Birthday Memories
By: Escachick357
Ch.1- Luffy: A Day of Questions
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or its characters…sorry.
A/N: Okay, I was looking over my story Christmas Memories and wondered, "I wonder what birthdays as a child would be like for the Straw Hat Pirates." And this is what I came up with. I pick one birthday for the One Piece characters and I make up what happens. In this chapter, I know that Luffy ate the Devil Fruit when he was seven, but I just said that he ate it at six. R/R if you want, but no flaming please.
----------
Over the many years people have been living, they claimed that the best season for being born in was Spring. The weather was almost always warm, not hot but not cold. This was especially good for anyone born in May. The weather was almost always good in May especially in Fuschia Village. This was a good thing for a certain little boy living in this small village.
Six-year-old Monkey D. Luffy was the lucky little boy born in the month of May, the fifth of the month actually and he really couldn't wait. The small boy was so sick and tired of being six and called a little boy despite the fact that he really was a little boy. But maybe, just maybe, he would be old enough to prove to Shanks that he was old enough to join his pirate crew.
The day was getting closer and closer and by each passing day, the small boy grew overly anxious. He was getting closer to being a whole year older and, like every normal child in the world, he just couldn't wait. His parents and brother asked him what he wanted for his birthday(his mother was praying that he'd choose something that wouldn't destroy the house) and he gave his list, which pretty much included toys and meat, to them.
Luffy's family members shrugged their shoulders. At least the things he wanted were easy to get and not a dog like his mother had feared.
After a minute, Luffy left the house and headed for the bar in the middle of town. Once inside, the small boy took a seat next to a partially sober Shanks.
"Hey, Anchor. What are you so happy about?" Shanks asked loudly.
"I'm going to be a man soon!" The boys shouted with a very large smile on his face.
Shanks stared at him long and hard, "You're going to be a man soon?" Luffy nodded. "And how are you going to do that?" The man asked.
Makino leaned forward from behind the bar and whispered in his ear, "Luffy's going to be turning seven in a week."
Shanks paled, "Oh crap. And last week we told him that when he gets a year older he'll be a man." Shanks turned his gaze at the small boy sitting next to him with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"See? When I become a man, you'll have to let me join your crew." Luffy shouted.
Shanks let out a sigh. He had promised the kid that when he got a year older he'd be counted as a man, but he never promised to let the boy join his crew. It just wasn't going to happen, but then an idea popped into his head.
"Okay, I'll tell you what, Anchor. I'm going to give you an early birthday presant." Shanks told the small boy.
"You're going to let me join your crew?" Luffy cried out hopefully.
Shanks let out a deep laugh, "Keep dreaming, Anchor." He looked over at Luffy, who was beginning to pout. The man stopped laughing, "No, but I'm going to give you what my dad gave me on my seventh birthday."
"What's that?" Luffy asked him.
Shanks smiled at him, "On your birthday, I will let you ask me any questions you want to know, no matter how stupid or embarrassing they are, and I will answer them truthfully."
"You said it was an early birthday presant." Luffy told him angrily.
Shanks nodded, "It is. You have one week to think of all the questions you want to ask me on your birthday."
Luffy's angry face then turned into an excited face, "Wow! Really?"
Shanks nodded, "Really."
"Cool!" Luffy shouted, "Thanks!" the small boy quickly ran out of the bar happily.
"You're going to tell him the truth about anything he asks you?" Makino asked him.
Shanks gave out a huge laugh, "Hell no!" Everybody in the bar laughed with him.
-------
For the rest of the week, Luffy thought long and hard of all the questions he would be able to ask Shanks that he couldn't ask his own parents. After four days, he realized why Shanks gave him a whole week to think of the questions he would ask the day he turned seven. Most of the questions he asked were already answered by either his parents to by Ace, but there were also some questions they wouldn't answer. Now all he had to do was wait.
-------
The sun rose on the morning of May 5th and almost immediately, Luffy jumped out of bed and ran to the living room. Ace and his parents were already up and ready for the excited little boy that just ran into the kitchen. Saying a "Happy Birthday" to her youngest son, Luffy's mother placed a huge plate full of eggs and meat.
