A/N: Hi! Long time no talk for anyone who follows/has this account favorited. How have you been? Job market's awful, so there's that. Real life aside, you're probably curious what this story is and why, if you ignored the A/N and went straight into reading only to then scroll back up in confusion, it seems so amateur. Well, that is because this is the first fanfiction I wrote - even older than my OPM one. Later on, after taking a break here and there, I would realize it was quite awful! So, I decided to do the natural thing and scrub it from the internet and every place possible... or so I thought.
As it would turn out, all of the original files were still on my old laptop. And let me tell you, reading them again was a massive trip of the cringe-inducing variety. I guess you could say I have grown as a writer, then! That probably leaves you with another question, though: why am I uploading it again? In short, I am a firm believer in preserving creative works. Even the bad stuff. You never know what good might come from it. Arguably, my other One Piece series - which is an obvious revamp of this one - is pretty good... at least I would say that.
In any case, the entire series is now back up on the internet... for better or for worse. I hope you get a kick out of reading a series about One Piece written in 2017, a lot of stuff has happened since then!
It has been a year since the execution of the Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy. At his execution, he told the world that he, like the last Pirate King, had hidden the One Piece. This, along with the available plunder in the world, sparked a New Age of Piracy, in which anyone who raised a Jolly Roger was considered a pirate. In the year following his death, Marines have had the good fortune of not having to deal with big cronies, like they had to in the Golden Age of Piracy. But, all that changes, this day. . .
The Beginning of a New World
Somewhere in the East Blue:
All along the street, vendors were shouting out their deals, trying to get customers to buy their wares instead of their neighbors. They sold everything, from spices, to rugs, to silk, and to meat (RIP Luffy)! Many having exotics from the far side of the globe, like a rare fish from the South Blue, or a type of fabric only made in the West, but there were still classic vendors who sold nothing, but fruit, which led to the discovery of one vendor, a few minutes later.
"Pies for sale!" said one.
"Fresh squeezed orange juice!" said another.
"One devil fruit!" shouted one above the rest.
Suddenly everyone was quiet, the whole street eerily still at the sudden words they heard. Then as quickly as it started, the quiet ended and people clamored to see the vendor with the devil fruit, with some believing the vendor had lied to get attention, but were shocked to see an actual devil fruit. "An actual devil fruit," said the vendor, proud of his find, "and by the looks of it, it looks like the Gum-Gum Fruit!" Everyone was shocked to hear this. The Gum-Gum Fruit was the devil fruit that Monkey D. Luffy had consumed, meaning that the fruit the vendor was holding in his hand to show the world had belonged to the King of the Pirates. "Ha hah, I think this devil fruit could easily go for half a billion Belly!" exclaimed the vendor. But to his dismay, many people chose to look at their shoes. You didn't just carry 500,000,000 Belly around. But suddenly, someone in the crowd spoke up.
"I'll take it."
People gasped at the sudden turn of events, but the vendor just laughed. "And who are you, may I ask? Sorry, but you don't look like someone who could afford." He wore raggedy clothing, which looked worn to the point where it would fall apart over a good scrub. The man didn't look so much better, either. He had a scar under his eye, a scraggly beard with unkempt hair, and a streak of red in his hair. And he truly didn't. All he wore was blue baggy pants held up by a worn belt with a white tank top and a yellow scarf. But what he wore on his head interested the vendor more than his clothes. On top of his head, which everyone was looking at, was a straw hat.
"So, are you in anyway related to the great Straw Hat Luffy?" asked the vendor, curious about his supposed buyer. He knew that it was highly unlikely for a pirate as big as Monkey D. Luffy to have a son, but he had to ask. The man simply smiled at him, a cocky smile that made him seem like the one in charge. "Yes, I am most definitely related, this is his hat after all," said the man with the straw hat. As he said this, a murmur went throughout the crowd. In many parts of the word, the Straw Hats were seen as a menace to society, but in other parts they were seen as heroes. This was one such place. Of course, they had to keep that feeling secret from the Marines, but it was still present. They just weren't sure whether or not this sale might provoke the Government's fury.
"Then, may I ask your name," the street vendor said, wanting to be sure this was the real deal. He obviously had the balls to deal with families that were this infamous. He also knew that if he truly was a member of the Monkey family, he should be loaded. "The name's Monkey D. Petros, but you can call me Petro," said Straw Hat Petro. Convinced, the salesman rubbed his hands together as he thought of the money he was getting. "All right, just produce the money and we'll be on our merry w-"
"Stop, I'll pay double for that fruit!" said a voice, calling from somewhere behind the crowd.
