The Honored One

by All What If's

what if luffy was separated from his brothers and family, what if he grew up someplace else, what if he didn't have a devil fruit power, what if he found his way back? many things can change, but not his dreams, not too powerful, nor too strong, and no connections to some big stop either. how will luffy and his crew go about their journey? one piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda, not me.

2. Chapter 2

The First One

Chapter 2: the first mate and crew

Right now, Luffy and Coby were in Luffy's speedboat with questioning looks looking at the same orange-haired girl that escaped the Alvida pirates, the 3 were thinking of how they had gotten to this point.

flashback

Luffy had just introduced himself to Coby and spoke. "Can you tell me where is the treasure on her ship?" Asked Luffy to which Coby stuttered and scrambled his way to Luffy and said "Yeah sure, that's the least I can do for you, Afterall you helped me more in the last 10 minutes than anyone else in the last 2 years" he said and told him where to go in the ship.

"I can take you there" offered Coby.

Luffy was about to take the offer but suddenly tilled towards his jet boat and said "Can you instead get to my boat and get it ready to leave, the one I got here on, I would appreciate that." Asked Luffy to which Coby nodded and was wondering why he looked a bit serious.

With that, they both made their way to finish their tasks and Luffy went towards Avida's ship and Coby towards Luffy's special boat.

Luffy was now inside the ugly ship making his way towards the treasure just as Coby had instructed.

Coby was now on Luffy's boat, and saw a girl with orange hair getting ready to leave on the boat, "umm excuse me" Coby said and got her attention.

The orange-haired girl was startled when she heard the voice and snapped back and looked at Coby, it took a second for her to conclude that he was no threat to her. But who was he and why was he on her boat? "What are you doing on my boat?" she questioned.

After hearing that Coby gave her a weird look knowing that this was Luffy's boat and replied "This boat owner asked me to get her and get it ready for him".

Hearing that the girl clenched her teeth 'This boy knew the owner she couldn't steal it' then she got an idea. "hey- if we leave now this person won't know what happened it's not like he will find you and I got some cash we can share, how about it" she said giving him a wink which caused Coby to blush a bit, but Coby owed Luffy far too much to accept and replied "no, I can't do that it's Luffy's boat" he said and the girl frowned and wondered if she should knock him out and bind him she could always leave him on the dock's. but then someone appeared behind Coby.

"And just what are you doing on my boat" asked Luffy but he didn't have a kind expression that expression was… unsettling and she knew she couldn't fool him; it was in his eyes.

Flashback end

She was examining him. Luffy decided to say something, "You are staring." Said Luffy, realizing that she indeed was staring at him and blushed at being called out but quickly collected herself. She knew she could not rob this guy so she decided to make a deal. "Hey, so this is your boat, it looks amazing" she complimented.

"Thanks," said Luffy with a leveling look. "Now what are you going on my boat".

"Well, you see I was trying to escape the pirate attack and I saw this boat so I thought I could use it to escape and- "she was cut off.

"Cut the crap I know you were trying to steal the boat now tell me where is the gold?" Luffy said now with a deadpan look.

Now she was surprised when he said that and how he knew about the gold. She was thinking about a sneak attack and knocking him out then they heard it

BOOM- it was followed by a shock wave. When they looked for the source of the cannonball, their eyes landed on a marine ship which launched more canon fire which caused the water waves to rise.

While Coby and the orange-haired girl were holding the boat for their lives, Luffy had a frown on his face, and while looking at the marine ship launching canon after canon without caring for the civilian ship that was just raided. Just as the girl and Coby were about to ask Luffy to get out of there when they saw something they never imagen was possible.

Luffy jumped high which caused the boat to shake badly and water splashes to get on the girl and Coby, then they looked up. Luffy was about 15 feet in the air and had grabbed a flying canon ball and then easily landed back in his boat which again shook violently and made it hard for the girl and Coby to stand so they crouched again. Before the two could say something, Luffy threw the canon ball toward the marine ship which was at least 1.5 kilometers away and it hit perfectly at the ship which caused the ship to stop firing.

Luffy took this chance to jump to the back of his boat and put his feet in the little hole and the boat started to move fast which startled the girl and Coby but Luffy didn't stop, after a little while when they were out of sight Luffy pulled his feet out and the boat started to slow down and the girl and Coby finally got a chance to regain their balance.

The girl looked towards Luffy with a bewildered and shocked look, he was casually doing his work and she asked/yelled "What was that! We were going at least 80 miles per hour how is that possible the sail was closed and the wind was low how did you gain so much speed in such less time!?" Coby wanted to ask the same question, neither of them had even heard of something like that and they wanted some answers. He had just grabbed a dame canon ball in the air and threw it back then somehow made his boat that fast in a few seconds.

Luffy was busy, he walked from one end of the boat to the other and was pulling different bags that were hanging off the boat and pulling his equipment, he pulled a bag got a utility belt, and put it around his waist. "I made my boat myself; it has a thing called 'dial' which creates a wind pressure at the end of my boat, when I step at the paddle it makes my boat go faster." He answered as he pulled a different thing out of his belt gave it a quick check and then put it back, the girl now had a look of understanding still registering the information, and was thinking how much she could sell this dial thing for while Coby who took a quick look at the back of the boat to see where the dial was, but he also took note of what Luffy's black sash had, there was a flintlock pistol at his left hip right next to his katana, on his right hip was a compass in a little pocket, and there was a little pouch probably bullets for his pistol.

"Where did you find this dial thing; I haven't heard of it here in East Blue?" the girl questioned.

"You would never find it anywhere, I found it in a sunk ship, it was probably a few decades old and I never heard of any dials myself, I had to figure out how to use it myself, and trust me it was a pain." Said Luffy with a little laugh. He then pulled out his compass and looked at a map then turned his boat then pulled his sail letting the wind do its work the normal way and motioned the two to sit down handing them some energy bars which they took gladly.

"So, now we have time to talk, I know we can't do anything about you being here so might as well go together, that's the best course of action," said luffy much to the girl's relief, didn't want to swim her way to an island and she couldn't beat this guy, he caught a cannonball and threw it back, so beating him was out of options.

"Hi my name is Nami, I am a thief who only steals from pirates, nice to meet you," said the now-named girl Nami.

She had shoulder-length orange hair, she had fair skin brown eyes, she was wearing a shirt with white and blue horizontal stripes and a white skirt. With white shoes. Luffy also caught sight of a blue color on her left arm covered by her shirt's sleeve, but he couldn't see what it was, deciding to look into that later. Luffy offered a handshake which she accepted with a smile.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy the man who will be the king of the pirates," Luffy said like it was normal even after hearing that she stole from pirates only.

Hearing that Nami looked at the sail of Luffy's boat for the first time and saw a jolly roger with a straw hat on top and got an angry look and then said "You are a filthy pirate, why didn't you tell me" She asked in an angry voice as she stood up.

"Did you ask" was Luffy's reply, not even a bit bothered by her anger but Coby looked scared about what was going to happen.

"How was I supposed to know if you were a pirate or not" yelled Nami.

"How was I supposed to know that you were a pirate thief" questioned back Luffy.

Nami was getting irritated by Luffy's smart replies and said "If I knew you were a filthy criminal, I would have swum to an island instead" she yelled.

"You still can, the closes one is Shell's town me and Coby are going there anyway" Nami was not expecting that answer, she really couldn't swim there and Coby was now surprised that they were going to Shell's town, there was a marine base where he could sign up and become a marine and fight for his dream-like Luffy.".

Nami knew she didn't have a choice but to put up with him. "Fine but I will leave after we get to Shell's town," she said.

"no" Nami and Coby didn't understand what he meant "What do you mean" asked Nami now looking at Luffy with a questioning look.

"Leave my boat, unless you have anything to offer." Said Luffy much to Nami's horror.

