Prologue: An ambition

In a quiet corner of a quiet sea, a quiet village known by its inhabitants as the Windmill village was experiencing a mostly quiet day. The key word of the sentence? Mostly. Despite the quiet nature of the Windmill village, cemented by how its biggest source of noise on average were its windmills, a pirate crew hailing from treacherous seas had called this particular village its base for reasons widely unknown. However, despite the presence of pirates in this quaint village, the current source of noise was actually a young boy pushing eight.

Currently, the boy stood on the figurehead of the Red-Haired pirate's flagship, the Red King. Although seemingly harmless, he had the conviction which few had in his age. His conviction was to become a pirate and to join the crew of the infamous Red Hair Shanks. Despite the fact that a child sought to become a pirate, the most questionable aspect of that situation was his method and how he planned to join the crew. Armed with a knife, he was ready to stab himself to prove how tough he was.

"Oi Luffy! What're ya doin' up there?! Geddown!" yelled captain Shanks, teasingly..

"Bite me! I'll prove that I'm a man, and then you'll take me with you!" replied Luffy harshly, riled up by the adrenaline. Makino had always disliked giving Luffy too much juice, and sugar was known to affect him.

"What the hell are you plannin' on doin' with the knife?" asked Shanks, laughing all the while. This only aggravated Luffy.

"You'll see!" he shouted, holding the blade against his face. As he pulled the knife back, the entire crew was gasping. They never thought that Luffy would injure himself. Right before he struck his cheek, though, he stopped himself.

'Why the heck am I doing this?' he thought. This was new. He never really did think about his actions and how it would affect others. He was always brash and did what he wanted, when he wanted, not caring for any consequence. Luffy simply dropped the knife, now bawling his eyes out. With teary eyes, he didn't see what steps he was talking, so he fell down from the figurehead, and cut his face on the knife that he dropped on the ground as he fell. The cut was just beneath his eye and had almost blinded him. The entire crew rushed to him, assessing his physical state.

"Luffy! What the hell was that?!" shouted Shanks in disbelief. He was one of the first people that rushed to Luffy. Seeing that he was alright, he regained his cool and his light-hearted spirit.

"Gahahahahaha!" he laughed, and later on, his entire crew joined the cacophony of all sorts of laughter and shouts. Luffy began sobbing once again.

'I couldn't even prove a point!' he thought. 'Or... was there even a point to prove? I was just gonna hurt myself, but laugh it off so they'd think I was tough, right?' he thought to himself, amidst the howls.

'No, I was just hurting myself needlessly. They would never have brought me along from the beginning. I'm too young, and too weak,' thought Luffy. He dried his eyes with his wrist now. 'Weak?! I'm not weak!' he puffed his chest at the self-deprecating thought before rationality struck him once again. Yes, yes I am. I'm only 7 and he's twenty years my elder, and he's thrice my height. I am weak,' he concluded. The thought was depressing but sobering. Rationality had never visited him in his short lifespan of seven years, so its arrival was very much appreciated, despite how harsh the criticism it came with was.

After the doctor stitched his face up in record speed, he stood up slowly, eyes dry and more determined than ever.

"I get it," he muttered. "I'm weak… I won't be for long, though. One day, I'll surpass you!" he yelled. The laughing stopped, replaced by a solemn moment of silence in acknowledgment of Luffy's pledge. Shanks broke the silence eventually.

"Luffy has become a man! After we're done with work, DRINKS ARE ON ME!" he shouted, gaining everyone's attention, and triggering another bout of howls and shouting. The men eventually resumed their work while Luffy watched them. After a while, when the last crate was loaded, the crew stormed into the tavern in their usual merry manner. Makino, the tavern proprietor, sighed smilingly at their happiness. Shanks slammed a wad of cash on the bar counter.

"Bring me all yer crates!" he yelled, increasing the hype within his crew. "Oh, and slip in some milk for lil old Luffy over there, huh?" he also ordered, only in a lower voice such that Luffy wouldn't hear.

