456AN:
Nothing from One Piece is owned by me as much as I wish the opposite were true. The only things I can take credit for are some of my own original ideas and a couple of OCs.
I started this story as just something to do with my free time, I never really expected to post it anywhere. Well, here we are. I kind of just want to see what people think about it. Some of you might hate it, some of you might love it, it might not even get read by anyone. Honestly, any of those is fine with me I kind of just wanted to see what would happen. Feel free to leave criticisms and suggestions I would love to hear what you think about my writing. Bad? Good? The worst thing you've ever read? The best?
That being said, I hope you enjoy it. Also, don't expect updates on a regular schedule or anything like that. I work on this when I have time and I will post accordingly.
Some other notes:
If you don't feel like reading all this you certainly don't have to, just jump into the story. I just wanted to talk about some stuff people might have questions about.
As of right now, there aren't any pairings I just like to be a tease (it'll make sense later). I was really planning to hold off on thinking about them until after the time skip if I ever get that far. I wanted pre-time skip to mostly be about the crew getting stronger because I always liked reading about that kind of stuff. I don't know what post-time skip will bring, but there might be a little romance there might not we shall see. I might just continue to be a huge tease :)
In regards to the crew, I plan on keeping the straw hats the same pre-time skip, so no expanded crew right now. There will be earlier interactions and some other changes, but nothing too serious. I've got some ideas for maybe adding one or two characters post-time skip, but that could also change depending on how the story develops.
There will be one or two OCs that will be in the story, probably nothing major like a new straw hat or anything, but I might need some more characters to flesh some things out so expect that.
Along with OCs, I'm doing some original plot stuff here at the beginning of the story, until I get to main canon, so some of the info and characters will be from the canon universe and some stuff not, my goal is to make it seem real enough that you might have to look up what's actually canon and what's not. Once we get to canon, things will happen differently and there will be some minor and some major changes to the story, but will roughly follow the canon storyline.
Haki isn't really gone into too much detail in regards to explanation, making it kind of hard to write about, so I've kind of just made up my own way to explain it as well as got some ideas from just searching online. Any ideas I pull directly from, I will try to credit. I wanted to make it feel like the explanations would make sense in the actual One Piece world. Hope it works. It does in my head.
I know non-devil fruit Luffy has been done before, but I wanted to try my own version of it. Some of you will probably have qualms about how early Haki is introduced, but I encourage you to give a least the first couple chapters a read and see if they make you wanna stay. If not... well I tried.
I hope the pace isn't too slow or too fast, I tried to slot it right in the middle so there's some character interaction, but also some fighting and maybe sometimes both at the same time. It feels like a good pace to me but I'm the author so I'm biased.
I try to keep everyone in character, but it's hard at times so there will definitely be some OOC moments. Especially Luffy. I try to make him feel like the same Luffy, just with a tiny bit more intelligence. Hope he doesn't seem too weird.
Also, I'm sure you'll notice one or two things that don't quite line up in the story sometimes and that's usually for a reason that I'll explain in a later chapter or I'm just an idiot and I'll fix it later. There are a couple of seeds that I'm planting here early on in the story, so some things might not make sense for a while, but it's on purpose, so you'll have to stay to find out what this wild brain cooked up.
This isn't really a super op Luffy fic, ie. he won't be curb-stomping every person he fights. Yes he will be curb-stomping some people, but I also want him to have fights that he learns from, so I'll be scaling up some of the canon villains as realistically (in regards to the OP world) as I can, to make them a challenge.
This fic turned out to be a lot longer and more detailed than originally planned so be prepared for a long read, lol. I suggest going at it in spurts. I'm adding this in now because it looks like the story is going to be similar to an epic in length... Maybe even multiple epics... It wasn't planned that way when I started but I've grown to love this story and its length is a part of that. So, if you're not down with a slow-burn plot, I would probably suggest shying away from this one as much as it hurts me to say so. For those of you who decide to take the plunge, first off, thank you and I hope you enjoy it, and second, I promise the writing gets better as you go.
I think I've got most of the stuff I wanted to say, but I'll probably be back adding more stuff later.
With that said, here's the first chapter. Feel free to let me know what you think.
Chapter 1: Born to Conquer
"To Luffy and his bravery!", shouted a certain red-haired pirate captain. As the words left his mouth, Party's Bar erupted into cheers.
