An Old Doctor

I do not own One Piece or any other works that I may have referenced or took inspiration from. They all belong to their respective Authors.

~Line Break~

Back on the Island of Orianne, The Gama Zoan Captain was finally waking up. The marines arrived shortly after the battle for their night shift and found a base full of unconscious marines. The captain was nowhere to be found, so they started scouring the island to find his location. They arrived roughly 5 minutes after the Bonney pirates had sailed out to sea, so no one knew who left him on the dock.

Waking up in a hospital bed, with aching ribs, the marine captain sat himself up forcefully, holding his chest and forcing himself not to wince from the pain. Immediately barking orders to the night shift marines around him to bring him his Den-Den Mushi, he prepared himself to receive the verbal lashing he was due for this failure.

Getting it, he immediately rang headquarters, "pu-ru-ru-ru-ru, pu-ru-ru-ru-ru! Ka-chin"

"Moshi-Moshi" A female voice answered, sounding curious about the reason for the call, "This is Vice Admiral Tsuru, is there something to report, marine?"

"This is Captain Gamatatsu, I need to report an incredibly dangerous newcomer pirate."

"Hmm, normally you just send through the report about the pirate, and we would process the bounty here, what is with the special occasion?" Tsuru asked.

"As previously stated, this pirate is incredibly dangerous, and dangerously fearless! He is an ex-bounty hunter who decided to come prove that he is a pirate by attacking our base. He wiped out all of our marines in less that 20 seconds, and knocked me out with a single kick to the chest!" Gamatatsu stopped to recover his breathing, "He is too dangerous for a simple bounty request! We need to immediately put out a bounty for him."

"Oh, attacking a marine base, un-provoked, just to announce he is now a pirate? And who is this foolish bounty hunter?"

"His name, is Rei D. Carter"

"The Avenger?" Tsuru asked, her voice strained. "The bounty hunter we have been trying to recruit for more than a year. The bounty hunter who single handedly kept the piracy rates of South Blue at the lowest it has been in over a century? That Rei D. Carter?" she finished, with anger now present in her voice.

"Y-yes, the-that one." Gamatatsu replied, now incredibly intimidated by the anger present in her voice, even if it was not directed at him.

"I will deal with this bounty, just clean up and ensure no pirate can slip past you in the meantime – Ka-Chick" Tsuru finished, hanging up on the captain before he could get another word in.

The captain just sighed, feeling like he has truly failed his duty for the first time since he was posted here.

~Line Break~

Near the top of the Reverse Mountain, on the upward river leading from the South Blue, a pirate ship was rapidly ascending. On the figurehead of the ship, sat a relaxed man with a smile on his face, enjoying the feeling of the sea breeze of his face as they slowly, in his perception, ascended the mountain.

The rest of the crew, barring Bonney, were holding onto anything they could for dear life, praying they would survive. Bonney still stood calmly at the wheel, with a leg of meat in her right hand. "Oi, Newbie! If you are so relaxed, get over here and steer!" she yelled through her mouthful.

Hearing her, the young man on the figurehead slowly turned around before flashing an innocent smile at Bonney and saying, "Can't! don't know how! Hahaha"

Gritting her teeth, she just decided to ignore the guy using her ship as a pleasure cruise for now, focusing her attention on the rest of her crew. And how pathetic of a crew it was. Every single member was screaming, holding onto objects as if their lives depended on them, or actively vomiting. Not a single member was calm, other than the infuriating bounty hunter turned pirate.

Was this crew really going to be capable of getting her through the Grand Line? If these bastards are already about to die from just the entrance, what about when they actually get to the islands? They definitely need to be trained, though they will still probably be super weak.

'I don't want to have to go through all that effort' Bonney thought to herself, before looking back up at the new member with a vicious smirk on her face, 'Maybe I can pawn these bastards off to him, and assign him to their training while I just relax.'

Carter felt a sudden shiver go down his spine from the unseen aura she was projecting toward him, but unbeknownst to her, that is exactly what he was wanting to propose. He wants to make use of them to help him train his Kenbunshoku Haki, so he needs to get them to be willing to put all of the force they have behind each hit, otherwise he will never learn. The best way to get them to be willing to hit him in such a way is to torture… train them in such a way that they will be begging to beat him up.

He had never heard a single thing about Kairoseki having any impact on Haki, so he believed that this training would be a good way to do it. Kenbunshoku Haki does not rely on the physical body at all, as evident by Aisa's high level of mastery of Mantra in the Skypeia arc, so it really should not matter at all that his body is weakened by the Kairoseki.