"WHAT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN LEAVE, THERE IS NO WERE TO GO," said Anime now in a scared tone.

"I am a pirate what did you expect, you said to yourself I am filthy, so now either we can make a deal or you can swim, so what can you offer," said Luffy with a look that said I am not changing my mind.

Nami didn't know what to do she could tell that he was serious so now she was thinking about what to offer there were only two things she had, the treasure she stole from Alvida pirates, or her body and she was not even considering the second option, she had done many things for money but that was not one of them she was a virgin and she would stay that way thank you. She was willing to give some money but her self-respect was going to stay intact.

"I stole some treasure from Alvida, I can offer some of that." Said Nami.

Bingo, this was exactly what Luffy wanted, the truth was that he knew about the treasure she stole and knew where it was, he had sensed a presence going towards Alvida's ship when he was beating them and that same pressure was on his boat when he finished, he had sent Coby to his boat and himself he had checked the treasures and when he got to the treasure chest his eye was twitching, the chest was empty, he then made his way towards his boat and had seen a gold coin fall out of a bag that was supposed to be empty and now looked full. He had connected the dots, and then when she said she only stole from pirates it was confirmed, but she was the one to steal it first and Luffy respected that, she managed to steal it all by herself, he would have asked her to join his crew but she seems to hate pirates so he decided to hold on that idea but he at least wanted to make sure to keep her with him and came up with the idea of a deal, and now it begins.

" All of that treasure or some of it?" questioned Luffy like he was asking a child.
"NOT ALL OF IT," she said with shark-like teeth, and her face got 3 times bigger than her whole body. "I can give you 20% of it". "50%," he said. "What, no way". "Swimming it is-." FINE-25%". "40%". "30 take it or leave it". There was silence for a bit it seemed even the sea was waiting for the answer as well… "fine 30%". YES, nami was happy, she had another win what she didn't knew was that Luffy would have taken 20% just fine. He was interested in something else that the money. "but". He said playing his move, Nami looked at Luffy when he said 'but' what did he want now? "30% still isn't enough." He spoke.

"WHAT, but you just agreed" exclaimed Nami.

"Nope, I agreed on 30% but that's not enough," he said, "so to complete the payment you have to help me, some info would do just fine." Said Luffy with a smile.

Nami was just about to argue but after hearing that he only wanted info she decided to agree after some more bickering with him but he didn't look bothered. "What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Do you know anything about Roronoa Zoro, I heard he is the strongest swordsman in East Blue" questioned Luffy and gave a weird look when he saw the look of horror on both Coby's and name's faces "What?" said Luffy.

"What, WHAT" That's all you want to say" exclaimed Nami, "Roronoa Zoro is a bounty hunter, they say he is as ruthless as a demon and 3 times ruthless. Exclaimed Coby and Nami picked up again "You are strong but even you can't beat Zoro he is an actual beast king," said Nami not knowing who she was talking to.

Luffy didn't look the least bit worried but amused instead, he wondered how a certain dragon would react to Zoro being called a beast king. "I asked where he is not how strong he is, whether you got the info or not. Last I heard he was on the shell island," Replied Luffy.

Nami and Coby didn't know what to say, a few seconds later when she sighed and said "That's right last he was seen on Shell Island where he was captured by the marine base" she informed, "Still their Huu, I thought I could get some leads they're but the guy is still there, guess it shouldn't be that hard." Said Luffy.

"What don't tell me you want to recruit him Luffy" exclaimed Coby.

"I was thinking, I still haven't decided and there is a marine base good for you let's sign you up," said Luffy, nami was confused and was introduced to Coby, she first thought he was in Luffy's crew but after hearing he wanted to be a marine, she asked why Luffy was helping him he just shrugged and said it was Coby's dream and he didn't lose anything helping him. Nami was shocked and wondered what kind of pirate was he but left him that for later.

"So, you know navigation, how good are you at it" asked Nami.

"Enough to travel any sea, of course, I am not gifted or anything." Replied Luffy, "how long till we get there" he questioned not knowing how far Shell's town was, he wasn't familiar with East Blue.

"At this speed, it's 9 am it would take it midnight," she said and Luffy didn't like that so he jumped to the back and said "Sit tight" with a grin, it took Nami and Coby a second to realize he was about to speed up, as he pulled the sail and stepped on the pedal and the boat speeded up as Coby and nami again held onto the boat for their life.

-1 hour, 30 minutes later-

They had reached shell town and had parted their ways; he didn't know where Nami left but she made it clear that they weren't partners. Right now, Luffy and Coby were making their way towards the marine base, "how do you think about seeing Zoro" asked Luffy looking at Coby as they walked towards the base, before Coby said something they saw all the people around them back away comically, seeing this Coby said "well looks like he is as scary as the story says it's good that captain morgan captured him" now Coby was confused because as soon as he said morgan people again backed away comically but looked more scared. "Why are they scared, isn't Captain Morgan a marine why do they look scared" asked Coby looking at Luffy who looked at him, who had a somber look, "Coby always remember not all pirates are evil and not all marines and not good" educated Luffy.

Coby wanted to argue back but they had reached the base. They were in front of a wall of the base and Luffy decided to see what was behind the wall and both climbed up the wall and took a peek.

There was a man tied to a wooden pillar it was the pirate hunter Zoro. Zoro is a muscular man, he is 5'11 ft tall with lightly tanned skin. He had green hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a white shirt green pants and green shoes, he also had a belly warmer and a bandana tied around his left bicep, he was wearing 3 earrings on his left ear.

He had dirt spots over his clothes and looked like he was on his last legs. Luffy wanted to talk to him but stopped when he saw a ladder on his left and a little girl with brown hair climb and got to the other side, she looked at Luffy and Coby and made a quiet gesture telling them to stay quiet and started going towards Zoro, Coby was worried about the little girl getting hurt but Luffy ignored him and just saw how she offered zoro some rice balls which he rejected rudely and told her to get lost but she still insisted when someone Luffy would only call a prick came with some marines, the boy was blond he had weird blond hair and fair skin he was not attractive and was wearing a purple suit and had a cocky grin, Something Luffy didn't like.

"What is this Roronoa don't you know you shouldn't bully kids," said the blond prick.

"Helmeppo, what do you want There's still a week left before your deal is finished," said Zoro in a heavy voice. He was defiantly tired.

"Oh, common zoro I was just here to check up on you." Said Helmeppo, he then looked at the girl with the rice ball and snatched one from her, "Rice balls I see, I'll have it", "But they are not for you" said the little girl with an innocent face.

"Ahh, does it look like I care" he said and ate it, after a second, he spit it and said, "It's sweet why is it sweet it's supposed to be salty" he yelled at the girl who looked like she was about to cry.

"I thought it would be better if it was sweet" replied the girl now sobbing, but the prick didn't stop and snatched the second rice ball and stomped on it. Luffy didn't like what he sees and wanted to kick the brat's ass before he did something he saw the brat tell something to the marines around him, and one of the picked her up and threw her to the other side of the wall behind him. As the girl was sailing through the air and passed the wall Coby looked at luffy and said in a panicked voice "We need to help her- "Before Coby even finished what he was saying luffy had disappeared and was in the air holding the girl, luffy safely landed on the ground without any trouble. Coby after seeing that made his way towards them and as he reached, he saw the little girl was now thanking luffy who just gave her a gentle smile.

"Thank you, big bro," the girl said excitedly as luffy gave her a gentle smile. "it's fine". Coby then arrived and asked if they were ok and then luffy and Coby escorted the little girl to her family restaurant, then learned that the girl's name was Rika and her mother's name was Ririka. When Coby made a bad comment about Zoro Rika got mad and told him that Zoro was not at fault for scaring Coby and making luffy look at her, luffy then asked what she meant, the Rika explained how Captain Morgan's son entered the restaurant with his wolf and the wolf started attacking and zoro who was at the restaurant killed the wolf. When Helmeppo's threats didn't work on Zoro he threatened Rika and her mother and Zoro asked to take the punishment himself they came to an agreement that if Zoro could survive being tied to a wooden pole for 1 month he would let them go.

