Well, I never thought I'd get into writing One Piece fanfiction but here we are.

This starts off after Luffy meets Zoro in Shells Town and it leads to them finding just how rotten the situation here is...

''So that was the Pirate Hunter, huh?''

''It was a surprise-wait, don't tell me you still want him in your crew?''

''Yup!''

The conversation went as such between two teen boys. One had black hair and dark eyes, he wore a straw hat, a red vest, blue shorts and open-toed sandals. This was Monkey D. Luffy, a pirate who had recently left his home of Dawn Island with a dream of becoming the King of Pirates.

The second was Coby, he had pink hair and dark eyes and wore a white and blue shirt, dark pants and boots. Now his dream was the complete opposite, he wished to become a marine. Coby had the misfortune of getting on the ship of 'Iron Mace' Alvida, which he thought was a fishing boat and was forced to be its Cabin Boy as a result. Luffy stumbled across the boat after coming out of a whirlpool and he wound up saving Coby before both arrived here.

Coby had intended to apply here to start his dream off, but he was too nervous. Luffy would have none of that though and he insisted on making sure the boy would do it. They found that, oddly enough, people in this town were as afraid of the infamous 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro as they were of the marine captain leading the base here, an 'Axe-Hand' Morgan.

An intrigued Luffy wanted to see what Zoro was really like and this lead to them going to the base and finding the swordsman outside, ignoring Coby's protests. The boy had been trying to talk him out of recruiting Zoro, partly because of his fearsome reputation. So while meeting the swordsman had changed his opinion somewhat, Coby's feelings on the matter could still be summed up with...

''Luffy-san, this is a terrible idea. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought but still, he's a pirate hunter! Why would he become a pirate?''

''Don't worry about it so much.'' Was all Luffy had to say to that.

Coby sighed, noting how some of the passerby who heard them seemed to be sharing fearful looks. This made him think back on what happened earlier ''I still don't get why they were afraid just from hearing the marine captain's name.''

''Yeah, that was weird...'' Luffy was distracted when they passed by a fruit shop, eyeing some of the merchandise hungrily. This was why he bumped into a person who had been buying from that very shop.

''Oh, hey you all right there?''

Luffy blinked and looked over to find that the speaker was a young man who appeared in his twenties. He had platinum blond hair and blue green eyes. He wore a white and gold jacket with blue lining over a black shirt, a white belt, blue pants and black boots. A big bag was slung over his shoulder and a scabbard with a sheathed sword was tied to his belt.

''You should watch out, Luffy-san.'' Coby said, both noticed how his eyes had clearly been on the fruit.

The young man gave a bemused look before addressing the shop owner and picking up a couple of apples before giving them to Luffy, leaving the teens thrown off by the unexpected gesture. Both made to catch up to him as he walked away.

Luffy grinned ''Thanks!''

He proceeded to eat both up quickly, to the young man's surprise. Coby completely understood how he felt ''Thank you, that was very nice.''

''It's fine.'' He looked curious. ''I've been here for a few days and I've never seen you two. Are you traveling too?''

''Yup, I'm Luffy and that's Coby. He wants to be a marine and I'm going to look for members for my pirate crew.''

''Luffy-san, you can't say things like that!'' Coby hissed.

Contrary to his expectations though, the young man was just amused ''So a future marine and a pirate together? Now there's something you don't see everyday. I'm Arcadia Miguel.''

Surprised at how easy going he appeared, Coby decided to ask ''So you're traveling too, Arcadia-san?''

''Just call me Miguel, I'm a mercenary of sorts. I'm working to find money and hopefully treasure to send to my homeland. Let's just say we're a little short on funds for the time being.''

''I see...''

''Say, you know something about the 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro?'' Luffy asked. ''Is he like the rumors say? People here sure act funny...''

''Ah, you saw that?'' Miguel paused.

''You know why the people are so tense, Miguel-san?'' Coby tilted his head.

''More or less. It's not really hard to find information when you want to here, I was looking into this too.'' He admitted. ''I've seen Morgan once and it's enough to tell. He's an egoistic tyrant, he's pretty much bullying everyone here.''

The boy looked alarmed ''Wait, what? But he's a marine, he won't do that!''

''People aren't defined by their profession, Coby.'' Miguel pointed out. ''It's their personality that matters, and power can corrupt many. One might be a marine, but that doesn't make them a saint. As for Luffy's question, I'm not really sure what's going on with that pirate hunter but something just seems off. I know marines and bounty hunters don't usually get along but if he'd done anything bad enough to be trapped like that for weeks, wouldn't word have gotten out by now?''

