Chapter 2: Luffy, Shanks, and Oh no!

Hari was remembering the day that he was found by Luffy and his grandfather Garp. He couldn't remember what his life was like before he met them, but he knew that them finding him was the beginning of a nightmare. Garp adopted him as Luffy's younger brother and he was invited warmly into their little family. At first it seemed like it was going to be okay, but then a simple question from Luffy made it all worse. He met Ace that night and Garp introduced him. Surprisingly Ace warmed up to me immediately. I liked him and could tell he was a good person, but was mad at him because he kept treating me like a kitten! However, I forgave him soon after wards when he gave me some fish that tasted very good. Everyone just started laughing after that, but when I asked why they were laughing they just smiled. That night I curled up in between Ace and Luffy cuddling them and was able to sleep contentedly in peace. The next morning I was woken up by water being poured over us. I shot up I saw Garp with a bucket in hand and a large smile on his face. He shouted, "It's time for training!" That was the beginning of the year of hell. All of us trained every day with Garp and fought off various ridiculously large animals. By the time Garp left I decided that I would never, ever join the marines, and would be a pirate instead. Luffy asked if I would join his crew and help him become the King of the Pirates, and I foolishly agreed. He as ecstatic when he found out I was good with short blades and daggers.

I was snapped out of memory lane by Luffy running up to me and dragging me off to some place. "L-Luffy! Slow down and tell me where we're going." As usual Luffy ignored me, but after a minute I was able to determine we were going to the docks in Fusha Village to meet somebody named Shanks. I just let him continue leading me to the docks as I knew there was no use in fighting him. When we got to the docks we saw a pirate ship docked there with people unloading various boxes. On the flag there was the signature jolly roger of the Red Haired pirates that Garp would complain about constantly. Luffy continued to drag me along until we were right behind a person I assumed was Shanks due to his bright red hair and what could have been his first mate who carried a large flintlock pistol. While Luffy was talking to Shanks, I was still focused on the person standing next to the captain. "Hello, I'm Monkey D. Hari. What is your name?"

"My name is Ben little one." The now named Ben replied, " Are you Luffy's younger brother? If you are than he has told us a lot about you."

'He would be foolish enough to so such a thing. Hmm… I sense that something bad will happen soon, so I should probably stay near the surface just in case.' "Yes. He is quite foolish though, but I try to keep him within reasonable lines"

"It seems we have that in common. Let me guess he got you to become a part of his crew and be his first mate."

"Yes and no, I agreed to be a part of his crew unfortunately, but I absolutely refuse to take up the position of first mate. It's not a position that I feel belongs to me. However I will take position of second mate. Although I didn't know that agreeing would cause Garp to increase his torturous training ten fold." After he finished he put his arms up in the universal sign of asking to be picked up. Ben smiled and picked up the small seven year old.

I put him on my shoulders and followed after Luffy and the captain into Makino's bar. When we got there I sat down and moved Hari into my lap. I lit my cigarette and we watched Luffy and Shanks listening to their conversation stepping in from time to time. Lucky Roo and I were feeding sweets to Hari when some bandits decided to burst through the doors. Everyone quieted down instantly and there was a tense atmosphere. Even Hari stopped munching on his sweets. When they demanded sake, and were refused by Makino because she just ran out, Shanks offered to share his bottle with them. They then proceeded to refuse his offer and try to humiliate him leaving a mess behind then leaving. Everyone started to laugh including the captain and Hari. It was a cute site to see how Hari acted it was like a small kitten. I could see several of the crew, like Lucky Roo, becoming slightly attached to Hari and caring about him and becoming protective. I refocused back on reality when Luffy started yelling at Shanks.

As he continued yelling at the captain and the captain was trying to calm him down Hari had a complete 180-degree personality change. He grew a dark and heavy aura around him and all expression fell from his face. He slinked off of my lap and reached behind him grabbing onto the handle of something as he stalked silently towards Luffy. As he drew closer to him I was wondering if I should stop him when suddenly he was right behind Luffy with a small dagger poised at his throat. Everyone was frozen in shock. Especially when he started to speak and had a furious look on his face that none of us expected to ever see on one so young.

