Author's note: I should probably mention that there are gonna be some spoilers if you're not up to date with the manga/anime but I don't think it's anything big. Probably. I'm not going into any detail with anything related to the current arc though.

Anyway. I saw that I got some Favs and Follows for my short as 彡 Prologue, so thanks a lot for that! I would also be happy about a little review, so that I can improve my writing (*'ω' *) Well, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

Mystery

The sun was high in the sky, there was no cloud in sight and on the calm ocean an old dinghy was drifting in no apparent direction. Sleeping on the dinghy was a young man, wearing sandals, knee-length jeans, a red cardigan and a straw hat. The most prominent feature of the man was the big cross-shaped scar across his chest but apart from that he didn't look very special.

A bit of a distance away one could see a galleon heading towards the little dinghy. However, the crew on board the galleon was unaware of the small boat, since everyone way busy celebrating their last victory over a certain Marine Vice-Admiral. That is, until someone who was still kind of sober inevitably noticed it. "Captain! There's something strange ahead!" "Of course there is!", Roger laughed, "this is the Grand Line! I'd be worried if there WASN'T something strange ahead Nahahaha~ Let me see!" The captain hurried to get a good view on the obstacle, not unlike a child on Christmas morning.

"Oh c'mon Buggy, why is an old dinghy worth being called strange?", Roger asked, slightly disappointed. "Because a dinghy shouldn't be able to get very far in these seas, Captain!" "Nahahaha what do you know, you're right about that. Okay then, listen men! Let's get that poor soul on our ship and see how much money we can get out of a little kidnapping!" "Aye!"

When Monkey D. Luffy opened his eyes, he was very, very confused. He was somehow on the wrong ship with no member of his crew in sight. Instead, he was tied up against the mast with a bunch of old guys getting drunk right in front of him. And they were eating. Actually, there was a lot of food around, now that he looked properly. And the ossans didn't seem to have any malicious intend towards him either, so nobody would mind if he helped himself to some meat, too, right? If they actually wanted to take him as a prisoner, surely they would've at least bothered to tie him up properly with something else than a simple rope. Right? Right. So after quickly untangling himself Luffy ran to the closest table and joined the party. He was quite enjoying the tale of someone that looked really similar to Buggy the Clown, just way younger. In fact, he enjoyed the almost Usopp-like tale so much so that he didn't pay attention to the owners of the plates he was stealing from. Which is why his hand got stabbed by a fork. "What the heck!? Keep your hands to your own plate you-! WHO'RE YOU?!", the guy next to him complained. And then asked. And because he asked, he somehow had everyone's attention now. Even the Buggy lookalike had stopped his awesome tale to stare at him. Luffy pouted.

"Captain! The hostage escaped!" "Where's the captain?" "I think he passed out a while ago…" "Shishishi you guys are funny. Hey, can I have some of that meat?", Luffy asked while making a grab for said meat. "No, you can't!" "Actually", said a new voice, "you can eat as long as you answer my questions. How about that?" "Deal! Why do you look so much like Rayleigh?" The man in question looked eerily similar to Luffy's former mentor of 2 years. Just way younger. Just like the Buggy-guy. Huh, what a weird ship.

"That's because I am Rayleigh", the man answered. "Shishishi I see! So it's a mystery! What do you wanna know?" If Rayleigh thought that reaction was strange, he didn't show it. Instead he put a Dial on the table. "Which one is that?", Luffy asked confused. He should've paid more attention when Usopp tried explaining those to him. Rayleigh looked surprised. "You know what this is?" "Of course! It's one of those Dials they have on Skypea, right?" "Oh? So you've been there before?" "Yeah! Riding the Knock Up Stream was a lot of fun!" It really was. And those fluffy clouds after that were awesome, too!

"This one is for recording stuff. Because I honestly don't feel like remembering everything you'll tell me. So…. First things first. What's your name, brat?" "I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" Suddenly it was very quiet on deck and everyone was staring at Luffy as if they'd seen a ghost. Not that Luffy cared about that. He had his food to concentrate on after all. "….. Do you happen to be related to Monkey D. Garp?", Rayleigh asked incredulously. "Shishishi that's my grandpa!" "THAT GUY HAS A GRANDSON!?" "How does that even work?!", some pirates exclaimed.

