Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

Rising Tides

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

'Attacks'

I don't own One Piece

(Dawn island – Fuusha Village – East Blue)

"Ha that didn't hurt at all!" the voice of a child shouted.

"Be quiet you were crying the whole time…" came the reply of a man who seemed laid back.

"Was not!" the child's voice shot back.

"Was too."

"Was not!"

"Was too."

The immature duo having this argument were that of a small seven year old boy who had black messy hair, blue jean shorts and a shirt which read 'anchor'. Next to him sat and older man with red hair, and a straw hat on his head. These two individuals are Monkey D. Luffy and 'Red Haired' Shanks.

They were sitting in Party's Bar along with Shanks's crew the Red Haired pirates. By now the whole bar was focused solely on those two, and they found their antics quite amusing.

"Was not!"

"Was too," they continued their back and forth.

"You'd think being a captain he would be more mature…" Benn Beckman, Shanks first mate, stated with a slight deadpan.

"This is quite amusing to watch though," the crew's Sniper, Yasopp, said.

"Mmhmm," Lucky agreed while taking a bite from the meat in his hand.

"KNOCK IT OFF," Makino, the bar tender, shouted angrily. She grabbed a pan, and proceeded to hit both Luffy and Shanks over the head with it.

"owww…" both Shanks and Luffy quietly mumbled while rubbing the impacted area on their heads. The whole scene caused everyone in the bar to burst into a fit of laughter.

"STOP LAUGHING!" both Luffy and Shanks shouted. This only increased the laughter from the pirates.

Eventually the laughter died down and the crew returned to their usual din of talking, laughing, and drinking.

"Why not Shanks?" Luffy cried out with a pout.

"Well for starters you're still too young, not to mention you can't swim anchor," Shanks replied, using the nickname Luffy hated most.

"Humph," the child crossed his arms and turned away, eyes closed and his nose in the air. Deciding to get even a mischievous grin crossed his features. "Tomato hair…" Luffy said with a wide grin.

"Huh? What did you call me?" Shakes asked turning to Luffy. Wanting to make sure he heard right.

"I called you tomato hair or are you going deaf in your old age?" Luffy chuckled with a more smug grin.

"Bwhahahahahahah" the crew, while listening in, the boys comment to their captain causing a renewed bout of laughter.

"Hahahahahahahaha…Tomato hair never heard that one before, and to top that a seven year old said it hahahahah!" Benn exclaimed through his laughter. After hearing the first mate the crew began to laugh harder.

"SHUT UP," Shanks shouted, sounding no older than Luffy. The Red Haired pirate captain then moved to a corner while grumbling about 'anchors that can't swim'. All the while Luffy was snickering, even Makino joined in this time.

"Heheheheh, I'm going tell this to the village!" and with that Luffy ran out of the bar shouting things about Tomato haired pirates

"Ugh," sinking further into his seat, "I'm never going to live this down am I?" Shanks asked no one in particular.

"NOPE" his whole crew replied before bursting into laughter once more.

"There, There Captain…" Makino said while trying to comfort Shanks by patting him on the head lightly "If it's any use I like the colour of your hair, I think it's very nice…" then realization broke in causing both Makino and Shanks to blush due to her actions.

During their little moment, the door to the bar was smashed open and ruining it as a group of mountain bandits walked in.

"So these are the pathetic pirates that docked here" the bandit in front scoffed. The bandit wore a paste white V-neck shirt, black pants and a long maroon coat. He had a sword strapped to his right hip and an orange beaded necklace around his neck.

"Wench" the bandit continued while looking at the bar, or more specifically Makino. "Me and my men would like 5 barrels of sake. Give them to us and we won't destroy the place."

"Sorry I'm all out of sake," Makino replied with her eyes fixed upon the Bandits leader.

"Then what are these pirates drinking? Water?" questioned the Bandit

Seeing the distress in Makino's eyes Shanks stepped in, "Sorry, looks like my crew and I drank all the booze." He then grabbed an unopened bottle and held it up to the Bandit. "Here you can have this, it hasn't even been opened."

