# Chapter 1
It was a pleasant morning with seagulls cawing or whatever sounds they make. The sun shone on a teenager standing on a small boat facing the dock he just sailed from. This was Luffy. He was setting off for his grand journey, while many villagers stood at the dock saying farewells.
"Take care, Luffy! Don't forget to eat your veggies!" shouted Makino, a bar owner of the village.
"And don't bring shame on our village, you damn whippersnapper." A short elderly person shouted. He is Woop Slap, Mayor of the dawn village.
"Bye guys! Bye, Makino! I will come back someday and pay off my tab." Luffy shouted in response. He gave a big grin back to the crowd.
He wasn't too far from the docks when a big mass breached the water surface. The villagers gasped in surprise and terror. Luffy turned back to look at the creature. It was the Demon of the Coast, a large serpentine monster, formally known as a Sea-King. It roared at Luffy in a hunger fueled rage.
Instead of being shocked or afraid like the rest, Luffy just grinned widely, before twisting his body to shoot his fist into the monster's face, knocking it out in one punch. But, that punch wasn't normal. His arm stretched like a rubber band to deliver that mighty blow. And afterwards it retracted into him with a sharp snap.
The thing about Luffy is that he ate a Devil Fruit. Those fruit contain bizarre and otherworldly abilities for the one who consumes them. The trade off for those abilities is that the person loses the ability to swim. In other words, the sea hates them. Luffy ate the Gum-Gum fruit, turning his whole body into rubber, allowing him to perform such feats.
The villager sighed in relief and some celebrated the defeat of the monster. Luffy's ever present grin persisted as he faced toward the direction he decided to follow.
A day later, he is resting in his boat with his fishing pole cast out into the sea and hoisted by a barrel.
"Ah. I am glad I'm finally sailing now. I have taken the second step toward my dream. But first, I'll need to catch up to Ace. No, I have to surpass him. He already has a 100 Million bounty on him." He talks to himself out boredom. "First I need a crew, though. I need a navigator, since I can't do that. Also a musician. That one is a must have. Also, my first mate needs to be someone strong..."
He drifts into a long discussion with himself about who should be his crew mate. Unknown to him, a whirlpool forms in the ocean a few dozen metres away. He only notices when his fishing line is pulled and he checks up on it. He starts to get scared since it was too late to steer away from that.
Luffy can think of nothing other than hiding in a barrel. He pops the lid on the barrel and eats all the fruits and vegetables inside in one big bit and enters it, putting the lid back on as tightly as he can.
In the darkness of this cramped space, he feels the boat speed up and going faster and faster in a circular motion until angular momentum flings the barrel he is in far away, safe from dangerous waters. This stroke of luck causes him to giggle, not that he knew what happened outsixe his barrel.
Still and and ocassional bobbing lulls him to sleep. "I'll just sleep until something happens. Haah..." he yawns and closes his eyes.
Luffy wakes up due a thunking noise. He feels the barrel be pulled up. "Man, this is heavy!" a gruffs muffled voice comes from outside along with a thump sound of someone plopping the the barrel on deck. Luffy remains silent and motionless to see what happens until an even more muffled voice comes, "It's the Alvida Pirates. They are coming this way."
Chaos ensues as all the sailor start running aroubd in panic. One sailor stumbles in the barrel causing it to roll down the stairs leading to the kitchen.
.
.
"Who's the prettiest woman in the seas?" a rough, almost manly voice asks a group of men behind her.
"You are, Captain Alvida!" every one of the men respond in a chorus.
Alvida, a rotund woman who wears a checkered skirt, red blouse and a dark blue jacket with a white wide-brimmed hat with a feather on top. She stands at the railing of her deck. As her ship nears the passenger ship and becomes parallel to it, she shouts, "Show then the terror of Alvida Pirates!" her big, studded club is pounted forward.