"Comin' right up," she replied, as the entire bar was in high spirits now that everyone had something to drink. The merriment continued for quite a while before it got interrupted by someone kicking in the door, breaking it in the process. In came a rather greasy-looking bandit leader, followed by mountain bandits of all shapes and sizes. Luffy was about to yell at them for breaking Makino's door, but held his tongue, knowing that these guys probably meant trouble.

The man approached the counter, both hands in the pockets of his ragged coat.

"I'll make it quick. My men are thirsty and they want some booze. I need all yer stuff right now," he leered at the young bartender. Makino rubbed the back of her head with an apologetic smile.

"Uhm, sorry, we're totally dry," she told him.

"Then what the hell are these guys drinking? Piss?"

"They bought all of the alcohol we had stocked," explained Makino.

Shanks, who was sitting closely to the bartender, interjected.

"What's that? We drank all the booze? Oh, no, that's not good!" Shanks reached for a bottle and handed it to the bandit. "Here, take this one. It's unopened," Shanks smiled. He normally loved when people joined the fun and he was eager to make friends with this guy. The bandit leader didn't take kindly to what he said, though. With a swift motion, he slammed the back of his fist into the bottle, spilling the contents all over Shanks. The bandit cursed under his breath before going to exit the building.

Makino quickly rushed to clean it up, but Shanks was already picking up the fragments of the broken bottle.

"What a mess! Makino, can I have a mop?" he asked.

"I see you like cleanin', huh? Lemme give ya something more to clean," said the bandit leader. Upon hearing what Shanks had said, the bandit stopped and drew his saber before swiping it over the counter, breaking more glass which shattered and landed on the floor,

Shanks remained speechless as the mountain bandit sneered at the prone pirate. "I didn't know pirates were such pushovers. Almost makes me feel bad picking on yer lot," grinned the bandit leader. Luffy had had enough. He stood up and let the bandits have a piece of his mind.

"That's no way to treat Shanks! He's the greatest pirate ever!" shouted the young boy. The bandit leader's smile faded away. He turned around to meet the boy, who was standing on a table, eye to eye. The temperature had seemingly dropped as Luffy glared daggers at the mountain bandit.

"Eh? Kid, I could kill ya ten times over in the blink of an eye. I'll forgive you this one time if you apologize," he spat, intensifying his hold on his saber handle. Luffy was as furious as a seven-year-old could be in his place. At this point, Shanks, who was still soaking wet on the floor, felt the need to interject.

"Luffy, apologize to the man," he said, in a hushed voice. The bandit leader scoffed at his comment, but agreed with it nonetheless.

"Ya heard the pirate, runt. Apologize. Now," he growled. Luffy gulped before he began his 'apology'.

"I apologize," he began. "That your mother gave birth to such a jerk!" he concluded, causing the bandit leader's grin to disappear completely. His veins began gaining prominence in his forehead. He drew his sword completely now, approaching Luffy.

"Die!" he yelled. He swung the sword downwards. Luffy was directly in the path of the sword. Right before he was struck, he began regretting ever opening his mouth. Before the bandit leader even made contact with Luffy, Shanks had jumped right in front of him, using his flagon to block the sword strike. Sparks flew upon contact with the metallic flagon, causing the bandit to recoil.

The bandit leader began chuckling lightly.

"Hehehe, you wanna go, friend?" asked the bandit leader. "I was gonna teach 'im not ta mess with me, Higuma of the mountain, worth eight million berries!" he shouted. Shanks was facing the floor, but now that he was provoked, he needed to get rid of this guy. Slowly raising his head, he locked eyes with Higuma. In an intense staredown, Higuma suddenly began losing heart. Chills ran rampantly through his body as though he had just witnessed a monster. He lost hold of the saber and fell backward, unable to stand upright. He began crawling backward, away from the human demon that he could not avert his eyes from. His band of mountain bandits had already been knocked out senselessly from the wave of ill-intent.

