Looking for a crew to sail the Four Seas and then eventually to the Grand Line. Must be strong and capable of handling diverse confrontations. In search of a first mate, a navigator, a marksman, a cook, a doctor, a shipwright, and eventually a musician (would be open to more crewmembers with reasoning). Also, in need a of a ship. Send Luffy a message for questions and concerns. Serious inquiries only.
Luffy finished typing out his ad and once he was satisfied with it, posted it onto an online forum board that people had used to find crews for their ship.
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"Hi, I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" Luffy said, attempting to introduce himself to the stoic looking teen tied the stocks that criminals were kept before their trials.
The green-haired boy looked up, eyeing the newcomer with vague disinterest. There was no reason why the boy in the straw hat should even be here, from what Zoro could tell by his accent was that he wasn't even from here. Neither was Zoro, but he wasn't going to mention that.
Feeling the uneasy silence fill the air, the pink-haired boy standing next to Luffy that had been stuffing Zoro's face with potatoes the past week, decided to speak up. "Ah, Zoro-san, I messaged him about joining your crew, sorry."
"It's whatever, Koby." Zoro muttered, half attempting a shrug despite being shackled to the stock post.
Luffy clapped his hands, announcing suddenly, "that's it, you're perfect, join my crew."
A moment of silence passed again as the boys thought to themselves about Luffy's declaration. Koby eyed the two, his eyes flitting rapidly between them. (Luffy had noticed in his peripheral vision and was beginning to get dizzy watching Koby.)
"Oi, can you get me out of this?" Zoro asked, pulling his head up to eye the boy again.
"Yeah," Luffy replied, trailing off.
Zoro grinned sadistically. "Great, then I need you to grab my swords. I think Koby over there might know where they're located."
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"I just want the both of you to know that the only reason I answered the ad was because I was promised all the treasure of the world."
Was how Nami came to join the two-man crew in a dinghy.
She appeared after the two boys had landed in Cocoyasi village, in search of the other people who might have answered Luffy's ad. Considering the boy had used the last of his savings he had earned from Makino to fund the ad, he was almost hopelessly optimistic that he'd find enough people to form a decent crew to sail the Grand Line.
Luffy smiled widely, his eyes crinkling up in humored joy. "Well, I'll be pirate king soon, so it'll come to you soon enough I suppose." He finished with a sheepish shrug.
Zoro, apparently the only one with a working braincell between the two thought Nami, seemed concerned about her joining the ranks. "What can you offer our crew?"
Nami scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive and self-sure stance. "I'll have you know that I am a brilliant map maker and have charted over eighty percent of the East Blue already, and I only started at eight."
Luffy sputtered. "Wha-wha-what?! Eighty percent? That's almost the whole sea!" To which his latter comment earned a heavy whack from the girl herself, shocking both Luffy and Zoro with her base strength.
"I think that about settles things, eh, Luffy?" Zoro chuckled, looking down at his twitching captain. Turning back to the fiery girl, he held out a hand in a truce. "On behalf of my idiot captain, I welcome you to the crew." Nami deftly took his hand and gave a solid shake with an equally brutal grin.
"Pleasure," she replied with a wink.
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The dinghy made land on the coast near the Syrup Village, with the small three-man disembarking only to be ambushed by a group of pirates. With Nami's help, Zoro and Luffy managed to not die on the open seas (a feat that Nami was astounded to come to learn when she realized just how hopeless the two were).
"Ready men! Three, two, one, FIRE!" A booming voice shouted, coming from the same area that small pirate flags were rapidly waving. In the next moment, a volley of rocks began to fall from the sky, pelting the meager crew as they rushed for cover.
One of the reasons why they had aimed for the Gecko Island chain was because an anonymous responder under the pseudonym sogeking claiming that they would join the crew if they helped kick out their friend's new caretaker. Luffy was moved by the response, one for someone else responding so soon after he had posted the ad and also because he loved throwing a little chaos whenever he went (so long as it benefited him, ya know, pirate and all).
Zoro huffed, his arms dramatically crossed over his chest. "Oi, whoever's up there, can you take us to a restaurant or something, my captain is really hungry and our navigator-" A swift whack on the head sounded loudly and reached the ears of the now trembling pirates on the topside of the cliff. "Agh, what the hell was that for?"
"For being a dumbass, I still never said I'd be the navigator for your little crew thing." Nami clarified, looking down dignifiedly at her nails.
"Well, anyways," he began again, "we need access to a computer."
"Do you come in peace?" A deeper voice out of the chatter above responded.
Both Zoro and Nami sighed dejectedly knowing that Luffy would answer with a resolute and firm, "yes!"