"Luffy. What exactly do you think you are doing? This wasn't a serious matter, and was quite funny actually. Yet you had to ruin the moment. Shut up before I have to make you, and trust me you wouldn't like that." Hari hissed just loud enough for everyone to hear in a neutral tone. Luffy just turned white knowing that he had pissed off Hari enough for the other to come out even in front of a bunch of people he doesn't know that well. He quickly sat down and continued to eat.

Hari resheathed his dagger and slipped back onto my lap smiling brightly and munching away on sweets again. I was the first one to recover and just pet his hair wondering if this was a normal interaction. I wonder what the little one would be like in the future? Obviously he would be a force to recon with given the aura he put off. I also wonder what else he is already capable of for one so young.

Once the rest of the crew finally came around Hari was looking at them with pleading eyes for more sweets. They melted at the sight and gave him more. I left him with Lucky Roo as I went over to the captain and Luffy. As I sat down I saw the captain put on a serious face, "Luffy what was that? Does that normally happen, and if not why then?"

Luffy looked up at us staring us in the eyes for a minute judging us after looking around cautiously. Finally, he adopted a serious face that didn't fit his character and whispered just barely loud enough for us to hear it and not anyone else, "That was Black Hari. What you normally see is white Hari, however he has a darker side lurking beneath the surface that jii-chan and I found out about. We don't talk about it, but he doesn't remember his past before me and jii-chan found him. When we found him he was laying out in the forest passed out. He was covered in injuries that would kill a normal person, and was only skin and bones. Jii-chan said something about it probably being severe abuse, but I don't know what that means. What I can say is that where ever he came from I don't ever want him to ever go back to or even remember as he was being hurt by those he was with. When he woke up, we were surprised he didn't die with the shape he was in; he just stared at us with a completely blank look. It made me very uncomfortable, as there was no expression or feelings. Not even in his eyes. They just looked empty. He was completely void of emotion in all senses. Jii-chan and I quickly took him with us, and jii-chan adopted him as my younger brother. In the beginning we wouldn't see white Hari much. In fact we didn't know about his two sides until over a month later when we could finally approach him with out him flinching. He doesn't remember much when he goes Black, but when he does you know you've pissed him off and will usually end up regretting it. However, due to how different they are and how white Hari doesn't remember what his black side does we believe that Black Hari was most likely created to survive what type of life he had before and that he is the protection for white Hari to make it possible to find some happiness. We don't talk about these things with him for obvious reasons, and we wish for him to be happy. Now that you know you have to promise you wont tell anyone."

"We promise." The captain and I said in unison. We went silent for a while trying to contain our anger. No child should have to go through anything that would cause them to create a Black version of them selves to survive. It was final in my mind that I'm claiming Hari as mine. I will keep a look out for him and he will be the one that I look to surpass me just like the captain has already chosen Luffy. With them together there will be no stopping them. I just know it.

(~ Time skip~)

I was sitting out on the docks waiting for Ben and the rest of the crew to come back. I remember the end of my first time seeing them. After bandits came into the bar and left and everyone had a good laugh at and with Shanks. They were leaving the bar and Luffy was getting up when Shanks grabbed his wrist to ask him something when Luffy's wrist stretched as he kept walking. Every one freaked out, and apparently no one noticed Luffy eating the devil fruit that they just got and he was now a rubber boy. I ended up throwing one of my daggers at him and chasing him yelling about what an idiot he was.

Today was the day that Ben and the crew were supposed to come back from their most recent voyage. After our first meeting I grew attached to Ben, and he started teaching me how to handle a flintlock pistol and how I could use the butt of one in a fight as well. He said that it was just in case something happened to my other weapons, and the only thing around were guns while in a fight with enemies.

