Here is the first chapter of my new fanfic! I plan on making this one about 11 to 15 chapters lon g(hopefully) although I have a strange feeling that is telling me that it will end up being even longer. Well, I hope that you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Oda does. I do however own the plot of this story.

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I stared at the mirror that I was currently standing in front of as I finished dressing myself for the masquerade ball that I would be attending this night. I was nearly finished, I just had to put on the cravat that I would be wearing that night and the mask. I draped the white snowy cravat that I would be wearing that evening over my white shirt, making sure that one end was slightly longer than the other. I passed the longer end over the short end, pushed the long end back up behind the knot and pulled it slightly. I then placed the short end beneath my shirt and checked the knot. It was quite wide, unlike my previous three failures at making the knot of the cravat correctly. No. I didn't like it this way, it wasn't good like this either. I quickly undid everything and started to tie the cravat around my neck yet again, trying to get it perfect. I quickly repeated all of the steps that I had previously done so many times, this time managing to tie the cravat quite well. This time the knot wasn't too tight or too lax, but I was far too lazy right now to go on and change it yet again. Yes, I was now almost ready to go to now to that masquerade ball that was held at school this night, I just needed to put on the clean white mask that I had kept safely hidden inside a bad since I had bought it.

I grabbed the white mask that had several black decorating lines that I would be wearing this night. It would cover all of my face except for my mouth. I had chosen this type of mask explicitly; I didn't want to be recognised this night. I didn't want to be seen by who I was and instead to be free just this night to do as I pleased and to have fun. I was Monkey D. Luffy, one of the most notorious and ignored people at school, of noble blood, the son of Monkey D. Dragon and the grandson of Monkey D. Garp, the famous hero and vice-admiral of the marine. I attended a prestigious school for only children of nobles in the whole Grand Line, and I had managed to get into this school thanks to my grandfather Monkey D. Garp even though my father was the famous leader of the revolutionary army.

I didn't have many friends at school, in fact, the only person at school that was my friend was Vivi, who was the only person that became my friend when I arrived. My father's reputation, that had been surprisingly ignored by the principle of the school when I had become of age to attend this school, had been enough of a big reason to make people not like me and to not try and befriend me, but this combined with the fact that I regularly went to the streets to talk to 'non-noble' people had been the definitive reason that had caused people to ignore me and gossip behind my back. Not that I minded of course. I had never really cared about these kinds of things. I was being judged all day by them, no matter what I did, and I had always managed to ignore them and what they said. This was why today I would be able to be free in this place. I would be able to be myself without people glaring daggers at me, and on top of all I would be able to have fun. I had almost instantly decided to go to this ball when it had been announced weeks back. Vivi had been quite happy when she knew that I would go to the ball. Nami, one of my friends from out of this place, had also been quite excited, and she had said several times that she wished that she could assist to this ball.

When I had started attending this school I had immediately noticed a particular student, and what I had at first classified as a wish to befriend him had soon revealed itself to be a crush that soon turned into a love that I couldn't leave behind. Portgas D. Ace, the most popular and good looking guy at the school. All of the girls at the school had had a crush on him at some point, and some guys had too suffered this fate. I could be counted in this group, but nobody knew of my secret crush or would care about it. He was a few years older than me, just three, which wasn't too much. I had never really talked to him aside from the times that we had had to do some project together. We were in different year groups, but several times each year some teachers decided to do a project that combined several year groups. It had been during one of these times when I had been assigned to work with Ace and his best friend, Sabo. He and Sabo spent all of their time together, and they were both very popular between the girls of the school too.

Sabo came from another elite and respected noble family. His parents weren't the kind of people that I would like meeting, and I had even heard him say this several times to Ace, but this had made Sabo be respected and feared at school. Ace was the son of Gol D. Roger, the man that had become so powerful in the army that had even been considered like a king. His mother had come from a 'lower' noble family, but this didn't matter when considering just how important Ace was. He also seemed to be related to several royal families all around the Grand Line, even Vivi's. He surely was some kind of slightly distant cousin or something. Soon my thoughts drifted off to how Ace was. His body, his face, his beautiful eyes, his perfect black hair, his beautiful and tempting rosy lips... I felt a blush creep up to my face, and I quickly shook my head to not get distracted by this. This night I would have fun, I would be myself for the first time in what seemed ever and I would be judged as if I was someone new. Yes, tonight would be perfect.

