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. P.S. I wonder how many people actually read this paragraph every time.

Confrontation! Saying Goodbye to Ilusia

As the sun rose again on the island of Ilusia, it would almost seem as if nothing had happened the previous day. The people were all going about their days like normal, looking for something to buy, going to work, the usual stuff. The citizens of the Silver District would occasionally glance up at the burned husk of the orphanage. "It was always such an eyesore, that old building," one of the citizens would say, passing it by. Nodding, their companion would reply, "Oh yes, now that it's been destroyed, it can be made to look better."

Even though the town seemed calm now, there was much bustle going on at the Fune estate. During the middle of the day, workers from Mr. Fune's shipyards escorted the residents of the ruined orphanage to his mansion. "I don't think it'd be right if these children were to sleep in a burned building," he had said, speaking with the caretaker, "Especially considering it was me who sent them to your door." He didn't mention Rana's nightly affairs to her.

Now children were running around, playing games, and just staring in amazement at the big house. Some of the workers took to the role of caretaker like a fly to honey. Others sat in the corner, laughing as they watched one of their companions were forced to play "Horsy". Miles sat with them, laughing, sharing a few bottles of brew among them. Bede sat in the opposite corner, reading and ignoring the loud noises around him. Looking up occasionally, he would chuckle as he watched some of the burlier men make faces for the children to laugh at.

But as all of this was going down, Red and Henry had led Mr. Fune down to the docks to inspect their ship. During the middle of the night, Henry had moved the ship, under some workers' direction, to the shipyard. Now Mr. Fune stood before it, staring at it with a critiquing gaze. Henry and Red stood behind him, with Red in a cast for his broken arm. Glancing down at it, Henry turned his gaze to Red, muttering, "You didn't have to punch me so hard." Smiling, Red looked at Henry, letting him know he acknowledged it. Clapping his hands together, Mr. Fune pulled the two's attention back towards him.

"I must say, you fellas managed to find yourselves a pretty good vessel. Well assembled hull, nice material… and you boys say you want to sell it?" Nodding, Red replied, "It just doesn't feel right sailing officially on a stolen ship. We'd rather have one that's never been sailed before." Scratching his chin, Mr. Fune nodded. "Well I could've bought it off your hands. But those pirates stole most of what was in my coffer, and I have no idea where they went." Looking at them, he could tell they were disappointed at the outcome. Thinking for a second, he smiled, snapping his fingers. "But if you guys can wait here a day or so, I can make a pretty fair trade with you for this ship."

Looking up, Henry asked, a little incredulously, "You can?" Chuckling, Mr. Fune looked past the hull of the ship they brought in and at the next dock over. "You see, we had almost completed a vessel for this one guy, but he up and left before we could complete it. But then those pirates came, and we were planning on giving it to them," he said, explaining what had been happening. "But now that you guys have beaten them, I have no one to give it to…" he said, letting the sentence hang. Staring at him amazedly, Red replied, "You'd be willing to give this ship to us, knowing we were pirates?"

Laughing, Mr. Fune replied, "Of course I would! It's my ship, I can give it to whoever I want to! All I care about is if that whoever gets it will take care of it," then looking directly at Henry, "And knowing your family, I'd say it's in pretty good hands." Confused, Henry asked, "Wait, do you know my family or something?" Smiling, he replied, "Of course I do, my pap and your grandpa used to work together making ships! I even knew you when were just a tiny baby," but then he sighed, saying, "But something came up and your grandpa took you out to sea. Didn't think I'd ever see you again."

But before Henry could say anything more, he continued, lost in thought, "In fact, a few generations back, our families worked with another family in the Grand Line, really made a mint. But then a cousin or something from I think the Fune family was dying, so they went back to the West Blue. Couldn't save them, and they ended up staying in the West Blue." Looking up, he glanced at Red, "Your plan is to go to the Grand Line, right?" Nodding, Red wondered what the guy was thinking. "If you find the Haddock family in the Grand Line, tell them that a relative of the Fune family says they're sorry we couldn't stick around." Nodding, Red and Henry waved their goodbyes as they left the ship with Mr. Fune and his men.

As the next day rolled around you could here from all across the island the sound of hammers and saws working away at the new ship. Henry was down at the docks along with them, taking notes on building techniques he didn't know. Occasionally he'd chip in, but there were enough workers to get the job done without him. As the sun set once again on the island, the last plank was hammered into the deck and the crew gazed at their work. It was a decently sized ship, about the same size as the one Red and the crew had "borrowed", but it was different in key ways. The way the hull was shaped, it was a balance between space and speed. The sails were spread out as far as possible so as to catch the most wind. This wassupposedto be a speedy trader, now it was a pirate ship.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, the head worker walked over to Henry, saying, "It's too dark to go out sailing now, so you might wanna stay here again for the night." Nodding, Henry said goodbye to the other workers and made his back up to the Fune estate. Walking through the door, he had to step over the bodies of the kids who had taken up residence on the floor. Looking around, he could see the rest of his crew unconscious in some form around the room. Red face first in a half-finished dish, Miles unconscious leaning against another sailor, and Bede calmly sleeping in the corner. Smiling, Henry thought,Guess I get the guest room tonight.But as he past the kitchen on his way to his room, he heard something and peaked in.

Sitting at the work table, Rana was leaning on one arm, stirring a straw in her drink. Sitting down next to her, he asked, "What's up?" Sighing, she didn't turn to him, but replied, "I don't know, I guess I'm just having second thoughts…" Turning to him, she had a distressed look in her eyes, "I don't know if I'll be even useful on your ship." Hearing this, Henry realized that she had decided to join them, but hadn't told them yet. So he replied, "Well of course you'll be useful! Look it me! I'm a one-armed shipwright… or navigator, or whatever."

