1 Chapter 1 - The Start Of A Journey
Read with an open mind, and don't take everything too seriously I'm trying to keep writing for fun.
——
It has already been six months since I woke up as none other than Portgas D. Ace, one of my favorite characters in One Piece. However, something strange had been bugging me for the last half-year: my age. I somehow found myself the same age as Luffy, only four months older than him to be exact. With such a small age difference, it made me consider if I was in some alternate One Piece world. But after a quick look through the newspaper and the world's happenings, everything seemed to be mostly normal. Sabo, who was believed to be dead by both Luffy and me, was three years older, and my late father's execution had happened 24 years ago. The only explanation for my late birth was that instead of keeping me in her womb for 20 months, Rouge, my late mother, kept me in there for an inexplicable 56 months – a feat I had to honestly bow down to. In my opinion, it was a bigger and harder exploit than conquering the seas.
But let's stop dwelling on the past, as today marks the beginning of my grand adventure. Today, I turn 17, which means I will finally set sail.
(Ace attire picture)
"Ace!" I could hear my little brother shout from the shores. "In four months, I'll be starting my adventure as well, and then I'll become the King of the Pirates," Luffy exclaimed.
"I'm sure you will, Luffy, but for now, take care," I replied.
"Good luck, Ace! Let us meet again as pirates!" Luffy added, a large smile plastered on his face.
"Bye, everyone!" I exclaimed as I set sail on my small boat, splitting the waves.
"Good luck, Ace!" The bandits, Makino, and the mayor exclaimed, tears in their eyes.
I kept waving at them for a little while as my boat got further and further away from the shore until they were no longer visible.
Looking ahead at the vast ocean, I had already formulated a plan of action. First of all, let's get ourselves a Devil Fruit – specifically, the Flame-Flame Fruit.
——
The initial excitement of the voyage slowly faded as I found myself bored out of my mind. Sailing in the Four Blues was much simpler than in the Grand Line. The sea was pretty tame, especially in the East Blue, the weakest sea of them all.
I really had to find some crew members; having nobody to talk to for days was insufferable. Just as the thought crossed my mind, my stomach grumbled in protest. No crew mates and no food meant my adventures were off to a terrible start.
——
The next day, I was woken up by the sound of rushing water. Looking ahead of me, I could finally spot it: Sixis, an island surrounded by a strong current that pulled anything close to it toward its shores. If any ship ever graced the shore of this treacherous island, they would be unable to escape as the waves surrounding the island would flip any boat and smash it to pieces.
Unfortunately for me, by the growing sound of the rushing waves, I was a tad bit late to realize it. As my small dinghy started shaking and groaning in vain, before I could react, a large wave scooped my small vessel and threw it into the air right towards the island's rocky shores.
"F***ing hell!" I cursed as I jumped out of the ship right before it met its untimely end, its hull getting obliterated by the large jagged rocks at the shore of the island.
Doing a quick somersault in the air, I landed gracefully on the sand. "Safe," I exclaimed.
Looking back at my ship, it looked more like scrap than the remains of a boat. So, without thinking too deeply about it, I decided to go look for the reason I came to this island in the first place – the Flame-Flame Fruit.
As I started walking aimlessly, my head in the clouds, thinking of all the great things I would do with fire powers at my beck and call, I stumbled on something rather sturdy and fell face-first into the sand.
"Blugh," I exclaimed, spitting the sand out of my mouth, before turning around to examine what could have tripped me.
My complexion grew pale as I was faced with a skeleton, draped in a blue coat and wearing a blue face mask.
"Ah! Is that Masked Deuce?" I exclaimed before bowing in apology for tripping over his remains, hoping not to get haunted by his ghost.
Once I was done apologizing for being three years late and unintentionally disrespecting his remains, I proceeded to bury what would have been my first mate in another life.
Once I was done making Deuce's final resting place, I placed his diary book as his tombstone before walking away from the impromptu grave.
"All right, so where is that Devil Fruit?" I wondered as I started looking through the island until I finally found a large crater. At the bottom of said fissure rested a pirate ship, one that looked like it belonged to giants with its Viking-like build and a large rusted sword resting on top.
(Shipwreck Picture)
If I remember correctly, the Devil Fruit should be hidden on the ship. I thought before jumping down confidently, already used to Ace's supernatural strength and fighting ability from the six months I had spent in it. With catlike reflexes, I managed to safely jump down onto the large ship, a loud sound being produced as soon as I landed on the wooden deck.
The sound was seemingly carried by the reverb of the crater, making it a lot louder than usual, which unfortunately attracted some unwanted attention as a loud, dinosaur-like roar resounded through the island.
"What?" I exclaimed, looking up.
A large monstrous bird seemed to have been woken up by the ruckus I was causing, its large rock-like beak pointing angrily in my direction.
As the bird dove down with incredible speed toward me, its large beak snapping at me, I quickly took off running in the direction of the large, giant rusted sword stuck on the ship's deck.
In a single leap, I jumped high enough to grab onto the hilt of the rusted sword, managing to jump over the angry bird's head as it snapped at my feet. Before grappling the large hilt in a hug and, with all my strength, lifting it out of the deck and slamming the rusted blade onto the bird right under me.
The sword crumbled on impact, knocking out the large bird with it.
Landing safely on the bird's head, I sighed, "These things are pretty scary," I exclaimed as I knocked lightly on the bird's large head to make sure it was completely out.
"All right, where is that Devil Fruit?" I wondered as I started exploring the giant ship.
Slamming my feet onto a large cabin on board of the ship that looked like the captain's room, I started looking through the numerous clothes and rotten food inside before finally finding what I had been looking for: a small chest safely secured by a rusty lock.
With a light punch, I easily broke the wooden chest and picked its contents – a fruit as large as my head with orange patterns resembling flames. "The Flame-Flame Fruit," I exclaimed, a large grin plastered on my face.
Without further ado, I swallowed the whole thing in a single bite.
In an instant, my entire body burst into flames, and as if it were second nature, I instinctively grasped control over the fire. With a single thought, I focused the flames around my fist, then punched forward.
[Hiken - Fire Fist]
A massive torrent of fire followed, tearing through the ship's hull, causing it to collapse instantly.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed uncontrollably, overwhelmed by my newfound superpowers. It felt like something out of a movie, the feeling beyond words.
After a couple of minutes, well, maybe a couple of hours, of enjoying my newfound powers, I swiftly removed the large ship's dragon figurehead. Just like Ace and Deuce had done in the original story, I began carving it into the beloved shape of Ace's first ship, Striker, a ship as cool and cherished by every One Piece fan as its owner.
(Striker Picture)
But unlike Ace and Deuce who kept a mast at the center of the ship to sail without the use of his devil fruit, I on the other hand opted against such a feature. For one, it would make the ship a lot more aerodynamic, and most importantly it would mean only I could power the ship making it unstealable.
——
Carving the vessel took a lot more time than I had expected, as it took a total of 7 days. Enough for me to grow hungry enough to roast the large bird that was still knocked unconscious on the ship's deck. Despite its shabby appearance, the roasted bird surprisingly tasted delicious.
After a long week of preparing the ship and playing around with my newfound powers, I was finally ready to set sail.
Embarking on the surfboard-like ship, only big enough to accommodate a maximum of two passengers, I fired up the paddle system using my devil fruit power. The paddles at the back started spinning faster and faster propelling the ship with great force, as it took off Striker easily overpowered the large waves surrounding Sixis island. Like a knife through butter, it cut through the waves with ease finally freeing me from this prison-like island.
