And this is - as you can surely deduce - the first chapter of 'Legend of the Galactic Pirates'. Those of you lubberly rats that don't go sailing the Internet with empty heads - hopefully none of those came here - will probably notice that this is a sci-fi setting (duh!).

This story is a reimagining of One Piece, with its unique setting, changed Devil's Fruits, political status and more. Our protagonist is (slightly) more mature, as you shall notice. Also, his reason for becoming Pirate King is much deeper than it would seem.

The Terran Government becomes our - sort of - menacing, mysterious antagonist, as it will become obvious in the later chapters. They will become that antagonist never shown explicitly, but always implied by the characters to be the root of all problems.

For more info, start reading now!

One last thing. English is not my first language, so feel free to point out any grammatical errors you notice.

Reviews are appreciated, even the negative ones. And while you're at it, check out some of my other stories, please!

There'll be lots of referrences to other media. You get a metaphorical cookie for each you find.

Now you can begin. Have fun!

Piracy... Quite the usual occurrence on unprotected routes and in far-off regions. Humanity has known it for as long as they knew naval trade. The idea of easy financial gain has, for millenia, attracted scoundrels, outcasts and the poor to sail as criminals.

But in some instances, to some people, it became more than just greedy hunt for trade vessels or treasure transporters. In times of opressive governments, the idea of becoming a criminal became a symbol of freedom. Of breaking the chains of the injust laws that bound the common folk. To be a pirate was to escape land, set sail for adventures, writing your own laws. Many people, beggars, outcasts, slaves, sometimes even lower bluebloods, would turn to piracy simply due to those ideas.

The ideal land. Governed by the people, led by a righteous captain. That's what the ideal of a pirate ship became. Pirates became, even in popular culture, a symbol of rebellion. The ruthless, cold-blooded raider became a symbol of hope to those that didn't have anything to be robbed of. Should a pirate become so powerful all pirates would follow him, a rebellion would rise against the government and, as such, in times of opressive governments the idea of piracy was, for a commoner, a fight for freedom, while, for a person in power, it became a crime to take seriously.

Even as the human race began colonising beyond its own star system, once trade was established, piracy followed. The first space pirates were considered a hindrance to progress or, once humanity discovered other countries in their galaxy, they became a tool to use for weakening their enemies, privateers raiding with the permission of the government. But, as centuries passed, another golden age of piracy was approaching.

In the year 645 of the Terran Calendar, or 2954 Anno Domini, a great pirate, Gol D. Roger, commonly known as 'Gold' Roger was facing the gallows. Unlike the hanging of a common pirate, however, this execution would change the face of the galaxy. Gold Roger was, in fact, a well respected pirate who had earned himself the title of 'Pirate King'. The very idea of a Pirate King was a threat to the Terran Government, for he was a symbol of rebellion, of freedom.

Roger knew that his life was done. Once the trapdoor under his feet opened he would fall, being caught by the rope around his neck. If he was lucky, his neck would snap. If not, he would slowly suffocate. He would, in any case, die and the title of Pirate King would be left vacant. So, before the executioner could pull the lever, he grinned madly at the crowd gathered before the execution stand, uttering the words that would start a new age.

„Ye wanna know what happened to me treasure?! Anyone of ye can have it! But ye'll hafta find it first! All I 'ave... accumulated o'er the years is hidden in tha' place, all in one piece. But mark me words: only a true pirate will find-..."

Before he could finish the executioner ended him, feeling the imfamous pirate had said enough.

Those words motivated pirates from all the corners of the galaxy to set sail into the mystical Grand Line corridor within the very Centre of the Galaxy in order to find the 'One Piece'.

Our story begins twelve years later in the Foosha Settlement on Feudal Planet Goa, also referred to as Dawn IV in the Dawn star system in the outer part of the Blue Sector, a relatively small farming colony in one of the more remote regions of the planet.

