Disclaimer – One Piece is owned by its individual creator and those who claim ownership under copyright
0000000
One Piece - Freedom
0000000
East Blue Arc: Chapter 1 – Welcome to The New Age! Enter: The Straw-hat Pirate!
0o0 Opening 0o0
We Are! – Hiroshi Kitadani
0o0o0o0o0o0
Wealth, fame, power.
The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, Gold Roger! The words he uttered just before his death drove others to the seas.
"My treasure? If you want it, you can have it! Find it! I left everything this world has to offer there! I left it all in One Piece!"
So men head for the Grand Line in pursuit of their dreams. The world has truly entered a Great Pirate Era!
0o0o0o0o0o0
Luffy watched with indifference as a small Pirate ship boarded the large cruise ship carrying hundreds of sea-faring passengers from his miniscule boat on the other side of a large whirlpool.
His first instinct was to simply row away. It wasn't his problem and he was no hero, he was a Pirate. He didn't have a duty to fulfill or orders to obey. He was his own man, a free man.
He'd seen the innocent slaughtered before and was sure he'd see more blood spilt over pointless trinkets and prizes for the greed of man.
But something in him had kept him in place. Something was demanding he fight. Something was calling for justice. He placed a hand on his straw-hat and hummed, deep in thought.
"Damn it." Luffy sighed deeply before setting sail.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Coby cowered as he watched his fellow crewmates threaten each tourist as they slowly took their time collecting valuables from the terrified group of victims. He despised the situation he was in but could do nothing against the Pirate crew or their captain, Alvida.
For 2 years Coby had been forced to work for the terrible group of Pirates as a cabin boy, doing any chore a crewmate was too lazy to do themselves or being forced to worship the literal ground Alvida walked on. He shuddered, even just thinking her name left a bad taste in his mouth. Alvida was a grotesque woman, obese beyond imagination, and a temper that made volcanic eruptions seem tame. And Coby had no choice but to praise her beauty lest he face her wrath at the end of her large spiked club.
"Hurry up you damn dogs. We don't need the Fuckin' Navy showin' up!" Alvida's First Mate barked in a deep voice, "Coby!" tensing as the First Mate' eyes gravitated to him, the 16 year old saluted.
"Y-y-y-yes!"
"Go make yer-self useful and find us some grub for the road. Think you can at least do that right ya damn coward?"
"Yes! Right a-away sir!" Coby fled from the large dining hall as fast as he could in search of a kitchen.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Coby was hopelessly lost. The ship was huge and he had no idea as to where to even begin looking for the kitchen, "If I can't find something to eat for the others, Alvida will have my head!" Opening door after door, Coby could only cry as he only found supply rooms meant to repair the ship.
A single door remained down the hall, "Please be a kitchen," Coby silently prayed he wouldn't have to go look any longer than he already had.
Opening the door, Coby nearly shouted out in joy. Pots, pans, ladles, and gas ranges littered the room and looked like pure gold in Coby's eyes.
There was only one problem.
This kitchen had no food.
Running to every pantry, opening every container; Coby couldn't find a single scrap of food.
"They're going to kill me!" Coby held his head in the palm of his hands, tears and sweat rolling down his face.
"And why are we going to kill you?"
Coby froze at the voice. Turning he saw his three usual tormentors in Alvida's crew. Out of all of Alvida's crew these three enjoyed making his life miserable the most.
"Ah… ah… well…" Coby was afraid. He couldn't get his words right. He could see the intent in their eyes. They had been waiting for a chance to hurt him to kill him. The only reason they hadn't yet was because Alvida enjoyed his foot rubs too much to let him come to too much harm before she would put a stop to it.
"Don't be afraid Coby, we're your pals. Just tell us what's wrong and we'll take care of it for ya," one of the Pirates sniggered as a larger one stepped forward.
"Just tell us Coby, you wouldn't want Captain Alvida to find out you did something bad, would you? Hehehe" the large man had Coby frozen.
"Is this where I'm going to die? I didn't even become a Marine. Why did this happen to me?" Coby began to shut down. No one was going to come to save him. All his tormentors had to do was blame a crew member on the passenger ship had done him in and that they took care of it. Alvida wouldn't even bat an eyelash.
