The Man They Chose to Follow

So, this is just a little something that came to my mind while re-watching the first episodes of One Piece again… Somehow I was really moved by those first meetings of the members that joined before they even entered the Grand Line. I still remember watching that episode a looooooooooong time ago, the music that gave me chills as they traveled up that mountain and made it to the other side. Damn it, I'm not gonna cry again! So nostalgic. .

Anyway, I thought about how the crew would feel, thinking back to the moments they met our favorite pirate captain and this is what I came up with. Hope you enjoy! ^-^

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It was a night as any other, the ocean of the New World was for once calm and serene as the pirate ship Thousand Sunny floated along the soft waves without a sound.

A single person could be seen sitting on the figure head of the lion, looking out into the horizon in silence as the sun was setting behind his back, creating a soft afterglow of the day on the yellow straw hat that sat on the boy's head. The raven hair that could be seen from under the hat was softly caressing his cheeks in the wind and the onyx eyes of said boy were clouded over with something that caused a frown to fall on his face.

The boy was none other than Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. He was holding his left hand on top of the x-shaped scar on his chest as his mind took him on a journey to the past, all the rest of the world non-existing to him at the moment.

A little ways behind him, from a window of the ship's galley, two pairs of eyes were looking at the silhouette of their captain. It was Usopp, the ship's sniper and Chopper, the very own reindeer doctor of the crew. They both had a worried look on their face as they turned back to face the rest of the crew who were sitting around the table, eating their dinner in the unusual quietness that was caused by their captain's absence.

"Oy, guys, shouldn't we try calling Luffy in for dinner one more time? It's weird that he's still not coming in…" Usopp said with a trace of uncertainty in his voice. It was well known amongst everyone who knew the straw hatted boy that he had a bottomless stomach and he almost never missed a meal. Actually, he was always the first one at the table when the ship's cook, Sanji, announced that it was time to eat. Yet this time, he had refused to come in at all, dismissing them with a shocking: "I'm not hungry."

Sanji took a drag of his cigarette and huffed in annoyance (though everyone in the crew knew he was actually just worried too).

"If the shitty captain says he's not hungry then there's not much we can do. I'm not going to force anyone to eat."

Usopp wasn't ready to give up as he looked at the blonde with a frown and took a step closer.

"Don't pretend like you're not worried too! Since when has Luffy ever not been hungry!? Maybe he's sick?" Here he looked at the doctor who was standing beside him.

"I… I don't know. He doesn't look sick to me. And he refused me when I offered to check him. He just said he was feeling fine." Chopper was really, really worried. He was the ship's doctor and if one of the crewmembers was sick then it was his job to make sure they got better but he couldn't do that if they refused to let him.

One of the two women in the room closed the book she was reading and set it on the table next to her plate. She lifted her gaze to look at the distressed reindeer.

"Don't worry, doctor-san. Whatever is wrong with captain-san isn't something that you can cure with medicine or books. He just needs time." Some of the crew looked puzzled at her words, but the green haired swords man knew exactly what the woman meant. He was nursing a big bottle of sake in his hands and took a sip before joining the conversation.

"Ah, just leave him alone for now. He'll be back to normal by tomorrow." They all took a moment to think and glance out of the window at the figure that was now one with the darkness of the twilight. They all knew he was there but could no longer see him. It somehow made them even more uneasy. During their two years apart, the one thing they all had missed the most was seeing the familiar straw hat bouncing around, causing trouble and making their lives interesting and exciting even on the most boring of days. After being so close to losing that brighter-than-the-sun -grin on their captain's face, they had all become growingly over protective of the boy. A little detail like not seeing him might not seem like a big deal to many, but to them it was a great source of anxiety.

Sanji was especially frustrated with Luffy. As the cook of the ship his most important job was to feed everybody, and the captain was usually the one who devoured more than half of the food he made. Now there were tons of left overs since the idiot had suddenly decided that he wasn't hungry.