Foosha, though a small town of no more than a thousand inhabitants with less than three thousand in the surrounding area, was the centre of its own region and had relatively developed infrastructure - for a settlement on a frontier planet, that is.

Its provisionary spaceport, usually used by shuttles traveling between the small colony and the planetary capital, was, due to being less controlled, sometimes visited by pirate ships. Some wanted a rest after a long period of being in space, others to share stories.

„And so I said to him: 'I'll inform your next of kin that you suck!'"

A pirate captain was sharing tales of his adventures with a small child, at Party's Bar, a tavern often frequented by whomever landed in the small town.

The pirate in question was a red-haired caucasian man in his late twenties. His tanned skin showed that he was an adventorous man, often exposing himself to solar rays on his jurneys. Three scars, scratches from some creature or another, ran over his left eye. The man was wearing a black overcoat over bare skin, open to reveal a fit, agile body. A hat made of straw, a rarity in this day and age, decorated his head.

The child was about seven standard years old, caucasian with a few asiatic features, indicating at there being at least one asiatic ancestor in the past five generations. He, too, was tanned, but in his case it was due to the exposure to the rays that reached the surface of the planet. He wore shorts and a white T-shirt, a typical attire for the warm climate the Foosha Region had. His messy raven hair made him recognisable as the adventurous type, his dark eyes shining with mischief, but the most significant part of his face were his thin lips, almost always streched in a toothy, mischievous grin. A fresh scar, cut with a knife, ran horisontally below his left eye.

„Wahahaha!" The child laughed loudly. „And what happened then, Shanks?"

„Then?" the red-haired pirate, Shanks, continued. „Then he charged at me in rage, with all the strength his injured body could muster, bumping right into my outstreched fist!" He took a swig of his drink. „I didn't even have to punch him! Hahahaha!"

The pirates gathered around started laughing as well, raising their glasses to their captain's victory. Aye, that was one fight to remember. Good times.

„Makino! More rum!" Shanks shouted cheerfully, the dark-haired waitress bringing him another bottle of the intoxicating nectar.

„Shanks! I wanna go with you next time you go up!" the kid said pleadingly, his grin never fading.

The pirates laughed at his demand.

„Ha! You? You couldn't even swab the decks, let alone fire a cannon or calculate a warp jump!"

„Tha space lanes ain't a place for tiny brats!"

„Your balls haven't even dropped yet, lad!"

The child frowned, the bright grin disappearing. „Hey! I'm not just some brat! I'm tough!"

This caused the pirates to laugh even louder.

„Heh... Look, Luffy," Shanks said once he calmed down a bit. „Space travel... is no joke. So much can go wrong. Supernovas, stray warp ripples, miscalculation of your course, malfunction of your gravity generator... Could you move around in zero gravity, Luffy? Could you?"

„I can learn!" the child, Luffy, defended, balling his fist in frustration.

The pirate captain smiled at his conviction. „For now you should focus on your studies. Remember: knowledge is power. A pirate needs his mind to be as sharp as his cutlass."

Luffy looked like he was about to retort but was interrupted when the tavern's door opened and a group of tough-looking men entered. They were all armed and grinning pompously. One of them, their leader, a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair, a black goatee, and an X-shaped scar above his right eye, wearing a long red coat over a white shirt, black trousers, and a golden necklace, stepped forward to the bar.

„So these are pirates, eh?" he wondered out loud. „They look more like a bunch of grocers to me, boys!" His men laughed in agreement. „Tremble in fear, pirate weaklings! I am Higuma, the brigand with an 80.000 Terran coin bounty on his head!" To put it in perspective, that's eight times the annual income of a citizen of the Holy Terran Republic of Humanity in the 'middle class'.

The coin was the standard currency of the Terran Republic. It was an electronic currency, meaning it only existed in banks and handheld credit containers, causing it to be more commonly known as the Terran Credit. In the outer regions of the Republic people prefered to use physical currencies, the outer sectors devising monetary units out of minerals.

