Prologue
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but I do own Draconian.
The waves lapped on the side of the ship as it's owner leaned on it's front, ever staring into the sea that laid ahead of him. He was a teenager at the age of eighteen, although he was hardened enough by the world he might as well be in his late twenties. His height was a little over six feet, while his body was lithe and muscular, but without those bulging muscles that are bigger than your head. He wore a green, unbuttoned vest that revealed a nice six-pack, semi circles were drawn all over it so that it looked like the whole thing was covered in scales, and on either side of the vest was the design of a dragon breathing fire on it. He also wore long pants that were slightly baggy at his ankles, they too were green and looked like they were covered in scales, they also had a dragon design on each leg, except instead of breathing fire it wound it's way up the leg so that the head rested just below the belt.
On his head he wore a bandana, not so that the whole thing covered the top of his head, just so that it went across his forehead. It was also green, and had designs of small dragons all over it. His hair, which was peaking over the bandana, was pitch black and spiked straight up roughly over four inches above the bandana. It had yellow highlights, but only enough so that they were noticeable but didn't distract from his black hair. There was also a few orange highlights mixed up in there, but only a few small highlights that were nestled against some yellows. The tips of his spiked hair were all colored red, completing the style to make his hair kind of look like fire.
Strapped to his back and his belt were two swords. On his belt was a katana, but the sheath wasn't like regular katanas. Instead of just one long, solid color thing, the whole thing was what looked like a dragon, long and snake like so that it could spread from both points of the thing, winding around the thing with what looked like a snake, it's head poking out at the end of it. Throughout the whole thing, though, there were small spaces here and there where you could catch a glint of the metal inside. There was no crosspiece, as the handle and sheath both went together to make the design. The blade itself was actually just like an ordinary blade, except for the dragon insignia sketched onto it, and was a good length, roughly around three feet.
The sword on his back, though, wasn't actually a katana, but a scimitar. You couldn't tell that at first, because all that was peaking out over his shoulder was the handle. The pommel of it was the head of a dragon which held a ruby sphere in it's mouth. The handle was just regular black, no designs on it except the gold inlay which curved around it up to the crosspiece, which was in the shape of two wings. Once out of the sheath, which was just like any other sheath, the scimitar's shape seemed perfect to the person that was now wielding it. It was one of the scimitars that had one of those points on it's upper back, the front of it curved just enough so that it wasn't to straight and the end drew back a little but not so much as so it bent back. The thickness seemed just right, it wasn't thin when starting out, and when it got to the level of the point at the back it got thicker, like they all do, and didn't just really thin out when going to the end of the blade. All in all, it was kind of Persian in shape, kind of, except the curved angles seemed more pointed and sharp, and there wasn't any kind of Persian design on it. However, there was a dragon insignia carved on it stretching out from the hilt to take up about half of the blade. It wasn't as long as the katana, but it wasn't short, either, roughly about half a foot shorter than the katana.
A lot of people had mocked him about using two completely different swords such as these for fighting, but they had all shut up once seeing him. He reasoned that each sword had its own advantages, and when not using those individual advantages he fought with the swords just like they were the same kind of blade. If he was using one sword he'd always have it in his right hand, since when alone that was his better. But whenever he used both, which was most of the time, he would have the katana in his right while the scimitar was in his left, mostly because he had always felt more of a kinship to the katana than with the scimitar, although he still loved it just as much as his other sword.
But, throughout all of the features that stuck out on him, the swords, the clothes, the hair, there was one thing that stood out most was his face, or, to be more specific, his eyes, his hawk eyes, which he had inherited from his father. His face also looked like his fathers, with the pointed chin, except he didn't have the beard or mustache and he was younger, it was actually quite handsome once you got past the weirdness, but not handsome enough that girls would stare at him wherever he went, that was just do to his odd style, and eyes, of course.
His name was Draconian Meathawk, son of the famed Hawkeye Meathawk, but a lot of people that new about him just called him Dragon. He didn't really encourage this, but he didn't hate it either, in fact he kind of liked it, it was something to distract people from the fact that he was Hawkeye's son. True, he was actually kind of proud of being the son of the famed Hawkeye, and he respected the man and his fighting skills. But everyone that truly knew Draconian knew the truth, he hated Hawkeye.