The bandit, now enraged, smashed the bottle with his sword. In doing so he sent glass everywhere and spilled sake all over Shanks soaking him and the bar. The bandit then proceeded to swipe his sword along the counter scattering empty bottles, glasses and plates across the floor. "See this?" The bandit asked, holding his wanted poster up. 'WANTED – DEAD OR ALIVE – HIGUMA THE BEAR – 8,000,000 beri. "I'm a wanted man, I'm not gonna waste my time on a bunch of weaklings like you." An arrogant smirk plastered on his face. "Later losers" he said walking out of the bar his troupe following while laughing on their way out.

Silence followed for and few seconds before the whole bar exploded in laughter again. You'd think some would be passed out by now with the amount of laughing these guys did.

When the laughter died down they realized that Luffy had joined them again and was sitting next to Shanks. He had just finished swallowing something and shuddered in what was obviously distaste. "What was that all about?" he questioned Shanks after his shivering episode stopped.

"Oh just some bandits that wanted to pick a fight." Shanks replied nonchalantly after containing his laughter and regaining his breath.

"Ah, did you win?" he questioned once more

"No we didn't bother they were too weak to put up a fight so there was no point. I have always found that you shouldn't fight every battle for the heck of it. There are some fights that there is no point in." the pirate captain stated in a moment of sagely wisdom.

"I guess I understand." Luffy said nodding his head. He may only be seven, but he could see where Shanks was coming from.

"CAPTAIN!" Benn shouted for Shanks.

"Hmm?" he lazily turned to his first mate.

"The devil fruit...it's gone!" he claimed holding up an empty treasure chest.

The entire bar froze as if time itself stopped to take in this news.

"WHAT!" The whole bar shouted as one. Then, as if a bomb was about to go off, they started running around frantically looking for it.

"The Water Water fruit is MISSING!?" Shanks yelled as loud as he could. Quickly he turned to Luffy who was looking around in confusion before looking at Shanks when he turned to him. Shanks tried to grab Luffy on shoulder to ask him if he saw the fruit. Keyword here being 'tried' as his hands went straight through him. Somehow the whole crew saw this and skidded to a halt as time seemed to stop once more in the space of thirty seconds.

"UH OH," They thought as one.

"Luffy did you eat a strangely shaped blue fruit from a chest when you came back in?" Captain Shanks fired off the question.

Luffy scrunched his face up in concentration trying to remember the past few minutes. Then he nodded once. Then caused Shanks to face palm so hard it could probably be heard at Marineford.

"LUFFY YOU DUMBASS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST ATE!?" Shanks shouted making most of his crew cringe and shrink away from their Captain.

"No? WAS IT POISENED?!" He shouted in return and started to panic.

"No it wasn't poisoned. It was what we call a devil fruit. A fruit that gives its consumer powers based on the fruit. In return it takes away their ability to swim, and you just ate the Water Water Fruit. It gives you the ability to create, Control and become Water." Shanks explained staring at Luffy with an impassive face.

"COOL!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs. Eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Does this mean I can come with you now?" a now excited sever year old Luffy asked almost jumping out of his seat.

Shanks regarded his question seriously this time weighing the pros and cons. Then he thought of a way to resolve the issue, "Alright then Luffy," making said boy perk up "You can come IF you can hit me off my seat with one of your super punches or whatever you call them." Shanks said to the seven year old not knowing what he just signed himself up for.

"ALRIGHT I'LL USE MY SUPER AWESOME PISTOL PUNCH AND THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE ME ON YOUR NEXT JOURNEY!" Luffy shouted in excitement before prepping himself.

He closed his eyes in what seemed like concentration. His fist shining an obsidian black, which shocked the crew immensely. Then Luffy's eyes snapped open and he launched his fist forward at blinding speeds that made even Shanks eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

The next thing Shanks felt was Luffy's fist lodged into his stomach. The force behind the punch sent the captain flying across the room. To say the crew was shocked would be an understatement. A seven year old had just used armament haki, and proceeded to hit their Captain into the wall on the other side of the room. Their Jaws dropped through the floor, and their eyes almost seemed to pop out. They hadn't expected this to happen.

Climbing out of the wall with a slight cough, Shanks asked, "Luffy…H…How did you do that?" With a hand on the wall, and his other hand on his stomach and his eyes slightly bulged after the initial shock. "How do you know Haki?"