"But that's wrong, why aren't the Marines doing something to stop him." Asked Coby.

"Because Helmeppo is Captain Morgan's son no one can go against him" answered Rika with a somber look.

Coby was now shocked and confused about why would the marines do that weren't they the good guys- then Coby remembered Luffy's words and understood what he meant.

It was then blond prick came to the restaurant and demanded free drinks and said, "Ahh that filthy pirate hunter thinks he is better than me, everyone listens I am going to execute Zoro tomorrow make sure you all come to see that" he said loudly with a smug face which honestly was ugly

Everyone had shocked looks on their faces, well everyone but luffy who had a dark look on his face, "first you tormented your people, misused your position as the son of Captain Morgan, and tied Zoro for something that wasn't his fault and now you want to break the agreement you made and kill him, and they call pirates evil." Luffy said his face shadowed by his straw hat making his way towards Helmeppo who was now looking at luffy like everyone else.

"Who are you and how dare you- "Helmeppo was cut off by luffy who had punched him square in the face which threw him out of his chair now looking at luffy with fear, "How dare you punch me, don't you know I am captain morgan's son I can get you executed for your insolence- "he was again cut off by luffy.

"I couldn't care less," said luffy in a dismissive voice, "besides your captain Morgan is far too weak to touch me much less kill me." Said luffy now looking at Helmeppo sideways his head tilted back. "Now take him to his daddy, he needs to cry his eyes out to someone." said luffy and walked out of the restaurant with a shocked Coby following him.

After a few seconds of shock helmeppo started running towards his dad ready to get the insolent straw hat boy killed.

-Marine base, shell town-

Roronoa Zoro was confused when he woke up to see a man with a black hooded drape cape, white shirt, black baggy cotton pants, black combat boots, black sash/cloth with a flintlock pistol, compass, katana, and straw hat in front of him. Did this guy not know where he was? But before he could pounder anymore the man spoke.

"You are Roronoa Zoro right, the bounty hunter?" questioned luffy.

"Yes, now what do you want?" answered Zoro.

"To the point huu, I want you to join my crew." Answered luffy and Zoro gave a weird look.

"no" replied Zoro.

"no" answered luffy and Zoro had a confused look.

"What do you mean 'no' I refused your request," said Zoro

"No means I refuse your refusal," said luffy now looking Zoro in the eye.

"that's not how it works" yelled Zoro his head somehow bigger than his body and shark-like teeth. "Why would I join a pirate crew I have no reason to do that, once my deal is over, I will be on my way to becoming the strongest swordsman," said Zoro now looking at the sky.

"Strongest swordsmen huu," said luffy with a smirk now gaining Zoro's full attention, "you think you can become the strongest swordsmen living in the east blue," said luffy.

"Ooooohaa what do you mean, are you saying I can't become the strongest." Said Zoro with an enraged look.

"I don't know if you can or cannot but what I do know is that you can't do that here tied to a log waiting to be executed," said luffy fully knowing what Zoro would say next.

Zoro was first going to tell him to get lost when he realized what the straw-hat-wearing boy had said at the end and asked in a dangerous voice with an equally dangerous look. "What do you mean by 'waiting to be executed'," asked Zoro.

Luffy wasn't even fazed by the look and said "The blond brat said he was going to publicly execute you tomorrow in front of everyone and dead people can't do anything in general much less become the strongest swordsmen sooo." Luffy said with a little smirk in a cheeky tone.

"That little bastard I am going to kill him" muttered Zoro loud enough for luffy to hear.

"You can't unless you are free," said luffy in a sing-song voice.

"Why do you want me to join your crew" asked Zoro.

"Why wouldn't I, you said you were going to become the strongest swordsman so why not, now what do you say," said luffy, zoro didn't know what to think, this guy had no actual reason but what the hell it's not like he has a choice.

"If you can bring me my swords back from the marine base, I will join your pirate crew." Said Zoro.

"Fair enough," said luffy.

"Wait before you go can you put that rice ball in my mouth" asked Zoro.

Luffy saw the rice ball which was not so rice ball looking on the ground picked it up and brought it near Zoro's mouth, "you sure it's not a rice ball anymore, more like a mud ball." Said luffy. Regardless zoro ate the whole thing and you could tell by looking at his face that he would like to agree with luffy, speaking of who, luffy had an amused smile on his face, when zoro finished eating his meal luffy walked near the marine building where he could see a stone construct, then he looked back at zero and said, "I'll go and get your swords now.".

While this happened, Coby was watching it all from the wall now wondering how luffy got the swords. Zoro was also thinking along the same lines he wouldn't just get in the base to get the swords right. Right?

Luffy sensed many people up at the roof among which was helmeppo and decided to get the locations of the swords from him, he bent down and got ready for a jump making Coby and Zoro wonder what he was doing and in one swift motion, he jumped leaving some dust behind alongside a shocked Coby and zoro.

Luffy was about 15ft above the base and the base itself was about 30ft high it was then that luffy saw an ugly stone statue and decided to land on it. When he did land on the statue, he looked up to see many shocked and horrified faces, as he looked around, he saw a man in marine clothes with, a metal jaw dark skin tone, and an axe hand, 'that must be the axe hand captain morgan' thought luffy. He then looked while raising his left leg and said, "No one will miss such an ugly thing" and slammed his leg down destroying the statue he was standing on making every marine present horrified.

Axe hand Captain Morgan was having a good day, his statue was ready, and Roronoa zoro was captured and being executed tomorrow which would give him even more fame, the people of this town were just as scared as they should be and his excuse of a son haven't bothered him for a few days now until he did, his son came running with his nose bleeding and demanded him to kill a straw-hat boy? Morgan was made when his son told him how this straw-hat boy called him the great cation morgan weak in front of many people, then suddenly he heard someone say something about an ugly thing and saw a boy with the straw-hat with destroy his statue. When he saw his destroyed statue, he was shocked and then enraged how dare this brat destroy his statue and then "kill this boy now" he commanded his soldiers when he saw the boy disappear.

Luffy who had just destroyed the statue and was proud of himself for the work he did, then he heard the orders to kill him, "man I don't feel like wasting my time" he thought and disappeared from his spot and picked up helmeppo before the idiot even realized he was in luffy's arm he was inside the marine base, "where are zoro's swords", "what how dare you touch me I am a captain-" one punch later luffy had the location for zoro's swords and had left the idiot behind, in a few second he was Infront of the door and didn't waste any time in opening it and almost regretted the action when he saw the most girlish and pink room, he quickly spotted 3 swords and picked them up, he then jumped out from the window of the room straight into the training field zoro is in hoping to never see that pink room again. When he was in the air, he saw the axe hand captain and several marines pointing their guns at scared and panicked Coby who was trying to untie a panicking zoro.

"Untie me quick or both of us will die quickly," said zoro in a panicked voice while rapidly turning his head to the Marines and Coby several times. But before coby could untie zoro the marines shot a round of bullets at zoro and coby and both of them shut their eyes waiting for the pain to come but it never did, when both opened their eyes, they saw luffy in Infront of them standing like a shield facing the marines.

"luffy", "kid" exclaimed coby and zoro. Thinking luffy took the bullets on himself. Well, they weren't wrong but what they didn't know is that while luffy had taken most of the bullets on himself but wasn't even scratched.

"I was gone for less than 5 min and my first mate almost got himself killed," said luffy and then let out a forceful sigh, turning his head he looked at a wide-eyed zoro and equally shocked coby.

Zoro recovered first when he looked at the 3 swords in luffy's hands.

"What do you say you really got my swords huu," said zoro.

"Yeah, are all of them yours," asked luffy.

