Wealth. Fame. Power. There once was a man who achieved all these treasures and more. He was known as Gol D. Roger, and he was the King of the Pirates. But like all kings, his time eventually came to an end.
Yet as he stood on the scaffolding for his execution, he only gave a smile and a challenge to the world.
"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I own in one place. Now you just have to find it! Seek the treasure of the Grand Line, One Piece! The treasure I once claimed can be yours, if you desire to succeed me as King of the Pirates!"
And so it was that a curtain opened on a new era; The Golden Age of Piracy. Pirates of all kinds set sail for the Grand Line, each eager to lay claim to One Piece and gain Roger's title. Yet as the years dragged on, no one could find or even reach One Piece, and many started to doubt that it was even real. It seemed the Age of Dreams had reached its end.
But there were still those who knew the One Piece was real. Those who sailed with Gol D. Roger and saw the One Piece with their own eyes. And that legacy would be passed down to four young individuals.
As for their stories? Well, let's delve into them, shall we?
-OP-
"SHANKS!"
A small 6-year-old girl with short unruly black hair happily jumped into the chest of the Captain of the Red Hair Pirates as he descended the gangplank of his ship and stepped onto the docks of Fuusha Village.
"Whoa, Luffy!" Shanks laughed, catching the boy and ruffling his hair. "We weren't even gone that long!"
"It's been weeks!" Luffy argued, looking up at the man with a huge smile. "Is Uta with you?"
"Right here, Luffy." A small girl, the same age as Luffy, trotted down the gangplank.
She had semi-pale skin, bright purple eyes, and two-toned hair split perfectly down the middle, red on the right side, and white on the left side. Her hair was tied up in the back, two loops (almost like rabbit ears) behind her head, while twin tails dropped down the sides, each tail ending with a loop of its own. She wore a yellow dress that stopped at her knees, brown boots on her feet, and she had headphones over her ears.
"Uta!" Luffy beamed as she pulled Uta, Shanks' daughter, into a hug, the girl smiling and hugging her back.
"Let's head to Makino's place, we'll tell you about our latest voyage while we party!" Shanks laughed, leading the two kids, along with his entire crew, into the small town and towards the local pub.
It was a merry old time had by all but there was something on Luffy's mind that she desperately wanted to ask Shanks.
"Take me on your next voyage, Shanks!"
"Sorry, kid. I don't think you'd make a good pirate."
"Why not? I'm a good swimmer." Luffy pouted as Shanks just laughed.
"It takes more than swimming to make it as a pirate, Luffy," Lucky Roux said between bites of his roast ham.
"Well, I'm a good fighter too! My punches are like pistols!" Luffy argued.
"Luffy..." Uta sighed.
"Seriously, Luffy, at least wait until you're a few years older. You're as old as my own son right now, there's no way you're cut out for the sea." Yassop said.
"Hey, Uta, how have you been with that magical fruit?" Luffy asked Uta, who was drinking some fruit juice.
"Oh, you mean mySing-Sing Fruit? I've been making some progress with it. When I sing, I've been able to make all sorts of things happen, it's like I can make the world dance and sing with me."
"Yeah, it's definitely something!" Lucky Roux laughed jovially. "She even can make those little lines on a musical score that you put the notes on and use them as weapons."
"I wish I had my own Devil Fruit..." Luffy pouted.
"If you had your own Devil Fruit you'd lose your swimming ability." Shanks pointed out.
Then, Uta widened her eyes as she remembered something.
"Oh, that's right. I wanted to show you something, Luffy!"
"What is it?"
"This is the treasure chest Shanks found me in when I was a baby," Uta said, presenting said chest to Luffy. "Right now, inside it is a treasure that'll be worth a fortune! Behold!"
Uta opened the chest and revealed a strange-looking fruit that resembled a Yubari King and was colored purple with spirals all over it.
"What is that?"
"It might look like it at a glance, but it's much more than that! It's a Devil Fruit! I've heard it sells for a really high price!"
"Whoa! So cool!"
Suddenly, someone kicked the door of the bar off its hinges. Everyone turned to see a group of thuggish-looking people standing in the doorway.