There were many different reasons that he hated the man, one of them was how people looked at him. Whenever people looked at him in his home town when he was a kid they would always say "Look, that's the son of Hawkeye Meathawk, I bet he's going to turn out just like him, an abomination." Well, they only said it while he was a kid and growing up, he had proved to most nowadays that he wasn't a monster, but still a few people said it. He new his father wasn't a monster, of course, but it was still the legend of him that started those comments. Another reason is one that still goes on today, whenever people saw his swordsmanship. "What did you expect, he's the son of Hawkeye." They would almost always say that, except for his friends and family at home. People would always think that his skill was a result of his father, they were wrong, he worked his ass off every day when he was young and still a good amount now to become what he was.
But, the thing that he hated about his father the most was the fact that he left, he'd left Draconian's mother as soon as he found out she was pregnant, or at least that's how it goes, but even if it's not true, he still left her. Draconian's mother, Diana, had loved Hawkeye, everyone knew it, just like everyone knew that Hawkeye had loved her, and he left, even if he didn't know she was pregnant he should have, there was a chance. He left just so he could go out and continue his pirating. Well, at least it wasn't major pirating, it was obvious to Draconian, Hawkeye wasn't like other pirates, he had honor, he didn't know if he attacked ships or not, maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but he didn't seem like the kind of man that would hurt innocent people, or at least, he wasn't before, not sure what he is nowadays.
Draconian had seen worse than what his mom had described of Hawkeye, in terms of attitude, that is, in his whole life he'd never seen someone better in terms of the blade. His town was a popular place for pirates to come by, not really for attack, mainly just to come and rest. Even when no one had ever actually attacked the town, everyone was always nervous when they had come by, since they'd never really behaved that well. Diana had worked as a waitress at one of the bars, like a good number of women did, since the town had a good number of them, mostly built for the pirates to keep them spread out. Most of the time they'd get drunk, good thing was they didn't really get that much worked up, a small bar fight was the most that had ever happened, and the damage wasn't really that big.
The thing that Draconian hated the most was when one of the pirates, either drunk or sober, it happened with both, would try to get a "peak" at his mom, that always set him off. Most of the time she just slapped the hand and they'd let go, but once in a while they were more insistent, of course even then they'd be easy to get off, someone else would usually come and get them off, someone sober and not a pirate. But there were two times that even that wouldn't do anything, they were so devoted, only one of them Draconian had saw, and the other he wasn't alive yet. The one he saw was when he was in his teens, sixteen if he remembered correctly, and he was already a good fighter. It was him who had broken it up. How? Lets' just say the man woke up a few hours later in the street and to this very day he probably still has a limp in his legs.
The other time, well, that was when his mother actually met Hawkeye, but it wasn't him being persistent. Diana had told Draconian that it was just with a few words and a look that had made the man back off from the famed swordsman. She thanked him afterwards, she said that she stuttered and blushed as she looked into his eyes, but not from fright. Diana had also told Draconian about how their loved blossomed, so to say. He was at the bar every day, he didn't talk that much but would always ask for her, if anyone tried to take a peak at her she wouldn't even have to slap him as Hawkeye would just stare them down. She called him here guardian hawk, just for laughs, it was later that they actually went on a date, if you could call it that, it was actually just them walking down the beach. Of course, he stayed for a few weeks more, but then left, leaving her behind and pregnant. She wasn't really that mad about it, but Draconian was, he wasn't there while Draconian grew up, never taught him anything, he was never a true father.
There was one man, though, that he had considered somewhat of a father figure. It wasn't any person in town, as most of them looked down on him, and the ones that didn't look down still didn't pay him that much attention. No, he was talking about a pirate who had come to his town only once but had stayed for a couple of months, he was probably one of the nicest pirates to roam the seas and was always able to laugh. That pirate's name was Shanks.
True, everyone loved Shanks and Draconian was sure that Shanks had behaved the exact same way he had with Draconian as he had with other kids, but still, the time that Shanks came to his little town was the best time of his life. Every morning Draconian would walk down to the bar where Shanks and his crew were laughing it up and having a some drinks, although Shanks never had enough to get drunk, he was polite that way, and Draconian would go sit up at the bar next to where Shanks was sitting and listen to a few of his tales. He wouldn't stick around too long though, because as much as he loved Shanks' tales, the hate for his real father would always be more. So after a few tales he would head and go back to his house where he had two kendo sticks and practice his sword skills somewhere outside where he was out of people's way.
