Quest to be the Greatest

A/N: First, I would like to give credit to Emma Iveli, author of Biju Biju Fruit. Emma Iveli's story inspired me to write this. And to Son Kenshin, who helped me work out the plot details.

Chapter 1: Two Legends are Born.

Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, had achieved it all. Wealth, Fame, and Power had all been his. Not surprisingly, the final words he spoke before they lopped off his head inspired adventurers throughout the world to sail the seas.

"My treasure? Why, it's right where I left it…it's yours, if you can find it. But you'll have to search the whole world!"

The world is about to witness a great era of piracy!

XXXXXXX – An uncharted island, somewhere in the East Blue.

A pirate ship was settled in its shallows. This pirate ship had a few qualities that one would not expect to see on a pirate ship. For example, the front of the ship had a swan head. For another thing, it had hearts, yes hearts, on its sail instead of the usual skull and crossbones; although, it's flag did have the usual crossbones, while the skull faced to the side and had a heart on it. Even if you looked at the ship's deck from a bird's point of view, it would also be shaped as a heart.

But none of those were what really part this pirate ship out of place. What really put it out of place was the fact that it was sparklingly clean. No old messes (of any kind) lying around, no trash cluttering the deck, or specks of blood from old battles. Even clothes and dishes were cleaned and put away. In fact there didn't seem to be a speck of dust anywhere.

"Why is there dust on my bulwark?"

Except for the one small spot on the bulwark that the poor crewmember had missed in his hast to get the ship clean.

"A thousand pardons Lady Alvida! I-I thought I'd cleaned every inch on this ship! I'll clean everything all over again!! Please…!!"

Alvida looked at the crewman out and the corner of her eye. "Please, what…?" she asked, continuing his statement.

"Please, not the Iron Mace!! I don't want to die!!!"

That's when the said weapon connected squarely with the pirate's jaw, killing him instantly. The crashing sound of metal striking a human body echoed throughout the deck and the body flew a good twenty feet before finally coming to a halt. The two nearest crewmen automatically grabbed their former mate and throw him over the side. The rest of the crew present was shaking in their boots, praying to anything (or one), that they would not be next. This latest loss was the fourth one since they had made birth at this island approximately a month ago.

Unfortunately for them, Alvida wasn't done with them yet.

"Who is the fairest one throughout all the seas?"

"YOU ARE LADY ALVIDA!" the crew shouted at once.

Alvida then turned her eyes to a small boy, who wore a plain white button down shirt with plain black pants and glasses on his face. She then repeated the question to him.

"Ahem…heh, heh…why you are…Lady Alvida!!" the boy, Koby, said, barely controlling his fear.

Alvida turn her full attention on to the poor boy. "Correct! Which is why I will not tolerate ANYTHING dirty!! The ship I sail must be as clean and as beautiful as I am. Understand?" Koby nodded vigorously. "Remember, Koby, were it not for your vast knowledge of the seas, I would feed you to the sharks! But don't push your luck!"

"Y-Yes that's very KIND of you," he replied, making sure to emphasize the word and falling to his knees.

"Other than that, you're worthless! Here shine my shoes!" and with that Koby began immediately while Alvida turn her attention to the rest of her crew.

Alvida, known throughout the East Blue as 'The Lady Pirate: Iron Mace Alvida', was fat. She was easily larger around than any three of her crew put together. However, her bulk was also the reason she could swing 150 pound mace with ease. She always wore her white cowboy white, along with her pink checked shirt, blue baggy pants (with a pistol on her belt) and a trademark pirate captain's coat. With her physical features, nasty temper and iron mace, her crew all had the same thought: definitely single.

Alvida addressed the rest of crew, telling them that she didn't want to see even one speck of dust anywhere. Once Koby finished shining her shoes, she immediately sent him to toilet duty.

"Yes milady," was his only reply as he set off.

XXXXXXX – on the island

Koby was huddling in the shade of the tree as quickly piled the food he manage to collect. 'He must be hungry; I haven't seen him in two days.'

"Hey Koby! What the hell are you doing?!"

'Oh no', Koby started to panic. He started to look around for anything that could be used as an excuse. Luck was on his side as he saw a barrel on the sea shore. 'That'll work'.

Five minutes later, he was rolling the barrel up to the storehouse, where the angry crewman had yelled at him. "Where were you Ko…what's that Koby? Did a barrel of rum wash up on the beach?"

"Y-Yeah, and it's not empty! I wasn't sure what to do with it."

At this, all three pirates grinned. "Well, I know what to do with it! Let's drink it all up!" one of them declared.

"But if the captain finds, she'll have our heads!" the second one said.

