Early the next morning, during the peaceful period just before dawn broke from beyond the horizon and into the new day, in the small port town of Fushia at the end of its main dock, sat a young woman with her feet lightly tracing the surface of the splashing waves below.

The soft winds tussled with her worn straw hat and her messy black fringe; it playfully rustled her clothes as if to say good morning before disappearing. Luffy watched the horizon absently but emotionally she felt equal parts eager enthusiasm and silent contemplation; however, what exactly she was contemplating was lost, even on her. All she knew was that the world she had seen so far was never enough to satisfy her constant lust for adventure and desperate desire to live without being controlled. Those desires were only further exacerbated by the Sea Goddess' curse.

Luffy was one of many reincarnations of the sea goddess. She was one out of many old deities who previously ruled the world, however because of the original Sea Goddess' actions, she was cursed with a mortal body and forced to reincarnate in retribution for the original's sins; while her eternal siblings remained in the heavenly jade palace. Luffy did not resent anyone for her curse, after all she still had some of her power to control the ocean and its inhabitants; but she had to tread carefully to avoid the celestial mother's wrath.

The echoing sounds of the rolling waves against the pier beams only brought back memories of her main home in the New World where she spent 12 years aboard the Moby Dick. The water told her exactly just how far from home she really was… the East Blue was the opposite of the New World; it was playful and peaceful. It just wasn't her style.

But today, she wasn't going to worry about her curse or how far away her family was; instead, she watched the sun and enjoyed the changing hues of the sky before she stood up and yelled her greetings to the open air. Beside her was the boat she was about to use from that day forward. Her food was moved earlier that morning with Makino's help. Dadan opted out of another visit to the village since the fishermen were bound to spot and report her.

Soon enough Makino and Luffy had a filling breakfast before they made their way back to the pier. The townspeople at that point were beginning to stir and a few early risers who had spotted Makino, said their good mornings to her and gave her unknown companion a polite nod. When they arrived, Luffy began untying the rope that anchored her boat but she wasn't about to set off straight away, since she still had something to say to her caretaker.

"Makino, before I go, there's something I wanna give you." The new captain said. Her free hand dug into her pants pocket and pulled out a long silver whistle on a plated red string. It was clearly far from brand new as it was covered in nicks and scratches.

"A whistle?" Makino asked.

Luffy nodded and blew into the whistle. In a second, something burst out of the water. Before them stood the local sea king, Kou, Luffy's most dedicated partner of the sea. He was small in comparison to the other sea kings in the Calm Belt, but he was by no means any less dangerous. He had been a companion of the previous sea goddess and the current sea goddess for many years. And while Luffy had spent her time out in the Grand Line, he had the important task of protecting the island she called home.

Makino could only smile blankly and blinked once to indicate that she was still alive. Luffy was always full of surprises.

"…Luffy?"

The young captain continued to lack any sense of danger or self-awareness, ran up and gave the huge sea king numerous hugs and kisses.

"This is Kou. He's been taking care of Fushia for me while I was away. I had given Ace-nii this whistle when we became siblings, so if anything happened, he had backup. But when Ace left to become his own pirate, he gave it back; and now I want to give it to you, Makino."

Luffy grinned happily and tossed the whistle over to Makino as if the item wasn't as important as she made it out to be. Makino clumsily caught the whistle and held it to her chest. She did not know whether she was going to use it at all but she knew she was going to keep it safe for Luffy's sake in the very least.

Eventually the sun was already warming the day and the two women hugged each other goodbye. Makino offered an encouraging smile, wished her a safe adventure and gave her a small kiss on her forehead, while Luffy promised she'd do her best and that she was going to see her again when she fulfilled her dream.

Luffy jumped into the boat and with one of the oars, pushed against one of the dock's beams and began drifting out to sea.

"Take care of yourself, Luffy!" Makino called out.

