This is my newest fanfic! This chapter is rather short but I assure you the rest will be longer. I just basically wanted to complete the setting. Also there is a question in the Author's Note that I would like you guys to help me out with before I start writing chapter 2. And if you're interested in my other works then please check them out! Skip is about Pirate King Luffy getting thrown into the past and ending up on the Moby Dick. A Pirate's Resolve takes place 10 years after Ace died in which case Luffy has become the Pirate King and ends up finding a young boy who reminds him a lot of Ace (shameless advertising FTW :D). Also it's slightly AU.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. But I had a lot of fun writing this :D

Luffy was chasing someone. He was only a kid, probably around 7, and so was the boy ahead of him. This boy was a little older and a lot crueler. He had a darkness in his eyes that his young follower did not. He didn't speak, either, and did his best to keep Luffy away.

"Ace! Let's be friends!"

Only seconds after saying that, the young boy saw a boulder get kicked off a cliff. He ran to avoid it, noticing his "friend" atop to the slope. No doubt he pushed it. The boy didn't bother to see if Luffy was alright and just left further into the forest. Luffy didn't mind. Sooner or later he was going to catch up to him. When he did, they would be friends.

Luffy and his crew waved as they departed from Marine Headquarters. He watched as his grandfather cheered from the shore among the small crowd that had gathered to see them off. All the men aboard filled with excitement as they thought of their first voyage. For most of them, that was it. Luffy had been out to sea before, but now he was the Captain for once. That was a nice change. Of course, he wasn't enthusiastic about having to call the shots – he wasn't very smart when it came to all of the technical jargon the Marine's shoved down his throat. If he was honest, he couldn't remember even a bit of it. Still, somehow he had made it. He wasn't sure why, but now he was Captain. That sounded nice.

The best part about the whole thing was that he had been temporarily assigned to the Grand Line. Apparently there had been a lot of fleets destroyed there lately by the Whitebeard pirates and the Marines were running low on people. Because of that, several ships were headed to assist them. This was the fun part for Luffy. Soon he would be able to go all out and fight with the most feared pirates in the sea. He was only being sent out because the situation was so dire, but he was satisfied none-the-less.

It was strange, though. Whitebeard wasn't one to attack furiously like he was. The only reason he would do something so drastic would be to protect his crew members. If the Marines had captured one of his men then it was their own fault they were getting destroyed, even Luffy had to admit that. He hadn't been briefed on it, though, so he couldn't be sure.

Luffy was sitting in his office. He wanted to get a look at Whitebeard's Commanders. That way if he ran into any of them he would be able to make an arrest. Of course, he really just wanted to kick some ass as soon as possible, but his men didn't need to know that.

When the Lieutenant dropped off the wanted posters, Luffy quickly rummaged through them. The first was Marco the Phoenix. That man was well-known even at HQ. Aside from Whitebeard himself, that guy was the strongest there. Luffy trembled with excitement. He would love the chance to try to beat up someone like him. Contrary to how little he paid attention during briefings, he remembered a lot about that guy. He was a mythical zoan-type user who could regenerate at will. That would be annoying to get around, but haki should be able to do some damage. He was the 1st Division Commander and with good reason; no Marine he faced had ever come close to beating him. Aside from that, there wasn't much to say – he was a mystery, really.

The next posters were of Jozu, Haruta and Izo. Though none of them rivaled Phoenix, they were all formidable opponents. No one in the Whitebeard crew was weak, though. These three were some of the strongest. To the knowledge of Marine HQ they also remained undefeated. Luffy's confidence was ridiculous but even he wondered if he could match up against them. He was only a Captain, after all; if it weren't for the situation he would probably be stationed at an island somewhere. That would be no fun, but he wasn't experienced with taking on such incredible foes. He'd been praised for his strength throughout his whole career, but this was probably going too fast. Oh well, at least he could have some fun.

