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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘.

𑁍࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ꒰ 🐚 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ𑁍

"𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵"

𑁍࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ꒰ 🐚 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ𑁍

| (𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐅𝐅𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆) |

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▌𝐋𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐒 ▌

No stop signs
Speed limit
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel
Gonna spin it
Nobody's gonna mess me around
Hey, Satan
Payin' my dues
Playin' in a rockin' band
Hey, mamma
Look at me
I'm on the way to the promised land

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𑁍࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ꒰ 🐚 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ𑁍

(𝟎𝟎𝟐) 𝐅𝐔𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓:

𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.

𑁍࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ꒰ 🐚 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ𑁍

(𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄, 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑)

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(...𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞.)

000.| ARIELLE DOESN'T REMEMBER HOW LONG IT HAS TRULY BEEN, SINCE SHE WAS SAW THE BOY SHE WAS VERY CLOSE TOO AND NOT ONLY THAT, HOW LONG SHE HAS SEEN HER FATHER AND HIS CREW ONCE HE LEFT FOR THE GREATER SEAS AND THE GRAND LINES, PROMISING HER ONCE HE RETURNED THAT HE WOULD TELL HER THE STORIES OF ALL HIS ADVENTURES AND BRING THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TREASURES TO HER AND HER SISTERS.

However, here he was, right in front of her and nothing seemed to change at all. He still possessed his everglowing bright smile and spirit, as well as his large appetite and his stomach that was forever hollow.

The darkness of the ships basement was quite hard to navigate for Arielle, however growing up on an island where she would often explore the forests, the beaches and even the more dangerous parts of the islands; despite it being against her sisters wishes, she had grown to find her way around the darkness. Hearing Luffy's footsteps and seeing his faint figure, she would follow him in pursuit as the two started to talk.

"Yeah. I unfortunately thought it was a smart idea to get my raft closer to this ship but I ended up a prisoner. It's a good thing I'm alive", the girl with red hair and soft copper colored skin chuckled softly as she walked with Luffy, trying to help him find food as her rations bag was emptied by Alvida and her crew.

Luffy laughed in return, "Well hey. At least we're here again", he answered, looking inside the bucket that was hanging, hoping to find something. "You have anything to eat? I'm starving", he asked both Arielle and Koby, hoping to at least get a bite that would barely fill that never ending appetite he possessed.

"Alvida doesn't let me eat until after she finishes her meal", Koby responded quite hopelessly. The statement made Arielle frown slightly, she watched how the pink haired boy was so frightened by her and the power she abused with this crew. She was lucky she was sparred but Koby, had been through worse than her.

"Who's Alvida?", Luffy asked curiously, putting his attention on Koby slightly.

"The ugly and hideous hearted woman who is the captain of this ship and took me captive", Arielle answered his question and a small proud smile crawled onto her lips. "It's a good thing I'm smarter than her", she showed her golden dagger and sword that she managed hide when she was taken hostage; this made Luffy smile with pride as he looked at his best friend.

Koby was taken back by how Arielle described Alvida, if the stout woman ever heard the red haired girl speak to her like that, she would've been killed. "This is her ship. She's captain of the Alvida Pirates", Koby whispered out Arielle's answer in a simpler way.

Luffy took a step back and Arielle put her hands on his shoulder, gently preventing him from knocking anything to make noise.

On his shoulders, her hands were not as soft when they were children. This time, they were slightly more calloused, this was probably due to her sword and living on the island but they never lost their kind and considerate touch, that ones that would always reassure him, collect sea shells, build pirate ships with him and wiped away his tears when he was sad.

A grin grew more on Luffy's lips, "Ah that's great!", the boy wearing the straw hat exclaimed.

"It is?", Koby asked in confusion, meanwhile Arielle unintentionally tilted her head to him, awaiting for his answer.

"Yeah. Because Arielle and I are both pirates too, we made a promise to each other that when we reunited, I would be the captain and she would be my First Lady", Luffy answered, the smile on his face never once faltering as he looked at Arielle.

He kept that promise all along for years and never once forgot? Arielle could feel the same smile spread across her face. Things made have become grim in the past, but here she was another way to live life and to see the world outside of the restrictions other people tried to bind her by.

However the boy who was imprisoned by the portly captain seemed to be less than pleased at this answer, looking at Luffy and Arielle with a cautious expression. "You don't look like a pirate", he answered. "Neither of you do".

Luffy was too scrawny in appearance to be very strong and he didn't seem like the brightest as shown here; however Arielle was a different story. How could such a beautiful girl like Arielle ever become a pirate? Of course, she did show she was smart and that she was very strong, as shown when she escaped earlier. But her smile and her whole appearance itself seemed too sweet for such a bitter and frightening life at the sea.

