Hello there! Welcome to my new story! This is gonna be a One Piece and Harry Potter Crossover, so get ready for two worlds of craziness!

Oh, and this is just the prologue, so we'll be seeing the main story start next chapter.

So, onwards!

Prologue

Petunia Evans loved her family, even if they were a little peculiar. Daisy and Peter Evans were splendid, loving parents. They were also a bit… odd, searching for 'fun' in places where one wouldn't normally look.

She adored her younger siblings, Lily and Linden. Both her younger brother and sister were twins, but fought almost incessantly. But under all that bickering, they loved each other irrevocably, having a bond with each other that made Petunia jealous, at times.

So, along with her not-so-normal family, Petunia enjoyed the odd adventurous escapade. She was an Evans, after all.

That was, until her parents wanted to go to Kenya for a vacation.

Petunia tried begging them to reconsider, telling them about how they had talked about all of the dangerous operations going on in that region of the world in her General Knowledge class. However, the adventurous Evans spirit was not to be deterred. They were on the flight the very next morning.

At first, it was all very normal. Well, as 'normal' as a vacation for the Evans could get. They visited all of the tourist locations, ate authentic Kenyan food and stayed in nice Hotels.

It was the fifth day of their trip when disaster struck.

Petunia was sitting in the sun reading her latest romantic storybook, while her Mum and Dad were inside, drinking wine with another young, Australian couple they had encountered. Lily and Linden were playing outside on the rough dirt road outside the Hotel.

It didn't take very long for Petunia to become immersed in her story. After all, the male lead was especially charming in this installment. She lost track of time as she flipped through the pages.

Finally, it was her Mum's voice to rouse her from her tale. "Petunia, darling, would you be a dear and fetch the twins for me? It's getting late and I want them to eat their dinner, otherwise they'll be hyper all night."

Petunia giggled as she recalled the last time the twins had eaten late and she closed her book and rose, looking for her younger siblings.

However, the laugh died on her lips when she was unable to catch even a glimpse of their bright red hair. She frowned and called out, "Mum, I don't see them. Are you sure they didn't come inside?"

"Yes, I'm certain. They must have run off while they were playing, the little rascals."

Petunia stepped out from the patio and looked both ways down the road. Although there were many other people, it showed to be completely absent of any small, red-headed children.

Petunia finally felt the first vestiges of panic bloom in her stomach. "Mummy! I really don't see them!"

Finally, hearing the alarm in their eldest daughter's voice, the Evans couple walked out the door at last.

It soon became very clear that the twins were indeed missing. The Evans called for the British embassy as urgently as they could, but all the while, Petunia had a heavy feeling of dread.

The awful feeling persisted throughout the entire night, from when the officers arrived to talk to her parents to when they went out to search for her missing younger siblings.

It was at that moment, when the officials returned with only a sobbing Lily and no trace of her younger brother that Petunia swore to always be 'normal'. After all, if the Evans family had been normal in the first place, then Linden would have still been alive and safe with them.

Linden had no idea how he had gotten into this situation. All he knew was that one minute he and Lily were playing, and the next these weird men had scooped them up and had placed nasty smelling rags to their noses. After that, it went black.

Now, as he slowly dragged himself from his groggy sleep, he noticed all the things around him.

See, he was what Petunia had told him was Street Smart. He wasn't good at all the things at school, no, that was for Lily. Petunia told them that she was Book Smart instead.

But Linden just couldn't concentrate inside a room with books in front of him. He needed to go out and see things. He just knew what to do in certain situations, just like how Lily sometimes just knew all the answers on their tests.

And right at this moment, Linden knew that they were in trouble. Deep trouble.

Lily was leaning against his shoulder, still passed out. They were in a tiny room that stank to the high heavens. Linden could make out a small corner filled with bile and excrement.

He grimaced darkly. Not good. If the room smelled like this, that meant that whoever was previously in here was confined for days, not even being let out for the restroom.

This was very bad.

As silently as he could, he shifted an arm and wrapped it around Lily's mouth. With the other, he began roughly shaking her awake.

"Oi, Lily, wake up!" He growled softly.

Lily's eyes shot open and she began to struggle, but Linden leaned into her looked her in the eyes. "It's ok. It's me. You need to be quiet"

Slowly, her struggles ceased and her muffled screams subsided. When she was completely stationary, he finally removed his hand from her mouth.