"Excuse us." The apparent leader said nonchalantly. Shanks just kept on enjoying his food, completely ignoring the guy. "So these are pirates. They look pretty dumb if you ask me."
"Can I get you anything, gentlemen?" Makino asked as the leader sat down right next to Shanks.
"We're mountain bandits. The name's Higuma the Bear. Don't worry, we're not here to tear up your bar. Just sell us ten barrels of booze and we'll be on our merry way."
"I'm sorry, sir. We just ran out of alcohol."
Higuma narrowed his eyes. "Well, that's strange. Then what are all these pirates drinking?"
"That's the reason the place is out of booze," Uta quipped, causing her adoptive father to snort into his food as Higuma's eye twitched in irritation.
"She's right, sir. They're actually just finishing off the last of our stock." Makino said.
"You have bad timing. Sorry to say, we wound up drinking the place dry. Plenty of juice and fruit soda though, if you're still thirsty." Shanks added as he handed Higuma an unopened bottle. "And if you really want some hooch, this bottle hasn't been opened yet."
Higuma instead swung his fist to smash the bottle, getting the alcohol all over Shanks's straw hat. Shanks's crew all merely sighed, knowing the guy was poking a hornet's nest.
"You shouldn't insult me like that, I'm Higuma the Bear. I have an eight million berri bounty on my head. One bottle ain't even enough for a bedtime drink." Higuma snarled in a threatening tone.
Shanks took a deep breath. "Now look what you've done. The floor's all wet. Sorry about that, Miss Makino. You have a rag or something we can clean this up with?"
He started picking up the remains of the bottle. Higuma waited until Makino had left the bar to get a rag, then drew his sword and swung it at the bar, shattering the plates full of food and spreading them everywhere.
"Seems you like to clean up messes. Maybe something like this will be more fulfilling for you." He sheathed his sword once more. "Anyway, this place ain't worth our time if there's no booze here. Let's go, men. Later, wimps!"
Luffy was seething the entire time, but Uta was completely nonchalant about the whole thing as Makino went to help clean Shanks off.
"Are you alright, Captain?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Honestly, what a bunch of idiots." Uta huffed. "I may not be a pirate, but I've spent enough time with Shanks and his crew to know that they're not wimps at all! They're the greatest band of pirates I have ever known! That creep had no right to say that stuff about him."
Shanks gave his daughter a thankful smile as the rest of his crew just burst out laughing.
"He got you good there, boss!" Yasopp said.
"Why are you all laughing!? That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them!?" Luffy demanded in frustration. "You can't yourselves men or pirates if you just laugh something like that off, no matter how strong the other guy is!"
"Luffy, you've got it all wrong. That guy wasn't even worth a passing notice." Lucky Roux said, patting the girl on the head. "Shanks has a bounty a thousand times what that guy said he was worth. It was clear he was just trying to goad the captain into a fight."
Luffy huffed as she turned around, but that caused her to notice the Devil Fruit in Uta's treasure chest. Still feeling miffed about what happened to Shanks, Luffy took the fruit and bit into it. She then instantly regretted it, because it tasted completely awful. But she was still annoyed, so he kept eating it.
It was at that moment Uta noticed Luffy eating the fruit and her eyes widened in shock as she freaked out.
"Where did you get that?!"
Shanks heard that and quickly hurried over. "Ah, crap! Luffy, what have you done!?"
He started shaking Luffy, and to Luffy's shock, her head seemed to tip over like it was made of rubber, falling to the floor as her neck stretched out. Her head then snapped back into position, leaving Luffy stunned.
"Shanks...what was that Devil Fruit?!" Makino asked worriedly.
"It was called theGum-Gum Fruit. Now that Luffy's eaten it, her whole body is made of rubber!" Shanks explained as he turned to Luffy. "Don't you two realize what you've done?! Eating any kind of Devil Fruit takes away your ability to swim for the rest of your life!"
"HUH?! THAT CAN'T BEEEEEEE!" Luffy exclaimed.