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Zeff dropped into the kitchen in a flurry of movement shocking Sanji with the uncharacteristically enthusiastic pep to his step. "Oi, Sanji, there are some people here for you! A boy in a straw hat with a weird group following him came in demanding to see the sous chef of the Baratie."
Sanji in the middle of plating a couple's set of dishes, almost ready to be served, paused his delicate layering to glare at the older, blond, broad, mustached man. "Zeff, if you interrupt me one more time, I'll kick your braided mustache off of your face." He grunted, still holding the garnishes for the dish carefully despite the rigidness of his bent over form and the venom laced in his tone.
Finally finding a pleasant way to present the dish, Sanji stood up and immediately barked to a server to fetch him a tray, not trusting his boss' incompetent servers to not ruin his food. Normally, he wouldn't take to such pains when serving his food, but it gave him an opportunity to see the ragtag group Zeff had mentioned earlier without appearing outwardly curious about their arrival.
Sanji balanced the two dishes on the tray and left the chaotic kitchen, feeling every line cook and servers eyes following him as he kicked the door open in a dramatic flourish, stunning the dining room into an easy silence. Again, all eyes were on him as he made his way to the couple dining. It always pleased Sanji to prepare food for a beautiful woman (even if she had a man or companion, as he often found it to be at times) and watch her react to his food.
He smiled and presented the dishes to the couple and gave a small bow and a wish that they enjoy their food. Or he would have, if he weren't interrupted by the shrill voice of a boy just reaching maturity.
"Oi! Sanji!" A bumbling fool of a boy exclaimed again, attempting to gain the chef's attention by vigorously waving his hand. Sanji noted the three other people quietly waiting, all three cringing in some sort of way at the exuberance of the boy standing.
"Silence! I will not have you fouling up my restaurant with your vulgarity," Sanji said, pointing dramatically towards the boy, eyes practically aflame in his glare.
"But Sanji, we came for your food!" The boy cried, now pouting at his rejection. "And we came because you said you wanted to join our crew."
Sanji marched over, manhandling the boy and dragging him out of the front doors of the Baratie to the outside deck. "No, as I said before, I will not have you deflowering Zeff's restaurant."
"Eh?! Deflowering?" The boy asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.
Sanji sighed, pulling out a pack and lighting a cigarette in one swift and elegant motion. He took a long drag, letting the nicotine settle in before exhaling, relishing in the buzz and calm that the hit brought on. "You wouldn't understand." He took another hit. "This ship, no, this restaurant, is Zeff's livelihood. I can't just leave him high and dry."
"Well, you can because I'll be King of the Pirates one day and I need the best cook in the world at my side." The boy proudly exclaimed, clutching his chest in affirmation.
Sanji side eyed him, sliding down on the banister to slouch against it. "King of the Pirates, eh? That's gonna be a hard path."
"I never said it was gonna be easy," the boy retorted. "I, Monkey D. Luffy, will become the King of the Pirates!"
"Well, I, Sanji, reject to join your crew."
"I reject your rejection, so now you're a part of my crew." Luffy laughed giddily, a huge smile plastered to his face.
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The Going Merry, now equipped with a resolute captain, a stoic first mate, the devilishly gorgeous navigator, an equally unparalleled marksman, and now the best cook in the Four Seas, made landfall at Drum Island, set in the Grand Line.
Since most of the Straw Hats had grown up in more temperate climates, experiencing snow was not something any of them had much experience in.
Luffy had gone up to the village chief on Drum Island and demanded that they show them to the best doctor on the island since their normally strong and resilient navigator was now on the brink of dying.
"We don't have any doctors though, all of them were killed by the king years ago." The village chief had told Luffy. Of course, the Straw Hat's captain was very much resolute in finding a doctor for both his crew and to take care of his precious friend.
After leaving, taking Nami on his back, Luffy trudged through the snow, determined to reach this witch doctor he had heard the villagers speak so much about. Somehow, Luffy realized that time was very much of the essence, and that the longer he delayed, the less of a chance that Nami would survive.
What seemed like hours to the tenacious and very cold Captain of the Straw Hats, did he realize that he was been followed. It wasn't such a visual realization but more of a gut instinct and Luffy had come to the conclusion that he had to follow his gut instincts.
Luffy turned around, peering into the snowy forest, that despite the lateness of the hour, was still relativelty brightly lit because of the moon. Catching the slight movement out of the corner of his eye, Luffy called out. "Oi, if you're over there, can you take me to this witch doctor person? My friend is in really, really bad shape."
The slight form of an animal hesitantly peered from behind a tree, their body shaking in fear.
"Yeah, you over there, do you know this doctor person?"
A young boy's voice rang out in the silent forest. "I can take you to her."
Luffy spun around, trying to figure out where the voice came from. The small form of the animal tiptoed further past the safety of the tree. "I can take you to her."
