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.
The Last Island! Nearing the Grand Line!
Intro: watch?v=Ob3ul4QL22U
As the sun rose again on the world, it revealed a calming scene. For once they had been experiencing good weather since yesterday. Now, the Defiance was bobbing smoothly up and down on the waves, water lapping up the sides of the hull. Despite its seemingly fearsome name, Mr. Fune had added the last minute change of a smiling snake for a figurehead.
Waking from a restful sleep aboard the ship, Rana stretched as she looked around at her room. Almost immediately after the island was gone from sight, she had gone ahead and claimed the captain's quarters, saying she needed her privacy. The boys of the crew agreed, with only Henry thinking of what that could possibly mean. A quick knock on the head swiftly drove it out, though. Now she had a room all to herself with the boys sleeping in the next room over.
But almost as soon as she had gotten to her feet, an explosion rocked the boat, sitting her right back down. Leaping to her feet once again, she sprinted up the stairs and burst onto the deck. Turning, she went straight to Bede, asking hurriedly, "What's going on, are we under attack?" All she got for a response was a shake of the head and a point in the direction of the sound. Turning, she was about to ask again, but the answer was right in front of her. Where one of their only cannons had stood, there was now a ring of shrapnel and black ash, with a pair of blackened bodies next to it. Apparently, Red and Henry had wanted to test the cannons, but it blew up in their faces.
As she continued to stare, an annoyed look grew on her face. Walking towards the two soot covered idiots, she gave them enough time to look up and see the fist coming. "You idiots, you could've sunk us! How'd you managed to blow up the cannon anyway?" Standing up, Red brushed some of the soot off himself and faced Rana. "Well, it was a combination of too much gunpowder and loading in the wrong shot." Even more confused than before, she threw up her hands in frustration, basically shouting, "How do you load the wrong shot!?"
But before she could get an answer, Miles called from his position at the steering lever, "Hey, if Henry's map-reading skills are correct, then this is Byron." Looking up from the little squabble, they looked ahead and saw a rather large island appear quickly over the horizon. It was mostly covered in city, with a wide range of buildings covering the surface of it. There were tall buildings several stories tall, and short buildings with different forms of design, squared or rounded edges, dull or bright colors. It was a complete melting pot.
Drawing closer to the island, they could see that although this was seen as a pirate hotspot, there was few Marine activity to be seen of. In fact, as they circled the island, looking for the docks, they only saw one Marine ship docked there. Shaking her head, Rana muttered, "Those Marines are probably the type who do double dealings." Hearing this, Red shrugged his shoulders, saying, "In any case, I hope that means they'll leave us alone," but as they passed the ship to get to an empty dock, he gave it a glance, muttering, "Probably have to bribe them, though."
Docking the ship, the group gathered to decide what they would need before heading to Reverse Mountain. They had decided as a group last night that they were prepared enough to finally make their entrance into the Grand Line. With the welcoming of Rana onto the ship, they now had a basic trio that a ship needed: A shipwright, a doctor, and a cook. Of course, they'd most likely need to get another crew member for something else, it was the Grand Line after all, anything could happen.
"So I'm gonna need to get some more medical supplies while we're here," Bede said, starting off the conversation, "I also want to pick up a few books on different diseases and ailments in the Grand Line. No sense in going in blind and not knowing what's what." Nodding the rest of the crew agreed that this might be a good idea. Rana, being the newest member, didn't know about Bede's skill other than putting a cast on, so she'd rather not take any risks.
Following him up, Rana spoke up, saying, "I also think I could use some cooking supplies. You guys might've gotten a restock in Ilusia, but you could still use some more things, specifically some stuff high in Vitamin C." Leaping to her side, Henry quickly spoke up, "I'll go with her! You never know what kind of people are in a city like this." Shaking her head, Rana dismissed this, saying, "I don't think you have the necessary…capacitiesto help me carry stuff."
Crossing his arm across his chest, Henry stuck his nose in the air, replying stiffly, "Just because I'm not as strong as Red or Miles doesn't mean I can't -" Rana interrupted him, though, saying, "That's not what I meant." As she said this, she nodded towards his left arm. Seeing this, Henry looked to where she was nodding and immediately grew disheartened. Walking up behind him, Miles threw his arm around his shoulders, saying, "Ah don't worry about it, you pervert. You can help me look for a sword shop."
Confused by this, Red looked at Miles, saying, "Wait, why are you looking for a sword shop? You want a new sword or something?" Miles shook his head. "No, I just need some stuff to take better care of this one," he said, patting the hilt as it rested in its scabbard. Nodding, Red counted out who was going, and said, "Then I guess that means I… I have to watch the ship, don't I?" The disappointment was clear in his voice as the others reveled in it. Smiling, Bede said back to him, "Well we can't have you running around this island, remember Ilusia?" Crossing his arms, Red turned around and pouted, "Yeah, and we got a new crew member because of it."