"Yeah, I use a 3-sword style, I made it myself." Said Zoro with pride in his voice.

"What do you say, that's points for determination at least." Said luffy in a tone that said he was impressed.

"Put one of those in my mouth and I'll be getting many more points." Said Zoro now smirking.

"Very well then," said luffy and moved forward pulling one of the swords out of its sheath.

It was about then when all the Marines and Captain Morgan recovered from the shock of luffy just taking all the bullets on himself. Coby and zoro had closed their eyes but Morgan hadn't when he saw the bullets fall off luffy like it was nothing he was shocked and his brain stopped working for a few seconds to register what had happened and had again ordered his soldiers to attack the boy. "What are you waiting for kill them now," Morgan yelled as all the marines pulled out their swords and charged forward scared of what would happen if they didn't obey Morgan's command.

Luffy wasn't worried in the least of the charging marines and looked at zoro ready to set the sword in his mouth. "Last chance if you fight now then you will become a government-defying villain." Said luffy with a smirk, to which zoro gave his own smirk. "I have already said that I would join your pirate crew if you brought me my swords, I won't go back from the promise I made, from this point on I will be under your command as your crew member." said zoro and luffy's smirk widened and he placed the sword's hilt in zoro's mouth just as the marines got there and had swung their swords at luffy but were blocked by 3 swords. Yes, as soon as luffy placed the sword in zoro's mouth, cut open his binds took his swords from luffy hand and moved fast enough to block all the Marines's swings with his 3 swords facing luffy who had an impressed look on his face. "But if you come in my way of becoming the strongest swords men you better take my swords and kill yourself with it before I do." Said Zoro with a sword in his mouth.

"Already giving, me death threats huu," said luffy in a creaky voice, but then suddenly he got a serious look on his face. "don't worry I won't get in the way of your dream after all I can't accept anything less than the strongest swordsmen," said luffy now moving forward as zoro had easily pushed all the marines back and they all had fallen to the ground and were now trying to stand up not knowing what to do, both of these guys were really strong, the green haired one stopped all of them at the same time and the straw-hat boy literally took a round of bullets on his body and came out without a scratch. All of them started backing away. No one noticed the rage-filled look on Morgan's face, while that happened luffy and zoro.

"I haven't introduced myself have I zoro," said luffy his eyes again shadowed by his hat as he walked past zoro and now stood in front of all marines with zoro and coby looking at his back. All marines were now scared and looked towards Morgan not knowing what to do. Morgan was about to say something but couldn't.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy the man who is going to become 'king of the pirates'" said luffy getting wide-eyed from everyone except coby who already knew that and zoro who looked surprised at first and then got a smirk on his face, "well then sounds like neither of us has time to slack off, let's finish these guys up and be on our way what do you say, captain." Said Zoro putting more effort on the word captain.

"So, you are a pirate huu, you think you can escape me Captain Axe Hand Morgan-" his ranting suddenly stopped, and fell to his knees.

"Shut it you are annoying" came a cold voice from luffy and suddenly he looked a thousand times more intimidating than before to Morgan at least because all his marines started dropping like flies while coby and zoro had a look of surprise and then confusion on their faces.

"Man, I have been using that a lot maybe I shouldn't use it till we get to the 'new world' or 'paradise' at least." Luffy thought to himself as things turned back to normal but the marines were still knocked out and Morgan was trying to catch his breath. Luffy walked up to a still horrified Morgan got close to his left ear and said "BOOM" and Morgan passed out with his pants wet.

"Common Roronoa zoro, let's flip the world upside down."

Zoro and coby had shocked and confused looks mixed on their faces, how had this man just defeated a few dozen marines and a marine caption by just looking at them? But after hearing luffy zoro couldn't help but smirk.

Luffy turned to them with a smile as he stepped away from Morgan's unconscious body, "Well that wasn't hard now was it".

-sometime later, Rika's family restaurant-

"Really he ate it all" asked an excited Rika.

Luffy, zoro, and coby had just arrived when Rika saw zoro there and was really happy seeing him alive after hearing helmeppo say he was going to kill zoro. After luffy and zoro got enough food to satisfy their hunger luffy told Rika that zoro ate the rice ball despite helmeppo ruining it when Rika asked zoro how it was he just said it was good when some adults including Rika's mother asked how zoro got free, coby explained how luffy had defeated morgan which left the people shocked, while this happened luffy and zoro had finished their food and luffy said he would pay when some marines came into the establishment.

"Excuse me is the person who defeated Captain Morgan here" asked a marine.

"Yeah, what do you want" said luffy in a dangerous tone.

"We heard you are a pirate and while we do appreciate you beating Morgan you are still a pirate, after everything that you have done for us, we can't let you stay here but we can give you a chance to leave." When the marine said that all the civilians protested against it saying luffy was their hero when the crowd started getting out of hand in a few seconds luffy raised his hand and said, "it's fine we were going to leave anyways, there are many adventures and even more enemies that we have to face, right zoro." Said green hair smirked "yeah".

The marine you had just let loose a sigh of relief after hearing luffy had seen coby and asked, "Are you a pirate too".

Coby realized that if he said no then they would question him more and his history on the Alvida pirates would be revealed which would destroy his dream of becoming a marine, he was about to say something but luffy spoke up first.

"This good-for-nothing brat could never be a pirate, i found him on a pirate ship as a slave and brought him out of pity." Said Luffy giving coby a disgusted look, "You better take him with you before I kill him, or maybe I should kill him." Said luffy taking a step towards coby who had a look of shock and pain on his face, as soon as luffy took a step the marines were on guard by stopped when zoro stopped luffy, "Leave it captain let's go we don't have time to waste here".

"Fine, let's leave" came the reply from luffy as they started walking out of the room, as they reached the door luffy turned his head halfway to the right and looked coby right in the eye with a mix of a smirk and a smile and said "go do whatever you want weakling" and then he left with zoro who also had a smirk on his face knowing that is new captain was trying to do.

In the restaurant, it took coby a few seconds to realize that luffy said all those things to save his dream, now the Marines won't bother looking into his past that much, besides luffy, hadn't exactly lied either.

"Thank you luffy, I will do everything to become a great marine and chase my dream no matter what, just like you," thought Coby to himself.

-at the village port, luffy's boat-

"let's go, I don't want to waste our time any more than we have to." Said Luffy as he hopped into his boat.

Zoro looked at the boat inspecting it. The boat looked cool it even had a straw hat jolly roger seemed like it had supply tied to its edges at the insides and had a sail just about the right size. The boat itself had enough space that at least 3 people could ride it with no problems and space, what confused him was the lack of any wooden pedals, how was it supposed to move? He hopped on regardless his captain would probably explain it to him. Just as he did luffy got a grin on his face after realizing he could give zoro a scare if he went fast enough and pushed the pedal down the boat sped up making zoro fall in the boat face first not expecting that to happen, in few minutes they were far away from the port and luffy had lifted his feet from the paddle and turned his boat towards a certain direction after examining the map and compass for a bit.

"Huuu captain where are we going?" asked zoro interested in their next location.

"Orange town" came the reply from luffy.

"Orange town, why there" asked zoro again.

"I heard a famous clown was there and I want to meet him" replied luffy.
"a clown? What are we going to see a circus, shouldn't we be finding new members?" asked zoro thinking it was a waste of time.

"Your questions will be answered once we are there." said luffy passing zoro a bottle of sake, something zoro appreciated and took gladly and decided to take a nap which luffy didn't mind at all.

-about an hour later-

Luffy was meditating when he felt zoro wake up and looked at him, zoro quickly realized that they hadn't reached their destination yet and looked at luffy, "how far are we", "We are about 5 hours away" replied luffy to which zoro just gave a nod of acknowledgment and turned his head to look where they were going. Then he realized this boat could go many times faster which brings the question of how was that possible

"Hey, captain how did the boat go so fast earlier." He asked luffy.

