Author's note: Yo! This Hotspot the 626th bringing you another LuNa story! This one was another adopted story, much like my other story One Piece: Straw Hat Family.

This story was adopted from hollowboy6 who I like to thank once again for allowing me to adopt and continue his story. This does not relate to any of my other One Piece stories, but will have certain OCs of mine showing up. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: One Piece is property of the great Eiichiro Oda, Shonen Jump, Toei Animation, and FUNimation. Please – as true fans – support the official release.

One Piece: A Whole Different Beginning

A Life Changing Decision

Luffy Starts His Journey Early?!

"Sniff…sniff…Sabo…" On the outskirts of the Goa Kingdom, on the edge of the Midway Forest that out-looked the endless sea, a young boy lay face down on the ground with his straw hat covering his head. What was this young black haired child doing? Unfortunately, he was shedding his tears though making sure that no one – even if he was alone – could see them. He had lost someone dear to him, practically his brother, and all he could do is think back to those happier times he had spent with his brothers.

"Ace, Luffy…! Promise we'll set sail! That we'll escape this kingdom and be free!"

Images of a young boy, some years older than himself, with short blonde hair and a top hat ran through Luffy's head. He could see his brother smile, the boy missing a tooth, as he spoke to Luffy and Ace about being free on the sea. Even though none of them were related by blood, they had all shared a drink – sake to be precise – and through their bonds became brothers. They had hunted, trained, and did almost everything together as brothers. They even shared a similar; to one day sail the seas going on adventures. All three of them strived to train themselves and save up their – stolen – money to one day do so.

However, calamity ensued and it would go by the name Celestial Dragon.

With the coming of a world noble, the city of Goa tried to improve itself through the only means it could. Beyond the protected walls of this city, lying between them city and the forest, was a landfill like stretch of area known as Grey Terminal. Here those less off than even the people in the lower section of the city lived off the filth from the snobs inside the city. Believing that his must be fixed, they burned the whole area not caring for those living in it.

Except for one; Sabo. Though born a noble, the boy had found his home outside the protected walls with those that the nobles called "filth". Through deceit, Sabo had been separated from his brothers by his father, having hired a dangerous pirate crew to help. When he learned of the nobles' plan, he feared the worst. Though he tried to come to both his brothers' and the people of Grey Terminal's aid, he was stopped at every attempt. He soon had enough. He tried to leave soon after, only to be sunk by the Celestial Dragon coming into port. Only Dogra, one of the Dadan Family's members, saw what had happened.

And that's how it came to this; young Luffy hiding his crying from the world trying to look strong. He didn't notice someone walking towards where he lay. A boy with longer black hair and had freckles came walking next to the crying boy and proceeded to bop the younger boy's head. Luffy didn't react other than pulling his straw hat over his face trying still to hide his tears. The other boy showed no concern for the younger boy as he spoke up casually. "How long are you gonna lie their like that?"

Luffy didn't speak as he continued to keep his head in his straw hat. Not being bothered by the lack of response, the older boy continued to speak. "We lost all the treasure we had hidden in Midway forest. Sabo couldn't use it in the end… So… I don't care about it anymore. It's no use hoarding treasure if we can't even protect it."

"…Ace, I…" Luffy finally spoke up sounding very teary. The boy, Ace, caught his brother's somewhat muffled call to him and looked down. His expression was still the same, but was curious as to what his brother wanted. Luffy soon spoke up with a loud, yet sad proclamation.

"I want…To Get Stronger! Stronger! Stronger! Stronger and Stronger and Stronger and Stronger and Stronger!" This went on for some time as Luffy continued to repeat the word 'stronger' putting much emphasis on how strong he wanted to be. Even while stating this with much vigor, he was still crying. After many strongers later, Luffy soon got to his point.

"I'll Get Stronger! And then… I'll be able to protect anything. And no one will ever have to die…! So Please…! …Please… Don't you die, too, Ace…!"

"Don't Be Stupid!" Once Luffy had finally finished his long proclamation, Ace responded in a surprising way. He, once again, bopped Luffy on the head yelling at him. "You should worry about yourself first! You're way weaker than me!"

"Listen up, Luffy! I'm not gonna die, and don't you forget it! …Okay!" Luffy was now sitting up still crying and snot dripping his nose as he nodded to Ace's statement. His hate was now on top of the boy's head though he was still trying to cover his tears as he held onto the edge of the hat. Ace then continued rebutting on Luffy's comment. "Sabo asked me, too… So I promise! I won't ever die! How could I die and leave behind a weak little brother like you!?"

"…Yeah… Yeah!"

