Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to One Piece. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am just a writer working on my skills with characters and worlds that I love.

Note: This concept has been buzzing around in my head for quite a while now. I had the broad strokes, and main plot points worked out, but something just wasn't working. Then I figured it out. This was originally going to be a Harry Potter crossover fanfic, with the exploits of the Straw Hats taking place in the background, but the concept fell apart rather quickly. When I decided to drop that idea and center this piece around an alternate Luffy instead, it all came together.

Note: This is going to follow some of the main plot points early on from the anime, but eventually it will be breaking off into its own thing. I love the world of One Piece, but I also want to tell my own story with these characters.

Note: This is going to be a harem story. It always bugged me a little bit that Luffy had women practically throwing themselves at him throughout the story, but he never did anything with it. My version of Luffy isn't totally inept with the fairer sex, and he will be accepting the affections of several of them.

The Great Equalizer

Part One - Every Story Has A Beginning

* What Will Be - Marine Ford *

Everything was chaos. Guns were firing in all directions, explosions rent the air, and the screams of the wounded and dying created a horrifying symphony of slaughter as two forms rushed through the devastation, trying desperately to reach the water and their ship.

Marco was injured, blood streaming down his side from a wound that not even his powers were able to heal. Beside him, Ace wasn't doing much better. The Navy had not been kind to him during his captivity. They'd beaten him black and blue while he wore his seastone cuffs. Eventually Garp had caught on, and stopped the abuse, but that hadn't kept his jailers from starving him. As it stood now, the newly rescued pirate could barely stay on his feet.

Not even ten minutes ago the flame wielder had been on an execution platform, ready to accept his fate, but then they'd come. His crew, and pops, exploded from the ocean ready for war, all to rescue him from a death he felt he deserved. That act, that dedication to family, had reignited his will to live. Now if only Marco hadn't run into an admiral breaking his chains his escape would have been flawless. Regardless, they had escaped Borsalino and gotten off the burning platform with their lives mostly intact.

The ocean was right ahead of them now, as was Whitebeard's ship. They were getting closer… and closer… what was that? Ace's head snapped up as Marco continued dragging him down through the melee. He could smell something familiar, it was fowl, angry…. it was smoke and burning tar!

Without another thought Ace slammed his heels to the ground to halt his momentum, pushed Marco to the side, and turned to face the magma laced fist heading straight for his chest. Akainu had caught up to them, and he was bringing death with him.

Ace smiled sadly as he forced what little energy he had left into his right fist. He wouldn't be able to stop the admiral's attack. He knew that. There wasn't enough strength in him at the moment, and even if there was, lava was hotter than fire. Regardless, he could at least try to take this monster down with him, while sparing Marco at the same time.

However fate, it seems, had a different plan for them both that day. Just as the fist of magma was set to impact the pirate's chest, and his own hellstorm hook was set to impact Akainu's face, a transparent blue shield popped into existence between them. All at once the herculean blows met impenetrable resistance, and to avoid the force of the attacks splashing back onto them, the two combatants directed the energy upwards, letting the destructive force dissipate into the air.

Not knowing what was going on, but also not wanting to waste this opportunity, Ace turned around and fell back into Marco's arms, letting his closest friend continue carrying him off to safety.

Meanwhile, Admiral Akainu continued to stare at the shield in front of him before a look of realization hit him, and he snapped his head to the side. There, one hundred yards away, on another stretch of mist covered sand was a tall man with his hands raised before him in some kind of funky pose. He had wild eyes, green hair, a white coat opened to expose his bare and tattooed chest, and a dagger stuffed into his belt. The man was currently sticking his tongue out at the enraged admiral.

"Commodore Bartolomeo!" Akainu growled, smoke curling from the ground at his feet. "If you're here then that means, He is too!"

His words proved prophetic as a moment later a near tangible wave of energy burst from the fog the interloper occupied, revealing a small group of individuals in white marching forward onto the scene. With every step they took thousands fell to ground, their consciousness lost and foam frothing from their mouths. All at once the violence ceased and every eye still open was staring at the new players on the scene.

Bartolomeo took the left wing of their formation beside a tall reindeer in beige pants. Behind them, three others walked with the fog still concealing their features. To the right of those was a green cloaked man wearing a bandanna on his head and three katanas at his waist. Two women walked on either side of them all with a blond man smoking a cigarette taking up the rear. One of the women wore a purple laced corset with a white coat and wide brimmed hat. The other wore blue low cut jeans tight enough to hug her hips, held up with a heavy leather gun belt, a green bikini top, and a white cape. Her striking orange hair was held back in a severe ponytail.

Most of the focus of the onlookers however was held by the stoic man walking at this new group's head. He wore white shoes, pants, and a silver shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A billowing long coat hung off his shoulders, pushed slightly to one side to clear the way for the longsword sheathed at his waist. In contrast to this exemplary outfit a common looking straw hat perched low on his head, shielding his eyes from all observers.