The girl with bright red hair and eyes that glowed in the moonlight turned to the boy with pink hair. She could see that living under Alvida's ship really made him perceive a negative outlook on this world and pirates themselves as well, and she couldn't blame him at all.

"What do they look like?", Luffy asked him curiously, turning his attention to him.

"Pirates are scum", the pink haired boy in the blue and white polo uniform held distaste in his voice. "They're thieves and murderers", showing that he held possibly not only negative experiences with Alvida but possibly other pirates too.

"Koby", her voice spoke his name, how sweet she was, how melodious she spoke his name as she stepped forward to him. Trying to pose herself as no threat and assuring him that she wouldn't hurt him, she took a few steps forward and knelt at his level.

"I know that there are bad pirates in this world, but Luffy and I are good pirates. Because of someone who taught us how to the good pirates", as Arielle spoke, Koby could not help himself but be hypnotized by her voice as she spoke, there was something about her that was so alluring, so enchanting, like she had put him under a spell that held no intention.

Luffy had also seem to fallen under this spell as he excitedly scrambled himself to sit down next to Arielle, crossing his legs together as he listened to her. "Oh my, Arielle is going to tell a story again", was something he hadn't said in years, remembering his best friend's talent in telling stories.

☾𓇼࿐𑁍ᨒ༄🐚༄ ᨒ𑁍࿐𓇼☽

TEN YEARS AGO:

In Windmill Village, Monkey D. Luffy woke up excited seeing that it was the day that not only Red Haired Shanks, a pirate he looked up to as a father and a mentor figure but also along with his crew, his wife and daughters would come along. He would see his best friend in the whole wide world again.

His fingers gently traced on the rock that he marked, seeing how the day has come. "Shanks. He's back. Arielle too", a smile grew on his face as he started to race towards the trap door of his bedroom, opening it to the rest of windmill village and now the whole pirate ship was in front of him, the ship of the Red Hair Pirates was here.

Arielle stood on the surface of the boat, her legs catching their balance once again when the ship anchored properly.

"Are you okay love? Do you need help standing up again?", Arielle looked up, seeing her mother in view. A beautiful woman wearing a white dress that elegantly swayed in the wind but held her no hindrance on the ship when she helped the other crew members.

The woman named Ophelia Lebeauchenea, she possessed golden brown skin that glowed in the sun, her long black hair suited long small curls that framed her face, her lips thick and carried a kind smile no matter where she went.

Arielle shook her head, the eight year old with a bright smile and red hair, "Thanks Mom, but I think I'm getting it", she told her mom kindly.

Not so far from them, Arielle's older sisters. Azara and Seraphina who were twins, were sword fighting together with their bamboo swords that their father crafted for them.

"Engarde!", Seraphina, the twin was most known for the being the logical and quiet one, spoke in a French accent to start the bamboo sword duel.

Azara shot forward and tried to strike, showing superiority in her offense skills when it came to swords. The twins battled each other with the swords but were sure not to disturb their fathers or the other crews work on the ship.

"Has anyone seen my cane?", another girl asked, soft and small raised her voice, crawling on the floor and putting her hands everywhere to find the wooden cane she used to walk everywhere due to being blind.

"Here you go lovely", Shanks, the captain of the ship and the father of the five girls with the red hair on the ship, reached out for his daughters cane which landed against one of the crates.

The little girl smiled brightly and felt her heart settle as she feared she lost it, "thank you daddy!", she thanked her father as she turned her head in the direction of his voice. Her hair, red just like his but her face matched exactly her mothers, unfortunately her eyes were clouded were only a clear mist color that showed her disability.

"Welcome lovely, but just make sure not to loose it. We're quite a way from home", he assured her, he knew despite her blindness Celine was responsible and did her best to not lose her cane, she even kept the one she was using for a very long time and the last one she lost was only five years ago.

On the ship, Davina, the oldest daughter of Shanks and Ophelia, was helping out with the crew. Being the oldest, she was strong and independent just like her father, despite being only twelve years old she was very strong and intelligent for her age.

As the pirates of the crew were carrying their crates and sorting through everything on the ship, Shanks cracked a joke with one of his crew mates names Roux and everyone laughed. Ophelia let out a chuckle as she knew of her friends glutton nature, before she walked with her husband helping him somethings on the ship.

"So love, you think we're going to get some of your songs tonight?", Shanks asked his wife, turning his head to her direction while a smile enveloped his face.

