Yo, RDA here. I hope you like this pilot chapter, since it took forever. There need to be more 'Shanks and Luffy reunite' fics. Thank you for reading!

It was a silent day in the sleepy little village of Rumtown, on an obscure island in the later half of the grand line. It was an island rarely visited by pirates, marines, or travelers. It was so far out of the way that no one ever bothered to come and pillage, regulate, or visit. This one of the benefits of living in a town nobody knows about. Sadly, because it was so out of sight, very few bits of news reached the island. Every other month, the newspapers in that time would be delivered to the town hall by a private mailing business which had grudgingly accepted the task of keeping all of the islands 1,000 residents informed with current events. An awfully irate pelican would fly quickly over the buildings and drop the large bag of paper over the heads of poor unsuspecting villagers with a shriek. The townspeople had long so learned to constantly watch the skies and beware of shrieks bearing gifts.

The day was already quite usual by ten A.M. But alas, the peace was not to last. It was the delivery day of the week. The bag had nearly taken out the ill-fated mayor of the town, who was preoccupied with proudly smoothing his moustache. Grumbling, he grabbed the heavy sack and lugged it, over his shoulder, to the town hall for review. When he got to the building, there was already a small crowd of people who had seen the bag drop and were waiting impatiently for the latest news. The mayor muttered good-naturedly at the throng of citizens and slammed the bag onto his desk. He rummaged through the bag and pulled out all of the papers. The crowd leaned over his shoulder as he ordered the papers by date of publication. The man froze. This was going too far. He turned around.

"All of you!" he howled. "Step BACK!"

The crowd slinked back complaining sullenly, and he turned back around. "Touchy…" they said softly.

He looked over his shoulder at them. "What was that?!"

"Nothing!" they said cheerily. "Just get on with it…" they followed up with faintly.

The mayor, whose name happened to be Mayor, ignored them. "Just let me read the papers," he said. "I'll tell you what the big parts are as I read them." The horde of people just stood there. He sighed. "Take a seat." Everyone fell down on the floor instantaneously. Mayor sat down in his chair and fumbled with his spectacles. He put them on and leaned over his desk. For the next few hours, he read to most of the town in the large town hall. Some news was good, some news was bad. The crowd reacted accordingly, with "Ooh!"s and "Oh my!"s.

Finally, Mayor was reading the last few days. The crowd of people was growing listless with anticipation. There had to be something really big that had happened recently. At last they were on the last paper. Mayor sighed and reached for it. His voice was growing quite hoarse. As soon as this was done he should stop over at the bar and get a drink. The stronger the better. Who did these people think he was? The paper boy? Oh yeah… he thought. I do this every few months, don't I?

There didn't seem to be anything really important going on, anyway. He unfolded the paper. He bet it was the same old, same old. Pirates making trouble and the Marines trying to keep them down. That's how it was every week. It was only then that he actually looked at what was on the paper. "EHHHHHHHHHH?!" he screamed loudly, jumping up out of his seat.

"What is it?!" the citizens screamed back.

Mayor stood trembling, rooted to the spot. This… this… was impossible. No one… no one had been in this position for over twenty-five years. Slowly, he held up the front page of the last paper to the waiting crowd.

Silence.

For a few moments it was quiet. Then, "WHAT?! THERE'S ANOTHER PIRATE KING?!"

Mayor was gulping large breathes of air rapidly. "It says so!" he cried. "Yesterday, the Pirate Straw Hat Luffy found Raftel, and the One Piece!"

A few people ran out to spread the news among the few residents who hadn't heard. Pretty soon, the entire town was in an uproar, to say the least. This was the end of the line! Quite literally. There was chaos everywhere. No one had thought that the One Piece would ever be found, let alone there be another King of pirates! How could've this happened? The Marines were supposed to prevent this from ever happening. Too bad, Mayor Thought, eyeing the rest of the paper. It seems that the pirate and his crew had defeated nearly every single high ranking marine there was, except for a duo called Coby and Helmeppo, and Smoker and Tashigi, who were busy making negotiations with the new King of Pirates. Strangely, the paper only had a small copy of the man's bounty poster, which he could barely see. The main image on the front held the likeness of the two marines grinning broadly, for some reason. Shouldn't they be upset? He thought. After all, the Marines were just defeated in battle.

His thoughts were interrupted by a timely shout from the island's lone look out. "Ship ho!" he cried. "It doesn't look like Marines!"

The town froze. Slowly, they all collectively walked towards the shore of the island. When they reached there, the all stood silently, waiting for it to become visible in the misty mid morning air. At last the mast of the ship came into better view. With it, the barely visible jolly roger.

-On the deck of The Thousand Sunny-

"Sanji!" shouted a voice. "I'm hungry!"

A foot came out of nowhere and slammed into the location of the voice. "Wait, moron! We're almost at the island! You'd think that finding Raftel would calm you down, but no! You're still as excited as ever!"

The voice laughed. "I'm happy!"

Usopp sighed. "You're always happy."

He was sitting on the railing of the ship with Chopper, trying to catch fish. So far, no luck, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Luffy was scaring them all away.

Chopper frowned. "Usopp, were did all the fish go? They were just here!"

Nami shook her head, smiling. "All of you calm down. We're almost to the next island. Then we can rest."