"It's been a fun 2 years kid. Any last words?" the Pirates all grinned as the large Pirate raised his arm to start beating down Coby, "This… is going to be fun!"
"Excuse me, but do you know where the food is?"
Coby and all three pirates froze as they turned to see a teen roughly the age of 18 wearing a straw-hat, a red vest, blue shorts and flip-flops casually walk in and start rummaging through the pantries only to be just as disappointed as Coby had been.
"This sucks. I was hoping for a meal before fighting. Can you believe this? A kitchen without food! Chef Moore would be pissed at the sight. Oh well, what can you do? Oh! Right where are my manners? Name's Monkey D. Luffy, nice to 'meetcha!" Luffy folded his arms and smiled as he greeted the four shocked pirates.
"Is this guy crazy? He must have a death wish or something!" Coby, still in shock, just stared at the strange boy, who seemed like he wasn't afraid.
"Oi! Don't greet us! Aren't you scared?!" one of the smaller pirates yelled unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"Umm… not really, should I be?" Luffy cocked his head in a confused manner.
"We're PIRATES! You should have run the second you saw us! Don't you know what's going on? We're raiding this ship!" the large Pirate grew a tick mark on his forehead at the sheer stupidity of this kid.
"I know that, but I don't know why I should be scared. After all, I'm here to get rid of you," the pirates didn't see him move from across the room. He was instantly in front of them seconds later, his fist buried deep inside the large Pirate's stomach. Half a second later and Luffy had back-flipped into the air and brought his leg crashing down into the Pirate's head effectively knocking him unconscious.
The two remaining pirates stumbled backwards in shock of the boy's pure speed, "Bastard!" one cried out, giving himself and his fellow crewmate enough adrenaline to pull out their swords and charge, ready to cut Luffy into pieces.
Not wanting to see the boy turn into mince-meat, or get cut himself, Coby ducked covering his head with his arms.
Instead of hearing metal meeting flesh he heard the clinking of metal cracking and the thud of blades striking wood. Looking up to see what happened, Coby's jaw dropped as his eyes took in the scene before him.
Looking up, he saw the broken blades stuck in the wooden ceiling of the kitchen and the two pirates on the ground staring up at Luffy with fear in their eyes.
"Wh-who are you?!" One of the pirates asked.
"I told you already, I'm Monkey D. Luffy: a pirate!" Luffy smiled at the title and watched with amusement as the two quickly got up, grabbed their unconscious friend, and ran for their lives.
Coby was still in shock, even when Luffy began waving his arm in front of his face, "Oi? Hello? Anybody home?"
"A-ah!" Coby fell backwards as he finally came back to reality and began scooting away from the now known pirate, "Stay away from me!"
"Hey, it's ok. I heard what those guys were planning to do to you. I came here to save you. I may be a pirate but I'm not like them. We should also probably relocate, don't want to be around here when they come back with more of their friends," Luffy smiled as he helped the scared boy off the ground, "So what's your name?"
0o0o0o0o0o0
"You walked onto the wrong ship and became a slave to Alvida huh?" Luffy asked as he happily chomped away on apples he'd found in a storeroom where he and Coby were hiding for the moment.
"Yes, it was supposed to just be a fishing trip but the boat I got on was owned by Alvida the Woman Pirate. I've spent the last 2 years doing chores and anything else the crew doesn't want to do," Coby lamented.
"Why didn't you try escaping?" Luffy asked as he took a bite out of his apple.
"Are you kidding?! I would be caught for sure! No, no, no, absolutely no way would it have been-" Coby was cut off by a painful bop to his head. Immediately Coby clutched his head, "Why did you hit me?" the purple-haired teen cried pathetically.
"Because," Luffy merely said, "Besides I think you needed it."
"How could being hit be something I need?!" Coby yelled out in anger.
"So you'd stand up for yourself."
"Huh?" Coby looked on in confusion.
"Pain is the world's greatest teacher, the best motivator, and the only way to become strong," Luffy said as he stood up from his seated position and dusted his shorts off, "Pain is how we know we're alive."