"Oh definitely dear, I'm just thinking of the songs I should sing for everyone is all", the woman with wavy black hair and golden sun kissed skin chuckled softly as she turned to her husband.

While her parents talking and her sisters were busy, Arielle started to walk around the ship feeling that the ship wasn't so wobbly anymore. She looked around and saw her best friend whom she was often excited to see when she visited Windmill Village.

"Luffy!", Arielle smiled brightly as she ran towards the boy with curly black hair as he rolled a barrel.

"Arielle!", the boy the same age as her, smiled brightly as he saw her. The little girl engulfed him in a hug and he hugged her back with no exception.

Hearing the commotion, Shanks and Ophelia turned their heads and saw the reunion of two best friends. "Luffy, I was wondering when you'd pop up", Shanks spotted the boy and his daughter hugging, the scene caused a smile to cross his lips as he liked their friendship.

"Hello Luffy dear, it's nice to see you again", Ophelia smiled sweetly to the boy as he and Arielle separated from the hug.

"Hi Ophelia! I'm happy to see you guys again too!", the boy smiled brightly, he always admired Ophelia for how beautiful she was, the songs she sang for the crew, her dancing and her stories, he never missed one just like her never missed an opportunity to see Shanks and his crew whenever they visited.

"Oh look, it's our little mascot", Seraphina chuckled as she and Azara finished sword fighting together and came to a draw.

"How have you been kiddo?", Yassop, one of the crew members asked Luffy, playfully ruffling his hair.

"I'm not a mascot, I'm a pirate!", Luffy answered back seriously, making the other pirates on the crew laugh in return at the kid. Not that they didn't believe him, but it was just rather funny to watch.

Arielle smiled brightly, "Yes, he's a pirate just like us!", the little girl with bright red hair and eyes as blue as the ocean agreed with her best friend.

"Yes! As she said, I'm not joking. I'm ready to join your crew, for real just like your daughters!", Luffy tried to talk to Shanks as he looked up at him.

"The sea isn't a child's game. It's dangerous, the scars on my face are proof of that", the pirate with the red hair and the straw hat replied, being serious as he showed his face.

"That's why we only come with him if he's traveling village to village Luffy", Davina walked past, telling the eight year old boy as she helped her father carry a barrel.

"Thank you dear", Shanks smiled appreciatively at his oldest daughter as he took the barrel.

"I can do it, Shanks. I swear", Luffy tried to tell him, tried to prove his point but it seemed the general leader and the person he looked up to the most in this world was not budging in his answer.

Arielle watched this as she walked with him, "Luffy, when you're old enough maybe you can come with us. You can travel on boat with us when my sisters and I are on the boat", she suggested, trying to make Luffy happy.

Shanks unfortunately brought the sad news, "Luffy's grandfather won't allow it, Garp is a marine and hates pirates so he won't come on with us", he answered his daughter, the answer itself made Luffy frown as he told the truth. He knew how much it meant to Arielle but he had to tell her the truth, "and plus, he's not ready", his dark colored gaze when to the boy who was determined to join their grew and become a pirate at their age.

"I am. And I'll show you", the boy exclaimed, walking away to put his plan in motion.

Ophelia heard his words and there was a fire in this boy, a fire that will burn throughout history and leave its scorch marks in everyone's names.

"He's really fired up, he truly wants this opportunity", Ophelia walked up to her husband, placing down a barrel before wiping a sweat off her brow.

"Yes, but he's not ready love, you know that as well as I do", the man with red hair answered his wife, wiping his hands off his pants before taking out a napkin and using it to wipe the sweat gently off of Ophelia's face, her skin glowing golden in the sun while her blue eyes that matched Arielle's stared up at so sweetly, even after all the years have passed in marriage.

"I know it's good to be honest with him, but try to be a bit more gentler with the truth, he's still so young and he has dreams", Ophelia responded to her husband, reminding him while Luffy was young and not ready to travel, he will be ready one day.

"Yes, but better a disappointed kid than a dead one", he nodded his head, telling his truth but also considering his wife's words while he put the napkin back in his pocket.

"Yes, but while he has his grandfather Garp, he lives on his own and Garp doesn't support his dreams. Unlike our daughters, they'll have me when you're gone but he won't have really much of anyone", the woman who was a talented singer and dancer reminded him, "I think we should at least be kinder to him about it"

Ophelia was emotionally intelligent, kind and generous, her beauty outwards matched with her heart. She was one who cared deeply for others, including him and their daughters. Even after all their years of marriage, she would still make his heart beat so hard that he would feel he was dancing in the heavens as he held her close to him or when he heard her sing. She and their daughters were everything to them, it would break his heart that he and his crew would leave for a very long time in the grand line.

