Author: Dr Blueneck

Disclaimer: Give me One Piece and the plot would go down.

Characters featured : The four characters listed in the tags (besides Luffy) are the ones who will appear more than others. The characters you'll see will mainly be: Makino, Garp, Ace (and trust me, you'll see A LOT of him), Shanks, Sabo, Dadan and the Strawhats (mostly at the beginning and end of a chapter).

Hey there!

So. This is my first time writing for the One Piece fandom (also, my first try on the English fandom). I'm sorry if the English ends up being weird, I hope it's still comprehensible. Please, treat me gently *bows down* Kidding, I like it rough. (However, I like to present my readers with works of good quality, with a minimum of mistakes. So, if any serious Beta comes upon this story… Let me know!) Don't hesitate to point out my mistakes :)

Anyway! This'll be a series of OS that can be read separately. The focus will be mainly on Luffy's childhood, before he met Ace and Sabo (but I have at least four themes with them, so don't worry, you'll see them eventually). We know a bunch now about his life with his brothers, but Oda-sensei let us in the unknown about his earlier life. We know about Shanks, about Makino and the mayor, and that's it. So, this is my take on Luffy's story, and what made him the young man we all know! Enjoy, and please, let me know your thoughts :D

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Firsts and Lasts of an Idiot's life

(or, A Trip down Memory Lane)

First Tears

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"Luffy... Help me!..."

He doesn't remember a lot of things from his early childhood. But what marked him the most was the loneliness.

He lived alone in Fushia Village, a street away from the Party Bar, where the gentle Makino would always welcome him with a smile and a meal, laughing (like sunshine, he thought like only a child could) at every single word he said.

Makino was the one who taught him joy. She was his first smile.

Grandpa didn't live with him most of the year, so he was alone in the house. It wasn't that big; just two bedrooms, the kitchen and living-room and the bathroom. But to him, at night and alone in his bed, he couldn't help but think that the house was huge, and cold, and monsters might be crawling downstairs without anyone to scare them away – because who would be afraid of him?

When he told that to Grandpa ("But jii-chan, I don't like monsters, they scare me!"), he threw him in the forest, laughing his head off ("Don't worry Luffy, jii-chan will train you to be strong!").

It was his very first training, and Luffy didn't dare to move from where his grandfather had dumped him. He munched on mushrooms growing near the tree he was leaning on, and luckily, it rained for the two days he remained in the forest, so he was able to quench his thirst.

Luffy was happy when Garp came back and treated him to Makino's bar. He was surprised to see her smiling tightly to Grandpa, as if she wanted to tell him something but refrained herself. Garp left the day after ("One day, when you'll become a marine, you can come with me, but now, I have to fulfil my duties"), and Makino was once again in charge of the little boy, feeding him and managing his allowance left by the marine.

Every few months, Grandpa would return, and with him came new forms of training. Luffy learnt to forget about the monsters, too exhausted to care, and inched his way around the forests and jungles he was thrown in, learning firsthand what was good food and bad food ("My tummy aches, jii-chan..." – "Good! It means you're becoming stronger if you didn't drop dead yet!").

One day, as he was playing in a puddle of mud, a little girl around his age fell down. Seconds later, screams could be heard from where she sat on the ground, fat tears running down her cheeks as she continued to scream in pain. Her father ran to her and held her in his arms, worried, but kissed the scrapped hands to make it all better. Her cries softened and disappeared, leaving only wet cheeks and a trembling smile.

Luffy stared blankly for a few seconds before returning to his puddle, splashing around with all his might.

Several days later, Luffy was once again the witness of tears. This time, a mother was hauling her kid behind her as he dragged his feet, yelling and crying, upset to be forced to follow her. After a short while, the mother gave up and the child went to play with his friends.

Head cocked to the side, Luffy was confused by the display. But he thought he understood, thus an idea came to him.

Later that day, as he was eating a snack at the Party Bar, Makino said, "Maybe you should take a bath after your meal, what do you think Luffy?"

But Luffy didn't want to take a bath – he'd rather go out and search for bugs. So he saw fit to start bawling his eyes out, as did the little girl and boy.

"Makinooo... I don't wanna...!"

Makino was startled by the sudden tears springing from the little boy's eyes. She was at a loss. Until now, she never had to handle a crying Luffy. It took her a few minutes to calm him down, and she smiled gently to him, conceding him the victory, happy to see his big smiling face. Tears didn't suit him at all.

"But you'll have to take one tomorrow!" she insisted while wiping his runny nose, and he agreed.

Luffy was enthralled by his new power. Every time his lips began to wobble and he turned watery eyes on Makino or the mayor, they didn't have the heart to scold him. Maybe he ought to try it on Grandpa, and he would agree to play with him instead of training him.

He tried. He brought the tears out, the snotty nose, the ear-piercing cries and flailing limbs, but Grandpa just picked him up by the scruff of his neck, like a disobedient kitten, and dragged him away for his new training ("But-but Jii-chaaaan *sob* I wanna play with youuuuu *sob*" – "Play? Consider this mountain your new playground! Jii-chan even made sure there were big fluffy animals in there to play with!").

While there, after watching Grandpa walk away, he remembered how the daddy came to his daughter when she cried. Alone, sitting on the cold soil, surrounded by bushes and rocks, he cried for Grandpa, but he never came. Maybe he wasn't crying hard enough. So he continued, wailing and kicking the ground, but no-one came.

Once he realised Grandpa really wasn't coming despite the cries, he broke into silent and ugly tears, hands clutching his shirt. Luffy didn't like the feeling of his chest constricting his lungs, nor did he like the heavy sobs forced from his throat. He didn't like being alone out there, with no-one to comfort him and stop his weeping.

Grandpa was his first true tears.

Luffy put his hat on Nami's head, hiding her teary face from the rest of the world.

"DON'T YOU DARE MAKE MY NAVIGATOR CRY!" he'd say later before beating Arlong to a pulp.

He wasn't one to ignore the cries of his nakama.

A/N: Well. I... think I failed. But hey, at least I tried!

As you can see, I used canon facts (beginning and ending of the OS) to make a parallel with this series. It's not really my headcanon... Well, it's one among a thousand others! (I swear, plot bunnies are running free in my head...) The story is all about the first times (and eventually the last times) that Luffy experienced in his life. Hence the title u_u

Please, give me ideas on what to write next! Give me the situation from canon you want to see, or what "First/Last" you want to read about :) I have a bunch of ideas, but I'd like to hear you: FEED MY IMAGINATION, PEOPLE. And I'll forever love you.

Au revoir, darlings, I'll see you... When I see you.

Doc.