It's the ever dreaded Author Note chapter!
But this time it's more just an update on what we've been up to since we last posted way back in November last year!
We've been hard at work creating a backlog of chapters so that we aren't writing out a chapter and then posting it and then taking forever to work on the next one and then posting and then writing the next one, etc. We've been taking all this time to get ahead and have been aiming to finish the entire East Blue arc so that when we do start posting again you guys will actually have some consistent content rather than sporadic content.
As of right now we've just begun writing the Arlong Park arc and expect that to be three or four chapters long and then finally getting to Loguetown where things are going to be wild. I'm excited to get into it, Loguetown is a location I've been wanting to get into for a long time and am just excited to write everything we have planned for it. I'm also excited for the direction we've taken Arlong Park and can't wait to get all of your reactions for where we're taking things.
Also feel free to join our discord! Link on my profile page. I'm trying to be more active there, which Lord of the Morning and I are active on it, just in a locked page where we discuss all our plans for our stories, which is why it's locked. I'm also going to be adding more discord channels very soon so I guess hype? And always feel free to at me anytime. I'm almost always checking discord and would love to have a conversation with all of you! And if the link ever doesn't work, please pm me to let me know, I'll make sure to fix it asap.
And crazy stuff has happened in One Piece like ep 1015, the end of Wano in the manga, and other spoiler stuff. Like how good is 1015? I think I've watched it a hundred times by now. And the final saga soon!? Film Red is happening soon and I really hope we get some amazing Shanks lore as it would help this story a ton. Since Shanks is going to feature a little more down the line, I'd appreciate the bone Oda-sensei. I think we all would. He's going to be in the film for like 10 seconds T.T isn't he? What a time to be alive!
Overall though this is more or less us just saying we're still kicking and haven't died of covid or the monkeypox and that content is on the way. As for an ETA I'm hoping we'll be done with East Blue by the end of summer. I'm going to be, and have been, putting a lot more time into writing but I could also see not getting done until late fall. Really hoping that's not the case. Either way, there will be content, and lots of it, the next time you see a post. It's not going to be all in one dump, it will be paced as the whole reason we've been holding back on releasing chapters was so we could be ahead as we write rather than playing catch up all the time. So don't expect a whole bunch of chapters to read in one sitting. But I do have a number of chapters waiting to be read by all of you.
So as a thank you for your patience with us I'm dropping the opening scene of chapter 7 right below, right now. Like scroll down. I'll also be responding to the reviews that need response from chapter 6 so make sure to check that out if you posted a review. Once again, thank you for your patience, I'm trying my best to give you all my best work that I can and of course the same is true of Lord of the Morning who has always been supportive of me and my crazy ass fanfic ideas. I'm very grateful to everyone that has read the story and is following, favorited and reviewed. Which we're currently almost at 19k views, 329 favs, 412 alerts and 52 reviews. Really hoping it isn't another 8 months until you guys see a new post. Only time will tell.
I'll see you all in chapter 7!
TheRevolutionaryRonin
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One Piece - Freedom
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East Blue Arc
Chapter 7 : Deviation! The Fighting Cooks of the Baratie! Enter: Sanji
0o0o0 East Blue - Middle of the Ocean: The Going Merry 0o0o0
Pain coursed through her body as Nami pushed with all her might against the deck of the Going Merry. Ussop had collapsed next to her long ago, as she continued to finish the insane amount of reps Luffy had instructed them to do. She didn't even know what number she was on anymore, just that she would keep doing push-ups until instructed to do otherwise.
"I… hate… you…" she panted out, her scathing glare trying to burn a hole in Luffy.
"If you have the energy to hate, you have the energy to do more reps. Keep going!" her tormentor cheered her on, eyes squinted in mirth.
"If you're going to just sit there and taunt them, you could at least join us," Zoro's voice rose from beneath Luffy, causing the pirate captain to look down at his swordsman whose back he was sitting on. The green-haired man had decided to join Nami and Ussop in Luffy's warm-up from hell and was having a far easier time with it. Granted, this was merely par for the course to the swordsman, which is why Luffy was now sitting on his back as he did his set of reps of push-ups.
"But then Nami won't hate me as much! She needs that hate to keep going!" Luffy joked.
THUD
"Screw… you…" Nami seethed, facedown on the deck.
"Oh, looks like she's done as well now." Luffy laughed as he jumped off Zoro's back and approached his two exhausted crewmates. "Right, we're done for today. Once you have the energy to move again, do whatever. Hopefully we'll figure out a heading soon enough."
Both Nami and Ussop shakily lifted an arm in celebration over the end of their torture.
"Yay…" was all either could muster, before letting their arms drop back down in agony.
Luffy merely laughed as he began to find something to entertain himself with, when Zoro called out to him.
"Luffy! I've been curious as of late. You say this training you're making them do is what the Red-Hairs had you do to join their ranks, you mind proving it?" Zoro smirked, now standing, sheathed Wado in hand.
"Hmm…" Luffy tilted his head in consideration, "What do you have in mind?"
"I've seen your power first hand, but facing it is something else entirely. I want to know just how far the gap is between rookie pirates and an Emperor's Commander. You say this training is worthwhile, prove it."
"Prove it huh? Why not?" Luffy shrugged, a smile lighting his face. "What are you thinking? Two minutes for you to get a strike in?"
"I'm thinking of no limits, all or nothing. You want us to get stronger, then we have to face the strongest; and as of right now, the strongest is you."
"You sure?" Luffy asked, cracking his neck, the smile never leaving his face.