"Oh so that's what it is," he started, "I've been able to do that now for just under 6 months, it was during one of Gramps' 'training sessions'." Luffy stated.

"What kind of training sessions?" the stunned captain questioned.

"Oh, he just booted me into a forest." He answered nonchalantly.

-Flashback-

"Stupid Gramps, throwing me in a forest. Training sessions my ass," Luffy mumbled to himself.

Walking along a trail he had found, he was trying to find a way out of the infernal forest.

He stopped mid step, after hearing what sounded like several growls. As he slowly turned around he was met with the sight of eleven wolves. They began walking up towards him, with teeth bared. He noticed they looked hungry.

Slowly Luffy took a step backwards, and then another. That didn't stop the wolves in their advance however. Opting for a second plan he bolted.

Luffy ran through the forest screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs while his eleven pursuers gave chase mercilessly. As he ran along the trail, Luffy decided on a quick change of course. He thought he might lose them in the undergrowth. While Luffy ran he brushed away leafs and stray branches, while simultaneously jumping and sliding under tree trunks.

Not long after excessive use of his energy, did he begin to wear down and become sluggish. As the minutes passed, while still moving to find safety, he tripped over a fallen tree.

At that moment the wolves appeared, all eleven circled around him, not once losing track of their prey. Self preservation kicked in as Luffy started to back away, he was however stopped by a stone wall at his back.

Now face to face with the pack that surrounded him, one wolf lunged at him. Most likely the alpha with it's mouth open and teeth shining in the dark. Luffy held his arm up in an attempt to defend himself unconsciously channelling haki to his arm. He had his eyes tightly closed awaiting the pain.

When he didn't feel any pain, he slowly opened his eyes. What he saw shocked him. He seen the alpha hanging from his arm which was now black.

Luffy was confused as hell, as he shook the wolf off it flew into a tree. As the wolf hit the tree it howled in pain before falling unconscious to the ground.

The other wolves, in rage witnessing their leader's downfall, attacked as one. This time Luffy did something different. He channelled haki to his mind and shouted "BACK OF YOU FAT DOGS!" The wolves froze mid attack and slowly backed down. In fear of a greater predator, they tucked their tails and ran away leaving their leader behind to his fate.

Worn out from using haki twice for the first time in the span of a minute, he fell to unconsciousness. The next morning he was found face first in the dirt by his grandpa.

-Flashback End-

"And that's what happened." the seven year old stated as half of his idol's crew had passed out from shock. The others, after picking their jaws up from the floor, were trying to dig their jaws up for a second time.

"So you're telling me that you used two different types of haki in one minute...defending yourself from some wolves?" Shanks asked with wide eyes.

"YUP," Luffy replied joyously with a broad smile.

"Huh," Shanks mumbled before turning to the bartender, "Hey Makino who is anchors grandfather?" Makino's eyes were equally wide after listening to what Luffy went through. She wondered if it traumatized him, but he looked to be fine.

"Hm?" Makino asked as she finally snapped out her shock. Shanks repeated the question as he had her full attention. "Oh it's Monkey D. Garp," she informed with an amused smile as the other rest of the Red Haired pirates passed out.

"Ah ok just ch- WHAT!" Shanks yelled as his mind caught up to his mouth. To say the revelation was shocking didn't describe what the pirate captain felt.

"This means I can come with you guys now right?" Luffy asked with his head tilted to the side.

Shanks looked over to his first mate Benn who had recovered by now and caught his glance. Having a whole conversation in the span of a second Benn nodded in agreement to Shanks. "Alright Luffy we'll take you with us. We'll train you for five years and then drop you back off here in Fuusha Village. At that time we should be able to leave you with some money, supplies and books. You can build your own ship and gather your own crew. That sound good to you?"

"YES, YES, YES," Luffy yelled excitedly practically bouncing of the walls.

Shanks smirked, "Alright we're leaving at the end of the week, so get ready for a five year long trip to the grand line!" The crew plus Luffy all cheered loudly for the coming adventures, as they partied the night away.

A/N: adopted from Reddevel360