"That bastard. He is so damn stubborn. He should know by now that he can talk to us if something is bothering him." All of their thoughts turned back to that day two years ago, each member of the crew remembering the devastating feeling of failure when they read that article about their captain's brother's death. They all recalled the instant feeling of panic and urgency, the need to get to Luffy right freacking now and make sure he was okay. But of course he wasn't okay. Even now, two years later, he still wasn't okay. Tonight was just one example of that.

"He's always been like that. Stubborn, I mean." Sanji kept talking while buffing out a cloud of smoke.

"Even when I had just met him, he absolutely refused my refusal to join his crew. He actually said that; 'I refuse your refusal'." Here they all chuckled, the announcement sounding so much like the captain they all loved.

"Back then I used to think that dreams were something unreachable, I kept saying 'someday', never really meaning it. And then that idiot showed up and told me we should go right now. I still remember watching him fight Don Krieg who was supposed to be the King of East Blue. I wondered why he wouldn't just stand down when he was already bloody and beaten. But he showed me that if you ever want to make your dreams come true, you need to be ready to die for them. He was also the first person ever who listened to me talking about All Blue without laughing or telling me to come back to earth. He just… listened." The cook had one of those unusually wide smiles on his face that even the crew didn't see too often as he went on.

"That was the first time the bastard made me worry about him too. I pulled him out of the water, not knowing I would be doing that very same thing over and over again in the future, yet even back then it felt so natural. I wanted to scream at him for making me think that he had died right after saying that he wouldn't die in a place like that. But in the end, when I realized that he wasn't dying at all, just sleeping, all I could do was smile like a fool and hit the guy on the head. Damn shitty-captain!" Sanji was now leaning forward, shadowing his eyes with his bangs, not wanting the others to see the moisture that was gathering behind his eyes.

"Dragging me out to the sea and filling my head with silly ideas of making the impossible possible… That's the kind of man I chose to follow…" Every person in the room felt themselves wander back to the moment they had met the man they called Captain. Chopper already had tears falling from his eyes and he looked at the cook.

"Who's Don Krieg?" he asked, excited to hear how Sanji joined the crew. The doctor might've been the first to join after the Straw Hats made it to the Grand Line, but he knew the five native East Blue members had their own adventures long before he had joined. The subject had never come up before, but now that it had, he wanted to know how the others met Luffy.

"Don Krieg… He was a feared man back in East Blue. Now that I look back to it he was actually pretty damn weak. He and his crew made it to the Grand Line, but only lasted for 7 days before being destroyed by Mihawk…" The cook took a moment to look at the unofficial first mate who was clutching his swords a little tighter after hearing the Shichibukai's name. Sanji remembered it like it only happened yesterday, watching Zoro as he refused to turn his back or run and nearly getting killed by Mihawk. The only thought he had had at the time was that the damn clumsy new waiter they had and all of his friends were just idiots who were way too eager to die and throw their lives away.

"He seemed like the unbeatable enemy back then… A whole lot of bad luck the guy had. First running into a Shichibukai that soon after entering the Grand Line and then having the unfortunate chance of making Luffy his enemy… I really do feel sorry for him. But the way Luffy fought back then, with no regard to his health, just determined to win no matter the price… It really struck me. A man who would go so far for his dreams…" Sanji's voice drifted into a silent mutter as he closed his eyes and took another drag of cigarette. To think that meeting one single person could change his whole life completely.

Nami was especially happy to hear this story. She never heard what happened between her leaving to go back to Cocoyashi and Sanji joining the crew. It was really nostalgic to think back to those times, even with the shadow that was Arlong still hanging over her.

"He really is an idiot, isn't he?" Nami joined in, a warm smile dancing on her lips as she remembered the feeling of having that famous straw hat being placed on her head. It was the first time since Bellemere had died that she had felt like things might be okay.

