In a island in the east blue there is a small village, known for its windmills, called foosha village. At the docks of the village is a large ship with the crew working aboard the deck. None noticed a small figure climb up to the ships figurehead.
Meanwhile in the village a young boy had just finished his daily training routine. He had bright orange hair, brown eyes and a cheery appearance. He was also wearing gray shorts and a black t-shirt with the word 'SMILE' in bright yellow. He was heading back inside the house he lived in, along with the two boys who he considered family to meet with the pirates who had made the village their base.
"Naruto! Luffy! We're going to be late to the ... party thing!"
Kurosaki D. Ichigo
Age: 7 2/3 years old
Village boy
Ichigo waited for 5 minutes before sighing and going to the first bedroom to get the younger boys. To his surprise however the first room was empty, with no sign of the youngest boy. Believing that he went ahead to the party bar to wait for the captain, and badger him to take him to sea for the 73rd time. Shaking his head, Ichigo headed to the house's other occupants room to check if he was perhaps still in bed, otherwise he would just head over to the bar.
He would admit that he was not expecting to find the room's owner tied and gagged up.
After registering what he was seeing, Ichigo rushed forward to help the boy out of his bindings and remove his gag. The boy had spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes and most distinctive of all, three marks on each of his cheeks that resembled whiskers. As for his clothes he was wearing orange shorts and an orange t-shirt.
"Ichigo, we've got hurry! Luffy's planning something stupid again!"
Uzumaki D. Naruto
Age: 7 1/3 years old
Village boy
Frowning, Ichigo said "it can't be worse than when he discov-"
"YEEOOOWWW!!!"
The scream that went through the village interupted Ichigo, causing him to pale before asking in jerkily "what exactly was he planning to do, Naruto?"
With a pale face Naruto looked at the older boy, before telling him in a panicked tone "He was going to prove how tough he was, by stabbing himself in the face."
Ichigo felt his own face pale, before turning to look at his friend. "Let me guess, you tried to stop him, so he tied you up"
"Yup"
The two boys looked at each other for a moment before rushing out of the house towards the source of the scream.
""LUFFY!!!""
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"CHEERS! CHEERS TO LUFFY'S CRAZINESS AND OUR GREATNESS!!"
In the party bar the pirates were all laughing and having a good time while the youngest patron got scolded by the captain and two boys barely older than him. The boy had messy black hair, brown eyes that were trying to hold back tears and a bandage just under his left eye. He was wearing blue shorts, sandals and a white t-shirt whit the word 'ANCHOR' and a picture of a anchor on the front. The man was wearing brown shorts and a loose white shirt with a red sash around his waist. He had bright red hair and 3 scars over his left eye with a straw hat on his head.
"That didn't hurt at all!"
Monkey D. Luffy
Age: 7 years old
Village boy
"LIAR!! That was a stupid thing to do!"
"Red Hair" Shanks
Age: 27 years old
Pirate Captain of the Red hair pirates
"Yeah Luffy! What the hell were you thinking?" Ichigo asked in an annoyed tone.
"I was proving that I'm not scared of getting hurt! I want to go to sea with you guys!" Luffy yelled for the whole bar to hear. "I wanna be a pirate too!" This resulted in the whole bar giving another cheers and continue to get drunk. Naruto sprouted a wide grin agreeing with Luffy while Ichigo gave a smile but not saying anything. Shanks however gave a bark laughter.
"You three, pirates? Don't be ridiculous, none of you can swim. What kind of pirate doesn't know how to swim?" Shanks said, throwing his head back while laughing.
"One who doesn't fall overboard?" Naruto asked questioningly, tilting his head to the side. Ichigo gave a pout, While Luffy got angry and mentioned how his punch was as strong as a pistol. Shanks gave the three a bored look and was about to give them a response before his crew interrupted him, asking him to let the three of them on for one voyage. The boys looked at the crew with starry eyes and shook in excitement.
