A high-class passenger vessel was making its way along its course. Marines guarded the deck, the captain mingled in the truly fantastic ballroom built into the ship, and the upper crust of the East Blue laughed, danced, and ate tiny tidbits. It was a calm day, with barely a cloud in the sky and the tides docile for a change. It was a perfect day for napping and having fun.
Two Marines were hanging by the guardrail, chatting away, when they noticed a barrel floating in the ocean. That caught their attention. "Oi! There's a wine barrel in the water!" one of them said. "It's probably wreckage from whatever poor soul went through that whirlpool. Aw, well. Won't do him any good now. Let's haul it up!" the other one said. So saying, the two casts out a line and hauled the barrel up to the deck with a bit of effort.
"Ooh, it's pretty heavy. There must be a lot!" The two were grinning at their good fortune to be able to wet their throats. Their smiles withered and died the instant the call came from the crow's nest, and the sound of cannon fire came from across the water. "Pirates! I see pirates! It's the Alvida Pirates!" Every marine on the deck instantly broke out into action, their training taking over as Alvida's bombardment continued. The barrel was knocked askew in confusion and rolled away towards the lower decks. It was barely noticed by the marines, whose efforts were for nought. They'd been ambushed, and the pirate ship pulled up alongside them in a matter of seconds.
On the pirate ship's deck, a truly hideous woman stood at the forefront. She was the size of small whales, had freckles in all the wrong places, with flat, black hair covered by a cowboy hat and beady eyes. She held an iron mace almost as big as her as a staff, with her crew arrayed around her. This was 'Iron Club' Alvida, the woman worth 5,000,000 Beli. "Men, who's the fairest on all the seas?" Alvida asked. Her crew let out a full, if insincere, yell of "ALVIDA-SAMA!"
The woman grinned, revealing slightly yellow teeth, before yelling "CHARGE!" In a flurry of motion, the crew leaped over onto the other vessel to raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer their weasly black guts out. Alvida stayed behind and surveyed the damage before noticing a quivering little boy still on the ship. He had glasses and light pink hair. "Coby!" she yelled, instantly getting a frightened reaction from the boy.
"Get over there now! Or face the club!" With a menacing snarl, Alvida prepared to swing Coby over to the other boat like he was a golf ball with her club. The boy broke out in frantic gibbers going far too fast to understand as human speech and threw himself over to the other ship. He quickly made his way to the relative peace of the lower decks. "Whew! That was close! Now, I got to do something, or Alvida will kill me!" Coby, rather meekly, started to look around for something he could actually lift and could count as swag.
"Hmm. This looks like a pantry." Coby surveyed the room, before noticing a large wine barrel lying on its side. "That looks interesting. Maybe Alvida will be okay with that." The boy set himself to the task of moving the barrel, but it proved futile as his weak limbs failed to move it an inch. "It won't move. Maybe I should just go away and find something else." Coby was just about to leave when three of the crew walked in.
"Eh, Coby? What are you doing here, and with that barrel?" Coby went into his panic-mode, but managed to stammer out "T-t-t-there w-w-was this b-b-barrel, s-s-so I-I thought that m-m-maybe I should b-b-bring it up!" The three men noticed the barrel, and what it contained, and got greedy little grins on their faces. Despite Coby's weak protests, the three set the barrel upright and prepared to open it and guzzle away.
Just as they were about to descend on the wine, the top blew outward as a young man with black hair, tan skin, a red vest, blue shorts, and a straw hat burst out of the barrel, his fist stretching out to hit the flunky nearest him, his eyes closed in pleasure. "WHAT A GREAT NAP!" the mystery man yelled, seemingly unaware thatthat he'd just knocked a pirate unconscious. Alvida's crew members couldn't have been more surprised if Alvida had shown up two hundred pounds lighter whilst performing the can-can.
The man opened his eyes, and then stared at the unconscious pirate at his feet confusedly. "What's this guy taking a nap for? He'll catch a cold." Laws of the universe bent, anatomical features shifted, and suddenly the two conscious pirates had pure white eyes, larger heads, and sharks-teeth. "IT'S YOUR FAULT, DUMBASS!" they yelled, their instincts to Public Displays of Idiocy kicking in.
