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It’s highly suggested avoiding capture by the enemy, and if such thing may occur in the course of your life do not under any circumstance give up any information. The breaking of this vital rule will surely cause the loss of your position and possibly of your life in the rare case you manage to survive an encounter with them, a rare event since they are known to be cruel and ruthless.
These were the basics taught to every young recruit during their initial training. Words that were learned by heart and never forgotten. It seemed easy when seen from the outside. Be brave, resist, and you will be known in the future as a marine hero. Your name will be uttered with the most respect from the future generations of marines, as an example to follow. A brave man who valiantly resisted the pirates' torture and died in action. Perhaps you may even be honoured with a medal, or better a gold statue at the headquarters. It didn’t look bad on paper when Raise had been a chore boy at his hometown marine base but when he had been captured by a bunch of pirates it went all flying out of his head.
Honestly, he had never been a brave person and quite frankly the idea of facing death at the hand of the craziest crew of pirates in the world had never attracted him. Nonetheless, Raise kept reciting the entire basic marine handbook as a mantra while he stood still on the weirdest ship deck in the new world. And that’s saying something since the new world is known to be the craziest sea of all.
Who thought a grass field was a clever idea on a pirate ship?
Raise was way too young to die a horrible death. He had yet to try every food stand on the new island he had been stationed on, and especially he had to finish the latest novel written by his favourite author! He couldn’t die without knowing if the noble knight Sir the Brave had finally confessed his love to the court sorcerer. He had been waiting years for it! And most important of all, he was just a seaman apprentice, it wasn’t like he had many marine secrets to share in exchange for his life.
It had all started a few hours back during a routine check of the waters surrounding his base. The weather was nice, the sea calm and no sea kings could be seen from his ship. Perfect day, a bit too nice considering their location but Raise wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
He should have, though.
Before noon and the end of his shift, the man on lookout had seen from the distance a very notorious pirate flag: a smiling skull adorned by a famous strawhat.
The battle that soon followed was brief and ended with the absolute win of the enemy’ ship. Their own ship had been capsized by one punch from Strawhat himself.
Raise who had been at the time busy with defending the ship by hiding behind some barrels, fell in the sea. Of course, if anyone were to ask him, he was preparing himself to jump on a pirate from behind his hiding spot, not cowardly waiting for everything to end.
On top of all that, the weather decided to betray them exactly at that moment.
The sea raged in all its glory. Thunder bolts fell from the sky blinding the poor souls beneath.
Raise could barely keep his head above water, struggling to stay afloat. No matter how good of a swimmer there was nothing he could do against the rage of the ocean. He was scared out of his mind, the water kept entering in his mouth and nose making difficult breathing and before he knew it, he fell unconscious believing to be dead.
Imagine his surprise when he woke up in an infirmary unknown to him. It didn’t look like a typical marine infirmary with its long lines of beds and the busy medical stuff crowding it. It didn’t even look like a small-town doctor’s office. Yes, it was relatively small but had what seemed the newest medical equipment you could find in a modern city hospital. Raise didn’t think much of it at the beginning, he was just grateful of having survived the battle at sea to question his rescuers. The problem arose the moment a peculiar creature entered the room. It was a sort of a hybrid between a racoon and a dog with antlers dressed in a small version of a doctor’s outfit in a pink and blue hat.
It was the strawhats’ pet, cute but known to be dangerous.
From there the situation soon spiralled to worse. In a fit of panic, Raise tried to flee as soon as he recognized the cute pet but only ended up on deck since there was nowhere else to go on open sea. Terrified but bravely he stood there like a lamb awaiting slaughter.
The strawhat’s were notorious pirates, one of the most dangerous crew that sailed the new world. Lately, their captain the infamous Monkey D. Luffy had gained the title of emperor of the sea and challenged both Kaido and Big Mom in fierce battle managing to win against the captain of the beast crew. The reports sent by the marine, who were unfortunate enough to meet them, told stories of an unusual crew whose members seemed to challenge the norms of common sense. All the fundamental laws of society he had learnt living were left broken by the passage of this band of pirates that left behind a world in chaos.
