The Advent Shift Saga

Some years ago, fierce waves rocked against the hull of a certain ship in The New World. In the dead of night, an infamous pirate captain spoke with a dear friend in his quarters while the rest of his crew slept peacefully.

The pair sat in uncharacteristic silence, sipping at their respective bottles of booze until one of them finally spoke up. "I trust you've heard, then?"

The other grunted, nodding morosely and scuffing his boot against the floor. "You've come down with something."

"That's right."

A great sigh was heaved, as shoulders tensed. "There's nothing to be done? No medicines?"

His friend's silence was answer enough.

"I'm sorry." The man bowed his head, wiping discreetly at his eye with his knuckle. "We're not blood, but you're my brother in every way that matters. I only wish I could do something for you."

The other shrugged, seemingly indifferent to his coming demise. "It can't be helped. But if you really wanted to ease my passing—I have a favour to ask."

"Anything," his friend eagerly replied. "Anything at all."

The sick man coughed into the crook of his elbow, gazing down at the blood on his sleeve consideringly. "To die of old age, or to die from illness—it's shameful for monsters like us. I've never been afraid to die, but I am ashamed at the thought of dying quietly…"

Leaning forward in his seat, the other man tilted his head in interest. "Did you have something in mind?"

The sick pirate's eyes flared to life with a fervour that had been absent for many moons. "Let's change the world. One last time—just you and me. What do you say, old friend?"

A pair of wide matching smiles gleamed wickedly in the moonlight as the sound of their shared laughter was drowned out by the roaring sea.

A new pirate age was on the horizon.

Prologue

Advent Shift Arc

"Don't lag behind now, Luffy. We're almost there."

With a frustrated huff of breath, the young boy in question tilted his head up and glared at the man he was following over the top of the large crate of mangos he was carrying in his arms. "Why do I have to move this stuff for you anyway?"

"Well, because it's the nice thing to do, of course!" The older man smiled as he reached up to adjust his glasses. "We need to bring those fruits back to Makino so that she can store them before they spoil."

The seven year old grunted, readjusting his fingers to get a better grip on the box. "But I'm just a kid! I shouldn't be working! Gramps says that's child waiver!"

"It's 'child labour,' Luffy," the man tsked as he reached over to ruffle his hair, just barely managing to avoid Luffy biting at his finger tips. "And that's not the case here. You're helping Makino with her work today because you're grateful that she feeds you all the time. Isn't that right?"

Luffy pouted, looking to the side. "I guess. But she should feed me for free! I'm her friend, aren't I?"

Kael shook his head, smiling fondly. "You have a strange way of looking at things, Luffy. It's no wonder you want to be a pirate so badly, greedy guts."

"Shishishi!" Luffy beamed shamelessly, feeling that usual surge of excitement wash through him whenever he dreamt of all his future adventures. "Once I'm king of the pirates I'll never have to work another day of my life!"

The older man cocked an eyebrow at him as they walked through the centre of Foosha village together. "And when you become king you'll come back here and share some of your riches with us?"

"Yeah, right!" Luffy stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. "Go get your own!"

Kael laughed softly and Luffy sulked at the lack of response. Kael Dahro wasn't so bad. He had more patience with Luffy than most of the village folk so Luffy didn't mind spending time with him. He wasn't as cool as Shanks, or as funny as his gramps but he was okay. He was just a bit uptight sometimes, if anything.

The man had come to Foosha Village about nine months earlier looking for work. He and Makino were around the same age so they quickly became friends, and Kael ended up working at the bar with her. Since Luffy spent a great deal of time at the establishment hounding Makino for scraps, it was only natural that they had become acquainted.

As they neared the bar the woman in question rose from where she bad been sitting on the front stairs to greet them both. "There you are! I don't know what I'd do without my two strapping young men here to lug things around for me!"

Haphazardly dropping the crate of mangoes on the porch with a loud crash, Luffy pointed a condemning finger at Kael. "He didn't carry anything! I did all the work! You should feed me to apologize!"

"I confess. It's true, Makino," Kael nodded solemnly, picking the crate back up and bringing it inside.

Luffy and Makino followed along through the open door, with her moving to stand behind the bar as Luffy clambered up onto one of the stools opposite her.

"I see," Makino put her hands on her hips, looking down at him seriously. "I'd better find a way to repay you for all of that gruelling work he put you through…I know! How about I cook you up a big platter of meat?"