Before he could say anything, Lily scowled at him and hissed, "What was that all about? Why we-"

Linden lunged forward and slapped his hand over her mouth, cutting her off ruthlessly. He held both of them very still as he listened for voices outside the door. He could hear some Swahili being lowly spoken as two men walked outside their door. He held his breath as the voices grew closer, but relaxed when the men didn't stop and continued on their way.

He turned back to his now slightly-frightened sister and seriously looked her in the eye. "Lily. Listen to me. We're in trouble. And not the 'kidnap Mr. Felix's dog and paint him blue' trouble, the 'danger' kind of trouble." He broke eye contact with her to do another brief once-over of the room. "As far as I can tell, we've been kidnapped."

Lily's eyes widened and she let out a muffled squeal behind his hand, but quickly stopped when he glared at her. "Remember what 'Tunie said about the dangers in this part of the world? Including Human Trafficking?"

At her look, he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that we didn't believe her then, but look at the situation here. We've been kidnapped." He scowled thunderously. "There's two ways this is gonna go, Lily-flower. Either they're going to sell us, or they're going to keep us hostage. I think that they assumed that we're rich because of our skin color. Whichever it is, we're in big trouble."

Linden slowly removed his hand from his sister's mouth and grimly took in her stunned and terrified expression. Finally, she looked at him with watery green eyes. "B-But why, Lindy? We're not rich. Why did they take us?"

Linden grimaced. "They don't care about that, Lily-flower. They just want their money, whether Mum and Dad have got it or not."

Lily sniffed and a few tears slipped down her face. "B-But do you think that if we told them, th-they'd let us go…?"

Linden sighed in exasperation and pulled her into a tight hug as she began gasping in quiet sobs. He closed his eyes in pain. "Silly Lily-flower. You know that's not how it works."

The two red-headed twins sat in silence with only the occasional sob breaking it. Finally, Lily raised her head, and her red-rimmed eyes met her brother's serious gray ones. "S-So now what do we do?"

Linden stood and pulled Lily up beside him. He looked her in the eye and resolutely declared, "We escape."

It went well in the beginning.

Almost too well.

The door was locked. No matter how they jiggled or tried to manipulate the knob, the twins weren't able to unlock the door.

In the end, Linden just yanked the knob straight off. Lily gave him the most deadpan expression he had ever seen, but hey? What else could he do?

The duo silently crept out of the room and into the hallway, cautiously creeping beside the wall, hoping, praying that they wouldn't be seen.

Unfortunately, that prayer went unanswered. Just as Lily and Linden reached the end of the hall, they came face to face with a young, Kenyan boy with a mop in his hands.

For a few unimaginably long seconds, they stared at each other.

Finally, in a desperate, cracking voice, Lily whispered, "Please."

The boy looked horribly conflicted for a moment, then he straightened his shoulders.

Linden knew his choice and closed his eyes in resignation, reaching for Lily's trembling hand.

The boy, in broken, heavily accented English, whispered, "I am sorry."

Lily's trembling exponentially increased, but Linden just hollowly smirked. "Don't worry about it, mate. Every man for himself, right?"

They Kenyan boy had a ghost of a smile on his face, but it vanished when he cupped his mouth and hollered in Swahili, calling people to them.

Linden reached over and clapped a hand on the obviously guilt-torn boy's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself over it, mate."

Then he pulled Lily behind him and ran like hell.

Strange things happen around the Evans twins.

There was an instance when some girls were making fun of Lily's hair, and the next thing anybody knew, all of her bullies were sporting obnoxious, fire-engine red hair that couldn't be washed out.

Or when Linden got into an argument with his teacher about when school let out. The teacher insisted that only the final bell signaled the end of the day, and right after that statement, a loud, blaring bell went off throughout the building in the middle of the day with a smug Linden asking if it was alright to leave.

But there were even more incidents which only the twins knew about. Instances that they only shared with each other.

And now, some of those strange things were helping them escape.

They were always small things, like when a man rushed them, his shoes mysteriously glued together. Or when a woman was on the verge of cornering them, she began to grow a beard.

Yes, some of the diversions were strange, but the twins didn't question it.

They were doing pretty well up until the moment a man pulled a gun on them, demanding in broken English for them to freeze.

That was the exact moment Linden realized that they were fucked.

And by Lily's sudden hitch in breathing, she realized that too.

Another revelation struck Linden at that moment.

Both of them wouldn't be able to make it out.