There were only ten members accounted for. It was an extremely small crew compared to the usual pirate band, formed of at least a hundred men but, the number should not be in this case an indication of their weakness, actually it was proof of their monstrous strength. Usually strength came in numbers, the more fighters you had at your disposal the higher the chances of surviving in this rough sea were but in the strawhat crew they valued more the quality. Each single member was a monster on its own. They were geniuses and power houses at the same time. It was impossible to forget that the young captain, barely nineteen, had reunited under the same flag legends of the calibres of Jimbei First son of the sea or Vinsmoke Sanji of Germa. Two years ago, a seventeen-year-old boy set sail from an island in the weakest blue and in a race against time rose to the top list of most dangerous criminals that ever existed. Yet he was not a no name wannabe pirate, but he came from a family whose members had all made history in good or bad way. But Monkey D. Luffy didn’t need his family’s questionable reputation to stand out among thousands of pirates. What could ever motive someone to declare war to the entire government? What monstrous deeds caused such a high bounty? What kind of perverted mind he had?
But it wasn’t just the captain to inspire such terror, his crew was as much terrifying as their leader. According to the reports they were all lone wolves or leaders on their own, even though this they decided to bow to another man and loyally follow him to the end of the world, because in all the reports he read they were described as a united group who showed the uttermost trust in each other and faith in their captain.
Roronoa Zoro, ex-bounty hunter from the east blue, user of the unique three sword style. At the beginning of their journey, he had been wrongly considered the captain. It was unthinkable that such a strong and ferocious man could bow to the will of another. He had already made a name for himself by capturing pirates in his sea of origin and brought them to justice, so it came as a surprise when his name was linked to the act of piracy. What could lead this man to switch sides?
Or Jimbei, an ex-member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, ex-captain of the Sun Pirates to leave everything to follow his junior?
Or Nico Robin a girl who gained a bounty of 79 million berry at the mere age of eight, whose name had made the entire government and criminal world alike sweat in fear of what she may have done with her knowledge.
Each crew member was a danger to society on its own but put together they formed such a formidable threat to the world balance that they must be eliminated on the spot or captured if seen by a marine. That was his duty but easier said than done since he was the one held captive on their ship.
And what a strange ship it was. Even their boat defied expectations. He had heard of weird, colossal ships like Big Mom’s, but this looked more like an extravagant cruise ship than a terrifying pirate. It was so colorful, just like its owners, and so full of life.
He had been on deck for a while now, but no one minded him or approached him. Not far from where he was standing, Raise could see the infamous Strawhat whispering animatedly with one of his subordinates, God Usopp. He could not hear what they were saying but the two were acting as they were planning something extremely funny since they were giggling like kids with their hands on a jar of marmalade. Then they started running around. The nature of their behavior would have terribly confused Raise if it were not that at a certain point the sniper touched his captain on the shoulder and screamed at the top of his lungs.
“You are it!”
It was tag.
Maybe, it was some kind of weird new torture technique. They planned to unnerve him and when he would be at his lowest start asking questions. It certainly was unsettlingly to see them act this way, to let him lower his guard thinking they were just a bunch of crazy idiots playing children games.
They had been going at it for at least fifteen minutes when the fifth emperor himself skidded to a halt in front of him.
“Hey, marine. Wanna play? It can be funnier if we are more” he asked excited and then stopped like a sudden thought had entered his mind “Or we could play pirates vs marines. You and Chopper will be the marines and try to capture me and Usopp. Come on, it’s gonna be fun”.
Monkey D. Luffy just looked like his little nephew did every single time he had a few days of leave wanting to play with his favorite uncle. They jumped on the spot exactly the same way with the same childlike energy.
“Oi, oi… I don’t think it’s a good idea to play with the enemy” intervened God Usopp himself in all his glory.
Raise had heard tales of this man and all his great accomplishments, he was believed to possess an army of 8,000 men at his orders, according to the latest report.
“We need more players and no one else wants to join us, they are so boring”
“Yeah, that’s true but he is not our friend. Who knows what he is gonna do to us?”