We find ourselves on Dawn Island, the home of Monkey D. Luffy. The seven-year-old boy resides in Fusha Village, located in the Goa Kingdom. The village is relatively small and more often than not, nothing of consequence happens in the area. However, for the past year, a certain pirate crew has been using the village as its base of operations in the East Blue. This leads us to now, just after our young protagonist has attempted to show his courage, to his role model, by stabbing himself with a knife under his eye.
"It didn't hurt at all! Nope, not one bit!", the young boy yelled with a smile. Luffy was currently trying, and consequently failing, to hide the pain on his face from his role model, the captain of the Red-Haired Pirates, Red-Haired Shanks.
"Liar!", Shanks yelled back at the boy, lightly smacking him, "You could have blinded yourself!".
Luffy held his head and pouted. "But see! Now you know I can be a pirate! Plus my punch is as strong as a pistol!", he exclaimed punching through the air, "Please take me with you, Shanks!".
Behind the two, the rest of Shanks' crew was beginning to like the idea of the kid joining them for their next voyage, "Come on Shanks, why not let the kid come? It could be fun to watch him do more stupid stuff!". Various members of the crew shouted in agreement.
"Alright alright fine…", Shanks began. At this Luffy was practically vibrating in excitement, he was finally going to be a pirate! "…but only if one of you takes his place here in Fusha!", the man finished with a smirk.
The reaction was immediate. "Sorry kid! Looks like you're stuck here!", they all yelled in unison.
"Traitors!", Luffy screamed back in outrage.
"Look Luffy, you're just too young. If you were, like, ten years older, then maybe we'd talk, but you're just a little seven-year-old brat that can't even swim. You sink just like an anchor and a punch as strong as a pistol? Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it!", Shanks said before cracking up laughing, "What would we do if you fell off the ship during a fight?".
"Well, then I'll be a pirate who never leaves the ship! Ha! Now take me with you!", Luffy countered determinedly.
"But then how could you go on amazing adventures if you never leave the ship? Going on adventures is the best part of being a pirate! Well, that and drinking as much as you want!", exclaimed Shanks, his crew shouting their agreement.
Before Luffy could get in his rebuttal, Shanks began telling him tales of the adventures he and his crew had gone on and some of the trouble they'd gotten into. As the man relayed his stories, time seemed to fly by for the boy who sat listening, mesmerized by the adventures of the pirate crew. The argument from before was almost completely forgotten.
After a time had passed, Shanks eventually stopped his storytelling and got back to drinking and partying with his crew, leaving Luffy all by himself at the bar. Quickly becoming bored without someone entertaining him, Luffy began to look for something to occupy his time. His eyes eventually settled on a treasure chest at the end of the bar. With stars in his eyes at the thought of pirate treasure, Luffy made his way to the chest to inspect what was inside.
As the young boy made his way closer, he began to hear an unintelligible whisper. Looking around the bar, he wondered why he could hear such a quiet whisper when the party around him was so loud. Locking his eyes on the chest, he could feel the whisper coming from it. How he could feel it, he didn't have a clue, just that he could.
Coming closer, the whisper began to grow louder, not in tone, but in volume, still sounding like someone whispering but just… louder. Now even more curious than before after realizing the whispering was emanating from the treasure chest, the boy looked around the bar before carefully opening the top.
When the chest cracked open, Luffy could finally make out the words he was hearing, not bothering to wonder why he was the only one that could. The rest of the occupants of the bar seemed to be oblivious to the voice coming from the box.
'Eat me.'
'Eat me.'
'Eat me.'
Luffy finally opened the top all the way and could see what looked to be some sort of purple fruit about the size of a grapefruit. The weird part about the fruit wasn't its color or the size of it, it was the fact that the skin looked to be covered in swirls.
Looking at something he had never tried before, Luffy's stomach began to grumble, and being a boy controlled by his appetite, he reached his hand toward the purple curiosity with the hope that it tasted good. Just as his hand was about to clutch the strange fruit, however, he faltered.
'EAT ME.'
'EAT ME.'
'EAT ME.'
The voice was now much louder than before and he didn't really understand why. One thing he did know, however, was he wanted the voice to be quiet again. So, he quickly took his hand away and shut the chest, the whisper once again becoming quiet and unintelligible.
