1 Chapter 1: Prologue

Question/Poll: Vote in Paragraph Comments

1 - Have "OC's" from other animes, aka crossovers (will be minimal and match One Piece world)

2 - No crossovers, excluding bleach characters (will be quite bleach heavy crew)

Toshiro, Zoro, Luffy, etc (First Names)

Hitsugaya, Roronoa, Monkey, etc (Family/Last Names) Just to clear it up

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wealth, fame, power. The world had it all won by one man: the Pirate King, Gold Roger. At his death, the words he spoke drove countless men out to sea.

"My treasure? It's yours if you want it. Find it! I left all the world has there!"

And so men set sights on the Grand Line, in pursuit of their dreams. The world has truly entered a Great Pirate Era!

...

In the world of pirates, marines, the revolutionary - and all sorts of people and groups - where 90% of the world was inhabited with sea water, there was a short boy (4 foot 4 and a half), with turquoise eyes and short, spiked, white hair.

Currently, he was inside a dojo, sitting on his knees as he was listening to his Sensei Koushirou, who ever since 2 years ago, had shown less emotion on his face, and was beginning to look older each time Toshiro had seen him.

Shimotsuki Koushirou was a man Toshiro had respected as much as his father. He had black hair tied back in a long ponytail, his face had wrinkled and he wore glasses with circular frames.

Ever since his daughter, Kuina, had "fallen down the stairs", which Toshiro knew was another way of saying she killed herself, Koushirou seemed to have blamed himself, and since then had never been the same.

Another person who hadn't been the same ever since her death, was the short, green-haired boy who was sitting next to Toshiro.

He was Roronoa Zoro, Toshiro's rival, and someone he saw as a 'best friend'. He had also changed after Kuina's death, but for the better: He trained, trained, and trained until he quite literally couldn't walk (Toshiro had to put him on his shoulders and carry him home).

He had created his own style in the way of the sword - 3 Sword Style. It was a self-made style that had impressed everyone in the dojo, including Toshiro And Koushirou.

Zoro and Toshiro would be what was described as opposites when it came to the sword. Whilst Zoro was more of the 'Hardwork beats talent' type, Toshiro was seen as a prodigy, but even then - unlike others - he didn't let it get to his head (Mainly thanks to his ACTUAL best friend) and also trained and practiced hard - not as hard as Zoro though, he was a beast.

Anyway, on to the present now, Zoro and Toshiro were sitting on their knees facing their respected sensei, Koushirou, who had a father-like smile on his face as he looked at the both of them.

"I would like to start off by saying... I'm proud of the both of you. Zoro, you came here many years ago, wanting to challenge me. Back then you were a weak child, but since then, many years later, you've become a strong and independent boy" He finished as he looked at Zoro, before looking at Toshiro.

"As for you Toshiro... well, I don't really know what to say, haha... " He laughed lightly "You're a genius, although you only joined 2 years ago, or 3 by now, I've lost track 'cos of old age, the first time you picked up a sword in this dojo, you seemed like a natural swordsman. You went on to learn everything from this dojo in the span of a year, and became the strongest in the dojo.

I do have more to say, but to be honest, I can see all 3 of us are getting bored of listening to me doting on past memories of you guys like a grandfather, so I'll get straight to the point" He stood up suddenly, causing Zoro and Toshiro to start doing the same, before Koushirou told them to remain seated.

He went into the backroom alone, leaving Toshiro and Zoro (Both 13 by the way) by themselves, as they chatted and waited patiently, and after 3 minutes, Koushirou had returned, with 2 swords, one in each hand.

He urged Toshiro and Zoro to both stand up, and held his left arm out to Zoro.

The sword has a pure-white hilt with a circular handguard. The sheath is painted white, and the hardening line is a straight blade. It was a Shinogi Zukuri style Katana that has a traditional yet still stunning pure-white ito wrapped around a gray samegawa covering the tsuka (hilt), leaving a traditional diamond-shaped pattern. (Thanks Wiki)

"This is the Wado Ichimonji, a sword of the legendary Wano swordsmith, my father, Shimotsuki Kozaburo, classified as one of the 21 Great Grade Swords. I was going to hand this down to... Kuina... but the sword would be better in your hands, Zoro. So please, keep it, for Kuina" He said with a sad smile, causing Zoro to slightly tear up, before shouting "Yes, sensei!"

Koushirou then held out his right arm to Toshiro.

The sword looked like a normal katana with the exception of the guard, which was in the shape of a four-pointed bronze-coloured star. Its hilt is light blue, and sheath dark blue. It was roughly 1.4 metres long, meaning it was taller than Toshiro, which definitely didn't tick him off a little and pledge to drink more milk.

"This is also one of the 21 Great Grade Swords, Toshiro. It was a weapon created by my father, just like the Wado Ichimonji. He named it: Hyorinmaru. It was a weapon, that like some others, would "choose it's wielder". I'll warn you now, I don't know what will happen if it 'doesn't accept you as its owner'... but, my intuition tells me, this sword is perfect for you" He said seriously, highlighting how his 'intuition' could truly go really wrong.

Toshiro replied with a hard and fearless nod, and went to grab the hilt of the sword.

Koushirou and Zoro both looked at Toshiro, slightly worried, but mainly excited to see what would happen, if anything were to happen.

As Toshiro touched the sword, he felt a connection with it, which he found strange. It was like the sword was a part of his body that he had been missing for many years, or like a family member, or anything else similar to that.

He unsheathed Hyorinmaru, and had a few test swings.

"It's... perfect!" He yelled excitedly. This was exactly what he needed, and expected to be hard to come by in the future: A sword that he felt compatible and comfortable with. When holding one of the practice wooden swords in the dojo, it felt natural, but at the same time weird and uncomfortable to him.

"Hahaha! I knew you were the one, Toshiro!" Koushirou laughed as he pat Toshiro on the back. He re-sheathed his sword, and stood side-by-side to Zoro, looking at Koushirou again, but this time all 3 of them were standing.

"Congratulations to the both of you, you've officially graduated from the Shimotsuki Dojo, I'm proud of the both of you" He smiled, which caused Toshiro to smirk happily, and Zoro to smile widely as he jumped up and down shouting "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A FIGHT-" Before getting bashed on the head with a karate chop by Koushirou "ouchowowow".

The dojo was then filled with laughter for a good few minutes, before Zoro and Toshiro both left and went to their homes.

Koushirou went to his late daughter's room, and went on his knees to pray to a photo of her, before saying "Are you seeing this, Kuina?... Zoro has grown to become a strong swordsman, I'm sure, he'll definitely have a shot at becoming the world's greatest swordsman. He's also got his friend, Toshiro, who's really good. I'm sure you would've loved to spar with him, haha..." He laughed a little, before ending his prayer and going to sleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope you enjoyed.

Leave suggestions.