One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda

Chapter 1

The sky's orange hue served as a reminder that summer was approaching. As the days wore on, it took longer and longer for the sunny sky to give way to the night's pervasive darkness.

'Good' A young boy, Monkey D Luffy, thought. Perched on the edge of a cliff, not too distant from the village in case Makino came looking for him, yet far enough to enjoy a semblance of solitude, he stared aimlessly at the book on his lap.

He used to love reading, more specifically, he used to love the sound of the voice that read to him.

Now, it was difficult to make any sort of coherent sense of the words that stared at him. Makino exerted herself in trying to bridge the void in his life, and he words cannot begin to describe how much he values her efforts. However, the young woman acknowledges that her endeavors fall short of the high standard set.

She'd taken to buying him books in recent weeks instead. Luffy would then take these books to this cliff, yearning for a glimmer of understanding as he wished fervently that the tangled letters would align into coherent words in his mind.

But time after time he'd end up closing the book in frustration and stare out at the horizon, just as he found himself doing now.

It was moments like these, moments when he had nothing and no one to distract his wandering thoughts that he feared. Moments like these always had his mind going to one place, the absolute last place Luffy wanted it to tread.

He allowed the tranquil waves of the sea far below him to lull him into a delusion of security; to allow him to tenuously hold onto a memory without his chest collapsing under the pressure this memory evokes.

Flashback

The two of them frequently took a hike to the cliff that was the furthest away from the village, where they would spend the remainder of their afternoons admiring the view of the wide ocean. It was somewhat of a tradition for them to set off directly after Luffy's lunchtime.

His mother would throw her white satchel over her shoulder, containing their snacks and book for that afternoon and hoist her son on her hips before setting off.

A tradition his grandfather vehemently spoke against, but the man would shut up as soon as his mother's icy glare landed on him. She most likely never forgave him for leaving a two year old Luffy in the clutches of the forest's wrath the one night she asked him to take care of her son.

She had found her son seconds away from being pounced upon by the largest tiger she'd ever layed her eyes upon. After seeing the heaving of his small chest, the scrapes littering his arms and knees and the blood running down the left side of his face, something froze inside the woman's heart.

Just as the tiger dug its razor sharp claws into the ground, preparing itself to dispose of the small annoyance that had woken it from it's slumber, it suddenly froze. Eyes widening, it's muscles slowly, painfully tightened, it's throat closed in on itself, unable to draw even the slightest hint of a breath and it's heartbeat slowed to a crawl, as if terrified that the sound of its beat will further encur the wrath of the whatever inspired such fear in it.

It slowly, carefully turned its eyes to this being.

A fair-skinned woman of slender build stood in the shade of a tree. She had long unruly black hair that reached her lower back and red eyes that almost seemed to gleam in the dark. Red lipstick and purple eye shadow seemed to be her only form of make-up. Her outfit consisted of a red mesh armour blouse that only had its right sleeve visible, with her left arm left sleeveless. Her entire outfit was covered in an extremely broad material that resembled bandages that had a rose-thorn-like pattern on it. Her upper thighs, forearms, and hands were also bandaged, though these were smaller in width.

Chains were wrapped around her forearms.The chains were linked to leather wrapped handles that were trapped in a white knuckle grip. The handles were connected to two huge knife-like blades that had three sharp, curved protrusions on either side of it's edges and covered in a steady orange glow that illuminated the surrounding forest.

The tiger was locked into its position by cold, fury-engraved crimson eyes.

Suddenly, the orange glow that covered the blades gave way to a burning blaze . The woman threw the blades skyward and spin on the balls of her feet, still clutching onto the chains the blades were connected to. Upon bringing them down, two crescent arcs of molten fire were launched towards the tiger in what was the last thing it would ever see.

At present, the two of them were sitting on the edge of the cliff. A book was placed on his lap as his mother looked over his small shoulders to read to him. The contents of the books she'd bring varied from fantasy and short stories to historical and literature. Parents in the village would be exasperated how the most hyperactive child in their settlement was the most attentive listener of his age group bar none.