"*sigh* fine but two of you will have to stay behind to let them aboard." Shanks said with a small smirk on his face. The crew looked at each other before giving their decision.
"SORRY BOYS, BUT YOU'VE BEEN BEACHED! C'MON BOYS BACK TO PARTYING!"
The three boys all looked shocked before gaining shark teeth and yelling "TRAITORS". Shanks sighed before looking over the kids before explaining how they were to young to be pirates. This caused Luffy and Naruto to become even more Frustrated while Ichigo adopted a thoughtful expression before saying "That actually makes sense." This in turn caused Luffy and Naruto's faces to fall before whining "Ichigo!" Shanks, suppressing a grin, called to the boys,
"Now, Now calm down. Here why don't you three have some juice?" Trying not to laugh.
"""Oh boy, Thanks""" the kids said, all sporting bright smiles while chugged the juice. Shanks burst out laughing again, with tears in his eyes, saying "See, what kind of pirate drinks Juice? Dahahaha!"
Luffy's and Naruto's mouths opened in outrage while Ichigo sighed in disappointment.
"That was a dirty trick Shanks!"
"Yeah, it was really mean!"
"Are you sure you're older than us?"
This caused the rest of the bar to break out into louder laughter, while Shanks started sputtering in disbelief. This caused the first mate to take over from Shanks.
"Don't be so hard on the captain, boys. He's just doing what's best for everyone."
Benn Beckmann
Age: 38 years old
First mate of the Red hair pirates
"How do you figure, mister first mate?" Luffy asked. Both Naruto and Ichigo pulled up to listen to his explanation.
"The crew has a lot of duties to perform, pillaging, fighting, heavy drinking and swimming. The captain is responsible for the whole crew and making sure that of the thousand ways you can die on sea, none of them befall you. It's not that he wants to crush your dreams." Benn explained patiently. The three of them considered his words, before scowling again.
"You may be right about some of that, but I have a feeling that's not the main reason the captain picks on us." Ichigo said in an annoyed tone, while Luffy pointed at Shanks.
Shanks at conveniently chosen this moment to comment to Makino, the barmaid, "Ho boy, do I love to make fun of those kids." Causing Makino to giggle and Benn to sweatdrop, admitting that maybe they had a point.
"Boys would you like something to eat?" Makino asked.
"Yeah! Put it on my treasure tab, Makino!" Luffy replied.
"Me too!" Naruto agreed.
"I'll pay you back later, Makino." Ichigo said with confidence.
Makino gave the three boys a small smile, before placing meals in frontline of them. While they tucked into their plates, Shanks turned towards them and warned them about trying to con Makino. Luffy answered that it wasn't a con, as they would pay her back when they were pirates and found some treasure. Ichigo then asked Shanks how long the pirates were planning on staying in the town. Giving the question a thought, Shanks told the three of them that after two or three more voyages the pirates would then leave for good. Luffy had a contemplative look on his face before opening his mouth to say something, when the bar door was kicked of its hinges.
"Make way for the scourge of the mountains!"
Higuma "the bear"
Bounty: 11'000'000 berries
Bandit leader of the Higuma bandits
In walked around two dozen identical looking men being led by their leader. He was quite tall and lanky, with white shirt that had faded to gray, black trousers with a sword at his waist and a brown overcoat. His face was long with a cross scar above his right eye with a thin goatee and moustache. Overall he had been giving off a dirty look.
Due to the bandits drawing attention to themselves, nobody was paying attention to Luffy, which was a shame. If they had been, they would have noticed that the fruit he was eating was purple with swirl patterns on it.
"So you lot are pirates, huh? You look like a sorry lot to me." Higuma said with a smirk, calmly walking up to the bar counter. "We're mountain bandits. Don't wet yourselves we came for some booze. Sell us 10 barrels of it and we'll only hurt the bare minimum." He said with a sneer, his cohorts chortling by the entrance.
To her credit, Makino didn't let the nervousness she was feeling show on her face as she replied to the bandits "Sorry we're all sold out of alcohol."