As if an unspoken permission had been given, marines left and right started shouting out their recognitions.

"It's Admiral Luffy!"

"Straw Hat the Equalizer is here!"

"I thought he was deployed on a patrol? What is he doing here?"

"He'll crush these no-good pirates for sure!"

As the voices rose in continuous volume, Luffy and his crew continued on their solitary match until they stood in the middle of the battlefield between the Whitebeard pirates and the navy. Finally they stopped, Luffy turned to face the marines that were reloading their rifles, and tilted his head enough for his black eyes to become visible under the rim of his hat. Then an enormous blast of Haki ripped across the field, felling every last marine that had managed to keep standing after the last one.

Slowly, Luffy gripped the hilt of his sword and began dragging the blade out of its sheath as his subordinates fanned out around him to face the still standing combatants of both sides.

As his cold glare reached up to the stands across the field where the top brass of the navy, including his grandfather, stood, Luffy growled out, "This battle is over. If anyone wants to keep fighting it, We'll be their opponents!"

* What Currently Is *

On a small island in the middle of nowhere, a grand ruckus was breaking out at a local tavern. Women were singing, men were dancing, and buxom barmaids were distributing trays filled to the brim with mugs of ale and mead. Truly it was a grand time for all. This was what happened when pirates came to town.

"Shanks!" A young voice exclaimed from near the aforementioned man's feet, "When you leave take me with you. I'm big enough now!"

The red head glanced down through his half closed lashes and spied a black haired runt in sandals. He smiled. By the gods this kid was always good for a laugh. "Nope." He said simply before going back to his drink.

"What? Why?"

Having finished his sip, he grinned and said, "You're too small and weak to go sailing with us, kid. Come find us when you're another decade older and four times your current size."

"I'm strong enough now! Watch!" The small boy launched himself at the bigger man but was brought up short when he brought up one of his sandals just in time for Luffy to smack his face into it and fall to the floor.

Shanks burst out laughing as he pulled the child onto the stool next to him and slid over a glass of juice the bartender had poured for just this eventuality. He sipped the drink sullenly through the provided straw as Shanks leaned over on his elbow to address him.

"Why exactly do you want to come with us kid? To be a pirate?"

"Nah." Luffy waved that concept off with a literal wave of his hand. "My brother wants to do that, but I just want to see the world. This island is kind of small you know?"

The red haired man nodded. "That I do. There is so much to this world that you cannot even comprehend."

Luffy looked up at his idol with stars in his eyes at those words, "So can I come with you to see it?"

Shanks sighed in an overly dramatic way and leaned back on his stool. "Maybe in a few years. Trust me kid, you aren't ready for what's out there. You could run into-" His words were interrupted then as the tavern door was smashed into the wall and a group of men dressed in mismatched clothing entered, sneering at everyone already inside.

A mangy looking man pushed through the others to stand before them all. His particularly ugly look put the others to shame as he began to speak. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? Some ragtag group of pirates taking all the beer?" He spat on the ground and went to stand before the tavern's owner, Makino. The wooden bar itself serving as the only barrier between them.

Shanks drained the last of his latest mug, and made a show of getting to his feet and approaching him. "Now, now, I wouldn't call us ragtag. We've been around after all. Also, we ain't just taking this beer, we paid for it. We'd be more than willing to pay for yours as well should you like."

"Step off!" The mangy man shoved Shanks away into the nearest table, and only a subtle gesture from his hand kept his crewmates from eviscerating the man. There was still a kid present, and call him old fashioned, but Shanks believed a kid should have some hair on his peaches before he saw his first dead body.

"Hmph." the man grunted, "Weak, just like I thought." In a flash he reached across the bar and grabbed Makino by the collar, dragging her forward until the two were only an inch apart. "I want all the beer you've got."

Try as she might, the tavern owner couldn't keep a few tears from flowing in fear. She'd served pirates for years in her establishment, but they'd never gotten physical with her. "T-They have already been promised." She gestured to Shanks, who was now drinking one of his men's mugs from the ground, "They have been set aside already for this gentleman's vessel."

"I'm not talking to him, I'm talking to you." He licked his lips salaciously and she began to shudder uncontrollably. "Maybe I could take something else of yours instead of that beer. Hm?"

Suddenly Shanks was there, and the hand at her throat was gone. It took her a moment to realize she was three whole steps back from where she'd been before. "There's no need for this violence." The pirate captain mused, you can have those kegs if you want. They're stacked up out back."

The stranger seemed nonplussed to no longer have an innocent to terrorize, but he nevertheless nodded and gestured for his men to go and retrieve his alcohol. "Smart of you to give in. My name is Marke, and I'm a wanted bandit worth eight million berries in this town. It'd be a shame if I had to cut up that clean face of yours." Having said his piece, the bandit exited the room. His men quick to follow.

Silence reigned for a moment or two before everyone present started to laugh uproariously. Shanks turned to bar keeper and asked, "Do you have a mop by any chance? Some of our ale spilled by that table and I think we should clean it up."