Zoro looked up. "You're in a good mood."

"Shouldn't we be?" she replied. "We found Raftel, and now we serve on the ship of the Pirate King! This should make accomplishing our dreams much easier."

He shrugged. "I suppose… Robin's got hers done now."

Robin smiled. "And I'm very happy about it."

Luffy jumped over to Nami. "So when will we get to the next island?"

"I told you! Only in a few minutes! Just calm down!" she took a deep breath. "You know, why don't you go bother Franky or Brook? They're both below deck."

Luffy bounced away. "Ok, Nami!"

Nami shook her head. "If anyone found out that the King of Pirates acted like a seven year old, we would be the laughing stock of the world."

The crew seconded that with a well-disposed "Aye!"

"Hey!" Chopper called. "I see something! It looks like the island!"

Most of the crew hurried over to the side of the ship and looked over. Sure enough, it looked like the island they were looking to rest at. Nami had found it on a map she had after their friendly chat with Coby, Helmeppo, Smoker, and Tashigi. Even if it was one of the most awkward conversation ever. They all thought that they needed a place to rest for a few days, so Nami thought that a tiny little island would work.

"Hey, Luffy!" Zoro called. "We're here!"

Loud clanging noises came from below the deck, and before anyone could say Haoshoku Haki, Luffy was up and running across the floorboards, dragging two of his unfortunate crew members behind him. "Yeah! Finally!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Nami and Usopp hit him over the head. "It's been less than a day!"

Luffy rubbed his head. "It was? Well, it felt longer." He then laughed.

Everyone rolled their eyes. All of a sudden, they heard a "ship ho!" in the distance. Robin peered at the island over her glasses. "It seems like we've been spotted," She stated. "Will we have to fight?"

Zoro shook his head. "Nah, they've probably got the news. Beware the Pirate King and stuff, right?"

They all agreed that they didn't want to fight. As they pulled up to shore, Luffy rocketed off and onto the beach. "LUFFY!" Most of the crew called. "WAIT UP!"

Luffy grinned. "Sorry, shishishi!" They all sighed.

"It's no use," they complained. "He'll always disappear." Sure enough, when they looked again, he was gone. "Huh?! LUFFY!"

He was gone.

Nami turned to the others. "He can take care of himself. Let's go explore the island, too!" Everyone heartily agreed with her. They didn't want to look for him, either. "Yes! Let's go!" they all said, and they split up.

Meanwhile, Luffy was poking around the buildings for meat. There's got to be some somewhere! he thought. "Where are they hiding it?" Finally, he saw a large building that looked important. "Yosh! he thought. "That's got to be where they keep the meat!" He made his way towards the building.

On the shore, the entire town was watching the ship disappear a quarter mile away. It seemed that they had stayed on the ship. At least, that's what they hoped. They couldn't see it very well with all the mist. They all went hesitantly back to what they should be doing at that time of the day. Mayor walked back to the town hall, brooding. Pirates on the island could only spell trouble. He was still thinking about it when he walked through the door. He needed time for his eyes to adjust, but he could tell that something wasn't right. The door was open, for one. He never left the door open, ever. The first thing he saw when his eyes grew slightly accustomed to faint light was a small shape rummaging around the shelves on the walls.

"Who are you?" he called. "Are you one of the children? What are you doing here? There are pirates on the island, you know. It isn't safe to be running around alone.

The shape turned towards him. "Pirates?" he said. "I think that I can handle them."

The mayor could see that it was a young man, now. He was barely more than a teenager, yet there was a large red scar stretching across his entire chest. "What are you doing here?" he tried again.

The man answered matter of factly. "I'm looking for meat, of course."

Mayor frowned. "Why- nevermind. Come here, I can make something for you." He started to walk to the back kitchen. The man followed. He took out a pound of beef and threw it on a skillet. "So," he said. "I haven't seen you before. Where did you come from?" The strange man lingered in the doorway.

"I came on a ship," he said. "We were looking for a place to rest."

"Why did you need to rest?" Mayor asked absentmindedly.

"We were fighting, shishishi," he said. "It was a really big battle."

Mayor concentrated on frying the meat. "A battle? You don't seem old enough. How old are you anyway?"

The man laughed his strange laugh again. "I'm twenty-one, shishishi! I'm not that young!"

The mayor turned around with the frying pan in his hand to look at the man shadowed by the doorway. He looks only fifteen, he thought. But he has that nasty scar on his chest. Again, he's really small for a fighter. "Come into the light, kid. I want to take a look at you."

The man obeyed, if slowly. As the light creped up his small frame, Mayor had to bite back a gasp. He looked just like a weak little kid, but that isn't much of what startled him. On the young man's head was a worn yellow hat with a red ribbon. A straw hat, to be precise. Wait a second, a straw hat?! This isn't any fighter! He thought. This is… Straw Hat Luffy! He shouted, dropping the pan. "THE KING OF THE PIRATES!?"

Luffy sighed, looking at the pan on the floor. Maybe he should've been more careful. What a waste of meat. He thought.

