Calm waves splashed peacefully across the shore. Soft crackles from a small fire kept the shipwrecked crew warm. Gentle whispers of wind blew against Barbosa's face. The group slowly arose from their slumbers. Barbosa knew that this was the end of his quiet life and prepared for a great journey.
"W-where are we?!" A timid, small boy exclaimed, frantically looking around for something.
He was quite small and looked pretty ordinary. He had brown eyes and dirty blond hair. There wasn't really any standout feature compared to the rest of his comrades.
"Would you quieten down, otherwise I'll fry you and anything else within a couple block radius!" An average height girl in her late teens said with a joyful almost mad look in her eyes.
She was quite unique. She had her black hair in a bob and wore a metal breastplate. Meanwhile, the rest of her armour consisted of leather, apart from her left forearm which was covered with a half metal, half leather gauntlet. From over her left shoulder there was an arm-like protrusion of dark metal with a hand-like device at the end.
Her left eye was a royal blue that seemed as deep as the ocean when you stared into it, whilst her right was hidden behind an optic with a reddish tint to it. Hanging from her hip, was a flintlock pistol and a hand crossbow, as well as a dagger. Held in her right hand was a bulky gun with a small flame flickering at the end of it. Barbosa thought that it looked very cool and had to resist touching it.
"I wouldn't suggest doing that, you'd probably burn the forest and yourself down." Said another, his harpoon glistening in the moonlight.
He was about 5"11 with dark brown eyes and medium black hair that seemed to glisten despite the lack of light. His ridiculously pointy chin and nose made it hard not to laugh at his expressions.
A groaning came from a pale looking man nearest to the ocean. The tide was coming in and it was partially covering him. He was definitely high, Barbosa thought to himself chuckling.
The last member to awake was interesting to say the least. He got up and demanded there be more alcohol. Barbosa, out of either awe of his tenacity to demand in his situation, or being slightly intimidated, quickly fetched some more from his small shack.
Barbosa returned and slyly examined him. He looked about 6"3 had pale white skin with orange eyes and blond hair, with an odd resemblance to someone Barbosa knew a while back, but he couldn't quite place his finger on who it was. Barbosa continued inspecting the man.
He had razor sharp teeth similar to a shark. In the occasional moonlight that hit the tenacious man there seemed to be a glimmer of what seemed like scales. Factoring in the gills he also had, Barbosa finally concluded that he was a half fish-man.
"Does anyone know where Ronin is?" the timid boy asked worriedly.
"How the fuck would we know? We all got fucking shipwrecked because of that fucking sea creature!"
Ah drunk and aggressive, Barbosa thought to himself, amused by the tenacious half fish-man.
"You mean that thing growling behind you?" the cool but pointy headed one asked in a very concerned manner.
The timid boy turned and his worry morphed into absolute glee and relief. The rest of the crew on the other hand were terrified and for good reason. Sat before them was a six-foot beast Barbosa had never seen before.
It had frighteningly sharp teeth and dense black fur covering its body. It looked like a wolf but it definitely was not. The beast 'Ronin' to everyone's surprise mimicked his master's expression and started bounding round him and wagging his tail. Barbosa thought to himself, this is the most ragtag crew I have ever seen.
The timid boy turned and was confused by everyone's scared expressions. "Why are you all scared? You literally met him yesterday."
"I don't know Tim Tim... maybe because it's a fucking six-foot beast!" the tenacious man replied.
Tim Tim clearly looked hurt by his answer.
"Do you always judge things by appearance, Mister Nargo?" Tim Tim asked.
"I'm going to fucking throttle you in a minute if you don't shut up." Nargo replied.
"Anyways, the real question is, who are you?" the cool-headed man pointed his harpoon at Barbosa.
"Well you see, I was taking my daily night stroll and happened to come across you guys and all this wreckage along the beach. So out of my own curiosity, I built this fire and gathered everyone that was there. Would you be so kind as to enlighten me of your names and what happened?" Barbosa said with an intrigued tone.