The third, however, stated, "She'll never find out! We're the only ones here. Just Koby and the three of us know about this. And Koby won't be telling anyone about this, will you?"

"T-Tell what!? I-I don't k-know what you're taking about! Please don't hit me!"

The second one smiled, "Well then, what are we waiting fo…" But he was quickly interrupted by the sound of a bursting barrel. All four of Alvida's pirates looked to see some skinny kid in a straw hat coming out of the barrel.

"What in the seven hells is happening!?" all three of them exclaimed at once.

"THAT WAS A GREAT NAP!!!" the straw hat exclaimed, even louder than the other three combined. "Man, I thought I was a goner! I sure am lucky!" he finished in a normal tone.

The straw hat's statement was heard throughout the entire island, including the opposite side of it where one boy had been fishing (and failing miserably). "Who's the loud mouth?" he asked himself. Dropping his pole, he decided to go check it out, hoping his friend, Koby, wasn't in any kind of trouble. He began running to the other side of the island.

Back at the storage house, Luffy was stretching happily. As he looked around, he noticed the four figures looking carefully at him. "Who are you guys?" Luffy asked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!!" all three shouted.

Before Luffy could answer, an angry shout exclaimed, "Back to work you scurvy dogs!!" the Iron Mace came crashing throw the storehouse a moment later. In a few short seconds, the entire storehouse was completely wrecked. The barrel (and Luffy) went flying through the storehouse and landed approximately 50 meters away.

As for the three crewmen, Alvida was looking down on them. "You lazy swabbies! Who's the fairest throughout all the seas?"

"YOU ARE, LADY ALVIDA!" the threesome said instantly.

"And you dare to defy me?" their captain asked one of them (who also happened to be the one who suggested they drink the rum in secret), readying her mace.

"What?! I would never…"

"Don't play dumb, you ingrate! I could hear you talking all the way from the ship! Which one of you had such a 'great nap'?"

The crewman suddenly remembered that skinny kid in the barrel. "Uh, captain! We have an intruder!"

"Yeah! That worthless Koby brought some skinny kid wearing a straw hat!" one of the other two put in. At that statement, all the other crewmembers began muttering to themselves, seeing if anyone had heard of a bounty hunter matching that description.

"What?! Could he be a bounty hunter after the 5 million berries on my head? Koby!" Alvida screamed, "Koby! Where the hell are you, you traitorous little worm!"

One of the crew suggested that the bounty hunter could have been the one known as Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. Another instantly dismissed that idea, as he had heard that Zoro had been locked up by the Navy.

"You know, it could also be that strange character that we heard appeared on the island a few weeks ago." A crewman suggested.

At that statement, all the other pirates began shaking with fear. 'FOOL!!!' they all thought, for no one had bothered to tell Alvida that.

"WHAT?!"

The said crewman never got a chance to elaborate, for the iron mace claimed his life that very moment.

XXXXXXX – elsewhere on the island

Koby was walking up to the boy that had busted out of the barrel. "Uh, hello. Are you okay? I-I mean, you were getting knocked around so much, you must be a little…"

The straw hat kid just laughed at Koby's comment, "Nah, I'm ok. Just a little surprised, that's all. I'm Luffy, where am I?"

"W-Well, this island is the hideout for the pirate, Iron Mace Alvida. I'm her cabin boy, Koby."

"I see. Well, that's not really important anyway," Luffy said as he got himself out of the barrel, while Koby slouched his head at the last comment. Luffy then turned to him and asked, "Do you have a small dinghy? I lost mine in a whirlpool." He chuckled at the memory.

'Whirlpool!' Koby thought, 'A normal person would have died and he's laughing about it? Who is this kid?" Nevertheless, he told Luffy that he had a small boat and proceeded to show him where it was.

XXXXXXX – back with Alvida and her crew

"Alright listen up! That traitor Koby has brought some kind of bounty hunter here. You all are to fan out and find them. Kill the poor fool he hired, but leave Koby for me. Anyone who fails meets the Iron Mace. Is that understood?"

"YES LADY ALVIDA!" the crew answered.

"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" at that, all the crewmen scattered, save for one.

Alvida turned to her strongest crewmember, "Mizuki, do have a death wish? Why aren't you moving?"

Mizuki just looked at her. "Why should I waste my breath? Let the underdogs do the dirty work. If they can't take the intruder down, then I'll do it myself."

Alvida glared at the shinobi, "You are getting far too cocky for your own good. I don't care if you are my first mate, or that you are a trained shinobi. When I give an order, I expect to be followed. IS THAT CLEAR?"