Her men launch hooked ropes on to the passenger ship and rush the sailors there with cutlasses and pistols. All except one. Alvida notices her chore-boy, a small teenager with pink bowl-cut hair and round spectacles. He wore a white buttoned shirt without collar and navy blue pants and slippers. She asks the boy, "Why are you still here, Coby?" she approaches him and kicks him over to the other ship, "Go before I kill you!"
Coby plants his face the cabin wall of the passenger ship. A second later he fixes his face abd glasses when he hears a voice from behind. "Oraaaaaa!" a scream comes. He turns and quickly scrambles to the side, letting out a squeek.
Alvida comes flying towards Coby, who gets out of the way and she crashes into the walls, destroying it and laying in the rubble.
Before she could get up, Coby runs off to find the storage of the ship. He cautiously peeks into the kitchen, "Hellooo...?" *Maybe nobody is here. Phew, I'm safe* He enters the kitchen and immediately his attention goes to the barrel laying sideways in the kitchen. He approaches it and inspects, tries to move it and notices its pretty heavy. He decides to roll it on its side and take it Alvida. *Hopefully, I'll escape her wrath.*
Just then a trio of his "ship mates" cone in to the kitchen. "Oh, Coby. Are ya hidin' away again?" The larger one of them says.
"What do you have here?" the skinnier one asks him.
"It's just alcohol I thought Captain Alvida might like." Coby answers.
"Don't worry. We'll help ya get this ta her. Right after we 'ave a taste ourselves." the third, shorter one said.
Inside the barrel, Luffy heared everything. He even deduced that his barrel was being talked about. *Let's have some fun now. I'm getting bored in here.*
"I'll just smash it open with one punch. Stand back." The larger one says and pulls his arms back, ready to throw the punch at the lid.
Luffy decided to punch the guy back and pops up right as the punch was thrown at the lid. His arms are raised and he cleverly maneuvers his hand to connect with the large man's chin. This blow knocks out the pirate. Luffy finishes his stretch. "That was a good nap!" he exclaims to the world. He turns his head to the downed man and points at him while looking at the others. "He'll get cold if he sleeps like that."
""Your the one who out him there"" the remaning to cronies shout at him.
Luffy ignore them and climbs out of the barrel to approachr Coby. "Is there any food aroynd here? I'm starving."
""Listen when someonr is talking"" the two cronies again shout comically at Luffy.
Both Coby and Luffy ignores them, as Coby speaks, "M-maybe there's a p-pantry around he-here." Shock and surprise evident in his voice and eyes.
The cronies decide enough is enough and attack Luffy with there cutlasses. Luffy notices their advance and turns around and punches the the swords from the side, breaking them both in a single punch.
He glares at the men, "Leave." He says only one word, causing the two to shake in fright and run away, dragging their friend with them. Luffy smiles slightly looking at their comraderie and turns back to Coby. "By the way, I am Monkey D. Luffy. What's your name?"
"M-my name is C-Coby! I think you should get away from here. They will tell Alvida and she is a super strong woman with a giant club and she will come find you and kill you and-" Coby's rant is cut off when Luffy taps his head with his fist. "Oww! Why'd you hit me?"
"Felt like it." Luffy doesn't wait for him and starts following the foods scent. He eventually gets into the pantry and find a crate filled with Apples. He starts devouring them whole one-by-one.
Coby follows Luffy inside and sits beside him. *This is good. She won't find us here that easily.* "What are you doing on a pirate ship Coby?" The question from Luffy catches him off guard. He starts recounting his tale.
"I wanted to be a marine since I was small. One day, I was going on a fishing trip on a boat I found. I didn't know it belonged to Alvida. Ever since then I am a chore-boy for her."
"Why didn't you run away?"
"The thought of her finding me and punishing me... makes me feel weak in the knees."
"So you are a coward and a wimp. Man, I hate peiple like you the most. Hahahaha." Luffy laughs.
"You are so vrutal with your words." Coby squeks out in a whisper and curls into a ball. "What are you doing on the seas, Mr. Luffy?"