Then he flipped to the next poster. His mouth dropped as he stared into the face of someone he never thought existed: Portgas D. Ace. This guy was apparently the 2nd Division Commander. His bounty was well over 500 million beli which was ridiculous for someone who seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere. That wasn't what shocked Luffy. This man was someone he knew. He never met him, though, if that made sense. He'd seen that face before. He remembered the name Ace so clearly that seeing it on paper gave him a sense of déjà vu. But still, he didn't know him.

Sometimes Luffy would dream. Since returning from his last mission, the dreams had all centered on this one black-haired boy. He knew that they couldn't have met in real life but when he would dream it felt like they'd always known each other. In those visions both were young. They never went in any particular order, which was confusing, but in each they were always together. Sometimes there was another boy with them but he hadn't caught the name.

Lately the dreams were so vivid that he began confusing them with memories. It was hard to tell when he was awake or asleep when that happened. He never expected that boy to exist, let alone be a Commander under Whitebeard who was said to be the strongest man in the world. Well, it had to be a coincidence. He never saw the boy from his dreams grow up, so they might have just shared the same name.

After stuffing his face and playing tricks on his crew all day, Luffy headed to bed. The poster from earlier hadn't left his mind. Just what the hell was going on? He forced himself to drop the subject and relaxed. That was no time to be wondering about some stupid dreams. He needed his rest. In three more days he would be face-to-face with the most infamous pirates in the world.

Panting heavily, Luffy dashed past trees and foliage until he came to a steep cliff. He stood tall. Below the cliff there was a small boat leaving Fushia Village's dock. Ace was on that boat. He was so proud of him. Finally he would be setting out. He imagined all of the adventures he would go on and couldn't wait for his day to come too.

"Luffy!" Ace saw the boy and shouted happily his way. That would be the last time they would see each other for a long time. It was sad, but only a little. It was necessary in order for them to follow their dreams. He'd miss him a lot though. After 7 years together the time finally came when they would have to part.

"Captain, I think I see something!" one of the Marines called from the crow's next. After several minutes, the objects came in closer view. "It's Whitebeard!" The man sounded like he'd seen a ghost. His face turned pale white and he looked like he was going to pass out from shock. Not Luffy, though. No, he had been waiting for this.

"Who are they fighting?" he asked calmly, seeing tiny balls of light emerge from the black dots in the distance. He could hardly contain himself. That was it. Finally!

"It seems to be one of the Vice Admiral's ships. There are two others but I think they've been taken out!"

Luffy grinned in anticipation. There were a lot of really strong guys over there. He could finally let loose! His past opponents barely put up a fight, it was a joke. Now those were real pirates. They were the reason he'd joined the Marines in the first place.

"Prepare for battle! We're going in! Shishishi!"

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger! But I couldn't put any more in this chapter. See, I'm having a bit of a dilhemma: I have two ways that the story can go here and I'm not sure which one to pick. So I'm going to ask you guys for your help. I'll give you a brief synopses of the two differences and then you tell me which one you would prefer and why. The one that inspires me the most will be the one I write. Of course, I'm going to continue it either way but the update will come a lot sooner if you guys help me out in your reviews because I'm a really undecisive person.

1) Luffy has amnesia to a certain degree (remembers some things but not others) and doesn't remember Ace. He was taken from Goa Kingdom by Garp after the 'incident' that caused his amnesia and began training as a Marine. The dreams would be vague memories of his resurfacing

2) The story splits from CANON earlier and Garp brings Luffy to train under him after the incident with Shanks instead of handing him over to Dadan, meaning that he never met Ace. The dreams he's having would actually be the memories of a Luffy from an alternate reality (i.e. CANON Luffy) that he's recieving.

Now what I end up choosing will change the story drastically. Both of these ideas go in a very different direction (In 1st Ace knows Luffy but Luffy doesn't remember him, in 2nd they never met but Luffy feels like he knows Ace) so it would be an immense help if you gave your opinions. I'd write both if I had the time but university starts back up on Monday XD So yeah tell me what you like and why you like it and I'll try to get chapter 2 up tomorrow if I can decide by then.

The fate of this story rests in your hands! No pressure though :P

Until next time, my lovelies~