It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: the Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red.
Chapter 2: Adventures in the Streets: A New Crewmate is Found!
The island Toroa, West Blue:
"HEY GIVE ME MY STUFF BACK!" shouted Red as he took off after him.
He had to give it to the runner, he was pretty fast, but Red was fast, too. They raced through the streets of Toroa, Red chasing after the unknown thief, going down winding streets and making their way past vendors. They passed by men arguing over who had to pay for a meal, but they ignored them, the only thing in Red's mindset was to get back what was stolen from him.
Suddenly the runner took out a sword from a sheath and slashed at a stone column they were passing. To the runners delight the column, along with the stone awning, came crashing down on Red, but he somehow seemed to avoid it. He then ran forward at the thief in break-neck speeds and slammed him to the ground, and in doing so, made the thief release his grip on the bag, which in turn opened and out rolled. . .
"Bullets?" the thief said, in shock. "Yeah," Red remarked, "I used the last of my money to get to this place, or should I say, I gave a bounty to some sailors to get me here. I didn't have any money on me." Glaring at him, the thief yelled, "Why do you have these in a bag like that! It looks exactly like a money bag!" Shaking his head, Red responded, "Like I said, I don't really have the funds to get a proper container for my ammunition... anyways what's your name?" Raising an eyebrow, the thief asked, "Why do you wanna know?" Red shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I'd just rather know who just tried to steal my money. I won't turn you in or anything."
Sighing, the thief said, "Well if you must know, my name's Miles... Buredo, I'm a swordsman." Now it was Red's turn to have a quizzical look on his face, "Why do you carry a dagger then?" A look of annoyance crossed, Miles' face. "Because!" Miles shouted, "I use Main Gauche, one where I use a sword and a dagger at the same time. It leaves room for defense and offense." But as they were speaking, the clock began to chime. Turning to look at the clock tower, Miles face palmed, saying, "Crap! I'm gonna be late!"
"For what?" Red asked, confused at what this thief turned "friend" could possibly be late for. Miles huffed, saying, "Some stupid swordsman from another island challenged me to a fight, this is how I make my money, I'm a backstreet fighter." Giving Miles a once-over, Red shook his head, "You don't look like one." Miles was wearing a black dress-vest, along with a dark green pants that were covered with dirt from his fall to the ground. He wore his long red hair in a ponytail, and three gold circular earrings in his left ear. "Whatever, I'll show you why I'm the best swordsman around."
They then took off and found themselves in an alleyway surrounded by people cheering on a swordsman dressed like he came from the nobles himself, but when they saw Miles they started cheering his name, which obviously ticked off the "noble". "You must have a pretty big fan base," said Red quietly. Miles, chuckled and remarked, "Nah, they're just afraid that if they don't cheer, I'll cut them to ribbons."
"So," said the "noble", interrupting his speaking with Red, "you are the supposed 'greatest swordsman in the West Blue' are you not?" Turning his attention back to the "noble", Miles smirked, "I am, but let's save the formality until after I win my money." Gripping his sword, the "noble" got down into a stance, facing Miles. "We'll see about that." And with that the noble charged.
All anyone could see in the following seconds was the flash of light, glinting off of the dagger, and then the limp form of the "noble" falling on the ground. Everyone gasped in shock at the events, but that shock turned to cheering at the amazing display of Miles' swordsman prowess. They didn't even stop him from taking the somewhat small money bag from the unconscious "noble".
"Hmph," snorted Miles "only a couple hundred Belly, what a rip-off, and you call yourself a no-" Miles was unable to finish his sentence due to a hard right to the face. "What the hell is wrong with you!" yelled Red, staring in rage at Miles, "You just killed a man and loot his pockets! Do you have any honor! I thought swordsmen were all about that!" Looking up from the ground in shock, Miles, shouted back equally as loud, "I didn't kill him you idiot! I slammed the pommel of my dagger into his head! He's just out cold, he's still breathing!" As he said this, the unconcisous "noble" hacked out spit, clearing his throat subconsciously. "Oh," said Red, a look of comprehension sliding onto his face, "my mistake, sorry about that."
"Sorry! You just punched me in the face! Also, what do you do for a living, smash rocks?" shouted Miles, an incredulous look on his face. "No, I'm a pirate!" said Red, making the crowd jump back in fear, "speaking of which do you wanna join my crew?" At first a look of anger was on Miles' face, but that suddenly gave way to laughter. "So, you meet a man who robbed you, punch him while trying to lecture him on honor, then ask him to join your crew? If that's how you've asked people in the past, I can see why you're so desperate," said Miles, "Fine I'll join your crew, but only on one condition."