"I will! Just you watch, Makino! I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

Now, while Luffy was a sea deity and had no issues navigating the entire ocean like a pro, it had the frustrating drawback of only making any sense to her while she was actually in the water; and while she was on land (or in a boat in this case) it was difficult for her to tell what was where.

It reminded Luffy of when she was younger and how Ace and Sabo had a lot of difficulty trying to convince her to get out of the water because she frequently got land-sickness. Luckily for her brothers, she was easily bribed with food; however, land-sickness and food only resulted in her stomach feeling even worse later but the temptation was too great. She was fine on land now, but her sense of geography was generally pretty poor.

As her boat slowly drifted out to sea, Luffy waved goodbye to Makino one last time and Kou, the sea king made the smart decision to use his tail to push the tiny boat in the direction of the next island. He could only hope she didn't get lost before finding land.

For the first couple of days all she did was watch the clouds as they drifted along with the wind; and unfortunately, because the girl had nothing else to do, her large supply of food very quickly dwindled until there was nothing left.

After having finally gotten bored of the metamorphosing clouds, she decided to continue her habit of taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon and soon enough the desire to sleep quickly took complete seize of her self-control.

So, Luffy crawled into the large barrel that previously housed her sustenance, sealed the lid behind her and was immediately lost to the world.

Eventually, the lost little boat had managed to find itself adrift into the presence of a large crew of pirates who – true to their nature – plundered everything they saw as valuable on the ship and sunk whatever remained.

The only thing they managed to find was a large barrel and a backpack; but by the captain's own rules everything they found had to remain untouched until they were able to sort through everything and distribute it properly. So, after the Alvida Pirates were finished with their haul, they returned to a tiny uncharted island far from civilisation and began unloading.

One of the petty cabin boys grabbed the large barrel and began rolling it towards the storehouse. He had also snatched up the bag that came with it and threw it over his shoulders. The quicker it was over the better.

The tiny warehouse/storehouse wasn't much to look at. It was plain white building with the Alvida Pirate's logo painted on the front; Coby didn't understand the logic behind. Especially if one day the island were to be discovered by happenstance, all it would do was screamed "call the Navy."

"What's that, Coby? A barrel of rum from the latest haul?" A large, bearded man in tattered clothes pressed both of his arms on either side of the door to the storehouse in an attempt to hustle the young teenager for the loot.

"I think so. It's pretty heavy so it's at least full." Coby replied absently. Although living with pirates was torture, especially when it was in the presence of Alvida, the people in charge of the storehouse were more co-workers who rarely bothered one another. But it seemed like today wasn't going to be his day.

A sinister and calculating grin found its way onto the larger man's face. He and his mates might not have been senior members of Alvida's crew but they were the ones in charge of the storehouse and had become accustomed to exploiting a few loopholes that were otherwise unknown to the other members of the crew, and even the captain herself.

The three men were quick to agree amongst themselves that they were going to help themselves and subtly threatened Coby to remain silent about dipping into Alvida's stash. The bearded man who was previously blocking the entrance, took the barrel from Coby's trembling hands and set it upright at the back of the room.

Wetting his lips, the leader gingerly removed the lid and was met with a shocking sight. His first glance of the tantalising liquor only turned to further excitement when he spotted the deep red colour. Wine. The liquor of the rich and famous.

But as the lid drew further away, revealing more to what was actually inside, the man began slowly losing his grip. The liquid that lapped against the edge of the barrel as he disturbed it had naturally resulted in small waves; but the sight of repeating lines deeper within the liquid were soon found to be scales. Shining white bone also caught his attention but what drove a chill down his spine was the breathing.

In his haste to back away, the muscled man lost his previous pride and his boldness quickly changed to cowardice as he dropped the lid and watched in abject horror as the horned head of a massive serpent made its way out of the barrel soaked in sea water.

Large red claws gripped the iron rim of the barrel, slicing through it without issue and a violent screech of the sharpened bone against metal pieced the men's ears. It's jaw stretched open, flashing the viscous teeth of a beast; and the men did not have strength to remain with the threat to their well-being at stake.

