Heart of a Pirate

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts. They belong to Eiichiro Oda and Square Enix respectively.

Chapter 1: New Arrivals

0o0o0o0o0o0o- Destiny Islands, Children's Island

It was nighttime. There was a full moon, and there were very few clouds in the sky, allowing the pale white orb to shine unobstructed onto the island below it. There was not a single sound, save for the gentle lapping of the waves onto the beach. All was peaceful, until…

"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

SPLAAASSHH!

A large ship came falling down from the sky and crashed into the ocean close to the island, sending up huge amounts of water and spray. Huge waves splashed against the beach and the rocks, and the ship rocked back and forth on the water as it creaked and groaned from the strain of the impact. After about a minute of chaos, the water finally settled down and the ship stopped rocking, and once again, everything was quiet.

0o0o0o0o0o0o- Destiny Islands, Sora's house, the next morning

"Sora! Hey, Sora! Wake up!"

The sound of Kairi's voice ringing through the open window roused Sora from his slumber. He yawned and lazily raised a hand to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight shining in through the window. "Ugh… morning already?" he groaned as he stretched and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Sora! Hey, come on! You gonna sleep all day?" called the voice of Sora's best friend, Riku.

Sora chuckled to himself as he stood up from his bed and made his way to the window, looking down to where his two best friends, Riku and Kairi, were standing. "Geez, guys, what's a guy gotta do to get a little shut-eye around here?" he jokingly complained while grinning, as Riku and Kairi laughed.

"No time for that now! There's something you've gotta see!" Riku replied with an excited look on his face.

Sora raised an eyebrow at Riku's expression; he'd hadn't seen Riku this excited and eager since, well, ever. He was normally the most level-headed of the three of them. Sora's curiosity was now peaked. "What? What is it?" he asked, now feeling eager himself.

"No time to explain! Come on, get down here and we'll show you!" Riku replied, gesturing for him to follow.

Sora grinned. "Alright, I'll be right there!" he said, turning back inside his room.

After quickly getting dressed, dashing down the stairs and bolting down some toast his mom made, Sora burst out the front door to join Riku and Kairi. "About time you got out here!" Kairi said with mock annoyance, although she was still smiling.

Sora sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you know, it's hard to get ready in the morning in just five minutes," he replied.

Kairi giggled. "Relax, I was just kidding," she said.

Sora cleared his throat. "Well, enough about that! What did you guys want to show me?" he asked.

"Follow me!" replied Riku, turning around and running towards the docks.

"Hey, wait for us!" called out Sora as he moved to follow Riku, Kairi following suit. As soon as they caught up with Riku, Sora looked over to the Children's Island in the distance. His eyes widened at the sight.

A large ship was anchored at the beach dock where they usually tied their boats. It looked like a pirate ship, the kind they had heard about in the stories read to them as kids, complete with a black flag with a skull and crossbones on it, although for some odd reason, the skull was wearing what looked like a straw hat.

"Is that…?" began Sora, still gaping at the sight.

Riku nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely a pirate ship!" he answered, looking like he was itching to get over there and check it out.

Fortunately, Sora granted his wish as he said "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go check it out!" With that, the three friends hopped into their respective dinghies and began paddling towards the Children's Island.

Why was Sora so surprised, and Riku so excited? Because this was the first time they had ever seen a foreign ship of any kind arrive at Destiny Islands. According to what they had learned about the history of Destiny Islands, it was incredibly rare for a ship from anywhere outside the islands to dock at their home, or even pass by in the distance. The last time anyone could remember it happening was over 20 years ago, when a group of outlaws, calling themselves the Gold Roger Pirates, had passed through and stayed in town for a short time. And as for before that… no one could remember.

In the past, many people, their curiosity and sense of adventure getting the better of them, had created their own vessels and sailed out into the surrounding ocean to search for new places… but none had ever come back. Knowing that, the people of the islands decided to leave well enough alone and remain where they were. After all, the islands were remarkably self-sustaining, and the people living there would never need help from outside to continue living comfortably.

Riku, however, thought differently. Ever since Kairi had come to Destiny Islands from an unknown place over ten years ago, he had become curious to the possibility of other worlds outside of theirs, and as time went on, his desire to seek out other worlds became stronger, and eventually, he, along with Sora and Kairi, decided to build a raft in order to sail out into the uncharted waters, seeking out strange new places and worlds. In fact, they had planned to set off on their journey this very day, having finished their raft the previous day, but with the arrival of a pirate ship, they silently but unanimously decided to put their plans on hold for another day.