The Captain of the Red Hair Pirates nodded his head to his wife and the First Lady of his crew, "I understand love".

Ophelia smiled as she helped carry more boxes, "Good. Then I'll do a little performance later, I think that will lift everyone's spirits up"

Shanks smile grew wider on his face at hearing the idea, "Oh yes, we would love that and these men need a drink too"

"Aye Captain!"

His crew members as well as Davina, Azara and Seraphina helped carry the barrels while Celine was guided off of the boat with another crew member while she held her cane. "And a bath", he muttered to himself, noting the many times they traveled, the stench was catching up to them but while he noticed his daughters, he couldn't find his youngest.

"Arielle?", he muttered her name, trying to look around for her.

"Luffy! What are you doing up there?", he heard the sound of daughter's sweet voice, filled with curiosity and concern. His head shot up and he looked at his daughter looking up a post and noticed her head was staring upwards.

"Hey Shanks!", that was his answer, hearing Luffy call to him and suddenly not only did the Captain turn his attention to him as he planned, so did the crew along with his wife and daughters (well except the ones who were already off the ship).

The little boy held a knife in his hand, showing it upwards in the sky.

"Put it down Luffy. Before you hurt yourself", Shanks instructed Luffy, not believing he would go through anything stupid.

"Yes Luffy, please come down from there", Arielle called to her best friend but still no avail did the boy with curly hair and a fire burning in his heart listen.

"I'm not afraid of getting hurt. And I'll prove it to you", Luffy called out, doing his best to showcase his bravery to the crew.

"Luffy no!", Arielle gasped as she started to climb onto the same pole Luffy was on top of but her speed didn't matter, it was too late for anyone to react once it was done.

Luffy attached the knife to the skin on his face, grunting as he dragged the knife underneath his eye. The pirates gasped while Ophelia's hands covered her face, "Don't move from there Luffy, I'm coming up now", she called to the little boy and noticed her daughter had already reached him, not too far behind her Shanks was already at her speed to reach the boy.

"Luffy! Luffy!", Arielle reached the top of the pole and noticed how his face was bleeding, "Are you okay? You're bleeding", the little girl started to panic as she tried to find a piece of cloth to clean off the blood and help her best friend.

"Arielle, I'm okay, I want to prove I'm okay with getting hurt", the boy tried to reassure the little girl with red hair that matched her sisters and her fathers.

"Don't do that, you scared me", she told him, showing unhappy she clearly was with his dangerous decision to showcase his bravery and stupidity. A frown crawled over Luffy's face seeing the little girl who always smiled now frowning at him in sadness and fear for him. Realizing how much it really wasn't such a good idea at all, seeing how his best friend was so scared.

☾𓇼࿐𑁍ᨒ༄🐚༄ ᨒ𑁍࿐𓇼☽

As Arielle continued telling the story of Luffy cut his own scar on his face, Luffy was smiling brightly as he continued listening. It was as if he was hypnotized by her voice, her way of telling stories of anything and how she was speaking the old days of her childhood.

Koby himself was also hypnotized and while he wanted Arielle to continue her story as he sat down next to Luffy, he couldn't understand it. How could such a friendly looking and optimistic guy like Luffy and a beautiful woman with a sweet voice and a gentle heart like Arielle be pirates, monstrous humans who were below his respectable perspective.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand. Why would anyone want to be a pirate? Why would you two want to be pirates?", the boy with pink hair and round blue glasses on his face asked, still not believing how this girls father was a good pirate.

"'Cause it's the best thing there is", Luffy answered as he stood up and let his feet waltz around, "you have the... the wind in your back, the salty sea air, your loyal crew by your side. You never know what's on the horizon. It's all about being... free"

Arielle nodded as she agreed with Luffy and a small smile crossed her lips as she walked about too, "Yes. And you can be who you want too, you can explore the world and all of it's beauty unfounded and it's all so, amazing", the girl with red hair dreamed of freedom away from the home she was forced to move too, now here she was, taking the first step into her dream.

"Nothing's free about Alvida's crew", Koby answered, this caught the attention of Arielle; seeing well that Alvida was not a good person nor was she kind and caring to her crew, she understood full well that Koby must've been carrying trauma and fear caused by her.

"She tells me when to eat, when to sleep. I even have to paint her toenails", Koby described his experiences with Alvida, Arielle shook her head while grimacing at the thought.

"You're a lot stronger than me Koby, I would've puked on the sight of her toenails", Arielle chuckled as she joked, trying to lighten the mood; however Koby still held his head low as he shook his head. Arielle felt a bit saddened that her joke didn't help but understood that Koby's situation was quite bad.

