168This particular idea was was born when I read the description of Akuma no Mi's re-spawning. You will see it yourself later.
I don't own One Piece, it belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter 001: The Journey Begins!
In the infinite amount of Alternative Universes Monkey D. Luffy ate Gomu Gomu no Mi.
Most of this Universes are are very similar with only minor differences, that wouldn't even be noticed without looking really hard. Later in his life he assembled a crew that would sail through the world with him.
But what if something changed?
What if there was a different set of circumstances?
What if one little change created a chaos so great that even Gods wouldn't know the outcome?
What if several people broke their Chains of Destiny and became the Wild Cards for any Higher Being?
Would people be able to fulfill they Destinies?
Would the world fall into the Darkness, or would it bask in the Light?
Who knows?
But one thing is absolutely certain, Monkey D. Luffy will become Legend in his own right!
Because such is Youth!
Wealth, fame, power... Gold Rodger, the King of the Pirates obtained this and everything else the world had to offer. And his dying words drove countless souls to seas.
"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!"
These words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine! This is the time known as 'The Great Pirate Era'!
"Wow..." Muttered one of the sailor looking at the giant whirlpool swirling and pulling inside anyone who was stupid enough to get too close.
He colleague standing to the left of him silently agreed, the sight was really something.
In East Blue it was not an uncommon thing to see a cruise ship slowly sailing around, with any particular destination or course. As the safest, and in many eyes weakest, of the seas there was only a very slim chance of such a ship being attacked by pirates, and therefore any security on board was lacking at best. The only guards that were actually doing their work were the ones hired by the organizer of the event, the people that were working for the owner of the ship were only lazing around and taking sips from the flask with booze that they liberated from the ship's kitchens.
The three-mast ship was fully stocked for the ongoing event, and therefore it wouldn't be docking anytime soon. It may have sounded good on the paper, but working on the ship that hosted some higher-class social gatherings was as much fun as it can appear at first. The only fun on board was meant for the snobbish rich and very boring people that held such event in hight regard only because of the possibility to forge more valuable bonds while drinking very expensive drinks for free.
And therefore anything that may bring even the smallest dose of entertainment into the lives of the crew was something that was always welcomed on board.
*Thunk*
"Huh?" The sailor who spoke earlier looked down and saw a sealed barrel floating in the water near the ship.
Light slow music was playing in the main ballroom of the ship.
"Please, don't be concerned." Captain reassured a young couple in front of him. "A whirlpool like that won't affect this ship."
Most people in the ballroom were standing and chatting happily, fully enjoying the pleasant atmosphere of the party. Many were drinking, but not enough to actually get intoxicated, simply desiring a little help in relaxing in the peaceful and friendly company. High society parties like this were one of the places where they could forget about business and simply enjoy the fruits of their labor. Only small part of them came here with the intention of actually acquiring more riches through deals made purely on first impression, but that was pretty rare and in-between event.
In front of the big double-window stood a beautiful young lady, with should-length orange hair and light-brown eyes. She was wearing white dress and red pearl-shaped earrings. Her gaze was locked on the small island not far away from the ship.
"Miss." She heard someone's voice from behind her and turned around. "May I have the honor of this dance?" Asked a young man.
He had dark-green hair and black eyes, he was wearing light-cyan dress-shirt and pants, with black dance-shoes on his feet.
The girl only smiled back an accepted his outstretched hand.
"Alright!" Said one of the sailors, spinning a double-hook tied to a rope over his head. Taking aim he threw the hook at the floating barrel, but missed. "Aww, missed again!" It was far harder than it looked to hit the thing, considering that the ship wasn't actually standing still.
"Battered out!" Laughed his friend while standing hear and getting his own healthy dose of entertainment.
"What are you doing?" Called the man from the crow's nest. "You guys suck." Suddenly something caught his attention and he looked more closely in the direction of the island not far away.
"It's really heavy..." Said one of the sailors, while pulling the finally caught barrel onto the deck.
"It's a wine barrel..." Added the other one. "Must have a lot."
"Lets keep it." Said his companion.
Both of them missed the pale face and horrified look of the guy that was in the crow's nest. From the side of the island a ship was slowly appearing.
A pink ship.
A pink ship with duck's head on its nose.
A pink ship with duck's head on its nose and a black flag!
A pink ship with duck's head on its nose and a black flag that had Jolly Rodger on it!
"Trouble to the starboard!" He screamed to the rest of the crew. "There's a pirate flag on top of the mast!" The pair that was dragging the barrel both had the shocked expressions. "A pirate ship!" They ran to warn the rest of the crew, the barren already forgotten and left on the deck. "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
But it was too late.
*Boom*Boom*Boom*
Three cannon fired at the same time, creating three explosion around the ship and making it shake.