"I still don't get it," Coby was more confused. How could pain give you hope? Pain is what you feel when you're about to die.
"Shishishishishi, it wouldn't be a lesson if you immediately got it. Some things are meant to be experienced. Well, I guess I better go take care of Alvida and get out of here before the Navy shows up," Luffy jumped up and began going for the door only for Coby to grab onto his arm.
"NO! You may have been able to beat those other guys but Alvida is too strong! There's no way, no way, absolutely no way!" Once more Luffy punched him, and once more Coby felt pain shoot through his skull and stumbled backwards and fell flat on his ass.
"Do you have a dream Coby?" Luffy asked, his straw-hat shadowing his eyes.
"Y-yes."
"What is it?"
"I-I want to become a Marine and capture bad guys!" Coby's eyes widened as he vocalized his dream for the first time in 2 years.
"And how do you plan to accomplish that if you aren't willing to fight for it? If you aren't willing to even run away from pirates, what makes you think you're brave enough to fight them to the death?"
"I… I…" Coby didn't know how to answer. He had dreamed night after night of escaping Alvida's grasp, joining the Marines, and capturing the ugly hag that had made his life hell, but not once had he ever devised a plan to escape. Not once had he thought about fighting or killing the pirate crew that he was a slave too. Not once had he ever thought about being defiant. He'd just hoped that one day someone would save him.
"My dream is to become the Pirate King," Coby's eyes widened even more as Luffy pronounced his impossible dream, his voice seemed to fail him as his jaw dropped, "I know what that means. I have to sail to the end of the Grand Line and find One Piece. I know the dangers and I know I may die in pursuit of something that may not even exist but I'll never know until I try. It's not about whether I can or not. I'm doing it because I want to. I've decided to be the King of the Pirates, and if I die fighting for that, that's fine with me."
With nothing else left to say Luffy left Coby in the dark store room.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Captain!"
"Huh?" Alvida rotated her large body as two of her lackeys came running from below deck of the passenger ship pulling another one of her pirates by the legs who looked unconscious, "What the hell happened?"
"Captain, monster!" one of the pirates shouted as he tried to catch his breath causing Alvida to misunderstand what he'd said.
"What did you just call me?!" Alvida barked angrily as she threw her giant iron club at the three smacking the unconscious one as he rose briefly escaping his dreams squarely in the chest, sending him flying through the upper deck railing and off into the sea.
"I believe the Dog was speakin' of someone else Captain," Alvida's first mate spoke as he crossed his arms in amusement.
"He better, or both of 'em will know the meaning of what 'monster' is," Alvida ground her teeth together, "WELL?! OUT WITH IT!"
"Y-yes! There's some rogue Pirate aboard. He said he's here to get rid of us!"
"What?" Alvida yelled.
"It could be that devil bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro, Captain," Alvida's first mate noted, "Rumors do put 'im out in this area."
"Roronoa Zoro," Alvida said the name slowly, "Heh, I 'spose we'll find out if the stories about 'im are true or bullshit now won't we boys. I want half you bastards to finish loading the loot and the other half on the search for Roronoa!"
"Yes ma'am!" Alvida's men shouted as they chose who would load and who would begin the search.
"Um… who's Roronoa?"
Alvida's first mate heard the question and sighed before answering, "Geez, where ya been? Roronoa Zoro is an upstart bounty hunter. He's ruthless with his three-sword style and rumors are claiming him to be some kind of devil of the sea."
"Wow! He sounds like an interesting guy. Maybe I'll ask him to join my crew. Thanks for telling me!"
All of the pirates froze as they all finally bothered to look at who had asked the question. Coby's tormentors began to sputter and point at the man.
"C-c-aap-tain! That's him, that's the monster!"
"Eh? This puny guy? He doesn't seem to be Zoro," Alvida smirked at Luffy's lanky form, "Heh, he doesn't look like much to me."
"And you're too much to look at. How can you be a pirate and still be so chunky?" Luffy asked, causing the jaws of Alvida's crew to drop.