"I still can't believe he risked his life and fought like that for me. He knew nothing about me, yet he accepted me the way that I was, completely disregarding my past. But that's just how he is. He's ready to forgive anyone, even his worst enemy and start with a clean plate. Without him, I would still be suffering under Arlong's tyranny, or more likely I'd be dead by now…"

The tree people in the room who had been there to witness the horror of Arlong's power looked at the navigator. Sanji had been there to hear Nami's story, and even if it wasn't his precious Nami-swan that they were talking about, what he heard was horrific and just unfair. Now that he had come so far, he knew things like that happened everywhere all the time, but back then it had seemed so terrible. Yet Luffy had refused to listen, purposely ignoring the story. When it happened, Sanji had thought that Luffy was a rude idiot, but now he knew better. Hid captain had not cared how it happened, all he needed to know was that the person he considered to be his nakama was in trouble, and that was is, simple as that. He didn't need any other reason to risk his life.

Nami's smile changed into a sorrowful frown as she continued her story, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them to feel a little warmer.

"Something about him made me completely lose the careless act I worked so hard to perfect. He didn't even have to say anything, simply being there was enough… And suddenly I just felt myself crumble in front of his power, begging for help like I thought I never would. And as worried as I was, watching him fight Arlong, somewhere inside I knew he would win, just because he said he would. I don't think I've ever felt as relieved as I did when he stood up amongst the rubble of Arlong Park and shouted out that I was his nakama. He's had me hooked ever since, that damn idiot, making me into a filthy pirate. I guess it makes me an idiot too, following a man like that." Tears flowed down the navigator's eyes as she remembered the overwhelming feeling of realizing that she was finally free. No matter what she did, she could never repay Luffy for what he did for her.

Robin reached her arm to wrap it around the younger woman who was now shaking with sobs. A soft look past the raven haired woman's eyes as she looked into the distance and remembered a similar situation with herself and the captain.

"Captain-san has a way of getting to you, doesn't he?" Robin whispered as she squeezed the navigator a little closer.

"It's a frightening power, really, the one he has. To be able to turn his enemies into allies without even trying. I guess I'm a perfect example of that." They all agreed with a nod, thinking back to all the countless people that Luffy had managed to convince into believing in him without realizing it at all himself.

"We all owe him our lives, and so much more. " Robin went on, drawing everybody's attention back to her. "It reminds me of a saying, how sometimes people cross your path and end up changing your whole direction. Most of us never even dreamed about being pirates, or at least being one and liking it. And here we are, one of the most infamous rookie groups in the New World. Funny how life works…" It was hard for her, every time she started thinking about those words that Saul had said to her so long ago. It had taken a long time, but looking around the room even right now, she knew these were the people the giant had talked about. This was her home.

"Before Luffy, I thought I didn't deserve to live. Such a simple necessity, an obvious privilege everybody deserves to have… Yet I went through most of my life without it. I would be in peace by now, killed by the government if it wasn't for him. If only he didn't force it out of me, if he didn't go and announce a war against the damn world…" It was very rare to hear Robin swear, and even rarer to hear her voice waver like it was wavering right now. She once again felt like crying when thinking back to that moment of freedom. That moment of finally being able to say out loud that something that had been her own secret wish until then, nothing more.

"I want to live… That's all it took for him to make the world his enemy… How can I not follow him to the ends of the earth, when he is my whole life?" The archeologist's voice finally broke, a lone tear falling onto her knee. She closed her eyes tightly, relishing in the memory of her captain's dedication.

Brook was the only one who didn't know any of the other's stories. He was the last to join, and even though he knew the greatness that Luffy carried in him, it was marvelous to hear the stories first hand. He watched as the bare memory of meeting their captain brought three of his crew mates in tears. Monkey D. Luffy really was a force to be reckoned with.

"Yohoho, Luffy-san is a powerful man, isn't he? Even though I will never forget my old crew, having him as my captain has been the biggest adventure of my life. Who would have thought that I would be lucky enough to have not just one, but two changes of following a great man like that…" Brook's mind drifted to his first captain and the crew of friends he had back then. In all of the tragedy that was his life, Luffy was like a burning sun that guided him back to the light, quite literally. Not only did that boy come and save from the endless loneliness of the Florian Triangle, but he also pushed his body past its limits to get the skeleton's shadow back amongst the others'.