Luffy stared concernedly at the generous meat man. Why had he dropped the meat? One minute he was making him meat, and the next he was shouting and dropping his food! Luffy was puzzled. Why had this man reacted the way he did? What was that the man had yelled a few seconds ago? He thought. It sounded like ding odd my rats. No, that wasn't right. He frowned, ignoring the man spazzing on the ground in the corner. Oh! It was… King of the Pirates! Where?! Realization hit him and he sheepishly hung his head, even though there was no one he knew around to see him. Oh, right. I'm King of the Pirates. He walked over to the nice man who was going to make him meat. The man scooted away with his hands and tried to avoid his eyes.

"G-go away!" he said nervously. "You can't go into the village!"

Luffy tilted his head. "Why not?"

The man looked confused for a second, and then straightened up slightly. "I'm the mayor of this town! I won't let you hurt any of the people in my protection!"

Luffy's brows drew together, but then he laughed. "Why would I hurt anyone in this village? You haven't done anything bad to my nakama. And you were going to make me meat. That means you're a friend!"

Mayor froze in place. Slowly, his mind flickered back on. "H-huh? But you are the King of the Pirates, aren't you?"

Luffy thought for a second. Maybe this man will make me some more meat if he thinks I'm just a traveler. Yeah, that might work!

Mayor watched as the man drew in a breath and spoke quickly out of the side of his mouth. "NoI'mjustatraveleronmywayacrosstheislandcanIhavemoremeat?"

If the situation had been less dire, Mayor would've face palmed. This man clearly couldn't lie. But… that would mean that he would be telling the truth about being the King of Pirates! His jaw dropped. The man- no, the Pirate King, blinked at him through deceivingly naïve eyes. This man… is the strongest in the entire world.

What was wrong with the universe?

He took a deep breath. "I'll make you more meat, just wait a second." He slowly picked up the frying pan and started as if going to the stove. Quick as a flash, he turned around and swung the heavy pan straight for the pirate's face. Strangely, he seemed to miss contact, and swung around wildly before landing solidly on the ground. What happened to the pirate?

A voice spoke up behind him. "What was that for, ossan?"

Mayor's jaw dropped again. How did he-

"Haki," Straw Hat said. "Comes in useful sometimes."

So he's a Haki user. Kenbunshoku at least, by the looks of it. This is a problem! How am I going to keep the village safe? He panicked. We don't need any pirates pillaging and raping! He hesitantly got back on his feet and rubbed his aching back.

Luffy was watching this with wide eyes. First the man starts to make him meat, and then he tries to hit him. Why was he acting so funny? He started toward the odd man. "We aren't going to hurt anything, if that's what you're wondering." He said truthfully.

The man sneered. "I don't need to be a genius to tell that you're lying. All pirates do is hurt things. Especially if you are the King of them all!"

Luffy was upset. "Listen, Ossan. I'm not gonna do anything bad. I was just exploring, and I got hungry. Can I please have some food?" When the man didn't reply, he started again. "What's your name?"

Silence.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I-… already am… the King of the Pirates. Huh, I almost forgot."

The man unconsciously cracked a small smile. This man reminded him of the village children. Surely it was just good luck that allowed him to claim the title of Pirate King. I'll just try to get him off the island peacefully, he thought, and then everything will be alright.

"My name is Mayor," he said. "I'm the mayor of this town."

The boy cracked a smile. "Nice to meetcha, Ossan. You can call me Luffy. Can you make me some meat?"

Mayor laughed and threw another pound on the skillet. "You said there were more of you pirates on the island," he said. "Where are they?"

Luffy grinned. "Dunno. I left before anyone could stop me."

"Stop you? You're the Pirate King!"

A shishishi soon followed. "Yeah, but my crew is awesome. Do you want to hear about them?"

Mayor shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Well, I've got this musician skeleton with an afro, and a cyborg who works as a shipwright, and-"

In multiple places around the island, the crew was exploring. Robin and Chopper had entered the small library and were poring through the books. Nami was shopping along the biggest street, dragging Sanji along with her to carry her bags. Zoro and Brook had gone to the only place they thought they could get their swords polished professionally, and Usopp and Franky had gone to the junkyard to look for spare parts.

Robin looked up sharply and Chopper shivered in his seat.

Nami grabbed Sanji's sleeve, and Sanji (besides being insanely happy about Nami on his arm) felt a chill in the air.

Zoro felt the Wado Ichimonji creak in it's sheath. Brook's afro deflated slightly.

Usopp kept hearing noises that gave him goose bumps. Franky had a terrible premonition.

All of them, in their different locations, looked around. Something was definitely off. Someone was getting into trouble.

"Lufffffy!" they all sighed, and went back to what they were doing.

"And there's my navigator who loves only money and tangerines, and a swordsm- ACHOOOO!"

Luffy rubbed his nose violently.

"Someone must be talking about you." Mayor put in.

Luffy grinned and nodded. "I hope it was good!"

The townspeople had gone slowly back into their normal routine. They had seen the pirate crew around, but they didn't seem like they were going to harm anyone, so they let them be. The lookout was back in his crows nest with his telescope. He kept wondering about the pirate ship. What had the pirates been doing? He couldn't see their ship now. Maybe they continued on? "Ah, well. Back to work!"

It had been barely more than a minute when the lookout spotted something unusual. It looked like another ship. Why would there be one out here? The almost never received visitors and the first pirate ship had been a rarity in itself. Sure enough, when he focused the lens, he could make out the faint shape of a large ship, and flaying from the mask, a Jolly Roger.

