Captain Monkey D. Luffy, Marine.

So this idea got kicked around in my fairly empty skull because the son of my best friend just left for boot camp with the United States Marines and he is a rather significant anime fan. (Well not just left anymore. He's actually pretty far along by now. Work has been hectic and I am just coming up for air it seems like) Anyways, I kind of wanted to write something for him since he tolerates my stories better than most people and if you were going to do a fanfiction involving Marines and anime, well what better fandom could you possibly choose!

So readers know, I'm a bit new One Piece having only been following it off and on for about a year. So I might make a few lore mistakes. (I do double check things but I am the dumbs and not the smart as Sir Sic might say!) I should honestly warn everyone I am a fairly casual anime fan even at the best of times. Still here is my take on Luffy following a different path. Feel free to critique and tell me if you enjoy, or call me an idiot. Or whatever. Just thank you for reading.

If Ensign Monkey D. Luffy would have been prone to thinking about things, and that wasn't a trait he was known for displaying, he would have understood just how fortunately things were turning out. After all, just two days ago he'd been pretty damned sure he was going to die. Once the old man found out, well that would be it. See, Luffy had missed the ship that was supposed to be taking him to his current duty station, which just so happened to be the Headquarters of the 153rd. A station that mean old bastard used to command. This was bad for any Marine, for any reason, who was serving in the East Blue, but it would have been much worse for Luffy. Because that mean old man was the Great Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp, and Luffy was his grandson.

Yeah Gramps would have been royally pissed, but it got even worse for Luffy. Those orders were the very first orders Ensign Luffy had ever been given on the very first deployment of his career! If Gramps ever found out… well no amount of rubber powers would have saved him from being beaten black and blue, then blue and black, then up and down… you get the idea.

Gramps would have thoroughly kicked Luffy's ass.

Gramps was just kind of that way about these things.

But it was starting to look like Gramps wasn't going to find out. This friendly vessel had fished him out of the sea, given him food to eat, which obviously meant they were really good people, and happily told him they would be passing right by Shells Town on their way Yotsuba Island. Which was perfect! Luffy should be able to report right on time to Captain Morgan, which meant Gramps would never, ever, find out how badly his grandson had messed up. So, basically Luffy wouldn't die before his dream even got rolling.

But Luffy wasn't thinking about these things, because his stomach was grumbling and food was a far more pressing concern than his ultimate goal at the moment. Sure these nice folks had fed them, but he hadn't eaten for hours and hours before getting picked up. At least the Captain of the ship said he'd happily give any brave Marine seconds! Luffy just needed to tell the cook he wanted some! Of course the Captain had undoubtedly meant to add Luffy could have thirds along with those seconds! Which was like fifths, right?

Right!

Now where would the kitchen be…

Nami was keeping a low profile. The ship had recently rescued some scrawny Marine ensign, and the last thing she needed was for a random Marine to catch sight of the tattoo on her shoulder. Her lip quivered almost imperceptibly at the thought of Arlong. Soon, she was almost there. Arlong whatever else he might be, was at least known for keeping his word.

At least this particular Marine looked harmless enough. Granted he had a few fearsome scars, but he was more than a bit on the scrawny side, had a face that lacked any guile, and wore sandals for some reason. It was strangely hard to take a Marine seriously when he was wearing sandals. Despite the perfectly pressed and fitted Marine cap, this Ensign Luffy character didn't look very much like a Marine at all.

Of course appearances could be deceiving. He might actually be craftier than he looked. After all Nami wasn't remotely what she looked like. She was the infamous Cat-Burglar! Well at least infamous among her pirate victims, and thus the bane of all treasure holds in the East Blue! Especially if those treasure holds were on a pirate ship!

At least she'd never been suspected in person yet. Which meant there wasn't a bounty on her head. Which made things a lot easier. Well if you didn't count the tattoo Arlong had basically branded her with.

Nami really hated pirates, even if technically she was one. She hated them so much.