Suddenly, the doors to the bar were violently thrown open, and in walked a group of rugged-looking men. The men sauntered through the establishment, sizing up all the pirates, and eventually found their way to the bar. Luffy turned from his place in front of the now closed treasure chest to inspect the newcomers, the voice and the fruit almost completely forgotten… almost.
"My name is Higuma! Tha' leader of these mount'n bandits and a man with a eight-million berri bounty on his head.", the man at the front stated smugly. "Now, we ain't here tuh cause no trouble, we jus' want some good booze tuh drink.", he looked around and counted heads, "About twelve barrels of yer best stuff should do.".
The barmaid, Makino, looked to the man and replied with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry sir, we're actually out of alcohol at the moment. Can I interest you in anything else?".
A scowl took over Higuma's face, "Out of booze, huh?". The man turned and eyed the pirates in the bar. "Then what, might I ask, are these pirates drinkin'?", he questioned, replacing his scowl with a menacing smile.
Beginning to see what the situation might become Makino's form shook slightly, replying with a stutter, "W-well s-sir, they are drinking sake, ho-however I'm sorry to say they bought up the last of it that I-I had in stock.".
Placing a hand on the woman's shoulder and giving the barmaid a quick smile, Shanks came to her rescue. "Sorry about that!", he said with a laugh, "My crew and I were really thirsty, seems we drank the place dry!". Seeing the last bottle of sake sitting on the bar, the redhead grabbed it and held it up to the man with a smile, "Looks like we have one last bottle! It's not much, but it's yours if you'd like!".
Eying the bottle held before him, Higuma grabbed it and turned, as if to walk away. Just as the situation seemed to be dealt with, the mountain bandit whipped around and smashed the unopened bottle on Shanks, bringing the man to the ground and making a mess of the floor below. Out of the entire bar, only two people noticed the slight blackening of a small spot on his head as the bottle connected with it. As soon as it would have been noticeable, for most, it was gone.
One of the two was the first mate of the Red-Haired Pirates, the grey-haired man smiling to himself. He didn't think anyone else was looking close enough to see. Plus, haki was a norm on the Red Force. So, any crew mates who might have noticed, wouldn't care anyway. Through his smile, however, he did have the urge to scold his captain even though he knew the man was just having a little fun. That power wasn't supposed to exist in the part of the world they were currently in.
The other person who noticed was a small boy of seven years old, wondering what the curious black spot on the pirate captain's head could have been. Usually, Luffy would have quickly forgotten something so small, but for some reason, it stuck in the back of his head. He would have to bring it up with Shanks later. Right now, all he could do was try to keep himself from screaming at the stupid bandit that had hit his role model.
"One measly bottle of sake ain't anywhere close tuh enough fer us!", Higuma shouted as he looked down at Shanks.
For a moment, no one knew what the pirate captain would do as he sat there on the floor, straw hat shadowing his eyes. After staying in his position on the ground, for what felt like an eternity to the rest of the bar, the straw-hatted man got to his knees and began trying to gather all of the pieces of broken glass. "Sorry about the mess Makino! You don't happen to have any rags or something I could clean this up with, do you?", he asked sheepishly, a small smile gracing his face.
At this, all of the pirates in the room let out a sigh of relief. They knew how things could have ended up.
"Shanks, please let me do that!", Makino replied sincerely. It was her job after all.
"Nonsense, it's my fault the floor is all messy! I should be the one to clean it up!", the redhead reasoned in response.
Against her better judgment, Makino acquiesced and stepped behind the bar to grab a rag for the handsome red-haired man. Once the rag had reached his hand, Shanks began to clean the large mess beneath him.
Higuma continued to watch the 'pathetic pirate' clean up the floor with a scowl on his face, "Oh so ya like cleaning do ya? Ya like it so much you won't even let the bar bitch clean it for you, huh?".
As soon as the words left the man's mouth, Makino made the quickest exit she could, tears streaming down her face. After the green-haired woman had gone, the bar suddenly seemed to freeze. The air all around had gained a heavy feel, as if there was weight to it now. Shanks' crew had grown accustomed to the feeling, knowing what it was, but this time it felt slightly different, weaker even, and no one understood why.