"YOU IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!" Shanks added in frustration.
-OP-
Elsewhere in Fuusha Village, a spunky tomboyish girl of six years old with short brown hair was happily running through the forest. Despite the dangers some of the wild animals who made their home in the forest were, the girl was fearless and loved the thrill of adventure above all else.
Her name was Monkey D. Sonson, Luffy's sister, and right now she was on a little adventure of her own. Several monkeys were swinging through the trees above her, making her smile as she looked up at them.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Laughing, the girl skillfully jumped up the trees and began swinging with the monkeys like she was one of them. After some time swinging around, she happily sat down on one tree and kicked back.
"I think Shanks and his crew are visiting today. Maybe I should stop by and say 'Hi'!"
A few more monkeys were lounging around the tree, just slacking and enjoying themselves. As Sonson enjoyed the forest's tranquility, she suddenly noticed something out of the ordinary.
Just up above her, higher in the tree, was an odd-looking peach. It was much larger than normal peaches, was colored a bright solid gold, and had weird swirl markings all over it.
"Huh, fancy-looking fruit!"
Jumping up, she pulled the peach down and landed swiftly back on the branch. Curiously inspecting the fruit, she shrugged her shoulders, never turning down a free snack before biting into the flesh, only to cringe at the bitter taste.
"Yuck!" She retched before looking at the fruit. "Sheesh, you sure look better than you taste...Oh well."
Not wanting to waste food, Sonson ate the rest of the fruit before picking her teeth and spitting out the seed. However, it was at that moment she felt something weird now connected to her backside and looked around to try and find the source.
"What's going on..." She pondered, scratching the side of her head with her...tail? "Wait, tail?"
Sonson looked back and noticed a long, prehensile monkey tail, not too dissimilar to the one that her monkey friends had, attached to her. Understandably, she screamed in shock as she stood up and spun around. This led to an amusing spectacle, for the watching monkeys anyway, of the girl chasing her tail.
After several moments of this, Sonson finally calmed down and thought about what had just happened. She ate a weird peach and now he had a tail, which actually looked pretty cute now that she thought more about it. Somehow, she also had the distinct knowledge that it would always be there from now on.
"I gotta show Luffy!" She cheered as she made her way through the forest at speeds even faster than ever before.
-OP-
Luffy had gone to try and confront Higuma to force him to apologize for insulting Shanks and his crew, followed closely by both Makino and the town's mayor, Woop Slap. The bandits had returned and were laughing about Shanks and his crew, still thinking them wimps just because Shanks didn't retaliate for getting covered in booze. Luffy had then demanded they apologize for the insult.
"You should watch your mouth, little girl. No one who's ever made me mad has lived to tell the tale." Higuma warned.
"Leave him alone!" Uta snapped, having arrived as well.
Higuma scoffed. "Seems we have a naive little brat who doesn't know her place in the world."
"Says the guy who doesn't know the world beyond this tiny little island!" Uta countered. "I've seen the world, and it's way bigger than some eight million Berri nobody like you!"
Higuma growled in anger. He started to motion for his men, only to notice who was behind Uta. It was Shanks and his crew.
"I was wondering why the bar was empty. Looks like those mountain bandits from before returned." Shanks said.
"You pirates are still here? You been scrubbing this whole village clean the entire time?" Higuma asked.
"Just checking up on a friend. Hey, Luffy, I thought you said your punches were as strong as pistols."
"Look buddy," Higuma said as Shanks approached. "I believe I made the difference between us clear before. So leave now before you get hurt."
Shanks said nothing as he continued walking toward Higuma, who had one of his bandits aim their gun at him.
"Wimps like you should know their place!" the bandit taunted.
Shanks didn't bat an eye. "Now that you've drawn your pistol, it's time to put your life on the line."
"What the hell are you talking about?" the bandit demanded.
"Weapons aren't drawn to threaten people," Shanks explained calmly. "The second you draw one..."
The bandit was blasted in the head by Lucky Roux firing his own pistol, killing him instantly as blood splattered everywhere.
"...You either kill or be killed."