He never really told Shanks of what he did after the tales, not because he wanted to keep it a secret, just because Shanks never asked. Well, about a week and a half later Shanks got curious enough to finally ask, so Draconian had taken his hand and lead him to his house, where he went up and got his kendo sticks, and then lead him to this little field in the forest that was close enough to the village he could get back in a quick time, then he showed him how he practiced. At first Shanks laughed, though he was quick to tell Draconian it wasn't at what he was doing, but at his kendo sticks. The thing was, one of them was a regular kendo, straight and long, while the other one was, well, damaged in a way. It was kind of warped from what Draconian believed was once water and now curved back a little, which is how he found it, there weren't any others he could use because when he asked the master at the towns small dojo, which only a few people actually attended, he had given him the only two left. As soon as he had gotten those, a lot of people had told him just to stick with the one kendo, learn how to fight with only a single sword. He shoved that thought out of his mind, he would prove to all the other people in his town that he would master this odd combination and teach them not to laugh at him.
Once he had told Shanks all of this, it drew out a small chuckle, though not one of spite Draconian soon realized as Shanks ruffled his hair and looked down at him with a smile. Draconian still remembered the words he said that day.
"That's the spirit Draconian, you keep on practicing and show them all, and I bet one day you'll turn out just as good a swordsman as your father."
Now, from what was told earlier about why Draconian hated his father you'd think that this would have built him into a rage. Well, you'd be wrong. This comment was different than all those other comments, you see, those other comments said he was good because of his father, while the one made by Shanks said that his skill would be because of all his practicing. It's complicating to explain but once you really think about it the difference is very clear.
Now, these weren't the only things that had Draconian looking up to Shanks. Every night, after Draconian was done training and eating dinner, he would go out of his house for about an hour to a high ridge next to his town that overlooked the docks and just stare out at the sea and the stars. A lot of those nights Shanks would come up and look out with him, they'd talk about the stars, they'd talk about the special things in life and other stuff of that nature. One night, Draconian remembered it as one of the nights before Shanks had set off, Shanks came up with him and didn't actually talk at all, or at least not immediately. After about a half hour of staring he finally talked, these were what Draconian remembered.
"Do you want to know why I'm a pirate, Draconian? It's the adventure, it's feeling of the water spraying on your face, it's traveling the sea to find places like these where you can just stare out and wonder about what it's all about. To me, being a pirate doesn't mean ransacking villages and hurting innocent people, it mean traveling the world and following your dreams. I hope that someday you can feel what I've felt in life and go follow your dreams."
And with that he had got up and went back down to where he and his crew were staying, leaving Draconian up on the ridge to think about what he had just heard. After staring out at the sea for a while longer he too had got up and headed back down to his house.
Shanks had left a few days later with a big send off from the town and especially from Draconian and his mom. Shanks didn't really do anything like shake anybody's hand, since the people he had really gotten to know were only Draconian and his mom. So, with a tip of his hat to Diana and a ruffle of Draconian's hair, Shanks had set off, waving back at the town as Draconian and a few others waved back.
Looking back, Draconian recognized Shanks as the person that had made him what he was today, but he wasn't just talking about a determined swordsman and adventurer, oh no, if it wasn't for Shanks, Draconian would have never learned about one of the most magnificent things in all the world, kursed fruit.
You see, Shanks was the person who had told him about what a kursed fruit was, and what it did. He had talked about all the different ones, not the specifics like their names and what each individual ones did, just the fact that there was a wide variety. Shanks had even drawn a picture of one he had seen before, he said it was one that an old friend of his had eaten. It looked exactly like a pineapple, except it was all red, Shanks said it was a Chop-Chop fruit, and told Draconian it allowed a person's body parts to come off, like their hand or head or any other section of their body. These fruit did come with a price, though, as Shanks soon told Draconian, even if they did give you powers, you could never swim again. Draconian asked why, only to be told it was said that the sea refused you and wouldn't let you swim or something like that. Some people would call it a fair trade, while other people, like Shanks, were wary of the whole thing, Draconian was with the first group, he wasn't that interested in swimming anyway.