Higuma suddenly felt as if he couldn't breathe. Air simply wouldn't flow through his lungs and he began to sweat. Hearing loud thumps behind him, he turned to find every single one of his men unconscious on the floor. 'Something's wrong.', Higuma thought to himself. What the hell was happening to everyone? Why couldn't he breathe? It felt like something was weighing him down and it was getting heavier by the second!
Shanks stood to his feet and his whole crew could see what was coming. The fool of a mountain bandit had just made the last mistake he would ever make. No one insulted Shanks' friends. That's why, when Luffy walked from behind their captain and stood in front of him, the crew members of the Red-Haired Pirates were all shocked senseless.
With a dark look in his eye, Luffy met Higuma's gaze, "No one hurts my friends.". With every word the small boy spoke, the weight in the room continued to grow heavier, "First, you smash a bottle on Shanks, and then… YOU CALL MY BIG SISTER THAT WORD?". Luffy's gaze was piercing and his voice lowered once more, tone darkening even further, "Take it back. Right. Now.".
Higuma, his body and mind being unable to withstand the strength of Luffy's will, collapsed with blood flowing from his nose and ears. The silence that permeated through the bar, was deafening. No one spoke until the first bandits began to pick themselves up off of the ground, shocked to find their leader lying on the floor in a small puddle of his own blood.
"Grab your leader's body and leave. If you ever come back to this place again, it's not the kid you'll have to worry about.", the red-haired captain said in a voice barely above a whisper, flashing his eye toward the remaining men.
While the bandits felt no power this time, the gaze seemed just as dangerous if not more so. They quickly gathered Higuma's still-warm body and left as fast as humanly possible, fear practically rolling off of them in waves.
Once the door was closed and the pirates were alone, silence settled in the bar, once again. A few seconds passed and it was broken by a slight sniffling, "Shanks…w-w-what… I-… I di-dn't… what did I…".
"Luffy, how about me and you go out for a little bit, huh?", Shanks asked in the lightest possible tone.
Not trusting his voice at the moment, the shaking boy just nodded his head and the two proceed to walk out of the bar, leaving a group of shell-shocked pirates to clean up the aftermath.
The sun was beginning to set as the two made their way out of the door, Luffy clinging to the young captain as if his life depended on it.
Seeing as the boy wasn't going to be talking any time soon, Shanks took a deep breath and decided to start.
"A long time ago, I was a kid maybe a couple of years older than you.", he paused and looked at Luffy as they kept walking, "Unlike you, however, I was the cabin boy on a pirate ship, along with another kid.". He paused again, memories of his old ship and crew-mates playing in his head, bringing a soft smile to his lips.
The redhead shook the thoughts away and continued, his smile still firmly in place, "My captain was an amazing man, Luffy, and someone I admired greatly. I wanted to be just like him... Not just because he was strong, and trust me he was, but because of the way he lived. He was the freest man alive and the people he called friends weren't just that, they were family to him... I see that in you, too. You're only seven years old and I can still see some similarities between the two of you."
Getting down to his knee, Shanks stopped the black-haired boy and looked him in the eyes as he continued. "Luffy, I want you to know that there's nothing wrong with protecting your friends. I know you don't understand what happened tonight but, please, believe me when I say this... You have nothing to be ashamed of. You, a seven-year-old boy, did more to protect Makino's name than I did." The man hung his head in shame, "And I'm a full-blown pirate captain.".
"I didn't just do it for Makino…", came the seven-year-old's soft voice.
Shanks perked back up at the words. "What do you mean?", he asked.
"I don't know exactly what I did, but… I did it for you too, Shanks.", Luffy said.
Hearing those words come from the young boy's mouth, Shanks' breath caught in his throat and for a split second instead of Luffy standing in front of him, it was his old captain. It was strange, while he'd gotten to know the kid well over the course of his stay on the island, it wasn't as if he'd spent enough time to know him as well as he knew Roger. So why? Why was he seeing it so clearly? The picture of Gol. D. Roger was practically superimposed behind the boy in front of him. Whatever it was, whatever the feeling meant, Shanks had already decided that he would see it through.
"I couldn't just stand there and watch him do that to you, Shanks, I couldn't. It made me so… mad.", there was a small pause before he began again, a slight quiver returning to his voice, "Shanks... am I a bad person? I could tell... that he... he was... that I kil-".