In the ballroom there was no music anymore, only screams of fear and sound of people colliding with each other while trying to keep themselves standing, the shock-waves of the explosions were strong enough to shake the whole ship.
Suddenly the two crew members from earlier kicked the doors open.
"Captain!" The first one called.
"Pirates!" The second one stated.
"What?!" Barked the captain. Another explosion shook the ship. "Everyone, please calm down!" Captain's first priority was to prevent the unnecessary causalities and panic on board. "Please calm down!"
He wasn't very successful, considering that most of the guests ran towards the exit in blind panic and fear. Nobody payed any attention to the orange-haired girl from earlier that stood near the wall using for support and had a small smile on her face.
"Fire!" Commanded an unpleasant nasal female voice.
The cannon of the pirate ship fired again, one of the cannonballs hitting the rostrum of their target, shattering it into many pieces. The cannons didn't stop firing.
"Coby!" The same voices called.
"H... hai." The small body with short pink hair and wearing glasses answered.
He was pretty short, and wore only white shirt with blue trim, black pants and white sneakers with red soles. Oh, and he looked frighted and sheepish at the same time.
"Who's the most beautiful woman in this ocean?" Ask the voice.
"It's the captain of our ship of course, Alvida-sama" Answered the chore boy.
But he couldn't be further from the truth. Alvida, the woman who was in command of the pirate ship was far from even being called tolerable. She was severely overweighted, short for her own proportions, with long black greasy hair, red lipstick and freckles. She was wearing red shoes with golden buckets, white breeches, light pink flannel shirt tied up by a purple sash with blue coat over it. On her head was a white stetson with a big fluffy red feather. In her hand was a giant iron spiky mace, that any normal human wouldn't be able to even move.
But this woman wasn't normal by any means.
WANTED
Dead or Alive
"Iron Mace"
ALVIDA
5,000,000 ฿
For any normal person in the East Blue this would be a terrifying sigh to behold, because of the peaceful lifestyle and and lack of any serious threats such a bounty could be considered pretty high in this part of the world.
"Well said." Agreed Alvida, putting her mace on the deck like a walking stick.
"Thank you very much!" Said Coby, still looking ready to piss himself, but somehow forcing out a sheepish smile.
"Alvida-sama, it has been a while, hasn't it?" Asked one of the thugs standing on the deck behind Coby.
"Indeed!" Her smirk widened. "Now pull alongside the ship!"
As soon as the ship was turned towards its target the front cannon fired, destroying the read mast of the commercial ship.
Because of the panic nobody noticed the same barrel that was pulled from the water not long ago rolling down the deck, falling down the stairs and down the corridor and finally bouncing off the half-opened door stopping near the other smaller barrels in the kitchen.
Also, nobody noticed a certain orange-haired girl running towards the exit, but when she opened the door and saw the pirate ship she instantly closed it back.
Miss Love Duck, Alvida's ship was almost two-times smaller than the commercial ship, but even with its rather girly appearance it was still very intimidating to the normal civilians because of the simple fact that it was a pirate ship. And when it pulled board-to-board with the passenger ship it can be said that they were almost surely doomed.
The hooked ropes were thrown by the pirates, making several bridges for the crew to enter the cruise vessel.
"Men!" Bellowed Alvida. "Show them the power of Alvida, the female iron club pirate!" For emphasis she swung said club in front of her.
Hearing the command the thugs, that were the main part of the crew charged forward, actually running on the ropes in a show of surprisingly good balance and coordination. Several even used their ropes as bungees by attaching them to the mast to swing on the other ship.
But not everyone was so eager to rob and pillage.
"Coby! What are you doing?" Asked Alvida.
The poor boy was holding a rope that was attached to one of the cruise vessel's masts, while shaking like a leaf on the wind.
"I... I'm not used to this..." He stuttered out.
"You dare talk back to me?" Asked Alvida with anger in her voice, while walking close to the boy.
"Please, anything but the iron club!" It was quite obvious that the poor boy was terrified.
"Then hurry up and get going!" Barked Alvida and actually kicked him with enough force to send him flying right onto the other ship's deck, his short experience of flight was stopped by the wooden wall of the ships addition structure.
While he was rubbing his face to lessen the pain, he heard Alvida's scream that was coming from... above? Coby looked up and saw that the fat captain actually jumped after him and now was falling down with her club raised high. Barely able to duck under the living projectile, young boy was able to escape the fate of a bloody pancake, while Alvida crushed right through the construction and now was lying there in a pile of splinters and pieces of wood.
"We're not going to kill you..." Said one of the pirates, standing with his sword drawn in front the scared passengers. "But we're going to take everything of value." The not so small band of thugs were a pretty good motivation for the civilians to surrender their goods without a fight.
