well there we go, the origin of both of their Devil Fruits, Luffy's hat, and even Kaos' sword. I hope you all enjoyed this little stroll through Flashback Land, back to regular time in 2 weeks.
✦HAHAHAHAHA! That's cute, need I remind you that when this chapter was initially written Luffy's bounty jumped up to 1.5 BILLION, and is currently sitting at a massive 3 BILLION! And this guy thinks 8 mill makes him some kind of badass… okay in the East Blue where the average is 3 I'll admit it's okay, but it's nothing special