Coby blinked, that was a good point. ''I didn't think of it like that...you're right.''

''Well, I can think of a few places to ask about this. You want to come?'' Miguel asked.

As far as Luffy was concerned, it was a no brainer. Coby was more hesitant but he still wanted to find out just what was happening here. And so the three looked around town for answers.

Eventually, the trio's search took them to a restaurant. Coby and Luffy recognized Rika, the little girl they had seen visiting Zoro before, which prompted them to approach her.

''He really said that?'' Rika asked, smiling.

''Yup, he ate every bit.'' Luffy assured while Coby brought Miguel up to speed.

''You know, that was pretty nice of him. He really doesn't seem as bad as people make him out to be...'' The latter remarked.

''That's because he isn't!'' Rika exclaimed. ''The bad one is Helmeppo, Captain Morgan's son. Roronoa-san's in that mess because he wanted to help...''

And she went on to tell them how Helmeppo came into the restaurant a few weeks ago, sauntering like he owned the place with a pet wolf. He proceeded to demand food for him and his pet rudely. When Rika tried to stop it from trashing the restaurant, the wolf attacked her. It was taken down by Zoro, who happened to be there for a meal of his own.

An outraged Helmeppo was about to punish everyone in the restaurant when Zoro stepped in. This lead to the deal where Zoro would stay bound in that yard for a month so Helmeppo would let everyone off scot free.

''That's terrible!'' Coby exclaimed in dismay. How could the marines do something like this?

''So that's why...'' Miguel frowned. No matter how he looked at it, Zoro was honorable. This was a despicable situation.

Little did they know, that it just got worse from here...

Everyone was distracted by the sound of the door being kicked open, making them look over to find Helmeppo walking in with a few marines.

''Heh, well this would have to do.'' He sat down and looked at Rika's mother. ''Oi, lady, my men and I are going to eat for free. Give me some moonshine or whatever you make around here.''

He grinned as he watched her go, leaning back ''This is more like it. Hm, well now...I think I'll go on and kill Zoro after all.'' He laughed to himself, oblivious to the surprise this caused. ''What an idiot, as if I was going to let him go...''

Still chuckling, Helmeppo wound up missing the fist that came his way. It hit the side of his face, sending him to the ground.

''Wha?!'' He spluttered, sitting up to find Luffy there, glaring at him.

Coby blanched ''Luffy, what're you doing?!''

''He's scum!'' The teen replied hotly.

''You...you hit me!'' Helmeppo managed. ''I'm Captain Morgan's son, you know!''

''So what?'' Luffy demanded.

The blond appeared shocked for a moment before he went on ''I'll...I'll tell my daddy on you!''

Luffy didn't respond but his expression clearly said that he didn't care. Helmeppo stood and glared ''You'll pay for this!''

''You shouldn't go around antagonizing marines!'' Coby exclaimed.

''He's a pirate, remember?'' Miguel pointed out reasonably.

''Guys, I've decided, today Zoro's going to join my crew!'' Luffy declared.

Coby and Rika appeared surprised while Miguel gave a small smirk ''So you're busting him out. Want some help?''

Luffy grinned ''Yeah, let's go!''

Well, how was it? I'll just leave it here and let all the action begin next chapter. More revelations will come along then as well.

Okay, full confession, this was actually the first challenge I was asked to do...but I botched it a little. I wound up forgetting a couple of the details about the OC early on but by the time I did remember those, I already finished three arcs. And I got into it so I didn't want to drop it in the end.

I've decided to take some good advice I was offered and post a few chapters to test the waters. So please tell me if you like it. If it doesn't work out, I'll probably re-write it. Just so we're clear, this won't involve any of the Fairy Tail characters. Except maybe the spirits if I decide to use Celestial spirit magic but I did mix certain elements of the Fairy Tail verse in the story. I hope you liked this.

Notes:

-Miguel thought Luffy would give one apple to Coby, not knowing how hungry he really was.

-Miguel's reason for traveling start sort of like Nami's. His home's recovering from some battles and they've been looking for resources to help the relief effort. Just for the record, he's actually from the Grand Line, Paradise, to be precise. More on that will be explained after they break Zoro out and beat Morgan.

That's about all I can think of now, I'll keep working at it and hopefully hear from you soon.