The world was thrown into war two years ago. The World Government had had a total of six ships escorting a single, bigger ship around the New World, awfully close to the final island able to be navigated to. Loadstar, the destination for pirates around the world.
One of the Marine vessels had spotted the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates and opened fire, despite the group openly avoiding them. In order to defend his ship and crew, pirate captain Straw Hat Luffy deflected the cannonball and sent it back at their attackers. He ordered his crew to get them as far from the escort as possible. However, the deflected cannonball overshot the Marine ship and hit the one in the center of the circle formation. It wasn't known who it belonged to until the paper the very next day.
WAR ON THE WORLD GOVERNMENT
It's common knowledge that pirates don't like the Marines, and vice versa, but no one could have guessed it would be taken this far. Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, grandson of Marine Hero Garp the Fist, and son of Dragon the Revolutionary is especially known for going against his grandfather's wishes and becoming a pirate, evidently following closely in his father's footsteps.
Yesterday afternoon, five World Nobles - Celestial Dragons - were halfway through their trip around the second half of the Grand Line, ready to turn back to go home, when Straw Hat Luffy mercilessly - and without provocation - attacked and sank their ship, killing most on board, including one of the Celestial Dragons. Luckily, the Marine escorting the ship acted fast and were able to save the surviving World Nobles and escape the area with little to no Marine casualties. The wreckage of the ship has yet to be investigated, see page two.
Former Vice Admiral Garp, when approached about this matter, shut down all questions and has refused to comment. The press have chosen not to push the Marine Hero as the man is in obvious shock and disbelief that his own grandson could do something like this. It is obvious to even those who don't know him that Garp is ashamed of what his descendants have become. All are wondering if Monkey D. Dragon of the Revolutionaries is proud of his son. The apple, after all, doesn't fall far from the tree.
"What a load of bullshit!" Sanji yelled, waking everyone aboard the Thousand Sunny. THe News Coo had arrived much earlier than usual on orders of the World Government.
"What's wrong?" Robin, who had woken up at the same time as the chef, was the first to arrive on deck, followed closely by Nami. Sanji said nothing and handed the two girls the newspaper. Robin and Nami read the article with varying emotions. "What the hell?"
The next to read the paper was Usopp who shared the girls' sentiment. Franky was handed the paper next and he read it aloud for himself and the other five boys. All were in agreement, though Luffy didn't speak. Each word that was read sent him further and further into his head, thoughts of self blame overcoming him. How could he have let this happen? His crew were in danger now!
The ringing of a den-den mushi pulled him from his thoughts and Frank stopped reading. Everyone focused on the den-den in the mast. Luffy walked over and picked up the receiver. Silence greeted him. Then, "What the hell did you do."
"Traffy, I-!"
"No. You're gonna tell me what the hell you did."
Zoro took the receiver from his captain's hand. "He doesn't have to tell you shit." was the first thing he said, "But if you must know, the Marine's shot at us yesterday. Luffy deflected the cannonball and sent it right back at them. It went over the ship that shot us and hit the ship in the middle. We didn't know it had any of those fucking Nobles on it, so lay off!" Then he hung up and turned to the crew, "No one answers this, okay?" The crew nodded and separated from one another, either to start the day or to get ready to start the day. Either way, the ship was silent, tense. Zoro turned his attention to Luffy who was now reading the newspaper and looked over his shoulder and reading what everyone else missed.
As everyone knows, attacking a Celestial Dragon is punishable by execution by Admiral. Killing a Celestial Dragon, however, is punishable by death by torture execution. The World Nobles are calling for Straw Hat Luffy's head, even going so far as to declare direct war against him through the Marines. Very few have objected.
Many are wondering what will happen now. Currently, there is no answer. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki has called all those who hold the title 'General' and above - excluding all Warlords or those with known former outlaw associations - into a meeting that has been in session since late last night. No news has been released as to the next steps.
Zoro swiped the paper from his captain's shaking hands and threw it to the floor. This situation was less than he could say anything, though, Luffy shook his head and walked into the kitchen where the rest of the crew now were.
The was stiff as the Straw Hat crew sat around the dining table. Once everyone had finished their breakfast and were seated, Luffy spoke. "We need to separate." Before their protests, he held up his hand, his face holding nothing but fear and regret. "I don't know for how long, but we aren't safe."
"We haven't been safe since we decided to leave home." Nami said. The others agreed with her. "What makes you think that separating would make us any safer?"
Robin spoke next, "She's right, you know. Dividing our strength will only make us weaker and more susceptible." This encouraged the others and they all spoke their objections. Soon, Luffy couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Then what do we do?" the captain asked, shocking his crew. They'd only ever seen him so scared once before, but they'd never seen him cry like this.
"We stay together." Brook answered.
The fighting went on for the worse part of two years. At first, the World Government had only gone after the Straw Hat Pirates, but it didn't take them long to go after all pirates. They started with the Blues, eliminating all who sailed under a jolly roger. Then, they moved into the Grand Line. From the first islands in Paradise all the way to Sabaody, no pirate - official or wannabe - was safe.
The remaining crews, as the Marines moved into the New World, started to form alliances. Enemies became civil in the face of their common enemy, a sight that would have been beautiful under any other circumstance. No allyship was stronger than that between the Straw Hat, Bonney, and Kidd pirates.
As the massacre the world called a war neared the end of its second year, almost all pirates had been killed. Even the ones who'd been imprisoned. Those who remained either separated or went into hiding. Hiding places never lasted long. Those left on the seas escaped into the non-navigational waters beyond the island Loadstar. With no way to navigate, they were left stranded, drifting, hoping they'd make it to the next island.
The survivor's numbers were going down, soon leaving only six remaining pirates. They had found their way to the final island Laugh Tale, but the price had been too large to pay. The burden they felt now that everyone they'd come to love was now gone weighed too heavily on their shoulders, so they went back in time to try again.
Of the six survivors, none knew of the seventh. The island, however, took pity on the poor soul that had washed up on her shores and sent him to rejoin his captain.