Once they got close to the ship, Sora noticed two dinghies much like their own tied to the dock where the pirate ship was. "Hey, aren't those Tidus and Wakka's boats?" asked Sora, pointing ahead.

"Yeah," replied Riku with a chuckle. "They didn't want to wait for you, so they went on ahead!"

All three of them laughed as they pulled up next to the dock, but then stopped when they heard a scream from the pirate ship, which didn't sound familiar.

"What was that?" wondered Sora.

- (Five minutes earlier)

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Wakka?" asked Tidus, looking slightly apprehensive as he and Wakka stepped onto the deck of the pirate ship. Wakka simply laughed.

"'ey, come on! Where's your sense of adventure, eh?" the blitzball player replied jovially. "It's not every day you get to see a real live pirate ship, ya? Heck, it's practically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"I know, but these are pirates! What happens if they catch us?" said Tidus, still looking slightly nervous. Wakka simply waved him off.

"Relax, brudda, we're only havin' a look at the outside parts, ya? We're not damagin' anythin'! And once we're done, we can wait for 'em on the beach! Who knows, maybe they'll let us have a look inside, ya?" Tidus shook his head in slight exasperation, but Wakka didn't see it as he turned around to look at the front of the ship. A few minutes of exploring later, the two friends met back up in front of… a set of orange trees?

"Why would pirates have orange trees on their ship?" wondered Tidus out loud. "Ah well, let's go, Wakka." No response. "Wakka?" asked Tidus as he approached his friend, who appeared to be rooted to the spot. "Wakka, what are you…?" Tidus stopped short as he saw what caused his friend to stop.

It was… a small animal. But it was the strangest looking animal they had ever seen. Their first thought was 'raccoon', but no raccoon they had ever seen or read about had hooves and antlers, or all-brown fur. Adding to its bizarre appearance was the fact that it stood on its hind legs, wore maroon shorts and a pink top hat with a white 'X' on it, and had a blue nose.

At the moment, the strange creature seemed to be staring blankly at them, just as they stared back at it. Then, suddenly, its eyes widened with terror, as if only just then realizing they were there.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" it screamed as it scrambled back and hid behind the corner to the stairs… well, 'hid' would be a stretch, since it seemed to only be hiding half of its face behind the corner, while leaving its whole body in plain sight. Both Tidus and Wakka quirked an eyebrow at the creature's more than pathetic attempt at hiding. Suddenly, Tidus realized something.

"Wakka?" he began slowly. "Did that thing… just scream?"

- (Back to present time)

"What was that?" asked Sora after hearing the scream. "I don't know," replied Kairi, looking just as confused as he did.

"Me neither," said Riku. "Hey Tidus, Wakka! You up there?" he called out, hoping they would answer.

At that moment on the ship, Riku's voice snapped Tidus and Wakka back to the present, making them realize what had just happened. They then began to panic. "Aw crap, Wakka! We've been caught!" said Tidus frantically, with Wakka looking just as nervous.

"Should we bail?" asked Wakka, looking over to his friend. Tidus looked over to him and nodded.

"RUN!" they yelled simultaneously in a panicked manner as they dashed over to the front of the boat and leapt off onto the beach. Once they landed on the sand, they took off like a shot towards the other side of the island, leaving a huge dust cloud in their trail.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi, upon witnessing the scene, all sweat dropped while quirking an eyebrow in confusion. "What… just happened?" Sora slowly asked. Neither of his friends could answer.

"Oi, oi, what's all the noise? I'm trying to nap here!"

A grumpy-sounding voice suddenly spoke from above their heads. Sora, Riku and Kairi looked skyward to see a man with short green hair (His hair is GREEN? thought the three of them in surprise) poking his head out from the crow's nest of the ship, an annoyed expression on his face. Though the three of them couldn't see much from their position on the dock, he definitely looked strong.

"What's going on out here?" came a female voice as a door on the ship opened and a teenage girl with orange hair stepped out.

"N-N-Nami!" came a stammering, high-pitched voice that sounded like it came from a very young boy, although the three of them couldn't see its source anywhere from their vantage point. However, they now knew that the girl's name was 'Nami'. "There were some strange guys on the ship just now! They ran off a few seconds ago!"