Speaking of pirate ships, the ship she was currently on looked like it was shaping up to be an amazing pirate lure. Everything about it screamed, "We're stupid and helpless! Please come rob us!" It was perfect. Although Nami did feel a bit bad for the bait. Not a lot, but a bit.

It's not like anyone here had noticed what was happening at Cocoyasi Village. Not like any damned on of them cared. None of them would have even lifted a single finger to save someone like Bellemere. Nami's lip quivered a tiny bit more.

The Marine was throwing her off her game.

Some man who was obviously soft, rich, and complacent was smiling what he obviously believed to be a rakish smile. Nami noticed his wallet was placed in a very pick-able pocket.

He asked her to dance and Nami's smile became radiant even as her eyes grew hard.

There weren't a lot of happy people on The Miss Love Duck. The crew quietly doubted Captain Alvida herself was a very happy person. Which would have made her somewhat sympathetic if she didn't make herself feel better by making damned sure everyone else felt worse. Much worse. And no one was ever made to feel worse than Koby. Which suited the other Alvida Pirates just fine. After all, better him than any of them.

A voice as gnarled as the roots of a rotted oak tree, and far less lovely, shouted, "Koooo-bee! Who is the most beautiful woman on all the seas!"

A soft stammering reply, "W-well ma'am. Th-th-that would be the Captain of our ship. L-Lady Alvida!"

"Ha ha Ha HA HA HA! Good answer!" There was the heavy thud of a giant spiked club hitting the deck. A giant spike club wielded by an ogre of a woman that was both monstrous in appearance and hideous in personality. Behind her Koby could see the smug faces of his "fellow crew." Their expressions said it all, better him than them.

Koby continued as bravely as he dared, "Th-thank you. Th-that means a lot to me." Well that wasn't very brave was it?

The first mate spoke up, "So we're finally going to see some action then."

Alvida's smile somehow grew more evil and more grotesque, "That's right! See that ship right there! Let's hit it with all you got boys!"

The crew let loose with a series of wild cheers as they readied the canons. Some though, weren't quite loud enough. Koby swallowed hard because Alvida noticed.

Nami's eyes rolled as the gentleman trying to impress her literally screamed like a wounded child and ran off to hide somewhere the very moment the warning came. Come one, they were only pirates! Nami didn't bother to try and imitate her would be suitor's reaction. Not because she wasn't a decent actress, after all she hadn't been caught yet, but some expressions and emotions were beyond even the most talented thespians to emulate.

Plus she would have looked absurd, and Nami had too much pride for that.

The crowd in the main cabin scattered to go hide somewhere, but they would be gathered back up again when the pirates boarded. The Marine was still a no-show, which was hardly surprising for a Marine these days. Cannons fired. Nami listened carefully and quickly deduced the pirates were aiming for the rigging, no doubt meaning to take the ship as intact as possible, securing any loot and anyone worth kidnapping. This also was completely unsurprising.

Good. The more predictable things were the easier her plans would be. Even if one of those unsurprising facts was proving distractedly disappointing. A Marine that was doubtlessly cowering with the people he should be trying to protect was proving far more galling than Nami thought it should. Probably because Bellemere wouldn't have cowered. She had never been the cowering type. But Marines like Nami's mother were becoming rarer and rarer.

To the point they practically didn't exist anymore.

She must have faded out for a brief moment because unexpectedly soon there was a thunderous crash up on deck. A crash that was followed by the sounds of boarders running all over the top of the ship. Nami forgot all about how shitty Marines were these days and started doing what she did best.

Which was stealing from pirate scum.

She started with her classic step one maneuver, which was obviously to yank off her dress.

Koby was kicked so hard he flew the entire distance between the ships. It hurt. It hurt a bunch. But Koby understood misery well, and knew with no uncertainty his "Beautiful Captain" was itching to heap more upon him. With reflexes honed by the months of abuse his captured servitude had inflicted upon him, he was up to the task of narrowly dodging Alvida as she tried to crash-land on him. Speed gained since discovering how one speck of dust on a white glove could lead to several days in the infirmary had Koby scrambling out of sight before she could hope to recover. Panting hard he charged below decks, out of sight of almost everyone, down into what turned out to be the ship's galley. There he ran into a slightly surprised looking Marine.