The mystery man paid them no heed, climbing out of the barrel and turning to Coby. "I'm hungry. Do you know where there's food?" he asked, acting as if he had not burst out of a barrel and clobbered a pirate without conscious effort. The veins in the pirates' foreheads showed, and they drew their swords and charged. Coby squealed in fear and cowered, while the man slowly turned his head to face the onslaught. The swords were raised, battle-cries were yelled... and the top halves of both swords snapped off and flew towards the ceiling as the stranger gave a swipe of his hand.
The pirates' eyes widened in awe as the man before them snapped steel with a flick of the wrist. The man stared at them with slight annoyance. "What are you doing, playing with these things? They're sharp; someone could get hurt!" The men stood gaping for a second, before turning tail and running while dragging their unconscious Nakama. The stranger scratched his head. "What was with them? Aw, well, it doesn't matter." The stranger turned to face Coby again. "So, can you show me where the food is now?"
Coby was wide-eyed as he looked up at the man. "Who are you?" he asked, wondering who on all the seas could be so strong as to break metal without effort. The man gave a wide grin and said "I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Nice to meet you!" Luffy paused for a second, before opening the nearest door after smelling the air like a hound. "MUSHI!" he yelled in wild joy, before descending like a piranha among the crates of food in the tiny box of a room.
Coby went into the room and closed the door behind him. "I hope they don't find me in here," Coby muttered to himself, before turning to look at the most interesting thing he'd seen in his short life.
A man that had appeared from nowhere, displayed incredible strength, hopping up and down like a kid on Christmas morning while he practically inhaled every scrap of food his hands came in contact with. Coby felt certain that the human stomach couldn't hold that much food, but he refrained from saying so. "Um, Luffy-san?" Coby tentatively asked, drawing Luffy's attention away from a crate of apples. "I don't mean to be rude, but where did you come from?"
Luffy grinned, displaying the numerous chunks of food caught in his teeth. "I was sailing near my village with my pet when that big whirlpool came by. It really took me by surprise! But, I managed to get in that barrel, and I decided to take a nap. When I woke up, I was here!" Coby's eyes widened as Luffy nonchalantly discussed surviving a whirlpool as if it were no big deal.
Coby chuckled nervously, before gathering his courage. "Luffy-san, you have to leave here! This ship is being raided by the fearsome Alvida-sama. Since you hit her guy, you'll get the iron mace! You really need to get out of here!" Luffy's eyebrows went up, pausing in his chewing. "A pirate ship? Does that mean you're a pirate?" Coby blanched, before frantically shaking his head.
"No, no, not at all. Well, kinda, I guess. It's complicated. Two years ago, I went onto a boat with the intention to fish, only to discover it was a boat taking pirates back to their ship!" Here, Coby shivered in remembered fear. "They forced me to work for them, threatening me with the iron club. Still, I don't want to see Luffy-san hurt! I just met you, but I wouldn't wish the club on anyone! You've gotta escape!"
Luffy shrugged in a total lack of concern. "Even so, I'm still hungry. Besides, I can just beat up this Alvida person if she gets in the way." Coby's eyes reached dinner-plate size, before near-reflexive mutterings of 'impossible' came out of his mouth. Luffy knocked Coby on the head, knocking him out of it. "What's the big deal? I'm strong, and besides, I can't die here. I haven't become the Pirate King yet!"
Coby gaped in shock. "Pirate King? Then, Luffy-san is a pirate?" Luffy nodded, still chewing on the food. "Impossible! The Pirate King is a man with wealth, fame, and power; everything in this world united in one man! The last King, Gold Roger, was the only man to conquer the Grand Line! Impossible, impossible, impossible! Luffy-san will surely die if he tries to become the Pirate King!" Luffy stopped eating here, his eyes becoming shaded by his straw hat as he stood up.
