1 A Boy of The East Blue
"Not all Treasure is Silver and Gold, Mate"
It was a fine day under the bright sun. He closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of its brilliant rays. The sea breeze was slowly blowing in his face, providing him with a relaxed feeling in his last moments. The skies were the perfect hue, light blue in colour. He opened his eyes and stared at the seagulls flopping their wings on the horizon, flying and enjoying their freedom.
Every movement he made was watched under scrutiny by the bystanders in the plaza. People from all around the globe were present in this whole fiasco the World Government has organised. The only thing heard was his footsteps as he slowly walked to his demise. Everyone was too focused on him to say anything. He didn't mind the people, just focusing on the scenery laid right in front of his eyes. After all, it has been years since he was last here.
It was all too good for an execution.
He's going to die today.
He was never afraid of dying. Ever since he started his piracy life, he knew someday he was going to face death. A man should never give up on his dreams, even if it means death. But unlike others, he will die with his head held up high, showing dignity. He had fulfilled his dreams, but he had been too early; the fate or the sickness had made sure of that, who knew.
He even chose the way of how he will die, getting executed in his hometown. He liked being the centre of attention, especially now that he had something significant to say for the people present.
He has been prepared for it for months. There was no point in turning back. He always liked to live his life without any regrets. But still, he will die with one.
Gol D. Roger, the man who acquired everything; wealth, fame, and power. The man who is now known as the King of the Pirates was facing his execution. After surrendering himself to the Marines, they decided to do it in this place.
Loguetown. It was his birthplace. The town where he was born and, ironically, the place where he will face death.
Nostalgia struck the Pirate King hard. He remembered his childhood here. This place was the last island on East Blue before the Red Line. A lot of ships always docked here for supplies. Let it be merchants, crusaders, marines or pirates. He always wanted to talk to people about their adventures. That was what inspired him to be a pirate. The sea just seemed to be a place where he can attain freedom. And he was glad that before he will die, he managed to succeed in attaining freedom.
Even in when facing execution, Roger still carried an air of respect and fear among the people. Most people only gathered, for one thing, to know where his treasure is. Others just liked the idea of seeing the most infamous pirate in history to have his head chopped up.
Among the crowds, Roger saw some familiar faces. Some of his crew members were here to witness it. Most notably for him, two of his apprentices. Shanks and Buggy. He made a promise with them to not cry, but it was obviously something that they cannot fulfil. Both of the boys had tears falling from their eyes like waterfalls.
Amongst others were a man with sunglasses on his face, a face grinning. A man with a sword like a cross. A Dragon was watching quietly. A crocodile was watching with interest. Many others.
He was on top of the platform now, seeing every part of Loguetown. His black eyes were focused more on the sky rather than below, where he could finally hear the people's whisper buzzing, growing into volume as seconds passed by.
"Have you got any last words?"
Roger turned to him and grinned widely. He held his handcuffs. "Can you please remove this? It's bothering me."
"I cannot do that!" The guard snapped.
"Why would I run away now?" Roger asked, scoffing.
He continues to walk a few meters before sitting in the centre of the platform. It was taking too long.
The two guards move their spears. Ready to strike him any second now. The once small whispers grew to be loud yellings. The atmosphere was tense as they stared atop of the platform with wide eyes. This was a historical moment. The death of the Pirate King in front of them. It was not something you experienced twice in your life.
And all of a sudden, the screamings broke. A man brave enough in the crowds started yelling.
"Pirate King! What did you do to your treasure!? It's somewhere in the Grand Line, isn't it? The greatest treasure in the world!"
"Shut up!" The guard barked angrily below.
The man did not mind him and continued. "One Piece!"
At that moment, everyone tensed up. Humans are greedy creatures, never satisfied with anything in life and would always crave for more. They always ran after something that they'll never be able to grasp. Roger grinned; his treasure would turn the world upside down.
The laughter started erupting from Roger's mouth. That laugh. It was exactly the same laugh he expressed when he was on Laugh Tale. Too bad, though, he did not have the time to tell the story of Joy Boy.
"My treasure?" Roger flashed a toothy grin, ear to ear.
"Shut up!" The guard shouted as he moved his spear further closer to him.
"If you want it, I'll you have it! Go look for it. I left it all in that place."
That day Gol D. Roger died, and He started the new Pirate Era.
