Coby had intended to board a ship for a fishing trip one day, but he got on the wrong ship and ended up with the Alvida pirates. To stay alive, Coby put himself in servitude to the crew. Though he did this for the sake of his own survival he still harbored dreams of escaping and becoming a marine and worked on building an escape boat for two years. However, the problem was that he lacked the will and the resolve to even attempt to escape.
Sure he did not have to fear the sea because he had not eaten a devil fruit thus he could still swim if need be. Though the problem was how to escape and when as he could not just escape randomly after all. Escape in the dead of night and he would have to just hope he does not get lost as it would be pitch black outside and he could not bring any light to avoid getting caught. Try and escape during the day, that would have to be during a time when the Alvida pirates have their guard down. If they could easily shoot down his boat and cause both of them to sink. Sure the possibility for him to swim for it would exist but to where would be the question. Even if he could swim what good would that do him in the middle of the sea if he did not know where the nearest island was? Also what about the creatures of the sea who to say that they would not just eat him. Trying to escape while the crew was docked at an island and get away through that method? Well, what if he got caught by the marines would they believe that he was part of a pirate crew purely because of one mistake that he had made two years ago? Since he had waited that long to escape he could be considered a pirate at this point even if that was not what he wanted to be and was merely with them to avoid death.
All these things were going through his head as he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He could not just keep going with the status quo as his dream was slipping away from him after all. The longer he stay with this crew the harder it would be to go after his dream of becoming a marine. Yet he was lost in his thoughts when he noticed something that caused him to do a double take to ensure that he was not seeing things at all.
There out in the middle of the sea was a girl around his age singing. It was not the strangest thing either as she was not just singing but giving a legit performance out there in the middle of the sea. Draw in by her performance, Coby helped her get on to the ship.
He might have been held captive here on this pirate ship but he had not fully forgotten his dream just yet. How could he accomplish that dream if he just left that girl out there in the middle of nowhere? Performing for whatever reason she was doing so.
"Thanks a lot as you really saved us there," the girl said after he brought her aboard
"Huh!? What do you mean us" Coby asked as he just noticed her by herself
"Want to see a trick" the girl asked all of a sudden
"Okay," Coby said curiously
The girl waved her hand around the other and from it burst out a guy that was also around their age
"So it worked as you did not exhaust yourself, again did you," he asked
"Do you like being alive 'cause that's the only reason we live long enough to be found?" she said glaring at him.
Coby would learn from talking with them that their names are Luffy and Uta. They had a third guy with them but he was remaining wherever Luffy came from for reasons. He also learned that Luffy wanted to become King of the Pirates while Uta wanted to become a diva as her goal was to look for someone. That someone would find her if she became a diva of worldwide fame.
Also, they were childhood friends who had just recently met up after years of being apart. Also, he did not ask them nor did they go into details of their reunion either.
Once they heard what his dream was they did not laugh at him nor turn away from him as Uta claimed she was a diva in training that joining Luffy since he was going to be Pirate King. What better place to get noticed and famous as an ally of the future Pirate King after all?
The first step to achieving Coby's dream was getting away from this pirate crew that basically kidnapped him. Which was not that hard given how strong Luffy and Uta were compared to them.