"It's not about whether or not I can do it," Luffy said quietly, drawing Coby's attention. Luffy plucked the straw hat off his head, looking at it and reliving the memories that went with it. "I promised the man that gave me this hat that I would gather a crew and become a great pirate. It's my dream to be the Pirate King, and I'm committed to my dream. I don't care if I die pursuing it." Coby was shocked into silence by the raw determination behind the statement. Coby could see that Luffy truly would die chasing his dream.
Luffy grinned suddenly, breaking the somber mood, putting the hat back on his head. "Aw, well. Now I've gotta find a ship. Maybe the pirates will give me one! If they're good people." Luffy started for the door, brushing past Coby. Said boy was in the midst of an emotional crossroads. 'My life... or my dream. Can it be that simple?' Coby recalled the two years of work and fear, breeding in him the desire to just stand aside and let others have their way. That impulse was suddenly being chocked by Coby's childhood dream to be a Marine. Coby took the deepest breath of his life, before standing up.
"Luffy-san," Coby said, making Luffy pause. "We've only just meant, but you've inspired me." Coby looked up, and a new light was shining in his eyes. "You've given me courage! I'll run away from Alvida and become a Marine. It's my dream to catch bad guys!" Coby was on a roll now, making his way towards the door with Luffy.
"I'll leave Alvida! No, I'll catch Alvida! I'll," Whatever Coby was going to say next withered and died as the roof of the room exploded, leaving wood, metal, and a seriously pissed-off pirate mistress with a big-ass club to fall to the ground. Coby's heart practically gave out, while Luffy turned to watch this interesting development.
"Who're you going to catch? Eh, Coby!" Alvida's beady eyes turned up to glare at the pink-haired boy, who was suddenly a gibbering wreck. Alvida raised her gaze to look at Luffy. "So, you're the guy who knocked out my man. You're not that bounty hunter Roronoa. Who're you?" Luffy didn't as much as blink at the dramatic entrance.
"A pirate," he said, internally wondering who the hell this person was. Alvida grunted, before returning her gaze to Coby. "Coby, who's the fairest on all the seas?" Coby jerked before stumbling through "T-t-t-that o-of c-c-c-course is A-a-alvida-s-s-s," before he was interrupted.
"Definitely not you," Luffy said with an uncaring tone, while the only woman Luffy had seen in his life were Makino and Dadan, he knew calling this whale ugly would be an insult to the actual ugly people.
Everyone in hearing distance froze, their eyes going wide and their jaws unhinging as they processed the suicidal comment. Alvida's forehead became a tapestry of tic-marks, before bellowing in rage "DIE!" With a minor effort, the obese woman brought down the solid ton of steel down on the spot Luffy had occupied, keyword being 'had'. Luffy, as nimble as his namesake, jumped out of the way, grabbed Coby, and hopped up onto the deck, all the while smiling like an idiot.
Coby screamed in unadulterated fear, before he was dropped onto a spot of deck a bit behind where Luffy landed. "Stay there or you'll get in the way." Luffy said, his smile softening the words a little, before turning to face the Alvida pirate crew, who were still in a semi-state of shock. "Who's first?" Luffy asked, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. The crew seemed to gird itself, before a few of them surged forward with a battle cry. Luffy grinned, before implanting his fist in the first one's skull, jumped to avoid the swipe from the second before giving a punishing headbutt, before finally giving a kick to the guy that crept up behind him. All three men went down without as much as a sound.
Luffy grinned and crossed his arms. "Is that all you got?" he asked, as if the whole affair were good fun. The entirety of the crew stared in awe and fear at the effortless defeat of their Nakama, while one lone swordsman climbed the deck behind Luffy. With a cry, the man leapt and made to slash Luffy in half. Luffy turned to look at the assailant, before frowning. What happened next left the crew speechless with confusion. In the moments before the blade hit home, Luffy glared at his attacker. The next thing anyone knew, the man was unconscious on the ground in front of Luffy, his sword still in hand.
Luffy glared with disapproval at his would-be assassin. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that attacking from behind isn't fair?" The crew stared for a few more seconds, before adrenaline and mob psychology kicked in and they charged Luffy as a massive horde. Luffy proceeded to run across the deck with a comic expression of fear on his face. "It's unfair to attack with more people too!" The chase proceeded across the deck, somehow avoiding Coby.
