Hey everyone. I decided to emerge from my years of dormancy and share this One Piece story I've been writing. Just a little heads up on some things about this story.

I don't own One Piece. I wish I did, but I don't. The talented Eiichiro Oda does.

I'm writing this to see if my skills have developed much since the last time I submitted a story, reviews would be very appreciated. Constructive criticism is more than welcome. If you see something that you think needs improvement, mention it in a review or a Private Message. Characters may or will be Out Of Character if that particular part of the story calls for it to help the flow of progress. But I will stick to the original personalities as much as I can.

This story is now rated M for language, attempted immature adult humour, violence, and certain scenes in later chapters (such as chapter 11) that would be inappropriate for younger readers.

I hope you enjoy this story.

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Chapter 1.

Luffy awoke to a sharp pain to his forehead. His eyes shot open and he sat up quickly, clutching the area of his head that hurt. 'OWW! What gives?!' He cried. His grandfather, Garp, stood over him. His fist still clenched and ready to deliver another punch to Luffy's head if needed.

'Luffy, you lazy little clod. You forgot to set your alarm and now you'll be late for school.' He said sternly. His grandson looked up at him in accusation. 'That doesn't mean you have to hit me!' Luffy protested. Garp's eyes narrowed. 'Are you being smart with me?' He said and raised his fist for another strike. 'Wait. No, no, no, I'm sorry.' Luffy cried; raising his hands in surrender.

Luffy's older half-brother, Ace, poked his head into the room. 'Why the racket in here? Can't you guys wake up without being so loud?' He stopped when he saw that Luffy was sitting up in bed, asleep, and their grandfather was standing over him, fist raised and snoring loudly. Ace rolled his eyes and left for his job at the local auto mechanics. And they wonder why Ace never brought girls home.

He closed the door with a loud bang. Garp startled awake at the noise. He looked down at his sleeping grandson sitting up in bed with a goofy look on his face. 'Aww, he looks like a stupid little angel when he's sleeping.' Garp said. He looked to his cocked his fist, then to his grandson and back to his fist again. He shrugged mentally. 'Well that's enough of that. LUFFY, WAKE. UP!'

~ X X X ~

Luffy rubbed the lump on his head tenderly and grumbled under his breath as he cut through the town square park on his way to school. His grandfather was way too serious about mornings. Mornings were made to be slept through. The afternoons were when you wake up. Just in time for lunch.

He picked at his school uniform. The shirt was white, bright blue collar and sleeves. The colours reminded him of the sky and the clouds. He stared at the school's rounded emblem printed on the right breast of his uniform. A lighthouse situated on a rocky shore above ocean waves, its light shining gold stood out against the plain navy blue background within its circle. He hadn't washed the shirt before he wore it so it felt uncomfortably stiff. And he hadn't even noticed that he hadn't buttoned the shirt correctly so one side hung lower than the other.

His pants were rolled up to just above the knee and the breeze felt great on his legs. And as much as he had wanted to wear flip flops, his grandfather had forced him to wear shoes with socks. And Garp had only hit Luffy after catching him trying to sneak out in his preferred footwear after being told to wear shoes.

His schoolbag was new and spacious. It had plenty of room for textbooks and homework that anyone could guess wouldn't make its way to a teacher. But it had plenty of compartments which Luffy found use for by stuffing them with snacks. A keychain of cartoon Jolly Roger wearing a straw hat swung from one of the zippers. Luffy loved it because it matched his own straw hat.

After stopping at the window of the local bakery and drooling hungrily at the pastries on display for ten minutes, Luffy finally reached his destination or so he hoped. He glanced at the name of the school on the wall and matched it against the school name scribbled down amongst the instructions and directions written on the notepad paper he had clutched in his hand. Yes, he was here. Grand Line High. He breathed deeply, adjusted his bag on his shoulder and stepped through the gate and into the mass of students.