The woman smiled brightly, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Thank you, Mr. Shanks. I'll go grab it-"

"What was that!" A young voice yelled from the other side of the room. Everyone turned and there was Luffy, an accusing finger pointed right at Shanks face. "Why didn't you do anything to stop them?"

Shanks sighed in annoyance, but still gave the boy an answer. "The only way to stop men like that is with violence, Luffy. What would that have done here? Would it have made us feel better? Maybe. But it would have also destroyed a lot of the decor in this room. Our pride as pirates isn't worth that."

"Your pride isn't the problem!" Luffy exclaimed as he moved his finger now to point at the woman behind the bar. "Look at Makino! They made her cry. and those barrels, she said they were promised not paid for. So you just let those men hurt her and steal from her, and then you laughed. What kind of man does that!"

Shanks eyes grew wide at those words. The kid had a point. The kid never had a point! "Look, kid-" he tried to say, but Luffy didn't give him a chance to get a word in.

"No! My grandpa was right. Pirates aren't good people." As he spoke tears began to build in his own eyes, and he wiped them away with his arm as he rushed out the door. Shanks calling his name all the while.

Later That Night

Luffy sat alone in the forest, staring up at the trees and sky above him. When he was alone like this he could almost imagine his little world was endless. That he could walk forever and always see something new. It was a thought that made him smile in the darkest of times. As the dried tears on his cheeks could testify, this was one of those.

Shanks was a hero to him. How could he just stand by and let someone hurt another right in front of him?

"Penny for your thoughts kid?" A deep voice spoke from the darkness.

Luffy whirled around and brought the pipe Ace had given him to bear. Just in case. It proved unnecessary however as Shanks appeared, walking out of the darkness as if it were an old friend. He raised his hands in a peaceful gesture and sat down before him in the clearing. "Take a seat, Luffy. I want to talk to you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you!"

The red head sighed, but nevertheless reached into one of the pockets in his cloak and pulled out two chunks of roasted boar. "I brought food."

With a speed that almost made the man wonder if Luffy had eaten a devil fruit, the boy was by his side and chomping away at the meal. His pipe lay forgotten on the ground where he'd been standing literally a second ago.

"Damn, kid, that's almost impressive. How'd you move that fast?"

"I was hungry." He answered around his latest mouthful. "So what'd you want to talk about?"

Shanks pulled something else from his cloak and laid it on the ground. It was a lock of greasy blonde hair. "This belonged to that Marke guy. My boys and I tracked him and his bandit group down after you left, turned him into the island authorities, and paid Makino for all the beer. What we drank, and what they did."

Luffy swallowed his mouthful and turned to face the man fully. "Why are you telling me this, Shanks?"

The bigger man grinned warmly at the child before him. There was something refreshing about talking to someone so earnest and innocent. "My point, is that you were right, kid. We shouldn't have just let the bandits get away with what they did."

"Then why did you?"

"Because we're strong, Luffy. My crew and I. Incredibly so. Those men were literally no threat to us, so we didn't see anything they did as serious. We forgot to think about how scary they could be to those that aren't on our level. It's shameful of us, but it's true."

Luffy nodded and said, "At least you can admit it. Did you apologize to Makino?"

"We did."

"Then there's no problem anymore." The child slapped Shanks on the shoulder and went back to his meat.

For his part, Shanks took a smaller bite of his share and said, "It really is that easy for you isn't it, Luffy? To forgive?"

"Of course. You fixed the problem, and apologized to the person wronged. What else is there to worry about?"

"I guess nothing. You're smarter than you look, Luffy."

"I know. Now tell me more about your travels. I want to know everything that's out there!"

Shanks laughed out loud at that. "Everything? Are you sure, kid? Wouldn't you rather be surprised when you see it all yourself?"

Luffy's face scrunched up at that and he said, "Ah… probably. Alright, then tell me half of what's out there."

Still laughing, the redhead said, "Alright then. So first, you should know there's this great big place called Elbaf and it's full of giants!"

Two hours later and Luffy was rolling on the ground laughing as Shanks finished his tale of the time he spirited away a shark woman from Fishman Island for a night of debauchery. The boy didn't know what that was of course, but he assumed it was something funny.

When he finally got a hold of himself, the child looked up at Shanks and said, someday I'm going to see everything you have and more. I'll see everything!"

The redhead raised an amused eyebrow at that. "And how, pray tell, are you going to do that? You already said you won't be a pirate, and there are a lot of places that regular civilians are not allowed to go."

The boy's mirth started to fade as he heard those words. "So what should I do?"

"Hm… well you could join the navy."

"What!"

"Hear me out, kid!" Shanks waved his hands frantically to get the boy to calm down. "As a naval officer you'll have free reign to go wherever you want."

"Really?"

"Well, you'll have to put on rank first. I know that there are certain places in the grand line that only captains, commodores, and admirals are allowed to go."