"Strange people, you say?" came another feminine-sounding voice, although it sounded older and more mature than that of the orange-haired girl. A tall, slender woman with long black hair and blue eyes then stepped out onto the deck from another door, revealing the speaker.

"Oi, what's all the noise out here?" A man with blond hair that hung over his left eye appeared on the main deck, apparently having come from down below. He wore an all-black suit with gold buttons on the jacket, with a blue undershirt. He currently had a lit cigarette in his mouth that he took puffs from at random intervals.

"Geez, and I was having such a good sleep," came a grumbling voice from down below as a teenage boy came up onto the deck. He wore brown overalls with no undershirt, a dark yellow, net-patterned bandana on his head, and what looked like a pair of goggles overtop the bandana. What really stood out about this person, though, was not his attire, but his rather long nose, the longest any of the three friends had ever seen on anyone. Of course, living on a remote chain of islands didn't give a huge selection of people to compare to.

"E-everyone!" There was that high-pitched voice again. Where was it coming from? "I-I just saw some people on the boat a minute ago! They're gone now, but they were definitely here!"

"You mean those guys?" said the green-haired man as he pointed to the trio on the dock, causing all eyes to fall on them. A tiny animal even hopped onto the railing to look at them. Sora and Kairi froze, nervous expressions appearing on their faces. Riku, on the other hand, just smirked a little.

"Uh… no," said the animal, now confirmed to be the owner of the young-sounding voice… wait, WHAT?!

"Who said strange guys!? I wanna see!" The three jerked their heads up to see a teenage boy with short black hair and a straw hat hanging from behind his head, sitting in a crouched position on the roof of the main cabin and grinning excitedly. He had seemingly appeared out of thin air, startling everyone.

"Dammit, Luffy! Don't do that!" yelled the long-nosed guy, thus letting the trio know that this person's name was 'Luffy'. However, Luffy didn't appear to be listening, as he had suddenly begun staring intently at Sora. The spiky-haired teen was getting a little nervous under this guy's stare. Why was he looking at him like that?

"WHOOAAA!" exclaimed Luffy as his eyes grew as wide as saucers. He then hopped off the ship and landed directly in front of Sora, causing him to jump back slightly in surprise. "Your hair is so COOL! How does it do that?! Tell me! Tell me!" He then grabbed Sora's shoulders and began shaking him, begging him to tell him the secret to his hairstyle, before getting bonked over the head from behind.

"Luffy! Don't be so rude!" yelled an irate-looking Nami as she stood behind Luffy with her fist held up, having apparently jumped out after him. Seeing the furious look on the orange-haired girl's face, the trio wisely decided to back up a few steps.

"Awww," complained Luffy as he rubbed the newly formed lump on his head while pouting. "But I just wanted to find out how he gets his hair like that!"

"THERE ARE MORE POLITE WAYS OF ASKING, YOU IDIOT!" shouted Nami.

While Nami chewed Luffy out, the other female crew member lightly leapt out of the ship and landed gracefully on the dock between the three friends and the bickering pirates, quickly straightening up. For some reason, the blond-haired man began swooning at the sight, his visible eye appearing to turn into a heart. "Ah, Robin-chwan! Such grace! Such beauty! Such elegance! Truly my heart belongs only to one such as thee!"

"Just like with every other woman you lay eyes on, dumbass?" said the green-haired man in a sarcastic tone, having climbed down from the crow's nest.

"What was that, moss-head?!" shouted the blond-haired man angrily, causing an angry vein to pop out on the green-haired man's forehead.

"You wanna fight, shitty cook?!"

"Bring it, cactus!"

The blond man then aimed a kick at the green-haired man, who whipped out a pair of swords, one for each hand, and blocked it. The two then began rapidly exchanging blows and insults, neither gaining a decisive advantage over the other. Sora and Kairi looked on with widened eyes, while Riku just snickered a little at the display.

"Excuse me," said the woman standing in front of the trio, snapping their attention back to her. "Could you please tell us where we are?"

A few minutes later, after the respective pirates had stopped bickering, everyone was standing on the beach, the pirates opposite the islanders. Selphie had arrived just then, having slept a bit later than the others, since none of them could wake her up, and Tidus and Wakka had come back out from the other side of the island, having seen Sora, Riku and Kairi talking to them peacefully.