"Luffy, personally I've never lost sleep over killing someone.", Shanks interrupted seeing the spiral the boy was about to go down. "However, I never take pride or find joy in it. I don't like killing, but sometimes it is necessary to protect the things and people closest to your heart. So, no Luffy... you're not a bad kid. I don't think you have it in you to be a bad person, you're too earnest... anchor.", he finished, a smirk on his face to go with the attempt at lightening the mood.
It was one of the few times the boy had managed to stay quiet for more than thirty seconds and it was obvious on his face that Shanks' words had hit home. "Shanks what does it mean to be a pirate?", asked Luffy with a thoughtful look, trying to change the subject. He didn't want to think about the stupid bandit anymore.
It was an interesting question, and not one Shanks was expecting in the moment. He thought about it for a second before answering honestly, "Well, Luffy, that question has a lot of different answers, depending on who you ask. For me, I became a pirate to be free to do anything I wanted, to drink, to fight, and most importantly, to chase my dreams.".
When Luffy heard the man mention freedom, he immediately knew he wanted nothing else in the world. He wanted to be able to sail the seas and go on adventures with people he met along the way. He wanted to make friends. He wanted to be strong, to be able to protect those friends. He wanted to be free, to do what he wanted when he wanted to do it. And lastly, he decided that he wanted to be the one to find the One Piece. Not to stand at the top and look down on the people below him, but because the Pirate King, was the freest person in the world.
Slowly but surely, one could see Luffy's resolve harden, and even though it might take him time to truly come to terms with what had happened in the bar, he had made a decision. A decision that would unknowingly determine and shape him into the person he would one day become... He was going to live his life the way he wanted and protect the people he cared for at any cost. He was going to be the freest person in the world. He had a dream and he was going to make it come true.
He was going to become the King of the Pirates.
With his resolve set in stone, the black-haired boy began to think back to the bar, and now that the fear and sadness of taking a life had taken a backseat to his new revelation, curiosity was all that was left. "Shanks, can you tell me what happened in the bar? I still don't really understand.", Luffy asked after a second of silence.
Now was where things got complicated. How in the world was Shanks supposed to explain the concept of haki to a seven-year-old boy?
'Shit. I can't just leave him like this.', he thought to himself. If Luffy couldn't control his Conqueror's Haki it was bound to come out again which would just confuse the kid even more and with his first burst being as strong as it was, it could definitely lead to someone dying again. Would he teach him everything?...
The man thought about it for a moment before deciding that he wouldn't. Haki wasn't even supposed to exist outside of the Grandline and even then, it was mostly found in the New World. Plus, Luffy was only seven and it wasn't like he could really learn how to use armament or observation by the time they left... He guessed he'd have to explain Conqueror's Haki and help him with keeping it reigned in. 'Can't have it coming out unintentionally.', he thought, tuning back in just before Luffy next spoke.
"Oh, and what was that black stuff on your head, when you got hit earlier?", the boy asked off-handedly.
'SHIT.'.
"Whatever might you mean my young friend? I'm sure I don't know what you could possibly be talking about.", Shanks said whistling, not suspiciously in the slightest… At this point, sweat was beginning to pour off the man. The current situation was becoming more of a handful than he originally thought.
"LIAR!", Luffy screamed. "You never talk like that to me! You always call me anchor or brat! You're definitely hiding something Shanks! Tell me!", the seven-year-old yelled with an expression of absolute determination. He was going to find out if it was the last thing he did. At this point, Shanks had refused to let him become a pirate and now the man was lying to his face?
Laughter immediately broke through Shanks' lips at the expression on the young boy's face, "LOOK AT YOUR FACE! IT'S SO SCRUNCHED UP! THAT IS TOO GOOD ANCHOR!".
Luffy could only kick at the laughing man who, at this point, was on the ground holding his stomach.
Eventually, Shanks was able to regain his breath and sat up. Before answering, the man took a good long look at the kid in front of him. He just couldn't help but see the similarities between his own former captain and the young boy. After several seconds had passed, he made his decision. Who was he kidding, there was never a decision to begin with.
