"HURRY YER ASSES!" The roar shattered the calm blue sea. A gun cracked from the upper deck. A circling seagull dropped mid-flight, a bullet through its chest, showering the deck in a fine mist of red.
"Stupid birds," a crewman grunted, wiping a spot off his nose. Beside him, a frail, pink-haired boy named Coby hauled desperately on a heavy rope. Sweat stung his eyes as he strained alongside a pirate three times his size. Together, they heaved until a massive iron anchor burst through the spray. Coby collapsed onto the wet planks, gasping, grinning in brief relief—until a heavy, iron-spiked mace slammed into the deck inches from his face.
Coby froze. The towering shadow of Captain Alvida blotted out the sun. Without a word, she stomped past him toward a group of men hefting barrels of cargo. Her whip cracked the air. A man screamed, then another, as the lashed crew scrambled in sheer panic. Out on the horizon, the ruined hull of a looted merchant ship sank beneath the waves.
Below decks, invisible to the chaos above, a small dinghy bumped against the hull. A young woman in a skin-tight black suit adjusted her cloth mask, leaving only sharp, calculating eyes visible. Her short orange hair fluttered in the sea breeze. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out a specialized saw-toothed blade, drove it silently into the ship's wooden side, and began carving a precise hole through the timbers. Beside her lay a stack of heavy, empty sacks, ready for loot.
Up on deck, Alvida's voice boomed again. "IF ONE OF YER STOLE MY GOLD, I'LL CRUSH YER HEADS WITH MY FOOT!" The pirates moved like possessed men, as their speed increased along with their strength lifting the weights of chests off the floor. Satisfied, Alvida turned to leave, pausing only when her iron-gloved hand landed on Coby's trembling shoulder.
"Get yer ass to my cabin," she growled low, then vanished into the stern quarters.
Coby swallowed hard, his stomach twisting into a knot, and dragged himself inside. The captain's quarters were vast and sparse: a heavy bed, a few stolen paintings, scattered furniture. Alvida sat on the bedframe, making the wood groan under her sheer mass. She rose, looming over Coby like a storm cloud, and backhanded him across the face. Coby hit the floor, his cheek burning as tears welled up.
"Who told yer to pull the anchor?!" she roared, her shadow consuming him. "I SAID YOU SERVE ME TEA!"
Outside, the men paused as they winced at the dull thuds echoing from the cabin, and quickly went back to work. Inside, Alvida raised her whip. Coby curled into a ball, clutching his arms over his face, exposing a streak of scar on his shoulder.
"DO I GOTTA REMIND YOU WHO SAVED YER WORTHLESS LIFE?!" The whip came down. Coby's desperate cries filled the room—until a voice shouted from the main deck.
"CAPTAIN ALVIDA! WE FOUND SOMETHING IN THE WATER!"
Alvida froze mid-swing. She dropped the whip, snatched up her colossal mace, and snapped, "Clean this mess." She strode back into the sunlight. Her white hat and blue jacket puffed in the wind as she walked. On deck, the crew had gathered around a large, barnacle-encrusted barrel floating in a wooden tub.
"There's something inside!" a pirate in a striped bandana yelled. Alvida pushed through the crowd. Her men shrank back as she raised her mace high above her head with one hand. The bandana-wearing pirate waved everyone back. "Make room for the Captain!"
She swung with full force. But right before the iron hit wood, the barrel exploded. Wood splinters blasted outward like shrapnel, peppering the crew and knocking some of them. Alvida howled in rage as sharp shards bit into her eyes. Her heavy mace slipped, crashing through the deck planks with a thunderous crunch.
At the cabin door, Coby dropped a teapot at the sound of the explosion. He scrambled outside, bursting onto the main deck and stopped dead in his tracks. Standing in the center of the splintered crater was a teenager. He wore a red sleeveless vest, blue shorts, and a weathered straw hat. The stranger threw his arms wide, stretched his back, and let out a booming laugh that echoed across the water.
"MAN! I SLEPT GREAT!" Silence fell over the ship. Dozens of hardened pirates stared at him, weapons drawn, utterly dumbfounded.
"You..." Alvida growled, stepping through the smoke, her eyes burning with pure malice.
The pirate in the bandana pointed his sword. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ATTACK HIM!"
Steel rasped as the crew charged. Alvida dragged her mace forward, her footsteps shaking the deck.
"DO… YOU… HAVE… ANY… IDEA… WHO… I… AM?"
The boy blinked innocently. "Uhh, who are you?" Alvida swung her mace in an arc. The mace's sharp spikes grazed the boy's cheek, drawing a cut as blood dripped down.
