A year after their training under Kuzan had been completed, the Children of Whitebeard arrived in Foosha Village, where they befriended a rambunctious boy named Monkey D. Luffy.
Currently, the humble little town was visited by the Red-Haired Pirates, led by their Captain, Shanks. Alongside him was his young daughter, Uta.
"Can you take me on your next voyage, Shanks?" Luffy asked, "I wanna be a pirate!"
"Right, as if you could ever be a pirate." Shanks teased.
"Why not?" Luffy asked. "I'm a good swimmer!"
"It takes more than swimming ability to make it as a pirate, Luffy," Lucky Roux said between bites of his roast ham.
"But I'm a great fighter, too. My punches are like pistols!"
"Are they now?" Shanks asked.
"You can't even hit Newgate's kids properly," Yasopp pointed out.
"Leave us out of this," Merone said as she and her siblings sat at the bar.
"Yeah! They're elemental people so they don't count!" Luffy argued.
"Well, I tried," Yasopp joked. "But seriously, Luffy, at least wait until you're a few years older. You're as old as my boy right now, there's no way you're cut out for the sea."
"Hey, Lithos, Ferros, Merone, and Ariala survived for years on the Grand Line!" Luffy pointed out.
"Yeah, on our old man's boat." Ferros countered. "Luffy, you're not winning this argument. We're just too young right now. We can sail all we want once we hit our teenage years."
Makino, the bar matron, giggled as Luffy tackled Ferros and began wrestling with him. Lithos rolled his eyes with a small smile before jumping into the wrestling pile.
"Boys..." Uta sighed as Ariala giggled and Merone smirked.
Suddenly, someone kicked the door of the bar off its hinges. Everyone turned to see a group of thuggish-looking people coming in.
"Excuse us." The apparent leader said as he looked around. "So, these are what pass for pirates around these parts. Looks rather sad to me."
Shanks just kept on enjoying his food, completely ignoring the guy even as he walked right up and sat down next to him.
"May I take your order?" Makino asked.
"We're mountain bandits. Name's Higuma the Bear." The bandit leader said. "Don't worry, we're not here to trash your bar. Just sell us ten barrels of booze and we'll be on our way."
"I'm sorry but we're fresh out right now."
"Hm, interesting. These other pirates seem to still be drinking. Is that water in their glasses?" Higuma asked.
"Nope, that's the last of the booze. Sorry if you came in late." Ferros quipped.
Shanks snorted into his food as Higuma looked at the kid with his eye twitching.
"You have bad timing. Sorry to say, we wound up drinking the place dry. Plenty of juice and fruit soda though, if you're still thirsty." The Captain of the Red-Haired Pirates said, offering an unopened bottle to Higuma. "But if you really want some hooch, this bottle hasn't been opened yet."
Higuma instead swung his fist to smash the bottle, getting the alcohol all over Shanks's straw hat. Shanks's crew all sighed, knowing the guy was poking a hornet's nest.
"You shouldn't insult me like that. I have an 8,000,000 Berri bounty on my head. One bottle ain't even enough for a bedtime drink." Higuma snarled.
"Just great...Now the floor is wet." Shanks sighed. "Sorry about that, Miss Makino. Do you have a rag or something we can clean this up with?"
He started picking up the remains of the bottle. Higuma waited until Makino had left the bar to get a rag, then drew his sword and swung it at the bar, shattering the plates full of food and spreading them everywhere.
"Seems you like to clean up messes. Maybe something like this will be more fulfilling for you." Higuma sneered as he sheathed his sword. "Anyway, this place ain't worth our time if there's no booze here. Let's go, men. Later, wimps!"
Luffy was seething the entire time, but the Children of Whitebeard were completely nonchalant about the whole thing as Makino went to help clean Shanks off.
"Are you all right, Captain?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
Shanks and his crew then burst out laughing, the Children of Whitebeard and even Uta laughing along with them.
"He got you good there, boss!" Yasopp said.
"Talk about a loser!" Benn Beckman added.
"Why are you all laughing?!" Luffy demanded. "That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them?! You can't call yourselves men or pirates if you just laugh something like that off, no matter how strong the other guy is!"
"Luffy, you've got the wrong idea," Merone gently said. "That guy just now? He wasn't worth it. Shanks has a bounty a thousand times what that guy said he was worth. It was clear he was just trying to goad the captain into a fight."
"Honestly, that just proves how stupid those jerks are," Uta added. "I've spent enough time with Shanks and his crew to know that they're not wimps at all! They're the greatest band of pirates I have ever known!"
"Thanks for that, kiddo." Shanks smiled, ruffling his daughter's head as she beamed at the praise.