Mizuki simply shrugged it off and walked away with a simple whatever. Alvida has furiously shaking her head at her subordinate. He was becoming more of a headache than anything else. "Mizuki, if I were you, I would change that attitude. You never know when 'accidents' will happen. A pirate's life is full of dangers." If Mizuki heard her, he gave no indication. Angry now, Alvida stomped off after him.

Above, hidden in the trees, a small figure in orange was observing. 'This isn't looking good. The whole crew is looking for Koby. But who is this intruder: is it me, or did Koby actually hire a bounty hunter?' Lost in thought, he jumped to the next tree and began his own search.

Unfortunately, due to his lack of attention, he misjudged where the next tree was. That resulted in the boy running into the tree, falling to the ground and landing on his head.

"Ow, who put that tree there?"

XXXXXX – Island, Koby's boat

"This is your boat?" asked an astonished Luffy. To which Koby merely replied, uh huh.

The boat, if it could truly be called a boat, looked like it had been thrown together at the last moment and resembled a coffin more than a boat. "It took me two years to finish it," Koby said.

"Two years? And you don't want it?"

"No, I really don't need it anymore," Koby replied sadly, "I built it to escape from this place, but I don't have the courage to try it. I guess it's my fate to be Alvida's cabin boy for the rest of my life." He then smiled at himself. "But you know? I once had a different dream."

"Then way don't you try to escape?" asked a bewildered Luffy, who just didn't understood the boy. If he had a dream than was different from how he was living, then why didn't go after it? It was the easiest thing to do and if anyone got in your way, you clubber them. Simple as that.

"No! No! No! No way! Do you have any idea what Alvida would do to me?! Just thinking about her Iron Mace makes my bladder weak! I can't risk it!" He then gulped and continued, "I never forget that fateful day. I just wanted to go finishing…and I boarded the a pirate ship by mistake." He shuddered, remember the glares and threats the pirates had made when he got on. "That was two years ago. In exchange for my life, I've been working as their cabin boy."

"You're kind of clumsy and dumb! And you're gutless, spineless, pathetic, can't stand up for yourself, you have no motivation to chase your dream, weak, cowardly and scrawny." At this Luffy just threw his head back and laughed. "You are completely WORTHLESS! HA! HA! HA!"

Koby was just whimpering after this little speech. "You didn't have to be that frank. Even if it is all true." He sighed, "I'm not brave enough. I can't float around in the sea in a barrel; I don't have the guts for something like that. So, Luffy, why are you sailing anyway?"

At this, Luffy gave a big grin. "Well, you see: I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"

"K-KING of the P-PIRATES?! You have to make the WHOLE WORLD BOW to YOU!! You have to have WEALTH, FAME, POWER!! You have to achieve it ALL!! That must also mean that you are after Gold Roger's treasure: ONE PIECE!! Doing that will get you KILLED!! Don't you know that EVERY PIRATE is searching for it?! ("So am I," Luffy) The odds against you are ASTRONOMICAL!! It's IMPOSSIBLE!! You want to be KING OF THE PIRATES in the GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY!! It'll NEVER HAPPEN!! It WON'T HAPPEN!! IT CAN'T HAPP…" Koby stopped as Luffy punched him in the face. "Ouch. Why did you hit me? Koby asked, in a normal tone this time.

"You were hysterical."

"I see. Well, at least I'm used to it. Heh, heh."

"I'm not afraid to die, Koby."

Koby's jaw dropped at that statement. 'W-What? What did he say?' He couldn't have said that! What kind of person doesn't fear death?'

Luffy took off his straw hat and looked at it. "I've set myself to become King of the Pirates," he explained. "And if I die trying, then at least I tried. What's the point of having a dream if you don't go after it with everything you got?"

Koby just stared at Luffy in awe. 'What determination! What guts! He's ready to pursue his dream, even if it kills him. He's just like him.' Out loud, he asked, "You aren't even afraid of death?"

Luffy shook his head. "And I believe I'll succeed to. Or maybe I'm just kidding myself. But I'll never know until I try."

'I never thought of it that way before!' Out loud, he said, "Maybe… just maybe…I can be just like that. If I willing to risk my life trying…" he looked at Luffy hopefully, "Do you think I can join the Navy?"

"The Navy?"

"YES! We'll end up being enemies! But I want to join the Navy and beat up the bad guys! That's been my dream since I was a little kid! Luffy do you think I can do it?"

Luffy smirked, "How would I know?"

"Well, I'm going to do it! What've I got to lose? I'm sick of being a miserable cabin boy! Better to risk my life trying to achieve my dream! I'll join the Navy…and then…" He broke into a big smile, "I"LL CAPTURE ALVIDA!"

"WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CAPTURE, RUNT?!" Koby turned a pale white. He managed to step aside as Alvida's iron mace came crashing down on Koby's boat.

Alvida had just appeared in time to hear the last part of the conversation. She had made her entrance by yelling and smashing Koby's 'boat.' Behind her was the entire crew, each and every one of them armed. "You little scum! Did you really think that you could run away from me?" She then gave a quick look at Luffy and threw her back in laughter. "That's the bounty hunter you hired?! HA! HA! HA! Well, he certainly isn't Roronoa Zoro! So I'll give you one chance to repent. Who is the fairest through-out the entire seas?" When Koby didn't give an answer (due to the amount of fright he was having) Alvida shouted, "ANSWER ME!"

However, before Koby could, Luffy asked, "Who's that hideous looking old biddy?"

The sounds of jaws jumping from Koby, the rest of the crew and Alvida could be heard and the look of complete shock could be seen on all of their faces. All of them had the same thought running through their heads: 'I can't believe he just said that! He's dead meat!' No one had ever dared to say such a thing out loud. No one had even considered saying what the Straw Hat kid did.

Koby was the first one to overcome the shock and immediately grabbed Luffy and shouted, "LUFFY! TAKE IT BACK! THROUGH OUT ALL THE SEAS, LADY ALVIDA IS…"

"I've set myself to become King of the Pirates. And if I die trying, then at least I tried. What's the point of having a dream if you don't go after it with everything you got?"

Those had been Luffy's words no more than two minutes ago, when Koby had been trying to tell him that his dream was impossible, that it couldn't be done. But when Luffy had told him that he had set himself to become King of the Pirates, Koby remembered the feeling of determination and courage he had felt with those words. Koby then did something he never thought that he would do.

"…LADY ALVIDA IS…THE UGLYEST LOOKING OLD HAG OF ALL!!!"

At that the crew's already dropped jaws dropped even lower. Not one of them expected Koby of all people to say something like that. Alvida herself was the most surprised of them all. However, the shock that Alvida had experienced quickly wore off and was replaced with something much more dangerous: rage. And all that rage was focused on the one little boy. And no one ever thought that the pathetic, little runt would ever develop a backbone.

Luffy's reaction to this wasn't fear, like the crews or rage, like Alvidas. Instead, he threw back his head and began laughing like a maniac. Despite his loud laughter, he had been completely forgotten by Alvida, who was now standing over a terrified Koby.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!"

'I said it and I won't take it back anymore!! No more cringing, crying or whimpering from me anymore!! From now on, I'll fight for my dreams!!' As impressive as this little speech was, it would had been more impressive had Koby managed to say this out loud. Unfortunately, all that come out of his mouth was, "EYAAAAAA!!!"

Luffy's then stood between Koby and Koby's doom. "Nice going, Koby! I'll take it from here."

Alvida brought her mace up. "It makes no difference to me which one of you die first!" And with that, Alvida's mace came crashing down on Luffy's skull.

Before anyone could react to this, the body did something completely unexpected: it laughed. "That didn't hurt," the body claimed, "because I'm made of rubber!"

For the second time that day Alvida, Koby and the rest of the crew experienced a severe shock. That skinny straw hat kid just took a direct hit from the IRON MACE and he DIDN'T DIE! Who the hell was this kid?!

"IMPOSSIBLE! NO ONE SURVIVES THE IRON MACE!!" shouted Alvida.

Luffy swung back his right arm. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Koby watched as Luffy's arm stretched out and hit Alvida square on the right side of her face. The said women then fell to the ground and didn't move. The crew itself couldn't believe what had happened.

"No way!"

"He knocked out the Captain like it was nothing!"

"His arm stretched out like rubber!"

"He's not human! He's a demon!"

"Shut up you pathetic wimps!"

All heads then turned to the last person that had spoken. The man had white hair, blue clothing with a green vast, wearing sandals and has wearing some kind of bandana of a leaf sketched on a metal plate. On his back, he wore two giant Shuriken.

"So he knocked out Alvida. Big deal. She let her guard down and look what happened. I can handle these losers without breaking a sweat," he turned to Luffy and Koby, grinning. "Are you ready, Straw Hat?"

Luffy grinned. "Bring it on!"

Mizuki then started running at the pair. Luffy then used another Gum Gum Pistol. However, Mizuki was expected it and simply jumped in the air. "Hey! Worthless Cabin Boy! This is for you!" With that, he threw one of his giant shuriken right at the poor boy.

'Damn! He outsmarted me!' Luffy thought. "Koby, get out of there!"

However, Koby's limited courage had already run out and couldn't bring himself to move. 'This is it!" he cried as he closed his eyes and prepared to be butchered.