Kairi then began speaking. "I guess we should introduce ourselves," she said with a smile. She then gestured towards herself. "I'm Kairi! Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Sora! Great to meet you!"

"My name's Riku."

"I'm Tidus!"

"The name's Wakka, ya?"

"And I'm Selphie!" said Selphie with a wave.

After the native Destiny Islanders had finished introducing themselves, Luffy grinned proudly as he threw out his chest. "My name is Monkey D. Luffy! Future King of the Pirates!" he said enthusiastically.

Sora suddenly gave him an odd look. "Your name is Monkey?" he asked, causing Luffy to look at him with a confused expression. "Huh?" he replied confusedly while scratching his head. "No, it's Luffy." Sora got even more confused. "How does that work?" he wondered out loud. Riku looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke up.

"I think I know," said the silver-haired boy. "Where they're from, their family names come first, and their given names come last. Am I right?" Luffy nodded at the statement while grinning. Sora gained a look of understanding, but still had a slightly confused expression. "That's a bit of a weird way of doing it," he said softly, but left it alone.

The green-haired man then spoke up. "Roronoa Zoro," he said simply.

"I'm Nami," said Nami, smiling and giving a small wave.

"The name's Sanji," said the blond-haired, black-clad man as he took out a cigarette and lit it.

"I'm Tony Tony Chopper, but just call me Chopper!" said the small animal… thing… rather cheerfully. The six teens were still wondering what he was, exactly. And how was he able to talk? They'd have to ask him later.

"I am Nico Robin," said the tall woman with a light smile.

"And as for me," began the long-nosed teen as he got into a declaratory pose. "Just call me… CAPTAAAAAAIIINN USOPP!" He then shot out his arm and pointed his finger in the directions of the islanders. "I am known and feared across many islands and oceans! Should any decide to mess with me or my friends, my ten million followers will be right here to wreak vengeance upon them!"

A dead silence followed immediately afterward for a few moments, broken only by the sound of a light wind gusting across the beach.

"Ten million followers?! Really?! Wow, Usopp, you're amazing!" said Chopper amazedly, breaking the silence while looking at said liar with stars in his eyes.

"Ten million followers?! Where?!" said Sora, looking around frantically. Then, suddenly, realization dawned on his face. "Wait, that can't be right… you can't fit that many people onto this island, let alone that ship…"

Riku and the rest burst out laughing at Sora's display. "You actually believed that?! Man, Sora, you're so gullible, it's unbelievable!" Riku shouted through his laughter before being overcome with mirth once more. Sora's face went slightly red with embarrassment as he chuckled nervously.

Once the laughter died down, Tidus spoke up. "So, then, he's the captain of your crew?" he asked, pointing to Usopp.

"No, Luffy is," said Nami, gesturing towards the Straw Hat captain, who grinned proudly. "Usopp always says stuff like that, so don't believe everything you hear from him." At that, said long-nosed teen slumped in depression.

"So, where are we, exactly?" asked Luffy as he began looking in random directions.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other, smiled, and nodded. They then turned back to the Straw Hats and spread their arms out in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome to Destiny Islands!"

Author's Note: Well, what do you think? This is my first stab at writing a fanfic of my own after putting it off for so long, so please no flames. I would just like to tell you not to expect consistent updates on this. I only write when I have the motivation, because forcing myself to write causes two things: A) A big headache for me (literally), and B) The story quality goes down. So don't go holding your breath for updates. But I do have big plans for this story, and I don't want to abandon it. Reviews would be much appreciated.

Many thanks to Fictionreader98 and Zoneshifter D for their help with this chapter!

Chapter 2 preview:

"You'll never make it on the Grand Line," said Zoro, looking Riku in the eye. "You're not ready. The enemies you'll face are years beyond your skill level. Not to mention your raft isn't nearly enough of a vessel for this ocean. With the way the Grand Line is, it'll fall apart before you get to even one island." He then turned around to walk away, as if that was all there was to say on the matter.

"Hold it!" called out Riku's voice. Zoro stopped and turned around, only to have Riku toss a small wooden sword at his feet.

"Fight me," challenged Riku. "If you win, I'll concede that we're not ready. But if I win, you have to take us along on your ship!"

Stay tuned for Riku vs Zoro next chapter!