"…. moving on. You're a Marine?" "Don't be silly. I'm a pirate!" "I can't see that going over well with Garp", someone muttered. "If you're a pirate then where's your crew?" "That's what I wanna know! I was on my ship, taking a pre-battle nap and next thing I know I wake up on your ship! And you're not even the guys I wanna fight! That's so disappointing! By the way, where are we?" "Hahaha you're an interesting fellow, aren't you? We're on the Grand Line, heading to Water 7 right now, but I don-" "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?! WATER 7?" "Yes." "Wait, wait, wait that can't be right! I was in the New World when I fell asleep. And I don't remember seeing Kuma anywhere…. Wait, does that mean there are others with the same ability or…. Ahhh I can't think so much, I'll get a fever! Hey, Fake-Rayleigh! Can you bring me back to Zou?" "No." "Why not?" "Because I'm not the captain, so I don't decide where we go. And Zou is a phantom island with no Logport being able to locate it. How do you propose to get there?" "Well if Zou doesn't work, then take me to Totto Land!"

"Are you insane!?", the guy who looked like Buggy screamed. "Totto Land is where Charlotte Linlin is expanding her territory! I don't wanna go there again any time soon!" "I don't care! I need to go there as soon as possible!" "Why? Are you somehow involved with Big Mom?" Rayleigh asked with raised eyebrows. "You bet I'm involved! I'm gonna kick her butt all the way to Impel Down for kidnapping my cook!" "If you say so. By the way, you do realize we kidnapped you, too, right?" "Eh? Really?" "Why do you think we tied you up?! What are you, an idiot?!", some random member of the crew asked. "Shishishishi if you want to kidnap me a silly rope like that won't work. I thought you had some weird hobbies or something. But why would you want to kidnap me anyway?" "Because the captain decided to see if you're worth some money to someone", the same random guy replied. "Meh, that's boring. I don't think anyone's gonna pay to free me, though." "And why is that?", Rayleigh asked, suddenly interested in the conversation again. "Because everyone knows I can free myself! Shishishi" "Hahahaha you really think you can run away on the open sea like this, with no other ship in sight?!" "No. But I can beat up everyone and have the navigator get me to where I wanna go", Luffy explained, suddenly having a dangerous glint in his eyes, which Rayleigh noticed right away. And it made him question if he was actually severely underestimating their guest. He should probably investigate this little theory a little further.

"And how do you plan on doing that? It's our whole crew against only one person. You're completely outnumbered", Rayleigh provoked.

The mostly carefree attitude of the boy was replaced by a challenging look now, though amusement was also still evident in his eyes. "Then let's fight to see who's right!", Luffy exclaimed while jumping into a fighting stance, all the while looking like he had the time of his life. Obviously the boy had no idea who he was dealing with. However, Rayleigh could tell that the boy was no pushover and having mostly drunk people awake by now, with the bigger part of the crew passed out, things weren't actually in their favor, if he was honest to himself. The rest of his friends obviously didn't have those concerns right now, as they took the challenge and started charging at the boy right away. Honestly, he didn't expect drunkards to be able to fight well at all, which is why he was about to call those morons back, intending to postpone the playfight until tomorrow, when he noticed a wave of Conqueror's Haki. Well, "noticed" may have been the wrong word. That Haki might as well have slapped him in the face with steel gloves. He himself could use Conqueror's Haki as well, which is probably the only reason why he didn't join his comrades on the floor. It was a good thing they just had their monthly fight with Garp. If the man was to find them now it would almost be embarrassing. Though Rayleigh didn't doubt for a second that his crew could still hold their own if things turned serious, even drunk like this.

"I guess you proved your point with that now", Rayleigh commented dryly. "Shishishi so you agree, right? Numbers don't matter", Luffy said laughing, before sitting down and wolfing down the food of his now unconscious friends. Just who was this boy? Someone of this caliber should be well known and have a fairly high bounty on their heads, no? Rayleigh always kept an eye out for anyone who could become a threat to the Roger Pirates, so how did this boy escape his notice until now? He didn't think that the boy was an actual threat just yet, though it was evident that given a bit more time he definitely had the potential to become one. Which is why Rayleigh decided that having the boy as an ally instead of as an enemy would be the better option. Roger would agree with him, he was sure. Now he just had to figure out the rest of the mystery surrounding this boy. There was no way he was actually the grandson of Garp. The Vice-Admiral had a son who should be around the same age as this Luffy person right now. Not that he would ever admit to knowing this little detail of course. Suddenly he didn't feel the alcohol in his system anymore. He had some investigating to do, for the safety of this crew and, most of all, for his own piece of mind. He really didn't like not being in the know.

"So tell me, Luffy, you look a bit too old to be Garps grandson. Why is that?"