„No problem!" Makino said. „We serve everyone here."

The bandit leader turned towards the waitress. „Me and my boys are thirsty. We came here to... 'pro-crue' some rum. Ten barrels'll be enough, right boys?!"

„Yeah!"

The waitress looked at him appologetically. „Sorry, but we're all out of rum."

„Yeah, looks like me and my boys drank this place dry," Shanks commented, grabbing the bottle he had just recieved. „There's one bottle left if you want it though..."

The planetary bandid stared menacingly at the pirate, gazing at him with a look that would make an average man tremble in fear. He grabbed the bottle and inspected it for a moment before smashing it on the red-haired man's head. Shanks fell over from the shock of being hit on the head, balancing himself by leaning on the bar.

„One bottle?! That's not nearly enough for me, space rat!"

Shanks looked at his suit, then at the floor. The rum had soaked them, leaving a attractively-smelling puddle. All the while the brigand continued.

„Is this all there is to pirates?! A bunch of weak, useless outcasts who want to play criminal?! You go up into space, but what do you have to show for it?!"

Shanks sighed. „Great! Now the floor is all wet!" he looked at the waitress. „Makino! Get me a mop, please!"

„Right away, Shanks!"

The bandit leader grinned, drawing his sword and swinging the bar a few times, nocking over some plates of food.

„Since you like cleaning so much..." he explained, laughing all the way to the door. The departing gang could be heard for minutes as they laughed.

Luffy, who had observed the whole exchange, was pissed. He approached Shanks, who was now mopping the floor.

„Why didn't you do anything?!" he yelled. „Why would you let a nobody like him walk all over you?!

„Because he was a nobody," Shanks explained calmly. „Look, kid... There are some battles that aren't worth wasting your energy on. Out there in the vastness of space, there are people who will provoke you for their amusement." He paused. „To fight them... would be... to stoop to their level."

The tavern was silent for a few moments before the Red Hair Pirates broke out in laughter at their captain's attempt to sound wise.

„Hahaha! Yeah! Nice excuse, cap'n!"

„Heh! There's a word for that! Pacifism!"

„Haha! Or as I call it, cowardice!"

Luffy glared at the red-haired captain. „Your crewmen are right! Where's your pride!? Where's the awesomeness in letting that old guy mock you!?"

Shanks finished mopping the floor. „... I have things to do." With that he walked over to some of his crewmembers' table.

Luffy couldn't believe it. Shanks, who had just been telling him about his glorious adventures, was nothing but a coward. And he didn't even have the guts to admit it. Luffy noticed a small chest on the table Shanks was by. It was open, revealing a strange looking fruit. It was violet, spherical shaped, with a stem sprouting out of the top, with swirls that went in a curly "S" like-pattern.

A mischievous grin formed on Luffy's face, his eyes sparkling rather creepily, an indication that he had just had one of his... brilliant ideas. He decided to express his disagreement with Shanks' inaction and he knew how to do it.

The pirates, deep in conversation, weren't paying attention to the boy.

„We aren't sure what type it is, though."

„It doesn't matter. It should fetch about a million Credits on the black market."

Shanks smiled. „That's quite the ammount." He heard munching sounds to his right. He turned to see Luffy chewing something. 'What is he-?' Realising what it could be he checked the chest. It was empty.

„Luffy! Spit that-..." before he could finish, Luffy swallowed.

Almost instantly, Luffy felt strange. As if he suddenly knew every muscle in his body. He could feel everything, even his bones. Then, a train of information hit his head, filling his mind with knowledge about his body and how to use it. Then his entire body started to feel as though its compsoition changed, as if the molecules building it changed their properties.

„Luffy!" Shanks grabbed the boy, who now stood emotionless and absent-minded before him, by the shoulders, shaking him. „Do you realise what you've just done!?"

