The Journey Begins

Crisp blue waves gently licked the side of a small dingy under the noon sun. The air smelling of salt vibrated with the bemused chuckle from one of the two residents of the small fishing boat. A young man stood with his arms crossed, gently shaking his head in exasperation at the situation that he and his companion had found themselves in. The young man, standing at a height of 5'7" wore a red vest with jean shorts whilst flip flops adorned his feat. The young man had spiky ebony colored hair that flowed around his head like an unkempt mop with an old straw hat crowned on top. His obsidian eyes locked onto the other man sharing the boat with him, mirth dancing in his eyes like a lit flame.

"I can't believe we let this happen." The young man stated dryly, a smirk stretching across his boyish face, the scar under his left eye crinkling ever so slightly.

The other young man rolled his piercing golden eyes in exasperation, "That's because I was stupid enough to leave you in command of the boat."

The other young man that was slouched on the floor of the boat had an air of power radiating around him. He wore a sleeveless black vest which was left open showing off his toned body, lightly tanned trousers clad his lower half, with the legs tucked into his dark brown leather boots and a red sash tied around his waist. The man's midnight black hair flowed down to his shoulders in spiky locks.

The golden eyed young man stood up to his full 6'2" height and raked his eyes across the problem that his idiot brother had steered them towards. Amidst the calm waters raged a whirlpool that was threatening to capsize their tiny boat. The young man already knew that there tiny craft was doomed, and so where they if they didn't act fast. A deep sigh escaped the man's lips as he flickered his eyes back towards the grinning buffoon he called a brother.

"Luffy, you need to pay more attention to your surroundings or you'll die." He scolded the other teen as calmly as he could.

"Oh come on! We'll be fine, Nico!" Luffy gestured towards the lone barrel sitting in the corner of their small craft, "We can just use this to survive."

A tick mark appeared above Nico's brow as his frustration began creeping through his forced cool expression. He calmly walked towards the laughing idiot before punching him on the top of his head, leaving a bump.

"OW!" Luffy exclaimed as a lone tear leaked out of his left eye, "How the hell can you use the Fist of Love?!"

Nico ignored him in favor of climbing into the barrel, Luffy following after him a second later. It didn't take long before the rocking of the boat grew more violent and they were sucked below the waves, soon after Nico lost consciousness.

A little while later Nico began to stir from his impromptu nap. His eyes lazily creaked open only to widen in horror at the site of Luffy's ass pressed up against his face.

"Get the fuck off of me!" he yelled before shoving the still sleeping boy off of him, shattering the barrel and knocking out an unaware pirate in the process.

A yell of shock and a squeal of fright pried Nico's annoyed gaze away from his bumbling brother towards a haggard man and a young boy with pink hair. Nico's brow cocked upwards in curiosity as the unremarkable man with a cutlass pointed his finger at the brothers in shock.

"Who the hell are you two?!" he exclaimed in an obnoxious and annoying manner.

"…" Nico didn't grace him with a reply and instead lazily swung his golden eyes towards the pink haired bespectacled boy cowering in the corner of the storage room.

"Ahhh! I slept great!" Luffy loudly announced to the world with an exaggerated stretching of his arms and a giant grin on his face.

That statement from the straw hat wearing boy was enough to break the haggard nameless pirate out of his trance, as he swung his cheap looking blade down at Luffy in blind panic. Reacting with practiced grace, Nico reached up and caught the blade with his right hand and promptly shattered the sword with no effort much to the nameless grunt's and the pink haired boy's shock.

"… That was awfully rude…" Nico muttered casually.

The man shrieked in fright and clambered up the stairs away from the brotherly duo with a suspicious smell trailing after him.

Luffy glanced over to the cowering boy and asked "Who the hell are you?" in the usual polite manner that he was known for.

"I-I'm Cob-by," the now named Coby nervously stuttered out.

Nico fixed the frightened Coby with a penetrating stare, "You got any food?" he asked.

"um…" Coby fidgeted nervously for a second, "who are you two?"

A wide grin stretched across Luffy's face, as he pointed to himself with practiced gusto.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" he then swung his pointed finger at his bemused brother, "And the scary weirdo is Wolf D. Nico, my brother!"

A tick mark appeared on Nico's forehead as he punched his brother in the back of the head,

"Who's calling who a weirdo!?" he barked, as Luffy yelled out in comedic pain causing a sweat drop to form on Coby's head.

The pink haired boy shook his head as a worried and frightened expression appeared on his face.

"It doesn't matter! You two need to get out of here!" he whispered frantically to the quarreling brothers.

"Do you know who is boarding this ship!? It's the Alvida Pirates!" he exclaimed.

Nico and Luffy glanced at each other with uncaring expressions on their faces. In simultaneous synchronicity both teens promptly shoved their pinky fingers up their noses.

"So?" both boys asked carelessly.