His trembling hand dropped the telescope, and he stumbled quickly down the stairs. "PIRATES!" He screamed out. "There's another pirate ship approaching!"

The townspeople all stared at him. This was a joke, wasn't it? There was no possible way that another pirate crew could be passing through. The only got a visitor every other year or so. They all rushed to the shore for the second time that day. Cries rose up as they realized that the lookout was telling the truth. There was another ship coming towards them. They all stared in silence as they drew closer and closer. By the time the ship had moored as close to the shore as it could, some of the citizens of Rumtown had fainted. Pirates! On their island!

A long plank bridge was lowered to the edge of the water line. Across it trudged a tall man with bright red hair, followed by a grey haired man, and a man with yellowish dreadlocks and a gun. The leader waved dismissively behind him and the plank pulled back. He turned to the people gathered watching him. He glanced at the faded welcoming sign lurking crookedly on a nearby tree.

"Rumtown, eh?" he asked with a carefree smile. "Now that must be good luck, because I need a drink!"

Luffy was gnawing happily on his meat. "This is good, Ossan. Thanks!"

The poor, poor man leaned against the wall. This kid was crazy.

"I mean it," the strange pirate continued. "It's yummy. Not as good as Sanji's, though."

"That's your cook, right?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Silence continued for a few seconds- that felt like hours- before Luffy finished his meat. As he gulped the last of the food, he glanced toward the door. "Hey, Ossan. I'm gonna go explore, ok? I'm not gonna kill or 'nything."

Luffy looked back toward the man who had given him food. He looked conflicted. Does he still think that I'll go kill all the villagers? Luffy thought. "You can come with me if you want to," he told Mayor. "Then you can be sure that I won't attack anybody."

Mayor slowly nodded and agreed to the deal. "Tell you what," he said. "I can show you the best place to eat and drink around here. Then, once you're done exploring, you can leave."

Luffy shishishi'ed. "Alright, Ossan! Let's go eat!"

Mayor stared. It really shouldn't surprise him anymore. He'd seen this boy eat; he'd acted as if he was starving. He just couldn't believe that he was still hungry.

Luffy bounced out of the door and into the open. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"

Mayor darted after him. "NO! You can't go out like that!"

Luffy paused momentarily. "Why not?"

"You're the KING OF THE PIRATES!" Mayor choked out. "Someone is bound to recognize you!"

The kid's brow wrinkled. "And?"

Mayor sighed. "I don't know, put on a cloak or something."

He walked over to the corner of the room and pulled a dark cloak off of a hook. "Here, put this on. It's a spare."

"Thanks!" Luffy grinned as he slipped it on. "Can we go now?"

Mayor glanced around. There wasn't anyone spying on them, right? No witness and no one can ever prove that he took the King of the Pirates out for a walk around town. "Let's go, kid." He said.

Shanks blinked and looked around. "What's up?" he asked. No one said a single word. "What, never seen a pirate before?" he joked. Still there was no answer. "Ah," he said understandingly. "It's okay; we aren't going to rape and pillage, etc." Pause. "Okay, you got me. Maybe a little pillaging." When he didn't get an answer he turned to Benn and Yasopp. "Are they dead?"

"I don't think so, Shanks. If they are, their dead bodies seem to have all adopted a look of shock as you stepped on shore," Yasopp said sarcastically.

Shanks rolled his eyes. "I get it, I get it." He looked over his shoulder to the villagers. "Where's the nearest place to eat and drink?" Still they didn't answer. He sighed and started walking farther inland. Come on, you two. Let's go find the place on our own."

With no further ado, they left the stunned villagers standing there, frozen in shock.

Shanks whistled as he walked through the diminutive town. "Is the excess happiness really necessary?" Yasopp grumbled. Shanks laughed.

"You're just upset because you weren't the one who found the treasure!"

"That's not true!" Yasopp protested. "And Benn didn't find it first either!"

"Well, yeah," Shanks answered. "But he wasn't the last one there out of the entire crew."

"I told you, I got sidetracked."

"If I remember correctly, you had said that you were attacked by… flying monkeys."

Yasopp nodded. "Exactly! I told you, they just appeared out of nowhere."

Yasopp was fuming. Benn was trying to hold back chuckles, and Shanks was failing that very thing. "Well, I didn't expect the mastermind behind that evil plan was a witch. It's entirely possible that she had- pfff- flying monkeys as her evil henchmen. She was hard to beat until one of the crew tripped with a bucket of water and it sprayed all over her. What kind of witch melts in water, anyway?"

They were still looking for a bar along the streets. It really should be easier to spot than this, shouldn't it?

"Well," Benn said. "We really need to avoid sea tornados for sure now. We were gone for over a week. No news, no den den mushi connection, no anything."

Shanks nodded. "We'll find a place soon. There will be newspapers there."

Just then, Yasopp spotted a bar-y looking building. Two suspicious men had just entered it. He pointed it out to the others, if not somewhat reluctantly. "Over there."

"Ah!" Shanks brightened up. "Finally!" He started to make a dash for the doors.

"Hey!" Benn shouted. "Get back here!"

Shanks slowly turned around. "Why?!"

Benn rolled his eyes and tossed him a cloak that he had had in his bag. "I don't know, maybe someone will recognize one of the Yonko." He said sarcastically.