~Line Break~

An old man was sitting on an outlook, outside of a lighthouse enjoying a refreshing cocktail while reading the most recent World News Newspaper. He wore a bright pink, green, and yellow, Hawaiian style shirt, along with knee length board shorts. His white beard and hair appeared sharp, in contrast to the soft and colorful looking flower petals he wore around his head.

This man was Crocus, the doctor that served on the pirate crew of Gol D. Roger, and for the last 50 years has served as the protector of the entrance to the Grand line. Throughout his many years observing the pirates coming and going from the grand line, he had seen many different reactions to the first journey into the Grand line. A common one was screams, from pirate crews unprepared for their journey into paradise. Another common reaction was stoicism, as pirates sometimes try to show that nothing can phase them by remaining stoic in such situations.

One reaction he will never tire of, however, is joyous laughter. Quite a few pirates laughed when riding down the Reverse Mountain, but most of their laughs had an undertone of fear. There were a few pirates that he could easily hear the joy in the voices of, pirates that truly set out to sea for the adventure.

The previous week, in fact, he was met with such a crew. Lead by a happy go lucky boy in a straw hat, while most of the crew were screaming in terror, or had fallen into stoicism, the boy laughed with such joy that Crocus found himself thinking back to a certain captain of his. The way they both faced life with such optimism and joy, the smile ever present on their faces, even the straw hat they both seemed to wear. The two pirates separated by eras were almost carbon copies of each other.

Now, as he sat reminiscing of times long gone, he heard the newest additions to the grand lines grand entrance. Screams of fear echoed down the mountain, but joining them was extremely joyous laughter, as if riding down that deadly stream was the most entertaining activity in the world.

"Two in one week?" Crocus mumbled to himself, "Usually there are only a few each year, and yet two have entered the Grand Line at the same time. Is this a sign? Is your will going to be fulfilled in this generation, Roger?" He mumbled as he stared up at the sun coming up into the sky.

Waiting for about 10 minutes, Crocus finally sighted the ship coming towards him. A rather small Caravel was sailing down the center of the stream. The ship looked fairly normal, except for its bright pink sail, with a pirate insignia drawn on it. The insignia was a skull-and-crossbones with pink hair and a pizza behind it. The pizza has a bite taken out of it on the top right corner, with the bone missing as well.

On the figurehead sat a man wearing a white and red martial artist style outfit with golden jewelry covering his body. He had a massive smile on his face, while behind him, holding onto anything possible was the rest of the crew members. Each looked as if they had just been beaten up and were slouching on all surfaces. The only exception being a beautiful young woman with pink hair, standing behind the wheel of the ship.

'Normally I would think the man on the front to be the captain, with how relaxing he is,' Crocus thought, 'But the ship seems like it styled around the woman as the captain. I will have to wait and see'

"Turn Portside!" Yelled the young man on the figurehead.

"Shut up Newbie!" returned the young women as she followed his direction but was just met by his laugh.

'What a strange dynamic,' thought the old man before observing further with his haki, 'The man is also overwhelmingly stronger than his captain, too.'

Pulling the ship alongside the dock, Carter jumped off onto the dock, grabbing the ropes from the ship and started Mooring the ship up. The rest of the crew were still lying on the ground, covered in sweat and exhausted, as the captain jumped off of the ship and came stalking straight towards Carter.

Bonney's Right foot disappeared, and the next instant it was held in Carters hand an inch in front of his face.

"What was that for, Captain?" he asked, in a conversational tone.

"Ya Bastard! Relaxin' while the resta us are tryina keep the ship in one piece, ya wanna get kicked off on ya second day here?" She yelled, in an irate tone. Her tone became even more crass than usual with her anger.

"Ah, don't worry too much, Captain" he said with a smile, before releasing her foot. "I was just leaving it up to them to help them train, if they can't even do that much they will die on this sea."

"Ha, Training? If ya like training em so much, you can handle it all from now on." She said with finality, before turning around and stomping up toward the lighthouse, unaware of the small, genuine smile she left on Carters face.

Stomping up to Crocus, for the first time without food in her hand, she asked, "Oi, old man, who the hell are ya, and is this the Grand line?"

Crocus just stared straight at Bonney for about 20 seconds, before she got fed up and yelled, "Old Bastard, do ya wanna get kicked!" Already completely irate from her trip here.

Crocus's face changed completely to a serious, and slightly dangerous expression, before he said in a slow tone, "I wouldn't do that, if I were you, or someone will get hurt."

"Haaa, and who would that be, Geezer!" Bonney growled.

Crocus just stared at her for 10 seconds before saying, "Me."