"He must have a death wish or something?"
"Oh man, Captain's club is going to get all bloody again."
"This isn't good. Captain's going to destroy the ship!"
Alvida could barely hold her rage, "You little shit!" Alvida raised her club and swiftly brought it down where Luffy was standing who seemed to have been crushed beneath it, leaving a giant hole in the deck, "Heh, some monster he was."
"Oi! It's not nice to call someone a monster when you could be described as one as well," looking over to the mast the Alvida Pirates saw Luffy leaning against it casually without a scratch on him.
"How the… KILL HIM!" Alvida barked as the entire crew pulled out their pistols and began shooting Luffy.
Luffy merely stood and waited as each shot got closer and closer. Right before he was struck, there was a brief, yet extremely intense flash of light - almost like a lightning strike.
Coby watched from behind the door that led to the lower decks as he watched Luffy seemingly be shot by Alvida's crew and struck down by a bolt of lightning, "I told him. I told him Alvida was too strong. And where did that lightning strike come from?"
"You all done?" Alvida's entire crew was blinking the stars from their eyes when they heard Luffy's voice. Quickly rubbing their eyes, they looked over to see Luffy lift his head with a giant grin on his face. It wasn't until they studied his body closely that they noticed he hadn't been hurt in the least. His clothing didn't even have a single bullet hole. Every bullet that had been fired at him was now laying on the ground, useless. "I'll take your silence as a yes."
"What the hell is this guy?"
"How is he still alive?"
"What happened to all of our bullets!?"
"Just who in the hell are you?" Alvida finally asked, eyeing the teen suspiciously.
"Me?" Luffy's grin grew wider. "I'm the future King of the Pirates!" In a flash, Luffy's fist was buried deep in Alvida's fat and sent her flying into her unfortunate crew who surrounded her.
Not losing a beat, Luffy dodged a well-aimed sword meant to behead him as some of the more experienced pirates regained their courage and charged forward.
Spinning from his dodge Luffy planted his fist in a Pirate's face and quickly crouched in time to miss 3 swords thrust at his torso. Luffy swept kicked the 3 pirates surrounding him before jumping high enough to land on another charging Pirate and force his face into the deck.
Coby watched in awe as Luffy systematically took down Alvida's crew. The men he'd deemed as too powerful to ever be taken down looked like children trying to beat up their father on a hot afternoon. It didn't even look like Luffy was really trying. In fact it looked like he was enjoying himself.
Eventually, though, the tide of the fight began to change as Luffy seemingly began to slow down. Coby could tell that Luffy was tiring out. He was getting slower, the enemy blades were getting closer and closer to slicing through his skin. Coby's hope was beginning to die out. He'd really thought that Luffy could do it. That what he'd said to him would somehow mean something.
Luffy managed to break away from the encirclement and gave a disappointed pout. "Man, it was fun at first but this is getting boring!"
Alvida had managed to wiggle her way back to her feet and glared at the lone pirate. "Boring!? If you're so bored why don't you come over here and let me end your boredom with my club!" Alvida swung her giant club around in show, striking the deck to show off its destructive capabilities.
"Shihihihi! You should be careful about swinging around so much iron like that," Luffy suggested as he once again grinned.
"Oh? And why is that?" Alvida smirked cockily.
"Because..." Luffy's body began to arc electricity, leaving spots in his opponent's vision. "...You never know when lightning might strike!"
"What the he-AHHHHHHHHHH!" Alvida gave a blood curdling cry as Luffy pointed a finger at her club, allowing the electricity surrounding him to arc and connect itself to her club for a solid 15 seconds before the stress became too much and the club exploded, sending Alvida flying into the distance.
Everyone's jaw had become a part of the wooden deck as Luffy lowered his arm and the arcing electricity around him died down.
"Oh yeah! I think one of you guys had asked what had happened to your bullets that hit me." Luffy smiled at the remaining Alvida pirates.
"Eh?" was the collected question amongst the pirates.
"I don't really use pistols so you guys can have it all back." Luffy snapped his fingers and a wave of electricity rolled down his body and across the deck. The metal bullets scattered all over the deck slowly rose, the occasional flash of electricity visible between them. He made a pistol with his hand, and pointed it at the pirates.