"You... You bastards!" Another bandit called out. "That's fighting dirty!"
"You talk like we're saints or something," Shanks' First Mate, Benn Beckman, pointed out. "Who did you think you were dealing with, honestly?"
"Let me remind you of something; You're looking at pirates. Not some chump sailors." Shanks said.
"You just shut up! You've got nothing to do with this in the first place!" One bandit called out.
"Now that's where you're wrong because there's something very important you should know. You can pour drinks on me, you can throw garbage at me, you can even spit in my face and I'll just laugh and forget all about it." Shanks' gaze then turned angry. "But good reason or not...NOBODY HURTS THOSE I CONSIDER FRIENDS."
Higuma just laughed. "Is that so? Men, kill these idiot wimps!"
The bandits all charged, only to get slammed by Beckman's rifle, one of the dropped blades landing right near a shocked Higuma's foot.
"You've never even set foot off this island before now, so you have no basis by which to call us idiots or wimps," Beckman said. "Let me spell it out for you. The Red-Haired Pirates are among the top four strongest pirate crews in the entire world. Our captain alone has a bounty in the billions. If you want to kill us, you'll need a warship at the very least."
"W-Wait a minute! That brat attacked us first!" Higuma said, referring to Luffy.
"Yeah, but you're stronger than her, just like I'm stronger than you, but I didn't retaliate when you insulted and attacked me." Shanks pointed out. "What you're doing only makes you a bully with nothing but time on his hands. Plus, you already mentioned that you're a wanted man. Even pirates can cash in on bounties under the right circumstances, and eight million should be enough to get us through to the next island at the very least."
Higuma freaked out and tossed a smoke bomb to escape, surprising everyone.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
When the smoke cleared, Shanks' eyes widened in horror when he saw Uta had vanished.
"UTA!" Luffy cried.
"Luffy! You won't believe what happened!" Sonson shouted as she came over, only to see the distressed looks on their faces. "Wait, what's wrong?"
"It's Uta, she's been taken!"
-OP-
Higuma had taken a boat out to the open ocean. He had some ropes which he had used to tie up Uta.
"Let me go, you big jerk!"
"Shut up, you'll make the perfect hostage! Once I get rid of that bastard, I'll make my way back and make that stupid friend of yours pay for making me mad!"
He started to cackle until he heard something breach the water behind him. He turned around and was shocked to see a giant Sea King, the Lord of the Coast, now staring at him.
"W-What the hell?! N-No! Stay away!"
The sea dragon opened its jaw and chomped down on Higuma's boat, causing Uta to fly off. The beast caught the bandit leader in its jaws and began biting down on him, crushing his body as he screamed in agony. After a few more bites, Higuma spat up gushes of blood that splattered his face before the Lord of the Coast crunched down on him, reducing his corpse to mulch as it swallowed before looking at Uta and lunging for her next, seeing as she was a sitting duck in the water.
Fortunately, who should appear in the nick of time but Shanks, who was now holding onto his daughter in his own boat. Momentarily surprised, the beast charged once more, only for Shanks to give it a deathly glare, his eyes developing white irises around his pupils.
"GET. LOST."
A suffocating pressure emitted from Shanks as the Lord of the Coast recoiled in fear before turning and swimming as far away as possible. Uta hugged her father, shaking in fear before feeling something wet on her hand and backing away to see it was blood.
Looking at Shanks, Uta's eyes widened in horror when she saw that Shanks, in the process of rescuing her from the Lord of the Coast, had lost his left arm to the beast. The poor girl burst into tears as she once more hugged her father, who hugged her back.
"It's only an arm, sweetie. I'm just glad that you're okay."
-OP-
Needless to say, Luffy was horrified when Shanks came back with a missing arm, blaming herself for antagonizing Higuma and causing all these events to happen in the first place.
"I owe you one, Luffy. Makino told me how you were fighting for us."
"But your arm...!"
"It's only an arm, Luffy. Just as long as those I care about are safe, that's all that matters to me." He patted the crying Luffy's head with his remaining hand.
Makino and the other Red-Haired Pirates watched with smiles on their faces before Sonson excitedly came over.
