10 What Doesn't Kills you, Makes you Stronger.
Luffy is floating amiss on the vast body of water known as the ocean. He's been floating for hours and can't cope with the harsh conditions, the sun burning his skin, his stomach aching for food, his back began to get irritated due to the seawater, he also has some burn injuries, courtesy of Sakazuki and the explosion.
All the kid had left was a photo of his friends that he always keeps with him, and Shank's straw hat.
'I can't feel anything…how much time has passed since the explosion? I really want to see everyone again.' Luffy.
Luffy begins to close his eyes but opens them as he feels something falling on his face. It was a raindrop.
The sunny sky begins to change into a darkened sky, filled with thunderclouds and rainclouds.
The rain began to fall, Luffy covered the photo with his straw hat and opened his mouth to drink as much water as he could. Little did the rubbery kid know, a big whirlpool was up ahead of him, and he was drifting closer to it.
After drinking enough water, he became aware of the whirlpool, but it was already late. The kid was swallowed by the whirlpool in a matter of seconds, not leaving a single trace behind.
(Meanwhile, in a facility)
Three men were sitting around a table waiting for a certain person. They were Bullet, Aramaki and Garaki, and the man they were waiting, was their boss.
"Sakazuki lost badly." Bullet.
"Hey! Sakazuki-san was only overwhelmed due to his incompetent subordinates!" Aramaki.
"Weren't you his subordinate at some point? Guess that explains why you're so useless." Bullet mocks Aramaki.
"Why you…!" Aramaki.
"Enough!" Garaki.
Both men look at the scientist and he continue.
"The boss has...arrived." Garaki.
*STEP* *STEP* *STEP*
From behind the door, small yet strong steps can be heard. The door opens and reveals a man with white hair wearing a black tuxedo.
"Welcome, gentlemen." Spoke the man.
"Welcome, Sir!" Spoke the other three.
"I believe you know why I'm here, right?"
"Is it because of the destruction of the base near Toshima?" Bullet asked sarcastically.
"HAHAHAHAHA! That's why I keep you in here, Bullet. No one is as ballsy as you are, and answering your question, yes."
"The destruction of the base was caused by one of the kids, Roronoa Zoro, who cut off all the cables and activated the emergency self-destruct sequence." Garaki.
"Anything else?"
"Yes, although we have no idea about the other children, we are most definitely sure that the ones from the Block-1996AC are alive." Garaki.
"1996AC, huh? What makes you think that they survived?"
"Well, for starters, Red-haired was there, and given his prowess we can't rule out the fact that he's capable of doing it." Aramaki.
"And the other reason is…?"
"Sakazuki survived the explosion." Bullet.
"How? I thought that all facility's explosives were powerful enough to destroy the whole island."
"There was some unforeseen problem. Apparently, the bombs made by Quinn had a small defective issue when stored for long periods of time." Garaki.
"Where's Quinn? Didn't he say that his bombs were flawless?"
"When we called him over to explain himself, he killed his escorts and escaped using that peculiar body of his." Aramaki.
"*SIGH*! First Judge, then Ceasar and now Quinn. Make sure to restrict Vegapunk's movements even further."
"Right away, sir." Garaki.
"Speaking of him, did he discovered why you couldn't extract 'THAT' quirk?" Bullet.
"No, either he doesn't want to tell me, or he really doesn't know. I can't extract the information with a quirk thanks to those pesky countermeasures that he developed."
"Well, that sucks. So glad that's not my problem." Bullet.
"Don't test your luck, Bullet."
"Yes, boss." Bullet.
"Is Sakazuki in his way to come here?"
"Yes, the moment we noticed that his chip still showed that he was alive, we sent various groups to bring him back to us." Garaki.
"If only we could plant the chips to the kids." Aramaki complained.
"You're well aware that Vegapunk, the only person who can make them, was quite clear that he could only make one per year."
"I call BS on that." Bullet.
