### **Chapter 4: The Torch is Lit**
**Windmill Village, 1507, Haiyuan Calendar.**
Two years. Two years of Garp's brutal, loving tutelage had transformed the secluded training grounds behind his house into a pockmarked testament to their progress. The air itself seemed to hum with spent energy, and the trees bore the scars of countless stray **Rankyaku** slashes.
Luffy, now seven, stood with his eyes closed, not in meditation, but in focused analysis. The system's chime was a private symphony of triumph in his mind.
*Ding. Congratulations, Host. You have successfully altered the fates of Roronoa Zoro and Kuina. Zoro's narrative divergence: +500 Alteration Points. Kuina's narrative divergence: +500 Alteration Points. Points accumulated and stored. Total: 1150. The future is now an unwritten scroll. Continue to shape it.*
A grin, sharp and calculating, touched his lips before he schooled his features back into a mask of focused intensity. The points were a currency of potential, a reservoir of power waiting to be tapped. But the real prize was the living, breathing assets now training beside him. He reviewed their status, a habit he'd cultivated daily.
---
**[Status Panel: Trio]**
**Designation: Monkey D. Luffy**
**Age:** 7
**Haki:**
* **Kenbunshoku:** Awakened (Adept - 65%) - *Precognitive flashes in high-stress combat. Range: 25 meters.*
* **Busoshoku:** Dormant (Biological Lock: Active)
* **Haoshoku:** Dormant
**Rokushiki Mastery:** (All Techniques Perfected Tier)
* **Tekkai:** 40% | **Soru:** 85% | **Kami-e:** 60% | **Geppo:** 65% | **Rankyaku:** 50% | **Shigan:** 55%
**Designation: Roronoa Zoro**
**Age:** 9
**Haki:**
* **Kenbunshoku:** Awakened (Novice - 8%) - *Basic danger sense, heightened during swordplay.*
* **Busoshoku:** Dormant
* **Haoshoku:** Dormant
**Rokushiki Proficiency:** (Beginner Tier)
* **Tekkai:** 10% | **Soru:** 20% | **Kami-e:** 4% | **Geppo:** 5% | **Rankyaku:** 9% | **Shigan:** 4%
**Designation: Kuina**
**Age:** 10
**Haki:**
* **Kenbunshoku:** Awakened (Novice - 12%) - *Sensing attack trajectories.*
* **Busoshoku:** Awakened (Novice - 15%) - *Can inconsistently harden her practice sword.*
* **Haoshoku:** Dormant
**Rokushiki Proficiency:** (Beginner Tier)
* **Tekkai:** 20% | **Soru:** 55% | **Kami-e:** 25% | **Geppo:** 50% | **Rankyaku:** 48% | **Shigan:** 34%
---
The biological lock on his Armament Haki was a persistent frustration, a cage his system couldn't yet break. But Kuina's awakening under the pressure of Garp's 'Fist of Love' was a promising data point. It proved the path was viable; he just needed the key.
The sudden silence that fell over their training ground was a signal he'd been waiting for. Garp had been recalled to Marine HQ. And with his departure, the timeline Luffy held in his memory clicked into place. This was the year.
"We're going into town," Luffy announced, interrupting Zoro's furious kata and Kuina's aerial **Geppo** practice.
Zoro grunted, sheathing his swords with a definitive *click*. "Why? The mountain's a better training ground. No distractions."
"A different kind of training," Luffy said, his tone leaving no room for argument. He met their questioning looks. "We're going to see a legend. And measure ourselves against the aura of a man who truly walks the Grand Line."
The door to Party's Bar swung open, cutting through the warm, boisterous atmosphere within. Makino, the young proprietress, paused her wiping to offer the three children a gentle smile. The source of the laughter was a group of rough-looking men lounging in a booth. And at their center, a man with a shock of red hair, a missing left arm, and a presence that seemed to command the very air in the room, even as he laughed the loudest.
"Wahahahaha! A bar's no place for kids!" a large man with a bandana chuckled around a mouthful of meat, his good nature evident.
The red-haired man, Shanks, turned. His eyes, crinkled with laughter, swept over them. They didn't just see children. They saw a green-haired boy with the fierce, unblinking gaze of a hawk, a dark-haired girl standing with the poised, balanced readiness of a master fencer, and a black-haired boy who stood between them, his expression unnervingly calm and assessing. Shanks's smile didn't fade, but the light in his eyes sharpened into something appraising and deeply curious.
"Incredible," he said, his voice a warm, easy rumble that filled the space. "What brings you three here? Looking for a taste of something stronger than juice?"
"The great pirate from the Grand Line, Red-Haired Shanks," Luffy stated, not a question but a simple, acknowledged fact. He walked forward, his steps deliberate. "We're not here for trouble. I intend to go to sea."