I slowly brought the mask to my face, and I slowly placed it over it. The clean white mask with some black decorating lines was cold due to it not being use ever before, but it's smell didn't automatically identify it as being brand new or too old. I looked at myself on the only mirror of my room. All of my face was covered except my lips. The part of the nose was slightly pointy and slightly similar to the masks that seemed to be designed after birds. It combined in a strange and perfect way with my face, and I wasn't able to recognise myself on the mirror. I was wearing an elegant black suit that was designed following the current fashion trends. My grandfather had been delighted with the idea of me attending the masquerade that was celebrated tonight, which was quite strange of him, and he had provided me with an elegant suit that I could wear tonight.

I was wearing a completely clean white shirt, a cravat that was placed in between the shirt and a black vest with golden decorations that covered the rest of the shirt. On top of this I was wearing a long black coat that although was quite similar to the heavily decorated military coats that were worn now, was very elegant and beautiful It was black and was more heavily decorated with the same type of golden decorations that the vest had. I was wearing black 'trousers' that again were similar to the ones used in military uniforms, and then I was wearing tall black and surprisingly elegant boots. I looked like a complete stranger, even for myself.

"I'm finished" I stated as I looked at my reflection. I was ready for what was waiting for me tonight, yes, I was completely ready, and I couldn't wait. I slowly turned around and then placed on my head a three cornered black hat that also had the same type of golden decorations that the rest of the suit had. I had finally finished dressing myself up. I continued looking at my reflection on the mirror. I almost looked like a character taken out of a classical book. I was completely unrecognisable, even to myself. I was sure that Nami would love seeing me like this, and Robin would probably find me similar to one of the characters of the many books that she read. That reminded me that I had to give her another book from the school library soon, just like she had asked me some time ago. I usually gave her books from the library when she gave me back the ones that she had already read, and then I would bring her a new book, that she usually read to me.

I had met them almost when I had been forced to come to this school and town. As soon as I had arrived I had started going out of the school that I had to reside at and gone out to meet new people. I had soon managed to complete this, and almost at the same time that I had started to go out of the prestigious school that I attended I had found and met the people that proved over the years to be excellent friends: Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook. All of them were so different from each other and yet we all formed a perfect group. We had ended up becoming quite infamous around the city and being known as the "Straw hats", probably because I acted like the captain of the group, I probably was, and I always wore a Straw hat that my hero, Shanks, had given me when I was a child. Even Vivi had met my friends on several occasions over the last years, and she was even considered by us to be part of the group (she hadn't really participated in the numerous fights that we had been involved in though).

I grinned and I turned around, soon starting to walk towards the door that led out of my room in an elegant way. As I walked towards the door my boots made a soft sound as they touched the ground, which made the already elegant atmosphere around me increase. I opened the door of the room that I lived in during all of the school year (all students had an individual room at the school) and I opened the door swiftly and without making any sounds while doing this. I stepped out of the room and I closed the door as quickly as I had opened it at first. There was no one at the corridor where my room was located, and I was thankful of this. It would be hard to explain why I was dressed like this and continue with my plans for this night. I walked across the corridor in the same way that I had been walking earlier unconsciously, going towards one of the common halls that were found all around the school. These were located near several rooms so that the students could spend if they wanted to time with other students and friends at a place that wasn't their respective rooms.

Not even a minute had passed when I finally reached the common room that my room was connected to. Ace's room was also connected to this common room too, and I think that his best friend's room too was connected to this one. I usually tended to spend quite an amount of time here, usually just sleeping or dozing off at the same sofa. I looked around the common room and I soon saw Vivi sitting down on one of the sofa's inside the room. I walked towards her, and saw that she was wearing a beautiful long and pure white dress with several decorations that were also of the same colour. As soon as I took a step into the room she looked at me, smiling. Her mask was of the same colour.

"Wow Luffy, you look outstanding! I can barely recognise you!" She said, with a happy and excited tone of voice.

I grinned at this, not answering but making it obvious that I was thanking her.

"Ace is going to be over you like a dog, you know Luffy?" She said with a teasing tone of voice.

I blushed lightly at this comment. "I am just going to do this to have fun" I immediately said.

"I know" She immediately answered with that teasing tone of voice and with a wink.

"Let's go, we are late" I immediately added. We were specifically 30 minutes late to the masquerade.

"I wasn't the one that spent some extra 25 minutes in the room" She then said.

I didn't reply to this and instead I just walked towards the exit of the room and towards the hall where the masquerade was being held, prepared to be myself tonight and who knows what more.