"You… tried hurting my friend… die," mumbled Shanks. Without any orders, two of Shanks' crewmembers carried Higuma out of the tavern. With a single heave, they literally threw him out, making him land on the hard dirt road. Shanks was also walking out of the tavern. Ben Beckman, Shanks' trusted First Mate, handed him a flintlock. Shanks took it and pointed the gun at the prone mountain bandit, who was shivering vigorously.

"No… no, please, please, please, please, please!" pleaded Higuma. His wishes fell on deaf ears, however. Shanks held the gun up for a moment that seemed like an eternity for both parties. Eventually, Shanks pulled the trigger, and in an instant, Higuma's brain matter splattered on the dirt road, the pink from his brain was quickly covered in blood, giving it a red color. Higuma's facial expression was forever locked into place due to rigor mortis, and it showed the horrified face of a man that knew his death was upon him, regretting every second he wasted in his life.

Shanks turned his back at the corpse and motioned Beckman to retrieve his flintlock. Luffy looked around himself. Many bandits were lying unconscious on the floor, not moving. Shanks walked into the tavern and dug some money from his pocket. He slammed the money on Makino's counter before apologizing for the roughness.

"Sorry for the blood... and the door," added Shanks. Makino was all but paralyzed with fear. She gave Shanks a once-over before reaching for the money. Luffy's curiosity was only inhibited by his own shock, but he had managed to fight back, gulping before asking Shanks what had happened.

"Shanks... what...?" he gestured around the room, pointing at the unconscious bandits. Luffy already knew what had happened to Higuma, and he hadn't objected to it at all. After all, pirates killed bad guys, that much he knew from all of the stories he was told by Shanks, nevermind his grandfather's blatant lies. Luffy was wondering about how the bandits suddenly fell, and why Higuma suddenly lost heart so abruptly. Shanks looked down at Luffy, his stern and cold expression gradually letting up to show a warm and reassuring smile.

"Luffy, are you still serious about becoming a pirate?" he asked. Luffy nodded swiftly. Shanks took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, so as to calm himself down. "There comes a time when you need to show what you're capable of. To flare your strength for everyone to feel, and fear, if the need for that arises," said Shanks. Luffy blinked at the non-sequitur, which had absolutely nothing to do with the situation.

"That doesn't explain anything!" he objected. Despite the still-fresh blood on his shirt, the young man was chuckling.

The Red Hair pirates were all taking their part in cleaning the tavern, throwing the unconscious bandits out of the town, and disposing of Higuma's corpse as Luffy and Shanks conversed.

"It's kind of a big secret, so don't tell anyone, alright?" started Shanks. Luffy nodded vigorously. "Alright, here goes. It's called haki," said Shanks, confusing Luffy even further.

"H-haki...? What is Haki?" asked Luffy. Shanks took a deep breath.

"You read children's books, Luffy? Do any of the following words mean anything to you: 'Fighting spirit', 'presence', and 'intimidation'?" asked Shanks. Luffy nodded slowly. "The three different types of haki come in colors. The color of Observation allows one to sense a person without looking at them, hence presence.

"The color of Armament allows one to coat their body or weapons in a thick metallic, but bendable armor that one can materialize at will, and is used best when fighting," said Shanks.

Luffy scratched his head in wonder. Shanks raised his hand before suddenly making it black and shiny. Luffy touched the hand, noting how durable it felt.

"That's like metal, Shanks! Awesome!" he yelled. Luffy's yells stopped abruptly before noting something. "Then what you used was intimidation, huh? Or color of Conquering?" asked Luffy. Shanks nodded, ruffling Luffy's hair. "I wanna learn haki! Please teach me, Shanks! I promise I'll stop bugging you about joining your crew if you promise to teach me!" yelled Luffy.

"Er… It's supposed to be a secret, Luffy. Your grandfather won't ever let me hear the end of it if I tell you," said Shanks, concerned. At the mention of his grandfather, Luffy suddenly froze up and was unable to move or change his facial expression from anything but utter fear.