"Alright alright fine! I'll tell you, but listen to me Luffy, this is very important. The power I'm about to tell you about doesn't exist in this ocean and there are people out there that will hurt you to keep it that way.", he warned. A part of Shanks was worried about Luffy being targeted, mainly by the government. However, so long as the kid could somewhat keep a secret, he imagined it would probably be fine. So he justified it the way he always did. He was a pirate. Pirates did what they wanted. Therefore…
"The black stuff you saw on my head earlier and what you did to that bandit are both different versions of the same power, haki. The version I used is essentially using your spirit to make something hard and it's summoned by force of will. With me so far?", asked Shanks. He'd thought he explained it as simply as he could, and yet as his eyes rose from Luffy's to the boy's head, he saw smoke rising.
"... So it's a mystery power...", Luffy replied, blankly staring at the red-haired man.
"YOU DAMN BRAT! OF COURSE NOT!", Shanks screamed with shark teeth. Once again taking another deep breath and realizing that explaining haki to a seven-year-old might be harder than he expected, Shanks continued again, pointing at his arm, "Alright, Luffy, what do you see?".
Confused, the boy took a closer look at Shanks' arm. It didn't look any different, but before backing away and saying that, he touched it... It felt strange to him, like it was harder than it should be. There was something there but he had no idea what it was. "Why the heck does your arm feel like that?!", he questioned.
"Well, Luffy, this is what is called Armament Haki and this version of it is called enhancement. Using enhancement on your body allows you to hit harder and, vice versa, take more hits as well. Like you said before when using this version most people won't even notice because the appearance of your skin doesn't change. Also, like I said before, it's summoned by force of will, and the stronger your willpower the easier it is to use.", Shanks explained.
The amount of smoke pouring from Luffy's head began to increase from his brain being overloaded. He was definitely going to need a repeat of the information at some point. However, Shanks had said it was important so he was really trying to listen. One thing was still on his mind more than anything, though. "But Shanks, your arm isn't black like your head was.", he pointed out, hoping for an explanation.
In reply, Shanks' arm began to glow red, creating a strange vibrating sound. The red glow suddenly popped out of existence leaving the entire limb, from the elbow down, covered in a midnight black metallic sheen, "Very good of you to notice, Luffy.".
"WOAH!", the seven-year-old yelled with stars in his eyes, "SO COOL! What did you do that time?! Can you teach me?!"
"Slow your roll, kid.", Shanks laughed. He should have expected the boy to be pretty excited. He was a bit older than Luffy when he actually started learning haki, but he remembered the awe of seeing it for the first time when he was younger. "I guess I'm gonna have to teach you the basics of armament now, as well as the other form you used. But only the basics and I'm not teaching you the last form either. Where would the fun in that be?", he teased.
The words made Luffy frown to himself. "Lame old geezer...", he whispered under his breath.
"GEEZER? GEEZER?! I'M ONLY twenty-seven! I AM NOT A GEEZER! Hmph, maybe I shouldn't even teach you at all if you're gonna be ungrateful.", the older man pouted, crossing his arms.
"NOOOOO! SHANKS I'LL BEHAVE! I PROMISE!", begged the young boy.
"Yeah yeah, I know you will Anchor I'm just messing with you!", Shanks laughed before getting on with the impromptu lesson, "First of all, the difference between enhancement and the other version is enhancement would be like covering your arm in a sheet of metal. It makes it hard, but only on the outside. Can you take a guess as to what the other version might do?", he asked.
Luffy thought long and hard, but his seven-year-old brain just couldn't think of a good answer. What could be better than covering your skin in metal? Just as he was about to give up and ask Shanks for the answer, it hit him. The only thing better than covering yourself in metal… is to be the metal! "Does the other version make the inside metal too?", Luffy asked, excitedly, visions of cyborgs and robots flowing through his brain.
'Honestly, did not think he was gonna get there.', Shanks thought to himself, slightly impressed. Although it technically wasn't metal, if it made sense to Luffy then it worked for him.
"Very good, Luffy! Now, before we can talk more about armament, we need to talk about the form of haki you used. This type is called… Conqueror's Haki.", he stated in an ominous tone. The man took a deep breath thinking of the best way to go about the conversation before, metaphorically, diving into the deep end.