"So do I, unfortunately I have no way of extracting his information, he has outlived his usefulness long ago…"
*COUGH*
"If we're done with the subject, I would like to talk about how to proceed." Garaki.
"Continue."
"Since these kids are basically a lost cause by now, I vote for the chance to improve over the rest of the facilities, to make sure things like this won't repeat." Garaki.
"I agree."
"What about that brat?" Aramaki.
"Which one?"
"The one that blasted off with Sakazuki-san." Aramaki.
"Ah, Dragon's son. Keep an eye on anyone that's similar to him, understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Garaki/Bullet/ Aramaki.
"Very well, it's been a fruitful meeting, but sadly I have to go. All-Might is getting closer to my REAL business, I better pull out this roots before it's too late."
The man leaves the place and the remaining three leave after a few minutes.
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(Meanwhile, in Tokyo)
A blue-haired man is sitting in some sort of ceremonial throne while being surrounded by different swordsmen.
The man is known as Roronoa Ryuma, the current #3 hero. And those who were surrounding him are his fellow clansmen.
They were having a reunion about many of their businesses but were interrupted when a delivery courier arrived.
"Greetings, Ryuma-sama!" Bowed the man.
"What type of message is so important, that allowed you to interrupt this reunion?" Ryuma.
"Sir, someone in the phone claims to be your son, and even spoke about some things about the clan that only the young master would know."
"Hmm…bring me the phone." Ryuma.
The courier brings the phone and gives it to Ryuma.
"Who's calling?" Ryuma.
"Yo, old man." Zoro spoke.
Ryuma's eyes widen after hearing his son's voice after 2 years. Still, he had to make sure that it was him.
"Answer correctly, or I'll hang up on you." Ryuma.
"Aha." Zoro.
"What was your first birthday present?" Ryuma.
"None, you have never given me a single present. Mom's the one that's given me everything that's mine, including Wado Ichimonji." Zoro.
Ryuma smirks and continues the conversation.
"So, this whole time, you were alive, Zoro." Ryuma.
"No thanks to you, I had to survive some pretty messed up shit thanks to your incompetence." Zoro.
"Brat, don't be so arrogant. You got captured because you were weak, you can't blame me for that." Ryuma.
"And I assume that you have done everything you could to find me?" Zoro.
"I honestly thought that you got lost." Ryuma.
Ryuma hears some laughter in the background and hears someone calling Zoro a, mosshead?
"Anyway, SHUT THE FUCK UP SHITTY-COOK, ahem. I only called to tell you that I'll be back in two years." Zoro.
"Hmm? Why two years? I know your sense of direction is bad, but I never expected it to be THAT bad." Ryuma.
"It's not that!!! Tsk, the guys that saved me are quite strong so, I'll be learning from them these next two years." Zoro.
"I see, I'll let you do what you want, however, call me when and where you'll be returning." Ryuma.
"Why?" Zoro.
"If we leave you alone, you might get lost into another continent." Ryuma.
"FUCK YOU OLD MAN, I'LL SLASH YOU ONCE I GET BACK!!!" Zoro.
"TRY IT BRAT! WITH THOSE SWORD SKILLS OF YOURS, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO CUT A SINGLE HAIR OF MINE!!!" Ryuma.
Both Zoro and Ryuma smack the phones, ending the call.
The various clansmen were confused at their patriarch's childish behavior.
"Excuse me, Ryuma-sama." Spoke one of them.
"What?" Ryuma.
"Was the caller really young master Zoro?"
"It was." Ryuma.
"Did he call for help? It's been 2 years and five months since he got abducted."
"Nah! The brat just said that he will come back after 2 years of training." Ryuma.
"Ryuma-sama, it should be imperative that the young master returns."
"Kyoshiro, Zoro may be just a kid, but he has the insight to take his own choices despite being spoiled, I didn't raise a complete idiot." Ryuma.
'You didn't raise him, Miss Kanroji did.' Thought the various clansmen.
