One Piece: Marines For Life

     It was early in the morning, very early, yet the sun seemed to shine brighter than ever before. The light seeped through the window to Luffy's cabin and onto his sleeping face. The comforting warmth woke him softly from his slumber and he slowly sat himself up in bed . He peered out his window and saw the seemingly endless sea, reaching out for miles. He listened to the clumsy squawking of the seagulls flying overhead. This sound was short as it was soon drowned out by the roar of Luffy's temporary Captain.

     Luffy glanced around the room, at the dozens of other bunk beds where his fellow recruits slept. He noticed that a few were already awake, some reading by the window-light, others writing entry's in journals, and a poor few sulking in bed, visibly sea-sick.

     Luffy exited his room for breakfast, he was starving. He tried to make his way to the source of the heavenly smell his nose had detected, but he was caught and dragged to a training room by Commander Rudolph. 

     Commander Rudolph had a deep hate for Luffy ever since he learned he was the son of Garp. Rudolph had entered the marines at a young age and was only a few years older than Luffy. Rudolph had no connections to higher up Marines and had to work his way up to his current position. He couldn't help but resent the special treatment Luffy was receiving. So, every day, Rudolph brought Luffy to an unused training room and trained him harder than any of the other recruits, hoping to destroy his potential ego.

     Rudolph quickly found Luffy hard to train, his strength being far beyond that of the average recruit. But, two years ago Rudolph had eaten the beto beto no mi, sticky sticky fruit, allowing him to create nearly impossible challenges for Luffy such as fighting a tiger with his hands and feet stuck to the ground. Luffy, however, possessed no devil's fruit power, though it was times like this that reminded him of the day he first saw a devil fruit. As a result of this power disparity, In hand to hand combat with Rudolph, Luffy stood no chance. He truly dreaded these sessions and did his best to avoid them, but Rudolph seemed to be lurking everywhere he went.

     Today, something out of the ordinary happened which spared Luffy of having to train. The officer in charge of the ship, Captain Morino, had been attacked by one of the recruits.

     " What are you doing recruit, how dare you attack a fellow marine, and your captain at that," yelled Morino.

     " You may not know me but I know you very well. 5 years ago you killed the captian of the Black Bomb pirates and sent his crew members to Impel Down. That captain was my father, my only remaining family, and you took him from me. I'LL KILL YOU!" screamed the recruit.

     He charged at the captain with sword in hand. The Captian stood there ready to counter the attack but the recruit decided instead to take a hostage, Luffy. He strangled Luffy's neck and held the sword to his face.

     " I know you are a devil's fruit user so I'll give you two options, jump in the sea and die or watch me kill the grandson of Vice Admiral Garp and be killed by him at Marineford," said the recruit.

     The Captain smiled, " If you did your homework enough to know that I possess a devil's fruit then you obviously didn't finish and learn my ability. Afterall, a man who knows my ability would never dare to face me in combat."

     The recruit began to sweat, he was trembling, fearing what type of demonic power Morino could be hiding. He backed away from him but as he looked in Morino's eyes he felt an evil power the likes of which he had never imagined.

     " My power," said the Captain, " Allows my to kill a man by looking him in the eye!"

     And with that Luffy felt the recruit slowly release him before falling to the floor, stiff as a board. Luffy looked up at the smiling Morino and looking around he saw that none of the regular crew had ever doubted Luffy's safety, being familiar with their captain's ability.

     " Wow, I never thought there would be a devil's fruit that let someone kill by looking a person in the eye!" exclaimed Luffy.

     The Captain, along with all of his men except Rudolph, began to laugh hysterically. The Captain then walked over to Luffy and landed his large hand on Luffy's shoulder.

     " Even if an ability like that exists I don't have it, my ability is the burafu burafu no mi, bluff bluff fruit, I can make people believe anything I say no matter how absurd. I made that man believe me so much that I tricked his brain into shutting down, he is now in a deep coma. I can reverse the state but I'll wait until we're at Marineford before I do that," said Captain Morino.

     Luffy was truly astonished, he had met a crew of amazing people and he hadn't even reached Marineford yet. As he breathed in the refreshing sea breeze he was happy with his choice and could not wait for his life as an officer of the Marines.