"I'm stupid, so I don't know what killed Sabo… But whatever it was, it was the opposite of freedom! He died without ever being free. But we made a vow with him. And we're still alive!"

Luffy seemed to have calmed down by as Ace continued to speak though snot still dripped from his nose. He had taken his hand off his hat and was now sitting with his arms around his legs. He seemed to becoming inspired by his older brother's words; even as he continued on to speak. "So listen up, Luffy. I swear I will live a life without regret!"

"…Yeah!"

"Someday I promise I'll set sail! And I'll live however I want! Freer than anyone! That may make me a lot of enemies… Even Gramps'll be my enemy! I'll be risking my life! But I'll set sail at seventeen! And We Will Become Pirates!"

"Yeah!" Ace looked over to his side, Luffy was no longer crying nor did he have snot coming from his nose. He was standing with his arms out, teeth clenched, and shouted confidently out to the sea. Ace was grinning himself as he was glad Luffy was out of his sad state. Though what he failed to realize was Luffy, though excited about the aspect of being free, was thinking on a whole different level than Ace was.

'To be freer than anyone else! I'm gonna start right now!'

Unfortunately, 'right now' would take a while. As everything seemed to go back to its norm, even as the two brothers spared with each other, Luffy had a single idea in his head; to go out to sea right now! Despite still not being able to beat Ace, Luffy was confident that as he voyaged around he would become stronger even quicker than just sparing with Ace and fighting giant, ferrous animals. The only problem, however, was that Luffy couldn't go out without a boat. With every trip he made back to Windmill Village he tried to barter for a ride – poorly I might add – or sneak onto a ship. At every turn, Luffy was either told to go away or was swiftly kicked off the boat. No one close to Luffy, not even Ace, knew of his goal to heading out early though it wouldn't seem like it would be much of a problem. Luffy had no luck with anyone allowing a young kid on their boat to go on some hair-brain adventure, and Luffy almost began losing hope in his quest to start his adventure now.

Until his ship finally arrived.

"Luffy! What were you thinking?!" At Partys Bar, Makino was scolding a pouting Luffy as he looked to away from his mother-figure. Once again, Luffy had attempted another chance to leave for the sea; unfortunately, instead of just kicking him off the captain had gone further and went to Luffy's sort of guardian. After apologizing to the man, Makino immediately scolded Luffy. Currently, they both were in the bar, crowded with locals and newcomers alike. All of them ignoring the woman scolding the young boy.

"It's dangerous for a young boy your age to be out at sea! What has gotten into you lately?"

"Nothing, I just smelled some food and wanted some." Luffy spoke though obviously lying as Makino could easily see Luffy's tell. Makino pinched the bridge of her nose knowing Luffy was lying to her, but wasn't sure what to do. Leaving Luffy to his seat, Makino addressed the rest of the bar currently filled with customers. After refilling some mugs, Makino went off to serve the customers that ordered them with a cheerful smile.

Luffy on the other hand was still pouting, but also thinking about his next action. He had to get out to sea to start his adventure and become a great pirate. But now, Makino was probably going to be watching him even closer now. "Man, how I am going to get out to sea."

"You wanna go out to sea?" Luffy looked up hearing someone speak to him. He then looked around trying to find where the voice originated. His search stopped as he noticed a white haired man sitting next to him. He wore pale grey robes with a design of red flames on the edges, with a green ribbon showing a curled gold design tied in a loose bow around his waist. His white hair was spiky hair that fell down to his shoulders and seemed quite aged, though far younger than his own grandfather. Luffy blinked as he stared at the man whose gaze was on his drink rather than Luffy. Luffy then spoke to the man.

"Did you say something mister?"

"Yeah, you said you wanted to go out to sea."

"Yeah! If I'm going to be Pirate King, I need to start my journey now!" With Luffy's exclamation, the man chuckled finding Luffy amusing. Luffy didn't seem to appreciate the man laughing at him, he stood up in his chair and shouted at the man. "Hey! What's so funny?!"

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, but that is one lofty goal you have."

"So?! I know I can become Pirate King!"

"And starting your journey early will help that, huh?" Luffy gave the man a confused stare as he watches the man take another drink from his mug. Once he finished, he gave a refreshed gasped and set the mug down on the counter. He wiped his face, a small blush evident from drinking, then turned around and shot a smile at Luffy.

"Well then, what if I gave you a little ride on my ship."

"Huh? Really!?"

"Yep, free-of-charge to any destination you have in mind. So what do you say, kid?"

"Yes! I wanna go! Take me out to the sea!"

"Then let's go kid."

"Yeah!" The man stood up, losing some of his balance as he stood up. Luffy then jumped off his chair and followed the man with a grin. Both then left the bar, just as Makino got back behind the counter. As she set down her tray, her cheerful expression changed to a stern one as she turned to Luffy's empty chair.