This caused Higuma to lose his smirk. "Oh, What are these pirates drinking then, grape juice?" Looking around at the crew of pirates.
Makino gave a gulp before giving her reply "Its true, I'm afraid I just sold the last of it." Shanks perked up at this, before turning to the bandit.
"Sorry about that, looks like we drank the place dry." He held up a unopened bottle of drink. "Why don't you have this it's still unopened."
Higuma gave Shanks a look of disdain, before reaching out for the bottle. However when his hand was halfway to the bottle, he curled his fist up and smashed the bottle apart, soaking Shanks with the booze. The bar seemed to freeze up at this, with everyone just waiting to see what would happen next. Higuma then pulled out his bounty poster and showed it to Shanks, while boasting about his bounty. Shanks reaction was to reach down to the shard of glass.
"Hey Makino, do you have any rags I could borrow to clean this mess up?" Shanks asked in a calm voice, completely ignoring Higuma's attempt at intimidation. Makino adopted a slight panicky air around herself and rushed forward to Shanks and told him that she would clean the mess up.
Higuma gained a slightly annoyed look on his face at Shanks actions, so he drew his sword and swung it across the counter, knocking all the dishes on the counter to the floor.
"Since you enjoy cleaning so much, this should keep you entertained for awhile." He then turned to leave. "So long, cowards."
And with that the bandits left. Silence echoed through the bar until snorted.
"Pfft..."
"HAH HAH HAH"
"He got you good captain!"
All the pirates burst into laughter at Shanks, with none laughing harder than Shanks himself. However there were two people who weren't laughing.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU?!! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU FIGHT BACK AND JUST LET THEM LOOK DOWN ON YOU?!!" Luffy yelled at the pirates, fury on his face. Naruto had a look of equal rage on his face, before adding his two cents. "YEAH! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN BEING LOOKED DOWN UPON LIKE THAT!"
Shanks looked at the two boys with a calm expression before answering the boys. "Don't worry, he just got some booze on me, needless killings doesn't make you a man."
Naruto looked like he had more to say, but was interrupted by Luffy getting to leave muttering about finding a real role model. Shanks grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving.
It failed.
Despite his arm being grabbed, Luffy still kept walking forward roughly three metres. This caused all the pirates to spit their drinks out, Ichigo to choke on the food he was eating and Naruto to jump up to the counter. Luffy stopped walking, turned his head jerkily to his arm. He took a deep breath.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME??!" Luffy screamed to the heavens.
One of the pirates, a fat one wearing a green striped shirt and bandana with a piece of meat constantly in his mouth, who went by the name Lucky Roux, quickly checked a chest that had been left on the counter.
"It's gone! The devil fruit we stole from that enemy ship is gone!" Lucky Roux announced in a panic. This caused the pirates to panic, while Naruto and Ichigo both gained confused looks on their faces. Shanks grabbed Luffy cheeks and explained to the three boys what a devil fruit was.
"Listen carefully you three, what Luffy just ate was the gum-gum fruit, one of the devil fruits and secret treasures of the sea! Eating it turns your whole body to rubber, but at the cost of your ability to swim!"
"Whaaaaat!!! Nooooo waaaay!!!" Luffy screamed, before being jumped by Naruto.
"Luffy, why didn't you give some to me?! Then we both could have gotten super powers!" Naruto asked annoyed. This caused Benn to speak up. "Actually, it doesn't work like that Naruto. Only one person can get a devil fruit power at a time."
Shanks smirked at this, muttering "Idiots"
"Wait, why was that fruit even out here in the first place? Why wasn't it on your ship?" Ichigo asked with a confused look on his face.
Shanks at least had the decency to look sheepish.
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Three weeks had passed since Luffy had eaten the gum-gum fruit and Shanks had left for another voyage. Luffy, Naruto and Ichigo were once more at the party bar having lunch. The were currently in the middle of discussing what kind of pirate crew they would have.