Years Later
"Luffy, what do you think you're doing up there?" Shanks loudly questioned to the 10 year old child that was standing on his ship's figurehead.
"I'm gonna make everyone take me seriously around here!" Luffy exclaimed with a furrowed brow.
"Oh? And how will you do that?" Shanks asked curiously with a joking tone that heavily annoyed the young child.
Luffy's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and he raised his hand, a little knife on his hand.
"I'll show you," he said.
Before Shanks could shout at the child, Luffy had already dragged his knife under his left eye, cutting deep into his flesh and creating a deep scar under his left eye.
"GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Luffy's painful scream echoed throughout the village, making them all turn to the pirate ship with worried looks.
"LUFFY! YOU DAMN IDIOT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" almost immediately afterwards, Shanks' angered and worried voice boomed out.
Later
Luffy was sitting at the bar with Shanks sitting next to him. Normally, you'd expect the small child to be in tears from the pain. However, Luffy was no normal child.
Luffy, instead of having bandages covering about half of his face, he already had deep scars where he had carved under his left eye.
"Luffy, you know we could've just sewn your cuts closed, right?" Shanks asked the slightly scowling child.
"Of course I do; I just wanted to show that I wasn't afraid of pain," Luffy said, idly carving a jolly roger into the bar counter.
Shanks was going to retort before he noticed what Luffy was doing and leaned over. "Whatcha carving there, Luffy?"
Luffy looked up at Shanks with a large smile. "This is what my jolly roger is gonna look like when I've got my own pirate crew."
"Is that so, Luffy?" Shanks asked curiously, receiving a nod in response. He then smirked mischievously. "Well, how the hell are you gonna be a pirate if you can't even swim?"
Luffy's brow twitched with annoyance at that. "Well, I'll just stay outta the water, you damn drunk!" Luffy shot back, only making Shanks laugh boisterously.
Luffy would've continued on if he and Shanks weren't smacked upside the head. Looking up, they saw Makino with a smile on her face and a dark aura around her. "What did you just say, Luffy?" she asked with a sweet tone.
"U-ummmmm," Luffy stuttered before looking at Shanks and getting the greatest plan ever. "I don't know. I've only heard Shanks use it around me," he said with the most innocence he could produce at the moment.
The look on Shanks' face was one of comic betrayal and shock but turned to fear as Makino turned to him with a glare. "N-now, now Makino, let's not be rash." he pleaded, holding his hands in front of him.
"I'll be okay, as long as I stay on the ship! Plus, I can swim and fight too!" says Luffy, still trying to convince Shanks as he turned back to the food on his plate. "I'm well-trained, so my punches are like pistols!" says Luffy in his still excited tone of voice, now going through punching motions at the air in front of him.
"Oh really? Pistols?" asks Shanks with a bored expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" asks Luffy, shouting, now a bit angry at the lack of enthusiasm from the Pirate Captain.
And with this being said, another one of the pirates named Lucky Roo came up to speak now.
"He means your too young, Luffy," says Lucky Roo, Telling Luffy the reason.
"He's right. We got others on the crew older than you," says Yassop making Luffy get even angrier.
"Please, I'm not a kid! I'm old enough!" says Luffy, yelling in defiance.
"Calm down, Luffy. Here have some juice," says Shanks as he gives Luffy the cup.
Luffy looks at it and notices that everyone present was waiting for something. So ultimately, he drinks it all, and everyone laughs.
"I don't know one pirate who drinks juice! Ahahahaha!" says Shanks, Laughing as do the others in his crew did the same as well.
"That's a dirty trick! You know what?! The jokes on you. At least I won't get scurvy! Tomato Head!" says Luffy, continuing to yell at Shanks.
As a vein popped out on said person's forehead. Causing Shanks to now grab Luffy by his shirt's collar as he spoke in response to such words.
"Tomato Head?! Is that what you called me?!" asks Shanks, shouting his question angrily, as Luffy wasn't even fazed by it.
"You're not deaf! That's exactly what I said! Even Makino knows it!" Says Luffy, responding in the same tone of voice and making Shanks go pale with a cloud of depression coming over his head, as he had become extremely quiet.
"Touche," says Shanks, accepting this for now.
When the door was slammed open by a man with tanned skin, black hair, an x-shaped scar above his right eye, a goatee and a long coat reaching his ankles.
Behind the man was a group of people all wearing white shirts, trousers and turbans on their heads with sabers strapped on their waists with red sashes.