"Also, it's imperative that Kanroji doesn't hears a peep of this, got it?" Ryuma emanated killing intent.
"Yes, sir!!!" Everyone.
"Also, tell Baiken to come back in two years, I want her to personally test Zoro." Ryuma.
"Understood sir."
"I hereby declare this reunion, adjourned." Ryuma declared and one after another the clansmen left the room.
Ryuma was now alone but called out for someone.
"Koushiro." Ryuma.
A slim man with glasses appeared out of nowhere and kneeled.
"Yes, Ryuma-sama." Koushiro spoke.
"Remember to train Tashigi and Kuina properly. Given that they'll be Zoro's personnel in the future." Ryuma.
"Understood, Ryuma-sama. I'll make sure that they grow stronger in these 2 years." Koushiro reassured.
"Good, dismissed." Ryuma.
Koushiro leaves in a flash and Ryuma stares at the ceiling reminiscing.
In the past, Zoro was more focused in playing rather than training. He was a spoiled brat with nothing to fear due to his family background. Until the kidnapping, the first weeks, he refused the reality and believed that he would be saved by his family, when nothing happened and he caused trouble, he got beaten up for it.
Zoro realized that the only way to survive was to become stronger than anyone else, and thus, he began his journey to become the World's Greatest Swordsman.
(Meanwhile, in some part of the ocean)
Luffy wakes up while drowning in the water that remained in his lungs. Luffy punched his chest and managed to puke what little water remained in his lungs.
The rubbery kid managed to avoid death by some sort of dumb luck and is now in an unknown place.
"Where…*COUGH* *COUGH*…am I?" Luffy wondered as he picks up his straw hat.
His hat was wet but the pouch where he stored the picture of his friends was surprisingly well-preserved. Luffy didn't dwelled on the matter much longer so, he simply put the picture back into the pouch and put the hat on his head.
Luffy began to walk from the coast to some sort of jungle. The little kid was hungry and didn't have much strength left.
He's been burnt, smacked-downed, blown-up (To an extent) and drowned. Needless to say, that the kid was WAY over his physical capabilities.
Luckily for him, he found some fruits, and without considering the fact that they may be poisonous, he simply engulfed every single one of them until he was full.
"*BURP* That really hit the spot. But now I'm so sleepy…" Luffy.
Luffy began to doze off and looked for somewhere comfortable to sleep. Luffy managed to find a hollow tree trunk and filled it with leaves and slept inside.
Little did the rubbery kid know that, the island he's currently residing in is a failed experiment itself of his capturers.
Around 40 years ago, a certain man with the power to extract and gift quirks at his will had a thought.
'If I give animals quirks and let them breed, will I be able to farm for new quirks while also raising an army?'
The problem was that, animals will always be animals and not everyone will be tamed by fear alone. One fatidic day, the animals managed to escape the facility and caused a riot, killing every scientist inside.
With their heighten senses, they sensed their captor getting closer to their location. Not wanting to die or worse, be captured again, the animals developed a symbiotic relationship to use their quirks and both escape and hide the island from said man.
The facility once known as 1917EVCMZ, is now known as...…THE ISLAND OF MONSTERS.
(I know is not a very creative name, if you have any problem with it then blow me. I dare you to come up with a better name.)
Luffy woke up the next morning and did the same thing he does every morning; he's eating while taking a dump.
After doing his "necessities", Luffy began to explore the island. His body wasn't fully healed so, he had to take the exploring down a notch.
He only explored around 100 meters from his tree trunk bed. He felt restless, thanks to Chopper, he managed to develop self-awareness about his health condition and decided to focus on healing.
However, its Luffy we're talking about, the kid wants to play around and see new things after years of living in a restricted space.
I mean, he did have his friends, but now he's all alone. The last thing he wants is to think on said loneliness. Luffy would pass the next 11 years in that island, unable to escape from there. His new chapter would be of survival.