"Alright Luffy", he began, "I know you don't want something like what happened tonight to happen again, so I need you to listen very closely.". Shanks would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about teaching a seven-year-old Conqueror's Haki. He was basically giving a child a loaded gun… or a bomb. But at this point, what choice did he have? It's not like he could leave the kid out to dry, especially now that he'd gotten to know the little anchor. He imagined what he felt for Luffy, was similar to what his captain had felt for him.
With that in mind, the man continued, "It's alright if you don't understand completely right now, I'll make sure it's stuck in that empty head of yours, real good before I leave.".
Too excited to learn about the cool mysterious power, Luffy didn't even register the insult and nodded his head enthusiastically.
"Very few people can do what you did tonight, Luffy. Actually it's probably about one in a million. Essentially, users of Conqueror's Haki can force their will onto other people. This will affect these people based on their willpower in comparison to yours.".
Just as Luffy made to interrupt, Shanks put up his hand and stopped him, "I know you're going to have questions, Luffy, but try and wait until I'm finished and then I'll answer anything you ask.".
The conversation that followed had Luffy's head smoking once again, but he paid attention because he knew it was important, holding his tongue until Shanks finished explaining. After the explanation, the man answered any questions the boy had until his curiosity was sufficiently satisfied.
With the conversation put on hold for the moment, the two walked in peaceful silence until right before they walked back into the bar. Before Luffy could reach for the doors, Shanks stopped and the seven-year-old turned in curiosity. "Luffy, I need you to promise me something... Can you do that?", the red-haired man asked seriously.
"Of course I can, Shanks!", Luffy replied.
"This won't matter so much with Armament Haki because it is easy to hide enhancement, it might be a problem if you learn the other form of it down the road, but that's for later.", Shanks started. He wasn't too worried about the Navy discovering that Luffy could use the power he was going to teach him. As he had said before, enhancement was easy to hide and Luffy would have to have a real knack for haki to reach hardening before he got to the Grandline, especially, if he didn't leave the island before then. While not impossible, the man didn't think that it was likely. The only real problem, in Shanks' mind, was Conqueror's Haki.
"Luffy, even though I'm going to teach you to control your Conqueror's Haki, I need you to promise me that you will only ever use it as a last resort or unless YOU'RE SURE no one will be around to see you.", the red-haired man said. He had to let the kid have SOME fun with it, after all. "At least, until you make it to the second half of the Grandline. That is... if you're still gonna be a pirate.", Shanks finished, feeling something from Luffy as soon as the words left his mouth.
After checking the immediate area for any auras other than himself, the rest of his crew in the bar, and the boy in front of him and finding none, Shanks got curious. 'Let's see what you got kid.', he thought to himself.
"OF COURSE I AM SHANKS! AND NOT JUST ANY PIRATE!", Luffy looked to the sky, completely oblivious to the power bubbling beneath his skin, and screamed, "I'M GONNA BE... THE KING OF THE PIRATES!"
Shanks felt the pressure immediately as he stood there, seemingly unfazed by the torrent of willpower exuding from Luffy. 'Not bad... not bad at all.', he thought. He never expected to see such potent Conqueror's Haki from someone so young. The child in his presence would be a real monster when he was older.
The red-haired man stood stock still as Luffy's power ran its course, impressed with the young boy, not that Luffy ever even noticed. "And why, might I ask, do you want to be the king, huh?", Shanks asked after the burst had completely settled.
Luffy thought for a moment before answering, "Well you said the King of the Pirates was the freest man in the world right? I want that. I want to be free to do whatever I want. Freer than anyone, even you! And most importantly, it sounds like a pretty cool adventure, right? And you said that one of your favorite things about being a pirate was going on adventures with your crew! So I'm gonna find an amazing crew and we are gonna go on all kinds of adventures together!".
"Freer than me, huh?", Shanks asked with a teasing smile. "You know, that means you'll have to beat me one day.".
"You bet your tomato-headed butt I'm gonna beat you one day!", yelled Luffy, sticking his tongue out at the red-haired man.
"You're a hundred years too young to be sayin' shit like that to me, brat!", Shanks yelled back even louder. However, he couldn't help the smile the kid brought to his face and so he did just that, he smiled and asked once again, "So, you promise? You won't use it unless it's the last thing you can do or no one else is around to see? If you went around using it all the time when you start your journey, the navy might take notice and try to cut your trip short and we definitely don't want that do we?".