But as he heard the creak of wood behind him, he turned to realize the others had already left. Blinking a few times, he came to the conclusion of what had happened and ran to see the two groups go separate ways into the city. Sighing, he turned and sat in Bede's folding chair, using his arms as pillows. Looking up into the clear blue sky, he saw seagulls flying in circles far above him. Grunting, Red muttered, "Don't you dare crap on me," as he fell asleep in the chair.
With Henry and Miles
Exiting yet another building, Miles groaned in impatience. They had been looking for the better part of half an hour for a sword shop that they kept getting misdirected to. Now Miles was getting annoyed, especially with the last place's audacity.
The bar owner had told Miles straight in the face that he would have to pay 100,000,000 beli if he wanted the right directions. Miles, in shock and anger, had shouted out, "Not even myCaptainis worth that much!" Forgetting the need for subtleness, he had exclaimed to the whole bar that his Captain was a pirate. Hearing this, a large man stepped out of the shadows. Grunting to get his attention, Miles had turned to face the new face.
It was a Marine, who had obviously been drinking a bit. Grinning drunkenly at Miles, the Marine struggled out, "So, you -hic- say your Captain's a -hic- pirate, eh?" Before Miles could answer, the Marine kept speaking, "Well, I'll keep -hic- quiet about it to my superiors if you pay the -hic- price." Sighing, Miles shook his head and pointed behind him at the door, saying, "Look, I'd love to, but I left my wallet back at my ship. So if you wait here, I'll bring you the money." Smiling, the Marine agreed and sat back down in his seat as Miles and Henry left. Turning to the Marine, the bartender shook his head and muttered, "God damn it, Jerry, you drunk idiot."
Now searching again, they had finally been given directions that sounded real and were now headed there. But for some reason, the person who told them had made Miles nervous. He had been a big man, with numerous tattoos covering the right side of his body, including his head which had been shaved bald. He looked just as shady as anyone else in the city, but something about him had obviously put Miles on edge. Now, he was looking around fervently with a tight grasp on his sword, turning his knuckles white. Seeing this Henry was confused and admittedly a little nervous, but he didn't point it out. He knew that it'd be better to have caution in a place as seedy as this.
But something had obviously gotten past Miles' radar, because as they passed yet another alleyway, something had grabbed him and pulled him into the darkness. Henry, not noticing as he scanned the right side of the street, kept walking. Eyes adjusting to the darkness, Miles couldn't see at first, but he had already pulled his sword out, prepared to defend himself. As more things came into focus, he could see a dark, cowled figure standing before him. Smiling coyly, like a cat that caught the biggest mouse, they said, "Oh look, it's the red-haired swordsman that joined the Cobra Pirates!" But that smile turned to a glare as they shouted, "But to us, he's just a lying bitch!" Hearing the familiar voice, Miles' eyes went wide with shock, shouting back, "You!"
But that's all he got out as the big man from before knocked him out from behind.
As the pair walked out the other end of the alley, Henry turned the corner to see them walking back out into the next street over. Sprinting after them, Henry burst out of the alleyway and into the other street. Looking around frantically, Henry just caught sight of the two because of the guy's height. Pushing through the milling crowds, who had gathered to witness some kind of cooking competition, Henry ran right into another alleyway, which lead to a sandy shore. Glancing around, he wondered where they had gone, but could see immediately where.
Before him was a ship, and a large one at that, probably a galleon. And the two were walking casually towards it, appearing to have not noticed him. Pulling out the Thunder Cannon, he loaded it with the gunpowder and coal dust, staring after the two as the cowled one leaped onto the deck and the big one tossed Miles unceremoniously aboard. Henry's eyes went wide as he paused in work to see the big one, with muscles bulging, push the ship by himself into the water. Realizing what was happening, Henry hurried his work, as the big one leaped aboard the ship as well. And just as Henry finished screwing on the cap, the sails on the ship unfurled and it began moving. Desperate, Henry shouted, "Thunder Cannon!" and slammed the hammer against the air, succeeding in… blasting one of the lanterns off.
Standing there, Henry watched the ship sail away until it finally sailed over the horizon. And just as it did this, a blast of thunder cut across the sky, galvanizing Henry into action. As the rain began to fall, Henry sprinted off the beach, back onto the street, and towards the ship. Barreling past people, Henry kept running, even as people cursed him out. He didn't care, he kept on running, each thunder clap reminding him of how serious the situation was.
Finally, tired and out of breath, Henry made his way back to the ship, where, for some reason, Red was standing in front of it, looking up into the sky. Turning to look at the fast approaching Henry, Red asked, "Hey, where's Miles, we kind of need him right now." Gasping for breath, Henry sputtered out, "Miles… taken… Pirates, and-" Grasping him by the shoulders, Red shook him, saying, "Shut up and slow down. What happened to Miles?" So calming down and catching his breath, Henry told Red exactly what had happened. But just as he was finishing his story, he heard someone cough from above them.
"Excuse me, but aren't you forgetting something?" Looking up, Henry eyes went wide with shock as he gazed upon the only girl who could make his blood go cold and hot at the same time. Nodding, Red turned back to Henry, saying, "Oh yeah, she's here now, too." Hearing this, Blackheart Amelia smiled down at them, ready to face Cobra and his crew again.