Shanks nodded and threw it on. "Good idea. Thanks. You two should put some on if you're coming with me."

"Actually," Yasopp put in. "I want to find a little thingy for this thingy I'm gonna work on."

Shanks raised an eyebrow. "Could you, perhaps, tell me what this thing is?"

Yasopp shook his head. "I don't know what it's going to do, but it's going to defend the ship against monkeys." He said solemnly.

Benn chuckled with amusement. "Not this I gotta see." He said. "Sorry, Captain. I'm going to go with Yasopp. No bar fights, even for defending people, ok? I really don't want to cause a commotion when we really need to stop here."

Shanks grinned. "Since when do I do that?"

The other two refrained from talking and walked away.

A few minutes earlier, Luffy and the mayor were casually walking the streets of Rumtown. Mayor pointed out the place he was talking about to Luffy. Luffy looked at it curiously. Well, it smells good. He thought. It's got to have some good food! They walked suspiciously unsuspicious into the building.

Luffy and Mayor took a seat at a table in the corner of the room. There were very few people in there for some reason. Maybe they're all fishing? Mayor thought absentmindedly. Nah, that's ridiculous.

"Hey, you!" Luffy shouted. "I want everything!"

The poor man to at which looked shocked. "All of it?" Luffy nodded vehemently. He sighed and walked behind the doors in the back. "Yes, sir. Coming right up."

"So, Luffy," he said, trying to make conversation. "What are you going to do now? After you've become you-know-what?"

Luffy stared at him. "You-know-what? What's that?"

Mayor face palmed. "You know…" he leaned closer."Pirate King?"

"Oh! That!" Luffy laughed hard. "I almost forgot."

"Remember what I said before that, Luffy? What are you going to do now?" he continued with a small grimace on his face.

Luffy looked at him with a strange look on his face. "Well, I want to go back to the East Blue and say hi to Dadan and Makino, and maybe I'll see Granddad and talk to him- but I want to see one person before I do that."

Mayor was listening to him with interest. "East Blue? That's where you're from? That's the weakest sea!" He took a deep breath. "I'm assuming that Dadan and Makino are friends of yours, and your Granddad is obviously family, but who is this other person you want to meet?"

Luffy got a wistful look in his eyes and was about to answer when the door opened again. In walked a strange cloaked man from out of the street. Oh, that's right, Luffy thought. I probably look strange with this cloak on, too. The man glanced around and settled at a table next to them. Luffy glanced at him again. He was strong, he could tell. This would be trouble if he decided that he wanted to fight.

Luffy looked up when the man arrived with his food. He was amazed by all the food. "Yes! This is going to be delicious!" he said happily. The strange man at the other table snorted quietly. Luffy gazed at him innocently. "What?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Yasopp and Benn had gotten directions to the junkyard and were digging through the scraps looking for usable parts.

"I can't believe that you're going to make a device to defeat flying monkeys." Benn grumbled.

Yasopp frowned as he shifted through a pile of metal parts. "It could happen!"

"In your dreams!" Benn shot back. "I think you ate a magic mushroom or something."

"They were real!"

"Sure, sure."

There was silence for a few moments.

"Hey, look, Benn! I think that there are other people over there."

Benn stared into the distance. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Let's go check them out. Maybe they have some parts I can use!" With no further ado, the brave sniper of the Red-Haired pirates darted away.

Shanks stared at the man you had ordered all of that food. Was he seriously going to eat all of it? Even if this man was a D, this was ridiculous! Where did he put it?

The man had noticed Shanks staring at him. "What?" he asked, appearing to be studying him from underneath the hood of his dark cloak. "Do you need something?"

Shanks recoiled. This man- he was clearly more powerful than he had assumed. His strength of will resembled that of the marine rank of Admiral or higher. What is a big fish like him doing on this tiny island? He thought. He can't be an admiral, he's too small. He didn't seem particularly threatening at first glance, but now that I really look at him… I can't tell what he looks like because of that cloak. Maybe he's a pirate. But who?

The man spoke again. "What do you want?"

Shanks peered at him from underneath his own hood. "Are you a pirate?"

The weaker man at the table of the strong one froze. The strong one didn't flinch an inch. "And what if I am?"

Shanks grinned, even if the other couldn't see it. "I'd say that it would be better for me than if you were a marine."

The other man relaxed. "So you're a pirate, too. That's good. But I didn't know that there were more on the island. Mayor?"

The other man (Whose name was apparently Mayor.) looked nearly terrified. "I didn't either!" He turned to Shanks. "How long have you been on this island?"

Shanks smiled. "Don't worry, we just got here."

Mayor visibly relaxed. "That's good."

Shanks then turned to the strong one. "So… Who are you?"

He laughed. "Not telling! Who are you?"

"Not telling!"

Both of the powerful men laughed at the other. "Kenbunshoku Haki?" They asked at the same time. "Yes!" They said again.

Shanks put his arm around the man's shoulders. "We're going to be such great friends!" he said cheerily.

The other man laughed and bonked him on the head as a response.

"Hey! Wait up, Sniper!" Benn shouted. "You really want those parts, don't you?"

Yasopp didn't stop. "Yeah, and I want to know who these people are."

Finally Benn caught up with him. "Why aren't you that fast in battle?" he asked.