Bonney was stunned still, before she heard a chuckle behind her. "Sorry about her attitude, old man. She is a bit riled up from the journey here. Would you be able to tell us where we are, and where to go from here?" Carter asked.

Crocus again didn't answer, until Carter said, "Then I will introduce myself first, I am Rei…"

He was cut off when Crocus said, "I am Crocus, I am the keeper of the Twin Capes Lighthouses. I am 71 years old, Gemini, Blood type AB, you want to know where you are? You are at the start of it all. The start of your future, or the beginning of your death."

Even Carter was a bit annoyed this time, but he just put on his customer service smile, that didn't quite reach his eyes, and chuckled. In his past life, before his father's life insurance payout he had had many jobs that required him to serve customers and had dealt with far more infuriating customers than an old man trying to amuse himself by annoying young pirates.

Bonney, after confirming that they were now in the grand line, yelled back to her ship "MEN! We have arrived at the Grand Line, let us celebrate with a feast! We party today and set out tomorrow to our new adventure!" She then proceeded to almost skip back to the ship, ecstatic at the thought of a feast.

Carter stood next to Crocus, just watching her head back to the ship, before turning his attention back to Crocus. He said, "It is truly a pleasure to meet you, Crocus, Doctor of the Roger Pirates."

Crocus raised an eyebrow at that, as it was rare for a newbie pirate to know who he was, he said "Do you need something, brat?"

"I am pursuing the title of the strongest being alive," Carter started, deciding not to hold back, "But I am struggling to train Haki. I have gained some minor understanding of Kenbunshoku, but I have not even touched on the realm of Busoshoku. Would you be able to show me an example of Busoshoku Haki?"

Carter had already decided to make this request of Crocus before he met up with Bonney. In the anime, Monkey D. Luffy had managed to become proficient in all three styles of Haki with the guidance of Silvers Rayleigh within a 2-year period. Carter had been trying to train Haki by himself for four years now and had barely touched the very edge of Kenbunshoku, and Busoshoku was completely out of his reach. Whether this is because he was doing things wrong, or if he had no talent for it, Carter did not know. What he did know, however, is how important Haki will be to his dream of being the strongest man in the world.

Akagami no Shanks is one of the 4 emperors of the sea, and the only one without a powerful devil fruit. Whitebeard holds the Gura Gura no Mi, a Paramecia devil fruit with the title of Invincible. It turns the eater into a Quake Man and allows them to create earthquakes at will. Kaido of the beast was already a monster of a man before he at his devil fruit, the Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu. This Fruit allows Kaido to transform into a colossal Eastern Dragon, and grants multiple supernatural abilities. Charlotte Big Mom Linlin ate the Soru Soru no Mi, which allows her to control, take, and imbue souls into people and objects. She was also a monster long before she ate her devil fruit, as seen by the CP0 agents trying to kidnap her to make her work for them, and the Giants country treating her as a walking disaster.

On the other hand, Shanks is just a man who is missing an arm. He is able to make up for the lack of a devil fruit with pure prowess with all three styles of Haki. His mastery of Haoshoku Haki allows him to intimidate even powerful pirates, or block anyone within his range from using Kenbunshoku Haki. Carter considers him to be the biggest threat out of all of the emperors, not just because of his Haki prowess, but also due to his unknown connection to the World Government.

If Carter wants to become the strongest man in the world, after beating all of the emperors, he will then need to be powerful enough to beat anyone in the World Government, including the mysterious IM. From Carters knowledge, IM has been alive since the blank period of history, 800 years prior to the events of One Piece, and likely has a mastery of Haki superior to even Shanks, as well as an unknown Devil Fruit.

So, Carter needs to spend a lot of time on Haki. His devil fruit allows him to output a massive amount of power, but it is useless if someone uses Busoshoku Haki to defend themselves and all of that force gets rebounded back to Carters body. Even his well-trained physique would suffer under such a force.

He also had a theory based on his experience against Eustass Kid and his Haoshoku. Carter didn't feel any intimidation or fear facing a blast of Haoshoku from less than a meter away. His soul was barely shaken, so he believed that he himself also had Haoshoku. Whether this was because his mysterious transfer to this land allowed his soul to strengthen, or if he always had such a temperament, he didn't know and didn't really care.

Crocus stared at Carter for a few moments before reaching out his hand to Carter and grabbing his arm. Crocus's arm turned pitch black, and Carter felt a large force originate from his wrist, before spreading throughout his whole arm. It felt like his arm was being squeezed by a vice, and like he could never escape such a force, even though he knew that the old man's physical strength was not superior to his own.