He had to squeeze his way through groups of students too engrossed in catching up then actually moving out of the way of others. Suddenly Luffy received a sharp slap to the back of the head, knocking his straw hat to the ground. He bent to retrieve it and received a kick in the butt. He yelped and fell on top of his treasure.

He quickly scrambled off the hat, now crumpled from his weight. He looked up as a sneering senior stood over him. The only way Luffy could tell he was a senior was by the gold rings at the edge of his blue collar and sleeves. The older boy's most noticeable features were his big red nose and long blue hair pulled back into a ponytail. 'Heya, squirt. Don't you know it's impolite to ignore your betters?' He asked with an arrogant smirk. 'Tell you what, I'll forget about it if you give me ten bucks.'

A senior girl joined the big nosed teen, crouched and picked the battered hat and placed it on Luffy's head. 'Sorry, cutie.' She said sympathetically to the freshman. Her wavy black hair shone in the sunlight. She was beautiful. He lips were glossy red with lipstick. Her uniform hugged her nicely, showing off her hourglass figure. She turned to Luffy's tormenter. 'Don't be a jerk. Apologize.' She demanded.

The older boy looked unimpressed. 'Aw, c'mon, Alvida. I was just kidding around. I, Buggy, pride myself on making people laugh. I'm a joker. And besides, he had fun. Look at his smiling face.' Buggy said, indicating Luffy. He wasn't smiling at all.

Alvida frowned. 'God, why do I even date you?' she said. Buggy smiled. 'Because I have a big dick.' He smirked. His girlfriend raised an eyebrow and replied. 'The only big dick you have is your ego.' And with that she turned on heel and moved off toward the school building. Buggy watched her go in stunned silence, his jaw dropped in shock. 'I was only having fun but that was just mean.' He said and followed after her.

Luffy watched Buggy leave and turned his attention back to his battered hat. He dusted it off and tried to push the dents back into place. Suddenly high school didn't seem that great to him anymore. A shadow fell over him. He looked up. Another senior stood over him. A girl. Tanned skin and black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore thin wire frame glasses that settled on the bridge of her straight nose, but seemed to deepen the blue of her eyes. She knelt down to match his level. 'Are you alright?' she asked, genuine concern in her eyes.

Luffy nodded. 'Yeah. I just met a jerk.' He said. The girl nodded sagely. 'Don't worry, we aren't all like that.' She said with a small smile. She offered her hand and Luffy took it. He stood and placed his hat back on his head. He grinned at the girl. 'I'm Luffy.' He said. The girl inclined her head. 'Nico Robin.' She replied. 'Pleased to meet you, Luffy. If you ever feel down, come find me. I'm always willing help others with any problems they may have.' Luffy grinned again. 'Thanks, Robin.' She smiled again. 'Not at all.' She said and continued on her way.

Luffy's stomach grumbled loudly. He rubbed it and looked around for his friends Sanji and Zoro. He couldn't see them amongst the groups of students. His stomach growled louder. He looked at his watch and discovered he had forgotten to wear it. Surely he had enough time to go back to the bakery. He shrugged to himself and made his way back to the gate. If he was quick he could make it back before the bell.

XXX

Two minutes later, a black 1978 Mustang Cobra II, revved into the school lot. It pulled into a handicapped parking spot. Zoro and Sanji exited the vehicle and stretched in the sunlight. Zoro's hair was ruffled and stuck out at random angles, which matched the state of his shirt. It was as if he had just woken up and pulled his school shirt from a crumpled pile of clothes and put it on… Which is actually what happened.

On the other hand, Sanji's hair was neatly brushed and his uniform was pressed, clean and spotless. He unwrapped a lollipop, tossed the plastic in a nearby trash can and placed the lollipop between his teeth. His eyes roamed the students and began picking out the female students and taking note of the changes to their bodies. 'Oooh, Rebecca's bust has increased.' He said in delight. 'Alvida lost more weight. Viola has a new hairstyle that draws attention to her great figure. Domino grew taller but she is still wearing the same skirt from last year, showing more thigh. I love it.'

