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 11: A Surprising Meeting. A Promise for Three Years!

Somewhere on the ocean:

About four days have passed since the trio had left Doeter. They had had several close calls, one being an unexpected Sea-King, which was thankfully dealt a swift punch to the jaw by Red, and a storm that had rocked their world for nearly an entire day. Now they rested, Bede and Red sleeping from exhaustion, since they got so little sleep during the storm. But a sharp cry rang through the air, as the silence of the morning was broken. "DAMN IT!"

Getting up so fast, Red struck his face into the tiny mast, snapping it in half and dropping on the groggy Bede, who tore a hole in the sail when he scrambled around from the unexpected smack to the head. When they had finally recuperated and tied the mast back together with some rope and nails, Red and Bede looked at Miles who had been the one to call out his outrage… and could clearly see why.

In his hands, Miles held two halves of a broken sword. Staring down at them angrily, he explained what had happened. "I got up early this morning for some food, and seeing you guys still sleeping, I decided not to wake you and started sharpening my sword. After nearly getting it down to an edge, the blade snapped in half," then staring somehow more angrily at the blade, he finished with, "STEEL DOESN'T SNAP IN HALF!"

Shocked to see his crewmate so angry, Bede decided to inspect the blade, and even though he wasn't an expert, he could clearly see the problem. "It seems that when the blade cooled, air pockets formed inside it, causing it to be extremely brittle." Shocked at this news, Miles gave a sigh of sadness as he slipped his blade, point first, back into the sheath. Looking up, the two could see the genuine grief in Miles' eyes, with the knowledge of losing his sword finally sinking in. But then a little light of excitement sparked in them, as he spoke, "Looks like I'm gonna have to get me a new sword." Red and Bede's mouth dropped, as a thought came to both of their minds, but their mouths quickly snapped shut as a shadow threw their ship into darkness. Turning around, they expected to find themselves facing another Sea-King, but were unprepared for the looming shape of a warship passing by. Quickly and not-so quietly, the three ducked down into the hull of the ship, as if hiding would somehow hide the boat as well. After a few seconds of not being caught, the three peeked out, and could hear distinct cannon fire and the roar of some creature. Turning back to one another, they all realized that this might be their lucky break, and that a Sea-King showed up at the right time to preoccupy the Marines, but only two were thinking of escape.

"Alright, let's get out of here," said Red, glad that the Marines didn't notice them, "The Marines are probably fighting a Sea-King right now, so this gives us ample opportunity to get away from here." But then Red looked to Miles, and he could tell that they were on two separate trains of thought. "What if," began Miles, "We use this opportunity, yes. But instead of getting away, we use it to sneak onto the ship and get me a new sword." Again, Bede and Red looked at Miles open mouthed, but were again interrupted as they heard the crunch of wood, and they looked up to see several cannons and wooden shrapnel fly off the ship. Apparently the Sea-King had not taken a liking to being shot at and had sent some cannons flying. Looking back to his captain, Miles said one thing that would convince him. "We're also running low on food. We could snag food from a couple of fridges, but we need food. Are you in?" Knowing that Miles had hit a sweet spot, Red grabbed a rope, quickly tied it to the prow of the boat, and, to the reluctance of Miles, used his knife to stab it into the hull of the warship to give a place for their boat to tie onto.

Onto the boat they climbed, several times nearly falling into the water below, but eventually made it to the top. Crouching behind some barrels, they could see Marines starting to load more cannons. The Sea-King in question was quite a large one, serpent-like, with a mane of fins around its face, with fangs jutting out of the mouth. Out of the water popped its tail, as it swung it and brought it into the sail, tearing a large hole in it with its pronged tail. Over the ruckus, the three heard some of the Marines calling for more gunpowder, and, realizing they were hiding behind such barrels, ducked into a doorway that led into the ship.

Regrouping, the three whispered a hurried conversation for their plan. It began calling Miles an idiot if they got caught, but then the jobs were dealt out. Miles was to get himself a sword and Red and Bede would go get food. Before Miles complained about going alone, footsteps were heard coming down the corridor, and they quickly separated, Red and Bede going to where they hoped the kitchen was, and Miles heading into another side hallway.

Running down the hallway, Miles stopped to stare around the corner, and seeing it was clear, went on. Itching his shoulder, Miles could feel the fabric shift into a more comfortable position. The tailor on Doeter hadn't just given Red his new hat, but had also given Miles a new black vest, and to go along with it, a blue long-sleeved shirt to go under it. He appreciated the new clothing and all, but there was one part on the sleeve that itched his shoulder. Hearing voices coming from down the hall, he turned into another room, and found himself inside a bedroom.