Koby thought this guy was odd looking for a Marine. For one he wore sandals which just seemed weird for some reason. Second he was unbuttoning his shirt, which should have been even weirder but somehow seemed less so… maybe he thought this was the ship's laundry.

Eventually Koby came to his senses. Did this guy somehow not know this ship was under attack? Koby had always wanted to be a Marine, to stand up for the little guy. He thought what Alvida would do if she discovered him here.

With a gulp, Koby took his first real stab at heroism. "You need to hide! If those pirates find you, they're going to kill you!"

The strange Marine blinked at him slowly, then nonchalantly bit into an apple before he continued to unbutton his shirt. He did ask something however, "Aren't you one of the pirates?"

Shame. What Koby felt next was shame, "That doesn't matter. I won't kill you, but they will! And there's a hundred of them?"

Shirt removed, the Marine sat on a bench and started rolling up his pant legs. He was also still chewing on the apple, "Why's that?"

Koby looked at him oddly, "There's a hundred of them so they can capture ships easier! Isn't that obvious?!"

The Marine laughed, and Koby couldn't help but think it was a good laugh. There was no menace in it. Neither was there any cruelty in it. Nothing mocking. No superiority at all. It was just honest laughter, more carefree than anything Koby had heard in a long time. "That isn't what I meant. I meant why aren't you going to try and kill me, since you're a pirate you know."

Koby blinked. The laughter and the reply really didn't fit any of the circumstances surrounding this situation as far as Koby could hope to understand. He was still trying to think of a reply when three of his crewmates barged in.

The smallest, who served as the chef for the crew, sneered at the half-naked Marine. Then he sneered harder at Alvita's favorite whipping boy. It wasn't a pleasant expression. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

The Marine continued rolling up his pant legs like he didn't have a care in the world, his smile didn't even waver. "Marine Ensign Monkey D. Luffy. I was just captured by…" the strange Marine looked confused for a moment and glanced at Koby, "I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name."

Koby blinked. Blinked kind of hard actually. "Koby. My name is Koby"

The Marine nodded, "I was just captured by Koby."

The three Alivida Pirates somehow blinked even harder. Koby could almost hear it.

One of them, who's only non-rotten tooth glinted with the gleam of gold decided to ask, "Koby captured you?" The heinous man with even more heinous breath slowly pointed a hairy mitt at Alvita's least favorite crew member. "That little shit right there. That Koby?"

The Marine whose cap had gone somewhat askew while he had been rolling up his pant legs finally jumped to his feet with a giant smile. He then took off his cap and carefully rolled it up and stuck it in his back pocket. "Yep!"

The three pirates looked at each other and then burst out laughing. "Oh man, you have to be the worst Marine ever!" The biggest of the three violently shoved Koby against the wall where pain briefly overcame him as he slumped to the floor.

Koby's eyes watered and blurred. Painful tears, more at his failure to protect the Marine than from anything physical, caused his vision to swim. Shame filled him because Koby was so damned tired of being helpless. He didn't even have the strength to look up from his lap as several meaty thuds echoed throughout the galley. Thus he was very surprised when a distinct gold tooth landed in his lap.

He looked up, three very unconscious pirates lay at the Marine's feet. There was also several more teeth littering the ground, but that didn't seem important right now. What was important was the thunderous crack of popping knuckles. "Now then Koby," the Marine's voice was much colder and much softer than it had been before when it had just been them. Koby shivered, even as the Marine continued cracking his knuckles, "As your prisoner I demand to speak to your Captain to discuss terms for surrender."

Koby did the only thing he could think to do. He nodded.

Nami looked every inch the proper pirate, well if you didn't notice how immaculately clean she was. Admittedly, Nami hated being dirty. Which seemed to be less of a giveaway on this ship which was frankly spotless. Nami was as impressed as any pirate ship could hope to impress her... well if one discounted what was in it's treasure hold that is.