"Anyone who resists will be thrown into the ocean." Added Alvida stepping behind her men.
The malicious laughter that followed sent chills down the victims' spines.
And nobody notices the familiar orange-haired girl hiding behind the wall, and listening to everything that was being said. Removing her dress she showed that she had a pirate outfit under it consisting of black bandanna, blue shirtб black wristlets, red sash, black pants, red shoes with red and white stripped socks.
"Hello?" Called Coby, fearfully peaking into the kitchen. Taking a good look around he stepped inside the room. "There's no one here, right..." It sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself rather than stating a fact. "Thank goodness..." Looking around he noticed a pretty big barrel that apparently crashed into several smaller ones. "That's a pretty big barrel."
The mysterious orange-haired girl used the same ropes that pirates utilized to get on the ship to get on the pirate ship. Landing quietly, she ran towards the door that presumably leaded to the treasury.
But before she could open it someone did it for her, a rather scrawny tanned man in a green vest and horned helmet walked out and noticed the girl's presence. She could only smile nervously at him.
"Whoa are you? I've never seen you before." The pirate said and tried to take a closer look.
*Thunk*
Only to receive a vicious blow to his groin from the intruder. With moan full of pain and despair he fell on the deck of the ship unconscious, the girl just smiled apologetically.
Coby wasn't a very strong person, actually he was rather weak and rolling a barrel bigger than himself was a pretty tough task for the young boy. Grunting with effort he moved the heavy thing towards the door. But before he could push his load through it three members of Alvida's crew stopped him and entered the kitchen.
"Hey you coward! Are you hiding and doing nothing again?" Asked the most tough-looking one.
"Not at all! I was pushing this wine barrel..." Started stuttering Coby, but was interrupted.
"We'll help lighted your load." Chuckled the same pirate.
"We're thirsty." Added another.
"No way!" Coby could only gape at three suicidal pirates. He shouldn't have cared about them at all, considering that he was basically kidnapped and forced into slavery by this people, but he was too much of a good guy inside, and even now didn't want to see them dead. "If Alvida-Sama finds out, you'll be killed." He tried to warn them.
"It'll be fine if you keep your mouth shut." Said the third pirate. "Right, Coby?"
'It's their funerals, and I will be dead too both ways.' Thought the boy. 'Maybe they will let me drink a little to get at least moderately drunk, so death won't hurt as much as it should?'
"Yeah, that's true..." He agreed uneasily.
"It's pretty heavy..." Muttered the first pirate, while putting the barrel upright.
"Can't wait!" Agreed the second one.
"Don't be so greedy." Said the first one, while cracking his knuckles. "I'm going to smash it open right now." He pulled his left fist back.
Just to be sure that he would do it with the first blow he pulled back a little more and tensed his muscles.
And then he punched.
*Crack*Crack*Bonk*
But it wasn't his fist the broke the top of the barrel, but something from within the barrel. The same something delivered a devastating blow to the pirate's jaw and sent him flying towards the wall, actually breaking it and stopping only to actually became stuck half-way through.
The unknown something was actually a teen no older than seventeen. He wore a yellow straw-hat with a red band on his head, from under which you could see raven-black short hair and black eyes with a small scar under his left one. Without even looking around the teen climbed out of the barrel, and looked around with a yawn. Now that he was fully out, Coby could see that he was wearing long black captain-coat over black suit and black suit-pants, he also noticed red dress shirt with a black slight loose tie under the suit and on his feet were flip-flops, which actually didn't spoil the image even a little for some reason.
The teen yawned again and stretched a little.
"What a nice nap." He said, and looked around only now noticing that everyone were staring at him with their jaws on the floor. He glanced at the pirate stuck in the wall. "What the?" He raised an eyebrow at the strange occurrence. The turned back to the two gaping pirates in front of him. "Who are you guys?"
His words actually snapped the two out of their stupor.
"Who the hell are you?!" Both screamed at him at the same time with shocked expressions.
"I don't think it's really that healthy to sleep like that." Said the teen while looking around and pointing at their unconscious comrade.
"It's you fault!" Both roared at him with angry expression on their faces.
Suddenly the teen had a sharp sword positioned near his throat. Both pirate pulled out their weapons and looked at him with a mixture of fear and anger, not actually knowing what to do in this type of situations. It's not very often that someone so openly defied them and didn't show even an ounce of fear after knocking out one their own comrades, the things like this just didn't happened in the East Blue!
"You bastard!" Said the third pirate, while holding the mentioned sword. "Stop screwing around. Don't you know we're pirates?!"
The teen simply ignored the two armed men, knowing that he would get anything useful from them, instead he turned toward the pink-haired kid that looked ready to fain from fear. Putting one the friendliest smile he could manage the teen slightly leaned forward.