"Mine's gonna have lots pretty girls on it." Naruto said proudly. Ichigo rolled his eyes at the claim.
"Well mine's going to have a lot of strong guys in it" Ichigo boasted.
"Well mine's is gonna be the best cause we'll have a bronze statue, a musician and a giant robot." Luffy said proudly. The other two gaped at him.
"I mean I understand the giant robot, those are awesome, and the musician, what kind of pirates don't sing, but why a bronze statue?" Ichigo asked. Luffy stared at Ichigo like he was an idiot before answering "because bronze is the best to use when making statues, obviously." With a roll of his eyes.
Ichigo was about to make a comeback when the door was kicked open once more.
"Make way for the terror of the highlands!" An unpleasant voice cried through the bar mockingly. Higuma led the rest of the bandits into the bar. He looked around before stating "No pirates, huh? Smells better at least." Before all the seats were filled in.
"Well what are waiting for, bar wench? We're customers! Serve us!"
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Makino raced through town until she reached the largest house in the village, bursting through the door, and startling the man inside. He was wearing a yellow shirt, red striped trousers and hat. He held a a walking stick in his hand, with a cleft chin, oval glasses and a moustache and small beard. He was about to ask what was wrong when Makino interrupted him.
"Mayor, come quick, it's the boys!"
Woop Slaps face grew serious and joined her in running to the village square. There the bandits were forming a crowd around the boys. They didn't appear to be in good shape. Ichigo and Naruto were covered in bruises, with two bandits putting a foot on each of the boys back. Luffy meanwhile didn't appear hurt at all, but was covered in dirt, showing where he was hit, while Higuma was holding him up by his cheek which was stretching due to his rubber body.
"You've got a strange body, boy. Our punches and kicks aren't hurting you at all." Higuma drawled in dark amusement. Luffy tried to swing his fist into Higuma's face, who swung Luffy by his cheek into the ground.
"Damn you!!!" Luffy growled at Higuma, who was telling his men how he had discovered a new life form, "I'll make you Sorry this!!"
"Maybe a freak show will want you? I could make some money by selling you there." Higuma smirked at his men, who were chuckling with their boss. Luffy tried to charge at him to attack, however only ended up with a foot to the face for his troubles, this time the foot pressing him to the ground.
""LUFFY!!"" Naruto and Ichigo tried to get back up but were pushed down again by the bandits stepping on them.
"Me and my men were just drinking and talking. We didn't say anything to offend you."
"YES YOU DID!! YOU'D BETTER APOLOGIZE!!!"
"Let the boys go!" Woop Slap yelled at the bandits, who turned to regard the newcomer. "Please. I don't know what the boys did to offend you, and have no intention to fight you, but if it's money you want, you'll get it, just please, let the boys go." Woop Slap was on his knees bowing to the bandits. Luffy's, Ichigo's and Naruto's eyes were wide at the mayors words in shock. Higuma however just started to laugh.
"You certainly know how the world works, old man. But no, it's too late for these brats. They've done the unpardonable, they've insulted me, and attacked me. I can't take that from a bunch of brats. They need to be punished for that." At this Luffy, Naruto and Ichigo all yelled up at the bandit.
"You started this, you mountain ape!!!"
"You shouldn't have said those things, Sasquatch!!!"
"You're just a little man, stinkin dwarf!!!"
Higuma's face darkened before he drew his sword and stated, "That's it you're all dead now, I'm not going to sell you anymore."
Makino and Woop Slap paled and yelled out "No, please!" Everyone was so focused on Higuma, that no one noticed the figure standing behind Makino and the mayor until he spoke up.
"No body came to greet us at the harbour, so we wondered what was going on." Shanks said, startling everyone present. Turning around (or looking up in the boys situation) to see the captain standing casually with a black cape over his usual clothes, and his straw hat shadowing his eyes.