It was not such a luxurious bedroom that it stated importance, but it had more furnishings then regular bunks to state it belonged to the leader of this particular warship. In the corner, a bed stood, bolted to the floor so it wouldn't slide, and next to that a desk, also bolted. Several items lay across the desk, one such item was a map, which Miles promptly stole. Another was a book full of drawings of different sea creatures, this he left. But most distinctly of all, a small box, unadorned, but screamed its importance with a lock on it. Rummaging through the drawers, he couldn't find the key, but instead, found a pin, and a small steak knife. Positioning the two implements in the lock, Miles let his thieving instincts kick in as he slowly worked the lock open. Finally, after what seemed like an hour but was only about a minute, Miles heard the satisfying click. Opening the box, Miles was slightly disappointed to only see a key inside. Picking it up, Miles looked at the only other furnishing in the room: the wardrobe. Walking over to it, Miles saw that there was a lock on it, and quickly fitted the key into it. Hearing another click, Miles opened the door to… a normal closet.

Full of Marine coats, the closet, like most of the stuff in the room, was quite minimalistic, with a rough wood finish that seemed unsafe for those who wanted to avoid splinters. Digging through the coats, Miles tried to find something that might be of value, maybe even a sword. But a thought began to creep into Miles' head: what if the person who owned this room had their sword on them, but was not disappointed when he felt a distinct grip. Pulling the sword out of the closet, Miles examined it. The sheath itself was not impressive, with a black, hardened leather, and had a brass kojiri and koiguchi. The Ito braid was a dark red, with a brass kashira to keep it from unraveling. But the interesting part of the blade was the tsuba. It was an intricately designed piece of wood, carved so that it looked like an unfurling flower, and stained a dark color, possibly black. Done with his examination of the outside, Miles decided to inspect the blade. Gripping the handle and sheath, Miles slowly pulled the sword out of its confinement with a ringing shing. When he had finally pulled it out all the way, Miles held the blade up to the light, and was mildly surprised at what he saw. It was a dark blade, like it's tsuba, but instead of being purely dark, and had an inner tinge of blue in it. Inspecting the yakiba, Miles could see a petal-like pattern for the temper line, knowing that whoever forged this blade must have been a master. But he was still interested by the color. The blue tinge could easily be explained by sea-prism stone being mixed in, but the darkness of the blade couldn't be explained. Steel wouldn't be this dark, Iron wouldn't be this dark, not even Cloud Iron, which he wasn't sure what it would do to the blade, would do that. Hearing footsteps, Miles decided to examine it later, leaving the mystery for another day.

Hurrying back outside, Miles heard the cheers of the Marines as they finally downed the Sea-King. Leaping over the side, Miles slid down the hull of the ship until he finally reached the boat, where he was all alone.

Sitting back, Miles unsheathed the blade again, letting the light reflect off of it while he waited. Finally, after another five minutes, he could hear Red and Bede sliding down the ship to him. Looking up, he could see Red lugging down bags of food, and Bede sliding below to make sure nothing fell. But looking past their shoulders, Miles was shocked to see a face looking down at them. When Red and Bede finally got back to the boat, Miles started pulling as hard as possible to get the knife holding their boat there out of the side, but Red had jammed it in hard and he was having a hard time pulling it out. But as the other's looked on in curious confusement, they were interrupted by a soft thump. Looking past their shoulders again, Miles expected to see a Marine with a gun trained on them, but was instead shocked to see a young boy sitting cross legged on top of their food bag.

He had brown wavy hair covered by a backwards marine hat and the same brown eyes, alight with curiosity and excitement. He wore a white button-up shirt with short sleeves and dark gray shorts, and over that he wore a janitor's apron, as if he just came from work. Looking down on the three shocked pirates, the boy said the obvious thing, "Are you guys pirates?" Not wanting him to tell his boss, Miles and Bede quickly responded 'No', but Red, in his everlasting loyalty, or what his crewmates considered stupidity, said, "Yes." A smile broke out across the young boy's face as he showed his obvious glee, "Can I join you guys?" The three were shocked, but Miles and Bede, knowing their captain, would probably allow this kid onto the cr- "No," said Red, to the shock of his crew members, who had expected him to say yes. The young boy's excitement immediately died, and was replaced by an annoyed frown, "Why not? It's because I'm a kid, isn't it?"