Of course, Shanks never really thought that Draconian would ever actually find a kursed fruit, he'd gone through his whole life himself and had only seen one. But he was wrong, dead wrong, Draconian had found a kursed fruit and eaten all of it, and to this day he hadn't regretted a single bite. He had no real idea which fruit this one was called, but he didn't really care, as long as it had given him something, which it had, now Draconian could control fire, which was one of the reasons that some people called him dragon. How he found the fruit isn't really that important right now, that's a story for a different time.
Now, the reason that he wanted the fruit was pretty obvious, so that one day hew could use it to defeat his father in a fight. A lot of people mocked hi because of that, just because he has a kursed fruit doesn't mean he can beat Hawkeye, and they were right, Draconian knew that, just as well as he also knew it wasn't what you had, but how you used it, and he used his powers damn well in conjunction with his already great sword skills. He never really just shot fire out, mostly what he did was cover his swords or a part of his body in the flame and he'd use it to boost his attacks, of course that doesn't mean he still didn't throw fireballs, he did that when he felt it would help, like when taking out cannons.
Finally, Draconian stepped down from the front of his ship and started to walk towards his sails to see how they were doing. It was a magnificent ship, or at least it was to Draconian. It wasn't as big as regular ships that sported a whole crew of people, but it wasn't as small as those smaller "scout" ships as he called them that went out from the main ship to gather stuff or other tasks. So, it was big enough a ship that it got noticed, but it was small enough so that it only needed him to guide, and that doesn't mean one person, it means him. While he was a kid he had learned how to navigate from a few older pirates that had come to his town and actually stayed, making him really good at it, he wasn't a master, he was sure at that, but he wasn't a novice either. The thing that he really liked about the top of his ship was the fact that there wasn't a cabin there or any step leading up to a higher level, it was just a flat area only interrupted by the mast. One of the things that he loved doing was just sprawling out on the deck and looking up in the sky at the birds and clouds overhead, always wondering if this is what Shanks meant about being a pirate.
Of course, there was a cabin, it just wasn't on top, the cabin was below the top deck, the stairs were concealed under a square of the floorboards that was in the middle of the ship. The stairs actually broke off into two baths after a while down, one leading to where Draconian slept, and one leading to where he kept the food and supplies. But just because it was below the deck doesn't mean that there wasn't any light, there were a couple of portholes cut on each side of the ship so that they could shed light into the cabin, and at night if it was too dark he had many candles around the room he would light up.
The cabin wasn't the only thing that was different than other ships, the railings that went around the ship were a little bit taller than the railings on other ships, this way there was less of a chance that he would fall off. He could still see and lean over the railings, of course, he didn't want to get rid of that feature. Also, just in case he did fall, there were handles all around the sides of the ship, but only going about halfway down, he didn't want other people getting on his ship. The sails must've been the only thing on the ship that were exactly like others, he had two of them, a big one and a small one, and the two posts that stood up from the deck. He wasn't really sure at first about an insignia for a flag, but after a while he decided heck, why not? He didn't make it himself, of course, he asked someone in one of the towns that he stopped at for supplies to draw it for him, since he had heard that the person was good at drawing. Once it was done Draconian had immediately hung it up on his main sail so that everyone who looked could see it. Drawn on the flag was a dragon's skeleton, and not just the skull, it was drawn so that it looked like the dragon was floating, the tail of it was pointed down as the dragon flew upright, the claws were tucked in as the wings crossed over it's exposed chest, and the skull head was seen above them, there were even some flames on it for effect.
Now, besides the flag that was the symbol of your ship, there was one more thing that would tell others what you were all about, and that was the carving at the front of it, which for this ship was of course a dragon. It was beautifully carved, each scale shown and almost glistened in the sun, the neck stretched out to it's horned head, which had it's mouth slightly agape as fire curled around it. But this wasn't carved fire, it was real, inside the mouth was a flat bowl, almost impossible to see, which had a fire lit up in it. Usually you might worry about the ship catching on fire, but two factors kept it from that, one was the fact that Draconian himself lit the fire whenever it would die out, and he kept it to as low a heat as possible, and the other was that the head of the dragon was actually made out of not wood but another substance that wouldn't catch fire, he wasn't sure what it was because the person who had made it for him never really told him. The whole thing was the thing that he loved the most on his ship, even more than the flag.