Everything went dead silent for a moment.

"Bleugh!" Luffy gagged, sticking out his tongue. "I hate meat! I'd rather eat glass! Don't even joke about that! I want sweets!"

Makino chuckled, reaching under the counter to pull out a large chocolate bar and presented it to Luffy who drooled at the sight with stars in his eyes. Swiping at it with his grubby little hands, Luffy immediately shoved half of the bar into his mouth, chomping down greedily.

"Thanks, Makino!" Luffy smiled widely, spitting out the wrapper he had forgotten to take off. "I forgive you for the child wafer now!"

The green-haired woman licked a napkin and reached forward to scrub away at the chocolate smeared all over Luffy's face. "Well, thank goodness for that."

The boy squirmed and tried to twist away from her touch as she wiped at his cheeks. "Why did you order so much food anyway? You don't usually get that much…"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Makino leaned her elbows on the countertop with a wink. "Shanks is supposed to come back again today."

"Ehh?!" Luffy's eyes widened in shock as he gasped and tumbled off his stool, landing on his butt. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because last time she did you wouldn't shut up about the criminal visiting all week…" Kael grumbled, wiping at a plate with a hand cloth.

"Play nice," Makino chided, glancing over at her coworker. "Honestly, I don't know why you seem to hate the man so much. You avoid him like the plague whenever he visits."

Lip curling in distaste, Kael shrugged. "I need a reason to dislike pirates? They're all scum."

Luffy pattered up to him, kicking at his shins ineffectually as Kael casually held him at bay with a palm pushed against his forehead. "Stupid! Shanks isn't scum! Stupid!"

Now Luffy remembered why Kael got on his nerves sometimes. Always in his ironed clothes, with his slicked back hair, acting as if he was better than someone like Shanks, who could do no wrong in Luffy's eyes.

"Behave, Luffy," Makino scolded, carrying over a small case of rum. "Now, I already know you're going to go wait for Shanks down at the dock, so why don't you bring this to greet him with, hm?"

Mood instantly shifting, Luffy took the bottles and bolted out the door, not bothering to say goodbye. He almost tripped bouncing down the stairs, and the box of bottles nearly slipped from his fingers multiple times as he weaved between and bumped into several irritated citizens of the village. But he couldn't help it! Shanks was coming!

Luffy couldn't get enough of the red-haired man's company—obsessively drinking up all the tales of his past adventures, his easy charisma and observing the bond he shared with his crew mates. It felt like a sneak preview of the future he envisioned for himself; a life of freedom and wonder! His grandpa wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a marine, but Luffy didn't want to answer to anybody. It was a pirate's life for him, and that was that.

Scuttling past the edge of town with the rum sloshing around in his arms, Luffy had reached the peak of a small hill which overlooked the docks when he heard that familiar music to his ears.

"Pirates! Pirates!" Shouts from people near the dock carried over to Luffy, making him smile excitedly. The people in Foosha always freaked out when they saw a jolly roger coming to shore, but they usually settled down once they realized it was only the Red-Hair Pirates, who had always been chummy with them and spent plenty of berry in town.

Luffy's grin faltered slightly as the people's shouting only ramped up in intensity. Hopping further down the hill, Luffy squinted and shielded his eyes from the sun to get a better look at the incoming ship.

The boy's smile fell from his face entirely as he saw an unfamiliar vessel with black sails and a battered looking red skull for a figurehead. Luffy flinched back in shock as several bangs of gunfire rang out and echoed through the island.

Now that he had a better vantage point he could see several people from town lying motionless on the ground, as rough looking thugs patted them down to rob them of their belongings. At the front of the group of pirates calling out orders stood a great hulking brute of a man with many missing teeth and thinning hair—the captain, Luffy supposed.

Breaking free from his stupor, Luffy shook his head to try and pull himself together. He had to hurry back to the village to warn everybody! Maybe they could hunker down together and fend off the raiders to buy time until Shanks and his men could come and save them! Luffy dropped the box of liquor with a crash and spun around to sprint back home.

He was immediately brought to a halt before he could even get going as a massive spiked club was pointed at his face threateningly. "Not so fast, kid."

Luffy frowned at the youthful sounding feminine voice, craning his head to look around the large weapon. The person wielding the club turned out to be a portly young girl with wavy black hair and a fancy white hat. She couldn't be more than fifteen years old! Luffy didn't have time to deal with some random teenager when people's lives were at stake.