Quickly, the small boy sat at the table and started eating the food on the plate. His family sat down at the table to eat breakfast with him. After breakfast, Luffy as allowed to open up two of his presants: one from his parents and one from Ace, and open up the others later after dinner. His parents gave him this really cool miniature car. Ace gave him an envelope with a coupon inside.
Luffy looked over the coupon in confusion. It was made by Ace himself, but still Luffy didn't quite understand it.
"Let me see that." Luffy's mother told him.
Luffy handed her the coupon. She looked it over and began to read, "Good for one free butt-kicking. Expires: Never." She looked at her elder child, "Ace!" Ace was cracking up and so was his father.
"Dad made me do it!" Ace admitted, pointing at his father.
His father stared at him, "Tattletale. Besides, it was a good joke."
"You don't give a seven-year-old a handmade coupon for a butt-kicking. You're going to get him scared and possibly even give Ace ideas." Luffy's mother argued.
"I'm going to the pirates!" Luffy announced.
"Be back in time for dinner!" his mother called.
"Okay!" Luffy shouted before leaving the house.
The second he left the house, Luffy ran to the bar to find Shanks and his crew completely sober.
"Happy birthday, Luffy!" Makino said to the small boy that had entered the bar.
"Yeah, happy birthday." Shanks said to him. Luffy smiled at both Makino and Shanks and took a seat next to the pirate. "So, do you have your questions ready?" Shanks asked him. Luffy nodded happily. Shanks laughed, "Then ask away."
"My mom said that storks bring babies, so is that true?" Luffy asked.
Shanks shook his head, "God no!"
"Well, then where do babies come from?" Luffy asked.
Shanks took a deep breath, "I guess now you're old enough to know the truth."
Makino stared at him, ready to step in if the man told the small boy the absolute truth, but…
"When a couple or person wants a baby, they take some money and head to the nearest auction house. You know what that is, right?" Shanks asked him.
Luffy nodded, "Dad took me and Ace to one last year."
"Good. Didn't want to confuse you. Now, when they get to the house, they wait for the auction to start then they auction for special eggs that give them the chance to have a baby.
The auction is held every few days and only six eggs are auctioned and are only sold to one couple or person." Shanks told him.
"What happens next?" Luffy asked, already believing the story he was being told.
"They wait for the auction house to empty and they crack their eggs. If there isn't anything there, then they don't get anything, but if there is a little yellow ball inside, then they get a baby. If there are two, then they get twins." Shanks answered.
"So, do the balls turn into babies?" Luffy asked.
Shanks shook his head, "No. The women with the balls feed them to a special flying animal, which flies to an island full of babies. Then they deliver the babies."
"Storks?" Luffy asked.
Shanks roughly shook his head, "Those damn storks try to take all the credit for delivery. No, the babies are delivered by flying cats with huge fangs. If a baby touches the cat's fangs, then they will be bad."
"Wow…" Luffy gasped. He closed his eyes trying to imagine his parents auctioning for an egg and cracking it to get a baby. He also tried to imagine being traveled to Fuschia Village by a flying cat.
"Do you have any other questions?" Shanks asked him.
Luffy nodded, "Why do brussel sprouts taste so gross?"
Shanks let out a laugh, "You don't know how long I've asked my own dad that question before I found the answer out myself."
"So, what's the answer?" Luffy asked him.
Shanks leaned forward and whispered the answer into the small boy's ear.
"Really?" Luffy asked. Shanks nodded his head. "EEEEEEWWWWWWW!" Luffy shouted.
"See? Now you know why they taste so bad. I hate them too, so I don't eat them." Shanks told him.
"Did you ever tell that to any of your kids?" Luffy asked.
"I don't have any kids." Shanks answered, grinning.
"Well, what about Yasopp? He said he had a son." Luffy asked.
"Beats me." Shanks answered.
"Right. You think I'd be telling him that? The only thing I'd be telling him are the stories of my life of piracy." Yasopp laughed from his table.
"Shanks? Why does everyone freak when they see two people holding hands?" Luffy asked the red haired pirate.
"Well, that's because when two people hold hands it means that the boy will never be left alone by the girl. Trust me. I held hands with a girl when I was ten and she didn't leave me alone until I left home…and I think she'll never stop looking for me." Shanks answered shuddering.