Luffy shook his head slowly, though it seemed like he didn't even hear the question.

„You just ate a Devil's Fruit! That's a litteral deal with the Devil!" the captain screamed. „You might get some cool powers, but at what price!?"

Devil's Fruits are believed to be the creation of one of the precursor civilisations that existed tens of thousands of years before any of the current civilisations knew space travel. How they work is still unknown, but what they do is so bizzare some consider them a myth. Once eaten they'll immediately induce a strange substance into the user's bloodstream, sometimes changing their body slightly, but always inducing some form of knowledge into their brain, telling them how to use their body or create implants for their body - as well as how to use said implants. However, it has some side effects; it also induces knowledge irrelevant to the ability gained, most commonly said to be the 'secret of the universe'.

Which is not as great as one would think, if the rumors about Devil's Fruit users are true.

„You could get a completely useless power and be scarred for life!" Shanks continued to shake Luffy, causing his body to twist in irregular manners.

All present could see it. Luffy's body had bdcome very flexible and even somewhat strechy, reacting like really hard rubber to Shanks' shaking.

Shanks, too, noticed this and stopped. Luffy was back in his starting postion of standing mindlessly before him. The shaking seemed to bring him out of his thoughts, but he still looked rather out of it.

„That must have been the Gum Gum Fruit," Shanks speculated. „Your body will react like rubber to outside forces..."

„Will I... be like rubber then?" Luffy asked, his excitement indicating that he was broken out of his thoughts.

„Not sure. I believe you'll definitely have more control of your muscles and be more resistant to strikes... But that doesn't matter! What did you see?! What kind of secret about the universe did you learn?!"

Luffy remained silent, his face darkening. His eyes went wide as her remembered what he had seen. Crying in agony, he ran out of the tavern, somewhat answering the pirate's question.

Shanks wanted to run after the boy but decided against it. Whatever he had learnt about the world would haunt him for the rest of his life, but trying to calm him down might make matters worse. It would be better to let him figure it out on his own.

„You think he'll be okay?" Makino asked.

Shanks wasn't sure how to answer that. 'What is 'okay'?' he could say. Now that Luffy was turning into a rubber boy, with whatever knowledge he had gained, life would never be the same for the small boy.

„He... He's a strong kid," he finally said. „Whatever he just saw... He'll get over it."

'I just hope he'll be okay...'

It was a few days later that Luffy finally returned to the tavern, the day when the Red Hair Pirates were leaving Foosha for good. They had stayed for a year, using the town as their base of opperations, but it was time for them to go up and set sail for new space.

The boy sat at the bar in the empty tavern. His childish look in his eyes was back, a contrast to the dark look he had when he left a few days previously. Whatever had happened in that time, he somehow got over the truth he had learnt and was back to being the good old grinning brat.

Or so it seemed.

„Makino! How about some meat over here?" he said cheerfully. But it wasn't the energetic cheerfulness he used to have. Well, it was still energetic, but something about it seemed off. Before, it was the cheerfulness of a naïve, innocent child. Now it was as though he knew some harsh truths about the world but didn't care, wanting to have fun regardless. It was the cheer one asociated with an insane adult.

„Oh, Luffy! Aren't you going to see the Red Hairs off?" the waitress asked.

„Nah... Those guys can leave on their own, my help would only bring them in the direction opposite of where they wanted to go."

Makino was stunned by his words. She wasn't sure whether he was being childish, mature, humorous or all at once. He used to be easy to understand, a child wanting adventure, but now... He had changed.

„... Okay..."

She brought him the meal he ordered. He started eating gluttonously, stuffing himself. Makino watched him eat in wonder. The boy still looked and acted the same, but she just couldn't shake the feeling that something about him was off.

Was it the way he talked? No, it couldn't be. He still talked cheerfully and energetically with that adventure-loving voice. Was it the words he used? Perhaps... His sense of humour was usually very simple, without a hint of sarcasm. He always said whatever he wanted to say directly. Could it be the way he walked into the tavern? Could be... But that could be attributed to the fact that his body acted like hard rubber.