"Ouch! That stings!" Another swing from Alvida's mace came crashing toward him. He used his lanky body to dodge each attack, slipping past every wild blow, and weaved around the slashing sword strikes of Alvida's crew. Then, when some of Alvida's men moved between her and the boy, she didn't slow. She swung her mace at him anyway. Three of her crew took the hit instead. Their bodies were mangled and launched off the deck, crashing into the sea, their corpses riddled with holes as blood seeped into the blue water.
"HEY! What's wrong with you?! That's your crew!" the young man shouted as he looked toward the beast in front of him, still swinging.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THOSE RUNTS!" Alvida howled as she smashed her mace into the ship's floorboards. Chips of wood blasted everywhere, some flying straight into the young man's eyes as the sheer impact shook the entire vessel. He screamed, wiping at them. In that instant, Alvida lunged forward and grabbed him. Her massive hand wrapped around his torso like he was a stick. She raised her arm and flung him up into the air, ready to throw him into the sea.
The young man peeked one red eye open and saw the water far below.
"WOAH!" His eyes bulged. He flung his arms out and, in a terrifying moment, one of them stretched, his hand shooting out until it grasped the ship's hull. His body swung around the entire ship as gravity pulled him. Everyone below stared up at him in awe and horror. Alvida, instead of fearing his ability, watched him like a predator studying its next prey.
The young man landed in the doorway of the large second-floor cabin, right in front of the pink-haired boy. Coby gasped as the looming figure and the straw hat cast a shadow over him.
"Hey! I'm Luffy. Where are we?" the boy—Luffy—asked with a wide smile. Coby looked at Luffy's bright, fearless grin, then at the murderous glares of the crew surrounding them as they stopped their attack. Terror gripped him, but something about the strange boy's energy made him speak up.
"Y-you're in the E-East Blue!" Coby stammered.
"Cool! Got a boat? Mine got wrecked." Before Coby could answer, a heavy thud rattled the planks.
"KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, COBY!" Alvida roared, stepping into view. Luffy raised his arm and pointed behind Alvida while still looking at Coby. "Who's the big hippo?"
Jaws dropped across the deck. Many of the crewmen began to tremble.
"Y-YOU'RE CRAZY!" Coby shrieked, grabbing Luffy's vest in utter terror. "THAT'S CAPTAIN ALVIDA!"
"KILL THEM BOTH!" Alvida screamed as she charged. Pirates swarmed them, but Luffy quickly dispatched the mob by stretching his arms and whipping them aside, launching some overboard and into the ocean. Alvida rushed in next. She hurled her massive body forward and leaped, about to tackle them both, but Luffy grabbed Coby by the collar and jumped. Using Alvida's back as a springboard, he vaulted to the top of the cabin. Alvida crashed into the wooden wall as heavy splinters and timbers rained down on her.
"CAPTAIN ALVIDA, THE SHIP!" one of her men screamed, staring at the damage. Alvida slowly got up and approached him. She grabbed his head with one giant hand and tossed him overboard like a doll.
"I don't give a damn about this damn boat," she whispered as she continued to search for Luffy and Coby, leaving the rest of the crew who had witnessed the whole ordeal frozen in fear.
"THEY'RE GONNA KILL US! THEY'RE GONNA FEED US TO THE SEA KINGS!" Coby panicked on the roof, pulling at his hair. Luffy turned and bopped Coby lightly on the head, sliding him back. "OW! What was that for?!"
"You scream too much," Luffy said simply. He squatted to Coby's eye level, his expression softening. "Hey. Do these guys hurt you?"
Coby's heart hammered against his ribs. He looked at the scars on his hands, remembering the whip, the humiliation, the years of fear. He looked up into Luffy's honest eyes.
"Y-yes..." Coby whispered. "Every day." Luffy stood back up, a confident grin spreading across his face. "Then come with me. Join my crew."
Coby's breath hitched. Before he could answer, the roof beneath them shattered. Alvida burst through the wood, her massive mace coming down like a falling meteor. Luffy grabbed Coby and dove off the roof just in time as the entire stern cabin collapsed into splinters.
The whole boat shuddered as one of the floors caved into the lower decks. Many of the crew were crushed in the collapse. Below, the mysterious figure in black was nearly flattened by the falling structure, but she leaped to the side at the last second, still clinging to the treasure. As she looked at the wreckage, she felt something wet around her feet. Seawater was pouring through the hole she had cut earlier. She moved quickly, her pace slowed by the weight of the bags.
Meanwhile, at the top of the wrecked deck, Alvida and Luffy, with Coby behind him, faced off. Luffy hit the deck, spinning through a crowd of pirates and knocking them out with lightning-fast strikes. As he turned back to check on Coby, Alvida lunged from the smoke, sneering as she stepped over her dead men and the wreckage.
"A Devil Fruit power... You used a barrel to sneak onto my ship? What are you, some bounty hunter? You don't look half as tough as Roronoa Zoro," she spat.