"Luffy-san truly brought the music back to my life. After watching my whole crew die in front of me, I thought I would never have a reason to sing again. Yet all I needed was that one simple word of acknowledgement from him to feel my heart tune back to the land of living again. Yohoho!" Rivers were flowing down the skeleton's bony face as he recalled every time his captain had asked him to play a song. After the two year separation it had been more often than before. These days it was mostly when the young boy wanted to sleep. He would come to Brook and ask him to play something to help him sleep, and as long as it was Luffy who was asking, the musician would play until his fingers bled. (Though he had no blood to bleed. Skull joke! Yohoho!)

Franky was crying too. Or more like sobbing uncontrollably.

"Such great stories, you guys! Our captain really is a suuupaaa man! Making a grown man cry like this, that bastard!" The cyborg had found a bottle of sake himself, mimicking the swords man and taking a sip after a sip, the memories of the crew making him feel like he really needed a drink.

"Sanji-bro is right, Luffy-bro is the most stubborn man anyone will ever meat. He literally forced me to come with him. Damn bastard, deciding all on his own. So not suuupaaa!" In reality Franky was more than just grateful for the raven haired boy for dragging him along. He would've forever gone without acknowledging his true dream if it weren't for Luffy. That Straw Hat just came into his life, made him part of the mess that was announcing a war against the world government to save Nico Robin, and then had the audacity to force him into being the crew's shipwright. A lot of nerve he had.

Usopp was carefully watching each of his nakama, remembering all the things they had been through together, including the adventures that lead to gaining new crewmembers. He thought back to Luffy saying: "Just get on, we're already nakama, aren't we." What sounded like a question had actually been a simple statement. But that was Luffy for you; deciding on things without asking anybody else's opinion.

"When I think back to joining Luffy, all I can think of is what an idiot I was back then. I thought it was so simple to become a brave man of the sea like my father. I even announced I would be the captain. Now I know I could never be even half the man Luffy is…" The sniper once again turned to look out the window, seeing nothing but darkness but knowing that the future pirate king was sitting out there, staring out to the vast sea.

"There were times when I questioned his decision to take me with him. I wasn't strong, I wasn't even brave… I didn't have a huge dream like the rest of you… I just wanted to be worthy to be called my father's son. Yet he put up with all my craziness and trusted me. He even let me re-join after I defied him and went against his word… I offended him, I… I really hurt the one person who believed in me…" Now it was Usopp's turn to burst into tears as he remembered the look of utter devastation on his friend's face as the sniper announced that he would be leaving the crew. That moment would forever haunt him as the greatest regret of his life, and he would never forget how had been given a second chance at being one of the few who would travel the world alongside Luffy.

Nami looked at the sniper with sympathy, remembering all the silliness that he, Luffy and Chopper would get into. She always acted like she was annoyed, but in reality she treasured every moment.

"I owe him for saving my life more than just once. At Drum Island, when I was sick, he risked his life back then too… I guess we still don't know exactly what happened…" She couldn't help but frown as she thought back to waking up at Doctor Kureha's castle without any idea of how she got there. She quickly glanced at Sanji, knowing he had been with their captain while trying to get her to the doctor, but he had already told her everything up to the point where he had lost consciousness.

That was one of the things that had always bothered Sanji, not knowing how Luffy had managed to get both Nami-swan and himself up that mountain. But at the end of the day it didn't really matter; all they needed to know was that they could trust him with their lives, come what may.

Chopper perked up at the mention of his home. He was the only one of the crew who knew the extent to which their captain had gone that time. He remembered clearly the bloody fingers and toes, the horrible frostbites that covered the boy's body. It had really shaken the little doctor to his core when even with all the injuries he sported, the straw hatted boy had gathered the last bit of his strength to make sure his nakama would get help.

"I don't think I would have never truly believed I could go out and sail the seas if it weren't for Luffy. Besides trying to eat me, he was the first one who didn't reject me right away because I was a monster. Instead the way he called me a monster made it sound like it was a good thing. To him, I was perfect just the way I was, and… and…" The little reindeer couldn't even finish his sentence before he was bawling his eyes out and throwing himself on Robin's lap. The archeologist tried her best to comfort the doctor while still keeping her other arm around Nami's shoulder. The navigator had calmed down by now, but she was about to burst into tears again while thinking about the Drum Island adventure and all the other ones that had gained them new nakama.

