Freedom Rings (Marine Luffy)

Prologue: A Plan

A/N: I shuffled the timeline a bit. Oh well. 

~ Ten years before Luffy sets sail ~

"Grandpa! How many times do I gotta tell you! I'm gonna be a pirate!" "Be a pirate, my foot!" Shouts back the old man, with black hair that is, in all honesty, more gray than black. He's a rather built man, standing at a tall 9'5", and being very muscular, but hiding it under a black business suit.

   "I'm gonna show you a place that'll learn ya real character!" The grandpa says, holding his seven-year old grandson up in the air by the cheek, walking through a jungle forest, until the finally reach a clearing. There is a ramshackle wooden building in the middle, decorated like a hastily put together fortress.

  *Knock* *Knock* "DADAN! GET OUT HERE!" A large woman, who carries weight in her age, and has gingers har steps out, half-smoked cigarette in mouth. "M-M-Mista' Garp, give us a break!! Ace is ten, and he's gettin' real difficult! Could ya please take 'im off our hands??" Then, Dadan's eyes trail downward, to look at the little kid being held up by the man named Garp.

   He's a little guy, alright, wearing a tank top with the number '56' written on it. He has some rather plain features, black hair, and he's wearing cargo shorts. Notably, one of the stars of his tank top fell to his shoulder, and he's also picking his nose with his pinky.

   "This is Luffy! Imma have you lot take care of 'im." With these words, despair flashes through Dadan's eyes. "N-No! Not another one! PLEASE, GARP!" "Do you know how many of your crimes I'm turning a blind eye to? Would you rather take care of another one, or be rotting in a cell? Take your pick." And while they argue, Luffy gets spit shot in his face.

  "Oi! What was that for! Who are you!" The perpetrator of the crime steps out of the forest. He's wearing a single color orange tank top, black shorts, and has a large pipe in his hands, resting it on his shoulder. His black hair has a slight curl to it, and his face is freckled, and there's a forehead plaster to accompany these looks.

  "Luffy, that's Ace." Garp says, pointing at the kid, "He's your brother, three years older than you. You'll be living with him, so play nice!"

*One Large Ace, Sabo, Luffy arc later*

"Hey, did you know? If we exchange these cups of sake, we can become brothers! Said Ace, placing the bottle of alchahol (I should probably say this, I DO NOT ENDORSE UNDERAGE DRINKING! THIS IS FOR STORY PURPOSES, KIDS, DO NOT CHECK IN THE FANCY CLOSET MOMMY GOES TO WHEN YOU THROW A FIT!) as well as three sake cups. He fills them up, the three delinquents giggling to themselves. "Alright!" Ace and Sabo say unanimously, "Starting today, we're all brothers!"

  And they got into a hell of a lot more trouble. Then, around a month or two later, they all were talking about what they wanted to do.

   "I wanna see the whole world, and write a book about it! Those pirates hurt a lotta people real bad! Let's become marines, and screw 'em all up!" Sabo shouted, walking to the shore line. "You don't gotta tell me twice. I'll become an Admiral, and prove I exist. If all three of us become admirals, we can get rid of those stupid world nobles!" Ace replied, stepping from the shade of the trees, while luffy ran out ahead of both of them, to the side of the cliff. "Alrighty then! That's it. I'M GONNA...."

      Another week passes by, and Garp decides that the three troublemakers  shouldn't be raised by bandits. So, he sends the three of them to windmill village.

   "Hey, Luffy! What're you up to now?" Shouted the red-haired pirate named Shanks. "I've had it with you guys! Now you've gotta take me seriously!" Luffy shouted from the strange figurehead of their ship, with a knife in hand, "This is how tough I am!" And with that shout, he stabs himself under the eye.

   "Oi, you idiot, what the hell were you thinking?" Shanks said. It's been an hour, and they're at a bar, Luffy sitting next to Shanks on a barstool at the actual bar. They had just toasted to Luffy's....... well, let's call it courage.  "I-It didn't hurt a but!" Luffy said, crying, and faking a smile. "Liar!" followed up with a forehead chop, "That was real stupid of ya to do. Don't go doing that again."

 

   "I'm not the least bit afraid of getting hurt! Take me on your next voyage! I wanna get strong and be a marine!" "A marine?? Don't be stupid. You aren't strong enough to be a marine! And besides, you sink like an anchor! I think you need to be able to swim to be a marine, Anchor-boy!" "No! I'm strong!" Luffy punches the air in front of him, smiling, "My punches are as strong as pistols!" As if on a que, Ace and Sabo walk into Makino's Tavern. "Oi, Moron," Ace said, bapping Luffy on the head with his pipe, "That's a real good way to give yourself a scar. Don't do it again."

    Then, mountain bandits come along, and the whole scene with the booze and Shanks happens all over again. But, when Luffy opens the box to eat, there's a blue pepper with light blue Lightning bolts on it instead.

  *Munch* *Crunch* "Are you eating outta anger, Luffy?" Shanks chuckles, still booze stained. • • • "OI OI OI, SPIT THAT OUT!!" Shanks shouts, shaking Luffy down by the ankles. Then, a blue flashing of light, followed with a huge crack followed by the shound of rolling thunder and a smell of ozone fill the bar. When its all said and done, Shanks looks fried, and Luffy is laying on the ground.

~Another small time skip later~

   "I'm gonna be an Admiral one day!" Luffy Shouts, angry. "Hm? You're gonna be better than us then, right?" Shanks places his signature straw hat on Luffy's head, right where it belongs. "Then, take good care of this. Promise you'll give it back to me when you become a good, strong Admiral, alright?"

    Tears pour down Luffy's face, and all he can manage to get out is a "Mm hmm!" and a nod.

~Present Time~

Ace and Sabo had set out separately three years ago from windmill village.  After plenty of years of hard marine training from Garp, and some uniforms later, they were all considered Captains at Marine HQ, in Marineford. Each of them was gonna set out to sail when they were seventeen, the last of them being Luffy, adorned in a red button up shirt with a loose black tie, black slacks, and a marine justice coat draped over hist shoulders.

  "So, he's finally setting out, eh mayor?" Makino says, happy, yet saddened by the boy's departure. "That little rascal," the old and wise(?) Mayor comments, "This'll be the start of a new leaf for the brat. I remember when he was just a little kid, shouting at that dang pirate ta train 'im."

    "Alright! I'm heading out now!" Luffy Shouts, kicking the boat he's on away from the docks, and catching current.

  The waters get darker and darker, as a large sea monster that looks akin to a grey dragon without legs or wings rises from the deep. (I just realized that's basically an eel. Duh.) "Oh look! It's our local sea monster!" Luffy shouts giggling to himself. He pulls back his fist, which turns blue and starts sparking lightning off of it. "Goro-Goro no-!"

   He throws a punch with the fist, the lightning-blue limb extending, punching the beast in the face and exploding in electrical waves.

"PISTOL!"