"Hi, Shanks! Sorry I couldn't come over earlier but there's something I gotta tell you!"
"Uh...what's with the tail?" Limejuice, one of Shanks' Senior Officers, asked.
Sonson remembered her tail and grinned playfully.
"That's what I was gonna tell you guys! I ate a weird golden peach."
Shanks looked surprised. "She ate a Devil Fruit too? And from the looks of it, it's a Zoan."
"A peach..." Lucky Roux took out an encyclopedia made by Dr. Vegapunk that listed all the known Devil Fruits in the world and flipped through the pages before finding what he was looking for. "Did it look like this?"
"Yeah!" Sonson smiled. "What's the big deal?"
"Do you have any idea just how important that fruit is?! And you just came across it by chance!" Beckman snapped. "That's a Mythical Zoan, one of the most powerful categories of Zoan Devil Fruits!"
"EHHH?! REALLY?!" Luffy and Sonson exclaimed in surprise.
"Yup, that's theMonkey-Monkey Fruit: Model Sun Wukong!" Lucky Roux explained. "All Mythical Zoans are derived from creatures and beings from legends and myths and Sun Wukong is one of the most famous myths!"
"Whoa, he sounds cool!" Sonson said.
Shanks chuckled. "Something tells me that the powers that be had a hand in you finding that fruit, kid. From what Luffy's told me, you are a bit like a monkey yourself."
Sonson just gave a playful grin in response as Yassop came over with a book and handed it to Sonson.
"Here, it's 'Journey to the West' and it details the adventures of Sun Wukong and his friends." The Sniper of the Red-Haired Pirates explained. "Read that, and you might be able to get a better idea of what you can do now."
"Ugh...reading." Sonson groaned.
-OP-
The next day, Shanks and his crew loaded up their ship, the Red Force, to set off. Luffy and Sonson were there to see them off.
"We'll miss you, guys," Sonson said as she gave Uta a hug.
"I'll miss you guys too!"
After all that had happened yesterday, Luffy realized that she really wasn't ready to head off to sea as a pirate just yet. Instead, she would be dedicating herself to training along with Sonson especially since the two now had to learn how to control their new Devil Fruit powers.
"I'm going to make a mighty crew! One even bigger and stronger than yours!" Luffy told Shanks.
"Heh! If we're forming a crew, then I get to be Captain!" Sonson smirked.
"No way, I'm gonna be Captain!" Luffy argued.
Shanks and Uta laughed as Luffy and Sonson began tussling with each other. After pulling them apart, Luffy puffed her chest out proudly.
"Shishishishi! I promise, when I'm older, I'll set sail with Sonson and become King of the Pirates!"
Shanks then looked at Luffy as if he were seeing his old captain and surrogate father, Gol D. Roger.
"Well then, let's make it a promise." He smiled as he took off his straw hat and placed it on Luffy's head.
"This hat once belonged to my old captain. Now I'll leave it with you, so take good care of it. I'll be waiting for that day when you do find One Piece."
Luffy was shocked to tears by this act. The Red Force sailed off as the whole island waved goodbye, Luffy and Sonson included.
-OP-
However, this story isn't just about Luffy and Sonson. There are still two other individuals we need to cover and we'll do that right now...
Right now, we focus on a small little dinghy boat, where a weak-looking child is lying down, struggling to stay conscious.
He had dark skin, messy beige hair with orange tips, and silver eyes. The most unique thing about him was the three cross-shaped scars that were carved into his back.
His name was Lor D. Draco and his story is not a happy one.
From the moment he was born, life had it out for Draco. He was one of a set of triplets, but sadly, he was the only one to survive. Because of this, his parents treated him like a demon who stole the souls of his siblings, carving crosses into his back to represent the souls he had stolen before casting him out to sea in a small dinge and burning their house down with themselves inside so he could never return home, preferring to die rather than live as the parents of a 'demon child'.
Right now, he had no food, no water, and no salvation in sight. As the sun beat down cruelly on his body, he was prepared to give up...until he saw something floating nearby and grabbed it.