With a scream they began to break for the door, but that only caused the monster to snap it's golden eyes open.

Coby, despite his equal amount of terror, was incapable of feeling his legs. He screamed at himself, begging them to move, to do something, to actually join the pirates for protection, but he couldn't.

All he could do was watch as the barrel containing the serpent's massive size broke beneath its weight. Splinters of wood scattered over the floor. And then, in the faction of a second, something shot passed Coby and the scream of one of the escaping pirates drew his eyes.

The serpent's tail had coiled around one of the men, the scrawniest one and dragged him back into the warehouse before slammed him against the wall.

"P-Please, please don't eat me!" The man pleaded.

Coby never remembered any of his captors' names but he did know that the man in front of his was only nineteen…three years older than him; and he would have to watch someone close to his age have his body ripped apart and swallowed.

But that didn't happen.

Instead, before his eyes, the size of the monster began to shrink, the serpent's jaw pulled back into it's head and the scales faded as the face of a beautiful woman appeared in its place. She had silky black hair, smooth silver skin and bold physique. The claws that Coby had assumed were about to be dripping in blood morphed into long slender arms, and legs grew where the serpent previously didn't have any.

Coby would have sworn it was a horrid illusion from the abuse he had suffered at the hands of the pirates, if it weren't for the remaining tail that was firmly attached to the woman's vaguely exposed lower back and still holding onto the petrified pirate.

"Where. Is. My. Backpack?!" The woman growled. "What have you done with it?!"

Coby blinked…What? Backpack? Coby couldn't believe his ears, and his eyes already felt like they were failing him that day. He didn't even know what she was, but despite his cowardice, he couldn't help but pull the bag off of his back and slide it across the floor towards her.

It unfortunately didn't turn out as cool as he had hoped, since it snagged on a broken piece of wood and stopped half way to the woman; anxiety and panic struck his mind, since it meant she now needed to walk towards him. And maybe even hold him accountable for taking the bag in the first place.

The previous golden eyes that belonged to the monster were now large brown orbs filled with happiness and excitement as soon as they landed on the bag. The woman immediately tossed her hostage aside and grabbed her bag. In a second, the long tail shrunk back into her skin and disappeared altogether.

With a quick check inside to make sure everything was in its place, she hugged it to her chest and cheered, "I'm never letting you out of my sight again!" The beautiful smile remained as she faced the teen who returned her belongings. "Thanks! You really saved me there!"

"It-It d-didn't look like y-you we-were in any t-trouble, miss."

The woman blinked absently before laughing heartily.

"Name's Luffy. What's yours?"

"C-Coby."

"Nice to meet ya!" Luffy threw out her hand for a shake. And as expected, the pink haired teen stared and examined the human hand with caution and concern.

However, before Coby had the courage to return the gesture, Luffy's previous hostage, who had run away the moment she let go, had now returned, flying through the door, barrelling through the rest of the wares in the building, and created a new entrance on the other side of the wall. In that instance, Luffy's muscle memory kicked in and she snatched up Coby and the two disappeared through the new hole in the wall, stepping over the unfortunately, unconscious pirate and into the forest behind the building.

Once everything had managed to calm down. Coby was placed back on the ground and the two of them began to slowly and aimlessly make their way towards the other end of the island, while Luffy laughed about their sudden interruption.

"Haha, the world never stops being fun!" The girl grinned. She looked over at the boy she had incidentally kidnapped and found him quivering on the ground. "You okay?"

"Uh…yeah…"

"Do you wanna go back?"

Pink hair shook back and forth quickly and she laughed again. Luffy looked around before she finally decided to ask where she had washed up and Coby told her all about how they were on the Alvida Pirate's home base, an uncharted island.

"Not a very loyal pirate, are ya?" Luffy's eyes sparkled with a glint of mischief.

"…what? No! I never wanted to be a pirate in the first place! I had gone out fishing one day and I accidently boarded a pirate ship…I've been stuck as their cabin boy for 2 years now… I've been too terrified to try and escape."