The waitress' train of thought was interrupted when a familiar group entered the tavern. Higuma and his gang had returned to town.

„Heh! It seems those pirate dogs are gone, boss!" one of them said

„Cowards must have buggered off with that tin can they call a spaceship," Higuma agreed. „Hey wench! Get me and my boys something to drink!"

Luffy looked at them, turning from his empty plate. „Watch your tone, brigand," he said menacingly, anger written all over his face. „There's a very nice word we use in situations like this. Start's with a 'p'."

The bandits stared at the boy for a few moments before breaking out in laughter.

„Ha! This kid has guts! Talking to us like that!"

„If he's been learning from those space rats he'll have a lot of trouble in his life!"

Luffy glared at them. „I already have trouble in my life! One being the pain I get when looking at mistakes of nature like you!"

That shut the bandits up. This kid had gone too far.

Higuma stepped towards him. „Boy... I'll give you one chance to say you're sorry."

„Okay. I'm sorry," the boy said without a slight hint of honesty.

„Hm? Sorry for what?" the bandit leader asked, noticing the unflinching menace in Luffy's voice.

„I am trully sorry that you are such an invalid. Trully, you are so repulsive even your mother must have hated you!" With those words he threw a punch at the brigand's stomach.

Higuma was knocked back slightly, surprised at the boy's strenght. But he regained composure soon.

„Grab him!" he yelled.

Following their leader's order the bandits restrained Luffy, not noticing the waitress that had run off to call for help. They dragged him out to the street and started beating him up, kicking, punching and jumping on him.

However, the attacks had no effect on the boy. His rubbery traits transferred most of the forces through his body, leaving his flexible organs and bones unharmed.

After a few minutes of beating the boy the leader told his gang to stop. „So the rumors were true. A child in Foosha ate a Devil's Fruit," he said, grinning. „You know, the Government pays quite a bounty for turning in freaks like you."

Ah yes, the Superior Genes Enclosure Law of 473. 'All citizens of the Republic who show abilities that heavily outclass an average member of its species are to be turned over directly into Terran custody.' Proposed by both the Archparliament of Terra and the High Council of Terra and signed by Supreme Chancelor Grahunschwalg Arlenstein, the law was propagated to be a means to 'prevent the strong from opressing the weak'. In reality, it was a way for the Terran Government to root out all potential symbols of power that weren't under their control.

Luffy glared at Higuma, the beating having no effect on him. „How do you plan on turning me in then, 80.000 coin criminal?"

„Huh?"

„Go ahead, bring me to the authorities. I'll tell them that I've captured you and say you couldn't handle defeat, so you've got this idea into your head that I ate a Devil's Fruit."

If Higuma wasn't angry before, he was now. „Why you little-..."

„Well, well... What do we have here!"

The bandits' eyes left the boy, focusing on the approaching group of people. It was the Red Hair Pirates. The captain stepped forward.

„What do you think you're doing? He's just a kid!"

Luffy turned his head to look at Shanks with an appologetic grin. „Sorry Shanks! I fought valiantly but, as you can see, I was outnubered."

Shanks smiled sadly at him. „Just stay down. We'll take care of these landlubbers."

Higuma laughed. „You?! Take care of us?! We'll see who'll take care of who!"

Luffy glared at him. „Whom!"

„Don't come any closer, space rats, unless you want your brains coocked!" one of the bandits threatened, aiming a laser pistol at the pirates.

Shanks shook his head. „Nice pistol you got there. Can you use it?"

„Huh?"

„A lasgun is not a toy for children," Shanks stated in a menacing tone. „It is a killing weapon. So... Can you use it?"

„Well, I-..."

One of the pirates, a round man with goggles, approached the bandit, brandishing a laspistol of his own.