Luffy scrunched up his forehead in concentration. "So if I became an admiral, then I'd be allowed to travel everywhere?"

Shanks nodded, "That's the highest rank in the navy, so yeah. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to."

The boy jumped to his feet, almost as fast as when he ran for his meat, and punched his fist into the air, "Then that is what I'll do! I'll be an admiral that sees all the world's wonders!"

Beside him, Shanks chuckled as he got to his feet and removed something else from his cloak. "Here, catch." He tossed the object to Luffy, who caught it with a confused look on his face.

"A fruit? What's up with this?" He asked with a confused tilt to his head.

"It's just something I picked up in my travels that I think you'll like. It'll come in real handy as a naval officer. Don't worry, I have another one back on my ship. Think of it as a gift for reminding me not to raise my eyes so high I forget those below me. Don't look so confused, Luffy. Just eat it."

"If you say so." The boy opened his maw so wide he almost seemed a cobra, before dropping the fruit inside and chomping down. A loud swallow later and a sickened look came over his face. "Ugh! That was terrible. Why would you feed me something rotten, Shanks?"

"It wasn't rotten, kid. Look, your Gramps is gonna be arriving on this island in a week. When he gets here just tell him you want to train to be a naval officer, and that you've eaten the Mute Mute Fruit. He'll know what that means."

"I don't get it, but alright."

Shanks laughed heartily before removing his straw hat and placing it on the boy's head. "That's a good, lad. Now, since you'll be doing all that traveling I'm sure you'll run into me again eventually. Give that back to me then. For now, I hope it brings you the luck that it brought me."

Suddenly understanding the meaning of this gesture, Luffy turned tearful eyes up to his friend. "You're leaving now aren't you?"

"Yeah. Like I said, your gramps will be here soon and even I don't want to tussle with him without reason. Also, my crew are getting a bit antsy. They miss the open sea and it would be cruel to keep them from it for much longer."

The boy was silent for a moment before his tears dried, and he looked the older man in the eyes with pure determination. "I will find you again someday, Shanks. And when that happens, I'm going to be the one with crazy stories to tell."

"Hahahaha! I can't wait to hear them." The pirate laughed.

One Week Later

"Are you telling me a vagabond pirate gave you a strange fruit and you just ate it without question!" Garp roared in his grandson's ear. As Shanks had predicted, the older man had arrived within a week, and Luffy had immediately gone to tell him what he did as his friend had instructed.

Luckily Luffy was used to his grandfather's over the top antics, and just took it in stride. "I sure did. He said I'd find it useful in the navy."

That took the wind out of the older man's sails, quickly replacing his rage with hope. He'd been terrified that Luffy would follow Ace's footsteps into piracy, but now he was talking about his own path. It was so out of the ordinary that he temporarily forgot about the strange fruit. "The Navy, eh? That's something you want to do now?"

"Yup!" Luffy beamed up at his grandad with a huge smile splitting his cheeks. "I want to explore the world and see everything there is to see. If I become an officer like you I can do that right?"

Garp shrugged. "Sure. Vice-admirals and admirals can pretty much go anywhere with the navy's authority."

"You're a vice-admiral right, gramps?"

"You bet, kid." He chuckled.

Luffy struck a pose and pointed a small finger right in his face, "Then I'll become a full admiral! That way I can go wherever I want, and I'll be able to tell you what to do!"

Now Garp was laughing out loud. The idea of his spunky grandson wanting to surpass him was filling him with all sorts of parental pride. "That's gonna take a lot of work kid. I'll need to train you really hard for it. You sure you're ready for that kind of intensity?"

"Heck, yeah! I want you to train me to be the best officer there ever was, gramps! And Shanks said to tell you something about that fruit I ate. It was supposed to be helpful."

With those words, the worry the older man felt over that piece of information came right back. "Eh? What was it, brat? He didn't poison you did he?"

"Nah. He just said to tell you I ate the Mute Mute Fruit. I'm not sure what it means though." The boy was brought up short by the slack jawed look his elder was giving him at those words.

"L-Luffy, are you sure that is what he said? Mute Mute, you're certain?" he rasped.

Confused, the boy said, "Yeah, gramps. It's kind of hard to mess up two words ya know."

Bringing himself out of his stupor, Garp yanked the boy over his shoulder and ran to his ship as fast as he could. "This is going to be great kid! Just you wait, I'll make you so tough there won't be a fighter alive that isn't scared to go toe-to-toe with you! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Two Years Later - Marineford

"Again!" Garp yelled as his grandson was knocked down into the sand for the fifth time in a row.

The gymnasium and training facility was filled to the brim with marines and naval officers training their bodies and abilities. In the center of that space stood a circular training ring. Garp stood just outside it giving commands while inside Luffy shakily got to his feet, staring across the distance at his opponent. A grey haired young man with an open coat and a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. His arms were currently made of writhing smoke.