"Who's Rorowa Zolo?" Luffy scratched his head. "Nah, my dinghy sank in a whirlpool, so I crawled into a barrel!" Upon hearing that, Alvida's forehead knotted, veins bulging across her face. The man who had destroyed her ship and killed most of her men was just standing in front of her, smiling.
"Coby… Why are you hiding behind that little runt?! Isn't it your duty to serve your captain?" Her voice was gravelly and furious as she glared at Coby, who was peeking out from behind Luffy. Luffy, seeing the exchange, turned back to Coby. He looked closely at the boy's face and saw not a loyal subordinate, but someone scarred by fear.
"Coby here doesn't wanna be in your crew anymore!" he shouted. "Isn't that right?" He glanced back at Coby with a reassuring smile. Coby squeezed his eyes shut. His whole body shook; his hands were ice cold. But he thought about the mysterious boy's words, and about his smile. Luffy didn't look or act like the pirates he'd known. He looked like a hero. A savior. With one gulp, Coby opened his eyes and stepped in front of Luffy, surprising him.
"Y-Yes! And I'm not going to be your dog again, you oversized water buffalo!" he shouted with all his heart, staring straight into the eyes of his former captain. His hands and legs still shook, but his feet held firm.
Luffy chuckled. His laughter echoed across the sea.
Alvida gripped her mace and, with a leap that made the boat lurch downward, launched herself into the air, weapon raised.
"YOU LITTLE TWAT!"
Coby stared up at her in absolute terror and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the blow. Before it could land, a hand grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back.
The mace smashed down onto Luffy's head.
The impact drove the already sinking boat even lower, cracking the floorboards beneath his feet and sending a shockwave of dust and splinters across the deck. Blood began to drip onto the wood.
Coby opened his eyes and followed the red drops up. The blood was coming from Luffy, who was still standing with the mace buried in his skull.
A hand clamped around the weapon's handle. Luffy's grip tightened, the iron groaning as cracks spiderwebbed across the mace's surface. With a sudden wrench, he ripped it free and flung it away faster than Alvida could react. Luffy, blood running down his face, raised his head and looked at Alvida. His gaze had changed.
Something seized up inside Alvida. She couldn't move. Under that glare, she felt a crushing weight bearing down on her, pinning her in place. Luffy's arm stretched out, snaking tens of meters through the air.
"A captain must protect his crew," Luffy said, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "I know a great captain, and he's leagues better than you'll ever be."
With a thunderous crack, Luffy's arm snapped back. His fist buried itself in Alvida's ribs. Unleashing his full power, the blow launched her into the sky, smashing through the ship's rigging and splintered timber until she vanished into a tiny glint on the horizon.
"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!"
Silence fell over the destroyed deck, broken only by the crackle of shattered wood and the gentle lap of the ocean against the hull. Coby stood frozen, his jaw slack, his breath caught in his throat. He stared at Luffy's back—broad, unyielding, bathed in warm sunlight.
The wind tugged at Luffy's red vest and rustled the straw hat hanging down his back. Coby's eyes sparkled, wide and shimmering with tears of sheer awe. The terror that had chained him for years dissolved, swept away by an overwhelming wave of admiration. To Coby, Luffy didn't just look like a powerful fighter; he looked like a god among men, an unstoppable force of nature who had shattered his nightmare with a single strike.
Luffy wiped a trail of blood from his forehead with the back of his hand, turned around, and flashed a wide, carefree grin. For the first time in his life, Coby realized he wasn't just looking at a pirate. He was looking at the man who was going to change the world. Luffy turned to Coby, his sharp grin returning instantly. "So! You coming or what?"
Coby stared at the empty sky where Alvida had been, then at Luffy. A genuine smile broke across his face for the first time in years. "Yeah!"
Minutes later, Coby and Luffy lowered a small stolen dinghy into the water. Just as they settled into the rowboat, a heavy splash echoed nearby. Luffy peeked around the side of the hull and spotted the orange-haired woman in black, frantically loading mountains of stolen treasure sacks into her own boat as her clothes were soaked with water. Their eyes met. The thief froze, a sack halfway over her shoulder.
"Hey, look! A friend!" Luffy waved cheerfully.
"Shit!" the girl muttered, immediately grabbing her oars and rowing away like mad.
"Well, she's in a hurry." Suddenly, a volley of gunfire erupted from the ship's railing above. The surviving crew members were leaning over, firing wildly down at them. "KILL THEM!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Coby shrieked, frantically paddling with all his might. Musket balls rained down, hitting Luffy squarely in the back—only to stretch his rubbery skin out like trampoline fabric and bounce harmlessly back into the ocean. Luffy threw his head back and burst into a roar of laughter as their little boat glided out onto the open sea, leaving Alvida's sinking ship behind in the sparkling blue waves.