"Sorry if I bother you, but I'm pretty hungry." His tone was friendly and cheerful. "Can you point me towards..."
"Listen to what I'm saying!" Roared the third pirate with shocked expression on his face.
Who was this teen anyway?
"You brat!" Growled the second one, as they both raised their swords to strike him down.
Coby saw the blades coming and close his eyes, preparing himself to hear the poor boy being screwed by the two pirates, he ever raised his hand to shield himself from the blood that would surely be spilled.
The teen himself turned his head slightly to see the pirates that jumped at him, with the intent to gut him open. The shadow casted by the brim his hat covered his eyes for a moment.
*Clank*Clank*Thud*Thud*
When Coby finally removed his hands from his eyes, and looked at the teen, he saw that the yet unnamed individual was standing with his back turned towards Coby, facing the two pirates, who were crouching on the floor with their swords broken in two. The broken off parts were actually sticking out of the ceiling, how did that happen Coby didn't know.
"What are you doing all of a sudden?" Asked the teen, raising his head a little and letting them see his eyes again, and also his disappointed expression. He put his hands in his pants' pockets. "Gramps was right, no manners at all." He muttered.
"W... who are you?" The third prate forced out, while still shaking.
"Me?" The teen smirked. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy." He grinned. "Nice to meet you!"
Both pirates just stared at him. Then they screamed in fear, grabbed their fallen comrade, and in show fear-fueled strength yanked him out from the wall, and then the two ran from the kitchen screaming while dragging their companion on the floor like a sack of potatoes. The boy, Luffy, just blinked at their sudden departure.
"What... what just happened?" Asked Coby, still on all four on the floor, and looking at the sense with stunned face.
"What's with them?" Muttered Luffy.
It's not like he was going to beat them up, only if they attacked him...
'Weird people.' He shrugged, wasn't his business.
"Hurry up and run!" Coby said to him, finally pulling himself up, but now now with a panicked expression on his face. Luffy only turned his head a little to look at the fearful boy. "When they come back with their friends, you'll be killed!"
"Even so, I'm hungry." Said Luffy with s sheepish smile.
"How can you that so calmly?!" Gaped Coby, but Luffy ignored him and started actually sniffing the air. "There's lots of pirate on the deck!" Tried to warn him Coby, but was ignored as Luffy moved towards the door from where he could smell food. "Don't go that way." Coby tried to stop the teen by pulling his arm, but didn't even mange to slow him down. "Wait! You're going the wrong way!" Grunted Coby.
Luffy just ignored his pleas and opened a big double door, from where the delicious smell was coming. Seeing a storage room full of crates with food he grinned.
"I knew there was food somewhere here." He knew that he woke up in the kitchen, but could only see some small scraps and pieces around, nothing even close to an actual meal.
So he followed the smell of fresh food that led him here, into this room. Ignoring the kid's muttering about being safe and hoping to not be found he opened the first box that he saw, and wasn't disappointed. It was full of fresh apples, Gramps always said that anything that can sate your hunger was food so wasting was akin of a crime.
'He also enforced this rule by leaving me in the jungles to fend for myself with no food or water.' Shuddered Luffy. Without any more distractions Luffy grabbed the first apple and almost finished it whole on the first bite.
"I'm Coby, and you're Luffy-san, right?" Luffy finished four apples when he heard the kid's voice. "That was amazing back there. How'd you do that?"
"These are good." Said Luffy, not really paying attention to boy's question. "Is this a pirate ship?" He asked.
"No... this ship isn't." Answered Coby, sitting down behind Luffy. "This ship is being attacked by Alvida-sama right now."
'Alvida?' Thought Luffy, while trying to remember if he saw a wanted poster with this name. Makino, the bartender in the Partys Bar, in Luffy's home village. She actually forced him to read all the wanted posters that came about, so he could at least have the basic knowledge about the dangers in the East Blue. She was like an older sister to him, and for a simple civilian was actually pretty good at planning things through. Finally Luffy remembered the Poster with this particular individual. '5,000,000฿? Not much, so I shouldn't have any trouble.'
"Mmm...? It doesn't really matter." Answered Luffy honestly. "Are there any boats on this ship?"
"There should be, but..." Muttered Coby.
"My ship got sucked into the whirlpool." Admitted Luffy.
It was a bit of a rookie-mistake on Luffy's part, he fell asleep and woke up only when it was too late. Good thing he got a barrel that he emptied not long ago, or he would have been a goner.
"Eh, that whirlpool? You should be dead." Muttered Coby.
"Nah, I would have figured something out." Said Luffy, while finishing off another apple. "Say, are you a pirate as well?"