It was a bizarre-looking fruit that didn't look like any fruit that ever existed, it looked like a pair of jagged jaws with the stem resembling a glaring pair of eyes. It was black and purple and had spirals decorating each 'tooth'.
Hungry and not questioning where the fruit came from, Drago took a nibble and found that it was indeed food, even if it tasted terribly bitter. Not wanting to waste it, he kept the fruit by his side, sporadically taking a few bites here and there before going to sleep.
"Now what's a little lad like this doing sailing out on the Grand Line in a little dinghy boat?"A strange voice was heard.
"The poor boy must have been lost at sea. Probably hadn't gotten a good meal in ages."An old but powerful voice said next.
Draco slowly opened his eyes to see several men looking over him. The source of the powerful voice he heard was a giant of a man with a white crescent moon mustache with a bisento at his side.
"Who...who are you?"
"You can call me Whitebeard, boy. We found you out at sea and brought you on our ship. No need to fear, you're among good company."
-OP-
Since he had no home to return to, Draco had decided to stay with Whitebeard's crew on their boat, The Moby Dick. Eventually, as he settled in, he ended up becoming everyone's baby brother and Whitebeard became his father.
When he first settled in, some of Whitebeard's crew discovered the mostly eaten fruit that Draco had with him and realized it was a Devil Fruit. Looking it up from what could be described, they realized it seemingly didn't exist in the records.
Nobody knew what Draco's Devil Fruit was supposed to be until one day, while they were on shore and fending off some bandits, Draco transformed into some kind of large beast, almost the same size as his adopted father, and fired a powerful beam of energy that annihilated all the bandits in one fell swoop.
From that day on, Draco's Devil Fruit was dubbed theKaiju-Kaiju Fruit, which everyone could now see was a Zoan.
Now, you might think that was the end, but no. While the Whitebeard Pirates were enjoying a merry night, Draco was seeing the stars when a fruit rolled up to him. Nonchalantly, he grabbed it and took a bite, not realizing the familiar bitter taste until it was too late.
He looked to see the fruit was shaped like an elixir vial but was a brilliant scarlet red color with spirals decorating it. Now, Draco knew that anybody who ate more than one Devil Fruit would have their body ripped apart, but for some reason...Draco felt completely fine.
It was a phenomenon, unlike anything that had been seen. Looking up the fruit in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia they had on hand, everyone learned that what Draco ate was theAlchemy-Alchemy Fruit, a Paramecia that allowed whoever ate it to manipulate any non-living matter with a touch, reshaping it to their whims.
Nobody knew how Draco was able to hold the power of two Devil Fruits inside him, but they were just glad he wasn't dead.
Interestingly, around this time, one crewmate, Marshall D. Teach, ended up trying to become closer to Draco; sharing his beloved cherry pies with the boy and teaching him about the history of the world whenever they had time. Teach even offered Draco a spot on his crew if/when he left Whitebeard.
You see, while the Whitebeard Pirates were indeed a family that adored and loved each other, Whitebeard himself had no issue with his children breaking off and forming their own legends. All he asked was that they kept in contact with him and be ready to aid him if he needed a hand.
Draco was unsure to accept the offer, so Teach told him to take as long as he needed and that the invite would remain open until the day either died. Besides, Teach explained he needed something important to come along first before he did that.
Things continued as normal until one day, the Whitebeard Pirates were battling an enemy pirate crew and another fruit had rolled in front of Draco:
It was shaped like a carambola starfruit and was brown in color with tornado-shaped swirls all over and flame markings on the corners. Realizing it was a Devil Fruit, Draco did the most boneheaded thing he could imagine and ate it to prevent the enemy from using it for themselves, willing to sacrifice himself to help his family win.
However, a new surprise was revealed as he didn't even die from THAT! To have eaten THREE Devil Fruits and survived was never seen before! To make matters even more complicated, this Devil Fruit happened to be one of the most powerful in legend, theDisaster-Disaster Fruit, a Logia that legend said was the forefather of all present Logias and had a very high bounty worth for whoever was lucky enough to find it.