But, but, if he played his cards right, he could allow Lily to escape.

With that thought in mind, he released Lily's hand and flew to the man, socking him straight in the gut. As the man fell over in surprise, coughing, Linden scrambled for Lily's hand and pulled her along. "Come on, run!"

Without hesitation, she followed her brother as he sprinted down the corridor, frantically looking from side to side. The shouts from behind the duo signaled that their pursuers were catching up.

Finally, Linden spotted a window. A small window, most likely for just ventilation. He pulled to a stop and gripped a panting Lily.

Linden grabbed her face and looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen to me, Lily-flower. You need to leave through this window. I'll lead them away. Do you understand?"

Lily froze for a second, before she clutched at his shirt and sobbed into it. "No! Lindy-tree, I won't leave you! I won't! I-"

Linden pulled away from her and roughly slapped her, halting her furious protests as she looked at him shocked. "Lily-flower! You need to leave! Go get help. If I go with you, they'll just come after both of us and catch us on the streets. They live here, Lily-flower. We don't know these streets like they do. We don't stand a chance. So you go. I'll stay and buy time."

Lily's body trembled in Linden's hold, but she silently listened to him. He sighed before he pulled away and looked at her solemnly. "But before you go, you need to promise me one thing, Lily-flower. No matter what, if anything happens to me, you can't blame yourself. After all," He tried grinning cheekily, but could tell that he had fallen short. "We're just kids. We're not superheroes. So promise me. Promise me, Lily-flower."

Lily looked like she was going to protest, but at her brother's unwavering look, she screwed her eyes shut and wailed. "I promise, Lindy-tree. I promise!"

Linden smirked roguishly. "Now that's what I'm talking about. My fire-filled Lily-flower." He pulled her into a rough embrace, and just as suddenly pulled away. "Now go! They're almost here!"

He strode to the window and bent down, and Lily stepped into his cupped hands. He raised himself upright and boosted his sister to the open window. Just as she was about to go through it, she turned back, her bright green eyes filled with emotion. "I love you, Lindy-tree."

Linden felt tears prick his eyes, but he pushed them back and grinned confidently at her. "Love you too, Lily-flower."

Then he turned and bolted without looking back.

The rest was a blur.

Linden could only remember sprinting as fast as he could, dodging any menacing-looking adult heading for him. Sometimes he could hear exclamations of surprise, presumably because he had caused something strange to happen to them, but he couldn't recall any specifics.

He only remembered chanting to himself, run run run run run.

Somehow, he made his way outside and on the streets. Just as he had predicted, he stood no chance. He was constantly ambushed from all sides, and only his quick wits and sharp reflexes allowed him to evade them.

He just ran and ran, until he couldn't anymore.

He looked blankly at the sheer cliff face above an ocean before him.

Behind him, his kidnappers were laughing nastily at him, declaring in a mix of Swahili and English that he had nowhere else to run.

Linden observed detachedly as one of the men approached him with a knife and a white, damp-looking cloth.

Reflexively, he stepped away from him, but that proved to be the wrong reaction.

Before anybody knew what was happening, Linden's foot met the crumbling edge of the cliff and he pitched backwards.

As he plummeted down, he heard panicked shouts above him and the wind roaring in his ears.

Finally, his brain caught up with the situation and he screwed his eyes tightly shut, bracing for impact.

But it never came.

Instead, he felt an almost unbearable wrenching in his gut and felt as if he was in some kind of vacuum cleaner, being forced through a tube that was much too small for his body, getting tighter and tighter and tighter until he couldn't breathe can'tbreathecan'tbreathe…

And suddenly he could and Linden sucked in air greedily, gasping, his red hair whipping around his face.

Vaguely, he realized that he was still falling, until he wasn't, and he crashed into a pile of crates roughly… and everything was black.

Linden's eyes shot open and he tried to sit up, but his entire body protested in sheer agony. So he listened to it and just laid there, with broken bits of wood surrounding his stationary form.

He looked up and screwed his face in confusion. Above him, he could see the tops of stone buildings. However, it was nothing like the buildings in Kenya, no matter how hard he tried to find similarities between them.

Off in the distance, he could hear the distinct cry of seagulls and could almost taste the salt in the air. So he was by the sea.

He had no idea what the hell had just happened, but his best bet was that the strange power had transported him to a different place so that he could survive.

Well, he was certainly grateful for that. He'd find a way to get back home. His Lily-flower was waiting for him.