Luffy scratched at her chin absently. It wasn't her job to help every poor sod who was down of his luck otherwise she would actually do her job as a goddess helping mortals and answering useless prayers.

"You're an idiot. What are you going to do about it?" She replied with a shrug.

"Huh?" The young teen turned and stared at her. "… 'Do about it?'" He mimicked, "I've thought about escaping almost every night. I even attempted to build a boat. It's not far from here but it wouldn't even be able to float. B-but just thinking about what Alvida-sama would do to me if she caught me makes my bladder weak." Then Coby thought of something. "Can you take me with you?! You're really strong! You even transformed into a…I don't know what it was but you even beat some of Alvida's crew!"

"Don't wanna." A look of disgruntled disgust appeared on her lips. It was a look she had picked up after she found it hilarious to mimic Whitebeard whenever he was asked to do something, he wasn't particularly fond of. The nurses who looked after the old man weren't happy being ganged up on, but they still had their ways.

Now, while Luffy might've been in need of a boat from either Coby or the Alvida Pirates to get to whatever the next location was, she wasn't about to take on someone that was clearly just trying to use her as a stepping stone. To top it off, his personality was really starting to bug her. She felt like being petty after her boat got destroyed.

"What?! Why not?!" Coby cried out, further feeling more of life's injustices.

"You're gutless. You won't be able to survive on the sea."

"You so ruthless, Luffy-san…"

The pair had finally reached Coby's makeshift disaster of a boat, which Luffy could only agree was a death-trap in the making. Coby decided it would be better to change the topic of the conversation to something that wasn't about to send him spiralling into a depressive state. "Why are you on the sea by the way?"

"I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!" She replied with a cheeky, confident smirk.

"K-King of the Pirates!" Coby couldn't comprehend taking on such a task. Especially when it was known to have killed so many people. There were always echoing memories from his childhood of every adult scolding any and every child who dared to mention wanting to become a pirate or seeking Gold Roger's treasure. "Th-that would mean you'd have to make the WHOLE WORLD kneel to you!"

Luffy's face twisted in disgust again, "Please don't say it like that. Are you trying to get me struck by lightning?"

"Do you want to die?! Every pirate in the world is after that treasure!"

"So am I." She replied unconcerned, her arms folded under her chest in slight annoyance.

"But the odds against you are astronomical! It's impossible! You want to be the King of the Pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy!? It'll never happen!"

Just as Coby was about to finish his rant, his eyes met Luffy's and he couldn't help but step back. Unfortunately, he had tripped over his own foot and fell onto his backside. Coby couldn't tear his eyes away from the teen's beautiful face, as her eyes flashed shades of gold when the sun hit them, but despite the bright day, a shadow firmly sat over her face. He had offended her.

"Hahahaha!" The straw hat wearing girl began to laugh hysterically at the sight of the cowardly boy's blunder. "I'm not afraid to die, Coby. I have dreamed of becoming Pirate King since I was young, and nothing is going to stop me from taking the title of absolute freedom for myself." Her hand went and grasped at the necklace around her neck.

Luffy was cursed and even though she knew that being Pirate King wasn't going to break millennia worth of curses and sins, she desperately wanted an escape. Freedom as a mortal was still freedom in her eyes.

Coby had never noticed it until now but from the determination in her eyes, he knew it held a lot of meaning to her.

"If I die during my trip," She continued, "then I know I won't regret doing my best." An angelic smile formed on her lush pink lips and a blush in turn coloured Coby's cheeks.

She giggled to herself, "Who knows if I'm just deluding myself."

At Coby stared at the crazy girl who, to him, appeared to have all the power in the world to suddenly change his life for the better. It was that little beacon of hope he had always dreamed of – an angel sent just for him and who could finally make him happy. But she had shut him down immediately.

The light extinguished in the second it had soon appeared, and despair had reclaimed the young boy's heart in a similar swiftness. Her reasoning was a reflection on his own character that even for the past two years, he had never reflected upon for himself, even though it held the key to his own freedom.