She'd always smile at the look of wonder in her son's eyes, and laugh at the way he'd articulate his questions. Luffy loved the sight of her smile, and valued the sound of her laughter even more.

When she burst into laughter when he inquired whether the giants mentioned in the historical book she was reading him can poop, Luffy snickered and moved to rest his head under her chin when something on the horizon caught his eye.

Leaning forward, he squinted his eyes to try and make out what the weird shapes were and when he was unsuccessful, he looked back at his mother to ask her.

"Mama, wha'sat?" he asked, pointing in the direction of his inquiry.

Looking in the direction her son was pointing in, she frowned and picked him off of her lap and set him down beside her. Upon standing up, she needed only a few seconds to make out the white sails and seagull insignias before the word flashed in her mind.

'Marines?!'

She quickly calmed herself down and looked down at her son, only to find him already staring at her with a slight frown on his face. Bending down on one knee to look him level in his eyes, she took his small face gently between her hands.

"Baby," she started, "Mommy's gonna need you to be strong for her, alright?" she asked.

Luffy nodded with slight trepidation at the alarm he saw in his mother's eyes, quickly deducing that whatever those weird shapes on the horizon were, were not one of the friends his mother had told him about.

"You know the path we usually take when we come here?" she asked, referring to the cliff they stood upon.

Luffy nodded.

"I need you to run down that path towards Makino's shop and tell her this: Seagulls are approaching our shores." she told him.

Luffy closed his eyes and repeated the phrase to himself multiple times, determined to commit it to memory. When he opened his eyes, he found that his mother had moved away from him and was now kneeling next to the satchel she always brought with them on their afternoon walks, her back turned towards him.

Upon noticing her hands moving, he moved closer to her and caught sight of the chains she was wrapping around her forearms. Luffy paused and swallowed hard, remembering the last time he saw the things those chains were connected to.

"Mama, wha are those?" he asked, eyes still focused on the way her hands immaculately wrapped the chains around her forearms.

"Weapons Mommy uses when the world wants to take you away from her." she answered, the tone in her voice not one he recognized.

He opened his mouth to reply but the words instantly died in his throat when his mother turned around and he saw the tears that were gathered up in her eyes.

The sound of chains clanking down to the floor failed to register in even the smallest confines of his mind. Standing up, her forearms bare, she started walking towards her son and bent down on both knees to look at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Shuffling forward on her knees, she took her son up into her arms and buried her face in the small crook of his neck, inhaling his scent and squeezing her arms around his small frame.

Luffy reciprocated his mother's actions, wrapping his arms around her neck, dread beginning to settle in his heart. A small part of his mind couldn't banish the thought that sprung up with the wording of his mother's request:

Why did it sound like she wasn't coming with him?

His mother released him from her arms and brought her lips to rest gently on his forehead. Luffy closed his eyes, hating the amount of emotions he couldn't even begin to describe warring around in his small chest.

When he felt his mother remove her lips from his forehead, Luffy opened his eyes again and bore witness to the first time he's ever seen his mother cry.

"Run," she whispered, "Get to Makino as fast as you can and whatever you hear, don't turn back okay?"

Confusion ran amuck in his mind. What was it about those things on the horizon that would cause such a reaction in the indomitable woman he knew as his mother?

He wanted to protest but seeing the pain in her eyes as she stared at him for affirmation, he swallowed whatever questions he wanted to ask and nodded. Turning around and preparing to sprint, he stopped at the last second and looked back at his mother.

"Love you" he said.

She gave him a tearful smile and said, "Love you too"

Giving her one last smile, he turned around and ran.

A lot of what happened thereafter was a blur to Luffy.

He recalls sprinting for what felt like an eternity to get to Makino. After reaching the end of the forest and finally entering the town, he ignored the greetings of the townsfolk, ignored the burning of his lungs and his legs and ignored the persistent stabbing of fear in his heart. He barreled through the doors of Makino's shop and saw the girl in question standing behind the counter. After wheezing out the words he'd committed to memory, he watched, almost as if in slow motion, as Makino's eyes transformed from confused and concerned to shocked and alarmed.

Running around the counter and taking Luffy's hand in hers, she ran outside and called for the townsfolk to alert Mayor Woop Slap. When she found him, the two of them exchanged furious whispers before they seemed to reach to an agreement. Mayor Woop Slap turned around and hurriedly directed the group of men he was standing with to gather all the townspeople.

Luffy was confused. Did Mayor Woop Slap and Makino know what was going on? Now that he thought about it, what did seagulls have to do with the things he saw on the horizon? Was his mother scared of birds? So many questions whirled around in his mind but he only wanted one answered.

'Why was Mama crying?'

In the time it took his vision to focus again, he found himself hoisted on Makino's hip. They were rushing somewhere. Frowning, he craned his neck to see where they were headed, only to realize that they weren't the only ones walking. It seemed as if the entire town was, and all of them were headed in the same direction.

Was he the only one that didn't know what was going on here?

No, he realized. Looking around, he saw other confused faces amongst the congregation of people he found himself in. After enduring 10 more minutes of Makino's hurried walking, they rounded a corner that lead to what Luffy thought was a dead end. But instead of stopping, they all continued walking.

At the end of the 'dead-end' was a set of stairs that lead underground. When he and Makino reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw that they were in an wide corridor with a massive door on their far left. Upon entering the door, Luffy quickly realized that they were in a large hall. Shoving their way passed the cluster of people loitering the hall, Makino made her way over to where Mayor Woop Slap was engaged in a discussion with the same group of men he was talking with earlier.

Then, right as Makino was about to open her mouth to get the Mayor's attention, explosions rocked the island...

Flashback End

Shaking his head, Luffy blinked furiously to rid himself of the tears that blurred his vision. He ignored the heavy feeling in his heart and stood up.

Upon taking a deep breath, he exhaled shakily and looked out to the ocean, focusing his eyes on the horizon. Clenching his small fists and hardening his eyes, he turned around and started walking back to Makino's shop.

After close to 10 minutes of walking, he stopped abruptly and focused his eyes on a familiar path. He stared, recalling a time when a woman and a little boy's footprints littered this same path.

"Why does that feel like such a long time ago?" he whispered.

Staring a bit longer, his eyes followed the winding direction the path took. Ever since that day, not a single being, both human and animal, ever ventured close to the cliff side.

No being except for him and his grandfather.

Eighteen Months Ago

Luffy wasn't sure what the man's reaction would be to what had happened on that day. But he wanted his grandfather back in the village nonetheless. He wanted more answers as to where his mother was other than Makino's vague, 'She went someplace she can't come back from'.

When the man arrived at the village, he seemed to have been already informed of what had happened. Instead of wearing the usual flowery vacation shirt Luffy always saw him in, Garp wore an all black suit with a white collar shirt and black tie that somehow managed to make the man look more intimidating than Luffy ever thought possible.

The expression he wore was one Luffy never thought he would see on a man like his grandpa. Sorrow, rage, bitterness, regret and so much more coloured the man's face in a myriad of emotions Luffy knew he'd never be able to understand. For some reason, he felt like it was his first time really seeing his grandfather. After staring at each for an indeterminate amount of time, the man opened his mouth to utter his first word upon his arrival at the island.

"Come" he said before he turned and started walking in a direction Luffy knew all too well.

Makino, who stood beside him with Mayor Woop Slap, let go of his hand and lightly pushed him towards his grandfather. Following the older man in silence, they set off at a comfortable pace, though the tense atmosphere was anything but. Right as they were about to enter the forest, his grandfather stopped walking and looked down at him.

"Stay here" the man said, before he continued walking.

Disappointment nestled itself in Luffy's stomach. He had truly thought that whatever questions he had about his mother's whereabouts would be answered today. The six months following his mother's disappearance were filled with countless days of waking up with tear-stained cheeks, ducking the pitying stares of the villagers and staring at the ceiling of his room as he forced himself to pretend he didn't hear Makino's choked cries when she thought he was asleep.

He wanted that to end. Needed it all to end. But the one person he'd hoped would do so goes ahead and does this?

The disappoinment gave way to a burning anger as he clenched his small fists.

'I've been patient enough', he thought to himself. With or without his grandfather's help, he refused to let the week end until he got what he's owed.

He crushed the rebellious thoughts that warred inside his mind. Regardless, his grandpa wouldn't be in the village forever. He could always sneak away from Makino's care and make to the cliff by himself. Then, he'd have his answers.

'Yes' thought Luffy. Sooner or later he'd find out the answers to what had happened on that day.

He had no idea how long he waited for his grandfather. He tried counting the leaves on the tree he stood beside to pass time but that quickly lost its luster, mostly because he couldn't count that high. He tried pacing but that only made his thoughts wander to places he didn't want them going toward.

Before the nervousness and anticipation could get the better of him, he heard footsteps coming in the direction his grandpa took. Looking up, he instantly took note of how much older the man looked upon his return. Where his suit was previously neat and pristine, now it looked slightly ruffled, with his white shirt carrying a particular brown scuff mark. His hands, Luffy noted, were covered in dirt that the older man didn't bother to dust off of them. Before he could say anything, Garp got the first word in.

"Come" he said, before he once more turned around and walked in the same direction he came from.

Luffy followed.

The closer they got to the cliff, the more signs of battle were evident alongside the path.

Trees unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity were cut clean or snapped off at their trunks. Luffy took note of the deep gorging lines, many varying in length, width and depth, that littered the familiar path. The especially deep gorges had what seemed like scorch marks outlining them. Innumerous patches of what appeared to be grey, dried-up blotches littered the ground they walked upon. Pieces of meat? were strewn about relatively close to the grey patches, along with torn pieces of discolored cloth. Luffy would soon find out that the 'pieces of meat' he saw were tissues of organs.

The destruction appeared to escalate the closer they got to the cliff, and it reached its peak when they arrived at their destination.

Looking around, it seemed as if the entire face of the cliff had been cut clean off. The scorch marks that outlined this cut were especially prominent. Luffy stepped closer to the edge of the now faceless cliff and noticed something far below him that made his blood freeze.

Bodies numbering in the hundreds, possibly thousands, floated on the surface of the ocean. Pieces of broken wood, large and small, were scattered onto a majority of the floating bodies. Even now, six months after what had happened, the ocean water was still coloured a vivid blood red. The current made the bodies move as one, as if they were alive. The thought made him sick, especially when he noticed not all of the bodies were fully intact. A lone arm floating amongst the horde of bodies reminding him of that.

A shuffling sound to his right snapped him out of his daze. He looked up, welcoming the distraction, and caught sight of his grandfather with something in his hands that made his heart ache. His mother's satchel. Covered in soot and looking slightly beat up but it was her's, of that he was certain.

Luffy walked closer to his grandfather, desperate to be reunited with one of his mother's belongings.

Hearing his grandfather releasing a heavy sigh, he snapped his eyes up to the man's face just in time to see the man walking up to him. When Garp arrived at his side, the man's gaze fell to the carnage below before he looked out to the horizon.

"Here," he said, handing Luffy the satchel.

Luffy's small hands shook and his heart beat furiously in his chest. He stretched his arm forward slowly, a small part of him believing that his grandpa was going to snatch the satchel back. When the satchel was within reach, his small hand gripped it and withdrew his arm quickly. Luffy's hands itched with the need to open the satchel's flap, needing reassurance that the objects his mother always carried with them were where they belonged but he quelled the desire.

Garp, still looking out to the horizon, folded his, now free, hand into his pocket. Before long, the man started talking.

"Your mother was someone that was very important, brat" Garp stated, "Years before you were born, she took a valuable item from some dangerous people, believing it to be better the item was in her possession than the belligerent one of their former owners."

Garp sighed and looked down to the strewn bodies in the ocean.

"Those people finally got information about her whereabouts, but this information also included the fact that wherever she went, there was always a little boy not far behind. Six months ago she was given a choice between two options: to hand herself and the little boy over or this entire island would be destroyed. Your mother chose neither." Garp finished, grudging respect evident in his voice.

Luffy could feel tears running down his cheeks. He bit his lips hard, refusing to let a single sound escape his mouth. His heart hurt.

"She should've known better," he whispered, voice softer than Luffy's ever heard in his young life, "So many plans made, so much time spent making sure that you and the people of this town didn't suffer for her deeds, and look where we've ended up." he sighed.

"W-Where is she?" he asked in a small, hoarse voice.

"She's dead" Garp said, aiming a bitter stare at the floating corpses beneath them, "Her body must be one of those floating down there."

"W-What's dead mean ?" he asked, not understanding the concept.

"It means she's never coming back, that you'll never see her again," came Garp's response.

Luffy's walls broke. Bringing his hand up to his mouth, he cried. All the confusion and hurt, only to realize no matter how long he would've waited, she wouldn't be coming back.

When his cries finally subsided into small hiccups, he found himself on his grandpa's back. The man was walking back to town, the satchel gripped loosely in Luffy's right hand.

"Don't go back to that place," he heard his grandpa say, "You won't find any answers there."

Luffy said nothing, breaths still shaky.

"You have to be strong Luffy. There are a lot of powerful people out there who are going to see your existence as a crime. If they ever find out who your parents are, they're gonna stop at nothing to see you dead" Garp told him

"I-If I'm strong, w-will I ever see Mommy again?" Luffy asked, still clinging onto hope.

"No" came Garp's instant response, "Your mother fought hard so they wouldn't take you, brat" Garp continued, "because she knew that regardless of your age, they wouldn't show you any mercy. Just because of the blood you carry in your veins"

Luffy stayed silent, feeling tears cloud his vision once more.

"Do you want what happened to your mom to ever happen again?" asked Garp.

"N-no" he whispered, his voice cracking.

"Then you'll have to become a marine, brat. You have to become the strongest marine that's ever lived," came his grandfather's response.

Luffy stayed quiet, digesting the information his grandfather imparted with him.

The last thing that would forever ingrain itself into Luffy's mind was the fact that all the bodies (at least those that were discernable) wore the same coloured clothing: white.

Present

Ultimately, Luffy discovered that his mother's satchel held nothing else but the book she had read to him on that day. However, this seemingly simple item transformed into a cherished possession for the young boy, to the extent that the villagers became accustomed to seeing him with the satchel on his shoulders at all times.

Memories of that day always managed to light an inferno in the pit of Luffy's stomach.

Half of his time was spent doing things no children his age should be doing. Scaling the nearby cliffs with his bare hands, antagonizing the monkey troops living in the forest and fighting -getting pummeled by- all of them, running multiple laps around the town and practicing the strength of his punches and kicks on the thick tree trunks surrounding the village.

It was while running away from a relentless troop of monkeys in the forest that he stumbled upon Gray Terminal.

The things Luffy saw, and continued to see everytime he went to the massive junkyard often gave him sleepless nights.

It was while trying to search for a way back home that Luffy saw a group of men, all of them carrying some form of weaponry, approaching a small family of four.

The men didn't bother hiding their intentions as they slunk towards the family, grins plastered on their faces. A terrified woman was cradling her two children in her arms and a trembling man stood protectively in front of them, carrying a metal pipe.

Although this was the first time Luffy's been a witness to the depravity of Gray Terminal's criminals, he wasn't a stranger to the stories that circulated through the grapevine. Having never interacted with any of the junkyard city's residents, he could only rely on word-of-mouth accounts of people's run-ins with them.

The things he heard filled even his young mind with enough nauseating dread that he ended up promising himself that regardless of the amount of progress he's made that he wouldn't dare try and engage the criminals until there came a time he grew confident enough in his skills.

Now, he was forced to make a choice as he looked at the woman cradling her kids, a small echo of pain nibbling at his heart. He clenched his fists and drew a deep breath, exhaling it slowly, already knowing what his next plan of action was.

Slinking behind the group, Luffy looked around, trying to find any form of weaponry laying near him. The only things he could identify were metal pipes, shattered wood and glass, and useless pieces of trash scattered across the already littered ground. Cursing silently in his head, Luffy swiveled his eyes across his surrounding area, trying to find anything he could use to his advantage before the scums reached the small family.

His eyes landed on the weapons one of the men carried. Two stainless steel short bladed machete swords, both roughly 50 cm in length.

Luffy grinned, despite the hammering of his heart.

He sprinted towards the man as fast, and silently, as he could. The scum not even registering that someone was approaching them until Luffy already reached their position. Using the momentum his run carried, Luffy jumped, aiming his feet right towards the back of the man's knees.

The man instantly toppled over, shouting in pain and surprise, drawing his accomplices' attention. One of the machete blades fell out of his hand as the man tried to catch himself. Luffy quickly picked himself up and noticed the blade laying near him. Leaping towards the blade, he picked it up and, using both hands, swung it with all his might directly at the still grounded man's neck.

Blood spurted out of where the now decapitated man's neck used to be, spraying Luffy on his face and upper body. The rest of the men were frozen in shock, minds not comprehending what on earth had just happened. Luffy used their pause in his favour and quickly jumped towards the other machete blade laying next to the dead man's body.

Once both blades were in his hands, Luffy swiveled around to face the family who's untimely demise he prevented.

"RUN!!!" Luffy shouted at them, his words seeming to unfreeze time itself as everyone in the area was knocked out of their stupor.

The man, who stood protectively in front of his family, turned around and took one of the children out of the woman's arms. He quickly took the woman's now free arm and started running as fast as he could, taking her along with him.

The woman turned around, her mouth open, as if she was about to say something to Luffy, before her eyes widened, "Watch out!!" she shouted.

Luffy turned around just in time to see that one of the men had gotten behind him, his blade half way through its swing towards the left side of Luffy's head.

Luffy quickly backpedalled, watching in morbid fascination as the blade got closer and closer to his head. Just as it seemed like he was going to successfully evade the swing, the tip of the sword sliced a clean cut right below his left eye before passing through the air, blood trailing as the sword finished its swing.

Luffy blinked furiously to rid his eyes of the tears that sprung up in his vision. He felt something warm run down below his left eye but he quickly willed his attention away from the pain and toward the man standing in front of him.

The man sported a black leather jacket and faded blue jeans with tattered brown boots. A maroon mohawk adorned the top of his head with black hair covering the sides. Black eyes twitching with fury stared down at Luffy. Yellow-covered teeth were exposed as the man's lips curled back in an ugly snarl.

"Fuck!! He killed Sai Boss," one of the men shouted.

The man being spoken to committed a grave error, one that proved to be the most fatal mistake in this particular interaction. Blinded by rage, he turned around, most likely planning to rebuke the individual who made that remark.

"And instead of securing our meal tickets, you fuckers just stand around with your dicks in your han-"

Luffy used the man's foolish mistake and close proximity to his advantage and jump up, planning on disembowling the man before he could turn his attention back on him.

The man turned around, blocking the first strike Luffy sent towards his stomach with the sword in his hand. The second blade in Luffy's hand rose, aimed at the man's neck.

The man's eyes widened and, in a moment of desperation, lifted his free hand in a futile attempt to block the impending strike.

On the debris-laden ground of Grey Terminal, two fingers dropped, releasing a surge of blood from the man's now three-fingered hand. A shrill scream echoed as the man witnessed the absence of his pinky and ring fingers, their bleeding staining the ground beneath.

"Boss!!", Luffy heard one of the men scream.

Luffy backpedalled, wanting all of the men present in his field of vision.

'Six' he thought, counting the men rushing at him, 'Okay, I can do this.' he told himself, hating how the quivering of his hands contradicted his statement.

The men all charged, wielding knives, swords, axes and the like. Luffy stood still, tightening his grip on the machete blades in his hands and preparing himself to sprint towards the men.

"Oi!" an elderly voice shouted.

The men and Luffy all froze.

As one, they all looked in direction the voice came from. An elderly man emerged from the shadow of a heap of trash, his long, grey, unruly hair falling to his shoulders. He was sporting a long, brimmed, brown hat with some light fraying. Orange-lensed sunglasses with a black rim sat on top of his hat. He was dressed in what appeared to be a long, dark blue cloak that trailed along the ground. He wielded a staff that had a hammerhead on the end, strongly resembling a maul.

The old man took a moment to survey them all, pausing a bit longer when he examined Luffy. Before long, he directed his attention towards the group of men standing in front of Luffy.

"Leave." he said to them, a stern expression on his face.

The thugs all turned towards the whimpering man who cradled the bleeding limb that was his hand.

"Kill him!" he shouted, "Bring me this fucking brat's head!!"

The thugs immediately discarded the elder's presence as they advanced towards Luffy with wrath filling in their steps.

"I said leave." reiterated the old man, the volume of his voice neither raising or lowering, though this time, a foreign weight settled over the entire area.

Luffy suddenly found himself on his knees, a cold sweat quickly forming on his brow as a presence contested his will, demanding he submit, and he suddenly found it difficult to breathe.

He let go of the blades and gripped his head, feeling as if it was about to implode because of the pressure forced onto it. His heart beat furiously in his chest, time itself slowed to a crawl as Luffy swore a second felt like an eternity in the hell this pressure put him in.

Then, just as he felt himself losing grip on the teetering edge of consciousness the feeling went away as if it was never there in the first place.

He stood up awkwardly, letting out a shaky breath and grasping the machete blades firmly. Looking up, he saw that it was only the leader of the thugs that was awake, though he even he was on his knees, eyes wide and sweat dripping from his face, the bleeding of his hand seemingly mundane in comparison to keeping conscious. The rest of his men all lay in various states of unconsciousness.

The man took a while to compose himself. Luffy was doing the same on his side, keeping one eye on the old man and another on the recuperating man on the ground, all the while trying his best to ignore the stickiness and the throbbing he could feel coming from the cut below his left eye.

"Youngster," the old man called out.

Luffy turned his head to look at him.

"You're gonna want to get that cut checked out before long, it could easily get infected in a place like this if you leave it untreated." the old man said.

Luffy remained silent for a while, before he answered the old man, "I don't know my way back home," he said.

The old man hummed, before he turned around and started walking away, "I'm gonna need to treat that cut of yours first before I can take you anywhere, kid" he said, "C'mon," he beckoned with a hand over his shoulder, "gonna need to work fast if you wanna get home before dark." he finished.

Luffy cautiously followed after the old man. Just before he got out of sight, something inside Luffy told him to turn around.

The leader of the thugs and Luffy stared at each other. The man was back on his feet, his free hand gripping the stumps of his missing digits with his jaw clenched tightly, a look promising great pain in his eyes.

Luffy, with the specks of blood covering his T-Shirt and rapidly drying blood covering the left cheek of his face, stared at the man with an equal amount of cold fury.

"This isn't over kid." the man said, the underlying tone of rage in his voice making the sentence sound like a snarl.

"You're right," Luffy stated, a cold tone in his voice as he tightened his grip on the bloodstained machete blades, "It isn't." he finished, before turning around to catch up to the old man.