Zoro groaned. 'God. Could you be any more of a pervert?' He muttered under his breath. 'Where's Luffy? Wasn't he supposed to start this year?' He asked. 'Who cares.' Sanji said, his eyes locked on a freshman girl. Zoro shook his head. 'You really need to stop that, Sanji. It reflects poorly on me that you're my roommate when you're acting like Absalom.'

Sanji snapped round at Zoro. "No way in hell will I ever be like that creep.' He said in outrage. Zoro shrugged indifferently. Absalom was now a sophomore like them. He thought he was charmer of ladies, with his blonde surfer guy hairstyle. But he was, in truth, nothing more than a pervert.

Zoro pointed to the subject of their discussion. Absalom was moving between groups of girls trying and failing to look like he wasn't taking pictures of them with his phone. As Zoro and Sanji watched, he sidled up to a girl and moved his phone between her legs.

She must have heard the phone's camera click because she suddenly looked down and saw the unwelcome object. She turned and kicked Absalom in the crotch. He went down in a pained squeal and the girl wrenched the phone from his grasp and smashed it onto the pavement. Surrounding students cheered and laughed. Zoro turned to Sanji and said 'In two years, that will be you.'

'Fuck off. No way in hell will I become like that.' Sanji scoffed. He hitched his bag onto his shoulder. 'If you'll excuse me, Mosshead. I am going to go enjoy the company of ladies.' He moved off into the crowd of students. Zoro leaned on his car and searched the crowd for Luffy's telltale straw hat. He didn't see it.

What he did see, however, was a white pickup truck stop outside the school gate. After a few moments, the driver got out of the vehicle and walked around to the passenger door. He wrenched it open and grabbed the occupant, presumably his son, dragged him out of the car and pushed him towards the school. 'Learn something.' The father replied and then got back in the truck and drove off.

Zoro studied the teen. Looked like a freshman. He had curly black hair, and a long nose that reminded Zoro of Pinocchio. He clutched his school bag and stared with wide terrified eyes at the mass of students. Zoro rolled his eyes and checked his watch. As if on cue, the first bell of the school year screamed. A noise that promised nothing but torture, boredom and suffering that went beyond death.

Students trudged towards the open doors of the high school like they were prisoners on death row walking towards the electric chair. Teachers darted through the crowd, scolding some students for faults with their uniforms, or lingering too long in the parking lot. Zoro joined the stream of students and entered the building.

Three minutes later, Luffy appeared around the corner and dashed for the school gate like the demons of hell were on his heels. And they may well have been. As Luffy had been leaving the bakery who should show up but his grandfather, Garp, on his way to enjoy a coffee and pie before his shift at the police station. To say the least, he wasn't impressed that his grandson was not at school. He had chased Luffy two blocks with a rolled-up newspaper.

Luffy made it to the school gate and sped for the building. He stopped looking where he was going to and looked upward to adjust his straw hat. He suddenly collided into another student and caused them both to fall. All he heard was a squeal of surprise, saw a flash of orange hair and a pair of thin, creamy legs before he hit the pavement. Luffy recovered quickly, scrambling to his knees and brushing the dirt from his uniform while he searched the surrounding area for his straw hat.

He found it lying a few feet from him. He leaned over and plucked it from the pavement, brushed it gently and placed it on his head. He turned back to the student he had collided with and discovered that she was already on her hands and knees, picking up items that had spilled from her bag when she had fallen and was currently in the process of stuffing them back into her school bag. He quickly scrabbled to her side to help collect all the various items that lay scattered. He grabbed a textbook and held it out to her. She snatched it from his hand without a word of thanks.

"I'm sorry I bumped into you." He said sincerely, as he collected a few pens from the ground. "I should have watched where I was going." She stared at him for a few moments. "Yeah, you should have." She said angrily. She scooped a couple of books and a pencil case and dumped them into her bag, stood up and brushed a lock of her orange hair away from her eyes.