„Here, let me show ya!"

WOOM!

The pirate fired the laser pistol, the shot burning half the bandit's face. The round man blew at the smoke comming out of his weapon, thinking: 'I really need to get a new cooling system for this gun.'

The bandits screamed in shock. „What the fuck! You killed him!"

„Nice one, Lucky Roo!" the captain complimented.

„Well... I always aim to please!"

The pirates laughed at the lame pun.

„Now look, brigand!" Shanks started, glaring at Higuma. „You can smash bottles on my face. You can insult me all you want. Hell, you can even raid my supply of rum. But you can never, for whatever reason, hurt one of my friends and get away with it!"

„Wait captain, let me handle this."

A large man with long grey hair and an X-shaped scar by his left eye stepped forward. He took the cigarette he was smoking out of his mouth.

„I am Benn Beckman, the first mate of Red Hair Pirates," he introduced himself, giving all the bandits a threatening gaze. „Remember that name and curse it once you are suffering eternal damnation in the pits of Hell."

Putting out his cigarette on a bandit's eye, he charget at his foes, bashing, kicking, breaking bones and snapping necks. Some of the bandits ran away, others fainted in fear. But those that stood their ground - the only ones in the gang worth their salt - got their arses handed to them. In the end, all lay there on the street, unconscious, moaning in pain and, a few of them, dead.

„You still got it, Benn," Shanks complimented.

„Yes I do," the first mate agreed. „Now where is their worthless leader!?"

„Oh, damn it! We were so engrosed in watching you fight he slipped away!"

Their worthless leader had managed to grab Luffy and sneak away right under the pirates' totally not worthless noses. He carried him to the spaceport and stole a shuttle, flying them into space.

To those who don't know: a shuttle is a term used to describe an interplanetary spaceship, incapable of warp travel. The one in question was the smallest type, the civilian sparrow-class.

„Those pirate cowards won't think of looking for me up here," Higuma stated.

„I can't help but notice that you've just very bravely left your men to die," Luffy commented.

„Shut it, brat!" the bandit yelled, grabbing the boy by the neck. „You've caused me a lot of trouble today, kid! My men are done for, my business is ruined..." He carried him towards the airlock and opened the inner hatch. „Well, not anymore. You're going out the airlock you bastard!"

Just then something crashed into the shuttle. Scratching could be heard on the outer airlock hatch. Before Higuma could close the inner hatch, the outer one was ripped apart, revealing a large, twenty sparrow-class shuttles big deep-space creatures.

Nobody knows where those things come from. Some call them organic ships, vacuum entities or deep-space creatures. But all those terms refer to latge creatures that live in the vacuum of space, feeding on almost anything that crosses their path. They include worm-like asteroid dwellers, whale-resembling drifters, 'space amoeba'...

The one in question looked like a cross between a shark and a worm. The hungry creature had its mouth open, having the whole airlock covered.

As the air started to get sucked out of the shuttle, Higuma flew to his doom, screaming all the way into the creature's mouth. Luffy, who had managed to grab the feame of the inner hatch, watched as his captor's voice faded away.

'Damn! I can't die here!'

Suddenly, the space shark/worm turned away from the shuttle. Luffy noticed a man approaching, clad in space armour. He fired a few shots with his pistol, hoping to scare the beast into retreating. However, before the creature retreated, it decided to attack the intruder, biting at his armour.

Luffy couldn't watch. He focused on holding on to the frame of the hatch. He could feel that the air was running out and that he couldn't hold on much longer. Finally, he let go.

He was caught by a strong arm. He could feel being flown back into the shuttle, his savior using a jetpack. The man closed the inner hatch, the sucking of the air stopping. There was just enough to breath healthily.

Luffy looked at his savior, who still held him in his right arm. The man put him on the ground and removed his helmet.

It was Shanks. And his left arm was gone.

Tears gathered in Luffy's eyes.