"Yeah," said Red, the look of glee turning to business, "and what's that?" With a completely straight look on his face, Miles said, "You have to get me off this island." Rubbing his hands together, Red began to think, "Well that shouldn't be too hard, all I have to d-"
"Today."
Flabbergasted, Red shouted out, "WHAT! Now you're crazy! We can't get out of here today!" Shoving a piece of paper in his face, Miles stated, "Maybe this will change your mind." Staring at it, Red started to read the paper, "Blah, Blah, Blah. Yada, Yada, Yada. Here we go, 'The winner of the fight shall receive whatever is in the loser's pockets', that sounds fair." Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Miles said without looking at Red, "Read between the lines!" Confused, Red inquired, "What do you mean?" Turning, back to Red, Miles shouted, "Just read!" Waving him off, Red went back to reading the paper. "Here we go, 'As of the time this paper is signed, if the creator of this contract loses his fight, his bodyguards have permission to exterminate... the signer', oh." Nodding sarcastically, Miles replied, "Yeah. And word travels quickly if you don't know, and his men are only a few blocks from here, drinking in the pub, so if you don't come up with a plan fast, your newest crewman is dead."
"Ok, let me think," and Red went to thinking, scratching his chin, tapping his teeth, rubbing his forehead with the palms of his hands, until finally snapping his fingers, "alright, I've got a plan, but we're gonna need our 'noble' friend's help. . ."
A few hours later, a fisherman was making his way to the pier, bringing his supplies to capture fish that came up higher to the surface during the sunset, but dropped his tackle box at the sight of the lot where his small sail boat used to be. He looked around quickly trying to see where it could've gone, but to no avail. He then saw a note tacked to the lot number sign, expecting it to be a note from the local government about being a few days over rent, but instead found poorly written words saying, 'IOU one boat', along with a small bag containing a couple hundred Belly.
Somewhere at sea, about a hundred miles away from Toroa:
"Yes! Finally at sea with our own boat!" shouted Red as he lay back against the side of the boat.
"About that, this boat isn't gonna sail far, it has a bunch of holes in the bottom, only stuffed with cloth to stop it from sinking," said Miles, crushing his captain's spirit, "the owner of this boat probably didn't take if far out from the port, just in case it started to sink, in fact, if I had to guess from the supplies that are here, the owner was probably a fisherman." Staniding up again, Red raised his fists to the sky, as if shouting to the whole world, "Fine! We'll make landfall soon and see if we can get a new boat!"
As he did this show, Miles thought of something. Getting Red's attention, Miles said, "Also, I almost forgot this, but I thought it'd be important to know you're name." Smiling, Red said down to his new crew member, "My name's Cobra D. Red, and I'm after the One Piece!" Laughing awkwardly, Miles turned away from Red, a look of worry on his face. Damn it, thought Miles, how did I get myself tied up with a guy going after the One Piece, and a member of the Cobra family too? The Monkey family is definitely gonna come for us.
Somewhere on the Grand Line, on the Millennium, A man in the shadows is talking to another over a Transponder Snail:
"So Skyler, my cousin, a lieutenant of yours was beaten, robbed of his money, or should I say your money, and the assaulter is nowhere to be seen?" asked a man, sitting in the shadows of the captain quarters, "Please tell me you have at least relieved him of his position." The Transponder Snail smiled wickedly, mimicking the person on the other end's expression. "Well, boss, I relieved him all right, by relieving him of something else," said Skyler, "and I wouldn't say he's nowhere to be seen, witnesses say he and another man stole a boat from the pier and left, and from the course they took I'd say they're heading towards the island I'm on."
"Good," said the boss, a smile of satisfaction coming on his face, knowing the assaulter was heading towards his death, "but what of this mystery man, who is he?" The Transponder Snail crackled as the signal was once again received from the vast distance, "Well, witnesses of the 'event' weren't able to identify him by his name alone, but we had a theory on who it might be, so we showed them his wanted poster." The boss leaned forward in his chair, a look of interest on his face. Smiling, he spoke into the Snail, "Ooooo, a wanted man you say, do tell."
"Well, they did identify the man by his poster," a look of worry appeared on the Snail, "you're not gonna like who it is." Annoyed, they boss spoke angrily, "Spit it out already, get on with it."
"Well, the man that went with the assaulter, his name is Cobra D. Red, a member of the Cobra family."
Hearing this, the boss's face went into an immediate scowl. Slamming his fist down on the desk in anger, he caused the items on the desk to fly up, including a straw hat, which the boss grabbed out of the air and slammed it on his head, a look of rage in his eyes.
"Have them both killed, set up a trap or something, just have them both dead," the boss yelled, "and have the Cobra die: slowly and horribly."
