I'm in a One Piece mood right now so here is my first one piece story. The two main differences I am making with Luffy is that he is going to be a bit smarter and that the fruit he ate will be a hybrid. I think it would be interesting to see what would have happened then so here we go.

I'm Luffy! The man who will be King of the Pirates!

Wealth, Fame, Power... Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates had obtained this as well as everything else the world had to offer. Before being executed, his dying words drove countless souls to the seas. "You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it!" These words lured men to the Grand Line in search of dreams greater than they ever dared to imagine. All across the world people raised their flag as the Golden Age of Pirates began.

Twelve years later in a village called Fushia Village on Dawn Island a band of good-natured Pirates were sitting in a bar while their captain finished telling a story to a seven-year-old boy.

"Wow Shanks that was an amazing story! You gotta take the on your next adventure," Luffy exclaimed looking to the Pirates red-haired captain.

"Hah you're too young and weak to join my crew," Shanks said childishly while sticking his tongue out.

"I am strong!" Luffy said angrily. "My punches are as strong as a pistol."

"Yup a pistol," a skeptical Shanks replied. "Well let's see you put your money where your mouth is and punch me as hard as you can."

Shanks the leaned forward in pointed to his left cheek indicating for Luffy to hit him there.

"Alright, here goes."

As Luffy cocked his fist back he subconsciously gathered his emotions and will into it and punched Shanks with all he had. When the punch connected Shanks, who was unprepared for the coming impact, was sent hurling to the opposite end of the bar and strait through the wall. All the pirates face-faulted upon seeing their captain get sent flying by a seven-year-old, and all eyes went from the new doorway to Luffy who could do nothing but stand there in shock at what he just did. As Shanks got up he started to realize what just happened.

"This kid just used Haki. But how does he use it at this age," Shanks thought as he walked back to his seat.

"Captain, are you okay?" asked one of the pirates.

"Yeah, I'm okay. But Luffy, do you know what you just did?"

Before Luffy could answer, the door to the bar was suddenly busted open and in walked a group of mountain bandits led by Higuma. Higuma looked around at the pirates and sneered at them.

"So these are the pirates I've heard about? Humph, they look pretty weak to me"

"Can I help you?" asked a woman named Makino who was in charge of this bar.

"We didn't come here to cause trouble. Just give us a barrel of sake and the damage to your bar will be minimal," Higuma stated.

"I'm sorry but are pirate guests have already drank all the sake I have," Makino said.

Shanks hands out a bottle to the bandit leader offering it to him. Higuma, however, was not a very nice person and was angry that some low-life pirates had taken the sake he wanted. He took the bottle and smashed it over Shanks' head.

"You shouldn't mess with me pirate," Higuma growled.

Shanks looked down at the mess and calmly said, "Well now you've made a mess. Sorry Makino."

As he began to clean the mess up Higuma some reason got even angrier, and used his sword to smash even more bottles. At this point Luffy was very angry at the way his friend was being mistreated and was glaring daggers at the bandit.

"I am a wanted man worth eight million berries. You weak sea-loving pirates don't stand a chance against me," threatened Higuma as though eight million was supposed to be impressive. He then left the bar with his cronies leaving the place in a wreck. Shanks' eyes were overshadowed by his hair as the feeling in the bar was tense before Shanks burst out laughing followed by the rest of his crew. Luffy however was incensed at the fact that Shanks didn't fight and something in his mind snapped as an extreme force of intimidating power was unleashed sending chills down everyone's spine.

"That was NOT cool! How can you call yourselves pirates if you're afraid to fight?!" Luffy screamed

"Calm down Luffy. It's just some sake, nothing to get so upset about," Shanks replied trying to calm Luffy down though inside he was shocked at the fact that Luffy had unconsciously used Haki again. Luffy just turned away and the tense feeling disappeared as he calmed down. Just then Luffy saw a chest with a weird looking fruit inside. Feeling hungry he picked it up and ate it noting its bitter taste. Shanks noticed him eating it and panicked.

"Luffy, spit that out right now!" Shanks yelled as he went to grab Luffy but when he did something bizarre happened. One hand fazed through Luffy's left leg as though it went through water while the other hand made contact with Luffy's right leg resulting in Shanks holding Luffy upside-down by one leg as his neck stretched to the floor. The entire bar was shocked. Luffy had eaten a devil-fruit, but it appeared to be a hybrid of the gum-gum and water-water fruits. Of course poor Luffy was just confused as hell as he hung in this awkward position before Shanks let go.

"Luffy, do you realize what you've done!?" Shanks yelled as Luffy just shook his head.

"You've just eaten a devil-fruit! It gives you strange powers but prevents you from swimming for the rest of your life…or at least that's what usually happens I'm not sure about the water-water fruit," Shanks exclaimed.

"Shishishi. Oh well, looks like I've gotten stronger."

Moron, you don't know how to control your abilities yet. For all you know you could be weaker!"

"WHAT, OH SHIT!

"YOU IDIOT!"

The next day…

"Mayor, come quickly," Makino yelled.