It had been five years.

Five years before Linden finally accepted the truth.

For five years, he endured. He made himself makeshift weapons and survived out on the streets, stowing away on ships and hopping from island to island, hoping for some kind of clue about his home.

It took him five years to admit to himself that he wasn't going to be able to go home again.

That he wasn't even on the same world as the one he had been born in.

He would have descended into madness if he hadn't met him.

Over the years, Linden had developed a kind of system for himself.

When a ship docked at a port, he'd go and infiltrate it, taking supplies for himself, then hightail it out of there before anybody figured anything out.

On this particular day, he saw a gorgeous ship with majestic red sails pull into the port.

He smirked to himself and took two of his makeshift knives and jumped into the sea. When he reached the boat, he stabbed his knives into the tough wood and slowly climbed his way up until he reached a porthole. He wrenched it open and slithered inside and rapidly took note of his surroundings.

When he determined that it was safe, he crept to all the produce and began to dig through it, looking for food that would last long while he stuffed his face, trying to eat as much as he could, taking full advantage of his opportunity.

He must have been too immersed in his looting, because by the time he noticed the disgruntled grumbling approaching the door, it was much too late.

The door slammed open and a boy around his age with blue hair and a bright red nose stood at the doorway.

Linden froze, literally caught red-handed, with his cheeks bulging with food like a chipmunk and his hands elbow deep in food.

Linden slowly swallowed and turned to the boy. He raised a hand and grinned. "Yo."

"CAAAAAAPTAAAIIIIINNN! HEEEEEELLLLLLPPPP!"

Before Linden knew what was going on, people flooded the room and had their weapons aimed at him.

The red-headed boy's grin never fell, but he fell into a battle stance and took out his shank knives, positioning them defensively in front of him. "Well now, isn't this a bit of an overreaction?"

The blue-haired boy gaped at him, before he snapped, "What overreaction?! You're on our ship stealing our food!"

Linden chuckled. "Oh, come on, you guys can afford to share a little. A man's gotta eat, you know."

Suddenly, a boisterous laugh from the back silenced everyone. The crowd parted to reveal a man with a straw hat and a red coat grinning at him.

"You're quite the interesting one, aren't you? I like you! Join my crew!"

Amidst a chorus of "EEEEHHHHH?!" from the men assembled, Linden couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Your crew? Why should I?"

The man grinned. "Because I'm looking for adventure! For the truth. And for freedom."

Linden didn't know what it was, but as soon as the man spoke those words, it was like a tuning fork had been pressed to his chest. It just felt… right.

The young teen stared at the man. "Why me?"

The man laughed uproariously again. "Because! Your hair is my favorite color! It matches my coat!"

And at that, Linden couldn't take it anymore. He laughed.

After a long night of partying and welcoming the new addition to their crew, the Roger Pirates were passed out on their deck.

Linden just stared at them in equal parts exhilaration and grief.

This was it. This is what he had been born for.

But now… there was no going back.

As he silently observed the crew, the red-nosed boy, Buggy, he recalled, drunkenly staggered to his side.

"So how was it? Amazing, right? The Roger Pirates are the best in the world."

Linden just smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they sure are a riot."

Buggy snorted. "Obviously." He eyed the red-haired teen next to him. "Say, you never did tell us your name."

Linden blinked. That was true. Looking back to the entire day, not once had someone asked him for his name.

"So what is it? Your name?"

Linden opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out.

Was he still Linden? Was he alright with people calling him by that name? The name being a constant reminder of Lily?

No. He wasn't.

New beginnings, right?

He turned to Buggy and smiled sadly. "A name, huh? I don't have one."

The blue-haired teen comically gaped at him before shrieking in disbelief. "No name?! What?!"

The red-haired teen just laughed. Buggy narrowed his eyes at him. "Alright, if you don't have a name, how 'bout me giving you one, huh?"

The redhead shrugged. "Go for it."

Buggy stared at him and began mumbling to himself before he snapped his fingers. "You were using shanks to fight earlier, weren't you? How about 'Shanks'?"

'Shanks' grinned, feeling a bit of the darkness in his heart melt away.

"It's perfect."

And it really was.

Yo! I'm glad you made it to the end! That's all for now, folks! Thank you for reading!

So, the next chapter starts the bulk of the story. And it's gonna be Sage Potter centric, but Shanks will play a major role in it!

So, yeah! Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter and tell me what you think!

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!