As he said this a monkey came from the forest and petted Ronin. Ronin turned to inspect and once he investigated he decided to play with it.
"Just don't stray too far Ronin" Tim Tim called out.
"My name is Jimmy Hawkins. That there with the beast he calls Ronin is Tim Tim. The one obsessed with alcohol is Nargo. The high one is Whatz D Face and the pyromaniac is Belsari. We were travelling on the seas and were attacked by a huge sea creature whi-"
"We are pirates!" Whatz D Face exclaimed.
"Shut up," whispered Jimmy.
"Ah I see you guys are pirates. You needn't fear, my father was a pirate and I'm also wanted."
After saying this Jimmy examined Barbosa and after further inspection saw he was like a monkey only more humanoid.
"Anyway if you're pirates would it be alright if I'd join you? I've been on this island for many years and I want to have adventures. Plus I'm pretty strong and as an extra incentive I have a treasure map my father left. I've got a devil fruit which also allows me to move pretty quickly which might explain to you why I look like this." Barbosa continued.
Jimmy ignored his application to join and asked, "How did you get a devil fruit?"
A bit disheartened Jimmy ignored his plea, Barbosa explained, "It's funny actually. I was on a nightly stroll, just like tonight, when I was suddenly hit with pangs of hunger. Luckily, I found a fruit on the beach floor. I took a bite and it was horrible. Alas, I was extremely hungry, though, so I ate all the fruit despite the torrid taste. The morning after, I had grown this monkey tail and was able to do some really cool things.
Naturally, when I went to school, I showed it off. I thought my father would be pleased of my newfound abilities. However, I was met by shock and worry in his face. He told me that some marines' kids went to my school and that I was in danger. So we went into hiding on this island called Swallow Island.
My father died a few years back, and I was left to fend for myself. I don't regret eating that fruit, it gave me a fresh perspective on life and now I wish to come out of hiding and explore the seas. Wanted or not."
Tim Tim had teared up, "Wow that was beautiful, Mister Barbosa. All in favour of Mister Barbosa joining us, say aye."
A unanimous aye officially named Barbosa a member of their ragtag crew, not yet named.
"That's good and all, but we don't have a ship remember." Belsari said.
"Aren't you an engineer, can't you make one?" Jimmy suggested.
"I mean, I can, but we need materials," she replied.
Barbosa suggested they collect the wreckage and use some trees from the forest to assemble a ship.
Nargo chipped in saying they should build a submarine. Everyone was interested by the prospect. At this moment, a loud godly voice spoke from the stars, "NO YOU DON'T HAVE THE MATERIALS! YOU SHALL BUILD A SHIP BIG ENOUGH FOR ALL OF YOU! NO SUBMARINE UNTIL THE SECOND SAGA!"
Everyone, a bit freaked out about what just happened, decided to follow the advice given, fearing of its wrath.
Belsari agreed to build the ship but requested help. The drunken Nargo said he would. Everyone doubted that he would actually help, but he set right to work using his devil fruit powers to collect any and all metal with his mind. No-one had known before that Nargo had powers.
"When did you have powers?" Jimmy asked, wondering how someone like him could have them.
"What's it to you? It's my own fucking business!"
"Um... Mister Nargo, how did you survive when we shipwrecked? I mean don't devil fruit users drown immediately when submerged in water." Tim Tim asked timidly.
"I don't fucking know. Fucking luck maybe. All I know is I'm obviously fucking superior to that no good captain we all signed up to be on his fucking crew. Where are his fucking powers now? Fucking dead with him at the bottom of the ocean."
Everyone stunned into silence by his comments just started to slowly leave him to his business.
"I'm going hunting!" Barbosa said, "Anyone wanna come with me?"
Tim Tim whistled and Ronin bounded over, a bit disappointed that he couldn't play with the small monkey anymore. "I'll go with you."
Jimmy also decided to tag along whilst Whatz D Face zoned out, staring into the stars.
For a moment everyone looked into the stars and one shot across the sky. In that instant everyone wished for only one thing: adventure. Except Whatz D Face, he was totally stoned still.