"Now Luffy, tell me the…truth?" The moment Makino had turned to Luffy's chair, she found that Luffy was no longer in his seat. The barmaid looked around the bar, wondering if Luffy was still in the bar, but couldn't see any straw hat in sight. Not only could she not find Luffy, but she soon noticed that someone else was missing; the white haired man.

In the harbor of Windmill village, a large ship with figurehead of a beautiful mermaid sat in waiting for its captain. Onboard the ship, the crew, with monkey-like appearances and styles, of this ship was lazing about either talking to each other or playing cards. Only one man seemed to be keeping a watchful eye our, a young blonde, spiky haired man sitting on the ship's railing. He wore a navy blue shirt and pants as he looked out towards the sea only occasionally looking back into town. As he looked back towards the town, he soon caught sight of one white haired man walking towards the ship with a plastered smile. The man sighed and slipped off the railing. Everyone caught the man's action and immediately drew their attention to him. The blonde then shouted out to the crew.

"Alright! Captain's coming back…" The crew cheered as everyone dropped whatever they were doing and stood back up. All of them seemed geared and ready to set sail under the leadership on their white haired captain. That is, until the blonde continued to speak. "…and he's drunk."

"What again?!" Along with the crew's groans, someone female had spoken up. On the other side of the crew, three teenagers stood out amongst all the monkey themed crewmates. The first, being the female, was a young blonde girl – fifteen – wearing bell-bottom jeans and a unique yellow shirt with one sleeve longer than the other and red. One her back was a backpack with two large, metallic spheres with red and black colorations and an emerald long dragon stretched to one end to the other.

To this girl's right, stood a snickering young, tan-skinned man – sixteen – with brown hair and a single patch of blonde on the left side of his head. As he stood cross-armed, he wore a tan-white cargo pants and a short-sleeved, black hoodie with a sapphire-colored, winged-serpent dragon etched on the front.

Standing to the girl's left, a young man with dirty blonde hair the same age as the other stood with his head in his hand from the sheer ridiculousness of their captain. The man wore a white, button shirt though torn and tattered unlike the usual kind. Much like his shirt, his black pants seemed just as ruined. Not like he minded it. Stretching from his left wrist and hand, he wore a ruby colored dragon's head.

Nato nodded his head confirming the young ladies statement. "Yes Lucy, again." All the crew groaned in grief while the sunshine blonde looked back to the docks. As he watched his captain almost stumble, he soon found a young boy wearing a straw hat walking with the man and talking to him. Instantly, Nato feared the worse. "Oh no…"

"What is it?" One of the crew men walked up to Nato hearing the man softly speak. Seeing how Nato wasn't paying him any mind, the man followed the other's gaze and soon found what was wrong. He couldn't help but comment as well.

"Crap."

"Oh hey~! Nato~! Meet my new friend, Monkey D. Ruffi~!"

"It's Luffy!"

"Oh Oda no." Nato face-palmed seeing the situation that their captain had gotten them into, and while drunk. As all the crew walked to the railing and followed Nato's example, the three teenagers from the other side made their way to the front. Their reactions were mixed, one surprised, one copying the rest of the crew, and the last well…

"Aw~! He's so cute." The two men next to Lucy looked back at the girl seeing her eyes wide and almost twinkling in delight. Their own response was a simple sweat-drop reaction seeing how girly the usually tough Lucy was being. Both men then spoke in unison pointing out the obvious.

"Obviously, you don't see the problem here."

"As long as it isn't another drunk, drunks, woman, women, or any combination of that, I don't care." The sweat-drop on both men's heads increased in size hearing their friend's uncaring response to the actual problem. The three teenagers then looked over to where the gangplank was lowered and their captain and guest walked aboard. Nato then stepped in front of the captain giving the drunk man a stare, which was ineffective against the drunk man.

"Hey~, Nato~! How's the grew – Crew! – been?"

"Why is there a child aboard, Captain Jiro?" Nato was quick to the point, not wanting to bother with the drunk stupor of his captain. The white haired man was confused momentarily, until Nato pointed towards Luffy. The man followed the finger to Luffy, who was currently talking with the crew. Not surprisingly, the white haired man turned back to Nato and gave him drunkenly smile as threw his arm over Nato's shoulder like he was his best friend.

"Well, that's the next Pirate King, my loyal first-mate."

"Excuse me?"

"What's your name, cutie." As Luffy hanged with the Jiro's crew, Lucy had already fallen for the child in the straw hat. As she crouched down in front of Luffy, behind her the two men with unique dragon symbols were sighing in unison along with many of the crew. Luffy, being as innocent as any child, he gladly gave his name with a wide grin.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Who are you?"