Shanks leaned back, his intrigue growing. "Oh? Going to play pirate? Or are you a little marine in the making, here to try and capture us?" His crew chuckled, but their eyes were watchful.
Luffy walked over, snatched a piece of meat from the plate of the large pirate—Lucky Roux—and devoured it before the man could even react. He then met Shanks's gaze squarely, utterly unfazed.
"I don't want to be a pirate," he said, wiping his mouth. "What's noble about being a thief? Taking what you want because you're strong enough to take it? That's just glorified bullying." He paused, letting the blunt words hang in the air. "And I don't want to be a marine. Too many rules. Too much red tape protecting the very rot they claim to fight. Justice shouldn't be something you have to ask permission to deliver."
The bar grew quiet. The crew's jovial masks slipped away, revealing the hardened, calculating veterans beneath. This was no ordinary child parroting adult words.
Shanks's smile turned wry, a glint of real interest in his eyes. "A critic with a moral compass. A rare thing in these seas. Then what? A bounty hunter? They walk their own line."
"No," Luffy said, his voice dropping, gaining a gravity that seemed to physically press on the room. "When I set sail, I will hunt the pirates who prey on the weak. I will challenge the marines who serve corruption instead of justice. I will travel every sea, see every island, and I will demand an answer from the world itself." He took another step forward, his small frame seeming to cast a larger shadow. "I will stand at the top, not as a king, but as a fulcrum. And I will change the world."
The silence was absolute. Shanks stared, his drink forgotten in his hand. The declaration was so audacious, so pure in its impossible scale, that it couldn't be dismissed as childish fantasy. It was a vow.
"Kid," Shanks said slowly, his voice low and stripped of all its earlier levity. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? The weight of those words? The ocean you're trying to boil?"
"I do," Luffy replied, his gaze unwavering, a deep certainty in his eyes that was centuries older than his body. "It's a path harder than becoming an Admiral, a Fleet Admiral, or even the Pirate King. It's a path of perpetual storm with no safe harbor. But I will walk it. I will keep walking until the world is remade."
Shanks's eyes gleamed, seeing not a child, but the ghost of a concept, a dream he'd once heard on the lips of a king. "Hah… you talk about changing the world. To the World Government, that sounds an awful lot like a call for destruction."
"There is no creation without destruction," Luffy replied, his voice cold and clear. "The old, rotten order must fall for a new one to rise. Yes, it will be painful. People will die. But darkness cannot be fought with more darkness. It needs a spark. It needs torches to ignite the dawn." He looked around the bar, as if seeing all the unseen struggles of the world. "The world is drowning in tragedy, repeating the same cycles of oppression and violence. It needs those torches. So I ask myself… why can't I be one of them? My dream isn't for a title. It's for a future where the people of this world can truly live, and laugh, in peace. Not because a king allows it, but because it is their right."
"Luffy…" Zoro and Kuina whispered, moving closer to him almost instinctively. They didn't grasp the full, terrifying scope of his vision, but they felt the iron-clad conviction radiating from him, and their loyalty was a shield they willingly offered.
Shanks looked at Luffy, a torrent of emotions crossing his face—amusement, astonishment, and a deep, profound respect. He saw the echo of a will he had spent over a decade waiting for, yet it was manifesting in a way he never could have predicted. It wasn't a declaration of war or a claim to a throne. It was a promise of a reckoning.
"So," he finally asked, his voice barely a whisper, yet it carried to every ear in the silent room. "What is your plan, little torch? How does one light this dawn?"
"I will sail," Luffy said, his plan unfolding with simple, terrifying logic. "I will see the truth of this world with my own eyes. I will gather strength and allies who share this dream. I will be just without being blind, kind without being weak. And one day, I will help the people of this world awaken to their own power." He looked directly at the straw hat resting on the bench beside Shanks. "I will sail not as a pirate crew, or a marine vessel. I will sail as the Straw Hat Adventure Group."
Shanks's breath hitched. His hand went unconsciously to the brim of the hat. His expression was unreadable, a storm of thoughts and memories. "An… Adventure Group?" he murmured, the words sounding foreign and revolutionary on his tongue. "A third path… Neither pirate, nor marine, nor revolutionary…" He looked at Luffy, and for a fleeting second, his gaze held the weight of centuries. "You aim to do what no one has ever done."
Luffy's smile was not one of joy, but of fierce, unwavering promise. "Someone has to be the first."
In that moment, something intangible shifted in the air around Luffy. A pressure, faint but undeniable, a ripple of supreme will that made the candle flames dip and sway. It was gone as quickly as it came, leaving behind a ringing silence.
And then, the moment was violently shattered.