After getting a quick explanation about the mysterious dial that looked like a shell zoro was satisfied.

After some time zoro decided to start another conversation to get to know his captain better.

"captain" zoro started but was cut off but the only other person there.

"Just call me luffy when it's the crew, call me 'Captain' or 'Captain Luffy' when we are around other high figures like other pirate captains or enemies, k," said luffy with an easy smile on his face.

Zoro gave a friendly smirk "Sure luffy", luffy gave a smile "Now what were you asking before" he asked.

"Ahh that's how you knock out all the marines back at the base, you didn't even move," asked zoro now interested.

"Ahh that, I dominated my will on them which caused them to faint," said luffy.

"Dominated them with your will, what does that mean" questioned zoro not fully understanding how someone can use their will to fight.

"How should I put it" pondered luffy, "ok I know, I will tell you in the same words when I learned it, what i did is called Haki there are 3 types of Haki the one I used to knock the marines out was called Conqueror's Haki, Conqueror's Haki is a rare and powerful type of Haki that allows the user to exert their willpower over others. It can be used to intimidate and knock out weaker-willed individuals or even damage the environment. It is mostly seen in individuals with strong leadership qualities or those destined for greatness, at least that's what everyone says.

"So, all those marines fell unconscious because your will was far greater than theirs, am I right?" asked zoro.

"Yes, and before you ask why you didn't feel anything is because with enough control you can choose who your will affects in that area," said luffy answering Zoro's unspoken question.

"I see, can you teach me that" asked zoro, clearly hoping to learn it.

"I am sorry but it's not something you can learn, in this whole world only 1 in a million are born with it and even less can unlock its true potential," said luffy.

Zoro was disappointed with the answer but couldn't do anything about it if he didn't have it.

"But I can Teach you the other 2 types of Haki and some other stuff anyone can learn those with enough training and hard work," said luffy now sounding much more excited than before.

"And what would that be" asked zoro sounding like he was interested but was not.

"There are 3 types of Haki people know of the one we talked about is called conqueror's Haki only 1 in a million are born with it as I said before, but the other 2 can be learned by anyone, they are called armament Haki and observations Haki and I know all type of Haki there are," said luffy with pride in his voice.

"You learned all types why" asked zoro.

"Well, I can't just become the pirate king without putting in the effort besides it's not like I ate a devil fruit so I will have to work harder than the ones who did." Said luffy.

"Devil fruits" exclaimed zoro "I thought they were just a myth of the grand line." Exclaimed zoro not believing devil fruits are real things.
"Ohh yes, they are I have seen many people who ate devil fruits and fought them too, beating them can be tricky sometimes but I never lost hee," said luffy again with pride while zoro just wondered how strong his captain was and where did he meet these people because they sure were not in the east blue.

"Well let's get back to Haki how does it work" asked zoro eager to get stronger.

"Uhuh I am not teaching you to use Haki just yet," said luffy, left hand on his waist and right hand's finger making a 'no' signal.

"What why" exclaimed zoro as he stood up in shock, why wouldn't luffy teach him Hake was it because they just met?

"Because you want to become the strongest swordsman, there is one basic skill I want to teach you first." Said luffy looking amused after seeing zoro's face throughout the conversation.

"Basics, but I am a master, I can do anything other swordsmen can." Exclaimed zoro.

"Can do anything any other swordsmen can hu, that's bold to say considering you can't even swing your blade properly" said luffy as he stood up and walked to the back of the boat and for the first time since he entered East Blue, he unsheathed the sword on the left side of his hip.

Zoro felt rage within him and he wanted answers, what did luffy mean, did zoro not know of some skill he should have, before he could say something else, he saw luffy at the back end of the boat and then had done something he never imagined possible.

Luffy held his drawn sword with both hands right hand over the left and raised the sword above his head, then tilted his head to check if zoro was looking after confirming that he looked forward and then brought his sword down with grace and speed only an expert would have, as the blade when to with blinding speed it created a light green slash that sliced through the water and separated it for a few second, then the water came back to its place thanks to gravity, and the water was not the only thing, when that slash begin it created a force of wind that blew the boat faster towards its front, the slash itself went at least about 20 meters when it stopped.

Luffy had already placed his sword in its place when the water and wind calmed down enough and their boat was stable again zoro exclaimed in shock, "What in the hell was that" he yelled towards luffy.

Said the man only smirking as he sat down, "that's the skill I was talking about, sit down I will explain how that happened." said luffy and saw zoro didn't waste any time and sat down eager to know how and what luffy did.

"You did see the green slash right" questions luffy to which zoro nods his head and then asks, "Was that Haki" zoro questions.

Luffy chuckled a bit, "aren't you Hu" said luffy, "no that green slash wasn't Haki it was wind" said luffy shocking zoro even more.

"Wind how is that even possible" exclaimed zoro again.

"oh, but it is and I used it and that's what I meant when I said you don't know how to swing a sword properly. While you are better than most and the best in east blue that won't be the case in the grand line." Said Luffy with an easy smile on his face.

Zoro pondered on luffy's words and then asked, "So everything I did till now was a waste? It meant nothing/" zoro said/ asked in a pained tone.

"no," said luffy shaking his head left to right once, "that's not what I meant, you may not be anything close to the best but you have the potential to get there and if I am right then you probably have the drive too, I won't make any promises but I can guaranty I can help you to get closer to your dream more than anyone else you have met so far." Said Luffy standing up now and looking at zoro with determination in his eyes.

When zoro looked his captain in the eyes he realized why his captain had that special Haki, those eyes showed zoro just how much power luffy had within him not the combat or physical power but the will power, those eyes showed that luffy had no doubt in his mind saying those words.

After a moment zoro relaxed accepting luffy's words as both sat down again then zoro asked, "So what was that wind slash thing and what does it have to do with swinging blades 'properly'." Asked zoro looking at luffy.

"These wind slashes are created when a swordsman has and can combine his or her strength, swinging speed, precision, and skill all at once, it will cut through the air and force it into the shape of a blade and travel as far as it's the swordsmen's abilities can take. It's not exactly a rare skill many sword users can do this." Explained luffy.

When luffy explained that zoro realized why luffy had called him out on his skill, zoro wanted to become the strongest swordsman but didn't even know people can make wind slashes with their blades, then he got a question in his mind and spoke it out loud, "how strong can these wind blades get?".

Luffy thought for a moment and then said, "I can create a wind slash 5 times stronger than the one I just made with one hand alone, I know that the strongest swordsmen can create wind blades strong enough to cut down mountains with one hand alone and that from miles away. And that's without Haki with Haki, you can make them many times stronger." Luffy told the part about the strongest swordsmen and Haki with a smirk knowing he would get a reaction out of zoro.

Luffy wasn't wrong because zoro's mouth had hung open as his brain processed the information. "So, what should I do," he asked luffy.

"train" replied luffy in his normal tone, "train when we get the chance, when you can create decent wind slashes, we will start your real training." Luffy said the last part with a dark look in his eyes but in a second, he returned to normal making zoro sweat drop, "there are other things I will teach you but right now focus on what's happening next we will reach Orange Town by 1 pm so you can mediate for now as boring as it sounds training and calming your mind is just as important as training your body and meditation is also the first step to learning Haki no matter which type." After luffy said that he let zoro meditate who was ready to do anything to get better after learning just how strong the people in this world are.

-time skip, orange town, docking port-

When luffy and zoro got off the boat and tied it to a hook, they made their way into the town and found the whole place empty with no sign of life there were no people around as they walked through the town.

"left" luffy said calmly when zoro saw 3 pirates chasing an orange-haired girl. When they got close the girls said, "Hey boss I'll leave the rest to you." That confused zoro he hadn't asked yet but thought he was luffy's first mate, but the 3 pirates said some crap about the map, and captain buggy and the brats when luffy said, "I'll leave them to you", as soon as those words registered in zoro's mind he lunged towards the 3 men with a smirk and dispatched them with ease in less than 10 seconds. "done" he said getting a grateful nod in reply.