"Hm?" Luffy tries to respond but his mouth is full with an apple, he gulps and speaks again, "I have set out on an adventure to become the Pirate King."
Coby's face is shocked before he recovers enough to speak, "Impossible! Impossible! Piratr King is someone who has all the power and fame and treasure named One Piece, right? You can never be that. You will die before that! Impossible! Imposs- Oww!" another fist lands on Coby's head by an irritated Luffy.
"You just insulted my dream, you know." Luffy informs him before he takes his straw hat off and stares at it. "This hat was given to me by a good friend. I promised him that I will return this hat to him once I become the pirate king. So, even if I die, its fine with me." he puts his hat back on and goes on to scrounge another crate to devour.
Luffy's words have a big impact on Coby. *He's setiously determined.* he realizes before he also become determined. "Can-" He tries to speak but chokes. Luffy turn to him. Coby gulps before speakung up, "Can I achieve my dream too if put my everything into achieving that?"
"How can I know?" Luffy smiles amusingly, seeing the kid growing a backbone.
"No!" He shouts, surprising Luffy. "I will join the Marines and become an officer. And I will come and catch evil pirates like Alvida and-"
The ceiling of the pantry, or the deck of the lassenger ship, Comes down close to the door, opposite to where Luffy and Coby are. On the deck is Alvida, looking down at them menacingly. "Who are you gonna catch, Coby?" she asks in a rough voice. Coby is shell-shocked into silence. "Tell me, who is the prettiest-"
"Who is this chucky lady?" Luffy's question shocks every one present, including Alvida, who jumps at him with a ticked off and embarrassed face, swinging her club at him.
Luffy jumps away from her and lands near Coby. Coby recovers from his shock and grab Luffy's hand as if to warn him.
"Mr. Luffy, Captaun Alvida is... is..." he locks eyes with Luffy who's eyes and pointed at him, ttying to evaluate his worth. He then remembers Luffy's words about his drean of becoming Pirate King. Determination fills him and he screams at Alvida. "... is the Ugliest Cragged Hag Ever!!!"
Luffy bursts out in laughter. The surrounding pirates drops their jaws. Alvida loses her shit. She flies towards the two offenders, who jump out onto the deck.
Alvida's crew snaps back and surround Luffy, who one by one knocks out the pirates. When they are too many for a normal person to handle, Luffy runs towards the front of the deck. Then he abruptly grabs the main mast and swings around it. His Hands stretches around the mast and the motion of his body allows one of his legs to stretch. The strectched legs swings towards the group of stunned oirates. "Gum-Gum... Whip!" the blow connects and the entire bunch is thrown overboard unconscious.
Meanwhile, Alvida climbs out of the hole in the deck and looks at Luffy's handiwork.
"What are you, Mr. Luffy?" Coby asks in astonishment.
Luffy stretches his cheek to inhumans proportion to demonstrate. "I ate the Gum-Gum fruit. I am a rubber man."
"So you've eaten the rumored devil fruit, eh?" Alvida asks from behind Coby, who runs away and hides behind Lufy.
"Yup. And you are going to be toast." He answered.
Alvida rages again and attacks with her club. But instead of dodging, Luffy stand right there. The swung ckub comes down on top of Luffy. The large studded club causes no injury to the rubbery teenager. "Hah! It won't work on me." Luffy then swing his arm backward, throwing the club off him and sends his arm stretching back.
Alvida recovers from the recoil but it is too late. The stretched arm comes back like a rubber band and goes forward with its momentum. The rotund woman barely has time to get her club in front of herself, but it proves useless as defense as Luffy's fist goes through the brittle iron club and into her stomach. The blow lifts her off her feet and send her flying off the star-board into the horizon.
The redt of her crew gives up without further fights. The raven haired, sandals wearing teenager smirked at them. "Coby, here, is gonna go join the marines. Give him a boat." he then spotted the trio of pirates from before. The larger of them still unconscious. The other two surrounded him in a protective gesture. "You three are coming with me." Luffy pointed at them.