I was remembering all of the training he had put me through when I got an uneasy feeling. 'It's going to happen to day. I just know it. This will change many things, and I don't know if it is for the better or not.' I became restless and started to wonder what Luffy was up to. The last thing I knew about him was that he was at Makino's bar. Ben and Shanks had just arrived and I was welcoming them back when Makino came running towards us yelling that the mountain bandits took Luffy from last time. She also said that they were hitting him and holding him hostage yelling for revenge for the other time they were there. Ben quickly picked me up and placed me on his shoulders as we rushed over to help Luffy. 'This must be it. I will have to be careful. However if they hurt Lu then they are dead.' When we arrived the bandits were beating up Luffy and kicking him. When I saw Luffy in a helpless position and being beat up I felt utter pure rage, and something shattered inside me. 'It's time. Now maybe Harry will learn the truth now, but it probably won't change much. Now it's time to merge and take revenge for even thinking to hurt our brother.' Right as Shanks was about to step in furious he was stopped by a huge aura of pure rage and bloodthirsty oppressing will was suddenly encasing the village. The villagers all fell down unconscious along with over half of the Bandits, even some of Shanks men started to fall unconscious. Immediately after the emergence of the aura there was a roar, "You leave Luffy alone!" Towards the end of the roar it became animalistic. Suddenly there was a huge shock wave of immense unknown power and a giant fucking Black Panther appeared in front of him tearing and started to tear apart the bandits that were still around Luffy. Upon closer observance the panther had green eyes that were eerily similar to Hari's and red streaks in its fur. There was something off with the panther other then it being as tall as a full sized human. On top of the size of it there seemed to be shadows engulfing the ground around it. When he saw his men being torn apart the leader grabbed Luffy, and left in the midst of a smoke screen from a smoke bomb. The panther looked around and started roaring sending out another shock was of conquers Haki. Ben ran over to the panther after figuring that it had to be Hari and gathered him into his arms as best he could. Hari started to calm down, and went limp. Once he was limp he started transforming back into a human and was left lying unconscious in Ben's arms. Shanks rushed off to find Luffy while Ben looked after Hari.

When Shanks came back he had lost his left arm and was bleeding all over the place. Both he and Hari were to be staying in the village doctor's house until they recovered. Ben and Luffy had to be kicked out when it came time to sleep or eat. Ben was extremely worried about Hari as he had been in a coma for a week. The times that he checked on Shanks he was doing fine, and was released from bed rest but still had to go easy for a few weeks. He got permission from Shanks for the crew to stay another couple of weeks to wait and see if Hari woke up. A week later he walked into Hari's room and saw him starting to wake up. He rushed over to him and held him as he opened his eyes and started to cry. He held him until the tears stopped. He asked what caused him to cry once he fully calmed down enough to talk. Hari told him his story before they let in the two eavesdroppers they knew were there. When Hari finished they started coming up with a plan for him to use his magic to enforce his other training, and possible ways to progress. Ben and Shanks didn't tell him about him unlocking conquers Haki because they could tell that he wasn't ready for it yet, and with this whole inheritance thing they felt like there's still something missing.

A week passed by and we were leaving to head back to the Grandline. We were saying goodbye to Hari and Luffy, and Shanks was teasing Luffy like normal. I was giving Hari a hug goodbye when everyone heard Luffy yelling, "I don't need to go with you to become King of the Pirates. I'll gather a crew even better ten yours and set out to find the One Piece and be the King of the Pirates!" When he yelled this there was conquers Haki underlining his words. We were shocked. Two kids having the king's Haki, and partially unlocking it as such a young age. I see Shanks smile at Luffy's claim and give him his hat as a promise to meet up once again when he becomes the King. I smiled at them as I turn back to Hari. I give him one last hug before handing him a black bandana that I picked up for him. He looks up at me with wide eyes obviously not expecting anything. I just smile at him and send him off to Luffy presenting a promise to see each other again. We waved as we left heading back to the Grandline, not knowing what we have just promised them would turn the world upside down.