That didn't make the Cat-Burglar merciful. Not even remotely.

Pirates tended to be grabby sorts, and in Nami's line of work she had reasons to hang out in large groups of them. Ths Nami had long become exceedingly adept at kicking them in the groin. This particular groin shot landed really well too. The pirate's eyes had almost popped right out of his skull, and that was enough to make Nami smile. After all she hated pirates even more than she hated cowardly Marines. At least with the Marine, Nami could objectively understand how one sole man couldn't hope to stand against an entire pirate crew. It was only logical.

The kinder voice whispered that Bellemere would have at least tried.

The crueler one whispered that Bellemere would have also died for it.

Nami stamped down hard on both voices, stamping down hard on the face the groaning pirate in the process. The scum was too busy holding what was most precious to him to offer any defense, so Nami just continued. Kicking him hard in the head over and over again until he went slack.

Yeah, sometimes Nami's objectivity went out the window sometimes when it came to pirates. There was the unmistakable crashing sound of splintering timbers somewhere below decks on the opposite ship. That sound brought Nami back to her senses. It even made her hesitate. At least someone was putting up a fight. Hell, maybe it was even the Marine.

That was good right?

The thought made Nami waver more than a little, and for a moment it felt like her life was in the balance. Which course would her life take towards some future she wasn't quite able to plot yet.

Then the moment passed. She had too many people depending on her to hope some scrawny Ensign could hold out against an entire pirate crew. If it was even that Marine in the first place. It very well could be someone else. Someone that didn't remind her of her mother.

Yes Nami definitely knew she was lying to herself.

She looked down at the unconscious pirate, and stomped down one more time on his face. She wasn't normally this vicious, but something about that scrawny Marine upset her in a way she wasn't capable of dealing with right now.

She bit her lip and willfully ignored the commotion. The fighting would at least make good cover for her escape. Escape, because, she had a job to do. People whom she could save. She could already see the locked chests that contained the only thing pirates were good for.

She was mostly successful in ignoring all the other distractions.

Mostly.

Alvida heard the growing commotion coming from below decks. How could she not? It seemed that someone on this ship wasn't complete coward. Her smile grew a little sadistic, absently she started bouncing her beloved club in the palm of her hand. Before long three terrified members of her crew burst through a hatch. "Lady Alvida! It's a monster!"

Her lip twitched. Her club came down. One of the three got hammered down through the hatch like the world's largest and most hapless nail. Alvida screamed her rage, "How dare you!"

One of the pirates, faced between an enraged Alvida and the coming demon from below the decks chose option "A" with abandon and scurried onto the deck as fast as he could. Alvita brought her club down on his spine and he screamed just as he collapsed.

The third desperately waved his hands at his captain, "Not you Lady Alvida! There's a Marine. A truly terrible Marine!"

Alvida paused. Then brought the club down anyways on the last of them. More out of frustration than anything else. Powerful Marine officers were a rarity in the East Blue, most of the capable being syphoned off to deal with the growing Pirate menace on the Grand Line, but they weren't completely unheard of either. Vice Admiral Garp was still known to patrol these waters and he had supposedly captured the one and only Gold D. Roger twenty years ago.

Obviously this wasn't someone as powerful as a Vice Admiral, but it could still be a Commander or even a Captain. Alvida considered. Maybe someone was on leave. Maybe some newcomer was trying to make a name for themselves. Maybe a lot of things actually. Alvida wasn't one for introspection so she decided to find out!

With a snarl she snatched up the last of her three unconscious crew and absently tossed him into the ocean. She then yelled down the hatch. "Hey! Who's down there?"

She did not expect the timid voice of Koby to answer. "Um. M-me L-Lady Alvida. Th-there's a p-prisoner who wants t-t-to speak with you."

Alvida blinked, than got even angrier, "Koby I don't have time for your crap right now. There is a Marine on the loose I have to deal with! Tell that prisoner to shut up and hand over all their valuables! It's not hard you moron!"