After a little hesitation, the two friends slowly nod and picks up their third friend, walking behind luffy to the emergency boat. That's when a loud boom reaches them followed by a splash near the Pirates' ship. Everyone looks to the horizon from where the projectile came from and see marine ships advancing here.
Luffy grabs Coby and jumps into the boat, which snaps its flimsy binding and drops into the ocean beside the passenger ship.
An "Eep" sound grabs Luffy's attention. He notices a girl with orange hair and blue top looking surprised for a second. He then turns his attention back to present and tells Coby and the trio to make haste.
"Looks like we finally lost them. Haah... that was intense." Luffy slaps Coby's back.
"Y-yeah. Glad we made it out. But, Mr. Luffy..." The boy turns to him, "...why did you take these three with us?" Coby points to the frightened trio of Alvida's pirate crew, who are doing their best to row the boat.
Luffy thinks a little then shrugs, "They are at least good for rowing the boat."
"Isn't there a better reason for them to be with us?"
"There is." Luffy pointedly looks at the trio. "What are your names, you three?"
The said trio flinches before answering. "Hanta." says the the short and tan one. "Satch." says the tall and skinny one. "Bufford." says the larger one.
"Hanta, Satch, and Buffoon?" Luffy repeats with a cheeky grin, trying to test them.
The now named Bufford didn't bat an eye at the mockery but the other two had frowns on their faces. "Please don't make fun of our friend." Hanta says in a polite, kiss-ass manner.
Luffy's grin widens. *They are perfect for my crew.* "Alright. I've decided. You three are going to be in my crew from now on."
The trio look confused at that so Luffy explains, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy. I will be the Pirate King." Understanding dawns on them as the all nod as one. "I just started my journey and I need a crew. You will be the first members."
The trio nodded again. Satch hesitatingly asks a question, "But, wh-what about a sh-ship?"
"We will buy one if we find it, or just steal it from another crew." Luffy grins.
"So, what do you guys say?" This question shocks them a little. *Is he giving us a choice?* was their collective thought. "I didn't kidnap you, because zi like you. So, you choose. Follow me or go do your own thing."
The trio looks at each other and contemplates a bit. Then they settle on their decision. "We will follow you, Captain Luffy!"
The scene affects Coby as well. He is deeply impressed by the way Luffy handled the situation. In such a short time, he gained their loyalty. It inspired him to chase his own dream as well. "Where to next, Mr. Luffy?" he asks.
Luffy looks at him with confusion, then he blinks. "I didn't think of that at all."
All present passengers of the boat excluding Luffy himself face fault. But no one is willing to call him out on that.
"What's the closest island?" Luffy asks.
Coby points in a direction, "Nearest one would Shells Town Island with the Navy Base."
"Then we will go there! I wanna see the Navy Base."
Coby's eyes widen. "No! We can't go there. Navy might capture you. And they have a super strong prisoner there."
"What's his name?"
"Roronoa Zoro. He's a Bounty Hunter. Frankly he's a demon! And he specifically hunts Pirates."
"Then I have decided. If he's a good guy, I'll recruit him."
Everyone else looks shocked by that statement.
"B-but, Mr. L-Luffy. He's a criminal. And how would you get him out of the base. Impossible! Absolutely Impossoble! Im- Oww! Why'd you hit me?"
Luffy's fist taps him on the head again. "Felt like it." he sits back and takes off his hat, leans back against the railing, and place it on his face. "Wake me up when we reach Shelly Island or whatever."
Author's Note: I have accidentally broken my laptop. So my nther stories are on hold for indefinite amount of time. Instead, I started writing on my phone, which sucks since I use COLEMAK format for my android keyboard. I will get used to it. Eventually.
Anyways. I have written this fic as my two cents as to how the story would deviate if idiotic tropes were reduced. It seems a little same-y but the deviations will come eventually. I have written upto Syrup Village arc (3 chapters) but I will wait for some response before I update the story for you guys.
As always, don't forget to tell me what yau think. Enjoy!