The man in front had an air of arrogance and confidence about him as he walked right up to the bar counter with a smirk on his face.
"So these are pirates? They all seem pretty damn weak to me." the front man said, glancing around at the pirates presence before slapping his hand on the bar. "Wench, grab me and my men here 10 barrels of your alcohol and make it quick," he said with blatant disrespect.
Hearing the man's tone, Luffy quietly growled and clenched his fist, annoyance rising in him.
"I'm very sorry, but these other gentlemen already finished off my alcohol stock, and I won't be getting another shipment for a whole week," Makino explained with a false apologetic tone, discreetly reaching under the bar counter.
"I'm sorry my crew and I drank all of the alcohol," Shanks said, holding an unopened bottle of sake. "You can have this one; it's unopened." he offered with a smile.
The man's brow twitched in annoyance, and his eye's narrowed in anger. "You think one measly bottle will satisfy us?" he questioned before shattering the bottle with his sword. "Who the hell do you think I am?" he asked angrily.
"Now look at what you did; the floor's all wet," Shanks said, bending down. "Makino, could you get me a rag to clean this?" he asked politely.
"Sure, just give me a second," Makino said, about to grab a rag when she heard a loud smash and the sound of shattering glass.
Now on the floor, Shanks was soaked and had food on the ground around him while the rugged man stood above him with an angry look in his eyes.
"Tch. It seems you need to be educated, you dumbass pirate." he almost growled, pulling out a bounty paper with his face on it. "Can you read this? It says, 'Higuma the Bear, wanted dead or alive for 8,000,000 beris.' This means I'm a dangerous criminal, so you should be treating me with respect." Higuma said, putting his bounty poster away.
Luffy saw a chest nearby with some strange fruit inside that peaked his curiosity as he peered at it as they were having that chat. The fruit was white in colour but with weird blue lines all around it and deep dark purple leaves on top, much like clouds on a rainy day. The fruit had the appearance of an apple.
As a result of Luffy's clever reasoning, he ate the fruit. He nearly puked when he took the first mouthful; what type of fruit is this? It tastes so horrible, he wondered, attempting to wipe away the unpleasant taste in his mouth with water.
The sound of glass breaking had already drawn Luffy's attention back to the remainder of the room.
Leaving the guy who described himself as Higuma from the wanted poster to have had enough of it, clicking his tongue and pulling his sword from its sheath. This gesture alone drew everyone's attention to the bandit.
"Leave Shanks alone!" yelled Luffy at the bandit while unleashing an unknown power wave involuntarily. The oddest thing occurred when Luffy tried this. The mountain bandits, along with a couple of Shanks' crew's weaker members, began to pass out one by one. Shanks and the rest of the waking crew were wide-eyed, while the mountain bandits' commander trembled in his boots.
He yelled/asked Luffy, "W-what did you do, brat!" Luffy, on the other hand, was surprised and perplexed by what had just occurred.
'There is no denying it. That was the spirit of the conqueror.' Shanks pondered his thoughts. Before anybody could react, the Mountain Bandit Leader drew his sword and swung it at Luffy, chopping him in two while screaming hysterically.
He cried, "I'm going to murder you, brat!" Luffy began to glow a dark purple cloud at that point, causing the Bandit Leader to recoil in surprise and horror.
Luffy was surrounded by black clouds, with lightning erupting from his toes to his head, a few sparks dancing about the bar, striking the floor and creating a brilliant crimson mark, nearly catching fire.
The sound of a blade falling to the ground jolted everyone out of their stupor. With his lips still open, the Mountain Bandit Leader had fainted out from shock.
Before Shanks ran at Luffy, the room had become silent.
"Luffy! Did you consume the fruit that was hidden within the chest? "Luffy nodded in response to his question. Shanks then attempted to grip Luffy's shoulder, but his hand was electrified. Shanks quickly drew his hand away from him.
He then turned to face Luffy before speaking. "You just ate the Arashi Arashi no Mi Fruit, which is part of the Devil Fruits category. You can't swim for the rest of your life if you eat one of these, but the one you ate is a Logia! As a result, you become a Storm Person," Shanks screamed. Luffy's eyes twinkle with excitement at the prospect of becoming a Storm.
"Captain, are there any additional powers that come with the fruit?" Lucky Roo, who is as surprised as everyone else, wonders.
As Shanks turned to face the guy, he resolved to say something about what he knew.