Then zoro saw the girl looking at luffy with a small smile but didn't say anything for a few seconds, "captain I think she is checking you out" said zoro loud enough for both Nami and luffy to hear.

The orange-haired girl blushed and luffy got a confused look before both waved the comment off, this was when Nami noticed the 3 swords on zoro's hip.

"I can't believe you managed to recruit Roronoa zoro," said the orange head.

"I told you I would so I did" replied luffy, "now what are you doing here Nami." Said Luffy now reviling the girl's name to zoro.

"Umm luffy I thought I was your first mate, and was this the clown you wanted to meet" asked zoro tilting his head slightly.

Nami got mad at being called a clown, she didn't care who he was bounty hunter or pirate king no one could call her a clown and… got away…, WAIT Clown, she suddenly realized what he meant and was again shocked to realize that luffy was after a 15,000,000-berry bounty pirate.

That's when a man with muscular torso and thick lips. He wears a white fur vest that covers the area of his chest, blue pants held up by a yellow sash, and shoes in the shape of animal white fur feet appeared on top of a large lion whose fur is green and his mane is purple.

"My name is Mojhi the beast tamer and this is Richie," he said in an arrogant tone, "now who are you and what did you do to my subordinates." He asked with a snarl.

"I don't know, maybe they are sleeping on the ground or something." Said luffy in a deadpan voice.

"Oh, I see sorry for doubting you, I thought you attacked them and knocked them out." He said his right hand now rubbing the back of his head.

Luffy, nami, and zoro had stupefied looks, how could anyone be this stupid, but where people find comedy luffy can also find opportunity.

"Say I want to see your captain." Asked luffy.

A suspicious look appeared on Mojhi's face, "And why do you want to meet my captain." He asked dangerously, something that didn't affect luffy, and zoro ignored it completely while Nami took a step and was in slight fear of seeing this man on a literal lion.

"Because I am a pirate and I want to make a deal with him." Said luffy.

"What deal," Mojhi asked.

"I think it would be disrespectful to tell you that considering buggy is the captain." Said Luffy without dropping his small smile.

Buggy, where had he heard that name, haa buggy the clown is a pirate with a 15,000,000-berry bounty in east Blue, zoro now realized that the clown was the pirate captain Buggy whom zoro had heard had a big clown-like red nose. After realizing that his captain went for a big shot to start his journey zoro got a smirk on his face.

Unlike zoro, nami had a look of shock on her face, what the hell was he thinking, meeting a pirate captain alone with 1 man did he want to die, she didn't know.

After realizing what luffy had said was true Mother had decided to take them to Buggy, after all, if the punk tried something, they could just kill him with ease, "Fine I'll take you to Captain Buggy." He said as his lion turned around and started walking.

"Let's go zoro nami", "What why me I don't have anything to do with this." Exclaimed nami.

"You can have some off buggy's treasure." Replied luffy.

"What are we waiting for let's go," said nami somehow ahead of luffy and zoro walking really fast, luffy and zoro took a second to think how had the girl moved so fast but decided to let it go after coming up with nothing.

-about 10 minutes later-

The four were in front of a huge camp, where many pirates were drinking and eating. Before Mojhi could do something luffy yelled. "Hey! Big nose I want to meet you." Hearing that everything had gotten quiet, all the men were silent, jaws hanging and noses running, no one had called buggy that and lived.

Then suddenly someone came out of the biggest tent, it was a buggy, Buggy is a slim blue-haired man with an appearance resembling that of a clown. The big, red nose on his face is, in fact, his real nose. His face is always covered with makeup, just like a clown, he also has two blue lines near both of his eyes, red lipstick, and his Jolly Roger on his hat. He had a look of rage something scared everyone They saved 2 people, I want you to guess who those two are. Here is a hint one has a straw hat and the other has 3 swords.

"Which flashy bastard wants to die, no one calls me by that name," exclaimed Buggy.

"Me, I called you Big Nose" came the voice of luffy.

"So, you are going to die huu." Said buggy ready to kill.

"No, I wouldn't, you simply don't have the power to kill me buggy." Said luffy in a matter-of-fact tone, something which enraged Buggy.

"Oh and why is that I am buggy" his voice died down in a second.

"Zoro, pay close attention this is the last time I am using Haki in east blue." Said Luffy getting zoro's full attention now.

Luffy then released some of his conjurer's Haki to knock out the buggy pirates, with now the only ones standing were Zoro Nami Buggy and of course luffy. "Names luffy by the way." He spoke.

"What, Haki and conquers at that, the last time saw it was when I was with Captain Rogers and Rayleigh, I came to the east blue because I didn't want to deal with the Haki users back at the grand line, and why the hell is a Haki user out of grand line anyways, wait that not the time to think about that, if he knows conjurer's Haki then he must know armament as well which means my devil fruit is useless as well, I must think straight and not engage in battle for now." Though buggy in 2 seconds.

After releasing his Haki luffy was just looking at Buggy with his normal smile, while he was looking at Buggy zoro was looking at luffy thinking about how strong he was with that kind of strength, and while zoro was thinking that nami was looking at luffy with awe, how had he just knocked out all those people without moving an inch, how was he this strong, what had this pirate exactly done, could he possibly defeat- no that was going to far, no matter how strong he was no human could defeat a Fishman, but still, was there a chance that he could, even a little one.

After a few more seconds of everyone awake and collecting their thoughts buggy asked, "What do you want flashy bastard.".

"What do I want, that's a good question, there are many things I want but what I want from you is to recruit you." said luffy.

.

.

.

"WHAT!" came 3 loud noises.

"You want to recruit him." Exclaimed nami shocked.

"Why do you want to recruit him" asked a shocked zoro.

"Why do you think I will join you" asked Buggy shocked as well.

"Well, if you don't then I will just have to kill you, and you know I can do that don't you, even with your devil fruit you are nothing compared to me, former member of the Roger Pirates." Said Luffy dropping the bomb like it was nothing.

"This idiot was on the same ship as King of the Pirates, I can't believe that," thought nami and zoro.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW, THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET, IF THE MARINES FIND OUT I'M DONE FOR." Exclaimed buggy in shock and fear.

"And he confirmed it," said luffy with a 'you are stupid' look.

"So, he really-", "was a part of the crew of-", "The pirate king" started zoro then nami took the middle, and luffy finished.

"Now let's get to the business, join me or not." Asked luffy again.

"Why should I, what's in it for me." Asked the clown with a frown.

"You get to live." Said luffy in a matter-of-fact tone.

Buggy didn't know what to do, there was nothing in this deal that favored him other than living which was important but what could he do?

"Other than living you will get fame, power, and riches." Said Luffy getting everyone's attention.

"What, how," asked Buggy with interest, what did the kid mean?

"You have seen the power I wield and the potential I have, if I can reach my peak, I will be one of the strongest in the world, with your experience combined with my power we can reach the top. Also, with or without your help… I am going to become the pirate king." Stated luffy.

Buggy was in deep thought after hearing that, the kid was right, had the brat been a normal pirate in East Blue buggy would have killed him already but the kid was not, he was a Haki user and had conquered Haki at that, the kid had a spot at the top even if the pirate king part might be impossible there was a chance, but.

"Also think about how famous you will get when I become the pirate king, you will be the only one who could claim to have been not 1 but 2 pirate kings, Imagine the fame and respect you will get." Said luffy putting the cherry on the cake. Buggy looked like he was in another world, probably was, imagining himself being the most famous in the world, but in a few seconds, he came back to reality and then got a serious face and was thinking about something, then.

"I have a condition." Said buggy.

"I am listening." Replied Luffy, zoro, and nami were now listening closely.