"Y-y-you k-k-know about G-g-gramps?" Luffy stuttered. Shanks grinned widely.

"Know him? The guy damn near killed me more than once," started Shanks. Shanks then continued recounting tales and adventures of the Red Hair pirates and their various run-ins with the vice admiral, Monkey D. Garp.

-x-

The whole event had transpired in minutes, despite it seeming like years. Luffy had watched it all. He wasn't disgusted by Shanks' course of action. In fact, he began to deconstruct it. Shanks had pure motives, and was, like any other human has been in at least one point in their lives, agitated. Besides, the mountain bandit had a bounty and was a legitimate threat to society. All in all, his death was deserved, nay, necessary for the good of all.

Luffy had always wanted to be a pirate. The first time he saw Shanks, he knew that he wanted to become one. The freedom to do whatever you want was beckoning him. When he first heard of the pirate king, his resolve only strengthened. He didn't want to be just any pirate. He wanted to be like Shanks, but eventually, he dreamt of going further than that. He wished to be more than what Shanks ever was. He wanted to become the pirate king. To become the king, he needed a quality that every king had. This quality is namely strength.

Luffy realized that the path to strength might not have been just to grow strong in the traditional sense of the word. He needed more than that. Physical strength would only take him ten per cent of the way, or so he hypothesized. He'd need a hell a lot of strength to get far enough in life, something that he would have to train years to achieve, and it still wouldn't be certain that he would reach his goal. He needed something not many people that sailed the sea had. He needed cunning, tactical genius and the ability to be three steps ahead of his enemies.

It was this day that Luffy decided where his strength should lie, and by the time the day of the Red Haired Pirate crew's departure came, Luffy had already somewhat matured. This was maybe his last moment with his idol Shanks, and he did his everything to suppress the tears.

"…and don't even think about coming with us, Luffy!" he taunted, sticking out his tongue. Luffy sighed shortly.

"I won't. I'll get my own crew, and my own ship and sail, and then I'll sail the seas with my own purpose. I'll learn how to swim in no time and then I'll be unstoppable! I'll be the pirate king someday, and that's a promise," promised Luffy, eyes glassy from all the tears building up. Shanks couldn't help but give a genuine smile. He removed the hat from his head and placed it on Luffy's.

"Luffy, this hat is more important to me than any treasure. When you become a great pirate, I want you to return it to me, but only then, eh, kid?" he said. Luffy pulled the rim of the hat downwards, hiding his eyes. The tears were running down his face rampantly, now. Sadness had mixed with joy as well as hints of anxiety. He was just a boy after all, and he couldn't help feeling sad that his idol was leaving him.

Luffy only managed to nod meekly, rubbing away the tears from his face. Shanks boarded his ship while Luffy waved him farewell, as well as the rest of the Windmill Village.

'I will become the king of the pirates, Shanks! You just wait and see!' he thought, before returning to the tavern, feeling rather drained emotionally from the heart-wrenching departure.

In a quiet corner of a quiet sea, a quiet village was known as the Windmill village to its inhabitants. Despite its regular silence, it was surely a village of beginnings, for it would be the starting point for Monkey D. Luffy's journey to becoming the pirate king. What would the seas have in store for him?

This was precisely what Luffy wanted to know. Ten years from the day he had witnessed Shanks take off from the Windmill village port, he, too, had taken off from the same port. It was the same port that his own brothers had taken off from three years earlier.

"I think I'll save brute strength for when I enter the Grand Line, otherwise it'll be way too boring and predictable... until then, let me test my cunning," Luffy muttered to himself as he rowed his boat towards the horizon. "It doesn't matter how strong or weak they are. Skill and cunning before brute strength. I'd say about... 10% of my total strength would be enough."

A/N: Why, hello, there! Well, here's the first redone chapter, the prologue. I hope it's better than the previous one.