"Get out of my way, dummy!" Luffy pushed at her shoulder to try and move past her. "I need to warn–"

Luffy's breath was knocked out of his lungs with a pained wheeze as the girl swung her club with full force straight into his ribs, crumpling the young boy to the grass.

"You had better watch your mouth when you're speaking to the most beautiful warrior on the four seas," the girl sneered, resting her club across her shoulder. "Isn't that right, Koby?"

"Y-Yes, Alvida! That's right, Alvida!" A meek voice squeaked from behind her.

Luffy shakily lifted his head up, gripping his injured ribs. Behind this 'Alvida' girl, there was a tiny cowering boy, younger than even Luffy. The boy had an unfortunate pink bowl cut that had overgrown past his watery eyes, and skinny twigs for legs with knobby knees that knocked together as his whole body shook fearfully.

"Stop!" Luffy struggled to stand back up, glaring at the large girl. "Can't you see that pirates are attacking? I need to let the village know!"

"Moron!" Alvida spat, reaching forward to roughly grip Luffy by the scruff of his shirt to bring his face close. "I am a pirate! And you have something I want!"

Struggling weakly against her hold, Luffy tried to free himself to no avail. "That's dumb! I can't have something you want because I don't have anything to take in the first place! And you're not a real pirate! You're just a coward, picking on kids half your age! Shanks could kill you just by looking at you!"

Alvida's face darkened at his words and she reared back her club for another swing as Luffy determinedly glared back at her, refusing to flinch. Just as he was about to get bludgeoned in the face, the pink-haired boy, Koby, held up his hands and shouted. "Alvida! Stop!"

The pirate ominously turned to look over at the boy, seemingly in disbelief that her lackey would dare to try and order her around.

Koby bowed his head nervously, wringing his hands together. "I-It's just that—if you kill him, he won't be able to show you where the devil fruit is…Right?"

Luffy turned to look at the boy, frowning curiously. "A devil fruit? Like the monsters on the Grand Line have? I don't have one of those. If I did, I'd have eaten it straight away."

Sucking her teeth in contempt, Alvida rolled her eyes and gestured with her club to the logo on the crate of booze Luffy had been carrying—'Partys Bar' was proudly written in bold red lettering. "Stupid kid! I know you don't have it, but you can take me to the building where it's stashed!"

"Oh my god!" Luffy's eyes almost popped out of his head in surprise as he connected the dots. "You're saying that Makino has a devil fruit?!"

Alvida smacked the back of his head with a screech. "Idiot! It's not some hick bartender that has it—it's a pirate!"

Luffy's jaw dropped as he screeched equally loud in response. "Shanks has been keeping a devil fruit at the bar and he didn't tell me?! What a selfish guy!"

Smacking him even harder in the same spot, Alvida stomped her feet in frustration. "It's not Shanks' either, dumbass! You think I'd want to pick a fight with the Red Hair Pirates? Do I look suicidal?!"

"You mean a pirate crew other than Shanks' has been visiting Makino's bar?" Luffy shook his head. "No way, I would have noticed."

Pushing at Luffy to get him walking, Alvida shook her head. "Not the crew. Just the captain. I was hunting down that devil fruit for months, but another pirate stole it before I could. Eventually, I tracked him to this rundown dump."

Growling at her words, Luffy tried to elbow at her but was stopped with a gentle hand gripping at his sleeve. "Don't bother…" Koby whispered discreetly, looking forward. "She's too strong. Just do as she says."

Part of him wanted to scoff at Koby for his weakness, but Luffy supposed that if he himself couldn't overpower Alvida then Koby definitely didn't stand a chance. The boy appeared to be malnourished and had clearly gotten this subservience of his beaten into him.

"You want that devil fruit for yourself and your captain is okay with that? Does that mean he already has one?" Luffy figured it might help to at least know what they were dealing with.

Throwing back her head, Alvida belted out a loud nasally laugh. "That fool Bluejam isn't my captain, not really anyway. When I learned where the fruit was hidden I begged him to let me join his crew as an apprentice. He asked me what I had to offer and I told him there was a vault of treasure hidden in this village. While he and his gang of halfwits tear this place apart, I'll use the chaos as a distraction to steal the devil fruit and slip away unnoticed! Truly, I am the most cunning pirate around! Isn't that so, Koby?"

"Yes, Alvida…" Koby murmured, watching with a troubled expression as the Bluejam Pirates rallied forward into the village proper with their pistols and cutlasses drawn.