Luffy grinned before his expression turned to dead serious, the sword were about to touch his skin, when everyone close to him suddenly got electrocuted, Coby gasped at the white lightning being generated by the man's body.
One by one fell in the floor, smoke coming out of their mouth, their eyes completely white, Coby wasn't sure if they were actually still alive.
Just as Alvida managed to reach the deck, her entire crew laid unconscious across the deck. Coby stared in shock at Luffy. Luffy grinned and said, "I'm strong, remember?"
Alvida narrowed her eyes. "So, you have the power of the Devil's Fruit. I thought it was just a legend." Luffy grinned, before pulling out his right finger, turning it to lightning, while the second finger was soaking wet out of nowhere.
"I'm a Storm person," Luffy proclaimed proudly. Alvida grimaced, before charging forward with her massive mace held above her head. "Don't take me so lightly!" she yelled in fury, bringing her mace down on Luffy's head.
Luffy stayed in his exact same position before a smile spread across his face. Luffy glared up at Alvida, who was sufficiently freaked out that the man's skull hadn't cracked. "
I don't the power of my devil fruit to survive this so-called attack!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, an unseen force seemed to ram into Alvida, knocking her back across the deck.
Coby stared in disbelief as he saw the most terrifying (and heaviest) person he'd ever known getting thrown ass-over-teakettle. Luffy merely grinned before he raised up his fist; Coby's eyes almost popped out at seeing something covering the entire arm, it looked like a concentrated air, barely visible, but Coby could still see it.
Just as Alvida stood up, looking as if she'd just hopped off a rollercoaster, Luffy brought his fist forward in a truly terrific punch as he yelled, "Air Fist!" The fist impacted, and Alvida was blown away into the distance until she was nothing more than a star on the horizon.
Luffy turned to glare at the stragglers on Alvida's ship, who were by now ready to shit their pants. "Oi. Get a boat ready for Coby. He needs to join the Marines." The men on the ship started bustling like a nest of bees, preparing a small dingy for Coby's and Luffy's use.
Coby turned to stare at Luffy, his mind unable to comprehend what had just happened. Luffy just shrugged. "What? No enemy can stand up to a King." With that oddly philosophical remark, Luffy made to grab Coby and hop into the waiting boat. However, before that, the sound of cannons suddenly roared like thunder: the Marines had arrived.
Coby looked at the Marine ship with hope, "You can't join right now. They will think you're some kind of spy," Luffy stated, knowing Coby probably wanted to join the Marines.
Coby just murmured, an 'I know.
Luffy shrugged before grabbing Coby and hopping into the boat.
Falling in the middle of a boat, they both heard a scream; Luffy saw the orange hair of a girl.
"What the hell?" She screamed, terrified of two people suddenly jumping in the middle of her boat; Luffy noticed the treasure on her boat and was about to ask what was her name when more cannonballs hit near their boat.
The girl got in a shocking state and looked ready to try and somehow sail to safety as soon as possible.
"These idiots are throwing cannonballs so close to a civilian boat," he shouted in anger before another cannonball was headed straight to them; the girl screamed in panic; Coby closed his eyes, awaiting their inevitable demise.
Luffy just grinned before catching the cannon as if it was a ball, this caused the girl's eyes to almost pop out, while Coby took a peek to see how they were still breathing, only to see Luffy holding the ball in his hand as if were a mere toy to play.
"You can have this back," Luffy shouted at the marine ship before throwing at them, causing a big chunk of the ship to explode.
Coby had his mouth wide open, still trying to comprehend what had just happened; while the girl looked somehow relieved, Luffy noticed the way she was looking at him.
Luffy sat down before raising an eyebrow at their shocked faces. "What is it?" He asked as if he didn't just catched a cannonball.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WHAT IS IT? DID YOU NOT SEE WHAT YOU JUST DID? HOW DID YOU EVEN DO IT?" the girl screamed with shark teeth which were quite intimidating for Coby, but Luffy just laughed. "Shishishi," before he put half of his hand on the water, the girl was about to ask what he wanted to do now when their boat suddenly started moving much faster forward, the girl lost balance.