Luffy had gotten into a fight with Higuma and his gang when they had come back to the bar and had the nerve to insult Shanks when he was not even there to defend himself. Luffy had tried to punch Higuma with the same force as when he hit Shanks but Higuma dodged it and dragged Luffy outside. So now Higuma had Luffy on the ground and his foot on Luffy's head intending to kill him.

"Please don't kill him," the Mayor begged when he saw Luffy. "I will give you money, sake, anything just please don't kill him."

"Nice try, old man, but this boy just insulted me and he must die for it," said Higuma with a cold glare. All Luffy could think about at this point was his weakness and how he couldn't defend Shanks and kept thinking the same thing over and over; "I am going to die. I am going to die."

Just as Higuma was about to stab Luffy with his sword, his arm was caught by another hand. It was Shanks. He and his crew had come to see what was causing the commotion and boy was Shanks mad.

"How dare you hurt my friend," growled Shanks as he punched Higuma hard in the face to get him away from Luffy.

Now the bandits were mad and began to charge the pirates. Needless to say they ended up getting their asses handed to them by Shanks' first mate, Ben Beckman.

"You'll have to bring a warship to defeat us," Beckman said coolly. But when he and Shanks looked up they noticed a smoke bomb had gone off and neither Higuma nor Luffy were there.

"Oh SHIT, He got Luffy," Shanks panicked.

Meanwhile out on the ocean, Higuma was on a boat holding a kicking and screaming Luffy by the throat.

"HAHAHAHA those pirates will never suspect a mountain bandit hiding in the middle of the ocean!"

"Damn you fight like a man you coward," Luffy yelled.

Higuma just laughed at the poor boy and said "No one's going to find out here brat. You're going to drown all alone. Good-bye, Bastard." And with that Higuma tossed Luffy into the sea laughing at his victory, but it was short lived as at that very moment a sea king known as the Lord of the Coast came appeared at proceeded to devour a now screaming Higuma before turning its attention to Luffy. Interestingly enough, Luffy was not affected by the sea like most devil-fruit users since one of his powers was control over water. Luffy immediately realized this as he was literally standing on the surface of the ocean, but then he noticed the sea king was still there and stated running as fast as he could back to the island with the sea king right on his feet.

"Listen up, half of you are to search the south and east parts of town while the other half come with me to check the north, west and the harbor," Shanks ordered his crew to look for Luffy.

"Captain, look out there on the ocean," yelled one of the pirates. Everyone looked and saw Luffy running on the water with the Lord of the Coast closing in. In a flash, Shanks was there and pulled Luffy away just as the monster bit down, missing Luffy by just a margin. Shanks then glared at the sea king and unleashed a wave of Conqueror's Haki to scare the sea king away.

"Get. Out. Of Here," Shanks said in a low intimidating voice.

The sea king seemed to get the message as it panicked and swam away quickly.

"You're really something Luffy. You stood up for us, fought for us, and even managed to move on the sea without losing your strength."

"B-but Shanks," stuttered a crying Luffy. "What about your arm!?"

Indeed Shanks had sacrificed his arm in order to save Luffy.

"It is a small price to ensure a friend's safety," Shanks comforted Luffy.

It was then that Luffy understood why Shanks would not take Luffy on his journey. Despite being stronger than most kids his age, Luffy was not ready for the perils of the mighty sea. But he also learned what a great man Shanks was and vowed to become like him someday.

"So you're not sad about us leaving?" asked Shanks as his crew prepared to leave the village for good.

"Of course I'm sad, but I'm going go on my own journey on day." Luffy replied.

"Hah. That won't happen," Shanks teased, though not maliciously. "It will take years before you are as good as us."

Now Luffy was angry. "It will happen, you'll see! I'll gather a crew of Nakama that is much stronger than yours and we will go find the greatest treasure in the world! I WILL BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy screamed.

"Oh, so you're going to be better than us huh? In that case do you mind holding on to this for me?" Shanks gave Luffy his old straw hat and placed it on his head.

"That hat is very precious to me so you'd better take good care of it. When you have become king be sure to give it back to me, okay!"

With this promise sealed, the red-haired pirate left Fushia Village on their next adventure as a crying Luffy watched them leave utterly determined to fulfill his dream and see Shanks again.

Ten years later.

Luffy was now 17 years old and finally setting sail on his small boat as the entire village watches him leave home.

"He's finally going to fulfill his dream," Makino said as the Mayor snorted.

"If he does become a pirate it will bring shame to the village," he mumbled.

As Luffy left the coast the sea king appeared once again, but this time Luffy was ready.

"So you're here," Luffy stated as he cocked his fist back.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy shot his fist forward and stretched it as it collided with the Lord of the Coast rendering the monster unconscious.

With the monster out of his way, Monkey D. Luffy was at last on his way.

"It's time for my journey to begin!" Luffy shouted to the sky. "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

There you have it. Luffy is on his way. Please let me know what you think so far. By the way keep in mind that while Luffy can use Haki, he is only able to use Observation Haki freely. The other two will occur in response to Luffy's emotions until we get to the time skip, which will be a while as I'm using the Funimation dub for this story. Since this requires money in order to get the DVDs, I ask that you all be patient with me. I promise I will not abandon this or any other story I use. Thank you. See you soon.