Yasopp answered with a glare. "Let's go talk to the strange people."

Benn rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."

"Hey!" Yasopp shouted. "Who are you?" One of the two people turned around. His appearance made the two men stare. His body seemed to be made primarily of metal parts. Ouch, Benn thought. That looks painful.

"My name is Franky." The cyborg said loudly. "And who are you?"

"People! Can you help me find some parts?" Yasopp said.

The cyborg looked at him, puzzled. "Sure, what do you need it for?"

Yasopp looked to the left guiltily. Benn answered for him. "He wants to build a machine to defeat flying monkeys."

Yasopp subtly kicked him as Franky laughed. "SUPER! Then we can help." He murmured something to the man working on a machine sitting on the ground. The other man nodded and his hands flew faster. Franky shouted back to the two men. "We'll make a prototype and you can mess around with it."

"Oh. Thanks." Yasopp said. "I'll use that. What are you doing out here? Do you live here?" he inquired.

Franky laughed boomingly. "No, we're just passing through on our ship. And you?"

"The same."

Yasopp watched the young man with his back to him admiringly. "That's some pretty good work you're doing there," he shouted to him. "Are you a shipwright?"

Both of the men laughed. Franky's laugh boomed the loudest. "No," the cyborg shouted. "That would be me!"

"Sorry," Yasopp said. "What does he do, then?"

"This guy? He's our sniper. Why?"

Yasopp beamed. "Cool! I'm a sniper, too! Where is your weapon? Can I look at it?"

The sniper jerked a thumb behind his back at a strange forked green stick lying on the ground. As Yasopp went to pick it up, Franky started talking, and Benn watched warily. "I'll apologize for this guy; once he's in a project, there is no time for anything else."

Yasopp laughed as he studied the weapon. It appeared to be a slingshot of some kind. "I understand completely," he said. "I might get like that sometimes."

Benn nodded in agreement. Yasopp shot a look at him. "So," Franky said. "What are you doing here?"

"Just passing through, stealing occasional things, trying to avoid marines, the usual." Yasopp said distractedly. He was surprised and a little angry when Benn hit him over the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You just told them that we were pirates!"

"Did I really?"

"Yes."

"Sorry."

"That's not going to work!"

They both glance nervously at the two men, wondering if they were going to freak out. They really didn't want to beat these people up. Strangely, they both looked as if this was normal. There was no freaking out what so ever.

"Well," Yasopp said. "I'd thought that you two would panic at the mention of pirates."

The look he received was a strange one. "Why would we freak out?" At the confused looks he elaborated. "We're pirates, too."

"No way!" Benn said incredulously. "What are the chances?"

"Yeah, funny, right?" Franky said.

Yasopp stepped closer to the one on the ground. "If you're pirates," he said suspiciously. "Then you won't mind telling us what crew you belong to and why another one is here as well."

Franky narrowed his eyes and the one on the ground straightened up.

"Well," Yasopp said impatiently. "Spit it out."

Cheerful shouts were coming from the bar, enough to make any casual passerby to stop and stare. What could be going on in there?

Inside the bar, two famous pirates were eating drinking together, both unaware of the others' infamy. What could possibly go wrong? Luffy was shoveling food into his mouth under the hood, and Shanks was watching with a bemused expression. "So, how old are you?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

"Uhnty uhn!" Luffy shouted back through his food.

Shanks frowned. What was that?

Mayor slapped the top of his head. "Don't talk with your mouth full!" he scolded. "Be polite."

Shanks leaned back slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

After looking around to assure that no one was listening, Mayor answered. "I'm the mayor of this town," he answered. "I'm taking this guy for a- uh, tour- around the village. "Mainly for food." He looked down at the floor gloomily.

"Dahahaha! That's ironic! Why is a man like you guiding a pirate around town for?"

"Don't look at me like that! I just want him to leave!"

Mayor took another deep breath in indignation. "Besides, what was I supposed to do about it? He's the- mmmph!"

What he was about to say had been cut off by a hand reaching out from under the cloak that the man was wearing, which was much like his own. If he's wearing a cloak like I am, he thought, he must be as famous as me. No doubt he doesn't want to get recognized either.

"What was he about to say?" Shanks asked suspiciously. "You're the what?"

The man shook his head. "It's nothing. Forget it."

Shanks slung his arm over the man's shoulders again. "C'mon, you can tell me! What was he going to say? It's no big deal; we're both pirates, right?"

Across the island, Franky and a focused Usopp were being stared down by a suspicious sniper. Franky waved his hand at the two other pirates. "Why do you need to know?" he asked casually, trying to stall them. He liked these guys and he didn't want them to run away. And they would run away once they realized that the two guys they'd met in a junkyard belonged to the crew of the Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy.

Now Benn raised an eyebrow. "Why won't you tell us? You got something to hide?"

Franky sighed. "Ok, how about this: You tell us you your captain is, and then we'll do the same."

Yasopp gave a self assured glace to Benn. "I don't think we'll have a problem with that," he said proudly. "We'll gladly tell you."

Franky took off his sunglasses and cleaned them off on his shirt. "I'm waiting."