After a few seconds, he could start to sense some obscure form of energy seeping into his arm from the old man's hand, before it was cut off as Crocus let go of his arm.

"Your dream is perhaps the most difficult of all, young man." Crocus said, "The Pirate King is one thing, but you will need to be stronger than him. This world's waters run far deeper than anyone knows, and there will always be a bigger and stronger Sea King."

Carter just smiled at him, with the first real smile that Crocus has managed from him, and said, "I understand, I have always known how difficult it would be to achieve my dream, but I feel like I am wasting my life when I am not striving to reach it. Ever since I was little, all I have known in this world is training to surpass my limits, and I will one day surpass not only my own limits, but everyone else's as well." Carter paused for a moment, before gratefully saying, "Thank you for showing me your Busoshoku Haki, Crocus. I feel like I can sense the power deep within me now but will have to train to bring it out."

Carter then turned around to look at his new crew and said, "Feel free to join us for the feast, it is not everyday you get to feast with the future strongest being in the world, after all." He then walked slowly back to the ship, still being suppressed by the Kairoseki Ring on his finger.

~Line Break~

Waking up from his sleep in the Doctors quarters that Carter had commandeered as they lacked a doctor at the moment, Carter started getting ready for his first day sailing on the Grand Line. He started his stretches, ensuring his whole body was working at maximum efficiency, before heading to the side of the room and brushing his teeth with a small brush he had purchased when he first arrived in South Blue.

He walked out of his room to find the sun had already started peaking above the horizon over the Grand Line, but all of the other members of his crew were still asleep, probably with hangovers. In his last life, he had never drunk alcohol. He had tried it once or twice but found it to be a bit lacking and didn't like the feeling of being drunk, or the result the morning after. He had kept this mindset even in this new world, where drinking alcohol is almost a necessity as a pirate. Walking out onto the deck, he noticed Crocus over on the Cape, snoozing in a beach chair in the sun, with a newspaper covering his face.

Humming to himself, he moved over to the front of the ship and took his seat on the figurehead of the boat. This ship was comparable to the Going Merry in both size and strength, so they would need to try to buy a new ship soon. He knew, however, that a ship is as much a member of the crew as anyone else, so he would not just throw her away when moving to a new ship.

His current ship was called Ginette Amour, and Bonney had stolen her from an island near where she escaped from the World Government. The Figurehead he currently sat on was a Horse with a mermaid-like tail, and a wide back. This was a creature that actually existed within the One-Piece world, simply called a Sea Horse.

While patting the head of the Sea Horse he sat on, he started singing to it.

"I've been beaten down,

I've been kicked around,

But she takes it all for me.

And I lost my faith,

In my Darkest Days,

But she makes me want to believe.

They call her love, love, love, love, love"

- Parachute – She Is Love

Carter continued singing, unaware that he now had a single person audience. Bonney had woken up five minutes prior in her bed within the Captains Quarter with a slight hangover. Knowing the perfect remedy for this situation, she started heading to the food storage room, intent on eating enough for her body to recover from last night's activities.

Coming out onto the deck, she heard a quiet, yet beautiful males voice drifting through the wind. Her feet followed the sound, before her brain could process what she was doing, and she came upon the sight of Carter's back to her, as he patted the head of the wooden horse on the front of her ship.

"Well I had my ways

They were all in vain

And she waited patiently

It was all the same

All my pride and shame

But she put me on my feet"

Arriving diagonally behind him, Bonney could see his face from the side. She saw the gentlest expression he has shown yet, and the most genuine looking one. All of his other expressions have an aura of cockiness underneath them, as if no one can see that he is faking them, but this expression seemed to be who he truly was.

As he sang, Carter thought back to his mother, how she was always there to hold him up, to take the pain for him, and to ensure that he was always looked after. When thinking back now, it was clear to see that she was depressed since his father had passed away, and maybe even before, but she kept pushing through it for her son. She had put her own needs behind his and was always there for him.

He tried to imbue the song he sang with the feelings he had about the pure love that his mother showed him, and how much he loves her in return. He hoped that by doing so, the ship he is sailing on would be able to feel the feeling within the words, even if she couldn't understand the words he was saying.

"She is love,

And she is all I need"

Carter finished off his song, before being startled by a voice from close behind him.

"That was beautiful," Bonney Said, "I didn't think you'd be capable of singing like that." Her tone was nowhere near as crass as it usually was, and her princess upbringing seemed to be shining through at the moment.

"Let us be honest here, Bonney," Carter replied, "There is a lot more you don't know about me, than there is that you do."