Luffy actually felt a tad bit guilty for asking, because Coby's face right now was like someone killed his favorite pet right in front of him.
"That was... a fateful day." He started in a said voice. "That day, I went aboard, intending to go fishing..." He was was almost haunted. "But it turned out that boat was going to a pirate ship!" He was almost crying. "For the past two years, I've been working like a slave so they wouldn't kill me."
Luffy looked at the boy, with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Tough luck, kid." He finally said. "It's a pretty stupid way to get onto a pirate ship."
"How can you say that?" Coby's head fell even lower.
"Why not to just run away?" Asked Luffy.
"That's impossible! Impossible, impossible!" Coby shook his head in denial. "When I think about Alvida-sama finding out, my legs shake and I get really scared..."
"Oh, so you're a coward." Luffy actually didn't mean it as an insult, he just wanted to get the boy angry to snap him out his melancholy. "I don't like you." He grinned.
It didn't work because Coby just started shedding tears with a pitiful expression on his face.
"Get moving!" Barked Alvida. "Move everything before the Marines get here!" She was standing on the deck and giving orders, while her crew was dragging chests full of treasures onto her ship. "Anyone who slacks off will meet my iron club!"
With a motivation like this the crew doubled they efforts, making sure not to accidentally drop anything. Being slow was survivable, loosing part of their loot wasn't.
"Hurry up!" One voice called.
"Look at all the treasure!" Another one added.
Nobody noticed the already familiar orange-haired girl that was emptying the chests, leaving all the junk and putting all the treasures inside one big bag. Well, she wasn't noticed because she was under the deck and out of sight, therefore she could safely take everything that these pirates had before pillaging the ship she was before.
"Hey, if you daydream, you're going to get the iron club!" Added another one.
"That'd be bad." The firs one agreed.
The girl looked around at the empty treasurer-chests and her bag full of gold, money, diamonds and other valuables.
"There's no way I can stand a blow from that."
Suddenly the two pirate from earlier tried to get out from the manhole on the civilian ship, but got stuck.
"Alvida-sama!" But it didn't stop them from shouting. "There's a problem."
"What is it?" Alvida asked, turning around. "You're so noisy."
"The barrel was..." One started.
"A monster!" The other one finished.
It's wasn't a smart move one their part, considering that Alvida had a very short temper, and heard only the second half of their statement.
"Who's a monster?" She growled out, and threw her iron club at the two underlings.
They were fast enough to lean forward, so it wouldn't tear they head off, but by doing that they pulled their third comrade up, making him receive a solid blow in the face from the club. The blow itself was strong enough to send the guy flying backwards, breaking the railing on the way and disappearing from sight. The club spun in the air and landed on the heads of the two pirates.
"That's not it... a weird person came out of the barrel..." Muttered the first one.
"He might be a bounty hunter." Added the second one.
It was a pure miracle that they weren't unconscious from the blow, and even talk.
"What?" Growled Alvida.
"You're right." Muttered Coby "Completely right... If only I was brave enough to drift in the ocean in a barrel, the would what I wanted to do..." He raised his head and looked at Luffy, who looked back with passive expression on his face. "Luffy-san, what were you doing drifting in the ocean in a barrel?"
Luffy looked at him and smiled.
"I'm going to be the Pirate King!" He proclaimed with an absolutely serious tone, making sure to put emphasis on the title.
"P..." Coby's jaw was hanging dangerously low. "P..." His eyes were wide and skin getting whiter with each passing moment. "Pirate King?" He finally managed to forced out.
"Yeah." Luffy didn't even blinked at the kid's baffled expression.
"Seriously?" Asked Coby while sweating bullets.
"Seriously." Agreed the coat wearing teen.
"That means Luffy-san is a pirate?" The pink-haired kid was on the verge of breaking down.
"Right." Confirmed Luffy.
"Your crew?"
"Don't have any, looking for one now." This apparently was the last straw because Coby just stopped moving, maybe even breathing.
'Wow, I think I broke him.' Thought Luffy, as he waved his hand in front of Coby's face. Suddenly the kid stood up, apparently overcoming his shock.
"A Pirate King is someone who has everything in this world!" Proclaimed Coby. "Wealth, Fame, Power, all united within one person." His shocked expression was still there, but with a mix of disbelief now. "Meaning, you are going after One Piece."
"Ah." Luffy could help but smile, the kid was actually pretty funny.
"'Ah' you say?!" Coby was on a verge of another breakdown. "All the pirate in the world are going after that treasure!"
"I am too!" Luffy's cheeky grin wasn't reassuring the poor kid.
"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible!" Coby shook his head in denial. "It would be impossible to stand on top in this Great Pirate Era! It can't be done, impossible, impossible!"