"Do you go to Gray Terminal a lot?" Naguri, as Luffy later found out, asked him.

"One of my first few times." Luffy answered.

Naguri stayed silent for a long while after that. When he spoke again, he asked "Have you done that before?", a measured tone in his voice.

Luffy swallowed hard, feeling his throat constrict at the question. Instead of answering Naguri's question, he countered it with one of his own, "Does that happen a lot?" he asked.

"More times than my old bones can keep track of," came the elder's response.

"Then I'm gonna have to do it some more." Luffy answered, hardening his eyes and closing his heart to the blood still covering one of his machete blades.

"Why?" came Naguri's rebuttal, "You don't owe the people of Grey Terminal anything, the only path this journey you seek to embark upon will ultimately lead is your demise, young one."

"I need to grow stronger," Luffy answered, "the animals I fight in the forest and the exercises I do are only gonna get me so far," he continued, "If I happen to save a few people along the way, then all the better."

His declaration silenced Naguri, "So you're only doing this because it aligns with your self-interests?" he asked.

Luffy didn't look at the man as the he answered, "Can't fill someone else's cup when mine is empty, understand?"

Naguri chuckled, "As selfish as the rest of them, you'd make a fine pirate boyo."

Luffy frowned and looked up to him, "Cause I'm selfish?" he asked, confusion thick in his voice.

"...Whenever you're able to, come find me at my house" the old man said, the change in topics throwing the youngster off.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just like you I can't stand still and watch an innocent get hurt. And you're gonna get hurt, brat. All I want to do is ensure you get hurt as little as possible." answered Naguri

When Luffy got back home later that day, before he went inside, he stashed the machete blades deep in the nearby bushes.

After ensuring they were hidden properly, he entered the house, where a furious, teary-eyed Makino told him he was grounded for a week. Luffy, not knowing what 'grounded' means, just nodded, feeling guilty for making Makino cry.

Old Man Naguri's treated his cut relatively quickly. And upon telling him where he lived, the two of them made haste to get to Foosha Village.

Makino, who was the one that constantly had to care of the exhausted and battered form of Luffy, was surprised to see a bandaid covering a cut below Luffy's left eye. But she quickly reverted back to her furious/worried state when Luffy told her that it was a small cut he got while he was scaling a cliff.

Luffy was thankful she didn't comment on his wet hair and T-shirt, having had to run to the coast of the village to quickly wash the blood off of himself.

Makino and Mayor Woop Slap have tried, on multiple occasions, to tell Luffy to ease up on the training he puts himself through. Each time Luffy's only response to their concerns was that he had to get stronger.

The saddened looks in their eyes told Luffy that they knew, or at least suspected, part of the reason why.

When his grandfather caught wind of Luffy's training exploits, the man laughed. Declaring how proud he was of Luffy and that he would 'assist' him making him stronger. All in the quest of turning Luffy into the 'strongest marine'.

Tossing him into a bottomless ravine, tying him to balloons and sending him flying into the sky and leaving him alone in the jungle for nights on end. Luffy lost count of the amount of times his grandpa almost killed him in the past eighteen months.

Luffy sighed, finally feeling the weight all this thinking has inspired.

He gave the path one last look before turning around and heading back home, gripping the white satchel on his shoulder tigher.

"Honestly Luffy. Where do you always run off to during the day? Do you have any idea how worried I am that something might happen to you and I wouldn't know about it?" scolded Makino, her hands on her hips as she stared down at Luffy, who had just entered their home.

Luffy scratched the back of his head while giving Makino a sheepish smile.

"Ah, sorry Makino. I always forget the time when I'm training in the forest. This is the last time, I promise"

Makino looked at him for a few seconds before her stern mask broke. She gave Luffy a fond chuckle.

"That's what you said yesterday" she said.

Luffy snickered.

Please review, constructive criticism is always appreciated.