"What was that?" Alvida smacked her club against the palm of her hand. "You don't sound very enthusiastic, Koby…"

Koby whipped back around to face her, eyes wide with terror behind his bangs. He bowed repeatedly with clasped hands. "I said yes, Alvida! You are so very wise Alvida! More clever than all the rest!"

"That's better." Alvida smiled in satisfaction.

"Leave him alone!" Luffy winced as his shouting made his injured ribs pinch unpleasantly. "A real pirate wouldn't treat their crew like that!"

Shoving him along the path with a scoff, Alvida shook her head. "You have no idea what pirates are like, stupid boy. Besides, Koby isn't my 'crew.' About half a year back he wandered onto Bluejam's ship, thinking it was a fishing vessel. Bluejam was going to kill him, but I convinced him to let the twerp stay as the ship's servant. Now, wasn't that gracious of me, Koby?"

"V-Very kind, Alvida!" Koby's lip quivered as he looked down at his feet. "Thank you, Alvida!"

"Ah! We're here!" Alvida nodded eagerly, hands on her hips, as she spotted Partys Bar. Luffy felt guilty for leading his captor to Makino's place of work, but he had a plan. As soon as Alvida found the devil fruit, Luffy would quickly swipe it from her and swallow it whole. If there was one thing he could do, it was eat!

He just needed to wait for his moment. If he obtained some monstrous devil fruit ability he would definitely be able to thrash that wretched Alvida and fend off the Bluejam Pirates until the Red Hair Pirates could arrive and finish them off.

A wet sounding cough caught his attention and Luffy's heart sank as he turned to see Makino slumped over near the entrance of her bar with five bloody slashes across her torso.

"Makino!" Luffy gasped, finding the strength to pull out of Alvida's grasp. As soon as he was free he ran over to Makino, dropping to his knees beside her.

In the background he heard Koby's uncertain voice whispering. "Alvida…"

"Leave it," Alvida responded carelessly, trudging up the steps and into the building with her spiked club scraping along the ground behind her. "I got what I needed from him."

After a moment or hesitation, Koby followed along, sparing one last pitying glance at Luffy and Makino.

In the background, Luffy distantly registered the sounds of screaming and steel clashing, but all of his attention was focused on the woman bleeding out next to him. "Makino…"

Makino turned her head to look at him, her face pale as she gurgled ragged breaths. She blinked rapidly, trying to focus her vision. "Luffy…"

"I'm here, Makino!" Luffy sniffed, fisting his little hands in her bloodied apron. "I'm going to help you! Don't worry!"

The green-haired woman shook her head tiredly, trying to keep her eyes open. "No, Luffy. You need to- to run! Kael is…"

"Kael is what?" Luffy shook her awake as her eyelids began drooping. "Kael is what? Is he okay? Did they get him too?"

Makino's eyes brimmed with tears. "Kael is…He's a pirate! He's a dangerous man, Luffy…You need to go and hide."

Luffy's breath was punched out of him once her words registered and an icy feeling of dread crawled up his spine. Kael was dangerous? All this time, he was a pirate and they didn't know? Luffy looked down at the gushing wounds across Makino's chest. "Did he–?"

With cold, clammy hands Makino gripped his wrist and tried to get him to look her in the eyes. "Nevermind that. You just need to hide until he comes. He'll save you, Luffy. He'll take care of you from now on…Make you strong…"

It was getting harder to understand Makino as she drifted off, but Luffy could only assume that she meant that Shanks would take him on his ship after today. Any other time he would have jumped at the opportunity, but he never wanted it to be like this. "No!" Luffy screamed, gripping onto her shoulders. "You're the one that's supposed to take care of me! You aren't allowed to go! I won't let you!"

With what seemed like the last of her strength, Makino pulled him forward and cradled him against her with her hand cupped around the back of his head, running her fingers through his messy hair.

"Go with him," she whispered. "You won't die here. You're going to change the world someday…I just know you will."

The shaky breaths that Luffy felt against his face grew fainter and fainter until they almost stopped entirely and his eyes blew wide with panic as he pulled back to look down at his friend desperately. "Stop it, Makino…You're scaring me."

One of her hands came up to brush Luffy's tears away with her thumb. "Be good, Luffy…"

"I will! I promise!" Luffy's eyes screwed shut as he bowed his head and grinded his teeth together, trying to keep his rising distress at bay. "I'll be good! Shanks will save us soon and I'll show you! Okay?"