"I will sail under you but I am going to have my crew under your flag and mine combined." Said buggy.

.

.

.

"Oh sure, that would be like having a fleet and you as my first division commander, is that what you want." Asked luffy.

"Huu, I didn't actually think about a fleet, but that'd be a great idea considering our goal and the time we live in." Said buggy with his right hand under his chin now thinking tragically.

"I was actually thinking of making a fleet," said luffy making the other three look at him.

"And why do we need a whole fleet, I don't think pirate king had a fleet, allies maybe." Asked zoro.

"Because Roger's time was different, back then all the pirates fought for the biggest treasure they could find, but now Rogers left the legendary 'one piece' behind, the first pirate who gets there can claim, now most pirates want that treasure but not all of them have the individual power so they make up for it by numbers and devil fruits," Luffy explained.

"So, we are the same, we are going to need numbers?" asked zoro not liking the idea of using numbers instead of power and skill.

"no, that's not what I meant," said luffy now looking at zoro and continued, "Originally I only wanted 10 people on my ship, 10 people strong enough to take on the world, but as I grew up and learned more about the world I learned there are pirates that are strong enough to take on armies alone yet have their own army as well," said luffy, "as you get higher in the pirate world you will have to make territories around the world to manage them you will need more men and to feed and provide more men you will need business, and to lead more men we will need more strong people under me to do that I will need to be stronger and in the stretch, you will have to be stronger than those men so no one can question your position as my first mate." Explained luffy.

Now Buggy was nodding his head agreeing with luffy, to become the best he will need all that and more.

Zoro understood what luffy meant and smirked when luffy mentioned about being stronger to protect his position on the crew, getting stronger was something he liked.

Nami on the other hand had something else to say, "Wait did you say devil fruits, but they aren't even real."

At that, the 3 men looked at her.

Zoro started, "captain luffy here told me that they exist and I have no reason to not believe that."

"I have seen many devil fruits at play, fought many even." Said luffy.

"I ate one, I am a chop-chop man now." Said buggy as his hand came off his wrist and was now floating in the air.

Zoro's eyes widened slightly but he didn't say anything, hearing about a devil fruit and seeing one in action was different, just how many types were there?

Nami on the other hand had her jaw hanging, that clown's hand just came off and it didn't even bleed, how were the others fine with that? It took her a few minutes to regain her composure, then she noticed that luffy and Buggy were talking again.

"Wait, why are you already listening to luffy already aren't you going to fight, why are you so willing to join him." Asked nami a bit too loud and had a look of confusion.

"Because I know I am outclassed in this fight, even my devil fruit will be useless here, the best way is to join hands with the straw hat." Answered buggy without looking at her.

"Outclassed? Just how strong do you think he is" asked nami again.

"How strong? As a Haki user, I'd say he is the strongest in the entire East Blue.

"Strongest-", "In the entire east blue?" stated nami and finished zoro with shocked looks, even zoro didn't expect that answer, was no one strong enough to take down his captain, after a few seconds he had a smirk on his face, that's exactly what he wanted.

Nami had a look of shock, how could that clown say this boy was the strongest and not that dammed Fishman on her island instead of saying that she just scoffed and looked the other way.

the others ignored her action, but not luffy he took a side glance at her, and thought, "She looked offended, does she have a problem with me being the strongest here? I'll have to look into that" With that he looked at Buggy again.

"Alright so from now on you are my first lieutenant commander, you will have to put a straw hat on top of your own Jolly Roger, ok" explained luffy waiting for confirmation.

"Wait isn't lieutenant commander right below captain" asked Buggy with a confused look.

"yeah" replied Buggy.

"They you are only 2 ranks up what about the ranks above captain?" he asked, waiting for the answer just like zoro and nami.

"there are no ranks higher than captain, in our pirate group captain will be the highest, there will be no higher ranks which means that as lieutenant commander you have 3rd highest rank 3rd to me and second to the commanders, that rank will belong to the members who will sail on the same ship as me like zoro, well he is the vice-captain so he is the highest rank after me, and then you lieutenant commanders who will sail on different ships with your own jolly roger and mine combined will lead lower ranks and carry out missions if I assign you any" luffy explained. "Get that," he asked.

"yeah" replied Buggy.

"Now your first orders are to return the money you took from the villages and help them fix it." Ordered luffy.

"WHAT why would I do that we are pirates." Exclaimed buggy.

"There is nothing to gain from looting the weak, harming the weak and innocent is not being a pirate, adventuring the world and doing everything you can to achieve your dream is the way of a pirate, no real pirate would steal or loot the innocent, so for your first orders you will return this village everything you took and fix the damage."

"What I- Hugh, fine" Buggy couldn't argue back because deep down he knew that's what pirates actually did, captain rogers never looted any village they stopped on so why was he doing that for all these years?

Zoro got a slight smile on his face when he heard his captain's words, zoro may be ruthless in battle but he didn't like the idea of picking on the weak for money and other objects either so after hearing his captain's words he was relieved that he won't have to hurt or kill some innocent civilians of a background village someday.

Nami on the other hand was shocked again, a pirate that wouldn't steal or harm innocent people, what was that about, as far as she knew pirates would never leave the slightest bit of treasure around and here this man wanted to leave money for the village on top of helping them fix it, was he even a pirate.

"Alight but how am I supposed to make money to feed my men and other stuff." Asked buggy slightly irritated.

"I said you can't steal from innocent people, I never said anything about not stealing from other pirates or world government."

Said luffy now a smirk on his face. Said luffy.

Ohhhh was the thought in everyone's head, it was then when all the buggy pirates started to wake up.

"Alright get started," said luffy seeing everyone getting up.

One of the pirates yelled something about attacking luffy and everyone else yelled as well but was shut up by Buggy.

-One explanation later-

"So, he is our captain now." Asked a random pirate.

"Yeah, I am your captain and buggy will be division commander, there will be more and they will all be the 3rd on the hierarchy 2nd will be the member who will sail on my ship with me like zoro." Explained luffy pointing his thumb towards zoro. All the pirates were shocked to learn zoro's name, everyone had heard the name zoro, and he was a famous bounty hunter.

"Wait, so zoro is your first mate then who is this girl" asked Buggy now wondering why luffy hadn't introduced her.

"Ohh this is nami, she is not a part of the crew, just someone I know, don't bother her." told luffy and mentioned the last part with a slightly deep tone when telling them not to harm her and some noticed his left hand raise slightly with his palm protectively facing her.

"Ok, now all you boys start fixing the village" yelled Buggy looking back at his crew, now luffy's.

"Oh, and buggy you will apologize to the villagers alright." Said luffy in a dangerous voice, if now for that buggy would have retaliated. "Always remember there is no point in harming others, it will only make people hate you, hate that you don't need, not from kind people at least, being pirates doesn't mean people should hate you," Said luffy, there was a silence for a few second, everyone let the wise words sink in.

Some time had passed, and the buggy pirates had now apologized to the villagers and had started helping in fixing the village. After some convincing the villagers and the village to make the village his territory, "Why would we let pirates make our village their territory" asked the village chief.

"Listen I know that you have been through a lot but look at it this way, after we leave some other pirates can damage the village and take over, but if it's my territory I will come to protect it, understand that I can make is a business and recruitment place while you can have protection, it's a benefit for both sides."

The chief was now thinking, it was a good offer there was no reason to decline if the pirates would keep their word, and that was the problem, how could he trust a pirate's word?

"I can't believe a pirate's words, what if you just start killing people, you are a pirate after all." Said the chief.

"You are right, I am a pirate but before I became a pirate I became a man, and a man never breaks his word, so here, I give you my word, me and my men will protect this village and if they hurt your people, I will come here myself and kill every one of my pirates myself." Declared luffy with determination in his eyes.