Obviously, such power would draw a lot of attention, so Draco opted to sail out to the East Blue, where it was quieter and didn't have many eyes on him. As he bid his father and family farewell, Whitebeard had this to say to him:
"I finally managed to lay eyes on it, but sadly it would not be mine to claim. My longtime friend and rival Gol D. Roger got to it first, giving him the right to declare himself King of the Pirates."
Draco had heard many tales of his father's adventures in his youth and his journey to find the legendary One Piece as well as the exploits of the legendary Gol D. Roger himself. However, he noticed the forlorn look in his father's eyes as he said this.
"When Roger issued his challenge to the world, I thought it would bring about a new era of freedom. But few people today even believe the One Piece is real. It saddens me that Roger's efforts to create an Age of Dreams has fallen on deaf ears."
Hearing his father's sorrow, Draco decided to make a vow. He would find someone worthy of finding the One Piece and help them claim it, to vindicate his father and prove to the world that dreams are worth pursuing.
"I promise, Pops. I'll become a mighty Pirate Captain or join a mighty crew and whoever I join...I will help them find the One Piece and together, we'll make your world a reality!"
After giving his adoptive family one last hug goodbye, Draco set to sail in a yawl ship, waving his father, brothers, and sisters goodbye with tears in his eyes.
-OP-
After a day or two of sailing, Draco decided to make a stop and find some food on a nearby island.
"Ahoy there!"
Draco turned to see a boy his own age waving over to him.
"Any room in there for a future pirate?"
"Pirate, eh? Well, I'm a real pirate myself. so..." He let that hang before smiling. "Hop aboard!"
The boy did just that and offered a hand to shake as he grabbed an oar to steer.
"So, what kind of pirate are you? Oh, the name's Ben, by the way."
Draco smiled. "I'm more of an adventuring pirate myself. But I'm not against seeking out treasure..."
"Excellent! The reason I'm here is to find the greatest treasures of all!" Ben said proudly before his face became sheepish. "Full disclosure: I can't swim. I mean, I know HOW to swim, but..."
"Lemme guess; you ate a Devil Fruit?" Draco cut off.
Ben nodded. "I found this weird fruit while exploring the woods one day; it looked like a fusion of a watermelon and a ribcage. It was pretty weird, so I just took a bite, and well...it tasted like garbage. Then, the next thing I know, I'm sprouting bones from various parts of my body and in desperate need of new clothes. Turns out, what I ate was the ParameciaBone-Bone Fruit."
Draco snickered at that before Ben frowned, a troubled look on his face.
"That's not all...I ate two other Devil Fruits."
Draco's eyes widened as he leaned in, wanting to know more details.
"Really? How did you survive? Normally people who eat more than one Devil Fruit die."
"To be honest, I didn't even realize I had eaten another Devil Fruit at the time! Considering how Devil Fruits aren't very common here in the East Blue, I just thought it was a regular fruit." Ben admitted. "What I ate was theBlood-Blood Fruitand it's a Logia that lets me create, manipulate, and turn into blood."
"And how did you get the third one?" Draco asked.
"That was kind of my fault," Ben said sheepishly. "Long story short, I ticked off this old pirate in hiding and stole a Devil Fruit he'd been saving as a kind of leverage. But then I slipped off a cliff, it fell into my mouth, I took a bite..."
Draco tried to hold it, he really did. But he couldn't. Ben frowned and turned away.
"Oh, wait!" Draco said. "I wasn't laughing at you! I was laughing because the same thing happened to me!"
Ben stared at Draco in shock and disbelief as he listened to Draco's tale, being brought out when the boy stretched out a hand to him.
"How would you like to come and team up with me? Travel and see the world? Meet the people both humans, fishman, giants, mink, and others. Heck, maybe even find the One Piece."
Ben's eyes widened. "Wait. The One Piece? As in...Gold Roger's treasure?"
"Gol D. Roger." Draco corrected his newfound friend with a smile. "Yeah, for some reason the Government doesn't like us D. folks…And yeah, it is real. My father, Whitebeard, says so himself."