"So why don't you just leave?", Luffy asked him. Arielle's lips curled into a small frown at his question as she turned her attention back to the boy with pink hair.

"You can't leave can you?", she asked him, feeling his fear of the woman that ruled this ship.

Koby shook his head as he answered, "No. No one leaves Alvida. She'll never let me go", he answered her as he turned to face Arielle. "Nor will she let you go", he spoke to her.

Arielle chuckled softly, "Okay no offense to her Koby, but I don't plan to stay to hear her throw a temper tantrum when she hears there are bigger pirates on the ocean, so if I can escape my home I know I can escape this place", as she spoke those words, an optimistic smile graced her heart shaped face and angelic features.

Hearing her words, Luffy held a smile of fascination, impressed with the words and attitude of his best friend he had known since childhood.

"Arielle is right, you should never let anyone tell what you can't do", he advised Koby, "If I did that, I never would've left my village to go find the One Piece", Luffy shared his experience with Koby.

Hearing this, Koby immediacy stood up and started to make his way to where Luffy was standing. "Gold Roger's treasure? That's impossible. Every pirate in the world is after that", the pink haired boy jolted from his seat in recalled in shock.

Arielle nodded her head, taking Koby's words into account. "We know that much, my father and his crew are after it as well, they left years ago and haven't returned since then", the girl with soft copper skin and red hair emphasized, sighing softly as the memories flooded back.

Luffy remembered that day but he didn't focus on it, "Why shouldn't I be the one to find it?", he instead asked Koby, rhetorically. "As soon as Arielle and I are out of here, we will be on our way to the Grand Line", he exclaimed proudly with his best friend by his side, this made Arielle smile as she was truly back with the boy she missed for years.

"Pirate graveyard", Koby whispered fearfully, "There are a-hundred-foot waves and sea beasts that'll crush your bones. Once you enter the Grand Line, you never return", Koby recounted the horrors of the Grand Line many speak of but few have survived from.

Arielle remembers the stories of how her mother and father travelled the Grand Line, before she and her sisters were born. They always fascinated her so greatly and now she wants to see them for herself.

"Sounds kind of fun", Luffy laughed, showing his excitement to Koby with not one bit of fear or hesitation in his bones for the journey he and Arielle were planning to embark on.

Suddenly, a loud nose of growling started to echo in the basement of the ship. Arielle stood still waiting to listen out for a potential danger of a sea beast alongside Luffy; the creaking and squeaking of the wood didn't make it any better to hear out.

"Wait! Is... is that... is that one of the sea beasts?", Luffy asked, not taking the potentially dangerous seriously.

"It's just Alvida's snoring", Koby answered, showing clear distaste and annoyance.

"Well, makes sense for someone like her", Arielle answered (rather too innocently with her comment), making Luffy snort soflty in laughter.

"If you want to get out of here, it's now or never", Koby warned them and so, they decided to take their chances.

☾𓇼࿐𑁍ᨒ༄🐚༄ ᨒ𑁍࿐𓇼☽

Using this opportunity, Arielle, Luffy and Koby quietly and quickly as possible snuck from the basement of the ship to the top deck, with both boys lifting the trap door to the deck up softly to check for any potential crew of Alvida's ship away.

Seeing the coast was clear, the boys lifted the trap door up while Arielle got out first and then Koby got out. "Life boats are tied at the stern of the ship", he informed the two pirates he was escaping with.

Luffy carefully stepped out of the trapdoor, while he, Arielle and Koby started to sneak to the stern of the ship and following in Koby's direction, the nighttime was surrounded by quiet or obnoxious snoring of the Alvida pirates.

The noise itself was unpleasant for Arielle but she learnt to live with it on a few occasions. The three were at the stairs and while they were absolutely silent (aside from the small patters of footsteps) as they reached the top deck of the ship, Luffy grinned as he picked up an oar.

"Gonna need one of these", he whispered to himself, grinning in somewhat accomplishment as he at least had a piece of the puzzle for escape in his hands.

"Head due north. You should hit land in a few days", Koby instructed the two, giving the best direction he could think of from his experiences out in sea.

Arielle smiled sweetly at him, "Thanks Koby, we appreciate your help", she truthfully told him, unintentionally the compliment and Arielle's sweet smile caused the boy's cheeks to turn a slight shade of pink and he couldn't stop the smile from crawling on his face.

"North", Luffy repeated, "Which way is North?", as he spun around, trying to ask for directions he unintentionally started to spin around the oar.