There was a long pause, and a soft and very relaxed voice that most certainly didn't belong to Koby murmured something. The voice was strange, mostly for how utterly unconcerned it was. How completely self-assured. Almost like what was happening right now might not even be worth remembering later. Alvida, deep in her heart, felt the slightest clinch of fear.

Finally a few words she could hear wafted up to her ears.

"That lady up there. Is she the Captain, Koby?"

Koby's voice stammered out a muffled affirmation. Alvida fought the urge to fearfully lick her lips.

"The really loud and fat lady, right?"

Alvida felt her eyes start twitching. The faint flicker of fear vanished in a torrent of rage.

Koby knew his eyes were as big as saucers. The Marine had just said "loud and fat" within earshot of Lady Alvida. What happened next came as no surprise to the cabin boy. He was already ducking and covering before even Alvida herself could react. The expected monstrous crash followed as Alvida brought her full fury to bare as she smashed down into the room. The entire ship shook. Koby thought perhaps the entire East Blue shook at the furious landing.

Alvida's eyes were shadowed. Her voice was as dry and twisted as death. "Koby. Who's the most beautiful woman on all the seas."

Koby quaked and quivered. Several swords stabbed through the walls as Alvida's crew started to force their way into the room. Perhaps it could be forgiven that Koby wavered. "Uh. Um. I-I know this."

Alvida brought her heavy club down. Koby closed his eyes. There was a crunch of impact. Koby opened his eyes. The club was lodged deeply in a wall fairly far away. It took Koby a moment to understand The Marine had somehow ripped the club right out of the iron grip of Lady Alvida, a feat of no great accomplishment given the Marine's casual demeanor. His smile had changed though. It was no longer the open one he had shown in the galley or when walking through the ship. There was something false about it now. Not menacing per se, but coolly professional. Something like a shopkeeper might display with a singularly unpleasant customer.

His voice was absolutely calm. "Hello. I am Ensign Monkey D. Luffy and I am willing to accept your unconditional surrender. Throw down your weapons, come along quietly, and I promise I'll tell the authorities in Shells Town that you all cooperated fully." Luffy's smile suddenly became much more genuine. "Trust me it will be way easier on you than if you make me beat everybody up!"

Luffy wanted to laugh. This was his first real encounter with pirates as a Marine, and it was going so good too! He was even protecting the nice people who fed him! It was almost perfect! The only somewhat disappointing problem being that these guys were all super weak. Oh well, at least it was still a chance to practice how to be a professional-type Marine like Gramps would want. Still, he felt kinda bad about this. It just kind of felt mean to keep knocking these guys out after a while. Still he reminded himself that he was a Marine and they were pirates and this was all part of the job. Even if their Captain was just some angry fat lady with a club. Which was really disappointing, especially since he couldn't help but compare her to Straw Hat Shanks. Let's face it, she made for a frankly silly comparison when stacked up against the famous Captain of the Straw Hat's!

Luffy kind of wondered what Shanks was up to these days. He was going to feel kinda bad when he arrested him.

The Fat Lady snarled, and Luffy tried no to laugh. Then saw something ugly dawned in her face. Well uglier. She looked like a slightly too-hairy rhinoceros with freckles already. "Shells Town huh. So you work for 'Axe-Hand' do you?"

Luffy shrugged. Technically he worked for the Marines and wouldn't actually serve under Captain Morgan until he reported for duty, but she might not know that and explaining it would probably be hard. "Yep! I'm assigned to the 153rd Division at Shells Town!" Then because it seemed polite, "Have you ever been there?"

Fat Lady's smile somehow got even uglier than uglier. Seriously! It was like the grossest magic trick ever! "Yeah I've been there."

Luffy kind of looked away. She was starting to freak him out a bit, but still he kept up his proper professional manner just like Gramps would want. "Cool. Cool. Then you'll know your way around when we get there." That might actually be kind of useful. Too bad she was getting freakier and freakier looking. Seriously it was like mega-creepy.

Fat Lady sighed and thankfully looked away. Luffy was frankly relieved when she did. "Alright then. How much?"