The audience, shocked at this turn of events, turned to see a man strolling out of an alley, right up to the vendor. Unlike Petro, he certainly looked like he could afford something that costed one billion beli. He wore what appeared to be a tan suit jacket and he obviously took good care of his hair, with it neatly trimmed along with his gotee. Although, the clothes under it obviously made him look like a sailor, like the good suit and hair were just facades for the man behind the mask. "And who might you be, mister?" asked the vendor, slightly annoyed that the newcomer had held up his sale. With a slight bow, the man smiled, saying, "The name's Cobra D. Jacob and I think I should get the fruit for paying more."
Scoffing, Petro said, "Fine, I'll pay 1,500,000,000 Belly."
"Two Billion!" shouted Jacob.
"Three Billion!" shouted Petro.
"Easy now fellas" said the vendor, not wanting to cause conflict, "Sure I want your money, but I don't want the blood of your little argument on my hands." The two had stopped fighting now and were listening to the vendor, both hoping to get the devil fruit out of it. "I can choose whoever I want to buy this fruit, and who I want to buy this fruit, is the man who is related to the original user of this fruit, Monkey D. Petros."
Petro, glad at this turn of events, turned to give one final smirk at a now glowering Cobra, and went up to collect his prize. The vendor carefully wrapped the fruit up so that he could put on a good front to show that he cared for his customer's product, and handed it to him while the money changed hands. Then Petro took off and ran into the nearest alleyway. Unwrapping the fruit, he took time to stare at it, knowing he was about to get a leg-up in his quest to the end of the Grand Line in search of the One Piece. But before he could take a bite out of the fruit, it was snatched out of his hands and the thief ran away. Knowing who it was that took the fruit, he chased after him, but in vain, for only a few steps behind him, he heard the crunch of a bite into an apple like fruit, as Cobra D. Jacob took a large bite out of the Gum-Gum Fruit.
Before he knew it, Cobra had shouted out "Gum-Gum Pistol" and sent Petro flying into a stack of crates. But, unbeknownst to both of them, a group of pirates from Petro's crew, a renewal of the Straw Hat Pirates had snuck up behind them and sliced Cobra down before he could do anything. Unfortunately for them, Cobra was still alive and he managed to use "Gum-Gum Rocket" to blast himself out of the alley, all the way to his ship, full of members of his crew, and some of the Cobra family. Soon they realized that because of what Jacob had done, he had caused a conflict with the Monkey family, and although few in number, were widely liked by many parts of the world for their ancestor's good deeds.
Escaping the island, they had not realized yet that because of Jacob's stupid actions of stealing the Gum-Gum Fruit, he had started a major conflict between the Cobra family and the Monkey family, which later became all-out war, with members of the Cobra family already hating the Straw Hats (most had been a part of the crime organization Baroque Works, which was taken out, along with their leader, Crocodile, by the Straw Hat himself), and also with them being a notorious family, the World Government were familiar with them and tried to snuff out the war before it escalated too quickly, but it was too late.
Many different pirate crews chose sides during the conflict, some choosing to go with the Monkey family, but some with the Cobra family, some previous members of Baroque Works even came into the conflict while the Alabastian Royal armies chose to fight for the ones that had saved their country. Even the Warlords of the Sea took up sides, with most of them going Monkey, but some going Cobra. It was as if the entire world was pitted against each other in this conflict, Monkey versus Cobra, with Wanted Posters being printed in the thousands, giving warrants for the arrest of major leaders in the conflict to Marines, and to kill anyone that got in their way, which turned it into a three way war, the Government versus the Monkey family versus the Cobra family. The main cause of this war was eventually killed, with Cobra D. Jacob falling to the sword of a nameless Marine, but the killing only made it worse. Thousands scrambled to find the fruit before the other side got it and eventually a member of the Monkey family finally ate the fruit, but was so inexperienced with it, the first battle he fought in, he died. This cycle went on for four decades: fight, kill Gum-Gum User, find devil fruit and wreck town in the process, rinse and repeat.
Until, for the good fortune of the World Government, it died down to the point where it was only minor skirmishes here and there that could be taken care of by regular Marines, but in the war's wake, peace was very much sorrowful. Millions had died in a war that at this point seemed pointless, hundreds or even thousands of islands and its inhabitants had been destroyed, and a new organization was left, the Monkey Pirate Organization: a crime syndicate that governed several islands, half of the Paradise part of the Grand Line, and also was an enemy of the World Government, even worse than the Revolutionaries, and this organization was led by Monkey D. Garp II and is the current user of the Gum-Gum Fruit, and is now following in his ancestor's footsteps to become the Pirate King.
But nineteen years after the war between two families, on a ship somewhere in the West Blue, sleeping, was one of the last members of the Cobra family, and his goal was the same as Garp's, to become King of the Pirates. His name is . . .