'Oy, oy! Why so negative?' Thought Luffy as he stood up. He decided that it was enough for the kid, and he really needed to snap him out of this meltdown before he would start crying... again. One good hit on the head did the trick. 'Now I understand why Gramps likes to do it so much, it's so easy!'
"Why did you hit me?" Moaned Coby, crouched on the floor and holding the back of his head.
"Just because." Answered Luffy.
"It's fine, I'm used to it anyway." Cody said with a mirthless laugh.
"It's not if it's possible or not." Said Luffy as he put his right hand on top of his hat. "I'm doing it because I want to." He removed the straw-hat from his head and looked at it. "I decided to become the Pirate King. I don't care if I die fighting for it." He said in a voice full of nostalgia. Luffy didn't noticed the stunned look on Coby's face, and put his hat back onto its rightful place. Then he started walking towards the exit. "Well, now that I'm full, all I need to get is a boat. I can probably borrow one from the pirates..." He said, while cracking his knuckles.
It's not like they will let him go without a fight, Luffy wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he wasn't clueless about what they would, considering that he knocked one of their people out, even if unintentionally, broke two swords and scared the owners to the point of them running away while screaming.
"I've never though of that." Luffy heard Coby and stopped. "Can I do that too? Not afraid to die?"
"Mmm?" Luffy hummed, watching as the kid talked to himself... or the floor, it was kind of hard to figure out.
"Maybe I can join the Marines?"
"Marines?" Asked Luffy.
"That's right!" Said Coby as he stood up with fire in his eyes. "It's my dream to catch bad guys!" Tears were still in his eyes, but the spark of determination was burning them away. "It's been my dream ever since my childhood. Can I do it?" The last part was apparently addressed to Luffy.
'Damn, Gramps would have a field day with this one.' Thought Luffy as he remembered all that talks that Garp had with him about Luffy joining the Marines and becoming Garp's legacy.
"How would I know?" Asked Luffy. 'Maybe I should send him to Gramps? He will quickly whip the kid into shape.'
"No, I will do it!" Coby was apparently on the roll here. "I'm going to get out of here and stop working as a slave for Alvida-sama! No , I will catch Alvida!"
*Crash*
Coby rant was interrupted by the wall and big part of the ceiling being smashed to pieces that rained down on the floor, making the kid scramble away in fear and Luffy to turn towards the attacker, that was now hidden by the cloud of dust.
"Making a friend like this..." Said a very unpleasant voice. "Who are you going to catch... Eh, Coby!" The kid was shaking in the corner, absolutely terrified of the new arrival. The dust finally settled down and Luffy saw the intruder, it was the big fat round hag with a big iron spiky club. He was about to ask who the hell was she, but several swords stuck through wall around his head. "You're not the Pirate Hunter Zoro, apparently the rumors were right, he's gone."
"Zoro?" Luffy raise an eyebrow, the name sounded familiar somewhat.
"Coby!" Barked the hag, making the boy almost jump out of his skin. "Who's the most beautiful woman in this ocean?" She asked.
'What with the question?' Thought Luffy. He wasn't really familiar with the concept of woman's beauty, but even being the dense and simple guy he was, the teen could see that the thing in front of him was far from beautiful.
"This is of course..." Started saying Coby.
"Who's this fat hag?" Asked Luffy, interrupting Coby and making everyone's in the hearing range drop their jaws on the floor.
'I'm pretty sure that this is Alvida, but I can be mistaking, it was years since I saw that Wanted Poster.' He may have been educated by Makino about the proper etiquette, as much as she tried at least, but nothing could cure his bluntness and dense attitude, apparently it was inheritable by the way how Garp behaved all the time.
"Fat? Now he's done it..." Muttered on of the pirates that were standing around th hole in the celling.
Several tick-marks appeared on Alvida's face.
"Brat!" She roared and swung her mace at him.
Luffy easily jumped up, evading the heavy weapon that tore the floor where he was standing a moment ago to shreds. He then landed in front of Coby, and grabbed his wrist.
"Let's go!" He said and jumped up, easily covering the distance between the ceiling and through the newly made hole, landing on the main deck and releasing the kid.
The pirates that were one the deck stared at him in shock.
'And now, the fun part.' He thought.
"You." Growled one the pirates and tried to cut Luffy with his sword.
Luffy just leaned back slightly, fully avoiding the attack and delivered a powerful blow to the enemy's temple, making him crush into the deck unconscious. Another one tried to slash Luffy from the left, but the teen simply sidestepped the attack and punched the thug in the face, hard, launching backwards with enough force to crack a wooden wall.
Four more guys jumped at him.
Luffy simply jumped up and avoided the attacks fully. When he landed a smirk was on his face, this was far too easy for him, considering the hellish training he went through this wasn't even a proper warm-up. He heard someone screaming behind him and lashed out with his right hand, grabbing the guy's face.