Luffy carefully picked up the last item he could find, a tube of eyeliner, and held it out for her. She snatched it from his fingers without a word and turned away. "I'm Luffy, by the way, and you are...?" The girl spun back at him, her face a mask of disbelief, her eyes searching his. Luffy was confused and a little concerned. Had she hit her head so hard she couldn't remember? But then her brown eyes flashed with irritation. "Not interested in talking to a loser!" She snapped in reply. And with that she turned her back on him and stormed off into the school. Luffy frowned after her. 'That is a really weird name.' he thought. A teacher making a final sweep spotted him, hurried over and ushered him into the school.

XXX

The school auditorium buzzed with conversation. Friends swapped stories and talked about recent movies, who broke up with who, the latest fashion, who had the wildest parties, and many other things. A man emerged from the side of the stage and made his way to the lone microphone that rested on its tripod stand in the centre. He tapped it a couple of times and said "Testing, testing." Which came out loud, accompanied by a blast of static.

The students screamed and clapped their hands over their ears. The man did the same until he was certain it was safe to remove his hands. "H-Hello? Ahem. Welcome to Grand Line High. I am your principal. Principal Spandam." If there was one word to describe Spandam, it would be Creepy. His skin was unhealthily pale, his wavy yet wild, lavender-coloured hair gleamed in the lights. There were dark markings around his eyes as if he hadn't slept in a year and his nose was rather red. He wore a studded belt, gloves and high-collared vest. All leather.

A few students clapped. Spandam beamed. "Thank you. Now, first and foremost. Let me welcome you to another year at Grand Line high school. Our prestigious school is state of the art when it comes to learning. We have new books! We haven't had new books since 1992. So no one had better draw penises in these ones or else there will be big trouble."

Spandam produced a paper from his vest and unfolded it. "There are a few rules that need to be upheld around here. I have them here with me and I shall now read them out." He began to read the rules aloud for the students. Without even realizing it, he stepped on the cord and pulled the jack, rendering the microphone useless. Spandam continued to drone on without realizing his mistake. It wasn't fixed until one of the tech students scurried onto the stage and plugged the cord back in. Spandam's voice once again echoed off the walls.

"…And finally, there is to be no insults directed at me. Is that clear, Cutty Flam?" He aimed the last question at the woodwork teacher, who stood in line with the other teachers onstage. The blue-haired man flicked his sunglasses from the bridge of his nose so that they settled against his forehead and raised his other arm in acknowledgement. "Whatever you say, Spanda." He replied.

"It's Spandam!" The principal snapped. "Now, to enforce the rules of this school, I have enlisted some students with the responsibility of becoming this year's hall monitors. And here they are!" Five students marched in a straight line to the centre of the stage. Four boys, one girl. They faced the students, their faces serious and unsmiling.

"Allow me to introduce them. Ladies first, this is Kalifa." He said, indicating the girl by twirling his hands. Kalifa was a serious looking young woman. Her uniform consisted of the school shirt, with gold rings to indicate her year, the first couple of buttons unfastened so that her cleavage was revealed and she wore a short black skirt. Her long, blonde hair was settled behind her back. She wore black-framed glasses and small, studded earrings.

She frowned at the principal and adjusted her glasses. "That's sexual harassment." She said sharply. The audience burst into great fits of laughter. Spandam's jaw dropped. 'What? Because I introduced you first?" He demanded. Kalifa gave him a stony stare in reply. "A-anyway, moving on." Spandam said as he moved to the boy that stood beside Kalifa.

Kalifa, however, called him back. "Sir." "Y-yes, Kalifa?" The principal asked. "That's sexual harassment." She said again. "Why? Because I finished your introductory?" He said. The audience laughed harder. "Silence!" he screamed. The students settled down and principal Spandam continued. "As I was saying, our next hall monitor is Kaku."

Kaku's wore a white cap, and a high-collared orange jacket with blue sleeves over his school shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. He smiled kindly and nodded to the crowd, although most students were staring at his long, square nose.