Suddenly those arms expanded and crashed into the ground where Luffy had just been standing. If he'd been a second slower he would been buried at least a foot in the loose sand, but two years under Garp's tender care had built up his endurance and speed to staggering levels. He jumped to the side at the last second and took off at his opponent with powerful bursts of his legs until he stood close enough to swing his trusty pipe.

As his weapon swung up to contact the face of his Logia using opponent, Luffy reached inside himself and tried to access his power. The power that his grandfather assured him was there for the taking. He found it, simmering just beneath his skin, but as always it refused to answer his call when it mattered. His pipe sailed harmlessly through Smoker, and the boy found himself launched back again. Six failures in a row were even starting to put a dent in his endless optimism.

"Hold!" Garp called, stalling Smoker's advance before the fight could continue. "I need to talk to the boy before you continue."

The grey haired young man took a puff on his death stick and asked, "Sir, must I continue with this? I know you want to make your grandson strong, but… I feel kind of shitty for beating up an eight year old."

"He's nine, Smoker. And don't you worry. I have a feeling you're in for a surprise."

Without another word he strutted over to his gasping grandson and squatted down beside him, not caring how the sand discolored his pristine white coat. "What was that, Luffy?"

Still gasping for air, the boy answered, "I'm sorry, gramps. I can feel the power there, like you said, but it just isn't coming out."

"Hm." Garp rubbed his chin as he thought about that. It sounded like a mental block. He'd heard a few of his subordinates talk about them over the years. They'd eaten specific devil fruits that had held great power, yet they had been unable to access them until they were faced with the direst need. He thought about what the direst need for his grandson would be, and smiled as it came to him.

"I think I know what to do, Luffy. Listen up now, until you use your power to defeat Smoker, you won't be allowed any meat at the chow hall."

The boy stared up at him uncomprehendingly for several seconds before he exploded. "What! That's cruel and unusual punishment!"

"No, that's motivation. If you fail to beat him this round, I'll be talking to the chef's about your new dietary stipulations." Still chuckling over his strategy, the hero of the marines strutted back over to the side of the ring. "Begin!"

Smoker raised his arms once more for a starting strike, but stopped. Luffy wasn't moving. Was it a trick of some kind? The runt was standing across the ring from him with a rage filled look on his face and his fists clenched. Something strange was happening though. The sand around his feet was starting to bounce lightly and froth, as if some unseen force were pushing it about. Worried that some sort of devil fruit ability was making itself know, Smoker decided to act before it could be brought to use.

"Smoke Stack!" He called as his twin smoke pillars rose into the air from his arms, intent on slamming into the child before him.

His actions were for naught however, as the mere moment before impact the boy's eyes flashed and a visible wave of force rushed out of his tiny frame. It smashed into Smoker, Garp, and every other Marine in the facility. This phenomenon had two effects. First, the more weak willed of those present in the building lost their senses and collapsed to the ground with foaming mouths, and second… Smoker's smoke disappeared.

He looked to his now solid hands in shock, trying and failing to dematerialize them once more. His moment of confusion was all it took for Luffy to get in range once more with his pipe swinging.

"The meat is mine!" The boy roared as his weapon connected for the first time that morning, sending the older boy sailing through the air with surprising force. It wasn't until the body fell limply to the ground outside the ring, that Luffy finally realized what had happened. He stared at his pipe with awe, then gave his hands the same look. He'd hit Smoker. He'd actually hit him!

"Gramps!" He turned to run to the stunned man and started hopping in place. "I did it! Did you see? Did you see?"

Breaking out of his reverie, Garp fondly ruffled his grandson's hair and said, "Indeed I did see that, Luffy. Great job! You not only accessed your power, but you also seem to have Conqueror's Haki at your disposal as well."

"What's that?" Luffy asked as he went to the nearest bench to retrieve his precious straw hat. "And what exactly did my power do?"

"Haki is something we'll go over later, but I can tell you it's gonna help a lot in getting you a great rank going forward. As for your power, well, you ate the Mute Mute Fruit. That makes you a Mute Man. You literally mute the devil fruit powers of others, as long as they are within your range."

Luffy stared at that. "You mean, Smoker…"

"His power makes him basically impossible to hit with a regular fist or solid weapon, but with your power you literally forced him back into a regular human state. Effectively evening the odds between you. Someone like him, who gets used to not getting hit, definitely has no idea what to do with a pipe smashing into his head. Hehehehe."

Luffy was about to ask another question when he saw something strange out the window. A green bob, ducking under the sill and moving away. "What the heck?" He quickly left his grandpa's side, rushed out the door, and chased the bob down the road and into the nearest alley. He was immediately confronted with a green haired boy about his age, holding a knife in front of him with one hand and clutching a stack of wanted posters to his chest.

"S-Stay away!" He gasped, surprised that this random guy had managed to catch up to him. "I have a knife!"

"Yeah I know." Luffy cleaned his ear with a lazy finger and leaned forward to get a closer look at the posters. "Where did you get those?"

