Next Bonus, 100!!
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"Whitebeard and Shanks... their meeting happened earlier than in the original story," Jin mused, reading the intelligence report. "Is this because of me?"
He didn't dwell on it. His main focus was on his training, on recruitment, and on his ongoing chess match with the World Government.
In the blink of an eye, the calendar turned.
Sea Calendar 1522, May 5th.
To the rest of the world, it was just another day.
But for Monkey D. Luffy, it was the most important day of his life.
He was seventeen years old.
With a heart full of excitement, Luffy stood at the docks, gazing out at the sea.
A sea breeze blew past.
"Alright!" he declared. "Time to go! I'm gonna find ten crewmates... and become King of the Pirates!"
With a single barrel of fresh water, he hopped into a small boat and began to paddle out to sea.
He didn't get far.
The water churned, and the Lord of the Coast—the very Sea King that had taken an Emperor's arm—burst from the surface.
Luffy held onto the small mast with one hand and his straw hat with the other, completely unafraid.
"ROOAAR!" the Sea King roared, opening the same massive jaws that had bitten off Shanks's arm.
Luffy planted his feet and drew back his right arm.
"Gum-Gum... Pistol!"
The punch shot forward, his arm stretching, and slammed squarely into the Sea King's jaw, knocking it back into the sea.
With a triumphant grin, Luffy set off on his great adventure.
That night, however, he ran into a bit of trouble.
A storm.
The weather in the East Blue wasn't as unpredictable as in Paradise or the New World, but it was still more than a novice sailor could handle.
Especially a Devil Fruit user.
Amidst the lightning and thunder, his little boat was tossed about by the waves. The mast snapped and was lost to the sea.
"What a storm!" Luffy laughed, completely fearless.
But then a massive, ten-meter wave rose up before him, about to capsize his boat.
"Uh oh..."
Panic finally set in. He pried open the now-empty water barrel and stuffed himself inside. As a rubber man, he could stretch his body at will. He wrapped his arms around the outside of the barrel and pulled the lid on tight, taking a deep breath to increase his buoyancy.
The wave crashed down, and the small boat was smashed to pieces, the barrel sent tumbling into the churning sea.
The next day, after the storm had passed, the crew of a cruise ship spotted the barrel floating on the calm sea. Thinking it was treasure, they hauled it aboard.
But before they could open it, a pirate ship with a swan figurehead appeared and attacked them.
It was the Alvida Pirates.
Luffy, who had been asleep, burst out of the barrel as the pirates were searching the ship and easily knocked out two of them. He then ran into Koby, and as they were talking, they were caught by Alvida.
A fight broke out.
But unlike in the original story, Nami wasn't there.
Instead, as Alvida, unable to defeat Luffy, was about to threaten Koby, another woman suddenly attacked.
"Tears of Hot Iron: Catalog!"
Her tears transformed into searing hot iron and struck Alvida, knocking her to the ground.
Luffy grabbed Koby and, with a single punch, sent Alvida flying.
"Captain Alvida!" her crew cried out, fleeing the cruise ship.
"Awesome!" Luffy said, turning to the woman. "Who are you? What was that just now? Did two whales just pop out of your eyes?"
"I am the navigator of this ship," the woman replied. "And I am a Devil Fruit user. The Paramecia Glare-Glare Fruit. I can see through objects... and into people's minds."
"See through things? That's so cool! Hey! Did you say you're a navigator?" Luffy's eyes lit up. "Come be my partner! I'm looking for ten awesome crewmates to go to the Grand Line with!"
"The Grand Line?" Koby gasped, terrified. "Luffy, I heard from Alvida that it's a pirate graveyard! You'll die!"
"No way!" Luffy laughed. "I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!" He had already realized that sailing the seas wasn't so easy. "But right now, I need a navigator."
Without one, he'd never even make it to the Grand Line.
The woman didn't immediately agree.