She almost fell in the water, but Luffy grabbed her shirt, making sure she didn't fall; Coby, on the other hand, hit his face at the side of the boat.
The girl grabbed the boat tightly, making sure she wouldn't fall, before her eyes saw the boy doing something with his right hand, causing the water to move fast around his hand.
She was about to ask how he could do this, "I can control the water a bit; I'm adding force to my hand causing this speed," Luffy explained as best as he could. The girl didn't bother to ask more but was quite impressed by his power.
Only now did she notice his well-built muscles, but her eyes found his eyes. Now being used to the new speed of the boat, she stopped holding the side of the boat and decided to ask...
"Who are you? That was quite impressive," she spoke with a warmer tone; the pink boy was rubbing the side of his head, still hurting.
"I'm Luffy, this one here is Coby," he introduced himself, putting a hand on his Coby's shoulder when he mentioned his name.
"I'm Nami; it is good to meet you," Name introduced herself, smiling.
"How did you do that with the cannonball?" Nami asked, wondering if someone like him would perhaps want to work with her.
At this, Luffy laughed slightly. "My grandpa used to throw cannonballs at me since I was nine years old, to get stronger he always said," he said as if remembering a pleasant memory while Coby and Nami were looking at Luffy with wide-open mouth, they couldn't comprehend someone throwing cannonballs at a child. That child being his grandson on top of that.
After getting over the fact that perhaps his grandpa was a madman. "Do you want to join me? I'm a thief who steals from pirates," Nami suggested, leaning slightly forward, showing a bit of her cleavage; Luffy didn't even bat an eye on her chest.
"No, thank you," he simply said. Nami pouted, clearly disappointed that someone like him didn't want to join.
"Come on; it will be fun; what are you even doing out in the Sea anyway?" Nami asked curiously, leaning back against the dinghy.
'Don't Say It, Don't Say It, Just Don't Be An Idiot,' Coby prayed with closed eyes...
Luffy grinned even more before standing up, both his hands raised. "I'm Going to Become the Pirate King," he shouted proudly before sitting down.
Only now Luffy noticed that Nami's face changed to that of disgust, rage and even hatred.
"So You're a Pirate Scum," she spat the word with venom; Coby was taken aback by her sudden change of tone while Luffy stood silent at her sudden rant.
"I should have known. I should throw you at the bottom of the sea where You All Belong," She spat the words with anger, her eyes burning with rage.
"Not everyone is like that," Luffy suddenly said, his eyes hidden behind the hat.
Nami looked confused for a moment by his words before asking. "What do you mean..." she didn't get to finish before Luffy looked at her again.
"Not all pirates are like the ones who hurt you. A pirate is someone who travels the world with his Nakama, people who are free, enjoy their life to the fullest and help people who need help," Luffy spoke with a serious tone, his right eye covered by the hat, looked covered in darkness.
Coby hadn't heard Luffy speak with that tone before and couldn't help but look at Luffy with awe and respect.
Nami bit her lower lip, ready to shout at him that he was a liar and that no pirates were like that but instead, she kept quiet.
"Whatever," she simply said and turning her head around and looking at the horizon, refusing to look at them.
Luffy hoped to show her that not all pirates were shitty people. Deciding to not push for an answer, Luffy turned his attention to Coby.
"Luffy, back at the ship, you told Alvida that you didn't need your devil fruit powers to avoid her attack. What did you mean?"
"That's called Haki. I have an extraordinary kind of Haki, called the King's Disposition, or Haoushoku Haki. It's much more powerful and can do a lot more things than normal Haki. I've been working on it for ten years, experimenting and mastering it. I can do everything from knock people out to make my fists strong enough to tear through steel, to make animals understand me. I can even make some things move at a distance. Let me tell you; it's really changed what kind of person I am!"
Luffy went on and explained what the other two Haki types were; Nami silently listened but didn't react to what Luffy said to Coby.
"You said you find out about Conquer's Haki at a young age; how?" Coby asked, interested.