Luffy huffed as he turned around, but that caused him to notice the chest that Shanks had brought with him. It was opened from the recent altercation, and inside was a bizarre-looking Yubari King that was colored purple and had spirals all over its rind. Still miffed, Luffy took the fruit and bit into it. He then instantly regretted it, because it tasted horrible. But he was still annoyed, so he kept eating.
However, Uta and Ariala both noticed what Luffy had just done and promptly freaked out.
"Luffy! Where did you get those Devil Fruits?!"
Shanks heard that and quickly hurried over himself.
"Ah, crap! Luffy, what have you done?!"
Shanks began shaking Luffy and to the boy's shock, his head seemed to tip over like it was made of rubber, falling to the floor as his neck stretched out. His head then snapped back into position, leaving him stunned.
"Shanks, Uta...Just what were those Devil Fruits you had?" Merone asked, her one exposed eye widened in shock.
"Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Fruit. Now his whole body is made of rubber." Shanks explained. "Don't you realize what you've done?! Eating a Devil Fruit takes away your ability to swim for the rest of your life!
"HUH?! THAT CAN'T BEEEEEEE!" Luffy exclaimed.
"YOU IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!"
Later Luffy tried confronting Higuma to get him to apologize for insulting Shanks and his crew. Makino and Woop Slap, the island's mayor, were hurrying out to help. It seemed the bandits had returned the next day and were laughing about Shanks and his crew, still thinking them wimps just because Shanks didn't retaliate. Luffy had then demanded they apologize for the insult.
"You should watch your mouth, boy. No one who's ever made me mad has lived to tell the tale." Higuma scowled as he prepared to draw his blade. "Maybe I outta teach you a lesson!"
However, Higuma realized that his blade was stuck and looked to see it coated in a thick layer of gravel.
"You leave our brother alone!" Lithos demanded as he, Ferros, Merone, and Ariala approached.
Higuma scoffed. "Seems we have a naive little brat who doesn't know his place in the world."
"Says the guy who doesn't know the world beyond this tiny little island!"
Much to Higuma's puzzlement, let alone genuine surprise, a livid Uta had arrived.
"I've seen the world, and it's way bigger than some 8,000,000 Berri nobody like you!"
Higuma growled in anger. He started to motion for his men, only to notice who was behind Uta. It was Shanks and his crew.
"I was wondering why the bar was empty. Looks like those mountain bandits from before returned."
"You pirates are still here?" Higuma asked. "You been scrubbing this whole village clean the entire time?"
"Just checking up on a friend," Shanks said as he turned to Luffy. "Hey, Luffy, I thought you said your punches were as strong as pistols."
"Look buddy, I believe I made the difference between us clear before. So leave now before you get hurt." Higuma said.
Shanks said nothing as he calmly approached, one of Higuma's bandits aiming a pistol at him.
"Wimps like you should know their place."
Shanks didn't bat an eye. "Now that you've drawn your pistol, it's time to put your life on the line."
"What the hell are you talking about?" The bandit asked before a bullet hole appeared in his forehead, blood gushing out as he fell over, his body limp and a look of agonizing horror on his face.
"Weapons aren't drawn to threaten people. The second you draw one...You either kill or be killed." Shanks calmly explained as Lucky Roux blew the smoke off his own gun.
"You... You bastards!" Another bandit called out. "That's fighting dirty!"
"You talk like we're saints or something," Benn Beckman pointed out.
"Yeah, who did you think you're dealing with?" Limejuice asked.
"Let me remind you of something; You're looking at pirates. Not some chump sailors." Shanks said.
"You just shut up!" One bandit called out. "You've got nothing to do with this in the first place!"
"Now that's where you're wrong," Shanks said, his expression turning angry. "Let me tell you something really important; you can dump food and drinks on me, you can throw garbage at me, you can even spit in my face and I'll just laugh it all off. But no matter what reason you have...I won't forgive you for threatening the people I call my friends!"
Higuma laughed. "Is that so? Men, kill these idiot wimps!"
The bandits all charged, only get to slammed by Beckman's rifle, one of the dropped blades landing right near Higuma's foot, his expression going from smug to shocked in an instant.
"You've never even set foot off this island before now, so you have no basis by which to call us idiots or wimps," Beckman said as he took a drag from his cigarette. "Let me spell it out for you. The Red-Haired Pirates are among the top four strongest crews in the entire world. Our captain alone has a bounty in the billions. If you want to kill us, you'll need a warship at the very least."
"W-Wait a minute!" Higuma cried. "This brat attacked us first!"