Uh… what? Luffy was confused. He wasn't sure what she was talking about. "How much what?"

Fat Lady looked at him. For some reason, even though she was the pirate, she looked at him like he was complete filth. "You work for Axe-Hand right?"

Luffy blinked stupidly, it was a habit he had that really annoyed Gramps sometimes but was proving hard to break.

"Yeah…"

She looked at him harshly, "Are you stupid?"

Luffy shrugged, "Gramps sometimes says so. Especially after I make him mad." Fat Lady slapped her forehead with her hand for some reason. Like really hard to. It made a big red mark on her sweaty brow. Why would she do that?

Then she then started talking slowly. And slowly Luffy got angry. Because what she said was uglier than anything else he'd seen all day.

"How. Much. Money. Does. Axe-Hand. want. For you To GO AWAY?"

There was only one response to that. "Gummm-GUMMM…."

Koby blinked. One moment Alvida had been standing there, trying to bribe the Marine… whose name was Luffy it seemed… which was terribly disappointing but not really unexpected. That the Marine was getting bribed, not that he was named Luffy. Koby honestly didn't have a strong opinion either way on the name of Luffy.

Koby's brain was vapor-locked because this was when things got weirder. The Mar-Luffy's arms started getting really long. Really, really long. So long they stretched down the main hall, past Alvita's crew behind him, and far into the gloom beyond. Alvida was staring in shock just like the rest of them.

"… BAZOOKA!"

Then Alvida just completely disappeared. One moment she was there, then she was gone. Koby's jaw might of hit the floor. Definitely a few of the other Alvida Pirates had to stoop to pick their own up off the ground.

Luffy was frankly snarling as he rounded on the shocked pirate crew that had him surrounded. "Weapons! Down! Now!"

The sound of falling swords was frankly deafening. It wasn't enough. Ensign Luffy was still angry. "Koby! Pick those up! Now!"

Koby hopped right to attention and rushed to pick up the swords as fast as he was able. By the time he got to sword twenty he was sweating. At least by that time Ensign Luffy seemed to be calming down, but he was still glaring balefully at any pirate that dared opened his mouth. Which looked to be really unfortunate for one of them since he was obviously doing the pee-pee dance. Koby though, even though he was groaning under the weight stooped for sword twenty-two, only to go down in a clatter

The room was completely silent for a moment. Tension filled the air because what would the dangerous Marine do?

Then ensign Luffy laughed. Again Koby was struck by how happy that laughter was. All tension evaporated in the wake of that kind of laughter. Koby even felt himself smile as he started re-gathering up the swords. Luffy smiled big to everyone else in the room, "Okay you, Mr. Pee-pee guy. Go tell this ship's crew that it's safe to come out, then you can use the bathroom. Just don't try to escape so I don't have to kick your ass and we're good. Okay?"

The pirate was almost comically grateful as he ran straight down the halls. Koby watched him go, and felt his own Luffy style laugh build in his chest. Then the shame hit, and Koby felt the laughter die before it had ever begun. He didn't deserve to be able to laugh like that.

Luffy wasn't unsympathetic. "Hey, I'm sorry for yelling, but that fat lady made me really mad." Koby looked at him, and Luffy smiled big. "You're pretty weak aren't you?"

Koby didn't have the heart to look into that smiling face. Koby couldn't quite bear to look up as he slowly started putting all the swords in one pile, since he obviously was too pathetic to even carry them. Just before he was done though, he breathed deep and gathered enough courage to look Luffy in the eye. Koby knew he never be able to move towards his dream if he couldn't manage even that much.

"Yeah I'm weak. And a coward. And just… just pathetic I guess."

Luffy cocked his head to the side, "Why's that?"

Koby looked at the shirtless, sandal wearing Marine, and for the first time Luffy kind of looked cool. Like someone that was standing where Koby really wanted to stand and deserved to do so. Koby smiled a little wistfully, finished gathering the last sword, then sat down on the whole pile.