"It's not very polite to attack from the back!" He said and threw his at the four pirates that tried to kill him earlier.
The force of the throw was enough to make the four skid backwards and break through the railings, falling into the water. Without even looking backwards, he jumped up, avoiding another attack from the back by the group of pirates. He landed not far away in front of them, still smiling without a care in the world.
"Well, that is actually interesting!" He pulled his right hand back and suddenly it changed.
It became red with the shades of yellow and black, it was glowing slightly and smoke started coming from his shoulder. The arm looked like it was made from... magma? Then he punched forward, launching a fist shaped projectile made entirely out of magma at the group of pirates. it impacted the floor right in front of them, creating a fierce explosion of fire and molten rock, heavily burning the thugs, but not actually killing any of them.
Coby and Alvida, who finished climbing out of the hole, were gaping at the sense in front of them. Luffy just transformed his arm back to normal and started walking towards Coby, there wasn't even a scratch on him.
"Luffy-san, what are you?" Muttered Coby, stumbling slightly towards the teen, and trying to not step on the fire that Luffy's last attack started.
"Me?" Luffy smiled. "I'm a magma man." The answer left Coby stunned.
"Magma man... That..." Muttered the kid, before noticing that Alvida was actually standing right behind him, with all the shocks going around she was able to get closer unnoticed.
Coby instantly scrambled behind Luffy, making sure to position himself so the seemingly invincible teen was between him and Alvida.
"You ate the Akuma no Mi, right?" She asked with an unreadable expression.
"Yeah, I ate Magu Magu no Mi." Confirmed Luffy.
"Is that so." Said Alvida, trying to remember what she knew about Akuma no Mi, because some of them were insanely dangerous. "I've heard rumors about it, but I never thought it really existed. You also have some moves..." She sneered at him. "Are you a bounty hunter?"
"I'm a pirate." Said Luffy and looked at the rest of Alvida's crew that was standing on the deck of her ship.
"Pirate? Just you?" Alvida actually was surprised.
"It's just me right now, but I'll find the crew eventually." Said Luffy in the serious tone. "Don't know how many, but I'll be sure to make the best crew there is." Confidence in his voice was astonishing.
Their talk worked as pretty good distraction the let the orange-haired thief to sneak away without being noticed, while carrying a very big bag with stolen treasures.
"I see, so you're a pirate." She smirked. If her memory served her right, the ability to shoot something was in the rage of Paramecia-type Akuma no Mi, and therefore he was still vulnerable to the physical attacks. Judging by the name, he gained the ability to shoot projectiles made of magma, but it wouldn't protect him from the hit in the head that would crush his skull. "That makes us enemies, doesn't it?" If she will strike first, she would win pretty easily.
"Lu... Luffy-san, run." Whispered Coby to the teen.
"Why?" Asked Luffy. 'It's not like she can hurt me, I'm Logia, physical attack simply won't affect me.'
"You saw the power of that iron club, didn't you?" Mumbled Coby. "This person is the stron..." But he stopped talking by the stare that Luffy was giving him, the teen clearly wasn't impressed with the kid's lack of guts at the moment.
"I decided to become the Pirate King. I don't care if I die fighting for it."
Luffy's earlier words rang through Coby's mind.
"'This person is the' what Coby?" Asked Alvida.
"The... the..." Luffy smirked, seeing the earlier fire returning to the kid's eyes. "The ugliest stinking old hag!" He finally said.
Everyone's jaw dropped, Alvida was producing strange hissing noises, while Luffy was laughing.
"What did you say?" Alvida finally was able to get out, actually growling the last word.
"I will join the Marines! Join and fight pirate like you!" Coby wasn't going to stop, he finally got enough courage to say everything that was on his heart.
"Do you even know what you are saying?!" Asked Alvida.
"I know!" The kid had guts, and just know showed just how much of them. "I'll... I'll do what I want! Join the Marines and... join the Marines and..." He took a deep breath. "Capture you!"
"Little brat!" Roared Alvida and swung her club at him.
'No regrets! No regrets!' Coby was repeating in his head. 'I said it! I fought for my dream!'
But before the mace came even close to the kid's head it was stopped by Luffy, who was holding it back without any effort with only his left hand.
Things that Luffy wasn't lacking was his physical strength and speed. Many users of the Logia-type Akuma no Mi decided that they are invincible simply because no normal physical attack could harm them, Garp showed Luffy just how wrong these people were, but easily punching Luffy's lights out simply ignoring the rule about Logia-types. The teen still couldn't figure out how did Gramps do it, because there wasn't any water nearby or Kairōseki on the old fart's hands.