"Nuh-uh! Stupid navy won't be stopping my adventures! I promise Shanks!", Luffy exclaimed.
The man continued smiling, dropping to kneel in front of Luffy, "Well then, in regards to your earlier declaration, I want to give you something.". Slowly, he reached up to his head, pulling off the straw hat he wore everywhere, and, to the shock of the young boy in front of him, placed it on his head.
"This hat was given to me by someone I greatly admired Luffy. It's my treasure... but I think he would have wanted me to give it to you.". The pirate captain removed his hand from the now straw-hatted boy's head, "Hold on to it for me and when you become a great pirate, you can give it back. Think of it like a promise to meet again after my crew and I leave this island."
All Luffy could do was stand there and accept Shanks' gift, not trusting his own voice in fear of crying again. "Thank you, Shanks, for talking to me and for this.", he said after a second, pointing to his new hat, "I promise I'll get it back to you someday."
"Well I don't expect that for a long while, so how about this... My crew and I will be here for around four more months. In that time I'll teach you the basics of Armament Haki and how to control your Conqueror's Haki but never forget your promise, got it?", the red-haired man asked.
"I got it, Shanks!", the child exclaimed.
Shanks smiled at the young boy's excitement, "Alright, every day for the next couple of months, you and I are going to the mountains to train. My crew can take care of getting things that we need around the East Blue for our departure. I hope you're ready for hell Anchor, 'cause I certainly won't make this easy.".
"I'm ready Shanks! I'm gonna be super strong by the time you leave! And then, I'm gonna get even stronger after that!", shouted Luffy enthusiastically.
"I know you will anchor, I know you will.", mused the redhead, reaching to push the doors of the bar open.
"OH I REMEMBER NOW!", exclaimed Luffy, making the man pause in the opening of said door.
Shanks turned back, curiously, "Remember what, Anchor?".
"I wanted to ask you why that weird fruit in the cool treasure chest talks.", Luffy answered innocently.
Not for the first time that night, Shanks' world froze, "Shit…", he whispered to himself.
"What's wrong, Shanks?", Luffy asked, not understanding the shock that had taken over the red-haired man's face.
The red-haired man backed away from the door and grabbed the boy's arm, before once again running off. Luffy didn't really understand what had spooked the pirate captain but decided he should probably just go along with it.
Once the two had made it to a place Shanks had determined safe, he sat Luffy down. The straw-hatted boy could tell something serious was coming, so decided to stay quiet and wait for the man to start.
"Luffy… I need you to tell me EXACTLY what you heard.", Shanks said, seriously.
Luffy nodded his head and proceeded to tell him how he got bored and wanted to see what was in the chest. He told him how the fruit was saying 'Eat me.' and when his hand got close to it, it started saying it really loud. The seven-year-old didn't understand what was going on, but after he finished, he could tell Shanks was deep in thought.
Luffy was correct, the redhead was thinking deeply. It had to be it. The Voice of All Things. His captain had never said anything about being able to hear devil fruits but with Luffy why was he even surprised. 'This shit just got way complicated.', he mused with an inward groan. "Luffy, remember how I told you that you need to keep your Conqueror's Haki a secret and only ever use it if there's no other option?", asked Shanks.
The boy nodded his head yes.
"Well, this is just like that, but even more important, Luffy... You may be one of the very few people in the world that can hear that voice.", the pirate captain stated seriously.
The young boy was extremely surprised at that. He might be one of the only ones?
Shanks sighed, "I don't know exactly why you can hear that voice Luffy, I only have suspicions, but this is something that needs to stay between you and me ok? That is until you are older and meet people you can trust with your life. But until then, you can't tell anyone… ok? This is extremely important and I need you to promise me.". A little white lie wouldn't hurt the kid. He didn't have time to mess around with advanced forms of Observation Haki right now. Luffy would just have to figure it out on his own.
Now it was the straw-hatted boy's turn for his eyes to widen. Shanks wouldn't ask him to promise unless it was really serious, like with the haki stuff. "Ok, Shanks, I promise.", Luffy said.
The redhead nodded at Luffy's confirmation, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before he began, "Alright Luffy, I'm gonna tell you a story before we head back to the bar. It's about my old captain and his ability to hear… The Voice of All Things.".