Luffy screamed which led the animal to also scream and hide again. Nami shifted uncomfortably on his back, moaning in pain.
"Wahh, sorry, Nami," Luffy whispered. "Oi, dog thing over there, lead me to the witch doctor."
"I'm a reindeer!"
"My bad," Luffy replied, "lead the way, Reindeer-san."
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"I saw the ad and I want in."
"Eh?!"
The woman repeated herself to the shock of the crew. The three most terrified of the strange women's abilities were currently huddled together, hiding behind of the masts, only their eyes in view. All three, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, were shaking in their shoes (or lack of shoes, in Chopper's case), just watching Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro deal with the woman who was once considered their enemy.
"Were you not our enemy just a few days ago?"
The woman nodded, "I've had a disagreement with my former employer and we've now parted ways. I figured that joining your crew would allow me to better pursue my own goals."
"Now, don't get me wrong, I would absolutely love having another woman on board, but I agree with Marimo over there. How do we know that you won't betray us like you did to Mr. Crocodile?"
"I simply just want to follow the Grand Line and decipher the Poneglyphs to find the hidden history of the world." She said with a tone aspiration, as if she had been trying to follow this dream for years.
"Well, that settles it, doesn't it guys?" Luffy said, looking around his crew for any objections. When none sounded, he looked back to the dark-haired woman with a massive smile. "Wonderful, now we have a, uh, what role do you play?"
She laughed. "My name is Nico Robin and I am an archeologist."
"Perfect! An archeologist!" Luffy exclaimed with a shout. "Wait, why do I need an archeologist?"
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There he stood, currently stark naked save for a barely covering floral shirt, facing the crew, groaning in pain. Robin had smirked, her arms still crossed in the middle of her technique. Of all the ways for Franky to join the Straw Hat's after his brother realized the ad that Luffy had posted all those months ago would greatly benefit him and keep him out of relative trouble (what Iceburg hadn't realized then that even though he had sent his brother with the Straw Hats, they'd be in more danger than if he had stayed behind – granted anywhere Iceburg figured that Franky would go, if he had friends he would be in good hands).
It only took him for the Straw Hats to duke it out on Water 7 and almost destroy the whole city and then break their friend out from Enies Lobby for the ragtag group with an equally ragtag ship barely holding together for Franky to want to join.
"Can't believe my own brother organized this," Franky groaned, both reeling from the fact that he was nude and his prized jewels were still being pinched by that devil of a woman smirking on the deck of the Thousand Sunny (his ship, his greatest masterpiece, he might add).
(Actually, Robin had merely pinched him once for less than two seconds but Franky was a dramatist.)
"Fine, fine, I'll join you're crew, I was planning on it anyway," he said, side-eyeing his brother grumpily. Luffy jumped into the air, whooping for joy, fist raised high.
"Oi, Luffy, can I get my suit back by any chance?" Franky asked.
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"Luffy, according to your list of wanted crewmates, we are still missing a musician," Nami noted, taking a look at the ad in case someone new had responded.
It had been months, sure, since that foolish seventeen-year-old boy used the last of his savings to post it but look at how far they had come. He had found both Zoro and Nami within a couple weeks of each other (nearly dying together before they added Nami to their ranks), and then Usopp after they had saved his friend from being almost brutally murdered by what she assumed to be a trusted caretaker. Sanji, oh Sanji, the brilliant cook yet will not stop fawning over both her and Robin and any other woman they happened to chance upon. Chopper, Nami noted with hazy nostalgia, was probably one of the only reasons why she was still standing and breathing to this day. And then when Robin joined...
Her reminiscing was cut short when a sudden call was heard.
"Ahoy! Ahoy there!"
Came a resounding booming voice from seemingly all sides.
All of the Straw Hats not already on the main deck, burst out of their rooms, frantically trying to assess the situation.
It seemed that the massive ship that they were passing, even in its dilapidated shape, carried the ghost like body of the booming voice. All eyes turned to the ship, scrutinizing it to find the body of the voice and being shocked to find that a skeleton was speaking.
"Hello! While you be able to find my shadow? I fear I may never walk in the day again without it." The afroed skeleton asked before using one of the mast lines to swing across the distance separating the two ships. Landing silently despite his large stature, the skeleton gave a slight bow towards the crew in an attempt at a warm greeting.
Luffy grinned, as if knowing what this skeleton was capable. "Oi, skeleton dude, wanna join my crew?"
"It would be my pleasure, er, uh," the skeleton trailed off.
"Ah, sorry, Monkey D. Luffy, future King of the Pirates." He said with a chuckle.
"- Luffy-san! It would be my pleasure to join."
AN: Originally posted to AO3. Hope you enjoy this lengthy oneshot I wrote for the Inktober 2021 challenge I made myself go through as a fun writing challenge. Tried to stay within their canonical characters.