East Blue - Dawn Island
A forest surrounding one of the coastal mountains – Treehouse
A 14-year-old boy suddenly sits up in his bed, sweaty and gasping for breath, clutching tightly to the straw hat that had fallen from his chest with the abrupt movement.
'Man, I hate spoilers. At least this meta-knowledge can help me avoid mistakes that would hurt those around me, besides opening up countless other possibilities for adventure and exploration', he thinks, recalling what had just transpired while he slept 'Also, it's not like I can follow a completely different path from the original; many people depend on me. On the bright side, despite the theories, no one knows what the One Piece is.'
Yes, this is none other than Monkey D. Luffy, whose soul has just merged with a soul from another world (our world) for whatever reason. This came with meta-knowledge of One Piece and a lifetime of knowledge, skills, and experiences lived.
'Ace set out yesterday, and as much as I want to start my journey right now, especially for my friends, at this point I am ridiculously weak, and if I don't want things to happen the same way, I need to become much stronger.'
As he thought about all his friends who were suffering now and in the near future because he was too weak to intervene, his crew being separated because he was too weak to prevent it, Ace's death that he couldn't prevent because he was too weak to defend himself, resulting in his brother sacrificing himself to save him, all these thoughts led to the manifestation of his Conqueror's Haki, making the entire forest and mountain around tremble and creak under the pressure of his will, while the animals fainted, foaming at the mouth.
When he finally recovered from the negative thoughts with an even stronger determination and will, he noticed that the treehouse he and his brothers had built as children was full of clear signs of wear and cracks that were undoubtedly not there when he went to sleep yesterday 'Is this Conqueror's Haki? But why did it damage the environment?'
The only slightly plausible explanation that came to his mind was that because of the soul fusion, his Haki was much more potent than it originally would be.
Suddenly, he realized the real issue this situation brought 'If Ace and Sabo find out I made this mess, they'll kill me... Meh, I'll fix it later.'
As he formulated plans about what to do in the near future, he started to leave the house and head to Foosha Village with a clear goal in mind "PARTY BAR."
'Training, that would be the first step. Considering my rubber body that doesn't gain muscles and strength with normal effort due to the immense resistance that comes as part of the package along with my weakness to seawater, what comes to mind first is finding a way to acquire Seastone. That way, I can train my muscles and strength more easily and gain resistance to Seastone at the same time. Now, how the heck am I going to get my hands on Seastone? Uhhh... according to some theories, Makino has a relationship with Shanks, which leads me to believe she has his contact, and I'm pretty sure she also has my grandpa's contact, so first I'll try my luck with Shanks and as a last resort with Grandpa.'
Following this line of thought, he reached the edge of the forest and noticed with a glance the same kind of wear from the treehouse all over the place 'This pulse of Conqueror's Haki easily covered the entire forest along with the mountain, lucky that Dadan and the gang stay on Mount Colubo.'
Not wanting to waste too much time thinking about trivial things, he headed back to his original path, taking the opportunity to hunt a large animal, which didn't represent any difficulty since they were all fainted. Not long after, he arrived in front of Makino's bar and, without hesitation, entered shouting, "Makino, I'm hungry, put it on the treasure tab and look, I brought meat too."
"Luffy, how many times have I told you that you don't need to shout if I'm not in the front part of the bar, just ring the bell," as soon as she hears his voice, Makino comes out from the back of the bar where the kitchen is, placing a dishcloth over her shoulder and then pointing to a bell on the counter.
"But I'm hungry, and it worked anyway. By the way, can you cook this one?", Luffy says, pouting and pointing to a huge boar he placed on the floor immediately after.
"Alright, but you'll have to eat it with salad and vegetables", Makino says as she starts walking towards the kitchen.
"Okay, but can you make burgers and fries too?"
"Sure, i can... wait", while answering automatically, she realizes what she just heard "Did you just accept eating salad and vegetables without complaining even once?"
She looks at Luffy with a surprised and suspicious expression.
"Yes, I realized that if I want to be the freest man in the world and become the Pirate King, I need to have a healthy diet."
"Is it just me, or are you getting smarter?"