"Next is Jabra."

Jabra wore his school shirt in a similar fashion to Kalifa, unbuttoned to reveal his chest and the new tattoo he had gotten over the summer break. He wore a small, black tie, black pants and shoes. He also had small pointed, silver-framed sunglasses resting on his forehead. His long hair was kept in a ponytail.

"This is Fukuro."

Fukuro was big and wide. His green hair was well groomed and stubble was noticeable on his chin. Unlike his fellow students, he wore a formal black suit with the school's emblem stitched onto the right breast. Fukuro leaned down unexpectedly and spoke into the microphone. "Gatherine dumped Jabra before this assembly." He announced.

More laughter echoed off the walls. Jabra went red in the face from both embarrassment and rage. "Shut the hell up! How did you even find out about that?!" He shouted as he tried to clamp his hands over Fukuro's mouth in a desperate attempt to stop anymore secrets from spilling out. Only once Spandam succeeded in stopping the scuffle and making the students settle did he introduce the final hall monitor.

"And this is Rob Lucci." He announced.

An uneasy silence settled as the students recognized the senior that stood before them. Lucci was notorious for his attitude towards others. He was sadistic and vicious and would definitely punish wrongdoers with more than just detention. He wore his school shirt over a white tank top, black pants and shoes and a black top hat with a sepia band. He gazed at the audience with hard eyes.

"This, boys and girls, is our ninth group of hall monitors in the history of this school. I call them the 'Cool Police.'" He said giving a wink and a thumbs-up to the audience. Groans answered him. Even the hall monitors themselves looked unhappy with the name. Kaku and Kalifa shared a look of distaste between them. Jabra visibly grimaced.

"That name sucks!" Shouted a student. Rob Lucci's eyes instantly targeted the student and he committed the boy's face to memory. He would be having a 'talk' with that student later. Spandam's eyelid twitched. "Fine. Then I shall call them CP9. The 'School Police'. How about that then?"

Everyone gave up on trying to find any logic in the new name or the reason why the name itself didn't match the initials, but CP9 sounded cool enough on its own. "With these five seniors roaming the halls, I expect there to be zero rule-breaking. Thank you, CP9. You may return to your seats." Principal Spandam said. The audience applauded as the students left the stage. When the applause died, Spandam addressed the next agenda. "Now, allow me to introduce this year's freshmen!"

After a moment's delay, a long line of young students shuffled into view. They lined themselves from one side of the stage to the other and gazed out into the sea of faces that stared right back at them. The same tech student hurried over to Spandam, handed him a clipboard and then doubled back. The principal began announcing names, and motioning for the selected student to step forward as he said their name and then shooing them back into line. Eventually he got down to the last few names on the list.

"Kaya."

A slim, pale girl with white-blonde hair stepped forward. In the audience, unnoticed by everyone, a senior leaned forward in his seat to study the girl more carefully. He smiled to himself and adjusted his glasses. Kaya stepped back into line and the principal read the next name.

"Nami."

The orange-haired girl stepped forward. Luffy looked at her, frowning in confusion. He turned to the student next to him, who just happened to be the long nosed freshman that Zoro had seen earlier that morning. "I thought her name was 'Not-interested-in-talking-to-a-loser'." He said sincerely. The long nosed freshman spluttered and coughed to avoid laughing aloud.

Nami stepped back in line and Luffy leaned forward to catch her eye. "That's a nice name. Good to meet 'cha, Nami." He said, giving her a huge, friendly grin. She averted her eyes. "You there! Be quiet." Shouted Spandam, as he pointed dramatically at Luffy. "Alright then, next is… Perona." A pink-haired girl stepped forward. Some members of the audience whispered to one another, commenting on her gothic appearance. Perona turned her eyes to her shoes, tugged at her skirt nervously and stepped back into line.

"Usopp!"