"Hey Luffy, I thought your punches were as powerful as a pistol?" Shanks asked Luffy, completely ignoring the bandits, walking forwards
"Not really the best time, Captain" Luffy said through gritted teeth. Higuma didn't take the pirates interference kindly if the look on his face was anything to go by.
"What are you doing here pirate? Looking for things to clean up? I don't know your thinking, showing up here, coward, but if you come any closer then we'll have to kill you." Higuma threatened
Shanks kept walking forward.
One of the bandits pulled up alongside Shanks and put a pistol at Shanks head. "Didn't you here him, pirate?! No coming any closer or you'll lose your head. HEH HEH HEH" the other bandits started laughing as well when Shanks stopped walking. His next words however caused some confusion.
"Your putting your life on the line when you point your gun."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying it's dangerous to point guns."
BANG!!!
The bandit fell to the ground while Lucky Roux took a bite from the piece of meat he was holding, the pistol in his hand still smoking. The rest of the Red hair pirates appeared behind Shanks.
"What the-!?"
"What the hell!!"
"That wasn't fair!"
"Fair? Your not dealing with saints here." Benn scoffed at the bandits.
"We're pirates. And we don't play fair." Shanks curtly declared.
"This wasn't any of your business!!" One of the bandits yelled, sweat falling down his brow.
"Listen close bandits. You can spill your drink on me, you can throw food at me, hell you can even spit on me, I'll just laugh that stuff of. However there's one thing I won't forgive" and here Shanks eyes were finally shown from under the shadow of his hat. "Good reason or not NO ONE HURTS A FRIEND OF MINE!!!" The three boys were awed, Shanks considered them a friend. The moment was ruined when Higuma started laughing and started boasting about how pirates were pathetic while mountain bandits were superior before ordering his followers to kill the pirates.
"Cap'n, I'll handle this." Benn said, before pulling his rifle out of his sash. As the first bandit approached Benn removed his cigarette from his mouth and put it out on the bandits face, before beating the rest down using his rifle as a club. Less than two minutes later Benn was aiming the rifle at Higuma. "You mentioned something about pirates and bandits fighting. Piece of advice: you want to fight us? Bring a battleship."
Higuma was panicking, these pirates were strong, far too strong. "Wait a minute, the kids started it!!" Higuma almost begged.
"Doesn't matter. There's still a price on your head, isn't there." Shanks said coldly.
Higuma paniced for a moment, until he pulled a smoke bomb out of his jacket and threw it to the ground, covering the square. As the smoke cleared Both Higuma and Luffy were nowhere to be found.
"Aaahh! I screwed up!!" Shanks yelled panicking, both of his hands to his head. Lucky Roux tried to calm him down. "Captain, calm down! We'll send search parties out and-"
"Captain" The small voice caused Lucky Roux to fall silent and turn to the young boys who the ships doctor was getting to. Ichigo was bearly holding his tears back while staring at Shanks, who lost the panicked look on his face. "You'll save Luffy right? You'll bring him back safe?" Ichigo Struggled to say.
Shanks bent down to look Ichigo and Naruto in the eyes before putting his hands on their heads and ruffling their hair. He then turned around and walked away saying, "of course." Before turning his first mate. "Benn"
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In the middle of the sea there was a dinghy. On that dinghy there were two people. They were Higuma and Luffy. Higuma was currently laughing about his genius in how no one would look for a mountain bandit at sea.
"I took you as I needed a hostage, but I don't need you anymore so I may as well kill you now." Luffy response to Higuma was to throw a punch at him, which missed. Higuma only sneered at Luffy, Before kicking him into the ocean.
"Damn jerk!!" Luffy said with tears forming in his eyes.
"Brat" Higuma replied before breaking out into laughter again.
As Luffy hit the water, he noticed the water behind the dinghy began to rise to reveal a monstrous grey-brown head. Noticing the shadow falling over him, Higuma turned around and saw the lord of the coast opening its mouth above him.
"NOOOO!!!" Higuma screamed in terror as the Lord of the coast swallowed him whole, dinghy and all. It then turned its head towards Luffy. Luffy then started to panic, thrashing in the water trying to get away.