"Yes, this fruit enables the user to transform into a Storm, receiving all of the Storm's abilities, including the power to change your own body to operate in various ways, but the user can also control the weather, though this is much more difficult. Even if you do get to that stage, truly controlling the weather will take a long time. The last person to consume this devil fruit is supposed to have had complete power over the weather, causing tornadoes, lightning storms, and even a snowstorm." The contents of the room are shocked at what Shanks just said.
"What..." asks Ben in a hushed tone, completely taken aback by the situation.
Shanks noticed Luffy's lightning was still white, which meant he couldn't use Red Lightning, the next level. Still, the final level was Dark Lightning, the most dangerous form of lightning according to Shanks, the heat and amount of volts and power was enough to challenge even a Yonko, but Shanks knew Luffy would have to work for years, if not decades, to reach that level.
Allowing this knowledge to sink into the group in front of him. Yasopp casts a glance across at Luffy before returning his gaze to Shanks.
"Captain, I believe it is best to train him. This is not a situation to be taken lightly" According to Yasopp, he suggested it to his commander.
"Agreed. It's preferable that he has some control than none at all. It would be quite beneficial to him, among other things" Benn agrees with Yasopp while expressing his own viewpoint.
"So, captain, what are we going to do? Given that he utilised it, he needs some instruction. Not to mention the fact that we arrived not long ago, "Lucky Roo remarks, his words falling off as he offers his opinion on the situation.
This merely made Shanks pause for a second. Before eventually walking near Luffy, who was still conversing with Makino.
"Luffy, do you realise what you just did?" Shanks says, more calmly, to check if he understands.
"No. To be honest, this occurs to me when I'm hunting or upset. I have no idea what it is, and no one has ever explained it to me, "Luffy adds, dubious in general but honest in his response, which startled Shanks a little.
"Wait, you've used it before?" Shanks inquires, his brows slightly arched.
"Yes, while I was battling monkeys with my grandfather," Luffy answers quietly.
'What sort of grandma treats a seven-year-old like that?!' Everyone there was expecting to hear this, and they found it to be really harsh.
"Okay, Luffy, who is your grandfather?" Shanks inquires, furious and wishing to talk with the guy about how he should respect his family.
"Garp." Luffy scrunches his eyebrows.
Silence.
"Luffy, what's your full name?" Shanks asks with unease dripping from it, other crewmembers swallowing in fear of the answer.
"What? What's with all of you? What's with all the annoying questions? It's Monkey D. Luffy, what about it?" A faceless lackey screeches in the background. Meanwhile, Shanks' jaw is quite literally fallen on the floor as he simply blinks because that's all he can currently remember how to do.
Garp. The Marine hero Garp. The only Marine who could fight neck and neck with Captain Roger. One of the very few Captain Roger saw as an equal in strength and someone to look forward to fighting. The one who nearly destroyed the Oro Jackson more than once with just his fists. The one that-
"Luffy. What is your Grandpa like?" Shanks stares Luffy down.
"Huh? Uh... his fists hurt. He calls it his fists of love. But they really hurt. Really. He always throws me into forests or down bottomless trenches or makes me fight wild animals in order to 'make me a strong Marine'. When I say I don't wanna be a Marine, he'll hit me a lot."
Yup. Definitely Garp. Shanks swallows.
"You mean to tell me the Hero of the Marines is your grandfather?!" asks Shanks, shouting in shock due to knowing the man's reputation and power, while making Makino laugh a bit from his shocking nature, as he had to regain his composure upon hearing this. "Okay, Luffy, before I decide even remotely to train you for a bit, what's your dream?" asks Shanks, curious to know to determine something.
"Well, I want to be...
.
.
.
.
"Huh," everyone thought the same after hearing what Luffy just said. The rest of Shanks crew had various different reactions, from laughter to shock, to somehow respect. Makino felt tears in her eyes; she had never heard Luffy say that before; at that moment, Makino knew Luffy would one day achieve that.
She wondered how Garp would react to it, how Dragon himself would react.
But the one who was silent during all this was none other than Shanks, who, instead of seeing Luffy, saw his Old Captain.
Same words?! Shanks thought with a smile. At that moment, he felt something he hadn't felt for a long time, Hope.
Deciding to break the silence, Shanks instead asked about his first dream instead. "Why King of the Pirates?" asks Shanks.