"Luffy!", Arielle hissed, trying to stop him from banging the oar on anything to make loud noise but it was too late, the end of the oar accidentally hit the bell of the ship behind the boy with the straw hat.

This made Arielle grimace and wince slightly at his actions as she noticed the pirates starting to wake up, "Uh oh", she muttered to herself.

"What the hell is going on up there?!", Captain Alvida's boastful voice echoed in her ship, causing her crew mates to get up as quickly as they could possibly manage to potentially fight off the threat that landed on their ship.

As they were being surrounded, Arielle and Luffy looked around them before they exchanged worried expressions to each other. Koby footsteps traced him back, no wanting to face Alvida right here and now as he was attempting to escape the abusive woman and her burly ruling clutches.

The Captain of the ship stepped forward, her tired expression showing she was not wanting to deal with any nonsense from her crew. "What's the meaning of this?", she asked Koby, eyeing Monkey D. Luffy and Arielle Lebeauchenea.

"Alvida, I can explain", Koby attempted to answer but felt fear taking over him.

"You dare let our captor escape and betray me to a bounty hunter?", Alvida snarled like a beast.

"No that's not it at all", Koby tried to explain some sort of lie to her, but Alvida wasn't buying it as she didn't even stop to listen before she put her attention on Luffy.

"And you, you're too scrawny to be Roronoa Zoro", she scoffed, seeing how his description didn't match the bounty hunter she was talking about.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy", the boy with the straw hat introduced himself.

"Never heard of you", she answered, putting her hat on her head.

"Well, remember the name, 'cause I'm gonna be King Of The Pirates", Luffy announced enthusiastically and wholeheartedly, this lead to the pirates of the ship including their captain into fits of laughter.

Hearing their laughter, Arielle frowned while her soft blue gems suddenly hardened in a narrow stare towards Alvida as she and her crew mocked her best friend from childhood.

"You must be new around here, boy, because who is the most powerful pirate on the seas?", she asked the question and listened out for her crew to answer.

"Captain Alvida", they all cheered and chanted their captains name.

Arielle scoffed, the girl with red hair answering instead of Luffy as she stepped forward. "Sorry, for someone who is such a big bully, you're not very powerful at all", hearing her words, the portly woman's face twitched in anger, "Koby has some very unkind words and unfortunately, seeing you up close, they're not so unkind, they're actually very true", Arielle's sweet and kind voice saying those words, it was unimaginable for Koby as she heard him speak out for him. She was certainly going to get herself killed.

"You watch your mouth little girl", Alvida lifted her iron club up, pointing it towards Arielle's face but she didn't flinch but instead kept her hard stare on Alvida while her lips were curved in a small smirk.

"Now Koby, tell me what you exactly said to her, who is the most powerful pirate of the seas?", she asked him, lowering her voice dangerously.

Arielle let out a light laugh, "Oh look at you, looking for more approval just so you can prove your point", this time, Alvida put her dangerous lens on Arielle.

"Careful little girl, I might be a lot less kinder when you're in my cellar again. And I might kill you in a slow torturous way", the Captain's voice oozed with sadism, anger and venom, her dark hues staring into Arielle's as her patience was running thinner.

"I don't have time to be your hostage so you can fuel your ego with your nonexistent strength and title you fill in your big over bloated head", Arielle scoffed, "Koby is his own man and does not have to go with you, he says you are ugly, disgusting, mean, cruel and dumb, even a damn rock could be a better person than you and nice Jolly Roger, didn't know you were so boring as well that you decided to make a tasteless fashion statement in your ship as well", Arielle remarked the last line sarcastically and chuckled cruelly.

This was going to get her killed by Alvida, she couldn't understand how she was getting herself into deeper trouble as the crew watched in disbelief while Luffy watched with a proud smile.

"Arielle please stop!", Koby gently put his hands on Arielle's arms and pulled her back, "Captain Alvida! I didn't!", the boy who was her captive attempted to defend himself from her words, cruel but truer than most words of praise spoken to her.

The others saw how she was about to explode, yet Arielle decided to not stop. "You're so desperate to prove yourself that you stomp your feet like a huge toddler when throwing a temper tantrum and kill and threaten everyone until you're satisfied on what you want to hear. It doesn't even take a captor to see how you're so powerless and lacking behind on the big shots actually doing the hard work and actually have made a name for themselves, Alvida", Arielle's frown and narrow gaze showed her seriousness. The crew knew she was done for.

Hearing those words from a measly little girl she captured earlier, the fire of rage that burned inside Alvida had now gasoline infused. Now she was furious, the adrenaline pumping through her muscles and her veins as she grabbed the ledge of her iron club properly as she prepared to swing at Arielle.