"I… found them. Yeah I found them lying around on the ground."

Luffy gave the strange boy a flat look. "You just found a stack of wanted posters lying around. On a naval base?"

The other boy was silent for a moment, clearly trying to think of another lie, before finally seeming to change his mind as he said, "Fine! I stole them. I got tired of having to come here to see them everyday so I took them. Are you happy?"

"Not really." Luffy had just noticed that the other boy had pointed teeth, and he found the look incredibly cool. "Why did you do something like that?"

"Because these guys are so cool! Think about it. How badass do you have to be to get a bounty this big?"

"I don't know, but my gramps is definitely cooler than them."

"How can you say that?" The strange boy's eyes bulged at the audacity of his pursuer. "Based on your outfit, you're in the navy, so he must be as well. Naval officers and marines don't have bounties to show how powerful they are."

"But they regularly take down the guys that have those massive bounties."

The green haired boy opened and closed his mouth several times before finally groaning and nodding his acknowledgement. "I hadn't thought of that. You're right. If someone takes down a massive bounty then they must be even cooler than the person who has it. Don't know how I didn't think of that."

Luffy tilted his head and asked, "Do you think you'd like to take down some of those bounties yourself? You could be cooler than them too."

"How would I do that? I'm just a regular guy."

"You could come with me. I'm gonna be an admiral after all, so you can bet my subordinates are going to have to be really strong to keep up. I'll get you in shape."

The other boy thought about for a moment before smiling and holding out his hand. "I'm Bartolomeo. It's nice to meet you."

The other boy took the raised limb and shook it enthusiastically. "I'm Luffy. Future admiral of the navy."

Ten Years Later

"Luffy! Where the hell are you?" Garp bellowed as he made his way onto the deck of his ship. He'd been searching for that brat for the last twenty minutes. They were about to drop anchor, and that meant it was time for him to begin his first deployment. "Luffy!" He tried once more, only to get an annoyed yawn and condescending voice for an answer.

"Damn, vice-admiral, quiet down. If you wanted to find the Commodore so badly all you had to do was ask me."

Garp looked over his shoulder and there, leaning against the steering wheel of his ship was his grandson's second in command, Captain Bartolomeo. While he was proud of his kid for finding such a useful subordinate, he was also annoyed that he had to pick someone with such a huge lack of discipline. The man had his hair spiked up at all angles and wore shredded cargo pants under an open white long coat without a shirt. The tattoo on his chest was visible for all to see, causing the vice-admiral to let out a fresh growl. When the captain got it, he'd somehow convinced Luffy to get two of his own. That damned delinquent, corrupting his legacy. At least Luffy's were only on his arms.

Smothering his annoyance, understanding that this might be his best chance of getting a location, Garp asked, "Where is Luffy?"

Bartolomeo yawned again, displaying his overly sharp teeth, before answering, "He's doing what he always does. Sleeping in the heights." He pointed to the crows nest, and Garp groaned anew. He should have known. Why did his grandson have to love heights so much? He was going to make him grey before his time!

Without another word the Vice-admiral stomped over to the nearest crate of cannonballs, grabbed one, and launched it at the crows nest above. The wooden structure shattered instantly, and a screeching mass of black hair and white clothing fell to the deck in an informal heap.

Garp smiled at the twitching form of his best student and ordered, "Attention Commodore!" His smile grew even larger as his clearly unharmed grandson hopped to his feet and stood at the ready. The last twelve years had certainly paid off, as his nineteen year old grandson was the pinnacle of what a naval officer should be in his opinion. His body was rock solid from the intense physical conditioning and haki training. His clothing, consisting of white shoes, pants, shirt, vest, and long coat were pristine in their appearance. Sadly, his hair was completely out of regulation with its wild angles and mop like appearance, but one couldn't win everything. Even the longsword at his waist was polished to a shine. Garp had melted down that measly pipe to get a good chunk of the metal for it. And after the Marineford blacksmith's were done purifying it and beating it into shape, it was a near masterwork.

Before he could say anything else, Luffy spoke up himself. "Captain Bartolomeo! Front and center!" Immediately the lazy greenette was beside him with arms behind his back and spine straight for inspection. "We are ready to receive our orders, Sir!"

"Calm down, ya runt." Garp chuckled as he handed the young man a stuffed envelope. "Here are your orders. You are to patrol the waters of the East Blue and make your way to the Grand Line. Your mandate is to investigate all reports of piracy and naval corruption. We've been hearing disturbing rumors about these waters for a while but haven't been able to free up resources to investigate until now. Should anyone give you lip at any point, direct them to me or Sengoku via den den mushi. As far as they know, you act with our authority."

"Yes Sir. But how are we to patrol this route?" Luffy asked.

Garp sighed and pointed an annoyed thumb behind them where a large tow rope was hauling a much smaller vessel behind them. "All this time traveling and you seriously never noticed the cruiser we were hauling?"

"How was I supposed to know what it was for?"