"The point is, all of us play a role on this ship, and it's not any different for you. In fact, you'll probably play the most important role if you're going to be the cook. To be honest, the guy we've had cooking is… well, he's not the greatest." Raising an eyebrow in confusion, she asked, "Wait, who have you had cook for you?" Scratching the back of his head, Henry replied meekly, "Bede, our ship doctor. And you'd think he'd avoid making our captain throw up every time."

Chuckling, Rana hugged Henry and replied, "Thanks Henry, I really needed that." Turning around before she could see the blood start to trickle, Henry said, "No problem," as he began to walk away. As he walked away, a smug look grew on Rana's face, "Hey Henry?" Turning just enough so he could see Rana but not let her see the nosebleed, he replied, "Yeah?" Chuckling, she said back, "It's not smart to bleed in a kitchen." Turning around again, he slowly walked out the door, saying, "Sure." Once he was out the door, he ran to the guest room and closed the door behind him,How the hell does she do that?

As the sun rose again on the island of Ilusia, the people were once again rising from their sleep to get on with the day's activities. But unlike them, the crew was already awake. Gazing at their new ship, the crew, especially Red, was excited to finally get a ship of their own. Walking along the deck Henry examined the makings, seeing the amount of effort poured into it, promising to himself to keep it as good as new.

Looking up at the crow's nest, he could see Rana gazing out at the sea and the rest of the world from her height. Sighing, he muttered, "Wish we had let her sleep, makeherrun down to the docks." But as he looked, he leaned over to the side a little, seeing if he could get a peak. As he did this, Rana felt the gaze from below, and glanced down. Sighing, she nudged a leftover hammer over the edge and waited until she heard the gratifying sounds of Henry swearing. Leaning over the railing, she called down, "Whoops! Sorry!" as she chuckled to herself.

Clutching the fast forming bump on his head, he went on muttering to himself that he'd never try it again. Walking to the railing of the deck, he looked up from his previous bout of swearing, and went wide-eyed at the sight before him.

Marching into the docks was an entire Marine unit. And the others hadn't even noticed yet. Leaning over the rail, Henry called down, "Uh, Red… we have some company." Confused, Red first gave Henry a quizzical look, and then turned around to face the hoard before him. Now it was Red's turn to go wide-eyed. "Oh."

Stepping out in front of the crowd, the obvious leader of this unit walked right up to Red. He stood about a foot taller than Red and stared down at him with a neutral look on his face. "So you're the one they call Cobra." It wasn't a question, more of a statement of the obvious. Regaining composure, Red answered back, "Yeah, that's me, although my friends call me Red." And as he said it, he heard a whizzing sound quickly getting closer. Turning to see what it was, he took the hammer straight to the face. "AH! DAMN IT!" he shouted, clutching where the hammer struck him. "Don't tell them your name, you idiot!" Henry shouted, clearly angry. Sighing, the Marine Captain replied, "Well it doesn't matter. We already have his wanted poster."

Looking back up at the Marine Captain, Red said, "So have you come to arrest me then?" Shaking his head, the Marine Captain smiled, "Actually, I want to thank you." Hearing this, Red tilted his head, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?" Adjusting his cap, the Marine replied, "Well you see, those two pirate groups you beat have been causing some trouble in the areas surrounding this island. Now thanks to you, they're now behind bars." Then, he leaned in so that only Red could here, "I'll even let you keep their bounties." Even more confused, Red whispered back, "Aren't pirates exempt from that?" Chuckling, the Marine whispered, "Who cares, you did the Marines' job for us, and the Vice Admiral stationed here is another two towns over. So what do you say?"

Scratching his chin, Red thought about it for a second, finally coming to a decision. "Give the bounty money to the people who had their houses destroyed." Nodding, the Marine Captain gave a warm smile, "Alright. Strange to see a pirate turn down 45,000,000 beli though, but first time for everything I suppose." Standing up straight, he signaled the rest of the men, and they turned around and left the docks, leaving many workers - and a couple Marines - confused at what just happened.

As the last of the Marines walked out the gates, Henry was the first to shake off the stupor of what just happened. "So now that that's all out of the way, are we ready to set sail?" Leaping onto the deck, Red gave a smile, "Yep, you bet!" Running up to the wheel, Henry grabbed a tight hold of it, and leaning over the side, shouted down, "Launch!" Listening for this, the workers heaved with ropes the blocks that had held the ship above the water. Landing in the water below, the impact sent of wave of seafoam across the docks. Yanking the sails free from their knots, the crew quickly caught a breeze, and they began making their way out to the open sea.

As the ship left the docks and set out across the bay, they were now clear of anything that hindered the wind and began to pick up the pace. As the ship began to cut across the water, tossing up sea foam as it went, Red walked up to Henry, asking, "So did they give you the name of the ship?" Shaking his head in reply, Henry said, "Nope, they told me that it was our responsibility to name it. But I've already got a name. How about theDefiance." Turning to him, Red asked, "Why that?" Looking at the sea ahead, Henry replied, "Well we are going to go against the Monkey family, are we not?" Nodding, Red replied back, a smile now on his face, "I like it."

Standing behind them, Rana looked out at the sea behind them. She watched as the island of Ilusia slowly receded until finally it was no longer visible. As it disappeared, she looked out at the sea ahead, the same direction her new life was in. Smiling, she thought to herself,I can't wait for what happens next!