"Yeah, but you're stronger than him. Just like I'm stronger than you, but I didn't retaliate when you insulted and attacked me." Shanks pointed out. "What you're doing only makes you a bully with nothing but time on his hands. Plus, you already mentioned that you're a wanted man. Even pirates can cash in on bounties under the right circumstances, and 8,000,000 Berris should be enough to get us through to the next island at the very least."
Higuma freaked out and tossed a smoke bomb to escape. Fortunately, Ferros, Lithos, and Ariala had managed to get Luffy and Uta out of the way in time.
"Where did that jerk go?!" Luffy demanded. "I'll tear him limb from limb!"
"Easy there, Luffy." Shanks chuckled as he ruffled the boy's head. "Something tells me he won't get far."
Meanwhile, after having made his escape, Higuma had taken a boat out to the open ocean.
"I made a clean getaway! They'll never expect a mountain bandit to flee to the ocean!" He boasted. "Shame I lost track of those brats in that smokescreen, they would have made great hostages just in case. Oh well, I'll head back once the heat dies down. I still need to make that kid pay for making me mad!"
He started to cackle until he heard something breach the water behind him. He turned around and was shocked to see a giant Sea King, the Lord of the Coast, now staring at him.
"N-No! Wait! STOP! HELP!" He cried out, but nobody would hear his calls.
The beast opened its jaw and chomped down on Higuma's boat. The man jumped overboard and tried to swim away, but the Lord of the Coast was faster and larger, catching up to him quickly and grabbing his leg, dragging him under the waves as he let out a gurgled scream before being silenced forever...
The next day, Shanks and his crew loaded up their ship, the Red Force, to set off. Luffy and the rest of the kids were there to see them off.
"Shanks, I won't beg you to take me with you. 'Cause I'm gonna become a Pirate all on my own!" Luffy said. "When we're old enough, we're gonna set out on our own as a pirate crew! We'll become the mightiest group of pirates the world has ever seen!"
"Shame Kuzan couldn't help out there but he's already taught us all he can," Ariala said to her siblings, who nodded.
"And then, we'll go out and find the greatest treasure in the world! When that day comes, I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" Luffy vowed.
Shanks then looked at Luffy as if he was seeing his old captain, Gol D. Roger, smiling warmly as he saw the rest of his old crewmates and friends in the rest of the kids.
"Well then, let's make it a promise." He said as he placed his straw hat on Luffy's head. "This hat once belonged to my old captain. Now I'll leave it with you, so take good care of it. I'll be waiting for that day when you do find the One Piece."
Luffy was shocked to tears by this act. The Red Force sailed off as the whole island waved goodbye, Luffy and friends included.
"For the last time, you brat! I'm not training you to become Pirates. You'll be Marines and that's final!" Garp snapped.
"Come on! You're cool with Lithos, Ferros, Merone, and Ariala becoming Pirates!" Luffy complained. "And isn't Dad a Revolutionary or somethin'?"
"He's the leader of the Revolutionary Army," Garp sighed before grumbling to himself. "Fine, if you're gonna insist on this fool's errand I'll at least make sure you have a headstart on your training. Besides Haki, I know of a series of special martial arts skills that are practiced by Government operatives. Just don't go letting anyone that isn't a crew member know where you learned them."
Luffy cheered as he went to tell Lithos, Ferros, Merone, and Ariala the good news. Garp just sighed and pinched his forehead, wondering why he had to be stuck with such a rebellious grandson.
Many years later, Luffy and his friends had completed their training. Luffy was at age of 17 while Lithos, Ferros, Merone, and Ariala were 19.
Right now, they had just boarded their makeshift pontoon boat and sailed off from Foosha Village as Woop Slap, Makino, and their bandit mentor Curly Dadan and her crew tearfully bid them farewell.
"BE SAFE!"
"DON'T SHAME THIS ISLAND!"
"GOOD RIDDANCE, YA DANG BRATS!"
"This is it. The start of our journey, guys." Ferros smirked. "Let's get out there and kick some butt!"
Merone smiled serenely. "We'll prove all of them wrong for our father's sake. We'll help Luffy achieve his dream."
"Yeah! We'll find the One Piece and show the world that Daddy was right about its existence!" Ariala cheered.
"And in the process, we will let everyone know that no matter how big or small they are, dreams are worth pursuing." Lithos finished.
Everyone smiled as Luffy thrust his fist into the sky, a triumphant smile on his face as he prepared to welcome any challenges that came his and his siblinghood's way.
"MY NAME IS MONKEY D. LUFFY AND I'M GONNA BE THE KING OF THE PIRATES!"
And so concludes the Origin Arc! Next, we'll get right into the main story...through the OVA!