"Maybe because it has a straw hat on its flag, dumbass!"

"You won't be able to call me that when I'm an admiral you know!"

While all this was going on, Bartolomeo was barely containing his laughter behind a hastily raised hand. This happened every time these two tried to be formal. Things started off well enough, with fine military discipline, and then they inevitably devolved into arguments and insults. The two men were just too chaotic to have a serious conversation.

"Hmph!" He cleared his throat. "Apologies sir," he addressed the commodore, "Should we not be casting off? We have an ocean to police and a crew to build after all."

"Yeah, you're right, Bart." Luffy slid his straw hat onto his head and waved politely to his grandfather. "See ya, gramps. Thanks for all the training."

"You made me proud, Luffy. Now go kick some pirate ass with what I taught ya."

The commodore smirked and smacked his fist into his chest, "You got it, gramps. Now get out of the way." Without a further word Luffy and Bartolomeo crouched and launched themselves into the air, seeming to glide endlessly before landing on the deck of their new cruiser. Only someone as perceptive as Garp would see the hundreds of individual kicks the two gave the air to stay afloat. Yes, those two had learned his lessons well.

With a final glance at his departing grandson Garp finally turned back to his own gathered crew, each of which had tears of their own building for Luffy's passing. They'd grown almost as fond of him as he had over the years. "Alright, you lazy bastards, let'd cast off! We're needed back in the Grand Line ASAP."

"Yes Sir!" His men called.

Three Days Later

"Ugh, Luffy?" Bartolomeo called to his closest friend and commander, who was currently snoozing in his new crows nest.

"Yeah?" He lazily called back down. "You better have a good reason for waking me up. We're still four days out from Shells Town and I wanted to get properly rested before ripping old Axe Hand a new one during my garrison inspection."

"Yeah, ugh… there's a black flag on the horizon."

"Really!" In a flash Luffy was on his feet and hopping down to the deck. He grabbed Bart's spyglass and fixed it on the position he pointed out. True to his words, there was indeed a ship bearing the black flag of piracy, and it was moored up to a clearly banged up cargo ship. "Well, full canvas, captain. Looks like we'll be getting some early action on this deployment."

A dark smirk alit the sharp toothed man's face as he unfurled several ropes worth of sails and returned to the helm. "Aye, commodore. Full canvas."

Meanwhile, Koby, a small boy with pink hair was rolling a barrel of ale onto the deck of Alvida's most recently captured ship. He hated this. He hated capturing ships, serving these horrible pirates, and seeing the fear in the eyes of others. All his life he'd wanted only one thing, to be a marine and protect others. But one day his ship had been taken by these very same pirates, and their captain, Alvida had discovered he had a head for numbers. The next thing he knew he was being pressed into her service to handle her finances and threatened with death and dismemberment if he ever disobeyed her orders.

He'd looked for possible methods of escape, but none ever presented themselves. Whenever Alvida's ship made port, he was chained in the hold, and whenever she took another ship like this one, she made sure he was seen by plenty of their occupants, effectively making him a clear party to her crimes. His dreams of naval service were falling farther and farther away from the realm of possibility and he knew it.

His musings were interrupted by a fresh group of his captain's pirates divesting him of his cargo. He'd tried to explain to them that the captain wanted everything brought aboard untouched, but they'd just laughed and threatened him anew. Seeing the impossibility of any confrontation ending well for him, the boy had simply walked away, meandering around the deck. He was pondering jumping over the side and just letting the sea decide his fate when he saw it. A cruiser, hull black as night, waving the white flag of the navy with a straw hat sitting on top of its symbol for some reason. The navy was here! What was he supposed to do? Warn the pirates? Stay silent? Run for cover?

The decision was taken out of his hands when the new ship suddenly sped up and rammed into Alvida's, ripping a huge chunk in the pirate's hull and causing it to take on massive quantities of water. As men and women were knocked off their feet and started screaming on the ship, Koby found himself endlessly happy to have been where he was. That blow looked serious.

"Wow!" a strange voice spoke up from behind him. "When I told Bart to get after them, I didn't mean to ram right into them. Ah, well. I guess it worked out well enough."

Koby spun around and came face to face with what was clearly a naval officer. The man wore a pure white outfit, a long white coat with the kanji for 'justice' waved behind him in the breeze, and a regular old straw hat sat on his head. "Who are you?"

"Commodore Luffy of the Navy." The man looked Koby up and down and asked, "Hey are you a pirate?"

The boy spluttered for a moment at such a direct question before he said, "Not by choice."

"Ah so they captured you then?"

"How could you know that?"

Luffy gave the boy a warm smile and said, "It's more common than you think. Come on, Bart'll take care of the pirates on your ship so I might as well knock these fuckers out."

With that, the strange man took off and Koby rushed to follow him. Every step he took, he saw the devastation he wrought clear as day. The commodore moved faster than his eyes could follow, and the second a pirate came into view they immediately found themselves on the floor. It was actually the only surefire way that Koby knew where he was if he were honest. Finally he caught up to him, but that was because he had stopped to stare at the massive bulk of Alvida. She'd apparently heard the screams of her men and came to investigate.