The cruise ship dropped Luffy and Koby off at the nearby Shells Town, home of the 153rd Marine Branch, commanded by Captain Morgan.
In this timeline, without Kuro's corrupting influence, Morgan was an upright, brave, and well-respected Marine. With a straight-arrow father like Morgan, his son Helmeppo had grown up on the right path, too, and was now a soldier in the 153rd.
In a restaurant, Luffy, upon hearing someone call Roger a coward, had angrily defended him, shouting his catchphrase.
Helmeppo, who happened to be in the restaurant, overheard and asked if Luffy was a pirate.
When Luffy said yes, Helmeppo tried to arrest him.
The incident was reported back to the base. Morgan, furious, immediately led a squad of soldiers to capture Luffy, but he was easily defeated.
After a fierce battle, Morgan fell.
Luffy was also injured.
As the base's soldiers swarmed out to surround him, the woman appeared and helped him escape. Koby, moved by Luffy's spirit, stayed behind, determined to join the Marines and one day become an Admiral.
The woman, whose name was Viola, led Luffy to a small boat she had prepared, and together, they fled from Shells Town.
After recovering, Morgan reported the incident to his superiors and set out in pursuit of Luffy on a warship.
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The morning sun bathed Orange Town in a warm light.
But the town was deserted. There were no pedestrians, no open shops. It was like a ghost town.
It had once been a simple, kind, and peaceful place.
Until a certain group of pirates had arrived...
BOOM!
An explosion rocked the town, and a column of fire shot into the sky.
A house was blown apart, its frame slowly collapsing in a cloud of dust and smoke.
"This is a disaster," the townspeople, who had fled to the mountains, sighed.
"Haven't the bounty hunters from the Guild arrived yet?"
"We never should have provoked them."
"Provoked them? What are you talking about? How long has Buggy's crew been occupying our homes?"
Terrified of the pirates, the villagers had abandoned their town to them.
From a high vantage point, Buggy surveyed the destruction, a satisfied look on his face. "Isn't it nice when we all just get along?"
"It was a success, Captain Buggy!"
"The new Buggy Cannon is incredibly powerful!"
"You're amazing, Captain Buggy!"
The pirates gathered around him, their eyes shining with admiration.
A grin spread across Buggy's face, a look of pure, unadulterated pride that he couldn't hide. It quickly turned into a maniacal laugh.
"This great captain is truly an evil genius! Hahahaha! What is there to be had on these seas? Fame! Fortune! Treasure! And to get those things, you need strength and luck! Otherwise, you'll just end up as a stepping stone for someone else!"
He spread his arms wide, as if to embrace the sea. "The time has come, my men! To conquer the East Blue!"
"YEAH!" the crew roared, brandishing their weapons.
Buggy's bounty was a full 15 million Berries. In the East Blue, the weakest of the four seas, he was a major pirate. With him, they were guaranteed a life of plunder.
"Hahahaha!" Buggy laughed. "To celebrate the successful development of the Buggy Cannon... let's have a party!"
"YEAH! Captain Buggy!" the crew cheered, even louder this time.
They quickly prepared for the feast. The crew's acrobats began to perform—tightrope walking, fire breathing, sword swallowing...
A joyous atmosphere spread through the camp.
Buggy sat down, took a sip of his drink, and leaned back in his chair, enjoying the cool breeze from the fans his men were waving.
"This is the life of a pirate," he sighed. "Drinking, eating, and chasing treasure! Soon, I will conquer the Grand Line! All the world's glittering jewels will fall into my hands! All of them!"
BOOM!
A massive explosion ripped through the camp, and the fire-breathing pirate fell from his tightrope, setting the tents ablaze.
Buggy, jolted from his daydream, scrambled out of the way of the flames.
"C-Captain Buggy! We have a problem!" Cabaji came speeding over on his unicycle.
"Roronoa Zoro and the Silver-Haired Asura, Saga... they're here!" he shouted. "And they blew up our ship!"
"HUH??" Buggy was stunned.
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