"YAAA!! BLUB BLUB HELP ME!! BLUB!!" Luffy screamed out while attempting to not drown. Just as the sea king was about to swallow him he felt something tug on his shirt causing the sea king to miss him. He looked up tears in his eyes as he saw his saviour.
"Shanks!!" Luffy cried, looking up at the red haired man. Shanks was just staring at the sea king with a cold fury in his eyes. The Lord of the coast developed a cold sweat until Shanks spoke two words.
"Get lost."
The Lord of the coast couldn't get away fast enough. With the sea king gone Shanks regarded the little boy crying in his chest.
"Luffy, I'm sorry. Makino told me what happened. You, Naruto and Ichigo all stood up for me." When Luffy continued to cry Shanks made another attempt to comfort him. "Hey, stop crying! You're a tough guy remember." His voice was calming in his attempt to calm Luffy down.
"B-but ... Shanks!" Luffy looked down to look at something to Shanks left. "What about your arm!!?"
On Shanks left shoulder there was blood dripping down into the sea, giving it a gradually growing red tint. The rest of the arm was gone.
"It was a small price to pay to make sure your safe. It was just an arm." Shanks gave Luffy a gentle smile. This served to break the dam holding Luffy's tears back. Luffy's wails could be heard from Foosha village.
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A few days later the Red hair pirates were packing up shop. The time had come for them to return to the grand line and there was a rumour that Garp had a vacation coming up so the need to pack up was essential. Shanks was being seen off by the pirates three little friends.
"So you won't be coming back to the village this time?" Luffy asked Shanks in shock.
"Of course he's not, Luffy, he told us this, remember." Ichigo tried to sound aloof, but he couldn't fully hide the tremble in his voice.
"So what? We'll still miss him!" Naruto all but wailed.
Shanks looked at the three of them as he told them he had used the village as a base for to long, and that it was time to move on.
"I'm not gonna ask to come with you. We've decided to become pirates on our own." Luffy said to Shanks with a bright smile on his face. Shanks stuck his tongue out in response to Luffy's words. "Wouldn't matter. There's no way you could be a pirate. You're too little."
A vein appeared on Luffy's forehead as he yelled out "Yes I will!!!" The shouting attracted the attention of the rest of the crew, who paused what they were doing to look at the show. "I'LL HAVE A BETTER SHIP AND THE BEST CREW THAT WILL BE BETTER THAN YOURS!!! AND THEN WE'LL FIND THE BEST TREASURE IN THE WORLD!!! I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!!!"
All of the Red hair pirates grinned at Luffy's words, as watching a chick crack its egg. However Ichigo and Naruto had looks of shock on their faces, not for the words said, but because deep inside them they felt as if something was locking into place. As if a great truth was spoken. Shanks just smirked, then replied "You'll be the king, huh?" He then reached up to his straw hat, and placed it on Luffy's head.
"In that case do me a favour and hold on to this hat for me, okay? And return it when you're a better pirate than me."
The hat covered Luffy's eyes but failed to hide the tears falling down his face. Naruto and Ichigo looked shocked at Shanks, as they remembered a few months ago when Shanks mentioned that his hat was his greatest treasure. The three boys and the rest of the town then waved goodbye to the pirates.
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It was night time. Luffy and Naruto were fast asleep in their own rooms while Ichigo was downstairs looking through the sparse collection of books in to see if there was anything to help with his problem.
"You may as well stop wasting your time, brat. As soon as I'm able to find out how, I'm going to get revenge on the rubber brat and that red haired bastard." Higuma growled, a broken chain coming out of his chest. Ichigo growled but otherwise ignored the spirit that was currently haunting his house.
'I've got find some way to get rid of this ghost, but there's nothing in any of these books about getting rid of ghosts.' Ichigo didn't want his friends to be killed by a ghost but didn't know how to stop it.
'Perhaps I can help you with your problem'