The old man could tell the boy wasn't lying, his experience in life helped him in that. After some time and some more things discussed the chief accepted luffy's offer and now the town was a part of the straw-hat pirates.

Sometime later.

-the village docks-

"Luffy, I have been wondering, where did you get that hat is it…" asked buggy.

"Yes, I got this hat from him, he gave it to me." Said luffy with a serious look.

Buggy knew that the straw hat belonged to Shanks before luffy got it, he didn't like Shanks but luffy had nothing to do with it so he let it go. Buggy just sighed, it's not like he could do something about it, "ok, but do you know where he got that hat from?" asked Buggy.

After making a humming noise, "Huuuu, no I don't, I just figured he bought it or something, why what's so special about it."

Buggy laughed a little, "How about if you ask him yourself.".

Luffy got an excited look, "that means there is some story about this hat, fine I will find out about it myself.", "Also, when you are done here leave a few guys behind to take care of the town and for the business I will start soon or further and take the others with you,"

"With me, where?" asked Buggy."

"To your adventure, where else? I am leaving all our territories to you in East Blue, at least till we get to the new world." Answered luffy.

"I see that makes sense", "So, where are you going now," asked Buggy.

"We are going to the gecko islands, syrup village to be exact.".

"Syrup village, why there, it's just some small village," asked nami, zoro was wondering the same thing.

With a chuckle, luffy said, "It's because I want to meet someone there."

That got the other three curious, luffy had a friend there?

"Let's go" exclaimed luffy as he jumped on his boat followed by nami and zoro, what the other 2 forgot was that luffy's boat was equipped with the dial. When the 3 were in the boat, it moved faster than ever and the 2 remembered about its speed from their own experience.

-30 minutes later-

"Hey nami why are you still with us." Asked luffy looking at her, they were at a normal speed.

Zoro also opened his right eye wanting to know what she wanted.

"You promised me some treasure, where is it" nami asked in a sarcastic voice.

"Whoops, I forgot about the treasure part you see buggy is now my subordinate so I can't take his treasure," luffy said in a sheepish voice, before nami could say anything else luffy said, "But I will get you some treasure as soon as we get across some other pirates, promise."

Nami looked like she wanted to argue but just huffed and sat back down, it's not like she could go anywhere else, like the last time.

Zoro went back to napping but jolted up we felt pain in his head, zoro looked at luffy who had just wrecked me on the head, "Okay, what was that for." Asked Zoro angrily.

"Training, I am going to start training you, now," said luffy.

At hearing that zoro forgot about the pain and looked at luffy excitedly and said, "Finally, I get to learn some Haki."

At hearing that nami looked at the 2, what was Haki?

"Haki? When did I say I was going to teach you that now." Said luffy.

"Huuuu you are not teaching me Haki, then what." Said Zoro now not as intrusted as before and a little irritated.

"Since we are on a little boat you will have to meditate." Said Luffy, and zoro got an annoyed look at that, he didn't like meditating.

"Do I have to, how is it even going to make me stronger." He asked

Luffy stated looking at the sky and said, "The basic to all 3 types of Haki is the focus, since I can't teach you any attack on this small boat I am making you mediate to get started with the foundation of Haki, it will help when we learn Haki or anything later on, also Haki requires a lot of focus so this will help you immensely, but if you don't want to its fine, we can always waste more time on-" when luffy looked towards zoro he saw him sitting in a lotus position with a concentrated look on his face, seeing that luffy got a small smile on his face, he then looked towards nami and asked, "would you like to train as well, I won't mind training you too." He had a gentle smile on his face.

"Train me, why?" she asked.

"Well, training and being stronger will make you strong enough to protect yourself and others you care about." Said luffy.

"And why would you help me train." She asked wondering why did he want to help her.

Luffy tilted his head to the right, nami smiled at that he looked cute- what no he is a pirate no nami, "well because we are friends right?" said luffy.

Nami looked at luffy and said with an angry tone, "Why would I be friends with a pirate like you" she snarled.

Luffy looked confused, "did I do something to hurt your feelings" he asked.

"Yes, you did, you are a pirate." She yelled back.

"Huh, that doesn't make any sense, how did that hurt you." He asked.

"Well pirates hurt innocent people and kill without remorse and you are one so yeah you did hurt me" she fired back.

"But did you see me hurt or kill anyone and in that logic, are all Marines good people and all pirates bad." He said in a normal tone.

Nami tried to say something but nothing came out, he was right she didn't see luffy hurt or kill anyone, and he didn't steal anything either, in fact, he had helped the people of the orange town and if she was right, he had beaten a corrupt marine in shell's town as well. He hadn't done anything she hated pirates for.

Luffy just hummed at her when he saw a look of realization on her face. "So…."

"Ok fine, I am wrong there, you didn't do anything that hurts me." She said and looked away.

"That's not what I want you to say." Said luffy.

"Then what do you want- "she stopped talking when she turned around and came face to face with luffy, who was not sitting on the other side of the boat but was now in front of her face just 5 inches away. "I want an apology." He said lightly, his breath hit Nami's face and she just realized that he didn't look cute when he tilted his head, he was genuinely really cute. The proximity of their faces made her blush as she tried to push luffy back but he didn't even budge, "my apology please he said." He said even lowly.

She blushed even more, was he flirting with her, she didn't know, she didn't even have experience in this kind of stuff, with flushed cheeks she said, "I-i a-am s-s-sorry" she stuttered.

As soon as she said that luffy pulled back and got a smile on his face, he got up and walked back while saying, "No problem".

"Can you two stop flirting now" came the voice of zoro who was still meditating, "seriously if you are going to do this then we will need a real ship faster than I thought." He added.

"Flirting? We weren't flirting zoro she was just apologizing to me" luffy said with a smile again. He didn't know that what he just did could be called flirting to some degree, he did get into Nami's face, but luffy didn't realize that.

Zoro just looked at him for a second and realized his captain was dense, and so did nami, which hurt her slightly but even she didn't notice that.

But about the ship part, we are going to need a real ship now, let's ask Syrup Village if we can find some clues or names that can help us." Said Luffy.

After some comfortable silence, "Hey nami I never asked you but what are your skills in the sea." Asked luffy.

Nami who had turned to look at luffy beamed at the question and answered with a smile, "Navigation, my best skill is navigation, when it comes to navigation you won't find anyone better than me here in East Blue." She answered with pride.

"Navigation that's great I wanted to find a navigator before we go to the grand line, what do you say, wanna join my crew," Luffy asked with a sweet smile.

"NO, I will never join pirates, they just hurt people and-" nami stopped halfway when she remembered that luffy hadn't hurt any innocent people, then she stopped, "I gave you my answer," she said after looking away.

"Man, that's too bad," Said luffy making nami sigh at luffy accepting the answer. "But I want you in my crew so you are my navigator now." He finished.

It took a few seconds, Nami's jaw hung open, but she just refused to join him so what-how she turned around and looked at him again but before she could say anything luffy was again in front of her and grabbed both her hands.

"Please, at least give it a try I promise you won't regret it please," Luffy said all that in a childlike manner which nami again found cute and blushed a little while leaning back a little to make some space between their faces, she tried to reject again this time politely but luffy wouldn't listen. Eventually, she had to agree and said, "Fine but only try, I am not joining you permanently." She said blushing because luffy's face was too close to hers.

'GREAT now we have a navigator" luffy said, and zoro and nami had a little frown, "I said temporary, not permanent" she said, "Don't worry I will change that soon." Said luffy with a smile and jumped back to the end of the boat. "Alright, you guys' better hang to something because I want to get to the syrup village before dinner," Luffy said and pressed that dame to peddle in just enough time for nami and zoro to hang on to the boat knowing the speed it would move on, and they sped towards their destination, with a screaming nami.

TO BE CONTINUED

A.N.: hi, I know my writing isn't perfect by any means so please tell me what i can do to improve in any way. peace