A comfortable silence fell between the two of them as they watched the sun coming up over the ocean. After a few minutes, Bonney's stomach rumbled and she was reminded of her headaches, so she leaned over and punched Carter in the arm and said, "If I knew earlier, I would have hired you as my crew's musician," she laughed as she suddenly turned around and walked towards the kitchen. "Get ready, we will be setting off soon, need to make the most of the day!"

"Sure thing, Captain," He called out over his shoulder, as he continued to watch the sunrise.

Once the sun had finished ascending over the horizon, Carter stood and turned around to head back into the ship. Passing the kitchen, he leaned in to see Bonney already eating more than most do in a day, and called out, "I'm heading into the ship to wake up all of your chefs, Captain. Once you have eaten enough, can you go talk to Crocus and see if he has any tips for sailing these seas? I hear that it is entirely different from the 4 blues."

Bonney looked at him for a moment, before she swallowed her current mouthful and simply said, "Sure" with a shrug.

Heading back into the ship, Carter thought over his new crew members. Other than Tom, Dick, and Harry, there were two other members of the crew, but both are so meek that you would never expect them to be pirates. They were both able bodied and had experience with cooking, which is why Bonney decided to take them on, but they were both also scared of a lot of things, to the point where they couldn't even lift their heads in front of Carter after finding out he was a bounty hunter.

'Should probably find somewhere to dump them, It doesn't seem like either of them want to be here, and I'm sure there are many other people who would be much better as members of this crew.' He thought as he came upon their shared bunk. Deciding he would start his training plan here, he immediately flipped the beds of all 5 of them almost simultaneously, and yelled "Get up, Maggots! You are wasting daylight while the Captain and I prepare to set sail, all lazing around here like worthless scum! If you aren't fully dressed and on the deck in 3 minutes, you will get double the training for the next week!"

Before the five crew members could figure out what had just happened, Carter was back out the door, headed back to the kitchen. He was sure that at least one or two of them would ignore him, and he would have the chance to re-educate them as to why that is not a good idea. Without even talking to Bonney about it, he had already started to take on the position of First Mate of the crew.

Arriving at the kitchen, he noticed Bonney was not there, so after grabbing something small to eat, headed out to where Crocus was sleeping earlier. He arrived to the scene of a panicked Bonney demanding Crocus give her a Log Pose, as she hadn't bothered to look into the navigation side of things on the Grand Line, much like Nami.

"Captain," He stated, "I bought a Log Pose back in Orianne, so you don't need to worry too much. But did you really not do any research on the Grand Line? How were you even hoping to survive?"

"Why would I think navigation would be different here from on the blues? Is that something people normally think?" She said in an irritated but slightly downcast tone.

"Meh, don't worry too much Captain, I did a lot of research into it the last two years, to ensure I was ready to head to the Grand Line whenever I decided to. I have also heard that the sea is roughest between the Reverse Mountain and the first Islands, as the weather of the islands are all clashing against each other and causing insanely unstable weather patterns."

"And ya didn't think ta mention it before!" Bonney growled with her crass accent coming back.

"It was a test," Carter replied, "to ensure you knew what you were getting into. If I had just given you all the answers, you would never learn. I am not here to be your babysitter, after all."

Bonney growled once more, before stalking back off toward the ship.

Crocus stared at her leaving for a moment, before saying, "How did this even happen? You are far stronger than her and would be better suited to being captain?"

Carter thought for a moment, before replying, "My dream does not require me to be a captain, as long as she doesn't try to steal my freedom away and start ordering me around, I don't mind following someone weaker. After all, your old crews First Mate was a conqueror as well, just because he served under someone else doesn't make him weak or hold him back."

This was Carters true thoughts on the matter, who really cares what position he is in the crew, as long as no one tries to force him to do their bidding. He could be an emperor level person, and wouldn't mind sailing on a random rookies' ship, as long as he got to fight strong opponents and go on adventures. He understands Luffys dream relies on him being captain, as the Pirate King is the captain of the crew that made it to Raftel, but to be the strongest being in the world, he could even work as a cabin boy and achieve it. Though his pride doesn't allow him to be in such a position, so the lowest he could go is First Mate.

"Haaaa," Crocus sighed, "I guess the new generation will always surpass the old. What is the chance of meeting two pirates that impress me in 1 week?"

Carter just chuckled before walking back to the ship, to finish prepping to get going. While over with Bonney and Crocus, he had been keeping his eye on the ship and counting the time to see who got there on time and who didn't. Turns out the only two scared enough to take him seriously were the two extras whose name he didn't even know, so he had members he could torture extra hard during training.