“Ehhh, you worry too much, Usopp” the captain concluded that conversation and turned terrifyingly his head back, twisting his neck to a degree impossible for humans who don’t have his specific ability “I decided you are playing!”
Raise had listened horrified to that exchange worried about the sort of game a group of vicious pirates like them could ever play.
The captain seemed to have this weird energy about him. Looking at his face, he wasn’t impressive nor intimidating. There was a sort of innocence about him, a look you would never associate with a criminal. There was joy and levity in his eyes, a pure enjoyment of life in his behavior. However, Raise knew he could never trust someone like him, a criminal in blood and actions.
A heavy hand landed forcefully on his shoulder, pressing down, and gripping him strong. Raise turned his head in terror and discovered that Roronoa Zoro had approached him silently from behind. He was massive and tall, towering over his cowardly form like a tiger ready to assault his weak prey and devour it all in one bite.
“Captain, let him be. He is needed now in the infirmary, doctor’s orders”
His grip said it all, Raise had to follow him and not do anything foolish or there would be consequences, and not of the nice kind.
There was a finality in his words that were heard by everyone in the small group.
“If Chopper needs him back in bed so, be it” Monkey D. Luffy spoke after a silent conversation with the swordman that went literally over Raise head “I would not want to make my doctor angry”
They must have communicated something because the young man tone had changed abruptly, he no longer talked with unbound joy but there was a thin layer of mistrust. A silent call to obedience like Raise had just crossed some invisible line when he had escaped the infirmary. It seemed that going against something ordered by any member of the crew was considered a violation.
With nothing left that he could do, Raise resigned himself to a horrible fate.
The Pirate Hunter stirred him back towards one of the doors on deck, probably the same one he had escaped from. He couldn’t remember what direction his feet had taken him at the time. He had just wanted to escape as soon as possible from the clutches of his captors without realizing that since they were at sea there was not really a way out short of jumping overboard, something heavily discouraged if he wanted to make it out alive from this misadventure.
When Raise had heard that a man who used to capture pirates and bring them to justice had changed abruptly sides, he had remained quite shocked. There were no logical explanations for such a thing. Roronoa Zoro had been considered an unusual strength from the east blue but a valid and trustworthy ally in the daily fight against the evil that was brought by the pirates in the civilized world. What could be the reason for him to give up his freedom to live in the world and follow a mad man? It angered Raise not knowing why Roronoa had given up everything in exchange for being haunted and excluded by the society he was raised in.
They walked for a while, back and forth the deck turning left and then right. There was no clear pattern nor a precise direction to their wandering. From one room to another.
The pirate must had been trying to confuse him with mad turns and walking in circles so he could not report the layout of the ship to his superiors. The entire situation was so confusing that Raise was feeling a headache coming.
“Oi, you! Chopper has been waiting for you for like a half an hour. Did you get lost in the way to the infirmary?”
A tall man wearing a mismatched assortment of clothes was leaning from the first-floor rails of the ship. By the curly brow and blond hair, it could have been no one but Vinsmoke Sanji, third prince of the Germa Kingdom, known to the world with the alias of Black Leg Sanji.
“I am not lost, useless cook! I am headed the right way!” yelled the swordman with indignation.
Was he truly lost? On his own ship?
“Yeah, sure whatever you say Marimo”
Vinsmoke, then, jumped from the rails and took Raise from his arm “I’ll take him from now”
Not waiting for an answer from the pirate hunter, Raise was dragged away by the newcomer towards one of the sets of stairs on deck, but he couldn’t stop himself from hearing soft muttered curses from behind them.
“Idiot, how does he still get lost?” the ex-prince sighed in complete exasperation. Soon Raise entered what it appeared to be a dining room with a kitchen on the side.
“Why did you become a pirate? When you left your family and were declared dead you could have become more than this. You could have been free”
Vinsmoke stopped in his track.
“Free you say?” he said with a dead calm “Free to do what exactly? Be at the mercy of those evil bastards that you call Gods?”
The Celestial Dragons? It is the duty of every marine to protect them because they are the heirs to the founders of our great government. All Raise had been taught was to respect them and be thankful for their existence.
“Listen here, marine. You and I have two different kinds of concept of freedom. You think serving them and those other idiots in charge can give you the liberty of living in peace. But what peace? Starving to death because you can’t pay the godly tribute? Or being oppressed and killed by one of those bastards that you let roam free? Do you know how many of you are corrupt? How many people I saw suffer under your flag for the smallest reason? Do you know for what reason? Being born. According to your pals that’s good enough to get you killed. So, all of you get scared by an innocent baby whose fault is being born from someone you consider an enemy. How is that freedom? Or better the freedom to be handpicked from one of those dragons and become their personal slave for the rest of your miserable life? I saw that happen. I am no hero or good person, but I can see the wrongs of this world just by looking at the people on this ship. They have suffered a great deal. We choose to live as we see fit, we seek together with our captain to be free from the will of some asshole who only cares for a title and thinks that if you are poor, you are worse than the dirt. We are free, not you. They can do us nothing. We are strong enough to defend us and our loved ones. Can’t you see how rotten your world is when a child has to starve to death or being haunted like a beast or forced to shoulder the lives of a village on their own because you do nothing but protect the wrong people?”
Raise had always believed in what his parents and teachers had told him. There’s an order to everything, it must not be questioned otherwise chaos reigns over the world and all humans will turn to their natural form, a bloodthirsty creature set on its own survival.
Therefore, their ancestor led by the dragons had created an order, a society where the evil does not reign and if anyone is caught committing a crime against that order will be haunted by the paladins of justice, known as the marines. This would ensure peace and prosperity. Pirates are the root to all evil, they kill, rob, destroy, they leave ashes behind where life can no longer grow back. He had seen the product of that in the newspaper and in the history books. Who was he to question that?
He had decided to become a marine so he could protect his family from those monsters that roamed the seas.
But he had been to Sabaody.
He had seen the faces of those men and women tied up in shackles and collars, treated worse than animals, sold on the streets like second hand merchandize, barely worth anything because they were already broken.
He had smelt the odor of burned flesh on the back of a man. No, no longer a man. Just a horse under the heavy weight of a dragon.
Yes, it was awful to watch but who was he to say anything against them? They are divinities and him a mere mortal. One word and he is there on the same place as that man turned horse for the enjoyment of a god.
But they were criminals, not dangerous enough to be sentenced to life in Impel Down, instead they served their punishment under the dragons. The government philosophy was to eradicate the evil before it takes root in the world, even at the cost of eliminating the bad blood, children who surely would follow their parents’ footsteps and plunk the world in chaos. No one escapes its destiny, you are born in a specific place and time, your genetic dictates who you truly are.
Raise was so confused. What Vinsmoke had said made no sense at all. It was still not worth losing everything because you though the world turned the wrong way. It had always rotated the same way if something worked why bother changing it. There’s no point in turning against the world, all you need is to follow it. Especially if all you did was cause harm to innocent people and threatened their livelihood
“But what you do is wrong! Pirates destroy and kill everything they touch. If you say all you want is freedom why then become a pirate, someone who takes the freedom from others?”
“There’s not much choice. The moment you search for freedom the world looks at you and decide you are a criminal no matter if you have just saved a life or taken one in the process. You question them and you are wanted dead. But then you became a pirate and it’s your decision what you do. My captain would say that what you described is not a pirate at all”
“Then what is truly a pirate?”
“An adventurer, I suppose. Someone who seeks the unknown or who does what the hell they want because they can. Someone who has a family by choice and lives under the rules of the sea. Or at least it is what I understood, the captain is not great at explanations or explaining what he does. He just does it and to hell with everything else. He is a selfish man but a very selfless one. If you are his friend let be assured, he will help you. Become his enemy… and well start digging your grave”
That was ominous and contradictory. How can anyone be selfish and selfless at the same time? These are two words put at two different ends of a spectrum. You are one and not the other. Selfish, yes, he could understand. In order to be a pirate, you have to live selfishly by taking what is not yours and not caring for the wellbeing of others. But selfless implied desire to help someone even at the cost of oneself, that was more the description Raise would give to a marine and not a criminal.
“That makes no sense. I can’t believe someone like him has even an ounce of selflness”
“Luffy is selfless, believe it or not. It is just not something he does purposedly. If you are a good person and need a hand not even God himself can do anything in front of Luffy’s will. He is the storm. He fights for his family, to be sure they don’t suffer from pain or hunger. So, they can be free to be”
Vinsmoke had talked with passion. It was easy to see he completely believed his words, that he trusted his captain to be the man he had described. There was determination and love in his eyes, the same look he imagined he had when he watched from afar one of the admirals. If what was said was true than Monkey D. Luffy must be a great man at par with his notorious grandfather. Eccentric but fundamentally a good man. Perhaps there was some truth in what the prince had said but it was hard to accept something so far away from what he had always believed in. To believe that a pirate can be someone searching for adventure and most of all a good man was something he had never imagined.
“You should start questioning your superiors. Nothing in this world is what it seems to be at first. I know people like you who see everything in black and white but there are many shades of these colors. We are not heros, but we aren’t bad as you would say either. Question what you see and when you have discovered the truth maybe I’ll invite you to another lunch. Hopefully then we’ll have a better philosophical discussion. Anyway, enter the infirmary and tell Chopper to haste. Lunch is ready in twenty”
While deep in conversation, the pirate had led his prisoner in front of a door situated in what appeared to be the far end wall of the ship kitchen. Raise had been so much inside his head questioning his prospective of the world that he had completely missed to take notice of his surrounding, failing even his easiest job of making a mental map of the enemy’s ship to give as a sweetener to his superior for having fallen in the enemy’s hands in the first place. Vinsmoke had left him standing there on his own while he casually went in the kitchen, grabbed s pan, and started making lunch? Was he the cook of the crew? Him? A noble lowered himself to cook for others, to dirty his hands with a menial task, something usually reserved to the help.
Raise thought it would be better to follow what the pirate had said and with a little bit of hesitation, hoping he didn’t show it too much, knocked on the door in front of him.
Immediately it opened to reveal the crew’s pet Tony Tony Chopper who ushered him inside the infirmary to check him over.
Raise had so many questions in his head. He felt like he had to revalue his entire life because those arguments raised by the pirate seemed valid enough. He didn’t know how true they were if the world government was as corrupted as he claimed it to be. If it were true, then his entire vision of the world would be turned upside down. Marines evil and pirates capable of good? It sounded more like the beginning of a bad joke. He had to investigate and perhaps if one day he would meet them again (in the case he actually survived their first encounter) he could have better arguments to use against theirs. But all these questions had to wait, he still couldn’t trust their words and was still at their mercy. He had to find a more objective source of information.
Raise got his wish a few days later when the ship stopped on the next island and dropped him there saying that he could reach a marine base on his own from there.
That had been quite the adventure for someone who although was a marine had never had much excitement in his life. Those pirates he had met defied the most common traits associated with the pirates. They didn’t treat him badly; he hadn’t been tied up either nor starved or tortured. They gave him food, even offered to let him seat with them during their meals. But he couldn’t accept, he was already treading trough dangerous water by not attacking them, he surely couldn’t be seen to be too friendly with them.
They weren’t normal either. The dynamics inside the crew were particular and if anyone with no prior knowledge would observe them, he would come to completely different conclusions than the actual truth. But under the layer of fun, craziness, and joy that they emanated from every pore there was what the world was afraid of. There was fire and danger in their eyes, a resolution to do what necessary to obtain their freedom and dreams. They must not be taken lightly no matter if they were good or not. They didn’t care for authority of any kind, they sailed towards their dreams and damn all that stood between the two. The captain was their glue and their anchor, they all gravitated towards.
He was a magnet, the Sun and them the planets attracted by his gravitational force. A force you can’t oppose or sway. The Sun himself warm and bringer of life but capable of destruction at the same time. He had never met someone with so much determination as the members of the strawhat pirate crew.
Seeing them departing from the port where they had left him Raise was reassuring. He hadn’t died yet; he was whole and healthy as the day he had been taken but the feeling of having escaped a geomagnetic storm was greater.