"I don't know Luffy. I was just a kid who wanted go fishing one day and got kidnapped by pirates so their fat hag of a Captain had someone to swat around."

Luffy crouched next to him. "That sounds really lame."

Koby smiled sadly, "Maybe because it was really lame. Probably because I am really lame."

Luffy nodded, "I'll admit you're pretty lame, but I've met lamer. Take that fat angry lady who tried to bribe me. Now that's what I call, 'Really lame!'" Koby looked at Luffy in surprise. Luffy smiled big, "I appreciate your offer to try and save me. That was pretty cool. Must have been scary since you're like all pathetic and stuff."

Koby laughed. What else could he do? "Am I going to prison now?" Koby was strangely calm about the prospect.

Luffy considered, then shrugged. "I doubt it. You said they kidnapped you right? You'll probably just get let off with a warning to not be so wimpy anymore or something. That's about it."

Koby nodded and decided to confide something, "You know I had a dream." He looked up at Luffy who was obviously now distracted by something. "Is something wrong?"

Luffy shook his head. "Not really. I just want to pick my nose, but it's against regulations."

Koby laughed, and Luffy laughed with him. That was also something Koby hadn't heard in a long time. Someone willing to laugh at themselves. Hell a few of the other pirates couldn't help but chuckle right along with Ensign Luffy. Koby shook his head and continued to tell Luffy his dream, "My dream is to become The Marine Fleet Admiral and spend my days catching bad guys!"

Luffy looked at him oddly, "Well that sure ain't gunna happen."

For some reason Luffy saying that was pretty crushing, "Wh-Why?"

Luffy laughed, "Cause I'm gunna be the Fleet Admiral, catch all the Yonkos, and end the Great Pirate Age myself. That's why. Face it, there's just not going to be a lot left for you to do after that."

The sound of nearly a hundred pirates slapping their foreheads simultaneously was almost deafening. Luffy looked at them, "What?"

Nami pulled her spyglass out, she was well on her way, but she could just make out the pirate ship striking its colors. Somehow the pirates had lost. Nami kind of felt like crying. Not because she had hoped the pirates would win, but because she had just lost out on something special. That Marine was the real thing after all. No one else on that ship could have possibly posed any real threat against a pirate ship of that size.

Nami had missed her chance to help out someone like Bellemere.

That hurt a surprising amount. Somehow the large sacks of money just didn't seem so impressive anymore.

And for some reason her shoulder was itching.

Weird but easily the most OoC thing I can think of Luffy doing in the entire show is not wearing the Straw Hat. Him dropping that hat on Nami's head was one of the most touching things I've yet seen from the show, it really was a simple and elegant way to tell Nami that he's got this. It also made you want to jump up and shout for Luffy to go and kick Arlong's ass! This story might be dead on arrival simply on the strength Straw Hatless Luffy alone.

Oh well, it's more for myself and my friends than anyone else anyways.

So in case you curious on where I actually am in the show, and no I have never read the manga though I have heard it is paced better, Luffy just knelt before Hancock to thank her for reversing her Love-Love beam and saving his new friends on Amazon Lily.

So yeah, pretty far behind and probably some significant reveals I am missing. I do watch a few episodes a week, but I work a lot and honestly don't have a lot of time to delve into every little nuance inside the show. And the show as a lot of nuance. If I miss something important to a character please feel free to tell me where and how I'm a dumbass, just try not to spoil things for me as it's kind of a jerk move since I admitted I am waaay behind in the show. (Probably a decade behind most of you)

Anyways, I kind of wanted to do Luffy on an entirely different path because A) He's more interesting than Koby who was my second choice and B) it seemed that as a child Luffy really could have come down on either side. He'd still be a good man either way (I guess that's a mild spoiler in the direction the story is taking but please don't retaliate), but if the Bandits didn't come down or Garp had been there more, well Luffy might have developed a different dream.

Granted a dream in the same vein and equally as difficult because Luffy is Luffy. We should always thank Oda for that gift.

Also my friend's kid is going to be a Marine!

Be well and safe!