Years Ago
Luffy was alone in the jungle. As far as scary situations went, it was a biggie. Just a young boy, he'd been left stranded alone with no food, no water, a tiny knife, and the instruction from his quasi-sadistic grandpa to "Survive brat!" Luffy was just a little kid. Like any other kid, he was afraid of some basic things, like the dark, or animals, or the prospect of no meals to fill his stomach. And his grandpa had left him out, quite literally, for the wolves.
"Crazy Gramps," Luffy muttered, trying to distract himself with the sound of his own voice. "He leaves me in the craziest places, makes me do the craziest things, and for what? So I can 'be a good Marine'? I don't want to be a marine! I want to be a Pirate, dang it! Not just a pirate, but the Pirate King. I want to find One Piece! And he just laughs in my face and tells me to 'shut up, and go survive already'. Uh!" Luffy wasn't a crybaby, but he sure as hell felt scared. He hated it when his grandpa dumped him in the middle of nowhere because it meant he had to find his own food, his own water, and contend with the predators of the region. He was just a kid, damn it!
'Still,' a small voice in Luffy's head said: his neglected sense of good reason. 'What Grandpa does to you does make you stronger. You're not even seven, but you already know how to fight animals, build a shelter, and find clean water. Some adults can't do that.' "Oh, shut up," Luffy said to himself, unwilling to admit that what gramps put him through actually helped him in some way. Such thoughts were quickly forgotten, however, when a loud growl washed over Luffy. He froze, felt his heart go double time, and turned to face a gigantic, hungry-looking wolf with sickly-coloured fur and teeth.
There wasn't any flashes of his short life, no broken record recording in his thoughts. Luffy didn't even have to think. His body did it for him. He ran. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him and then ran faster. He ducked, swerved, turned, and officially did everything humanly possible to try and outrun or outsmart the wolf that had given chase. It wasn't enough.
Luffy felt a sharp impact between his shoulder blades, and suddenly he was face down in the mud as something truly massive with bad breath held him down, a crushing weight on his small back. At that moment, something broke inside Luffy. The dam built from adrenaline and physical effort that had prevented panic cracked, and suddenly Luffy was filled with mind-numbing fear. True terror seared his veins as a deep-seated, primal fear; the fear of being eaten rose up in Luffy like a riptide and dragged him away from the calm shores of Sanity into the turbulent waters of Hysteria. He was a kid, and he didn't want to die.
Luffy felt teeth circle his throat and could practically feel the shifts in muscle in the giant body above him that indicated the quick jerk of the head that would break his neck like a twig. All of Luffy's fear and pain and weariness coalesced into a single point as he screamed out in a voice he only barely recognised as his own "STOP!" As he did, a wave of unseen force exploded out of Luffy, tearing the leaves from branches twenty feet away. The wolf tensed before collapsing into a heap; its eyes rolled back into its head.
Luffy blinked and then sat up. He was alive, and the wolf had collapsed. What had happened?
Now
Coby heard what Luffy said and seriously wondered if his grandfather had actually thought to kill Luffy, while Nami somehow felt bad that Luffy had that kind of Grandpa.
"Hey," Luffy asked Coby. "Who was that Roronoa guy Alvida was talking about?"
Coby blinked before going pale as a sheet. "Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. They say that he's like a demon in a human's flesh. He goes around thirsting for blood, living only for the bounty. He is the terror of the East Blue's pirates. I hear that the Marines locked him up somewhere." Coby chuckled before wondering aloud, "Why do you ask?" Luffy grinned in such a way that Coby suddenly felt afraid of the answer. "I thought I might make him part of my crew. If he's a good person."
Coby gaped before sputtering, "Impossible, impossible! He's been locked up because he's a bad guy! You're a pirate; he's a pirate hunter! He'd kill you! Why would he become a pirate anyway? Impossible, impossible, impossible!" Coby was abruptly bonked 'lightly' on the head by Luffy. "Why'd you hit me?" Coby asked, nursing the knock on his noggin. "Just because!" Luffy said, laughing without a care in the world, as the three sailed through the East Blue.