However while Arielle was preparing to duck down, Luffy's assistance came quicker as he used the oar he was holding to defend both Koby and Arielle, letting them duck in time while his body leaned back.

Realizing that she missed, Alvida was beyond furious as she shown to attempt to swing her iron club around again, this time missing them again. Arielle, Luffy and Koby stepped away from each other, spreading apart so no one could get hit by the club.

Attempting to full throttle Luffy, the bulky woman attempted to full throttle her iron club towards him but in the middle, he dodged and she instead hit one of her crew mates. Seeing this, Luffy let out a little cheer.

One of the crew, attempted to shoot him with his rifle gun in Luffy's heart but didn't expect a surprise of Luffy's body being made of rubber (thanks to the devil fruit he ate years ago) as the bullet made his skin stretch and shoot back at the pirates hand.

The pirates gasped and started to scurry away, not wanting to deal with their new opponent while Arielle smiled at this, the memories of those days coming back to her as she pulled out her sword. "Okay, now time to get serious", she chuckled to herself.

Seeing the girl with red hair pull her sword out, the pirates of the Alvida crew started to pull their own swords out to attack Arielle.

One attempted to stab her but she blocked back with her sword, the metals clashing together before Arielle slipped it away and defended herself against another blade. Arielle's strength was underestimated due to her sweet looks as she was full throttling the grown men that she was going against.

Alvida seeing how busy she was, the beefy and bulky captain attempted to swing at her to get her revenge yet Arielle spotted her just in time, ducking from the chaos and letting Alvida's teammates take the brunt of the iron club.

Koby watched in full awe, Arielle was much stronger than she appeared and was fully skilled with her sword skills. She was truly kind but she could truly fight as well.

The iron club swing went from Arielle and Alvida attempted to attack Luffy next, but he stretched his waist away and allowed the club to hit the bell on his side.

Arielle laughed lightly, matching Luffy's carefree and enthusiastic attitude as the two were battling against the Captain.

"What kind of a monster are you?", she asked, panting heavily from the exhaustion of swinging her club.

This question however made Luffy grin, "The stretchy kind", he answered rather cheekily.

This however, further agitated the woman and Arielle were battling against as she was preparing to swing her iron club at him again. However, Luffy decided to take another cautionary measure as he stretched his hands out, grabbing the ropes of the wooden post and the sails and lifting himself up into the air as Alvida attempted to take a swing at him but again, hit one of her crew mates in the water.

Seeing this, Arielle smiled brightly while Koby was in awe and fascination as he watched Luffy fight against Alvida.

Luffy chuckled as he started to grab the ropes and was going to swing.

Seeing Alvida started to walk in his direction and how the pirates were not focused on her, Arielle decided to take her chance as she slid the sword back into it's sheath and ran towards Alvida, using the covered sword to trip the overweight woman in her big footsteps.

The woman tripped over the sheathed sword, tumbling over and eventually falling down; causing Luffy to laugh as he swung on the ropes and eventually landed back onto the ship's dock again.

Alvida was seething with anger, staring at the girl with red hair and the straw hat boy with a burning glare as she got up from the wooden floor as quickly as she could, letting out the yell of a beast as she attempted to swing her club at the both Luffy and Arielle again.

Arielle, taking advantage of her anger and her blinding rage, dodged her attack and made Alvida hit the wheel of the ship. Fire caught on the wheel, symbolizing the destruction of Alvida's blinding rage and the scene itself caused Luffy to chuckle as he stood with both Koby and Arielle.

Seeing her ship on fire and how she couldn't even catch a single knock on both the girl with red hair and the straw hat pirate, Alvida roared in frustration. The beastly woman was going to put her crew mates through hell once she was finished with those two (and Koby) however long it took for her.

Her eyes caught the pink haired boy who stood in silence, "You! This is all your fault!", she accused Koby, showing her rage.

"No Alvida, Koby did nothing wrong! You brought this on yourself!", Arielle yelled back, standing in front of Koby as she put her arms out. Koby couldn't help but feel his heart racing, a girl he just met as beautiful as her was defending him from a monster like Alvida.

These words however angered Alvida even further, lifting her club up in the air as she was about to attack both Arielle and Koby with one blow, that was her goal in mind at least.

However, Luffy stood in front of the both of them as Arielle pushed Koby away. The spiky iron club landing on top of Luffy's head, but instead of causing damage of how the beastly woman wished it would, the club instead bounced back from the force of the straw hat boy's rubber head.

While the bulky captain who was once feared by others because of her brute force and her rage, was now exhausted and taken back by the enemies she underestimated, Luffy and Arielle stood together with Koby behind them.