"I'm hungry! Got any food?" Luffy added helpfully.

Coby sighed in defeat and gestured to the two monstrous teens to follow him to the pantry, where they found a barrel of apples waiting for them. Nico and Luffy promptly started devouring the apples like their lives depended on it. While they were ravenously stuffing their faces Coby regaled them with his tale of woe, starting with how he mistook a pirate ship for a fishing boat and leading on to his two years aboard the Alvida pirate ship. At the end both brothers were staring at Coby with blank faces.

"You're kind of an idiot, huh?" Luffy stated bluntly.

"And a cowardly weakling." Nico added helpfully.

""I hate people like you."" They both said simultaneously whilst laughing.

Coby's head drooped down in defeat at the harsh truth the brothers dumped on him.

"I know." he mumbled to himself.

He suddenly looked up with an inquisitive gleam in his eyes.

"What exactly compelled you two to go out to sea?" Coby asked.

Nico and Luffy shared a challenging glance at one another.

""We're both competing to be Pirate King!"" both exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Huh?" Coby muttered, his eyes widening in shock at both boys.

Luffy grinned with barely contained excitement,

"We're going to fight our way to the end of the Grand Line, and we will fight each other for the title of Pirate King!" he said with a fire of challenge ignited in his dark eyes.

Nico nodded his head as a grin stretched across his face and excitement blazed in his golden eyes.

"There we can truly become the best of the world." Nico sighed, "I can't wait for that fight."

Luffy bobbed his head up and down like a kid with a sugar rush in agreement with his brother.

Coby's eyes widened in horror at the suicidal dream the brothers shared.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible!" he exclaimed, "You would need to amass all of the fame, fortune, and strength of the entire world! You would need to find the One Piece!"

Coby vigorously shook his head back and forth, "You would be competing with every pirate on the Grand Line!" he yelled in fright, "Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossibl…"

Coby was silenced when Luffy bonked him on the head, an annoyed glare aimed at the bespectacled boy.

Nico shook his head with obvious disappointment at Coby,

"Pirate King is Pirate king," he announced simply, "it's the dream we strive for, the one we steaked our life on. If we die trying to accomplish our dream then that is a life well spent."

Luffy grinned in agreement with his brother as Coby's eyes widened in awe at the two young men in front of him. Maybe… he thought to himself.

As Nico and Luffy were getting up from finishing all of the apples in the barrel Coby stepped forward, conviction filling his heart for the first time in years.

"Do…." He paused, "Do you think I could accomplish my dream?" he asked

"My dream of joining the Navy?"

Both brothers shared a look before Luffy replied, "I don't know."

Coby let out a light laugh, "No, I will!" he said, a grin stretching across his face, "I will join the Navy!"

"I will join the Navy!" he exclaimed louder, "And I'll catch Alvida too!"

Suddenly a loud crash pierced the air as debris rained down on all three boys like sleet.

"You'll do what, Coby?" a nasally voice interrupted.

Stepping out of the cloud of smoke stood a massive whale of a lady. She had stringy black hair with a white cowboy hat crowned on her head, a pink shirt stuffed into her large skirt, and a massive iron mace rested on her shoulder casually. Upon seeing the rather large woman Coby promptly devolved into a quivering mess. The large woman glanced at the brothers with an inquisitive gaze,

"Neither of you seem to be Pirate Hunter Zoro." She said as a smirk stretched across her greasy freckled face.

Nico glanced between the fat lady and Coby with a confused look.

"Hey Coby, who's the fat whale?" he asked bluntly, causing everyone in the room aside from his brother to freeze in shock.

"Not good…" one of the pirates muttered to himself.

Luffy laughed as he heard his brother, completely agreeing with him on his observation.

The woman's brow began twitching uncontrollably at the insult.

"YOU BRAT!" she roared, as she hefted her mace over her head and brought it down on the brother duo who easily jumped out of the way. Luffy grabbed Coby and leapt out of the hole in the roof with Nico following after him.

Nico Glanced around the deck of the ship, his eyebrow cocked in intrigue.

"Luffy!" he called out to his lanky brother, "deal with the nobodies!"

Luffy glanced back at his brother with a grin stretched across his boyish face, "Okay!" he chirped.

Just then Alvida came barreling after Nico in a frothing rage, intent on smashing him into a pancake. She roared like a deranged animal as she blindly swung her mace down at Nico whom easily sidestepped. Nico sighed in annoyance as he casually slipped his hands into his pockets and fixed the lumbering whale of a woman a bored stare.

Meanwhile Luffy was playing around with the various pirates on deck, before a funny idea struck him. he quickly grabbed the mast of the ship and kept running, stretching his arm to an ungodly length as he went while screaming in false fright before looking back and rocketing himself into a group of faceless pirates. Coby all the while dumbstruck with all that was going on.