The freedom to dream and the freedom to act, were very different; however, Luffy had rekindled the light within him, not as the beacon herself, shackled with his responsibilities and living the life of happiness in his place; but was instead the giver of hope, who gave him the courage to pursue his own desires.

"If…I'm willing to risk my life trying…maybe it's possible…" Coby began. It was such an old dream that he couldn't help but feel the tears filling his eyes as he was overwhelmed with the memories of his childhood excitement. "Do you think I can join the Navy?"

"The Navy?"

"We'll end up enemies…but I want to join the Navy and fight the bad guys! It's been my dream since I was a little kid! Luffy-san, do you think I can do it?"

Her smile did not leave at the sudden emotional change in Coby.

"How would I know? Shishishi."

"Well, I'm gonna do it! What've I got to lose?! I don't wanna be a miserable cabin boy my whole life! Better risk my life trying to achieve my dream! I'll join the Navy and then…I'll capture Alvida!'

Unfortunately, Coby's enthused declaration was met with terrifying and immediate confrontation as Alvida's club purposely missed the tips of the boy's pink hair and instead splintered the makeshift, death-trap boat to pieces. Luffy received a small amount of joy seeing it dead.

"Who are you going to capture, runt?!" A hulking mass of a woman in an over-sized plaid shirt, captain's coat and cowboy hat loomed over the two teens. A huge metal mace was firmly grasped in her right hand as it rested on her shoulder, "You little sneak! Did you really think you could escape from me?!"

Alvida was a woman who got angry easily which any stranger could tell straight away by the perpetual vein in her forehead and the oil from her skin that greased her curly black hair even worse than it already was. "I'll give you one chance to repent. Who's the fairest throughout all of the seas? Answer me!"

Behind the fat woman was the rest of the pirates, already armed to the teeth, their mouths watering for bloodshed. Coby began to stumble out his timid agreement with Alvida before Luffy interrupted him.

"Hey Coby, who's that tough-looking old bird?" Luffy asked.

Coby could only stare at the beautiful woman who had no qualms in saying what she thought regardless of the strength of her opponents. It was in that split second that he realised what she meant when it came to her dream of freedom. She didn't want to be physically free; she wanted the power to say, think and do what she wanted and how she wanted to, when she wanted to. Luffy's dream was absolute freedom!

And he knew she had that power; he had seen her claws sliced through the metal on the barrel and single-handedly deal with Alvida's men. But that power didn't belong to him. He didn't have any power. He knew that. It was a fact that had been obvious to him for years.

But he wasn't about to let that define him now. He didn't even know if Luffy was his ally but he was willing to place that bet.

"ALVIDA-SAMA IS THE UGLIEST OLD HAG IN ALL THE SEAS!"

The girl roared with uncontrollable laughter as she watched through the cracks in her eyes as Alvida's veins began to grow in her forehead from fury. While Luffy's shoulders continued to shake from laughter, she unclasped her necklace, took off her backpack and passed it to Coby.

"Very well said," She purred. "Now leave the rest to me."

Before Alvida could swing her mace, bone white horns began to grow from Luffy's head, her short black hair began to extend from her spine as her ruby red scales returned and littered all over her body. Her legs disappeared as she grew larger and larger in size. However, Coby was shocked to see just how big she was becoming.

The serpent in the warehouse held nothing in comparison to the monster that now stood before him. One claw was enough to crush a portion of the forest to Coby's left, where Luffy previously stood. The thumb of the dragon's left hand dug into the ground at Alvida's foot, while the rest of the claw stretched passed the pirates. Coby knew that if Luffy so desired, in a single swoop, all of them would be in the palm of her hands.

Her powerful, long neck hung over the pirates, a firm and ominous shadow loomed over them and her head curled back around as her fanged grin continued to scare the pirates stiff. Coby couldn't help but spin around out of curiosity, he wanted to know where the rest of her body ended up and was surprised to see that it disappeared into the sea behind them. He wondered if there would be any space on the island if she were to try and fit the rest of her on land.