"What about thunder? Where does it come from?" Luffy asked.
Shanks smiled, "When the good fat people walk around heaven, thunder is made. That's why it's so loud."
"Wow…why are girls so obsessed with the color pink and men aren't." Luffy asked. He'd been wondering that for years.
"Easy," Shanks answered, "It's because we're men and pink is the color of weaklings. Men are tough while the women are weak-OW!"
Makino hit him over the head, "What was that?"
"Nothing." Shanks quickly answered. Makino grinned and began pouring ale into mugs.
"I thought you said that girls were weak." Luffy told him.
"Well, Makino's an exception." Shanks told Luffy, placing a hand on the part of his head that Makino hit. A bump was starting to form.
"Do you think you can answer my questions still?" Luffy asked.
Shanks nodded, "Yeah. Luckily she didn't hit me very hard."
"Okay, so why do I hear my voice repeated when I scream down the well?" Luffy asked.
"Your twin is stuck down the well." Shanks answered.
"I have a twin?" Luffy cried out.
Shanks nodded, "He was thrown down there because he was the evil twin."
"I have an evil twin?" Luffy asked.
Shanks nodded, "Everyone has an evil twin. Just not all of them were thrown down the well."
-------
Luffy asked Shanks questions for hours and found out that rain is only caused when somebody memorable to the world dies, make-up is just a way for girls to possess boys, it took 512 licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop (Shanks wasn't lying on this one. He actually counted before he entered Fuschia Village), and many other things he never knew before.
Ace finally came into the bar to bring his brother home for dinner, cake, and more presants. Luffy thanked Shanks for all the answers to his questions not knowing that most of the things he was told were complete lies. Both boys walked out of the bar and Shanks laughed about kids believing anything.
A rubbery foot ran through the doors and roughly kicked Shanks in the back.
"Sorry, Luffy." Shanks shouted at the foot before muttering, "Damn Devil Fruit." Everybody in the bar laughed at him. Makino poured him a mug of alcohol and laughed after seeing him chug the entire thing down in half a second.
--------
As Luffy and Ace walked home, they ran into the nine-year-old Zedaker twins Harry and Kerry. Luffy stopped and stared at them long and hard.
"What are you looking at?" Harry asked Luffy.
"Which one of you is the evil twin? I can't tell." Luffy asked.
"Evil twin?" Kerry asked.
"Yeah, which one is the evil twin?" Luffy asked.
"None of us is evil!" Harry and Kerry shouted.
"You are, too. There is always an evil twin!" Luffy shouted.
"There is not!" the twins argued.
Ace grabbed Luffy's hand, "Come on. Mom wants us home now." The two brothers left for their home and left the twins staring in shock.
When the boys got home, plates of dinner was placed in front of them. The man and boys ate a lot. Luffy's mother ate only a little bit. A nice chocolate cake was then placed in front of the younger boy with seven candles lit by Ace in them. The special birthday song was sung for Luffy; he made a wish, and then blew out the candles.
Two more presants were placed in front of the small boy: one from his parents and one from Ace. Both were toys and no homemade coupons. Luffy smiled and thanked everyone for their presants and claimed that this was the best birthday he ever had and to him it really was. For the first time ever, he had his questions answered and was about to go to bed happily. But then he saw his mother eating a few brussel sprouts and screamed, "MOM! STOP! Brussel sprouts are grown out of chicken poop!" Hey, to him it was the truth.
-------
A/N: Okay, that was the first chapter. I know that everybody seemed OOC, but it's my story and I can make them as OOC as I want. And I know that the thing with Luffy asking where babies come from was already done in another story, so just to make it clear that I didn't steal that idea, I just made the answer to the question different than the other person's. And the thing with Ace's coupons. That was based on something I did to my little sister. On her eleventh birthday, I decided to make her homemade coupons for humor and one of them said, "Good for one free ass whooping. Expires: Never" and my dad was the one that gave me the idea. My mom yelled at me, but I didn't get in trouble.
Sorry if I made this chapter a little weird and boring, but I'll try harder on the next chapter.
Next chapter: Zoro