"I'm Lucy, but you can call me Big Sister!"

'She's already attached…!' All the crew thought the same thing as they watched how close Lucy was getting to the boy. Even those two that hang around were shocked. Nato was the only one not bothered by this scene, but something else had gained his attention; the boy's surname. He looked back at Jiro almost awestricken and whispered to the captain.

"That child…he couldn't be…"

"I don't have the foggiest idea." Nato was surprised as the captain, being drunk, spoke with much honestly and with a strange amount of delight. Nato raised an eyebrow at his captain; he knew that their job required much secrecy, but they never kept anything from each other as a crew. However something about Jiro, drunk or not, had him feeling a bit uneasy.

"And these guys behind me are Drake and Justin, you can call the Big Brother!"

"Oi! I didn't agree to that!" The dirty blonde – Justin – spoke out in displeasure. The other man, Drake, just chuckled finding the sudden thrusting of responsibility by his female friend amusing. Lucy didn't pay any mind as she kept her smiling face towards Luffy.

Meanwhile, Luffy grinning face turned into a confused expression. "But I've already got an older brother."

"Oh, then only I can just be your older sister. You guys are off the hook."

"Were we even important?!" Hearing that Luffy had a brother, Lucy gave an unsympathetic look to Drake and Justin releasing them from their duties. Despite having been angry about being given responsibility over the kid, Justin shouted at the girl feeling that he was useless in whatever 'family' Lucy was forming. Drake, on the other hand, just laughed finding no qualm with the situation.

"Alright! Listen up men and brats!" All the crew as well as Luffy looked to the other end of the ship where Jiro now stood before the crew with Nato in the back. The blonde man had his face in his palm again knowing what the white haired captain was about to say.

"We'll be taking my new friend here on a little adventure. To train him to be the next Pirate King." Jiro then extended his hand gesturing to Luffy in the middle of the crowd. The crew's eyes widen, even the dragon symbol teen, and everyone looked at Luffy. The boy only snickered and grinned seeing as the old man was keeping his promise.

"What are you saying captain?!"

"I'm saying…set the sails! We're heading out!" All the male crewmen's jaws dropped in shock hearing that they were now taking a kid on a voyage. Lucy seemed just as surprised, but was more calm as she realized that she would be able to spend some time with her 'little brother'. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew looked to Nato as the 'acting' captain when Jiro is drunk. The man just continued to keep his head in his hand not reacting far from a light nod from his head. Seeing how Nato had no counter response, the crew began to slowly move out as they went to their duties leaving only the Dragon Trio and a grinning Luffy.

"Uh Luffy." The kid looked other to the side hearing Drake speaking for the first time. Crouching next Lucy, Drake spoke to Luffy sounding very concerned for the child's well-being. "You sure you want to leave?"

"Yeah! The sooner I go out to see, the faster I'll become King of the Pirates!"

"And you'll be the cutest one yet!"

"I'm not cute!" Luffy shouted back at Lucy as she tried smothering the little boy. Drake simply sighed as he stood up, seeing how the kid was determined to go out to see. Justin gave his friend sympathizing pat on the back before going off to help the crew. Drake soon followed behind Justin leaving to the clutches of Lucy.

Meanwhile, as the crew got the ship launched off, Jiro and Nato walked over to helm already manned by one of the crew. They both stood next to the helmsmen, Jiro trying to stand still, and looked out to the open ocean as they left Windmill Village's harbor. Nato looked over to the captain, giving off a sense of foreboding, but returned his gaze back to the sea hoping his captain wasn't going to regret this decision later.

Around the same time, Makino came out of the bar shouting Luffy's name and looking for him in the streets with a worried expression. Elsewhere, Ace was with the Dadan Family eating the boy's latest kill, a bear. None of them knew of what their youngest member had just done nor would they see him anytime soon. Out in the ocean, Garp, Luffy's grandfather, was sailing towards Dawn Island taking another vacation. Like everyone else, he knew nothing of Luffy's sudden departure and instead planning more training for the boys, including Sabo not knowing of the boy's fate.

However…far from Dawn Island, on an island almost near the mysterious Grand Line, a lone building stood on a cliff with a field of trees just outside of it. Inside sitting all alone, a little girl with orange hair was hunched over the table with a pen in her hand. The girl then set the pen done and picked up what she was working on; a map, a very skillfully done map. She smiled as she slipped off her hair and walked around holding her map in the air speaking cheerfully to herself.

"There…it's finished! I hope Bellemere will like it."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Read, Comment, & Review! That way, the LuNa stuff comes faster!