Realizing what he meant the pirates all scrambled back to their own ship in order to escape the oncoming attack.
"Bolt-Bolt Machine Gun!" As his hand recoiled, the hovering bullets suddenly accelerated, shooting at the fleeing men.
Several dropped to the ground, severely injured by their own bullets, while others were either lucky enough to not get hit or were electrified by a graze, effectively cauterizing the wound and rendering them paralyzed.
The remaining crewmates dragged their less fortunate fellows with them and hightailed it out of there. Upon seeing Alvida's ship sail away, Coby disbelievingly walked onto the deck and felt his knees give out upon reaching where Luffy stood.
"L-Luffy? Who… what are you?" Coby finally asked after a moment of gathering his courage.
Luffy simply chuckled, "When I was a kid, I ate the Bolt-Bolt Fruit and became a lightning man!" Luffy demonstrated by giving Coby the peace sign, electricity arcing between his two fingers.
"You-you mean the rumors are true!? The devil fruit really exist?!" Coby didn't know how much more he could take.
"Yep!" Luffy smiled childishly.
It became silent after that, Luffy enjoying his small victory and Coby trying to wrap his mind around everything that had just transpired.
"Is this real? Am I just dreaming? Can I… am I really free?" It was at that moment that the realization hit. He was free. After 2 long years, he was free.
"I'm free. I'm free! I'm FREE!" Coby cried tears of joy as he shouted his freedom. Rounding on Luffy, Coby glomped the elder teen in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you!"
"Oi! Oi! Don't do that." Luffy roughly shoved Coby off of him. "Geez. You don't need to thank me."
"Of course I do! You set me free! I can finally make my dream come true! I no longer have to fear Alvida's ugly ass face ever again!"
"What was that Coby!?" Fear shot through Coby's spine as he turned to see a puffy-haired, pissed off Alvida climb back aboard the passenger ship. "Well you little shit? I'm waiting!"
"I… I…" Coby jaw open and closed like a fish out of water.
"It's not about whether I can or not. I'm doing it because I want to. I've decided to be the King of the Pirates, and if I die fighting for that, that's fine with me."
"I-I said I no longer have to fear your u-ugly ass face ever again you fucking bitch! I am going to join the Navy and become a Marine! And then I'm going to beat up pirates! I'm going to become a Marine and capture your fat ass and throw it in jail!"
"You ungrateful brat! I'm going to kill you!" Slowly running forward, her arms outstretched, aimed at wringing Coby's neck, Alvida breathed heavily as she lost all common sense to her rage. Coby cowered as the large woman got ever closer, but he had no regrets now, "I said it. I finally fought for my dream. I finally proved that I'm not scared to die fighting!"
"That was well said Coby. I'll take care of the rest." Looking to Luffy, Coby watched as the man calmly walked at a similar pace Alvida was charging, "Bolt-Bolt Pistol!" Luffy's arm once more was surrounded by electricity which shot forth in a dispersed pattern at Alvida, electrocuting the woman until she dropped to the ground unconscious. "She should stay down this time." Luffy smiled as he let the electricity fade once more.
"Luffy… I-" Coby was cut off by Luffy raising his hand to silence him.
"Like I said there's no need to thank me. I came to help simply because I could. I had no intention of really saving this ship or its passengers. I was just looking for a way to pass the time. I'm not a hero so don't treat me like one, ok?" Luffy grinned as Coby seemed to understand.
"Anyway, I think it's time for me to go!" Luffy laughed as he began walking to the railing lining the edge of the deck.
"Go? Why?" a sharp whistling sound and three explosions in the water surrounding the ship was Coby's answer.
"Navy finally showed up! Though they're a little off." Luffy pointed toward the still seeable pirate ship sailing away as fast as it could. Not far off the coast of the island the two ships had been engaged, a Navy ship was coming into view firing cannonballs at the fleeing pirates. On the bow of the ship was a massive dog's head could be seen chewing on a bone. "Anyway, bye!" Luffy jumped over the railing causing Coby to run up and check that he was ok.
