The extra boring part about writing someone joining Luffy's quest is that everyone already knows every single island, joke, and fight that's going to happen. Not only that, but apparently all those who have tried, found it necessary to rewrite also the parts that didn't change at all, turning a relatively simple undertaking into something massive and impossible to do unless you're Xomniac.

Regardless, the characters support a story, and the interactions among them turn the events into something different than a sequence of plot-points.

Trying to write out my other One Piece fanfictions, I found myself often slamming against the wall that is the need to prepare an entirely original adventure, and the need to lay massive foundations to build up to the more 'active' arcs of the story that will come later on.

So, all in all, this fic is more predictable than my others, if only because the route to Sabaody is more or less ironclad. But that allows me to rush forward to the more interesting parts. There will be some overlap with the story we already know, of course, but I'll try to focus on having the MC new interactions with the people and plot to be the center of each chapter.

Let me know what you think of it!

Coby

The hammering headache was the very first thing that brought me back to consciousness, and immediately I was assaulted by senses that were putting together a picture that didn't quite make sense. With my vision blurry, I pushed right the skewed glasses that sat on the bridge of my nose only to grab my jaw and work it up and down, hoping to reduce the ringing in my ears.

In the meantime, I realized that I was sprawled among wooden debris and... Fruit? I blinked repeatedly until my vision brought into focus a boy that was stuffing his face while laughing maniacally: "I didn't die! *munch-munch* How lucky!"

"Hey." my voice sounded squeakier than I remembered it as, but it didn't matter at the moment. No, what grabbed the full scope of my focus was the dark-haired kid wearing a straw hat with a red ribbon around its base. Still, I had to ask, if only to make sure: "Who're you?"

The boy moved his arms in a sweeping motion that brought everything edible to his mouth, which ballooned out in a ridiculous manner before he swallowed everything. The whole move took less than a split second, and once he swallowed, he jumped to his feet, his fists closed on his hips and his smile shining wide.

The gentle rolling of the room meant that we were on a ship, and the wooden surfaces, along with the single porthole, meant that we were in the hull, while the presence of crates and barrels meant that this was the storage section. The room wasn't exaggeratedly large, despite being cluttered by the crashed barrel under me, still, it was of a respectable size.

And when he smiled, I swore he filled the entire place. He didn't balloon out like I suspected he could do, simply... a lit fireplace catches the eye, no matter where it is. And for a split second, he managed to command my attention in just the same way.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy." his smile, if possible, widened even further, "I'm going to be Pirate King!"

Then everything bubbled out and died when he tilted his head and his brows furrowed minutely: "What are you doing on the floor? Are you an idiot?"

In the corner of my eye, I spotted something outrageously pink, and moving my head, I confirmed that it was hair. My hair. The many possibilities that could describe the current situation crystallized into one, and I let out a full-bellied peal of laughter just a bit tainted with disbelief. I was in Coby's body, I had to be, and from the look of things, I was just at the beginning of Luffy's adventure, on Alvida's ship.

My first instinct, of course, was to lie and find a way to manipulate the boy with plot armor into accepting me on his crew: the world of One Piece, under the glamour, the color, and the laughter, was a law-of-the-jungle based nightmare. The option of becoming a marine, and supporting a system that thrived on slavery didn't even appear in my head, remaining on my own sounded of course both like a waste and an unnecessary risk, while I had no idea if I felt like joining the Revolutionary Army. Of all the options, being on the Going Merry sounded the best one: if nothing else, it would buy me time to figure out what I actually wanted to do.

Of course along the way I'd try to exploit my metaknowledge to the benefit of everyone... But do I have to go through the hassle? I knew that Luffy would drop me instantaneously if I bargained for my entrance on his crew with my metaknowledge as a price: he didn't want anything to spoil his adventure.

"That's a good dream to have." and I actually believed it: relying only on one's will to aim for the top in any field was possible only a world of fantasy like the one I was apparently in, but ambition here meant a lot. I knew that on this open sea, everything was possible: and to an electrical engineer stuck in a dead-end job like myself, being in a younger body on an adventure with Luffy himself... well, this was an opportunity like no other.

I rose to my feet while I looked at the rubber man in front of me, and I assumed a similar stance: "I am Coby." there was no sense in keeping my old name. I let out another peal of loud laughter: everything was possible, if only I reached for it with enough grit and daring: "I have more dreams than there are stars in the sky: I want to learn everything!"

In my previous life, something that I had no issue at all leaving behind, I had to redimension my ambition to the actual opportunities that I managed to scrounge up. From traveling all around the world as some champion martial artist as a child, to being a renowned researcher in the field of new energies once I realized that I'd have to actually have a real work to make a living, to aiming to a relatively safe retirement. "I want to climb the tallest mountains and plunge into the deepest seas! I want to explore the whole world and to see what nobody ever saw before!"

Then I exhaled, focusing on the center of the whole One Piece absurdity: "I want to research Devil Fruits, and learn everything that is there to learn about them." those things that apparently were alive, and only awaited to be awakened. I had lost interest in the manga right after Luffy's fight with Katakuri, as the entire Saga had looked like it would never end. But those events are a lifetime away. It would be too stupid to simply ignore them, wouldn't it?

While I talked, the boy wearing a straw hat regarded me seriously, and his eyes seemed to peer into me, his gaze almost a physical thing.

"So, Pirate King." I stepped forward, getting closer, "You'll see the whole world, won't you? You'll sail until you reach the One Piece?"

"Shishishi!" Luffy adjusted his Straw Hat while he laughed, "Of course!"

"Then I'll join your crew." I decided, "I want to be the greatest researcher and explorer of the world, and your ship sounds like the place to be."

"Mmmh..." Luffy tilted his head to the side, considering what I had just said, and as he seemed undecided, I scrounged up among the random skills that might interest the incredibly childish boy that I'd consider following only to save my own skin.

"I can also do tattoos and magic tricks." I had learned while in college, but it was...

"What!" Luffy's eyes bulged, "Magic tricks!? Join my crew!"

I simply gave him a thumbs up: "Okay."

Already, I was thinking about every possible thing that could kill me, and how I could turn them into advantages later on. First things first, Alvida ate a Devil Fruit that made her into a Smooth-Woman, did she not?

I didn't doubt that it could have useful applications, after all, Paramecia were utterly unique in the way that they were limited only by the ingenuity of the user, Zoan Fruits had the endless potential for evolution, and Logia could fall everywhere between the multi-use of Cesar's Fruit, and the less flexible ones of Akainu himself.

Still, in the New World, I wouldn't be able to survive only with the power of a devil fruit, even in Luffy's crew. Besides, the idea of being the punching bag of virtually anyone that stumbled upon me really didn't appease me.

Raising my eyes towards the wooden ceiling of the room I was in, I found myself grinning: Alvida was as basic as a pirate could go in the One Piece world. My hands tightened into fists, and I run up the stairs, closely followed by the man who had just become my captain.