Coby returned his gaze back to his tormentors. The people who previously held so much power over them were now quivering in fear at the sight of the dragon that held their lives in her hands; but it was clear from the look in her vicious golden eyes that begging for mercy wasn't an option, and no amount of treasure, resources or men were going to satiate her hunger.

The dragon slowly opened it's mouth and spoke despite not moving it's lips.

"Give Coby a boat. He's going to join the Navy!"

Alvida wasn't in control of her crew anymore. The fear she used to control them was immediately lost the moment something scarier appeared; it was a lesson Luffy had learned early in life and had used to her benefit many times when she lived with Whitebeard.

And luckily for her, the efficiency of fear was still there. Soon enough the boat was ready, Coby had climbed in but Luffy still had not transformed back. The boy started to worry and began to stare at the necklace in his hands. It was easy for him to see the difference in the size from earlier and now. The monster Luffy had become clearly had something to do with the jewellery, but he wasn't about to ask questions he wasn't able to handle the answers to.

When the dragon started to move again, all attention was back on her. The water chopped and changed as her lower half swung around in the waters. Coby lost his balance and dropped the gold necklace at the bottom of the boat when he went to grab onto the side.

He gaped at the sight of Luffy's finned, ruby tail now holding onto Alvida's ship over the pirates' heads. It was clear what she planned on doing. The men began to run off in all directions in an effort to save their own hides, but Alvida stood firm. Luffy had to give her credit.

She was far from a coward and was in some way worthy of being a pirate captain. She in the very least stood by her ship and flag. And as if thunder struck the air, the tail crushed the massive ship in two and the pieces dropped back to earth.

Alvida attempted to defend herself from the falling chunks of her ship, but despite her incredibly strength, she did not have the stamina to sustain against the onslaught and eventually a piece of her mast landed on her head and knocked her unconscious. In the chaos of the falling ship, the sea dragon disappeared and Luffy jumped into the boat with Coby. Luckily, a chunk debris landed in the water near their boat and created a wave that had sent them flying off towards the horizon.

The calmness of the East Blue ocean was always a welcoming sight, even for those who experience it daily. Luffy had kicked up her feet, pulled her hat over her face and took the time to finally return to her nap with minimal disturbance. She smiled at the sound of the waves against the boat and the faint chatter of the fish below and just enjoyed the darkness over her eyes.

It took a little while for Coby to fully regain his composure and fully digest all the information that had happened to him just a few hours ago, but he was at least content to finally allow himself to feel happiness for the first time in a long, long time.

But he soon remembered that he had dropped Luffy's necklace somewhere on the boat and went searching for it.

"By the way, Luffy-san,"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you destroy Alvida's ship?"

"They destroyed mine."

"…So petty!"

Coby heard a faint giggle coming from under the hat and just shook his head. Despite Luffy's response, the actual reason she had destroyed the ship was to keep the Navy off her own trail. Her true form was so huge, neighbouring islands were always bound to have seen her and call the marines. Her appearance was bound the catch the attention of the higher ups which was frustrating enough; and since she was just starting out as a pirate, she did not want to deal with an annoying Admiral who all, in her opinion, had way too much time on their hands. So, she left the marines a little present to keep them occupied.

When Coby finally found the necklace, he quickly dusted it off and gave it a once over to see if there were any marks, but he was met with the sight of a very infamous jolly roger that was etched into the back of the necklace.

"L-L-Luffy-san…you're part of the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"Papa's crew? Not anymore why?"

"… 'Papa'…"

Coby hoped they reached a Naval base soon.

AN: Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, everyone! Thank you so much for your patience especially with this revamped fic. It's been a lot of fun rewriting these to a standard that I feel a lot happier with.

Big shout out to my friend and beta reader Freakazoid. I'm such a bad personal editor, I'm afraid I'm bound to give them a stroke.