Now, Nico Robin was a very observant woman, and as the rest of the crew was lost in their memories, she couldn't be distracted so easily. There was only one member in the whole crew who had barely said a word since the beginning of this strangely calm dinner, the only person who already knew all the others' stories, but nobody knew his. Roronoa Zoro, the dreaded pirate hunter from East Blue who was more than capable enough to lead a crew of his own. Yet he had decided to follow a man like Luffy, and none of them knew why.

"Pirate Hunter-san, aren't you going to share your story with us?" At Robin's playful words everybody in the room was snapped back to reality. They all fixed curious eyes on the unofficial first mate who had been with Luffy longer than anyone else. Zoro had his eye closed, looking nothing sort of relaxed like usual as he sat there at the end of the table, finishing up his bottle of sake.

Roronoa Zoro, the pirate hunter… He vaguely remembered those times before becoming a pirate. He had never thought he would ever take orders from someone else, yet somehow those onyx eyes and goofy grin had won him over. Sure, Luffy had sort of blackmailed him into joining, but he would only be fooling himself if he didn't admit that the nerve and boldness of that boy back then hadn't interested him. Truth be told, before meeting his captain, his dream had been empty. He had never realized before how much it meant to share a dream with someone; following Luffy meant being part of something bigger. He wouldn't just be the greatest swords man in the world, he would be all of that while standing next to the king of pirates. That was how he would surpass Mihawk… He wouldn't just be the best, he would be the best with somebody…

The green haired man opened his one working eye and slowly looked at each of his nakama one by one. He knew all their stories, knew how they joined the crew, where they came from and who their loved ones were. But the one thing he had that none of them had was the story he shared with his captain. It wasn't anything grand like standing up to the world or saving a whole village. It was a simple meeting with two men that ended up changing the history. It was an unexplainable bond that he had created with the man he now called his captain, and no one would ever be able to take that away from him.

The funny thing was, Luffy had actually hesitated at first. He had studied Zoro like he had studied none of the others, trying to decide if the man was worth the title of his first mate. None of the Straw Hats were fussy about tittles, but they all knew the bond between Luffy and Zoro was something special and untouchable.

As he inspected the hopeful faces of his friends, a genuine smile spread on the first mate's lips. The expression on his face was almost sweet as he answered with a simple: "As if." And that was it. None of them wanted to dig deeper, knowing that even in the unusually none existing hierarchy of the Straw Hat pirates, going against the first mate's word would be unacceptable.

So they let it go, all of them left wondering what that weird expression on Zoro's face might mean. Robin smiled knowingly, willingly accepting the fact that that was the one story they would most likely never hear.

"It's funny though, isn't it, how all of us joined him with the intention to achieve our own goals that were so different from each other, and now we all share just one dream…"

Every single member of the straw hat pirates knew what she meant. Somewhere along the way the dreams that had been their whole life had all melted in the background to make room for one common dream: to stand next to the man who would become the King of Pirates.

Thinking how the eight of them had been chosen by that special boy amongst so many others was a privilege that most would never understand. To have this weird family and a place to call home was already more than any of them could have ever asked for. On top of that they had something that no one else in the world had: a man like Luffy to call them his nakama.

They all sat in silence for a while, before the swords man spoke up one more time, stating the obvious.

"We're all just a bunch of fools, following an idiot like him." The smile on his face betraying his true emotions. And then they were all smiling like the fools they were, looking at the man who had just entered the galley at that moment. With the yellow Straw Hat on his head, the brighter-than-the-sun –grin on his face and the excited promise of endless adventures in his eyes, their captain spoke out the words that melted all of their hearts and any worries they had ever had:

"I'M HUNGRY!"

That was the kind of man they had all chosen to follow.

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And there it is… What did you guys think?

-Ssus