The long-nosed freshman stumbled forward and then quickly retreated back to the safety of the line before Spandam could blink. Luffy slapped his back. "Good to meet you, Usopp." He said with a wide grin. "Likewise." Usopp replied. "Sorry, what's your name?" He asked. "Oh, my name is-"

"Luffy!" Spandam announced into the microphone.

"Yeah, that name." Luffy said and stepped forward. He raised his arm in welcome and grinned at the audience. "And that concludes the introductory of the freshman students." He turned to face the teenagers. "Take your seats." He said. They moved off the stage and Spandam once again addressed the audience of students. "And finally, we have some new transfer students joining us this year. Our first is Dracule Mihawk from the prestigious Red Line Private School."

The students applauded as a tall, serious looking student made his way onto the stage. He shook Spandam's hand and then gazed out at the sea of faces, his hawk-like eyes taking in every detail. He had a short beard and sideburns. He wore a black vest over his school shirt and a wide-brimmed black hat that was decorated with a large plume. More than a few of the girls in the audience chattered to each other in delight as they saw how handsome he was.

"Next we have three transfer students from Lily Academy." More exclamations came from the audience, mainly from the guys. Lily Academy was the well known all-girls boarding school that lay in the next town over.

"Please welcome Hancock Gorgon."

The audience burst into cheers, catcalls and wolf whistles as the raven-haired girl made her way onto the stage. Spandam held out his hand to shake Hancock's. She looked at it in distaste and moved away from the principal to stand beside Dracule Mihawk. Although she ignored him and focused her attention towards the audience.

Hancock was extremely beautiful. She wore a black skirt that ended halfway down her thighs and black stockings. Her school shirt was open at the top, revealing quite a bit of her chest and breasts, something that was against school regulations but Spandam was too busy peeking at her body to chastise her. Hancock stared at everyone with look of extreme boredom in her blue eyes. She turned back to Spandam, who immediately stopped looking at her body and assumed a guilty expression.

"Uh… Ahem. Next is Sandersonia Gorgon."

A second girl stepped into the light that illuminated the stage. She was tall, standing well over six feet feet. She had waist length, wavy green hair with matching green eyes and fingernails. She wore her uniform in a very similar fashion to her older sister, except her stockings were green and her shirt wasn't as revealing as Hancock's. She, too, ignored Spandam's hand and moved to her sister's side.

"And finally, Marigold Gorgon."

A third girl made her way onto the stage. She was just as tall as Sandersonia, but whereas her sisters were thin, she was wide. She had flowing orange hair with a string of white flowers above her brow while a similar necklace of pink flowers hung from her throat. "Give these lovely girls a round of applause!" said Spandam. The audience let out a deafening collection of cheers, whistles and applause (although most of it was for Hancock). The girls and Mihawk left the stage and audience cheered louder.

Once the applause died down, Spandam spoke into the microphone. "That concludes all the introductory crap. After this assembly, proceed to the teachers, receive your timetable and then go to class. Welcome to another year at Grand Line High!" He announced, sweeping his arms outward in an over-enthusiastic manner, which only succeeded in knocking over the microphone stand.

Every pair of eyes in the auditorium widened in horror as they watched the microphone make its descent to the floor. After what felt like minutes, the microphone hit the wooden stage and bounced once. The result was another blast of static that screeched through the speakers around the auditorium and had everyone screaming and clasping their hands over their ears.

End Chapter.

If you enjoyed the chapter, please keep reading. The story does get better.

*A/N: To anyone wondering why I've changed Hancock and her sisters' last name from Boa to Gorgon, it is mainly because I didn't like writing Boa Hancock and I always liked their title as the Gorgon Sisters better. But that's my preference. I very rarely use the name Gorgon in the story. I usually just address them as Hancock, or Sandersonia, or Marigold. Same way I won't address Luffy as Monkey D. Luffy.

Because I'm Australian (and grew up in a small town) our Assemblies and school routines and activities differ greatly than other schools around the world, and my research never really turned up much useful information, so I'm kind of making things up as I go.

Fun fact; Flip Flops are called Thongs in Australia. Crazy, huh?