There wasn't any response.

"Makino?"

The hand dropped from his face, laying still beside her.

"Makino?" Chancing a look upward, Luffy was met Makino's blank stare—unseeing and expressionless, save a small gentle smile that was stuck frozen on her lips.

A sob forcefully tore its way out of Luffy's mouth as he buckled under his grief. He all but fell face first into the blood-soaked porch, the wood planks creaking under his fingers as he gripped onto the floor for dear life.

'No, Luffy. You need to – to run! Kael is…'

The scent of copper and gun smoke permeated the air, tainting every one of his breaths with its stench.

'Kael is…He's a pirate! He's a dangerous man, Luffy.'

The screams of his friends and neighbours echoed around him, though he could barely hear it over the dull ringing in his ears.

'Leave it. I got what I needed from him.'

With great heaving breaths, Luffy forced himself to his feet. It felt as if every muscle in his body was going to burst under the weight of his rage.

'You have no idea what pirates are like, stupid boy.'

Several candies were spilling out of one of Makino's pockets. She never had much of a sweet tooth, but she always seemed to keep some on hand to give to him. Most of the wrappers were stained red.

Pirates. Pirates. Pirates. Pirates. Pirates.

"Kael!" Hot tears and snot streamed down Luffy's face as he roared at the top of his lungs. "I'm going to kill you!"

Panting like a ravenous beast, Luffy stumbled up the rest of the stairs, coordination skewed by his anger as spit practically foamed at the edges of his mouth. He kicked open the door to the bar with strength he didn't know he possessed.

Inside the building that may as well have been Luffy's home for as long as he could remember, Koby was laid out on his back, unconscious, while Alvida leaned against a nearby wall, covered in dozens of cuts and slices and panting with exertion. Luffy barely acknowledged them, feeling his vision focus in towards the familiar man facing away from him at the other end of the room. "Kael! Did you hear me? I said you're dead! Dead!"

At the sound of his voice the man slowly turned to face him, the lenses of his glasses glinting ominously in the dim lighting. Luffy knew he should be terrified, but his anger only grew stronger when he saw Kael's hands. The bastard was wearing a pair of lethal looking black gloves—each finger tipped with deadly sharp blades that were half as long as Luffy's entire body.

"Ah. Hello, Luffy." Kael reached up to adjust his glasses with the palm of his hand. "I suppose there's no harm in letting you know now that Kael isn't my name."

Several feet away Alvida coughed blood onto the floor and dropped down onto one knee. "D-Damn you, Captain Kuro!"

Important author's notes:

I don't want to make a habit of writing lengthy author's notes, but I think this first one is necessary. There are several aspects of this story that should be established now, so that people can know to avoid it if they don't care for some of them.

1 - Romance is going to be optional. There won't be any romantic pairings between the main characters in the central story. Depending on what people want, and what I feel like writing, any romantic scenes will be written separately in companion pieces so that people can avoid romance if they want to. It'll also be a while before I write any romance, as I'd like to get the main story rolling first. No harems – just doesn't appeal to me.

2 - This story will be heavily AU. Some heroes will be villains, some villains will be heroes. Some people will find themselves in different circumstances – like a twenty year old Kuro and a fifteen year old Alvida meeting Luffy in the beginning here. Some people will have their traits inverted. For example; an incredibly greedy person in canon might be very selfless in this fic. Or, as shown in this chapter, Luffy liking candy instead of meat. While many characters will stay the same, many others will be getting tweaked. In a universe where Luffy is a marine, many others will inevitably end up different as well. Gotta keep you on your toes!

3 - All of the islands visited will be original places, featuring original stories and many of them will be filled with original allies and villains in addition to the canon characters that will get peppered in. If you can't stand OCs – skip this one. Fair warning.

4 - Luffy's marine crew will all be different characters from the manga/anime/movies in this fic. The strawhats will all play very important roles in the story, but not as crew mates. Luffy also won't have the gum gum fruit.

5 - The story will be separated by sagas, each of which will be separated by arcs, just like in the source material. This first chapter is the beginning of the Advent Shift Sage, beginning with the Advent Shift Arc of the same name.

Ultimately, I'm just going to get really weird and have fun with this one. I deeply love the source material, but fan fiction isn't half as fun to me when I'm just retreading stuff we've already seen before. I hope some of you enjoy it, and thanks for reading!