„Shanks! Your arm!"

„What?"

„Your arm! Your arm's off!"

„No it isn't!"

„It is!"

„This is only a flesh wound!"

„A flesh wound? That?"

„Yes. The price of saving a friend."

It had been a year. The Red Hair Pirates had used Planet Goa as their base for a year. After the incident with the Higuma bandits they were finally prepared to leave. As the pirates were loading the grey, long, narrow brig-class starship - a starship being a ship with a warp drive - Shanks walked over to Luffy who had come to say goodbye.

„Looks like this is it, kid!" Shanks slowly said. He wasn't really good at goodbyes.

„Looks like it..." Luffy answered.

Shanks scratched the back of his head. „You're not... disappointed you can't come?"

Luffy slowly shook his head. „Not really... You were right, I'm not ready. I haven't neither the strenght nor the knowledge to set sail."

Shanks smiled sadly. „You did get quite fluent with your retho... rethorics. Since you ate that Fruit."

Luffy smiled. „I've been following your advice to 'study up'."

They both stayed silent for a few moments.

„Luffy... What did you see? When you ate that Fruit, I mean?"

The boy stayed silent. His eyes moved towards the floor.

„Well, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine... I really should get go-..."

„Shanks!" the child interrupted him.

„Hm?"

„You may think me weak now! But mark my words. when the time comes, I'll gather a crew much stronger than yours. We'll be the most imfamous terror of the entire galaxy. And we will set sail into the Grand Line and find the One Piece." He looked at Shanks with determination in his eyes. „I shall be... the Pirate King!"

Luffy looked back at the floor, tears falling from his eyes. Partly because of all the emotion he put into that previous statement. Mostly because his idol was leaving. Suddenly he felt something being put on his head. Looking up he saw that the red haired pirate had given him his straw hat.

„That's quite the goal. I want you to take good care of this hat until you reach it. You'll give it back to me once you're King."

And take care of the hat is what Luffy did. For the next decade he never parted with it, all the while training and learning anything that could help him on his jurney.

Ten years later... Luffy was finally prepared to go up himself. The townsfolk had gathered some money to build him a pinnace-class starship. As the type suggested, it was small, the smallest ship type capable of having a warp drive.

„I'm finally ready to leave," the now seventeen-year-old Luffy said to himself. „I've been training for years, now I'm ready to strike, the great operation begins."

The townsfolk had gathered in the spaceport to see the little boy they knew become a man an dset sail.

„Don't you dare bring shame to our town, boy!" the mayor warned.

Luffy looked at the gathered crowd.

„Ladies and gentlemen! This is the day you'll all remember as the day when Monkey D. Luffy followed in his big brother's footsteps and went up!"

As the young man adressed the crowd he couldn't help but notice a lone, shady figure in the background. Though he couldn't see his face, he knew who it was. But we don't. Sorry!

Luffy entered the bridge of the ship. The launchpad raised itself, moving the ship from a horisontal position into a vertical one. The youth started the engines and, with a strong push, he lifted off the ground, speeding towards orbit.

Once he exited the atmosphere he ran into an old acquantance. The deep-space creature noticed him and propelled itself towards him by expelling gasses out of its - I'm not sugar-coating this – arsehole.

„Aha! We meet again! But trust me, this is one remach you can't win!"

The teen fired a few shots from his front - and only - cannon right at the beast's forehead, causing said creature to miss him. The creature died a few hours later, in severe pain. But that's irrelevant, our hero was preparing to enter warp.

'Okay... my trajectory should be... The target is there... I think... The distance... Man, this is harder than I thought. I need to get myself a navigator. Or a computer. Or both.'

He took a bottle of rum from a special compartment by his seat. A pirate's best friend...

'Now just you wait, dad! You think I can't do it, huh! Well, I'll be the Pirate King!'

Meanwhile, at Party's Bar...

„Damn it! He took five bottles of rum without paying! Again!