Looking over he saw Luffy land on a small boat with a single sail and a tiny Jolly Roger that had a straw-hat and seemed to almost be grinning like Luffy, "Luffy! Thank you! I promise… I promise to become a hero of the Marines! I won't waste this chance you've given me! And one day… one day I'll catch you, King of the Pirates!"
Luffy turned as he unfurled his sail and grinned up at Coby, "You can try! Shishishishi!"
With that, Luffy looked to the horizon, excitement filling his heart knowing that the race was on.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Vice-Admiral!" The Marines all saluted as the white-suit clad Vice-Admiral stepped aboard the passenger ship. A dog shaped hoodie adorned his head as he returned the salute before turning to his first in command.
"What happened, Major?"
"Sir! All of the passengers and crew were rounded up and locked into the ballroom. None of them seem to know what happened other than a fight breaking out and some loud explosions. Some thought they saw lightning from the windows."
"I see. So no one aboard knows what happened?"
"No sir. We're speculating that a mutiny took place."
"You're so sure..." the Vice-Admiral asked as he walked around the deck, taking notice of burn marks that seemed eerily familiar to him.
"Sir!" Two Marines came forth holding a young boy in their arms. The boy didn't seem like much. He wore a simple white button up shirt, navy-blue pants, and had a dopey looking face with giant round glasses making him look even wimpier. "We found him down below deck. He claims to know what happened."
"Oh? Well then?" The Vice-Admiral dwarfed Coby far more than Alvida could ever hope too. Unlike Alvida, whose mass made her look like a giant pile of gelatin, this man was tall and full of confidence forged through years of service and fighting.
Fighting down his nerves and finding his courage Coby began his tale.
At the end, all of the Marines had a scared look on their face except for the Vice-Admiral and the Major.
"Sir, if this boy is telling the truth then that means…" The Major trailed off not wanting to voice his words lest they be true.
"Tell me boy, do you know just who it is that saved you?" the Vice-Admiral asked.
"N-no. He only told me his name was Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy." Coby was confused. Why were all these Marines looking so scared?
"I suppose all that time on that pirate ship would prevent you from hearing about the disappearance of one of the World Government's most feared enemies, Straw-hat Luffy! A commander of the Red-Hair pirates."
Coby's eyes widened at that name of Red-Hair. There wasn't a pirate alive that didn't know and fear the four emperors. The four mightiest pirates of the era, and the four that were closest to obtaining the ultimate treasure. Whitebeard. Big Mom. Kaido. Red-Hair. These four were said to dominate the Grand Line and that it was better to kill yourself than to fight any of them. And he had just vowed to capture one of Red-Hair Shanks' commanders. And if there was anything to know about Red-Hair Shanks, it was that you don't mess with his crew. He was doomed.
"No wonder Luffy said he was bored! He probably eats pirates like Alvida for breakfast!" Coby couldn't fathom just how powerful Luffy more than likely was.
Reaching into his suit's jacket the Vice-Admiral pulled out a wanted poster and unrolled it to show Coby the bounty it contained.
Coby stared in shock as he saw the trademark straw-hat sitting atop raven locks and the grinning face of Luffy in a black suit with a red dress shirt buttoned all the way up and black tie.
However, what shocked him even more was the bounty price: 250,000,000 belli stared back at him. He had vowed to capture a man worth 250,000,000 belli.
"He seems to recognize him Vice-Admiral," the Major said as he looked between the boy and wanted poster, "But it makes no sense for him to be all the way in East Blue."
"Shahahaha! It's easy to understand Major. Straw-hat has left that damn Red-Hair. It seems he wishes to make a new name for himself. Send word immediately to all East Blue bases and tell them to be on alert for a young man in his late teens wearing a red vest and straw-hat. That boy won't get away from me that easily!"
"And the boy sir, what should we do with him? He did serve on a Pirate's ship for 2 years." The Major pointed down at Coby who realized what the Major meant.