"What's all this then?" She snarled, massive club swinging up to rest on her shoulder. Her eyes tracked her downed crew until they landed on the officer standing before her with his arms crossed in an arrogant manner. "Who the hell are you?"

"Commodore Luffy, at your service, though not for much longer I'm afraid. You do realize you're under arrest, right?"

"Funny, that." She sneered at his words. "I don't feel like I'm under arrest."

"Give it a second, you'll get there." Luffy reached his right hand over to grip the hilt of his sword.

"Careful, commodore." Koby muttered, "Alvida is fat, but she's still fast."

The pirate captain's eyes shot open at that. Clearly he hadn't been as quiet as he'd thought. "What was that Koby? I know you didn't just call me 'fat'."

Her voice was darker than the boy had ever heard it, and it honestly terrified him so much that his body started to shake. Until Luffy's free hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"Hey kid, it's alright now. I'm right here beside you and she can't hurt you anymore. So what was it you said about her again?"

For the first time in what felt like years, Koby felt the beginnings of confidence take hold of him. He felt secure with Luffy beside him, as if this man could hold off every evil in existence. With that feeling bolstering his mood, Koby squared his shoulders and roared to the sky, "Alvida is the single ugliest and fattest creature I have ever seen!"

"Ragh!" The fat woman roared and charged the boy, giving proof to his earlier assessment of her speed. For such a big woman, she was indeed quick on her feet. However before her club could land its hit, the boy disappeared and the top half of her club fell from the rest of it to the ground, resulting from a damn near surgical cut along its haft. She turned around just in time to see the officer sliding the last couple inches of his blade back into the sheath. He had that rat Koby beside him. When had he moved?

Her thoughts were derailed for good when he flickered out of her sight one last time and reappeared right in front of her with his fist cocked. Her last thought was to wonder how someone could possibly be that fast, before his fist impacted her stomach with enough force to send her crashing back into her own ship hard enough to splinter her deck and two separate floors beneath it.

Silence reigned for several moments before Luffy sighed in annoyance. "Damn. I was hoping she'd actually put up a decent fight. That was just boring."

Beside him, Koby could only stare in awe.

About an hour later, Luffy had everything squared away. The cargo ship personnel had been freed, the pirates restrained, and Alvida was chained to the mast. The commodore had sunk what remained of her ship, after divesting it of its stored funds (for 'official' navy reasons of course), and radioed his grandfather via snail to have a team ready to pick the criminals up at the earliest convenience. He'd been assured that he would receive the bounties for all those he captured at Shells Town when he arrived.

He was all set to leave when the boy from earlier took his arm. "Hey! ugh… thanks for everything. I couldn't have gotten out of that situation on my own."

Luffy chuckled and shook his head. "No problem, kid. It's kind of my job after all. But something tells me you didn't hold me up just to thank me."

Koby got a scared look in his eyes then, but nevertheless soldiered on. "Do you think I could be a marine? Even after everything Alvida made me do?"

"Of course." Luffy answered simply. "You never 'willingly' engaged in piracy, so there shouldn't be any issues with that. Why? Is that what you want to do?"

"Yes! Its been my dream for as long as I can remember."

The commodore smiled and asked, "Then how would you like to join my crew? You don't have any real skills yet, so I could only justify your rank as a Seaman Recruit, but it would be a start."

"Really? You'd let me join up with you just like that?"

"Why not? You have passion, drive, and it's your dream. I like helping people reach their dreams. Plus I could use someone besides Bartolomeo to man the helm. He gets bored sometimes and tends to wander off."

Koby jumped to attention an offered the best salute he could. "I'll do it."

"Good." Luffy chuckled and pointed back to his ship. "Now get on the helm, recruit. We have an island to reach, a bounty to get paid for, and a garrison that really needs an inspection."

"Aye, Sir!"

Note: I know I'm going to catch some flack for not including a couple people on the Straw Hat Crew. To that end I shall provide my reasons. One, Usopp is the single most useless character I've seen in One Piece. I swear he only exists to complain, shriek in fear, and run away from every obstacle until he eventually does something useful on accident.

I will admit to coming to like Brook quite a bit during the Whole Cake Island arc of the manga, but up until then I could not stand to read him. As such, writing him would be a mental drain I do not want to deal with.

Finally, Franky. Now this is actually a character I enjoy quite a bit. That being said, I'm not sure I could accurately write his character in a way that would do him justice. He will show up in the story, but he won't join the crew.

Note: Keep in mind there are three positions on the crew I left purposely vague in the flash forward scene. I have a vague idea of who I would like to see join the Straw Hats, but I am open to suggestions. So if you have thoughts, ideas, or preferences feel free to include them in your reviews. Just to be clear, Koby is not one of the three. He's pretty much permanently on the ship.