Now, the only thing left about the ship was it's name. Draconian had thought a long time about the name, since of all things it was the real heart of the ship. After about a day of thinking he had finally realized the perfect name, and instead of painting it on the side he had burned it, that way it would stay on longer instead of peeling off, and if it did somehow come off he could easily do it again. He named it Diana, after his mother.
After checking the sails to make sure that nothing was wrong, Draconian then decided to head to the middle and lay down to look at the beautiful sky. As he put his hands behind his head he brushed against the sword on his back. This put a smile on his face as he remembered how he had gotten his swords. It's impossible to say which one of them was more special to him in the way that he got them, with his katana he had saved his money up for years starting when he was a kid. Finally, when he was a teenager, around fifteen or sixteen, he forgets that stuff easily, he had wandered out to the blacksmith to see if he had any swords. Unfortunately for him, there weren't any katanas, and he refused to get any other sword. The blacksmith told him of one of the towns close by, but it would take around a week to walk there, and didn't advise him to go there. Draconian didn't care, though, and he gathered up his supplies and walked all the way to the town, his stomach growling because he hadn't packed enough food. He didn't buy any food, though, because he needed all his money to buy that one special sword. Once he had found the blacksmith, he had asked for a katana and showed him his money. He didn't have one either, but he promised to make him one, a special one, since he could tell all the trouble that the kid had gone through to get it.
The blacksmith even invited him to dinner that night, so that they could talk. Draconian was confused at first, until the dinner actually started. They had eaten in silence, Draconian almost shoveling food into his hungry belly, and the blacksmith chuckling as he watched his antics. He was an old man, actually, with gray hair, but you could see he still had the exuberance of his youth. After dinner he had inquired about Draconian's father, Hawkeye. Draconian was silent then, only after some urging telling the blacksmith not of his father, but for some uncontrolled reason telling him about how he was looked at by everyone in his town and how much he trained to become a good swordsman and prove to everybody it wasn't his father but him and how long he saved his money to finally buy a sword. The blacksmith had took all this in, silent the whole time, once he was done he had told Draconian to come with him. They walked over to a case, the blacksmith had opened it up to reveal the inside covered in satin and in the middle was a katana, the blacksmith then handed the katana to him, exclaiming that it was an heirloom of his family and he had no one to give it to, and Draconian had earned it, it was the same one that he wore today. A few days later the blacksmith had also given him the scimitar, which he had made in exchange for the money. So, one sword he had saved up all his money and traveled for a week to finally get, while the other was passed down to him in hopes that he would make something of himself and it.
After a while of staring up at the sky and remembering all that had happened in his life, Draconian started to get weary and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Draconian slowly woke up to voices, they weren't really that close, so they couldn't actually be on his ship, or at least not yet, but they weren't that far, if he was to guess he'd say they were on a ship next to his. Slowly he got up, stretching his back as he did so, and traveled over to the side of the ship he was hearing voices. The two voices were being accompanied by two people, a woman and a man. They were standing on a boat smaller than his, with only a single sail that had hearts going over it. The woman was small and squat, or should he say small and fat. She was dressed in this red and blue kind of thing that seemed to be worn for something fancy, but she also had a red hat on her head, cowboy style, if he wasn't mistaken. Her face was stretched wide and her lips were covered in lipstick. She was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. The man behind her was just dressed in regular sailing clothes and had a tan and a cutlass at his waist, nothing really special, the woman must have been the leader, due mostly to the fact the giant, spike covered club that she held beside her. It was as tall as she was, which technically wasn't saying that much, but it was still big.
"Oh, suck it up, I bet there isn't even anyone on that thing, we called out for ten whole minutes and nothing. Just climb aboard and we can take the thing." The woman aggressively spoke to the other man, her accent was kind of Cajun, making you automatically think of alligators.
"But, I'm not sure, boss, I mean, who would leave a ship like this abandoned out in the sea."
"They were probably too stupid and lost it or fell off of the side, who cares anyway, it's mine now, and if there is anyone aboard I'll beat them senseless. Oh, just move out of the way, I'll go first." With that, she took a grappling hook, tow, actually, to help support her, and threw it on the rails. "Get behind me and push to help me get up."