That's when an orange figure rushed out and picked up the panicked boy, just barely able to get both of them out of the way.

"What the hell? Who is it now!?" Mizuki screamed.

The kid who had saved Koby was about his age. He had blond hair, wore this obnoxious orange jumpsuit and sandals. In addition, he had six whisker marks on his cheeks and had a headband with a leaf symbol sketched on the metal plate.

"N-Naruto! You're here! How you get here!?"

"Of course I'm here! Remember who you're talking to: I'm the future Hokage!" the boy called Naruto looked over at Mizuki. "And no one, I mean one, hurts a friend of mine. You got that, jerk!"

"So, the rumors of some kid coming to the island were true after all," Mizuki smiled as he reached for the second giant shuriken and began spinning it in his hand. He then rushed at Naruto. "YOU'RE FINISHED!"

"Bring it on jerk! Anything you throw at me, I'll return a thousand fold!" Naruto then crossed his fingers and shouted, "Tajyuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)

Then were many puffs of smoke and once it cleared, over a thousand Narutos stood in the clearing and trees.

At this, Mizuki tripped over his own feet in astonishment, the pirate crew had their jaws drop yet again (several of them even began wetting themselves). Koby began stuttering incoherently and began pointing at the Narutos, as if needing confirmation that he was seeing so many. Thirty seconds later, he fainted.

As for Luffy, not only did his jaw drop, but his eyes were bulging. For a few seconds, he said nothing. Then, "COOL! How'd you do that?!" Naruto smiled.

"This is what a true ninja is capable of, especially the one who is going to be called the Hokage!" he said.

"A Hokage? That's great!" he paused. "What's a Hokage?"

Naruto turned to Luffy, looking like a madman. "Glad you asked! The Hokage is the strongest Ninja in Konoha! Everyone respects the Hokage and they look up to him! He is known for his wisdom, courage and valor! That's what I'm going to be someday!"

As Naruto was explaining this to Luffy, Mizuki was doing his best to quietly sneak anyway. However, several Narutos saw him and instantly shouted to themselves. As one, all one thousand Narutos turned and faced Mizuki. The original muttered a quick "I almost forgot about you." With that said, all Narutos charged in at the terrified shinobi, whose last conscious thoughts were 'Huge chakra! Whisker like marks on his face! It can't be! It's the FOX!'

After a few minutes, the Narutos left what was left of Mizuki bleeding on the ground. They all began surrounding the rest of the crew and asked at simultaneously, "Any one else?"

The crew shook their heads.

Luffy then steped up. "Then listen up. You're going to give Koby a dinghy so he can join the Navy."

All the Narutos cracked their fists. "Anyone have a problem with that?"

The crew replied "No sir" to Naruto and "Yes sir" to Luffy and began running to get their boat.

Luffy turned to Naruto. "Say, you're pretty strong."

Naruto smiled. "You really think so! Because I am! And you're strong too! Like how knocked out that old hag! You stretched your arm out! I mean really, really stretched! How you do something so awesome?!"

"I'll tell you, but first you have to tell me how you created so many yous! That was so cool! Say, would you like to join my pirate crew?"

Naruto jumped back. "What? YOU'RE A PIRATE!" Some skinny kid in a straw hat laughing merrily and sticking up for his friend Koby wasn't Naruto's impression of a pirate.

"Yeah. I'm going to be King of the Pirate. Didn't you hear me say that?"

"No, I just got here when you hit the ugly old cow."

"Oh. So you want to join my crew?"

"No thanks, I've got to get to Konoha. Mind if I tag along with you until the next island?"

"Sounds great! Call me Monkey D. Luffy: the Future King of the Pirates!" Luffy stuck out his hand.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki: the Future Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" Naruto's hand clasped Luffy's. Naruto smiled. "I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

At this point, the crew had returned, carrying a dinghy and a generous amount of supplies.

"Great! Now that we got our boat, Koby, let's get going!" No answer "Koby? Koby?"

Naruto looked over at the crew. "Where's Koby!"

One of them franticly point to the ground right behind the pair, where Koby was still lying unconscious, muttering statements like "Arms…stretched" and "hundreds…Narutos".

Naruto looked at Luffy confused. "Why is Koby sleeping at a time like this?"

Luffy shrugged. "Who knows. Let's grab him and go! We have an adventure to start!

End of Chapter 1

A/N: Next chapter will go more into Naruto's background in this story and how it is different from the Manga's version. Due to the fact that this story will take place in the One Piece universe, I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce Luffy's side of the story first. Which, as you can see, I didn't really alter.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto.