One Piece Plot Bunny #6! (Patreon)

Here we go again friends and fans! Another One Piece Plot Bunny!

One more ‘Different Devil Fruit Luffy’ story idea and this time we have another Mythical Zoan. Sorry, but they’re just so cool! My Muse likes them! And there are just so many to play with!

This time my brain has chosen one of the Shijin (Four Symbols), and the one it chose was the Guardian of the West, Byakko! He is associated with the Chinese element of Metal, the season of autumn, the planet Venus, and the color white. He represents the virtue of righteousness.

And in Chinese Five Element Theory, the Metal element includes the Western idea of the Air element. It is the force of gravity, the minerals within the earth, the patterns of the heavenly bodies and the powers of electrical conductivity and magnetism. So, there are plenty of things to play with! Metal, Wind, and Lightning at the very least! Kek!

I hope everyone reading this enjoys!

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Mythical Zoan - Neko Neko no Mi – Model: Byakko

Mythical Zoan – Cat-Cat Fruit – Model: Celestial White Tiger

“Alright Luffy, hunt the tiger in that den down there and we’ll have it for lunch!” The Marine Vice-Admiral, Monkey D. Garp, instructed his grandson as he held the six-year-old over a deep ravine with a cave at the far end. Luffy struggled against his grandfather’s hold on him.

“Why do I have to do that, grampa?!” Luffy yelled at his grandfather as he flailed his small arms and legs, trying to hit the old man.

“It’ll make you a strong man and a good Marine, that’s why!” Garp yelled back as he tossed the boy in. “I started hunting these tigers at your age, so you can do it too! If you want to eat today, then you need to succeed!”

“Darn it, grampa!” Luffy yelled as he fell down into the depths of the ravine. Luckily for the young boy, there were several leafy branches on the way down that repeatedly slowed his fall. Luffy dropped the last dozen meters into a thick pile of fallen leaves that covered the bottom of the ravine floor. He had a few scratches and bruises, but nothing serious in the way of injuries. “Stupid grampa…” Luffy brushed the leaves off himself with a grumble.

Monkey D. Luffy didn’t look much different than any six-year-old boy. He was about average in height, had short black hair, tanned skin from always being outside, and wore shorts and a white shirt with sandals on his feet. His grandfather, Garp, was a large and imposing older man with broad shoulders and a body absolutely packed with muscles from decades of rigorous (and some would say insane) training.

“Guess I’ll try…” Luffy huffed as he headed towards the cave that was the den of one of Mt. Corvo’s massive tigers.

Approaching the den, Luffy didn’t hear anything. The boy peeked inside, but could only see for a few meters thanks to the sunlight. Not seeing the tiger that he was supposed to hunt, Luffy crept into the large cave and started walking. There were some scattered rocks and even a few broken bones from other large beasts in the cave, but not the tiger itself. Noticing some light further down the cave, Luffy wandered towards it, keeping an eye out for the tiger in case it returned.

“Huh…outside?” Luffy blinked as he emerged from the cave and back into the forest. “The cave was like a tunnel.” The six-year-old stated to himself with a nod. Looking around, Luffy saw that he was in the ravine still. The high rock walls surrounded this patch of forest and Luffy suddenly wondered how he’d actually get back out of the ravine if he managed to hunt the tiger. “Ugh…I’m hungry.” Luffy held his stomach as it growled. Garp had dragged him out of bed and into the forested mountains before breakfast, so Luffy hadn’t had anything to eat today. Looking around, hoping he might find some food before the tiger returned, Luffy did spot a fruit-bearing tree. “Yes!” He laughed and ran towards it. “It’s not meat, but it’ll do!” The boy cheered as he climbed up the tree and into the branches.

What greeted him when he got into the canopy was a strange fruit that he’d never seen before. It was fairly large, had a white skin with black swirls and stripes, and the stem that connected it to the tree was curled. Being hungry and seeing a new fruit in front of him, Luffy did the ‘Luffy’ thing and promptly picked the fruit from the branch.

“I wonder what this tastes like?” Luffy grinned before taking a large bite of the fruit, peel and all, and chewing on it. His face immediately scrunched up in revulsion upon the taste hitting his tongue. Luffy spat out the peel and some of the fruit, but reflexively swallowed the chewed up fruit in his mouth. “YUCK!!!” He tossed the fruit away, letting it splatter on the ground below. “Ugh…that was nasty.” Luffy complained as he tried to get the taste out of his mouth. Spotting more fruit, none of which looked like the one he’d just eaten, Luffy climbed over to them and began scarfing them down to try and rid himself of the horrible flavor of the weird fruit from before.

After filling his belly, Luffy dropped down from the tree with a grin. He walked back towards the cave without much concern and started the trek back towards where he’d been thrown into the ravine. If there wasn’t a tiger in the cave, then his grandpa couldn’t be mad at him for not hunting it, right? Luffy emerged from the cave only to come face to face with the massive tiger that lived there. The huge beast had just returned from wherever it had been and didn’t look pleased to see an intruder in its territory.

“RAAAAOOOOAAARRRHHHH!!!” The tiger’s roar was loud and filled with the threat of violence. It leapt at the much smaller Luffy, looking to crush him beneath its massive paws.

“AAAHHH!!!” Luffy dove out of the way and the tiger slammed down behind him, throwing up a cloud of dust and dead leaves from the force of its impact.

“Grrrrr…” The tiger growled as it locked its eyes on Luffy again.

“EH?!” Luffy exclaimed as he saw the tiger leap at him again. He threw himself to the side in panic…and landed easily on his paws. With a tensing of his muscles, he leapt towards the cliff wall, managing to snag one of the protruding leafy branches that grew from it. His claws easily dug into the wood, giving him plenty of grip and traction. Luffy leapt upwards again, getting to an even higher branch. That proved to be a good thing as the branch that he’d been on was torn off the ravine wall by the leaping tiger below him. Luffy continued to leap upwards, using the various branches as footholds and he ascended the cliff. Thankfully, it appeared the large tiger below couldn’t follow him because of its immense size.

“Hmm?” Garp looked up when he heard noise from the ravine. “Done already, Luffy?” He chuckled, proud of his grandson for having already completed the hunt. But what clawed its way over the edge of the ravine was not his grandson, but a white tiger. A rather odd white tiger at that, given that the beast had odd tufts of slivery-blue fur on the back of its legs that vaguely resembled clouds. The eyes of the beats were also a shockingly bright blue, almost like they were glowing with inner light. “What the hell?!” Garp stood up, ready to fight the tiger if necessary.

“Grampa, you jerk!” The white tiger yelled at Garp angrily. “I almost got eaten by that tiger!”

“L-LUFFY?!” Garp’s jaw nearly hit the ground at the sound of his grandson’s voice coming from the tiger.

“What?” The tiger tilted its head slightly at Garp’s reaction.

“WHY ARE YOU A TIGER?!” Garp demanded after a second to pull himself together.

“I’m a tiger?” Luffy tried to look at his hands, only to realize he was looking down at paws instead. “I’M A TIGER!!!”

“What did you do, you little fool?!” Garp walked right up to Luffy and bopped him on the head. The tiger faceplanted into the ground and slowly reverted back into his grandson.

“OW!!! What was that for, grampa?!” Luffy held his head in pain while yelling at his grandfather.

“You ate a Devil Fruit?! Where did you even find one?!” Garp pointed down at Luffy.

“What’s a Devil Fruit?” Luffy questioned, still cradling his head.

“It’s a weird fruit that has swirl markings on it.” Garp went with the simplest explanation. “Did you eat something like that down there?”

“Oh yeah, the mystery fruit.” Luffy nodded before his face scrunched up at the memory of the taste. “It was really bad.”

“Why would you just eat something that you didn’t know what was?” Garp looked at his dope of a grandson with a flat expression.

“Because I was hungry.” Luffy’s simple answer nearly made Garp facepalm.

“Well…there’s no going back now.” Garp heaved a quick sigh. “Congratulations, you dope, you’re cursed now and will never be able to swim for the rest of your life.”

“Eh?!” Luffy gaped at what Garp had just said. “Why not?!”

“That’s how Devil Fruits work you little fool!” Garp barked back at Luffy. “In exchange for becoming a hammer in water, a Devil Fruit offers the one that eats it a power of some kind. You’ve clearly eaten a Zoan Fruit, so now you can turn into a white tiger. Neko Neko no Mi – Model: Tiger or White Tiger, something like that, not sure there’d really be a difference between the two.” Garp had decades of experience with Devil Fruit users in the Marines, including multiple Zoans.

“Huh.” Luffy looked at his hands curiously before looking up at Garp. “I don’t feel any different.” Garp took a long, slow breath before he decided to speak again.

“It doesn’t matter.” Garp shook his head. “From now on, I’ll be training you even harder, Luffy! As a Zoan Fruit user, your power only gets better the stronger your normal human body is.” Garp cracked his knuckles. “So, I’ll show you how to use that Fruit of yours the old fashioned way!” It worked for the Marines he’d trained with over the years, and Luffy was his grandson, so there shouldn’t be any problems. At least that’s how it worked out in Garp’s head.

-A Month Later-

“Ack!” Garp leapt back from Luffy’s beast form in confusion. There was lightning and wind swirling around the large white tiger. “What the hell?” He’d only been sparring with his grandson as normal. Makino would very much call him out on being too rough with Luffy if she saw this training though.

“Grampa, you jerk!” Luffy’s voice was mixed with a rumbling growl before the wind and lightning was launched at the Vice-Admiral.

“Hold up, Luffy!” Garp was suddenly at his grandson’s side, the wind and lightning tearing apart the ground where he’d been standing not even a full second ago. “Something is weird about your Devil Fruit.”

“Huh?” Luffy turned to face his grandpa as the wind and lightning dispersed. The white tiger sat down and looked at Garp confused.

“Normal tigers don’t throw around lightning and wind.” Garp stated the obvious. “I’d had my suspicions for a bit now, given that your fur in tiger form is soft to the touch, but feels like punching steel.”

“Suspicions?” Luffy tilted his tiger head at a forty-five degree angle. It would’ve looked adorable, if not for the fact that Luffy was currently a large tiger.

“There are two other types of Zoan Devil Fruits in the world, the Ancient Zoan and the Mythical Zoan.” Garp explained as he stood in front of his transformed grandson. “What you just did most likely means that your Devil Fruit is a Mythical Zoan.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll have to try and look into it and see if I can figure out just what the hell you are.”

“Is it bad?” Luffy was a child and went with the simple questions.

“No, it’s incredibly rare, and powerful if you put in the work to make it so.” Garp smiled at Luffy, happy that his grandson had gotten such a powerful Devil Fruit. “With that, will start working on these abilities of yours too. Mythical Zoans seem to have some quirk or another about them that the user can use even without transforming.” He knew that from his friend and the current Fleet Admiral of the Marines, Sengoku ‘the Buddha’ and from that Phoenix Brat that was on Whitebeard’s crew. “Yours could be using those elements or something else entirely. It’ll take time to figure out.”

“Okay.” Luffy agreed without a care. His stomach rumbling was clearly heard a second later. “I’m hungry. Is it lunch yet?”

“No.” Garp deadpanned before bopping Luffy over the head with his patented ‘Fist of Love’, which sent his grandson face first into the ground.

“OW!!!” Luffy cried out in pain, now back to human form. “Grampa!”

The next decade of Luffy’s life went by with quite a bit of fanfare at first. He’d met ‘Red Hair’ Shanks, an infamous pirate from the Grand Line, when his pirate crew had docked in Fuusha Village for a vacation. He’d become great friends with the whole crew and when they’d finally shipped off for the last time, he’d been given Shanks’s precious Straw Hat along with a promise to return it to when Luffy became a great pirate.

Naturally, that hadn’t sat well with Garp when he’d found out. Hearing Luffy talk about becoming the ‘King of the Pirates’ had nearly made him blow a gasket. That had led him to taking Luffy to the Dadan Bandit Clan in the deep forests of Mt. Corvo to toughen him up even more. But Luffy would never hold that against his grandfather, because it was where he’d met his two brothers.

Ace had initially not cared for Luffy, going so far as to spit on him during their first meeting. That had earned the older boy a punch to the face and a broken nose for his trouble. Luffy had apologized later and then taken to following Ace around. That was how he eventually met Sabo, a blonde boy wearing a top hat and a black coat. Luffy had easily ‘proved his worth’ to the two after helping them hunt for food and even assisting them with their thieving within the Goa Kingdom. They’d become sworn brothers after exchanging sake cups one day, and all three saw each other as family.

Thinking back to Sabo’s fate that day still made Luffy growl lowly in anger. Sabo just wanted to be free to live his own life. They’d all agreed to sail the seas as pirates and follow their dreams! Then the World Noble people had blown Sabo’s small ship into pieces with cannons…. Luffy never forgave them and he’d never forget what they’d done, what they’d taken from him and Ace.

-Luffy ~ Age 17-

“Woo…what a nice day to set sail.” Luffy smiled up at the clear sky, only a few puffy white clouds passing by. The small boat he’d taken from Fuusha Village was drifting along the wind and the currents. Luffy leaned back against his single barrel of belongings and adjusted his Straw Hat over his face to block out the sun. “Time for a nap.” It wasn’t like he had much else to do while he sailed and waited to find an island. Luffy absolutely sucked at navigating, after all.

As he drifted off, he thought back to how he’d left Dawn Island, the only home he’d ever known. Fuusha Village was safe and sound. He’d beaten the mountain bandit Higuma nearly to death when he’d tried to make trouble for Makino and the village. Shanks had even been impressed at his strength for a boy his age. That was how he’d learned about Bounty Offices and had cashed in the bandit’s bounty, or seventy percent of it anyway. The Bounty Office had to make their own money, and they would be the ones handing Higuma over to the Marines. At Luffy’s request before he’d left, the Dadan Clan had promised to watch over Fuusha Village and keep any other bandits out of it.

-Later-

“Who the hell are you?!” A loud voice yelled and woke Luffy up.

“Huh?” Luffy flicked his hat upwards to see that his small boat had drifted into the shallows surrounding a small forested island. He was practically on the shore already. Maybe the tide on gone out while he’d been napping? Looking up at who had yelled, he spotted several men with weapons in hand. “Who’re you?”

“WE ASKED YOU FIRST, JACKASS!!!” All of the men yelled angrily.

“Oh? I’m Luffy.” Luffy greeted them as he stood up and hopped onto the shore amongst them.

“Hey!” One of the men yelled as they all put some space between themselves and Luffy. “Why are you here?” He brandished his cutlass at Luffy.

“Just drifted here.” Luffy shrugged without a care.

Several of the men eyed Luffy, wondering if they could take him down. The guy was built like a brick shithouse, as the saying went. For anyone that knew both Luffy and Garp, they’d say the boy looked very much like a young version of his grandfather when it came to the build of his body. Luffy was a muscular young man, forged through Garp’s intense training and the life he’d lived with Dadan’s bandits. Dressed in a red vest and denim shorts that stopped at his knees, his musculature was easily visible.

“This is the territory of Lady ‘Iron Mace’ Alvida, the pirate!” Another of the men also brandished his sword at Luffy. “Hand over all your valuables and we might let you live.”

“Don’t wanna.” Luffy waved the man off while looking around. “Hey, you guys got any food?”

“Bastard!” The man lashed out with his sword.

Chinnng

The sound of metal snapping was heard as Luffy raised his forearm to block the blade. The top of the blade hit the ground and the man went flying as Luffy’s fist slammed into his face. All of the pirates staggered backwards in shock at what they’d just seen.

“That wasn’t nice.” Luffy grimaced before looking over the rest of the pirates.

“W-Wh-What the hell are you?” One of the pirates stutters out, his cutlass visibly shaking along with his body.

“Luffy, a pirate.” Luffy answered as he took a step forward.

“What the hell is another pirate doing on MY island?” A large woman demanded as she ambled towards the group. She easily filled the space of four men, and carried around a massive, spiked, iron mace. She wore a pink plaid shirt that was stretched out over her frame, a pair of grey-white pants along with a blue Captain's coat. She had a white, red-plumed hat on her head and was covered in various bits of jewelry. She had a pistol tucked into her purple sash to finish off her look.

“Lady Alvida!” The group of pirates all looked relieved that their Captain was there.

“Oh, this is your island?” Luffy looked at the rotund woman. “I just drifted here. You got any food?”

“Not for you, punk.” Alvida denied him. “Now, why don’t you hand over whatever valuables you have, and then you can just sail away from here back where you came from.” She pointed her massive iron mace at him threateningly.

“Still don’t wanna.” Luffy shook his head once. “You do have food though, right?”

“What’s it to you, huh?” Alvida demanded angrily. This punk just wasn’t getting it!

“I’ll just take what I want then and be on my way.” Luffy grinned and before any of the pirates could react, he struck hard. “Tiger Heavy Elbow!” Luffy’s elbow came down on the pirate closest to him. A crack was heard and the man dropped to the ground screaming. The way his arm kind of flopped around indicated that his shoulder had dislocated at the very least. “Tiger Claw!” His right hand swiped out and sent another man ragdolling into the dirt.

“Martial Arts?!” Alvida gaped at seeing what were clearly well-practiced moves being used to tear through her crew in seconds. “I’ll crush you!” She roared, raising her mace high and charging at Luffy as fast as she could.

“Tiger Knee!” Luffy was in Alvida’s guard before she could swing her mace. His knee nearly warped her face around it and lifted the heavy woman off the ground. Alvida was unconscious before she crashed back to the dirt with blood running from her nose and mouth.

“A-Amazing…” A chubby, somewhat dorky looking boy with pink bowl-cut hair and large circular glasses stuttered out at seeing the Alvida Pirates decimated.

“Are you a pirate too?” Luffy questioned the shorter boy.

“N-No, sir!” The boy waved his hands in front of him and shook his head rapidly. “M-My name is C-Coby…I’ve been forced to be their Cabin Boy and Navigator for the last two years.”

“Why didn’t you just leave?” Luffy asked what he felt was a simple question.

“How could I?!” Coby cried out, his whole body shaking. “I’d be captured for sure! Then I’d be punished horribly! It was impossible!”

“So, you’re a weakling and a coward?” Luffy burst into laughter. “I hate people like you.”

“Y-you didn’t have to be so blunt…” Coby had tears in his eyes at Luffy’s words, even if they were true.

“So, where’s the food?” Luffy looked at Coby while his stomach growled.

“Over there.” Coby pointed and began leading the way.

“Great!” Luffy was all smiles at the thought of getting to fill his belly. “Hey, you said you were their navigator too, right?”

“Yeah…” Coby answered, unsure of where Luffy was going with this.

“Can you navigate me to a good-sized island with a town?” Luffy requested with a grin. “I ate all of my food already and I want to restock.”

“W-Well, the biggest town anywhere close to here is Shells Town.” Coby replied, nervous about giving Luffy bad news. “But it’s the home of a Marine Base, under Captain Morgan. They say that they’ve imprisoned the infamous Bounty Hunter Roronoa Zoro there recently.”

“Huh, is he strong?” Luffy looked back at Coby with a grin.

“He’s a demon in human skin, according to all the rumors about him.” Coby shivered slightly. “They say he started bounty hunting just to satisfy his bloodlust.”

“Sounds interesting…I’d like to meet him!” Luffy grinned brightly. “Maybe he’ll join my crew?”

“Are you nuts?!” Coby shouted at him. “He’s a bounty hunter and you’re a pirate! He’ll kill you!”

“Nah, I’m strong.” Luffy laughed off Coby’s fears. “Ooh! Is the food in those buildings?” He pointed to a pair of semi-large storehouses that had just come into view.

“Yes, this is where…” Coby tried to explain, but Luffy was already running towards the storehouses with a cheer of ‘Food!’ before he could finish his sentence. “Hah…” The pink-haired boy was starting to think that Luffy would be constantly ignoring him.

-Days Later-

“Well…this is weird.” Luffy mentioned as he was carried in the beak of a massive seabird. He and Zoro, his first crewmate, had been sailing along after being asked to leave Shells Town by the grateful Marines. This was after Luffy had beaten Captain ‘Axe Hand’ Morgan into a broken mess to free Zoro from unjust imprisonment.

The bird currently with Luffy’s head in its beak had been the first animal they’d seen since they set sail. And since they’d run out of food after the first day…well, Luffy’s stomach had decided that they were going to catch this bird and eat it. So, he’d leapt towards it, only to be snatched out of the air and flown off with. Luffy was fairly certain that Zoro was cursing at him from way down below, but he’d lost sight of their boat fairly quickly.

BOOM

-Orange Town-

“Stop thief!”

“Give us back that map!”

“Huf…huf…” A woman with orange hair ran as fast as she could to try and escape her pursuers. “I finally have it! A map to the Grand Line!” She smirked at the rolled up paper in her hand. Now she just needed to lose the pirates chasing her and she’d be golden.

An explosion going off in the sky startled the woman and the pirates chasing her. They all looked up to see the cloud of smoke from the blast high in the air. But what caught their attention a second later was that something was falling towards them!

“WaaaaaAAAAHHHH!!!” Luffy crashed down onto the ground, shattering the paved street beneath his feet and throwing up a cloud of grit and dust.

“What the hell?!”

“Is that a person?!”

“He just fell from the sky!”

The pirates were clearly confused by the unexpected turn of events.

“What?!” The woman could only stare at the guy that had just crashed down between herself and the pirates.

“Who shot a cannonball at me?!” Luffy grumbled in annoyance. The dust clearing away to reveal that he was perfectly fine. “That doesn’t tickle, you know?!”

“He’s not hurt?!” One of the pirates gaped at the young man in the straw hat.

The orangette perked up as a way out of this situation popped into her head. “Boss! You came to rescue me!” She beamed at Luffy with her hands clasped in front of her.

“Eh?” Luffy looked at the woman that had just called him boss. She had dark reddish-brown eyes, a lovely face, and a curvy body with buxom breasts, a thin waist, flaring hips, and long legs with thick and toned thighs. All in all, she’d be considered gorgeous by most without a second thought. She wore a white and blue shirt, with an orange skirt with two white circles on each hip, on her feet were low-heeled boots.

“I’ll just let you take care of those guys!” The woman smiled and dashed off around the corner.

“Hey! She’s getting away!”

“Forget about the girl! We’ve got her boss right here.”

“He’s a bigger prize than she is.” The largest pirate glared at Luffy. “Isn’t that, right?!” She swung his fist at Luffy, but barely grazed the brim of the Straw Hat as Luffy leaned back.

The next thing anybody saw was Luffy’s sandal-clad foot slamming into the side of the large pirate’s head and kicking him through the wall of the building that they were in front of.

“Don’t touch my hat.” Luffy glared at the two remaining pirates.

“You son of a!”

“Take this!”

The two pirates lunged forward with their swords, only for the one on the left to hack up spit and blood as Luffy’s elbow strike slammed into his stomach. The pirate’s eyes rolled up as his body was flung away and crashed onto the street a few meters away. The second pirate barely had time to blink before a punch to the face laid him out just like the others, his twisted nose that was gushing blood a clear indication that it was broken.

“Wow!” The orangette spoke up from her position on a balcony overlooking the street. “You’re pretty tough. You beat those three with your bare hands.”

“Who’re you?” Luffy asked, looking up at the woman.

“The name’s Nami. I’m a thief that specializes in stealing from pirates.” Nami made a circle with her thumb and index finger. “Wanna team up with me?” She smiled and leaned over the banister of the balcony, giving just a peek at her cleavage.

“Stealing from pirates?” Luffy blinked at the oddly specific targets of her theft.

“That’s right! I steal treasure from pirates!” Nami gave him a smile. “Together we could make a fortune!”

“No thanks.” Luffy turned and started walking down the street.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Nami leapt down from the balcony with the grace of a cat, landing lightly on her feet. “At least think about it first!” She chased after him down the street.

“Already did.” Luffy replied nonchalantly, looking around the seemingly abandoned town.

“You got pretty mad when that pirate touched your hat. Is it valuable?” Nami looked at the simple straw hat curiously.

“This hat is my treasure.” Luffy replied, gently resting his left hand atop the gift that symbolized his promise with Shanks.

“Treasure, huh?” Nami eyed the hat again, but it didn’t seem important in any way. “Do you keep jewels hidden inside it? Or a treasure map?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s just important to me.” Was Luffy’s simple answer.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to team up?” Nami asked again, batting her eyelashes at Luffy a little. She could tell he was strong, his physique alone proved that, and he didn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the block either. That would make him useful to her goal. “I’m sure I could help you out in return.”

A loud growl came from Luffy’s stomach, and he turned to face her. “Feed me.”

“Well come with me and I’ll get you something to eat.” Nami smiled at him, happy that she might be able to get on his good side easily.

Taking Luffy to one of the abandoned houses, Nami slipped inside with him and moved to the kitchen. Luffy sat at the table and cheered when Nami brought an armload of various things she’d found in the cupboards to him. Watching Luffy quickly devour the pile of food made Nami wonder just how long it had been since he’d last eaten. She sat on the edge of the table and leaned back with her arms supporting her weight behind her. It was a subtle pose to emphasize her curves as she started up a conversation with Luffy. He seemed somewhat dense and oblivious, but Nami had been a thief for eight years and knew that subtle cues could get an instinctive reaction even if a man was a brick wall otherwise.

“So, you got separated from your only crew member and ended up here, huh?” Nami summarized what Luffy had told her of his current situation while he ate.

“Yep.” Luffy nodded while looking around the house. “Is this your place?”

“No. My work keeps me on the move. I don’t know whose house this is.” Nami shook her head. “All of the townspeople fled when Buggy and his crew took over the town.”

“Oh, so you’re looting the abandoned houses!” Luffy realized, only for Nami to glare at him.

“No! I only steal from pirates! Not innocent townspeople!” Nami barked at him, her teeth suddenly looking like sharp fangs in her anger.

“Take it easy.” Luffy chuckled at her burst of anger.

“Hah…” Nami sighed at this strong, yet simple, man that she’d met. “I’ve got to get 100,000,000 Beri. Then I’m going to buy a certain village.”

“Buy a village? For 100,000,000 Beri? That’s a lot, even for a successful pirate.” Luffy mentioned, having heard all sorts of tales from Shanks as a boy.

“I’ve got a plan.” Nami grinned at him and lifted the hem of her shirt a bit, showing a bit of her midriff to him as she pulled the rolled up map from her skirt pocket. “I stole this map to the Grand Line from Buggy. After I steal the treasure of the Buggy Pirates, I’m going to head for the Grand Line and then I’ll steal the treasures of even bigger pirates.” Nami leaned forward a bit, her right hand supporting her weight on the table, while her left hand held up the stolen map. “What do you think? Team up with me, and you’ll make a fortune! I could use a tough guy like you! We’ll split the loot fifty-fifty!” He didn’t need to know that she would be the one counting the loot and ensuring that her share was bigger.

“Hey, are you saying that you can navigate to the Grand Line?” Luffy leaned forward too, a curious look in his eyes.

“Of course, I can!” Nami smirked, raising her right fist in front of her. “I’m the best Navigator in the East Blue! I love the sea!”

“That’s great!” Luffy cheered with a wide grin. “We’re headed for the Grand Line too!”

“Really?!” Nami smiled at finally making some progress.

“Yeah! You could be our Navigator!” Luffy smiled at her. “Will you join my pirate crew?!”

“NO WAY!!!” Nami’s smile vanished in an instant to be replaced with a harsh glare.

“Huh?” Luffy blinked at the sudden change in tone.

“Hmph… I didn’t know that you were a pirate. Forget everything I just said.” Nami waved her hand through the air in front of her. “I’d never team up with you!”

“Why not?” Luffy tilted his head.

“If there’s one thing I really hate in this world, it’s pirates!” Nami stated with finality. “I only love money and mikans!” She turned her back to Luffy with a huff. ‘This guy is just another stupid, worthless plunderer. He doesn’t seem to have anything worth stealing. But maybe he could still be of some use to me.’

“So, how ‘bout it? Wanna be my navigator?” Luffy asked again, hoping for a positive response this time.

“I told you to forget about it!” Nami snapped at Luffy, the sharp teeth appearing for a second. “No-good pirate…” She muttered under her breath before an idea came to her mind. A smirk appeared on Nami’s face for a moment that Luffy didn’t see. “Since you really seem to need a navigator, I’ll consider it on one condition.” She looked at him over her shoulder.

“Really? What’s your condition?” Luffy asked curiously.

“Just a little thing. It’s nothing really.” Nami held up one finger with a little grin on her lips. “Just defeat the Buggy Pirates and let me steal their treasure.”

“That’s all?” Luffy smiled brightly and stood up from his chair. “Alright then! Let’s go now!” He started heading for the door without a care, just happy to be able to recruit a skilled Navigator with such an easy task.

“Hey, wait!” Nami quickly followed after him. “Are you serious?”

“Yep! No problem, Nami!” Luffy laughed as he walked down the street. “Where is Buggy and his crew anyway?”

“At the biggest tavern on the island.” Nami informed Luffy, incredulous that he was actually going to attempt to take down an entire pirate crew by himself. “It’s this way.” She started leading him in the right direction. “You do know the rumors about Buggy ‘the Clown’, don’t you?” Nami asked Luffy carefully. “He’s a cannon-happy Morganeer, and it’s said that he has strange powers.”

“Powers? Like a Devil Fruit?” Luffy looked over at her.

“Maybe? I mean, everyone has heard the old legends and stories about them.” Nami didn’t put much stock into old legends, but the tales had persisted for a reason, right?

“That’s no big deal.” Luffy shrugged it off without concern.

“No big deal?!” Nami looked at him like he was stupid. “How is that ‘No big deal’, huh?”

“Hey look, a dog.” Luffy abandoned the conversation and walked over to the small white dog sitting in front of a store that said ‘Pet Food’ on the large sign.

“Don’t just wander off in the middle of a conversation… Oh no, the poor thing looks hurt.” Nami also forgot the conversation as she kneeled down to look over the dog.

“Who’re you two?!” An old man in worn leather armor and with a shoddy spear on his back questioned. “What are you doing to Chouchou?”

“Who’re you, old man?” Luffy looked at the man oddly.

“I’m Mayor Boodle! The chief of Orange Town!” Boodle answered his eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

“Why is this dog hurt?” Nami looked between Chouchou and Boodle.

The mayor of the taken over town sighed heavily, the state of his town clearly hurting him deeply, before he began to explain about the dog. Learning the fate of Chouchou’s owner made Nami look at the dog with pity, especially since he’d gotten all of those injuries trying to defend the store of his late owner from the pirates. But Luffy’s reaction was much different.

“You’re a good boy. You keep protecting your treasure.” Luffy smiled at Chouchou, gently petting the dog’s head.

“Ruff.” Chouchou gave an affirmative bark and Luffy nodded once to the dog. Nami felt a tiny smile form on her lips from seeing the interaction.

“Rrrr…” A low rumbling growl was heard, along with the steps of something heavy approaching. Turning the group spotted an absolutely massive lion that had green fur and a purple mane. It was far larger than any average beast. It probably stood almost as tall as a man at the shoulder. Its fangs and claws were larger than knives and it rumbled threateningly at the three people and one dog in front of it.

A man with what looked like white fur covering his body was riding on the lion’s back. He appeared to be wearing a weird furry hat that went around his chin with teddy bear ears on top. “You shouldn't have bit me; you damn mongrel! I’ll burn that damn store to the ground in front of you!” The man yelled out as he and the lion stopped in front of the group. “Eh, who the hell are all of you?” He demanded looking over the group. “It doesn’t matter; appearing in my way was a fatal mistake! I'm Mohji, the Beast Tamer of the Buggy Pirates! Kill them, Richie!” The lion roared only to be silenced in an instant.

“Tiger Uppercut!” Luffy’s fist slammed into the massive lion’s jaws from below. The beast’s four paws all left the ground from the force of the blow. Mohji screamed in terror as Richie flew backwards through the air for a moment and then crashed to the paved street with a boom. The Beast Tamer had been flattened by his own beast since he’d still been on Richie’s back.

“Holy…shit…” Nami breathed out in absolute shock. She’d known that Luffy was strong, having seen him beat three men barehanded with ease, but this was insane!

“Don’t you dare touch Chouchou’s treasure!” Luffy’s voice came out in a cold rumbling growl. “A bastard like you has no right to take someone else’s treasure away.” He kicked the unconscious lion aside and picked up Mohji by the throat.

“W-What the hell are you?” Mohji questioned as he panicked. “Wait! I'll give you anything you want! I’m sorry!”

“You planned to destroy Chouchou’s treasure. Even knowing how important this store is to him. You’re no pirate. You’re trash.” Luffy glared into the other man’s eyes before slamming his fist into Mohji’s face. The Beast Tamer slammed into the ground and cracked the stone road. A crunch sounded out and Nami couldn’t tell if it was from the man’s nose or from his skull.

“Serves him right.” Nami mumbled with a glare at the unconscious pirate.

The two of them had then met up with Zoro, who promptly punched Luffy in the back of the head for getting snatched by a bird. He’d had to row after them and deal with three dumb pirates on the way. Luffy wasn’t even phased by the punch and simply explained the situation.

“So, we’re taking them down, huh?” Zoro remarked, walking beside Luffy without a care. “I could use some exercise anyway.” He rolled his shoulders with a grin.

“You can have the crew…Buggy is mine.” Luffy stated simply as he followed Nami towards the tavern.

‘I didn’t know his other crewmate was Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!’ Nami thought to herself as she walked. Why an infamous bounty hunter would join up with a pirate crew was still a mystery, but after what she’d just witnessed, she was starting to think Luffy could actually do this.

The noise and music coming from the large tavern could only have been caused by the Buggy Pirates. The pirate crew was apparently still celebrating their takeover of Orange Town. As the trio had gotten closer, there were more and more obvious signs of Buggy’s infamous ‘cannon-happy’ nature. Entire rows of houses had been blown apart from what could only have been cannon fire.

“Look at them, partying like destroying people’s lives is something to celebrate.” Nami growled before she turned to Luffy. “Let’s see you fulfill your end of the bargain.”

“Sure thing.” Luffy looked up at the top of the building. He inhaled deeply before shouting. “HEY! YOU STUPID CLOWN! GET DOWN HERE SO I CAN BEAT YOUR FACE IN!”

All sounds of revelry and merriment from the rooftop ceased instantly. Several sounds were heard and then pirates started appearing at the edge of the rooftop. The two most prominent being a man literally dressed like a clown, and a long haired man with a blue and white checker-patterned scarf.

“Who the hell are you?” The clown, obviously Buggy, demanded.

“Luffy, a pirate, I’m here kick your ass.” Luffy introduced himself while cracking his knuckles. “You really do look like a clown. You’ve got the big red nose and everything!”

The gasps and sudden scattering of the rest of Buggy’s crew gave some indication that a line had just been crossed.

“Y-You…WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT MY NOSE?!” Buggy roared, spit flying from his mouth.

“Captain how about I go down there and teach these fools a lesson?” The long-haired man offered, his hand resting on his sword.

“Don’t bother!” Buggy was nearly apoplectic. He hated it when anyone made a comment about his nose! “Fire the Buggy Ball! Fire!” Buggy roared out, his face a rictus of rage. A cannon was rolled over to the edge of the rooftop and aimed at Luffy. It fired a moment later with a thunderous boom.

“Run!” Nami was already a dozen meters away from Luffy by the time she shouted her warning. But she stopped dead when she saw Luffy backhand the red cannonball away and high into the air.

BOOM

The massive explosion went off, but did no damage beyond rattling the windows of the buildings in the town.

“Got anything else?” Luffy questioned unimpressed.

“Attack them!” Buggy hollered as he and his crew stormed from the tavern. Buggy leapt from the top along with the obvious swordsman. The rest of the pirates went through the doorway on top of the roof and came pouring out of the front door only moments later. They all brandished their weapons and charged the three that dared to challenge their crew.

“Zoro…deal with the others.” Luffy moved forward as Buggy charged towards him with knives at the ready.

“I’ll kill you, you little punk!” Buggy roared, prepared to end this upstart’s life here and now. “Bara Bara Cannon!” His fist launched off his arms like they were rockets. The blades between each of his fingers aiming to skewer Luffy.

“Is that a Devil Fruit?!” Nami gaped at actually seeing one of the legends in person.

“Yep.” Luffy swatted both of the flying hands away, making them drop their knives.

“It’s the power of the Bara Bara no Mi!” Buggy reattached his hands and pulled out more knives from the orange cloak he wore over his shoulders. “I’m a Splitting Human! You’ll need more than a sword to even touch me!”

“That’s annoying.” Zoro commented as he cut down more and more of Buggy’s crew. He’d have to increase his training if Devil Fruits could make someone immune to blades. “Are you going to fight or not?!” He barked at the so-called swordsman behind the crowd of pirates charging him.

“Are you that eager to die by my blade, Roronoa Zoro?” Cabaji, the Chief of Staff and swordsman of the Buggy Pirates, taunted with a grin. The man sat on a unicycle of all things and then pulled out his sword.

“Fucking clowns.” Zoro grunted at the absolutely ridiculous manner that Cabaji treated swordsmanship.

“You can’t possibly win, you little bastard!” Buggy laughed at Luffy. “You picked the wrong crew to challenge!”

“Do you think you’re the only one with a Devil Fruit?” Luffy grinned and his body began to increase in size as he transformed. Nami’s eyes widened, watching as Luffy changed.

He nearly doubled in height, his body became even bulkier and while tiger fur spread across his form. His feet turned into paws and his legs shifted to resemble a tiger’s as well. His hands developed wicked claws on the end of each finger. His head became tiger-like, aside from the mouth, and two tiger ears appeared on top of his head to replace his human ears. Finally, a long stripped tail grew from the based of his spine and flicked through the air.

“So, you’re a Zoan, huh?” Buggy mocked with a grin. “Too bad those claws of yours don’t mean anything in the face of my power, you tiger bastard!”

“Who said I was going to use my claws?” Luffy grinned right back, his fangs making it look much more intimidating. “I’ll get rid of you without them.”

“Just try it!” Buggy’s body separated at the waist and launched at Luffy like a cannon. His knives were ready to stab Luffy as he rapidly closed the distance.

“Tiger Tail!” Luffy spun in a full three-hundred-sixty degree rotation, his tail slamming into the flying Buggy with enough force to knock him through the tavern and out the back of the building in a shower of shattered masonry and broken wood.

Oddly enough, Buggy’s separated legs quickly shot over to the man like they’d been attached by a rubber band.

Luffy was quick to go after his opponent, easily leaping to the roof of the tavern and then dropping down on the other side. Buggy was just now picking himself up off the ground, hacking and coughing in pain.

“Y-you…son of a…I’ll kill you!” Buggy staggered to his feet and got ready to fight again. “Bara Bara Cannon!” He launched his fists forward again, a knife between each finger. The blades slammed into Luffy’s chest and Buggy grinned in victory.

For all of half a second.

“Yeah, that’s not going to work.” Luffy mentioned, the broken blades falling to the street. “My fur is stronger than steel.” He leapt at the clown pirate with a vicious grin.

“Bara Bara Escape!” Buggy’s body split into small pieces and flew back into the tavern.

“Hey! Get back here!” Luffy demanded chasing after Buggy. The two emerged back on the street in front of the tavern.

“What happened?!” Buggy cried out in shock. His entire crew was laid out on the ground! Even Cabaji had fallen and was bleeding from three lacerations across his torso.

“You lost.” Nami smiled at Buggy a large sack tied to her back and two smaller sacks in each of her hands. “Thanks for the treasure, by the way!”

“You…you…you thieving bitch! That’s MY TREASURE!!!” Buggy launched himself at Nami, splitting at the waist again.

“Don’t touch my navigator!” Luffy growled from beside Buggy, making the clown pirate wonder when the Zoan had gotten beside him. “Typhoon Tiger Tail!” Wind surrounded Luffy’s tail in a powerful cyclone. With another powerful swipe that slammed into Buggy full force, the older pirate was launched into the air and across the horizon. The combination of the powerful strike and the gale winds meant that Buggy would be flying for a good long while.

The winds from Luffy’s attack ruffled Nami’s hair and clothes, but the woman could only stare in shock. Luffy was more than just powerful. He was ridiculously powerful! He might not be the smartest guy that she’d ever met, but he could easily kill her if she tried to double-cross him.

“What…did you just call me?” Nami finally got her wits back as Luffy turned back into his normal human form.

“My navigator.” Luffy smiled brightly at her.

“What kind of monster are you, exactly?” Nami felt like she had to ask after what she’d just seen.

“A tiger.” Luffy’s simple reply would’ve made Nami facepalm if she wasn’t holding a bag of treasure in each hand.

“How am I your navigator, exactly?” Nami refocused on the deal they’d made.

“I beat Buggy, just like you said.” Luffy pointed over the horizon where he’d sent Buggy flying.

“The deal was that you’d take out the Buggy Pirates.” Nami grinned at Luffy with a playful smugness. “But Zoro took out most of the crew.”

“They weren’t much.” Zoro only knew Nami’s name and that Luffy wanted her as their navigator. But he was starting to see the woman’s personality now. He simply chose to stay out of it for now.

“What?!” Luffy grumbled at Nami. “That’s not how the deal works!”

“Relax, I’ve decided to stick with you as your temporary navigator.” Nami chuckled when Luffy’s eyes lit up only to then dim again.

“Rejected! Permanent navigator!” Luffy nodded firmly at Nami.

“Maybe if you help me out with my goal.” Nami turned her face away from Luffy’s with a grin.

“Deal!” Luffy accepted instantly. Then he thought about it for a second. “Wait…maybe doesn’t mean you’ll do it afterwards. Nami!” He lightly glared at her. No real heat behind his gaze.

“Hehehe…” Nami stuck out her tongue at him before she started walking towards the docks to procure a ship so that they could leave. Luffy and Zoro followed after her, Luffy grumbling about Nami being his permanent navigator the whole way.

‘It may not be so bad to become Luffy’s navigator. He’s certainly not like any other pirate I’ve ever seen before.’ Nami mused to herself as they walked. ‘I’ll stick with him for now and see how this plays out. With his power, getting the rest of my goal may not be too hard.’

“My navigator. Mine.” Luffy grumbled again, the young man was almost pouting. The sight nearly made Nami giggle.

‘Becoming his…huh?’ Nami thought, only to stop herself and slam the mental door closed on that particular thought. “Stop pouting, Luffy.” She huffed, not looking at him at all, solely focused on the docks they were approaching.  Nami wasn’t even sure where such a ridiculous thought could’ve come from.

-Arlong Park ~ A Month Later-

“THUNDER TIGER TAIL!!!” Luffy roared in his hybrid form, spinning like a buzzsaw down towards Arlong ‘the Saw’ at the top of Arlong Park. Lightning crackled loudly from his tail and when the appendage made contact with the battered and beaten Fishman, it was all over.

An explosion of lightning blew apart Arlong Park’s top three floors, and then blew out the remaining floors from the inside out. The structure that had cast a shadow over Cocoyashi Village and the Conomi Archipelago for the last eight years was no more. In the crater that remained, a burnt and dead Arlong lay, while the hybrid form Luffy stood over the corpse.

“RAAAOOOOORRRHHH!!!” Luffy roared to the heavens as wind whipped through the area and cleared away all of the dust in the air. With the dust out of the way, Luffy leapt up to the edge of the crater and transformed back into his human form. “NAMI!!!” He yelled out, getting the attention of everyone that has just watched the battle. “YOUR MY NAVIGATOR!!! MY FRIEND!!! MY NAMI!!!”

“Uh huh…” Nami felt the tears of joy welling up in her eyes. She bolted towards Luffy and nearly tackled him in a hug. His strong body didn’t budge though and instead Luffy wrapped his arms around her waist and swung her around once with a laugh. “Yours.” Nami whispered to him before capturing his lips in a kiss.

“Noooooo!” Sanji’s cries of dismay rang out as the chef dropped to his knees and began beating on the ground. “It’s not fair!”

-Enies Lobby ~ Months Later-

“Why protect Nico Robin, Straw Hat?” Rob Lucci, the strongest member that Cipher Pol 9 (the World Government’s secret assassination squad) had ever seen, questioned the Pirate Captain as the two squared off. “You should have just let us quietly carry her off.”

“She’s my nakama, that’s all the reason I need, you pigeon bastard!” Luffy growled at the other man. Both of them already in their hybrid forms.

“You’ll end up dying for a woman that would be better off dead.” Lucci scoffed, preparing to pounce on his enemy.

“I’m going to beat you so badly that you’ll NEVER come after Robin again!” Luffy declared, his clawed feet cracking the ground beneath him.

“Soru!” Lucci vanished in the high-speed movement technique.

“Tiger Roar!” Luffy roared loudly, sending a wave of wind and sound in font of him that distorted the air.

“Gah!” Lucci bit out as he was slammed back into the opposite wall. “Soru!” He vanished again as Luffy’s paw foot slammed through the wall where his head had just been.

“Get back here!” Luffy roared and leapt after Lucci.

“Kamisori!” Lucci combined Soru with Geppou to bounce around the air and get behind Luffy. “Shigan: Yellow Lotus!” A flurry of rapid strikes too fast for the eye to catch all of them stabbed into Luffy’s fur. The power behind the attack actually penetrating his steel-like fur.

“Tiger Tail!” Luffy countered before Lucci could finish his vicious attack, knocking the Leopard Man across the massive room and into the wall, spiderweb cracks appearing all across it.

“Gkh!” Lucci spit out the blood in his mouth and vanished into another Soru. “It seems we’ve both drawn blood, Straw Hat.”

“Thunder Tiger Claw!” Luffy was bearing down on Lucci with his hands crackling with lightning. The Leopard Man vanished in probably the fastest Soru he’d ever performed in his life. The entire floor where Lucci had just been exploded into a shower of electric discharge from the force of the strike.

“Rankyaku!” Lucci kicked a blade of air towards Luffy.

“Gale Tiger Claw!” Luffy countered by slashing his claws through the air, wind blades arcing form them and stalemating with the Rankyaku in the air before both techniques lost power.

“Kamisori!” Lucci blurred through the air before striking Luffy point blank. “Rankyaku!” The blade of air sent Luffy crashing into the far wall.

“Hah…hah…I see…now…” Luffy breathed out, a faint line of red on his white fur. “You kick the ground dozens of times in an instant and disappear. I could barely see it before…but now.” He stood up and face Lucci again.

“Soru!” Lucci vanished again, he’d hit Straw Hat with a Shigan straight to the heart this time! “GUGKH!!!” Luffy had suddenly blurred into existence right in Lucci’s path and nailed him with a brutal fist straight into the gut. The Leopard Man rocketed into the wall again, further shattering it. “H-cough-ow…?” Lucci could barely get the word out.

“After seeing it so many times, anybody could figure it out.” Luffy replied with a fanged grin.

“Bull…shit…” Lucci forced himself back to his feet. “You can’t…just learn one…of the Rokushiki…like that!”

“I did.” Luffy vanished into another Soru and Lucci was forced to do the same to keep up.

Technically speaking, Lucci was correct. No normal person could learn any of the Rokushiki techniques just by seeing them a few times. But Luffy was nothing if not a combat savant. The young man nearly hyper-excelled at learning physically, especially when it came to combat.

“Kamisori!” Lucci bounced into the air and rocketed around. “Rankyaku!” He sent a wide arc of slicing air close to ground level, forcing Luffy to leap over it. “Rankyaku: Leopard Tail!” Lucci spun and unleashed the technique through his long tail, sending a buzzsaw of slicing wind at the airborne Luffy.

“Hrngh!” Luffy’s paw feet kicked off the air to alter his course and dodge the spinning Rankyaku, which flew behind him to slice through the wall.

“No…that’s impossible!” Lucci denied what his eyes were seeing. “You can’t be doing this!”

“It’s just kicking really, really hard. What’s so difficult about that?” Luffy chuckled as he landed on the ground. He vanished in a Soru and Lucci only had a split second to react.

“TEKKAI!” Lucci braced himself and felt Luffy’s claws stab into his chest. Lucci’s feet slid backwards, tearing trenches in the already damaged floor as his claws tried to find purchase in the stone. When he stopped a dozen or more meters later, he looked down at his chest to see the five shallow stab wounds staining his fur with blood. “Shigan too?” Lucci nearly cracked a fang with how hard he was grinding his teeth.

“Huh, I thought that would be deeper.” Luffy spat out some blood that had accumulated in his mouth.

“Soru!” Lucci vanished and only reappeared when he was slamming his own Shigan into Luffy’s chest. “Shigan: Yellow Lotus!” The rain of blows stabbed into Luffy over and over again, but Lucci vanished again after a second. “Rankyaku: Victory Bird!” A large bird-shaped blade of air headed for Luffy, only for the pirate to leapt into and then on the air to dodge. The powerful technique sliced clean through the wall and the entire building they were in rumbled as its structure was weakened further. “So, you bastardized Tekkai too?”

“It’s easier with my fur.” Luffy bounced in the air a few times before swinging his leg into a powerful kick.

A Rankyaku large than anything that Lucci had ever seen blitzed towards him. The master assassin needed only a fraction of a second to figure out that Luffy had further empowered the technique with his wind powers. Lucci vanished into a Kamisori to dodge the attack. The top of the building slowly slid away, revealing the outside, before it fell into the waters below and was quickly falling into the gaping hole in the ocean beneath Enies Lobby.

“Gale Tiger Claw!” Luffy slashed at Lucci, sharp arcs of wind lashing out from his claws.

“Kami-e!” Lucci seemed to flow around the attacks and the wind blades, like paper in the wind. His body almost seeming to lack bones with how easily he was dodging. “Rankyaku!” Lucci’s counted nearly hit Luffy, but half of his body seemed to go limp and he slid just past the slicing air blade.

“That one is harder.” Luffy leapt back to make a bit of distance. “I’m not used to going limp like that.”

“Just because you can bastardize the techniques, doesn’t mean you know them!” Lucci declared before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “Life Return.” The bulky Leopard Man slowly shrunk down until he was barely bigger than his normal human form. “This is the control and power you can only gain by mastering the Rokushiki!”

“Huh?” Luffy lost track of Lucci and only realized where he was when the assassin’s foot slammed into the side of his head. He crashed through the floor and cracked the one below it too.

“I’m going to kill you, Straw Hat.” Lucci landed lightly on the floor not too far from Luffy. “Then I’m going to kill Nico Robin.” He took up a stance and focused heavily. “After you two are dead. I’ll make sure to personally hunt down each and every member of your crew. I won’t let a single one of them escape Enies Lobby.”

“Tiger Roar!” Luffy shot up at the threat to his friends and blasted the wind and sound at Lucci.

“Soru!” Lucci vanished, the speed of his Life Return state much greater than his normal hybrid form. The Tiger Roar shattered the wall across the room entirely, but didn’t hit its intended target. “Let me show you... the most powerful attack available to those with full mastery of Rokushiki.” Lucci put his fists against Luffy’s back, one above the other. “Rokuougan!”

“GAAAHHHH!!!” Luffy roared out in pain as the force tore through his body. He hacked up blood as his insides were damaged by the immense shockwave. The world went blurry for a moment as he hit the floor. His vision was fading…that weird technique…what was it?

“Hah…hah…hah…” Lucci felt his body reacting to the use of the Rokuougan and all of the damage he’d already taken. He watched on as Straw Hat returned to his human form. The pirate had certainly earned his bounty…but Lucci had never failed a mission before. It was getting hard to hold onto his Life Return though. It was a mastery of the body, but it was meant to be used when one was in peak condition…not already battered, bleeding, and injured. “I need to go kill Nico Robin now…” Lucci exhaled and let go of his Life Return. He wouldn’t need it to finish off the rest of the Straw Hats. His hybrid form bulked back up to how it normally was before he leapt upwards through the hole in the ceiling with Geppou.

“Grrrrrr…” Luffy growled, he spat out a mouthful of blood as his claws tore through the stone floor. He wouldn’t allow his friends to die! Luffy staggered to his feet as his body transformed into his hybrid form again. A quick inhale and he caught the pigeon bastard’s scent. He rocketed out of the ruined tower-like building after Lucci. “PIGEON BASTARD!!!”

“What?!” Lucci turned around to see Luffy rocketing into the air with rapid Geppou steps. “How?! How can you still be alive?!” The Leopard Man nearly roared at the other Neko Neko no Mi user.

“Your weird attack…” Luffy growled, his body was aching but he could still force it to move. “I can’t do it…you said…” Luffy put both of his hands together and splayed out his curled fingers. Wind quickly whipped around then and spun faster and faster until it was shrieking as it spun into a smaller and smaller space.

“Life Return!” Lucci forced the technique to work again. “I’ll end you this time, Straw Hat!” He vanished into a Kamisori and appeared in front of Luffy, once again both fists facing the pirate, one above the other. “Rokuougan!”

“FIERCE KING TIGER CANNON!!!” Luffy literally roared so loudly it sounded like thunder. From his clawed hands a titanic burst of wind and sheer air pressure exploded forward in the shape of a tiger’s head, jaws wide open.

The Rokuougan was consumed and Lucci didn’t even have time to express his shock and disbelief before he suffered the same fate. The massive tiger head struck a Marine battleship like a meteor, shattering half the vessel on impact. Debris and shrapnel from the devastated ship tore through both of the battleships on each side as well. Now three of the battleships sent for the Buster Call were non-functioning. Luffy crashed into the Bridge of Hesitation in a cloud of dust. All fighting had stomped and even the Buster Call had temporarily ceased after Luffy’s last attack. No one knew how to process what they’d just seen…a battleship blown apart by a massive attack shaped like a tiger? There was nothing in any regulations about that.

“What’re you…doing to…Robin?” Luffy panted, blood staining his mouth as he staggered out of the dust cloud.

“Eeehhh?! Straw Hat?!” Spandam screamed loudly staggering backwards so fast that he fell on his ass. “Wh-What happened to Rob Lucci?!”

“The pigeon bastard…is over…there…” Luffy pointed to the destroyed battleship that was slowly sinking. He stepped forward with a growl. “Give Robin back.”

“Luffy…” Robin felt the tears in her eyes, but unlike before, they were tears of relief. The Buster Call didn’t seem so terrifying at this moment. Without a second to think, she rushed towards him and buried her face into his chest. The soft fur was warm and comforting, even with the blood staining it. The archaeologist woman now knew why Luffy’s lovers enjoyed this so much, why they loved to lay on him when he was transformed.

“Straw Hat!” Franky called out to Luffy. “We need to get out of here! But the Bister Call has surrounded us!”

“I’ll take…care of it.” Luffy gently urged Robin to go towards Franky. “You two…get back…a lot…” Franky didn’t need to be told twice, he nearly dragged Robin further down the bridge away from the Gates of Justice.

“St-Stop them!” Spandam finally called out, seeing all of his plans and dreams going down the drain. “Shoot them!”

‘Yes, sir!” The Marines surrounding Spandam raised their rifles.

“ROOOAAARRRHHH!!!” Luffy’s bellowing roar shook the air as he fully transformed. The majestic form of a white tiger now stood on the bridge. Unfortunately for the Marines and Spandam, that tiger kept growing larger and large.

“Is that normal?!” Franky yelled out…now having to crane his neck to look up at Luffy’s head.

“I didn’t know his full beast form could grow this large.” Robin just stared at the titanic white tiger that filled a large portion of the Bridge of Hesitation.

“ROOAAARRRRHHHHH!!!” Luffy roared again, but this time the world around him responded. The clouds gathered unnaturally fast and darkened, flashes of lighting seen within along with the rumble of thunder. The wind howled and whipped around the island fiercely. At a mere thought from Luffy, a bolt of lighting fell from the clouds and struck one of the battle ships, blasting part of it away.

This was only the first of many though. Bolts started falling from the sky faster than anyone could keep track off. Battleships were being blasted apart under the onslaught, and even the Judicial Island itself was being bombarded. The howling winds began to roar and tornados formed before they sucked up ocean water and slammed into the beleaguered ships. On the island itself, the tornados tore apart the already damaged buildings and leveled more and more of the island.

“Stop it! Make it stop!” Spandam screamed as he tried to hold onto the Bridge of Hesitation for dear life. His screams seemed to attract the attention of the Celestial Tiger causing the ungodly storm though. A lightning bolt that shook the very heavens dropped down onto Spandam’s location. The entire midway point of the Bridge of Hesitation exploded into shrapnel and vanished in a clap of thunder.

“GUYS!!! LET’S GO!!!” Usopp yelled out, somehow on the Going Merry that had been left back in Water Seven while the crew decided how to proceed with the rest of their voyage.

“Merry…” Luffy shrank down to his human form with a smile. He staggered four steps forward before Robin’s arms caught him. “Robin.” He smiled at her and Robin returned it as she helped him walk towards the edge of the bridge.

“Pick up the pace!” Franky picked both of them up under one arm and quickly leapt off the bridge and onto the Going Merry.

In the confusion and chaos, only a few Marines spotted the Going Merry escaping, but none of them could do anything to stop it since the storm was still raging. By the time the lightning and tornados had stopped, the Going Merry was nowhere to be seen and Enies Lobby was more barren rock than habitable island. There were no standing structures left on the entire island, only some rubble and rocky ground.

-Water Seven ~ Two Days Later-

“Hmm~” Robin snuggled into Luffy’s fur with a pleased hum.

“It’s great, right?” Nami grinned at her, also laying amongst Luffy’s soft fur.

“Yes,” Robin smiled, relaxing for the first time in a long time. “I understand why you all enjoy it so much now.”

“Because Luffy is amazing.” Desire laughed, lying on her stomach to look at the other two women. The woman with the dual-toned red and blonde hair that had joined them spontaneously in Loguetown after being inspired by Luffy hadn’t taken long to make her desires clear to her new Captain.

“He was so injured though…” Another woman spoke up, lounging on Luffy like the rest of them were. She had long red hair and a darker skin tone, like the sun had kissed her skin and left her with a perfect tan forever. “He slept for a full day and is still napping between meals.” She gently rubbed Luffy’s fur and they all heard the gentle hum of approval, a reverberating low growl since Luffy was currently in his full beast form and napping in the backyard of the Galley-La Building under the sunlight. “I shouldn’t have weaponized his luck during the raid on Enies Lobby.” Baccarat nuzzled Luffy’s soft fur in apology.

“Ish okeh~” Luffy mumbled out, still half-asleep. The women grinned and lightly giggled at Luffy. He’d never hold anything against them, even if it made things harder on himself. Baccarat’s Devil Fruit manipulated luck, so Luffy, who was a natural fount of good luck, was basically the equivalent of an ammo warehouse for her. The downside being that Luffy lost the majority of his normal good luck after Baccarat used her Devil Fruit on him.

“Don’t worry, once he’s back to normal will give you two the whole night to enjoy yourselves.” Nami shot a naughty grin and a playful wink at Robin. It was only fair for their newest ‘sister’ to get her first night with Luffy all to herself.

“Mmm, I look forward to it.” Robin smiled, a sexy look that made Nami smirk right back at her.

“Have you seen the paper today?” Desire questioned the others. “I cut out the new article they did on Luffy.” Another piece of her collection of Luffy-centric items.

“You mean the potential for Luffy to be considered one of the Yonko?” Baccarat mused, her sunglasses over her eyes as she relaxed on their lover. “I read it, but the World Government and Marines haven’t even decided on the new bounties for our crew yet. It seems a bit premature, doesn’t it?”

“Also, if it’s the Yonko, wouldn’t one of them have to be removed before Luffy could join?” Nami raised an eyebrow at the article’s speculation.

“They can’t live forever! I say boot one of them for Luffy!” Desire giggled and the rumbling chuckle they felt below them showed that Luffy thought it was funny too.

“If we moved up to being an Emperor’s crew, then we’d certainly have to worry less about the Marines.” Robin hummed with a small little smile on her lips. “They don’t move against the Yonko without a massive amount of preparation and resources.”

“Which they shouldn’t have since they’ll be busy rebuilding Enies Lobby for the foreseeable future.” A beautiful woman in a simple dark pink yukata spoke as she approached her family. She was a slim woman of average height, with long turquoise hair that reached her waist and blue eyes that were distinctly slanted at a downward angle. She wore fuchsia lipstick on her prominent lips, making them appear even more kissable, according to her lover and her ‘sisters’.

“Hiyori, come join us!” Desire welcomed the swordswoman of their crew with a grin.

“Of course.” Hiyori smiled and gently leapt atop their transformed lover. “We do have guests coming, however.”

“We do?” Baccarat sat up on her elbows, making her large tits bounce a bit in the thin top she was wearing. The woman moved her sunglasses down to uncover her eyes, looking around for anyone approaching.

“Who is it?” Desire didn’t want anyone disturbing Luffy while he was recuperating. She’d beat any interlopers to death with her pipe if they tried!

“Grandfather.” Hiyori smiled a cutely.

“Huh?” Nami blinked at the term for a moment, and then her eyes widened. “Are you serious?!”

“Very.” Hiyori giggled softly behind her hand.

“Well, we were bound to meet him eventually.” Robin shrugged, still far more interested in enjoying her newfound love with this foolish, crazy, reckless, wonderful, caring, loving man that had made the entire world his enemy just to keep her safe.

“So, this is where you were hiding, Luffy?!” Garp’s loud voice boomed out as he walked into the backyard.

“Mmm?” Luffy opened a single eye to look at Garp. “Mornin’…grampa…” He yawned widely, unintentionally making several of his grandfather’s subordinates uneasy by showing off his massive fangs.

“Morning? It’s past noon, you lazy brat!” Garp leapt forward to plant a ‘Fist of Love’ into Luffy’s head, only to be restrained by dozens of arms that suddenly sprouted all over his body, then randomly trip over his own feet for no reason, and when he looked up, it was to have a staff, pipe, and short sword pointed at him.

“If you could refrain from attacking our Captain, that would be much appreciated, Vice-Admiral.” Robin spoke up, still lying on Luffy along with Baccarat.

“Oh? And who are these young ladies, Luffy?” Garp questioned his grandson, easily, but gently (by his standards), brushing the hands restraining him aside as he stood up.

“My lovers…” Luffy answered with his eyes open and the tiger equivalent of a smile on his face. “Nami, Desire, Hiyori, Baccarat, and Robin.” His tail pointed to each of the women in turn to introduce them to his grandfather.

“L-Lovers?!” Garp looked between all five of the women in shock. He never would’ve considered Luffy the type to have lover, given how much of a dope he knew his grandson to be. But to find out that he had five women that loved him was a surprise, albeit a pleasant one.

“Yep.” Nami grinned, looking over at Luffy. “All of us fell in love with this big goof after getting to know him.”

“Love you too.” Luffy murmured sleepily.

“Welcome to the family!” Garp’s attitude had done a complete one-eighty as he laughed jovially. “Looks like the Monkey D. line is going to have a population boom in the future!” He’d get to be a Great-Grandfather! How amazing would that be?! And with this many women in a relationship with his grandson, the number of great-grandchildren would probably be fairly high. Surely, he could make a few of them Marines! Right?

-Marineford ~ Fleet Admiral Sengoku’s Office-

“Brrr…” Sengoku suddenly shivered for no reason. “Why do I feel like someone just walked over my grave?” He shook his head after a moment and got back to work on dealing with the massive issue that was the Straw hat Pirates destroying Enies Lobby. “I swear I’m going to stick Garp with the worst jobs I can station him at for this!” The vindictive thoughts made him smile just slightly.

-End Chapter-

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The Byakko Fruit is fucking powerful!

Luffy ain’t messing around with those that threaten his nakama! Fuck around and find out! CP9 sure did!

Yes, Luffy now has FIVE lovers! How did he snag Desire? And Baccarat? And how is Hiyori out of Wano?! All of that will be explained whenever the day comes that I make this into a proper story! Along with the remaining harem members! Hehehehehe~

Fans of a certain Fighting Game Franchise might recognize a couple of Luffy’s moves! The character in question was just perfect for move names!

I hope you enjoyed this newest Plot Bunny! What other Devil Fruits do I have waiting in the queue? You’ll find out soon enough!

Let me know what you thought with a review!

Until next time, later!