"What are you!?" Coby exclaimed in shock.

Luffy turned to the pink haired boy and promptly stretched his cheek out comically, "I'm a rubber man!" he chirped cheerfully.

Alvida glanced back at the rubber man with mild surprise, "He ate a devil fruit?" she said to herself. Nico rolled his golden eyes as he hopped back to join his brother.

"So they do exist." The fat lady said with a menacing grin.

She looked down at Coby who was cowering in front of the fat woman again, "Coby," she said threateningly, "I'm the most what?"

Coby was shaking in fear, "U-um, y-y-you are t-the m…" he paused as he recalled his earlier conversation with the two brothers, "You are the fattest, ugliest bitch in the whole East Blue!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes shut in terror.

"YOU RUNT!" screamed the fat bitch, as she swung her massive mace at Coby, only to be intercepted by Nico who caught the massive blunt weapon like it was a paper weight.

"Well said!" Nico grinned.

Nico then rocketed his fist forwards, and shattered the massive club like it was glass much to the absolute shock of everyone onboard, aside from Luffy. Before the beefy woman could recover from her weapon being reduced to scrap she was punched in the gut by the grinning muscular teen, and subsequently launched into the open ocean with a tremendous amount of force.

The silence that followed was deafening, as the remaining pirates gaped in horror as their captain was defeated by a teenager with one punch. Nico slowly turned his head to the remaining frightened pirates,

"Get a boat ready, Coby's joining the Marines."

""YESSIR!"" Chorused the remaining pirates who all looked like they would feint from terror.

As Luffy and Coby were getting ready to board the dingy, Nico looked up and spotted an orange mop of hair. His curiosity piqued, he walked over his grinning brother, and tearfully relieved Pinkette.

"I just saw something interesting so I'm going to split for a while." He stated simply. "You two don't die at sea."

"Kay!" Luffy chirped.

Nico then rocketed himself over to the other ship in search of the orange haired woman, it didn't take long for him to spot said woman dragging a massive bag of treasure across the deck of the ship. She wore white and blue striped shirt, and orange skirt, and a blue bandana wrapped around her head. Her wide brown eyes were squinted with exertion as she drug her hoard across the floor. While observing this Nico let loose a piercing whistle startling the woman enough for her to drop the massive sack. Almost instantaneously the woman whipped out a collapsible staff from… somewhere… and got into a defensive stance which would have looked quite intimidating, had her legs not been shaking like a leaf in a tropical storm.

"I have to ask," Nico stated, amusement leaking its way into his tone, "how the hell are you going to get that thing out of here?"

The woman shifted herself to stand between Nico and the sack of treasure.

"M-MINE!" she yelled possessively.

Nico shook his head in bemusement, "I don't want your treasure." He stated.

The woman's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Then what do you want?" she asked.

"I was curious." Nico replied, his grin widening.

"Curious?" she repeated.

Nico nodded his head with an exaggerated cheer which only served to confound the orange haired woman further. He pointed at the woman, his eyes dancing with mischief,

"I thought I spotted a thief." He said cheerfully.

The woman made a sound of comedic outrage, "HEY!" she yelled. "I only steal from pirates! So it's not really stealing!" She exclaimed with a huff.

Nico only laughed in response, "A thief's a thief."

The woman groaned in annoyance. Nico pointed at the bag as his eyes lit up like a lightbulb.

"Hey, I'll help you move that if you help me to the next island." He told the woman.

"Hoh?" She raised a delicate eyebrow in suspicious curiosity, "And why would I agree to that?"

To answer her, Nico pointed out west where there were several Marine ships sailing towards the crew ship.

"I'm guessing that you would like to avoid them almost as much as me." He stated blandly.

The woman's eyes widened before she clicked her teeth in annoyance.

"Fine!" she agreed indignantly, "But you won't take any of my treasure!"

Nico held up his hands in surrender, "I didn't want it anyway."

The black haired teen quickly walked over towards the treasure, and with a small huff heaved the massive hoard over his head with little to no difficulty. The woman stood there dumbfounded by the young man's strength before shaking her head and clambering after him. As they were hurrying towards the life rafts Nico glanced over towards the young woman.

"What's your name anyways?" he asked.

The woman meet Nico's golden eyes with a heated stare for a moment before answering.

"Nami." The now named woman said, her eyes still penetrating Nico with their gaze.

"Cool. I'm Wolf D. Nico." Nico replied. "Nice to meet'cha."

With that they boarded the life craft, reserving half of the space for the bag of treasure and set off in a seemingly random direction of Nami's choosing.

"So where are we headed Nami?" Nico asked as he slumped onto the boats floor.

"Orange Town." She replied immediately, to which Nico chuckled to himself.

"What?" Nami asked irritably.

"The orange haired chick wants to go to Orange Town." Nico explained with a smirk.

Nami rolled her eyes in response but didn't reply.