"Finding the legendary One Piece..." Ben pondered before grinning. "Well, I'm not exactly in the mood to be King of the Pirates but I'd love to see it for my own eyes, at least!"
"I'm trying to find someone to finish what Roger started, to validate the words of my father and prove to the world that dreams are worth pursuing." Draco said. "But for right now, I'd like to have a friend on this journey."
Ben smiled. "A friend, huh? Can't have too few of those."
-OP-
After setting back out to sea, Draco and Ben soon arrived in another island village town. Draco had a deep feeling that what he was seeking was here and sure enough...
"Hey, we haven't seen you around here before!" A tomboyish girl their age with messy black hair and a straw hat said. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy and welcome to Fuusha Village!"
"Nice to meet ya, Luffy!" Draco smiled. "We were sailing out to the East Blue and figured we could take a stop here."
"Hungry..." Ben said to himself.
"If you want food, Miss Makino's bar is just over there! It's got plenty of good food to try!"
"Thanks, we'll take it!" Draco grinned. "We managed to score some Berris here and there while on our journey. Hope it'll be enough."
Arriving at the bar, the two boys saw a strange sight; a girl with brown hair hanging upside down from the rafters by a monkey tail while eating a peach.
"Hey, Sis! We made some new friends!" Luffy beamed.
"Cool!" The monkey-tailed girl said as she flipped down onto her feet and approached. "What are you doing here, travelers?"
"Just trying to grab some grub." Ben smiled sheepishly, ordering a meal for himself as Draco followed suit as Luffy came in and sat beside them,
Normally. Ben would be worried about this, but something told him that these kids would be good to know.
"So, where did you two come from?" Makino asked as she served the children plates of warm, freshly cooked food. Draco and Ben's mouths salivated and they cried as they enjoyed a homecooked meal.
"Thank you, ma'am!" Draco said as he then wiped his mouth. "To answer your question, well…Ben comes from an island away and I was born somewhere in the Grand Line."
The bar went silent.
"…What?" Draco asked.
"YOU'RE FROM THE GRAND LINE?!" Luffy and Sonson gasped. Draco just nodded and shrugged.
"So awesome! Do you know any pirates?!" Luffy beamed.
"Actually, I was raised by pirates. The Whitebeard Pirates to be exact."
"Holy cow! So you're like Uta?" Sonson excitedly asked.
"Oh?" Ben, curiosity peaked, asked. "Who is this Uta raised by?"
"Shanks!" Luffy beamed in pride.
"Wait, YOU KNOW SHANKS?!" Draco gasped, his eyes bugging out.
"…Who?" Ben asked.
"Red Haired Shanks! A fellow Yonko with Pops!" Draco gasped, shaking Ben.. "And the only one WITHOUT A DEVIL FRUIT!"
"…You about know Devil Fruits?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah, we each ate a few." Draco smiled.
"Three each."
"YOU ATE MULTIPLE DEVIL FRUITS?!" Everyone in the bar screamed.
"HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD?!" Sonson screeched. "Even Luffy and I know anyone who eats more than one Devil Fruit explodes and dies!"
"Honestly, I have no idea." Draco admitted.
Ben shrugged. "Me neither."
"Well, this is awesome!" Luffy grinned. "You guys should join our pirate crew when we're older! We're gonna set sail and find the One Piece! And I'm gonna become King of the Pirates!"
"But you're a girl..." Ben pointed out.
"Girls can be Kings too!" Luffy huffed.
It was on that day these four very special individuals came together as a mighty crew...and their adventure was only just beginning.
Knightmare Lord A/N:
My OCD forced me to refurbish the story due to some things I wasn't satisfied with and because of other variables that didn't work out that needed fixing. I am eternally grateful to Mrotrax for being patient with me about this issue. And I can only hope you're all okay with the changes as well.
Care to say something, Mrotrax?
Mrotrax A/N:
I think this works better; we get the main intros all in one.
Sad to see Bamia go, but as fun as she would be to include, there was not much for her to do in this story. But worry not! I have an idea to use her in another story!
Until we meet again!