Benn smirked. "No need to get impatient. If you want to know, we'll tell you. The crew that we belong to is that of the Yonko Red-Haired Shanks." He then stepped back to judge their reactions. The man on the ground's shoulders tightened slightly, and then went back down. The cyborg laughed and snapped his sunglasses back on. Well, that was disappointing.

Yasopp frowned. "Why aren't you running? Or, at least, why aren't you panicking?"

Franky shrugged. "Why would we? We've been meaning to say hello to you guys for a while now."

"Say- say hello?!" Yasopp stuttered. "Don't you know how powerful we are?"

"Don't you know how powerful we are?" the sniper on the ground countered, speaking up for the first time.

Benn frowned. "There aren't many people who don't run from us. Who are you?"

The cyborg sized him up. "You ever heard of the Pirate King?"

"Gol D. Roger? He died ages ago. There's no way-"

"No, not the old one," Franky said. "The new one."

Yasopp laughed. "There hasn't been a Pirate King in nearly thirty years. You expect us to believe that there's a new King?"

"As of yesterday," Franky said confusedly. "Didn't you hear?"

"We've been unable to get a newspaper for a few weeks."

Yasopp cut in before any of the two other pirates could speak. "Even if you're lying, I want to know what crew you're on."

"Fine," Franky said. "The new Pirate King, and our Captain, is Monkey D. Luffy."

Back at the bar, Shanks was trying to get the strange man to open up and tell him some more information. "So, you're the-?" he prodded, trying to get the man to finish.

The man shrugged. "I'm a well known pirate. That is it."

Shanks grinned. "So am I, and there is no way that is it. There's something more. Tell me!"

The cloaked man frowned. "Why should I?"

"Because I'm your best friend!"

With that, the cloak that Shanks was wearing slid off of one shoulder, shortly exposing his missing arm. Mayor gasped and the strong man leaned closer. "You only have one arm?" he asked curiously. "My friend only has one arm, too."

"What happened to it?" Shanks asked.

Another piece of meat vanished from the table. "Sea King," the man explained shortly.

Shanks laughed. "What an- oh." He swallowed his pride and kept asking. "Tell me."

"No!" the man said shortly.

Mayor looked nervously around. "Just tell him, kid. Then maybe he'll leave you alone."

"Kid?" Shanks inquired. "Exactly how old are you? With that level of Haki I guessed over thirty."

Laughter rang from their table. "Nope!" the man chuckled out. "I'm only twenty-one."

Shanks raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm impressed. Good job. What's your bounty?"

He shrugged again. "Lots of zeros."

Shanks laughed. "That's nice. Now, what was the mayor of this fine town about to say?"

Just as he was about to deny again, Mayor spoke up. "He's the Pirate King!" he broke out anxiously.

Both Yasopp and Benn's jaws hit the ground. "What?! Luffy is King of the Pirates?! No way!"

Both of the other pirates laughed this time. "Exactly!"

"But- but he's only a kid!"

"Actually," Franky put in, "He's over twenty years old."

They freaked out. "He's over twenty? Where has the time gone? How long has it been?"

"Oh no," Yasopp moaned. "That means that my kid is over twenty, too. This is going to be the most awkward meeting ever."

The man sitting on the ground froze. "You have a kid?" he asked quietly.

Yasopp automatically glanced at him and tried to discern what he was getting at.

The sniper on the ground stood up a placed the strange thing he was working on on the ground. "I just want to know," he said. "If you happen to be from the East Blue."

Yasopp was suspicious. "Yeah, I'm from the East Blue. Syrup Village, why?"

The man turned around and Yasopp got a good look at his face, especially the abnormally long nose. Wait. An abnormally long nose? Hometown questions? Yasopp leaned forward slightly. "You said you were Luffy's sniper? How did he pick you up?"

"This is out of the blue," Benn murmured to himself, "Where is he going with this?" He studied the man. He had long, dark curly hair, a strange long nose, and was fairly muscular. He looked a little familiar, although he couldn't tell why.

The sniper shrugged. "My village was attacked by pirates, Luffy helped out, said he wanted me on his crew."

"You were only a kid then, I'm assuming," Yasopp said. "So why did he want you?'

"Hey!" the man objected. "I've always been powerful! By the time I was ten I had eight thousand men fighting for me!"

Benn started laughing. "That's why he looks familiar, he reminds me of you!" he said.

Yasopp shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever you say. Again, kid, why did Luffy pick up you?"

The kid- or man, depending on how he looked at it- gave him a big grin. "Apparently he met my father when he was a kid and recognized me from all the stuff my Pops said about me when he'd had too much to drink.

Benn and Yasopp shared a glance. Didn't this sound familiar?

Quick as a flash, Luffy used Haoshoku Haki to knock out all of the locals in the tavern. He didn't need any witnesses for what was about to happen. Shanks looked approvingly at him over his mug of suspicious alcoholic drink before fully realizing what the Mayor had just said. Mayor protested vehemently at the poor treatment of his fellow citizens.

Luffy watched his new friend choke on his newly filled drink, and then spit it all over the poor man next to him. He pounded his chest, trying to clear up his airway. His attempts were aided by the Luffy, who smacked his back with a hardened fist. "Thank you," he gasped. "I owe you one."

Luffy nodded solemnly. "It would be bad if you died."

"Why would that be?" The man, whom Luffy had dubbed 'Cloaky' asked curiously.