"Hahahaha! Bring out the booze! I'm worth 8 million berries, the Mountain Bandit King, Higuma!" A drunken, swaggering man kicked the door open, his presence a foul stain on the room's atmosphere. "What're you lookin' at? Pirates? Think you're tough?" He stomped over, snatched a bottle from Shanks's table, and poured it over the emperor's head. "Pathetic. A bunch of cowards."
"Hey!" Zoro snarled, his hand flying to his sword hilt, his body coiling to spring.
Luffy's arm shot out, a bar of iron across Zoro's chest. "Don't," he said, his voice cold and preternaturally calm. His eyes were fixed on Shanks, not the bandit. "They can handle it. This isn't our fight. We can't make a mess of Sister Makino's place. There are civilians here." He was analyzing, understanding Shanks's game of concealment in an instant.
Shanks, drenched in cheap liquor, merely laughed it off, his crew following his lead with forced chuckles, de-escalating the situation with humiliating ease. The bandit, emboldened by their perceived weakness, strutted out with a final curse.
"Why did he do that?" Kuina seethed, her knuckles white on her sheathed sword. "Why did they let him?"
"They have their reasons. Go back to the mountain. Now," Luffy ordered, his tone brooking no argument. They hesitated, but the look in his eyes sent them moving reluctantly toward the door.
Luffy, however, did not follow. He waited a beat, then slipped out the back, his small form melting into the late afternoon shadows, his **Kami-e** making him a ghost. He trailed the bandit and his men as they lumbered toward the forest, his **Kenbunshoku** reading their vile intentions, their history of violence against innocents like a foul stench.
When the bandits stopped in a clearing to gloat over their "victory," Luffy stepped out of the treeline.
"What's this?" Higuma sneered, drawing his chipped sword. "A little brat come to claim my head? Run along before you get hurt."
"You prey on those who can't fight back," Luffy said, his voice devoid of anger, filled instead with a chilling, final certainty. "Your bounty is written in the blood of civilians. That account is now closed."
"Kill him!" Higuma roared, his face purpling with rage.
Luffy moved. **Soru.** He became a blur of motion. **Rankyaku.** A vacuum slash shrieked through the air, sending three bandits crashing into trees before they could blink. **Shigan.** His fingers, hardened to steel, pierced another's shoulder, disarming him with a spray of blood and a scream. It was swift, clinical, and brutal. His stomach churned at the visceral reality of it—the coppery smell of blood, the finality of his actions. This was his first execution. But his resolve was iron. This was the necessary, ugly cost of the peace he promised.
Seeing his men fall in seconds, Higuma's courage broke. He turned and fled, crashing through the undergrowth toward the coastline, driven by pure panic. Luffy pursued, a silent and relentless shadow.
"Little kid! Don't worry!" The shout came from behind. Shanks and his crew were arriving, having clearly deduced Luffy's intentions.
Higuma, desperate and cornered on the beach, stumbled. Seeing the monstrous head of the Lord of the Coast break the surface, he did the unthinkable. He hurled a lit stick of dynamite into the sea right beside the beast. "Hahahaha! Let's die together, you bastard kid!"
The sea king roared, its attention snapping from the bandit to the smaller, closer target—Luffy. It raised a massive head, jaws wide enough to swallow a galleon.
"Luffy!" Shanks shouted, genuine alarm in his voice now as he rushed forward.
But Luffy was already moving. With a final burst of **Soru**, he closed the distance to the terrified Higuma. "For the villagers of Goa," he stated flatly. His hand shot forward in a flawless **Shigan**, piercing the bandit king's heart. Higuma crumpled, his eyes wide with shock.
Luffy turned to face the charging sea king. He didn't retreat. He stood his ground, and for the first time, he let his will flare out, not to see the future, but to command the present. He glared up at the monstrous beast, and a spark of that same pressure from the bar—raw, unconquered will—lashed out.
**_"BE GONE!"_**
The Sea King, a creature sensitive to power and hierarchy, didn't just feel a physical threat. It felt the terrifying, nascent aura of a true sovereign. Its charge faltered. Its roar died in its throat, replaced by a confused whimper. It stared at the small, glaring boy for one long, terrifying moment, then sank beneath the waves in retreat.
Shanks skidded to a halt on the beach, his crew right behind him. They were speechless. They had seen the technique, the speed, the skill. But they had also felt it—that brief, shocking wave of Conqueror's Haki. And they had seen a Sea King, a ruler of the coastal waters, submit to it.
Luffy took a deep breath, the adrenaline receding. He turned to face the stunned Emperor, the bandit's body at his feet. The grim intensity faded from his face, replaced by a calm, composed expression.
"Mr. Shanks," he said, as if merely commenting on the weather. "It's been handled."