Draconian moved away from the rail and went a little farther back so that they didn't see him, he wanted them to have a surprise when they got on board. As the hooks on the side of his ship tightened Draconian let his hand move down to his katana, but decided against it as it seemed he might not actually need it against these two, but still, he put it on the handle, just in case. He gritted his teeth as the grappling hooks started to puncture into the railing and bend them a little, hoping she got here soon otherwise he'd lose a section of railing. Finally, after a minute or two of worrying, he saw her fat hand grasp the side of the rail as she pulled herself up, the club between her teeth so that she could use both hands to help climb. At first she didn't notice him, until he finally spoke up.
"And what are you doing on my ship?" His tone was a combination of curious and threatening.
"You're ship, hah, this is my ship now, and where were you when we were calling out?"
"Sleeping." He had a bored expression on his face.
"Really, well I hope you liked it, because I'm going to put you in permanent sleep." With that, she rushed forward with her raised club ready to swing.
Without any change in mood, Draconian quickly turned around and did a back flip so that he landed on the back of her shoulders. He then pushed off again, using her momentum to send her toppling forward. While in midair he turned around and kicked out, connecting with the other guy who was climbing right behind his leader and sending him falling back down to land hard on the ship below.
Draconian turned back around to where the woman was getting back up. "Now, there are three options here, one is that you give up and go away. The second is that you swing at me while I keep dodging, hit you with some regular punches and kicks to draw the whole thing, only at the end to knock you unconscious. Or we could do the third, where I just take you out in a few seconds."
As he was saying this, the woman rushed forward and swung down with her club, only to miss as Draconian sidestepped her, the impact made that part of the duck buckle.
"Well, I'm guessing you aren't choosing my first option. So we can either do this the fast way or the fun way."
"Don't you mean the hard way?" She swung again, this time sideways, only to be dodged as Draconian jumped over her and the club.
"What's so hard about it?" He jumped a little to the side as her club came smashing down on the deck.
"Haven't you been paying attention to what my club's been doing to your deck?" She swung again once more, only to have Draconian easily dodge again.
"Hmm, you may be ugly but you have a point." He readied himself for a dodge, only to see that she didn't move.
"Ugly, you're calling me ugly!" With a shout she swung her club again, this time a little faster than she had before, but it didn't really matter as Draconian easily dodged once more. This time when it hit the deck it almost created a hole.
"I think I should probably end this quickly for the sake of my ship." This time he did something different as she swung her club. As soon as he ducked into the crouch he quickly turned around, his right foot catching on fire. It's too bad that she didn't see this, otherwise there was a good chance she would have run away, but she didn't have any chance to as Draconian shouted out.
"Dragon Kick!"
His foot snapped out of his crouched position and slammed into the woman's gut, the result actually sending her flying over the edge of the ship and then some, finally landing a long distance away with a big splash.
Draconian leaned down, examining the deck of his ship, once done he sighed. "I'm going to have to get these repaired, I can't take any chances when heading near the Grand Line. There should be a town close by."
The Grand Line was indeed where he was headed, but he wasn't there for the treasure, he didn't give a shit about that, he was going to the grand line to finally face his father after so many years, to finally fight the famed Hawkeye Meathawk.
For the people that have read my other stories yes, I'm finally back on FanFiction. I've decided that while I write my other story with Anters on FictionPress, I should write my other story when I have breaks. In case there are some of you who haven't read my other stories I am dragonofraven, and it is my honor to write this for you. Usually I would have wrote the third books in my Teen Titans series, but I really wanted to get this story up, or at least start getting it up. I've had this idea for quite a while now, and here's what you should expect. Each chapter there is going to be a fight scene between Draconian and one of the major pirates in the series, I'm going right down the line too. At first it'll just be memories, but later on it'll be "present day," as in I'm writing it not as a flashback but in the here and now, in the story I mean. If you like Teen Titans please read my other stories, they aren't that good at first but the do get better in quality later on. So, one question, how do you like my character? I can't wait to write the fight scenes in other chapters, if I do say so myself I am actually a pretty good fight scene writer. Well, I can't really think of much else to talk about, so Read and Review!