"Hey, I've always been smart", Luffy says, puffing out his cheeks.
"Sure, sure. Anyway, you're right, the Pirate King definitely ate all his salad and vegetables, and that's why he was so strong", she says playfully.
"See, I knew I was right, and people still say I'm dumb", Luffy says as if it was obvious he was smart.
Makino just heads to the kitchen, smiling and shaking her head at Luffy's antics.
"Bring the boar to the kitchen and hang it on the hook back there, then wait at the counter because it's going to take a while", she says as she enters the kitchen.
Luffy does as she asked and then waits at the counter while humming 'Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz' among other songs.
After a while, Makino appears with practically a mountain of burgers, only to soon bring another mountain of meat, a large plate of fries, and finally a large plate of seasoned salads and vegetables.
"Here you go", she says while placing a straw in the large cup of strawberry milkshake with crushed ice in front of Luffy, who was already devouring a burger.
"Thang you", Luffy says with his mouth full.
Makino just shakes her head, having long given up trying to make Luffy have any table manners.
After some time, Luffy finishes eating and waits for Makino to finish attending to a customer while sipping his strawberry milkshake.
"Makino... chuuuuuu... do you have... chuuuuu... Shanks' contact?" Luffy asks after she finishes attending the customer.
"I do, why?", Makino raises an eyebrow while storing a bottle of drink in a cabinet.
"I want... chuuuu... to talk to him."
"You never asked me to contact him before, why now?", Makino says while starting to clean the counter.
"First, I had no idea you two were so close, and secondly, I have something important to ask him", Luffy says the first part with a tone full of sarcasm and hug gestures, returning to his normal voice in the second part as if nothing had happened.
Makino instantly blushes and says "LUFFY, that's not how my relationship with Shanks is."
"Hhrumm, I see... chuuuu... so, can I... chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu", Luffy stops mid-sentence while raising a finger and concentrating on finishing his strawberry milkshake while Makino watches him with a blank expression.
"Talk to him?", He says when he finally finishes.
Makino just rolls her eyes at his antics and goes to get the Den Den Mushi. Not long after, she returns and calls Shanks.
"Pero... pero... pero... kachaa... Hi, Makino, everything okay? Did something happen?", Shanks' voice comes out of the Den Den Mushi.
"Hi, Shanks. Everything is fine, it's just that Luffy wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, Luffy's there?"
Luffy interjects, saying "Hey, Shanks, I wanted to ask you some things."
"Well, if it isn't my favorite anchor, how are you, Luffy?"
Seeing that they were comfortable, Makino returns to cleaning the counter.
"Ha ha, very funny, and I'm doing great, can't wait to start my journey. Anyway, Shanks, could you tell me how much a Seastone bracelet that I can easily put on and take off would cost?"
"Uhhh... Since it's something small, it should cost around 16,000,000 berries. Why?"
"If I get the money, can you send me ten?"
"First, why do you want a Seastone bracelet and ten at that? And second, how the heck are you going to get 160,000,000 berries?"
"Well, training, and I can hunt some bounties. Plus, there's always a bunch of pompous nobles with deep pockets living nearby. I bet I could steal 1,000,000,000 Berries and they wouldn't even notice because it wouldn't even make a dent in their wallets. Besides, they'd probably be more occupied in a dick-measuring contest to see who has the funniest wig or something."
"... Dahahaha, that's a good one... Just be careful not to get caught or something."
"Shishishishi... sure, sure. So, can you get it for me?"
"Sure, but it'll take one to two months to get there."
"Okay, okay, and how will I make the payment?"
"I'll pay upfront, and you give the money to the person who comes to deliver the bracelets."
"Alright, by the way, can you get me an instruction manual on how to train Rokushiki and the three forms of Haki?"
"Okay, Luffy, how do you know about those things?"
"Uhh... ehh... about Rokushiki, Grandpa let it slip during his last visit, and I learned about Haki from someone who was passing through the island and became friends with me," he lied, of course.
"... Alright, I'll believe that this time. Anyway, I can get them for you, but it'll cost about 260,000,000 Berries in total for the bracelets and the manuals."