"Please!" Coby bowed before the Vice-Admiral and looked up at the man with determination in his eyes, "It's been my dream since I was little to become a Marine! I know I'm not the bravest or the strongest but I made a promise that I would become a great hero of the Marines and capture the man who will become the future King of the Pirates! I will do whatever you tell me to do! I spent 2 years in hell fearing for my life every single day! I don't want to be scared anymore! I want to be strong and protect those who have no one to save them!"
For a moment all the Marines looked to their Vice-Admiral positive that he would turn the pathetic boy down.
"Shahahahaha! So you want to be a Marine eh? Your eyes, you remind me of another young kid with a dream similar to yours." A young boy with a crescent like scar under his left eye and a straw-hat hanging around his neck as he happily ate flashed through the Vice-Admiral's mind. "If you think serving a bunch of pirates was hell, I'll more than happily prove you wrong boy! From this day on, you're a Marine and a Marine's home is hell!"
Coby couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He was a Marine. He was really going to become a defender of justice!
"Vice-Admiral Garp this is highly irregular! We don't even know-" the Major was cut off by Garp.
"It's not our place to crush the dreams of the young who wish to make their world a better place Major. Besides we'll see just how much he still wants to be a Marine once I start his training. Then we'll see what he's made of. Until then, you two!" Garp looked at the two Marines who'd brought Coby before him.
"Sir!" The two saluted smartly.
"Go find him a bunk back aboard the ship. I need to go find out why this ship had left port without a naval escort," with their orders given the two Marines escorted Coby back to the Navy ship to begin his life as a Marine.
Garp's Major silently fell in-step behind him and the two disappeared as they were led to where the Captain of the passenger ship was.
"Luffy… you sure do manage to befriend the weird ones," Garp thought unable to keep his chuckling in control as he thought about the grandson he hadn't seen in over a decade.
0o0o0o0o0o0
And that's it for chapter one. This is from a story I posted a long time ago, and while I'm not going to continue that story per se, I did always like this opening chapter. It is a DF Luffy, and a cliché one at that, but a lot has happened since I originally posted this story back in 2011 or 2012.
As of right now my love of One Piece has been reignited as over the last year or so I've been re-watching the entire series. Yes re-watching. From the start to the current episodes. And what a journey. To go back like that, taking in all the fights, the losses, the adventure. I'm still catching up as I'm currently in the middle of the Zou arc, the furthest I've gotten be it watching the anime or reading the manga. I do have general knowledge of what's to come at Whole Cake Island and Wano no Kuni as I am an avid fan of amvs and things get spoiled through those.
With my reinvigorated passion I decided to go back through my old One Piece story and I decided I would bring it back as an idea took root whilst talking with my good friend and partner Lord of the Morning. I've been sitting on it for a few weeks now, letting it play out in my head and I decided to go ahead and start writing once more.
I have no idea how far I'll go with this project, nor any idea how well it will be received but I'm just going to do as I please and, taking a page from Luffy, because I want to.
And I will answer a question I know I'm going to get: What about the Goru Goru no Mi?
Don't worry about the Goru Goru no Mi. Because we're not there. And yes, I have a plan. Skypea was one of the things I had to think about before moving forward. Everything will come into play. For any One Piece fan can appreciate the long game. And between now and this story getting that far, we have a long way to go. For now, don't worry about it. Just enjoy the ride.
And of course, let me know what you think. Is it good, bad, stupid? Am I deserving of Robin saying something horrible will happen to me in grotesque detail? Or should the people praise me as they do God Ussop? You decide.
And lastly, I am going to set pieces into motion that Oda-sama revealed much later on in the canon. While I am looking to make changes of my own, as I already have with the very first chapter, I do still want to follow a decent portion of the masterpiece that is One Piece. This of course is to expand upon this version of One Piece as I try to master the art of world building. In other words, spoilers and call backs galore in case you're new to One Piece and thought this story would be friendly to newcomers. It is not. You're welcome to stay as these "spoilers" will only really be noticed by veterans of the canon but you won't understand why random cut aways are there.
Side note. Spoilers. Major spoilers for the Water 7 arc are in this chapter. It's late. But here it is.
Now go review or something.
0o0o0o0o0o0