"You remind me of someone. I have to go find him soon, too."

Cloaky nodded. "I can understand that. But first, why did he call you "Pirate King?"

Luffy shot a glare at Mayor, who shrunk back into his seat. He sighed. "Well, I might as well tell you. He called me Pirate King because I am."

Cloaky glowered at him. "That's not funny! Captain Roger was the last Pirate King, and no one has found Raftel yet!"

"Actually," Mayor broke in. "He did- yesterday."

"Wait," Luffy spoke out suddenly. "Did you say Captain Roger?"

"Yes, I did," a smirk wider than the one that was given now couldn't be found on the surface of the world. "I was on Gol D. Roger's crew when he was Pirate King, alongside Dark King Rayleigh and- even if I don't think I need to say this- Yonko Buggy the Clown.

Mayor fainted.

Cloaky grinned. "Well? Impressed?"

Instead, Luffy just yawned. "Cool! I'll say hello to Ray-san next time I see him."

"Huh? You know Rayleigh?"

"Yep!" Luffy chirped happily. "He taught me how to use Haki!"

Cloaky groaned. This didn't seem to be going well for him. However, he still looked like he wanted to break Luffy into tiny pieces and feed him to a bananawani.

Luffy sighed again. "Whatever you think, it's true. My crew and I found it the day before this one. We beat a lot of people and stuff! How do you not know this? It's all over the news."

Cloaky scoffed. "Yeah, right. I've been gone for less than a month. You can't fool me like that. Besides, I already know who's going to become Pirate King."

Luffy was now definitely interested. "Who?" he asked.

The man in the cloak puffed up with pride. "It's gonna be a little kid I met in the Blues fourteen years ago!"

Luffy paused. "The Blues?" When Cloaky nodded his conformation, Luffy hesitantly started to speak again.

"The… East Blue?" This was way too coincidental. If this wasn't- he couldn't say his name- then he didn't know what else would fit in.

Cloaky frowned. "How did you know that? I- I mean, … maybe."

"Hey," Luffy whispered. "Take off your hood, Shanks."

The cloaked man- Shanks- froze. "How did you know who I was?"

Luffy managed to produce a beaming smile. "I missed you! I can't believe that we didn't recognize each other!"

With that, he flung his whole body at the confused Yonko. "Ehh?!" Shanks shouted. "Get this crazy guy off of me! Anybody? Help!" His Haki was useless against this approach, and all other people in the vicinity were unconscious. As if he heard his name being thought of, Mayor woke up. He drank in the sight of the Pirate King hugging another powerful pirate and promptly fainted again.

Finally, Shanks stood still and waited for the insane pirate to de-latch himself from his torso. At last, Luffy let go, wiping tears from his eyes. "Shanks!" he cried joyfully. "Where've you been? I was looking for you! I've still got your hat!"

At the last words spoken, Shanks froze. "What did you say?" he spoke softly. "My… hat?"

With a flourish and a snigger, Shanks found his long-gone hat back on his head. The familiar weight rested gently on his skull, bringing back memories of his days sailing with Captain Roger, getting into fights with Buggy, traveling the seas, and a small boy with a big appetite who loudly proclaimed that he was going to become King of the Pirates.

"…Luffy?" he tried questioningly.

A hand darted out of his fellow pirate's cloak, pushing back both of their hoods. As Shanks' eyes adjusted to the light, they darted toward the other man's face. When the darkness cleared, all Shanks could focus on was a no-longer-young Luffy's face beaming right in front of him.

Back at the junkyard, the four strange pirates continued conversing.

"Hey!" Benn said. "That sounds like Yasopp!"

"Shut up," Yasopp warned quietly.

"You should hear him when he's drunk, going on and on-"

"Shut up!" Yasopp said again, a little louder.

"-He won't shut up about his son, who he hasn't seen in years-"

"SHUT UP!" Yasopp roared.

All was silent as they watched the sniper catch his breath. "I just don't want to talk about it, ok?" he said. "I'll go see him later."

"How will you know how to find him?" the versatile sniper asked slowly.

Yasopp glanced at him. "I don't know, but I'll do it somehow," he said. "I'll find him one way or another."

Just as Usopp was about to say something, Franky interrupted. "We've got to keep working," he said. "I've already been too friendly. I guess I'm just confident that been on the Pirate King's crew will protect me. We need to get back to work."

The other two pirates shrugged and started walking away, for getting about their original purpose.

"Hey!" Usopp burst out, looking at Yasopp's retreating back. "I know where he is!"

Yasopp froze and turned around slowly. He sprinted back to Usopp and grabbed his shoulders. "Where!?" he asked excitedly.

"Whoa," Benn and Franky both said, pulling him off poor Usopp. "Hold it!"

Yasopp calmed himself down and peered back at Usopp. "You know him?"

"Very well."

"Where is he, then?"

Usopp took a deep breath. "Not in Syrup. His mother died, he lived alone, he fought off pirates, joined the Straw Hat crew, sailed the Grand Line, and became the sniper of the Pirate King."

All was silent.

Update 5/10/17: Hi, this is me over three years later. I never ended up finishing this fic, but it's being adopted as we speak. I'll post a link in the last chapter. If you've been here before, you'll have notice that there are less chapters. I'm currently shoving some chapters together to make it easier to read.