"Because the King is the one with the most freedom in this world," says Luffy, surprising Shanks, as this was the same towards the crew.
"Just you wait. I am going to have the greatest adventure and find the One Piece and become King of the Pirates!" Luffy says, with determination oozing off of him and causing everyone to smile and Shanks to see an image of his old captain Gol D. Roger behind Luffy.
"You can stay here for some time; Garp won't return for a year at least. You can stay here for that long," Makino suggested; Shanks thought of that before deciding to stay here for a bit longer.
After deciding to stay for a bit longer than they had originally planned.
"Luffy!" yelled Shanks getting Luffy's attention, "Come with me," he said as he began walking away.
"Okay, Luffy, let me tell you how things are going to happen once we start training," Shanks said, getting Luffy's attention. Luffy also noticed that Benn, Roo, and Yasopp were standing by the doorway. "First thing that will happen is Lucky Roo is going to teach you how to control that devil fruit of yours a bit than from there every day in the morning Benn is going to teach you navigation and history along with battle strategy and anything else he comes up with. That will be for about three hours a day every day. The rest of the day is either spent with me teaching you Haki or Yasopp teaching you how to shoot. Whatever extra time you have, you will train to master your devil fruit powers, or you can do that after you either master Haki or sharpshooting. Understood," asked Shanks, to which Luffy nodded and spoke.
"Yep, now I have one question." he said, which Shanks nodded for him to proceed, "Can I eat during training?" he said, causing Shanks to burst out laughing, the same for his crew.
After Shanks had explained everything to Luffy again to make sure he understood, he began to explain to Luffy what Haki was and how it may be useful in combat. To say that Luffy liked the idea was an understatement. Luffy repeatedly begged Shanks to start his training until Shanks finally caved and started teaching him Observation Haki.
The following day, Shanks took Luffy into the forest to start training his Haki, starting with Observation Haki.
Luffy would every day return with bruises, Makino would get worried, but Shanks reassured her that he wasn't doing anything extreme to hurt him.
After months and months of training, Luffy had taken the grasp of all three forms of Haki, even training his Devil Fruit Abilities; Luffy was strictly denied the use of his abilities unless he was in the company of Shanks, Ben Beckman, Yasopp or Lucky Le Roux.
During their long stay, Luffy noticed that Shanks had grown quite friendly with Makino, but when asked about it, she had blushed but just avoided the question.
In the seventh month staying with Luffy, they got a visit from a certain Dracula who, according to Luffy, was quite powerful and even somehow scary in the beginning.
But the following day, Luffy asked him something that made the whole Crew and Shank hold their breath, some in fear and some with amusement.
"Do you want to join my crew?"
Luffy had asked with a grin not leaving his face; at first, Luffy had wondered if he was a pirate like Shanks, but that wasn't exactly the case; therefore, Luffy had thought that maybe he could become his first crewmate. What was the harm in asking?
Luffy barely escaped his attack before Luffy started running away, with Mihawk chasing after him, swinging his giant sword around, barely missing Luffy, who was running for his life.
That went on for almost half a day; almost the whole forest was cut in half. At the end of the chase, the swordsman had told Luffy that he was impressed with his abilities to dodge his attacks.
Mihawk had stayed for a week; before leaving, Luffy had yelled at the top of his lungs at Mihawk.
"You will join once I defeat you,"
Eventually, one year passed, Garp had called, letting Makino know that he was arriving.
Luffy was sitting at the bar counter with Shanks; the rest of the Red-Haired Pirates were getting supplies for the upcoming voyage.
"So, your grandpa's comin' next month, huh? Well, we should leave then," Shanks stated, but Luffy was quiet.
The day soon came when it was time for the crew to depart. Luffy stood on the docks as they loaded various supplies onto the ship. After a little taunting from Shanks, Luffy began a loud outburst.
"NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!" Luffy shouted at Shanks and the Red-Haired pirates while they watched from the docks with boxes of supplies.
Shanks smiled lightly and took off his favourite straw hat before proudly placing it on Luffy's head. "I'll let you look after this hat. It's my favourite and very important."
Luffy's eyes dripped with tears for a few seconds while they finished loading the supplies and moved to stand with the rest of the townspeople who took part in waving goodbye.
Luffy grasped Shanks' straw hat shakily and watched as the ship faded into the distance.
"Some day... return it to me ... as a great pirate. It's a promise ... Luffy."