"That's enough", Luffy warned her sternly, showing he wasn't going to hold back anymore to protect his friends.

"Gum Gum!", Luffy shouted enthusiastically, bringing his fist back with his devil fruit powers that provided his body with elasticity, stretching all the way to where Alvida couldn't see clearly. "Pistol!", with the final announcement of his attack, he brought his fist back with such force, hitting Alvida in the square of the face and sending the hefty and bulky Captain flying off the ship and into the ocean.

Bringing his fist back, Luffy grinned at his triumph he shared with Arielle, who laughed as she turned her attention to him. "Oh my Luffy, you really have gotten stronger. What you did was awesome!", the girl with soft copper skin that glowed with the flames surrounding them complimented him enthusiastically.

Luffy's grin only grew wider with the compliment, "You were awesome too! You really showed her who was boss!", the boy with the straw hat took his turn to compliment his best friend in return.

"I missed you Luffy", Arielle smiled sincerely before pulling Luffy into a hug and he returned the hug back.

"I missed you too Arielle", he answered honestly, feeling himself somehow melt into her soft and warm hug that he missed for all these years he had never seen her. The moment was so sweet and so genuine, Koby didn't want to ruin it but he unfortunately had too.

Clearing his throat loudly, "Um, hello, you two", Koby interrupted, his body shifting awkwardly, "Sorry, you two. I think we should get going", he reminded them.

"Oh my, sorry Koby", Arielle apologized before she and Luffy looked at each other, chuckling softly before they pulled away.

The bright orange flames danced on the wood of the falling ship while the pirates of the former crew were standing there, watching the fight that went down between their fallen captain and straw hat pirate and the girl they took captive earlier, leaving them in awe.

"Anyone else got a problem with Koby or Arielle?", Luffy looked at all of them with a serious expression, asking them all sternly.

All that was in his answer with indistinct chattering with a few quiet no's coming from the crowd. Seeing this and satisfied with the answer, Luffy put his attention on Koby. "Come on", he encouraged him, "We're gonna need a boat and enough food for a few days", he thought out loud to himself as he walked away.

"Okay, I've got some food on me but I don't think that's enough", Arielle got her back out and looked at her food supplies, knowing it wouldn't be enough for a boat ride.

"Oooh! Can I have some please?", Luffy asked politely, his grin growing wide as his stomach was calling for food.

"Luffy, we need to save the food. Let's at least look in the ship before you devour something", Arielle scolded him lightly.

Koby watched the two start to walk away, asking the question, "Me?", he was confused. The two went out of their way to defeat Alvida and they were still showing him kindness, he truly had the choice to leave?

Arielle turned her attention back to Koby, smiling kindly, "Of course", she answered him, "You said that you wanted to leave Alvida's crew, right?", she asked him, knowing full well he wanted to get out the wretched woman's grasp forever.

"You're coming with us!", Luffy announced to Koby enthusiastically.

Taking the chance, Koby joined the two, finally starting his journey in experiencing the freedom he hadn't tasted in years after she took him in and used him as a servant. The two best friends went scavenging in the boat sinking boat for food and supplies for their journey ahead, while Koby helped the two, showing how eager he was to truly escape.

(𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫...)

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QUESTION FOR CHAPTER:

DID YOU GUYS ENJOY IT?

WAS MY FIGHT SCENE OKAY?😭

ARE YOU GUYS LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE OF ARIELLE AND LUFFY'S FRIENDSHIP?

EXTRA NOTES ON THE CHAPTER (ANA RANTS):

I'M FINALLY FUCKING FINISHED AFTER A MILLION FUCKING YEARS LATER!🥲😭

BUT ARIELLE IS BACK AND WE GOT SOME OF HER AND LUFFY TOGETHER!🥳❤️

I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP SO MUCH! THEY'RE SO WHOLESOME TOGETHER!🥹

I LOVE KOBY TOO! I JUST WANNA GIVE HIM A BIG HUG?😭

I TRIED TO WRITE THE BEST FIGHT SCENE AS BEST AS I COULD BUT I HOPE I CAN IMPROVE ON FUTURE CHAPTERS!🥲

BUT AFTER THE NEXT CHAPTER!

ARIELLE IS GONNA MEET ZORO!

I CAN'T WAIT AHHHH!

WHO'S LOOKING FORWARD TO SEASON TWO? CUZ I AM!

SEE YOU GUYS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! BYE FOR NOW!

LEAVE A REVIEW (OF THE CHAPTER OR BOOK IN GENERAL) HERE:

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