Red looked at the boy with an exasperated look on his face, "That's exactly why! You're too young!" The boy stomped his foot on the bag, which replied back with what sounded like cracking eggs. "But I hate being a chore boy! I want to live a more exciting life! You have no idea how boring and bad it is doing this!" Sliding down the bag, the boy came to a rest, still in cross-legged position, at Red's feet. Bede and Miles expected Red to say 'No', but were shocked again when Red said, 'Yes'. "They act like pigs and it's the chore boys' jobs to clean up after them. They eat like animals at meals and the chore boys are left with the scraps." Amazement once again filled the young boys eyes as he stared up at Red, "How do you…" "Look, do you want me to tell you an hour long story, or do you want to go with the facts," said Red, with a response of a nod, signifying that he understood. The boy sighed, Bede, who was curious, asked the boy, "Why do you want to be a pirate in the first place?"

The boy sighed again, hugging his knees to his chest. Looking up, sadness filled his eyes as he recounted his tale. "Pirates killed my parents. They raided my hometown one day and stormed it, they burned it to the ground, cutting down anyone in their path. I was the only survivor," silence filled the air as the boy continued recounting his tale, "I tried to become a bounty hunter, so I could hunt them down, but I was too young to register in the Bounty Hunter Catalog-" He stopped short, when Red sat up straight, nearly shouting, "There's a Bounty Hunter Catalog!" Miles and Bede looked at Red, then looked up again, and were thankful that nobody had heard him. The young boy looked at Red, curious with why he was so surprised by that, but instead continued his story. "As I was saying, I was too young, so instead I asked some Marines that were patrolling if I could join them. They let me come with them, and after meeting their boss, he signed me on… as a chore boy. I had to do so much work my first few weeks, and all the time I only had thoughts for revenge on those pirates. I was about to give up hope, but then you guys showed up! As soon as I saw you take food, I knew you guys were pirates, so I decided to follow you here," then, the young boy looked at Red with pleading eyes, "Please let me join your crew!"

Red looked as if a heavy weight had been put on his shoulder, but he had to remove it somehow. He knew he couldn't take the kid with him, he would just be another liability for him, so he answered the only way he could, "Kid, I'm sorry, I just can't take you." Hearing this, the boy's shoulders sagged, knowing nothing he would say would change his mind. "Hey kid, what's your name?" Speaking through his knees, the kid replied, "My names Samuel Williams, why do you ask?" Feeling something grip on his shoulders, Sam looked up to see Red, with a friendly smile on his face, "I won't let you join my crew now, but know this. My name is Cobra D. Red, seek me out in three years! Then, when we meet again, I will let you join my crew," Sam's face brightened up when he heard these words, excitement coming back to his smile, "Until then, rise in the ranks, I don't want a chore boy joining my crew," hearing this, Sam's eyes sparkled with eagerness. Responding with a quick nod, Sam said, "I will!" Nodding, Red replied to his future crew member, "Alright. Now get the hell back on that warship." Nodding, Sam started scrambling up the ship again, until he was finally at the top. He waved goodbye to them as Red pulled the knife out of the wood, letting their boat float free.

Miles looked at Red like he was crazy. "What were you thinking inviting that kid to join us? Even if we give him three years, he'll still be too young!" Red laughed at this, tossing the knife back to Miles, who promptly sheathed it, "Hey, remember there's only three of us. Better to have some more crewmembers coming in." To this, Bede tilted his head questioningly, "You really think that we'll have three crew members for three years?" Red chuckled again, sifting through the bag for an apple, which he crunched into happily, "Remember, not too many people might be eager to join a pirate crew. Especially when the captain is a member of the Cobra family with the Monkey Pirate Organization on the prowl. To join us, you'd have to be crazy or stupid" Bede sighed, "I guess that's what we're classified as now, crazy and/or stupid." Red chortled, "Hey, at least we didn't get caught! And Miles you got a new sword and we got a bunch of premade food! No offense Bede, but you're cooking sucks." Bede looked like he was about to blow steam, "I'm a doctor! Not a cook! Also, we've been rocked by storms for how long now! You can't make a proper warm meal with rain and wind blowing in every which way!" Red and Miles looked at each other, then started laughing at Bede, who slowly grew more and more red-faced.

Soon, the mood simmered down as the three started looking around, hoping they would finally make landfall. Unfortunately, there were no landmasses in sight as they drifted around, propelled by the wind in the sail. Finally, Bede raised the question that had been on his mind since Red mentioned not knowing about the Bounty Hunter Catalog. "Red," began Bede, which immediately drew Red's attention, "When Sam mentioned the Catalog, you acted like you should have known about it. And back on Doeter, when you were talking about your fruit giving you the ability to heal cut wounds faster, you said you learned about it in 'your days as a bou-'. Red... were you a Bounty Hunter?" Red sighed, knowing that one day he would have to face his past. "Alright, I'll tell you guys, you of all the people I've met deserve it." Beginning his tale, Miles and Bede leaned in so they could hear Red better. He explained that he would have to start when he was fifteen...