"Dead sure." Zoro cracked the knuckles in his free hand, slowly falling into a stance with Wado.
"Don't blink," Luffy warned, his body flickering out of sight.
"Shit-" Zoro's eyes immediately darted about, trying to keep track of his captain, but failing. Instinctively, he threw a slash behind him, only to hear Luffy's laugh fade out.
"Almost got me there."
The next 15 seconds were the longest of Zoro's life, his every nerve taut and senses pushed to the limit as he tried to track Luffy. Front, left, right, left, back, front. His captain never stopped moving long enough for Zoro to try and attack.
Finally, Luffy's form reappeared. "I'm coming from the front this time. Hit me with your strongest attack."
Zoro immediately raised his arms, the sword hilt near his head while the blade ran parallel to his back, his biceps bulging slightly.
Luffy responded by raising his left hand, palm facing forward, thumb extending at a 90 degree angle, while his right arm began to glow as he chambered it for a punch.
"We're gonna die!" Ussop bawled out, clutching onto Nami as the two watched the "spar" from the sidelines.
"Shut it!" she whisper-shouted, slamming a fist into his head.
"Ittoryu: Tora-"
"Bolt Bolt-"
"-GARI!"
Zoro's sword cleaved downward with all his might as he leapt forward, the wind whistling as it was split.
"-RIFLE!"
There was a flash, followed by a deafening rumble as Zoro's attack was immediately blown away. The swordsman was sent flying back, barely able to hang onto his sword as he crashed into the ship's railing. The ship itself rocked madly for a moment, before slowly calming.
A secondary explosion in the distance followed a second later, causing the ship to rock once more.
"...you missed me on purpose, didn't you?" Zoro asked rhetorically, sheathing Wado and sitting down, his back covered in a cold sweat.
"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, before looking over to his other two crewmates. "So, what do you think? I'm awesome, right?"
"Ussop, don't die!" Nami yelled, shaking the insensate form of the long nosed boy, who was foaming at the mouth.
0o0o0 To Be Continued 0o0o0
Reviews:
Julia luna fan 4ever: Glad you enjoyed the LuNa-ness of chapter 6 XD! There's lots more on the way.
Masseffectrulz: I'm looking forward to you reading more as well!
Chorollolucifer: I hope I update soon too!
HisSecretLover18: Oh I enjoy making Garp just miss Luffy. It's a lot of fun.
Ty Chaos: Glad you enjoyed the story so far. We'll be updating on the status of a in chapter 7, and your review was helpful in our decision. So thank you very much.
Bunnyplosion: I'm glad to see how invested you are with the story. Nami is pretty tsun throughout canon and she's in a completely different situation than her canon counterpart. So she's being much more defensive and keeping herself at arms length to a degree. She is dealing with someone who is clearly more powerful than she is and she is a pirate thief. So there you go. I don't want to end up spoiling anything by saying too much. You're actually the first person to think that, at least in reviews, about the bounty I've given to Luffy. It does mean his bounty will go up over time.
Draconic Reborn: All I can really say is that he is a rookie. Just a rookie from the New World. Anything else surrounding his bounty I can't tell you. Just know reasons exist, things happened, and Luffy's bounty is plot relevant so I can't say anything yet.
Dailydour: Glad you've enjoyed the story.
Sharkangames: I'm keeping it like this. Haha XD
Cahek: Keep waiting just a bit longer. I promise it's worth it.
RoGuE1989: Yeah, my goal isn't to make a super edgelord genius Luffy. That's just not who he is. I do my best to keep him close to his canon counterpart, despite my attempts to have him be super edgelord genius Luffy. That's the real reason I've got Lord of the Morning. He's here to stop super edgelord genius Luffy from rearing his ugly head in the story. He keeps me grounded.
SweetAngel91: I mean I don't think there's any better compliment you could've given me. This story is the way I would've done One Piece, I'm not out to rehash what others have done at all. I know lightning devil fruit Luffy is overdone these days (which shout out to Logia Brothers, I love that fic go read it if you haven't) and this is my way of letting Oda know how much I love his story. So again there's no better compliment. Luffy has gone through some shit with Shanks, I don't think there was any other outcome than him growing up from spending a number of years in the New World. You have to grow up in those seas or you're dead. But he's still Luffy at the end of the day so he's still going to do Luffy things. Just who he is. I promise Nami's tsun levels are going to go down. She's just overwhelmed by the smiling laughing lightning god that just barged his way into her life. I think most normal people would be and as Nami is pretty tsun in early One Piece, she would definitely be going over the top if she had met a logia Luffy rather than rubber Luffy.
SpacePuffs: it's now 1020+ episodes. Crazy. Couldn't be happier that you're enjoying the story and yeah the whole not using Haki thing is just silly from Shanks. But his sacrifice does impact Luffy. And as this is a rewrite with the context of Haki from the beginning it just didn't make sense to have him give up his arm in this story. In fact it's Luffy who ends up giving up a pound of flesh for Shanks. I can't wait to be able to explain that statement one day.
Nami4Life: I hope you had a great Christmas last year and that your new year has been good to you so far, despite it being 6 months into said new year. I figured you'd enjoy the LuNa in chapter 6. And yes it was Jack. Just a preview, a small window into this Luffy's past and everything he's experienced.
LordDarkness89: No not Kaido. He'd be super dead if he'd been facing down Kaido. Not to say that Jack didn't try to kill Luffy. He definitely came close. It's going to be a long time until we swing back around to Luffy vs Jack.
Mastercheif1229: Me too. I cannot wait until chapter 7 is officially posted. Cuz that means I finished East Blue at long last!