The mace in Luffy's hand started to heat and, becoming bright red and melting down in a pile of slag in front of Luffy. Alvida was fast enough to let go of her weapon, before her hand would have been burned off. She could see that Luffy's palm was made out of hot magma.
"Buy, buy!" Said Luffy as he suddenly appeared before in front of Alvida in a burst of speed, and delivered a powerful blow with his right fist in her stomach.
Her stomach actually imploded from the impact, and then she was sent flying while screaming her head of from pain.
The pirate that was earlier launched from the ship by Alvida's mace was floating in the water belly-up.
"The sky is so blue..." He muttered, barely regaining conscious.
Suddenly a huge shadow fell upon him.
*Boom*
Alvida's collision with the sea created a huge column of water, even bigger than from cannonball's explosion.
Everyone was staring at the impossible sight, some unknown teen just sent Alvida flying with one punch! Pirates were actually scared for their lives right now.
"Hey!" Luffy called them out.
"Yes!" Even under Alvida they didn't show such a level of synchrony.
"Give Coby a boat." Said Luffy in a serious tone. "He's going to join the Marines. Let him go." There wasn't any room for arguments here.
"Yes, yes!" The pirates agreed instantly.
"Luffy-san..." Coby could even describe how thankful he was to the teen.
*Whiiiiiieeeeeu*
*Bdush*
*Bdush*
*Bdush*
The sound of cannonballs exploding around the ship interrupted the moment. Luffy was able to hold himself upright, Coby on the other hand used the railing for support.
"That's the..." Muttered Luffy, looking at the three big ships not far away. "Marines!" Luffy smiled. "Isn't that great? Why don't you go?" Coby looked at Luffy in shock. "I'm a pirate, time to run!" And with that Luffy jumped over the railings.
"How can I..." Asked Coby hysterically. "They'd arrest me before I could join!"
The already familiar orange-haired girl still in her pirate disguise was checking her loot, while sitting on the stolen boat. Suddenly another boat landed near her, she saw a small scrawny kid with pink hair and glasses on it.
Suddenly someone else landed on the second boat. It was a teen maybe a year younger than her, but it was hard to tell. He had spiky black hair that was sticking out from under the straw-hat on his head, black eyes, with s small scar under the left one and slightly round face. He was wearing black captain-coat, with golden buttons, black suit with red dress-shirt and black tie under it, black suit-pants and flip-flops on his feet. if she was right, he was actually pretty taller, taller than her at least.
She actually blushed a little.
Then an explosion from cannonball created a wall of water between them, but not before their eyes met.
"We got away somehow..." Muttered Coby, while looking around for any more ships.
The small boat with only one sail was going at a pretty decent speed, Luffy was sitting and smiling.
"That was fun!" He laughed.
"Um, Luffy-san." Called Coby, and continued when the teen looked at him. "If One Piece is you goal, the means you are heading toward the Grand Line, right?" Luffy nodded. "It's also called the 'Graveyard of Pirates'."
"Yeah, that's why I need a strong crew." Confirmed the teen. "Alvida mentioned that guy, Zoro, I've heard that name before but can't quite place it." Luffy scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, he was a pretty famous bounty hunter in East Blue, people said that he was very strong." Explained Coby.
"'Was'?" Asked Luffy.
"Not long ago he was executed on the island not far from here." Coby lowered his head a little. "I don't know all the details, but apparently Marines captured him and the Captain of the base where he was held decided to execute him."
"Hmm, so he was weak?" Asked Luffy.
"No!" Coby actually raised his voice. "He was a terrifying beast!"
"You said that it wasn't far away, right?" Asked Luffy.
"Yes, actually it's the nearest island right now." Confirmed the kid.
"Well, let head that way so you can join the Marines, and I would probably be able to get some more food for a longer journey." Said Luffy.
Under the almost unbearable heat of the sun, tied to a wooden crucifix in the centre of a dry dusty courtyard was a very young woman. Her face was downcast, her eyes shadowed with her chin-length dark blue hair. On her head were rectangular red spectacles. She was wearing red short-sleeved shirt with pink dots with blue leather coat with a furred collar and edge linings over it. She also wore blue jeans, black shoes and grey gloves.
If someone would look closely, they would've noticed dried down lines made by tears on her face.
I know what you people will say. Yes, I know that the Chapter was very close to canon, but it's intentional so you can see the minor changes in the world that would soon grow and change the whole plot. The further the story would be, the more changes and unexpected plot-twists you will find. Just please be patient and give the whole idea a chance.
Also, I know that Logia-Luffy stories almost always pictures him with already created crew, but I'm doing ti differently, and I really think that I got something here.
As always, I'm open to any question, suggestions and criticism! Just leave them in your Review!