"Great, will it still take two months to arrive, or will it be more?"
"Still two months."
"Okay, ahh... I also wanted to tell you that my brother Ace just set out to sea, and he probably intends to find you soon to thank you for saving me when I was a kid. The thing is, he's Gol D. Roger's son, and you were part of his crew, right? So if you can and have the time, could you train him? Give him some tips to make him stronger or even arrange or recommend someone to train him."
"Wait, first, how do you know I was part of Roger's crew? Second, how are you so sure he's really Captain Roger's son? And third, if he's Roger's son and your brother, that means—"
"I'm not Roger's son. Ace, Sabo, and I are sworn brothers; we toasted and drank sake when we were kids and became brothers. You being part of the Pirate King's crew isn't exactly a secret, and I heard it from a friend. As for whether Ace is really Roger's son, when I was a kid, I heard Dadan talking about it while she was drunk, and the fact that he was brought here by my grandfather about a year or so after Roger's execution."
"Okay, but what does your grandfather have to do with this?"
"My grandfather is the Marine hero Monkey D. Garp, and as far as I know and deduce, he was one of the last people to talk to Roger before he was executed."
"Alright, I'll just ignore the fact that you're that old monster's grandson and skip to the question I want to ask: what's your brother's full name?"
"He uses his mother's surname, which was Portgas D. Rouge. His name is Portgas D. Ace. So, can you do me this favor?"
"Okay, fine. If he comes to find me, I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks a lot, Shanks. He can be stubborn, hard-headed, and rude, but he's nice. Also, he kind of hates Roger because people demonize him and everything related to him, and because his mother had to keep him in her womb for about twenty months to avoid the Marines' suspicion, which caused her to die in childbirth, and he kind of blames Roger for that. So if you could talk to him about these things too, I'd appreciate it. Anyway, I need to get ready, so bye Shanks, bye Makino. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone", Luffy quickly left the bar. As he was at the entrance, he heard Makino and Shanks shouting from inside, "Luffy!/Luffy, wait, explain this thing about him hating Roger properly."
Since Luffy didn't want to waste time explaining things or get scolded for provoking Makino, he quickly got to work and started building a kind of seawater pool to train in.
He finished the construction in three days, and for the rest of the month, he did physical exercises with at least half his body submerged in seawater, logically always taking care not to drown.
At first, he could barely move in the water, which lasted for half a week until he finally gained some resistance and, with Herculean effort, began to exercise.
From that point on, he exercised twelve hours a day, every day, until the end of the month, stopping only for essentials like eating, sleeping, and basic needs.
Of those twelve hours, he reserved two hours to train Haki.
By the end of the month, he set a goal to be able to use Conqueror's Haki in a controlled manner and possibly learn to use Observation Haki as well.
Luffy knew he had already demonstrated his Conqueror's Haki before, so he tried to emulate the same situation as before.
'At that moment, I was frustrated and angry for being weak and powerless, and because of that, my friends, companions, and family would continue to suffer in the short term.'
After organizing his thoughts, he sat down, closed his eyes to concentrate, and began to think about the same things and consequently have the same feelings as days before when he woke up.
After a while, he felt some kind of energy flowing out of him and starting to oppress and pressure his surroundings.
After feeling what he deduced to be spiritual energy for a while, he stopped, took a deep breath, and this time tried to simply pull and control that energy out with the intention of oppressing and dominating things around him.
Logically, he failed continuously for several weeks, but in the last week of the month, he managed to manifest his Conqueror's Haki at will, although not as strong and with as much reach initially as when he used it unconsciously that day.
Still, it was a huge progress. In less than a month, he was already able to use his Conqueror's Haki at will.
From there, things got easier. He used the same method of pulling and controlling this energy out of himself, but this time with the intention of sensing his surroundings and the spiritual energy of others, thus anticipating their movements.
It took a week until he could use his Observation Haki at will.
After about a month and a few days after the call, along with relatively insane training to get stronger, a silhouette with a straw hat hanging on his back could be seen from a high point, looking at the luxury mansions belonging to the nobles of the upper city of the Goa Kingdom.
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(AN: 2,598 Words)
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