Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Just off the coast of a small peaceful island was a small fishing vessel, two men sitting inside. The two were now pulling a fish filled net onto their boat. 

"Well, Sanji will be thrilled we caught this many." The long-nosed one of the two stated. 

"Shishishi I hope so! We should party we caught so many extra!" The other laughed placing a hand on his head to hold his straw hat on, flashing a toothy smile. 

"There is no way the cook would do that for us, we aren't Nami-swan or Robin-chan, we'd have to pay him.... unless we-" he said mocking the cook but couldn't continue as he was splashed in the face with sea water, sputtering to see what happened. 

"Nami!!" The strawhat beamed, leaning over the edge to see a beautiful orange haired mermaid. Her orange and yellow tail with translucent fins shined rainbow when hit with the sun, now shimmering where it poked above the water. "Hi!!"

"Hello Luffy." She started. "Usopp, you weren't planning on using me to get free food were you?" Staring down the long-nose. Before he can answer, Luffy jumps up holding part of the net of fish into view. 

"No Nami! We caught so many fish that we wanted to have a party!" 

"Oh! Shall I go and see if I can find Chopper and Robin and invite them?" 

"YES!" He bounced. "Though we have to still ask Sanji if he will cook for us. I'm sure he won't mind! What time should we meet at the docks?" 

"Two hours before sundown is fine and be careful when you head back....There's rumors that sharks are getting close to here." 

"Sh-Sha-Sha-Sharks!?" Stammered Usopp, "but aren't we too far north?!"

"That's what I thought. Robin is looking into it right now." Nami said resting her thumb and index finger on her chin deep in thought.

"I want to see a shark!" Luffy bounced rocking the vessel. 

"LUFFY! NO!!" Both Nami and Usopp shouted at him, then sighing. 

"Anyway just be careful and don't do anything stupid." Nami sighed giving Luffy a harder look than Usopp before diving back into the water making sure to splash the two teens. Now soaked they decided to make their way back to shore.

Tying their boat to the dock Luffy walked to a small building on the edge of the beach in the middle of the 3 docks the harbor had, leaving Usopp to struggle with there haul for the day. The building was sea green color, it had screen doors and a small house that connected to a rental shop that had a large open window with a counter to help customers. Luffy leaned his now damp body into the window looking around, he saw a couple surf boards and random machines.

"Oi! Franky! You here?" Luffy yelled into the building, shortly after a large man in a Hawaiian shirt and speedo with his electric blue hair is done up in something that looks vaguely like horns, emerges from a side door in the room. He was the owner of the shop who often fixed the fishermen's boats. He also rented surfboards, boats, or one of his creations. 

"What can I help you with today, straw-bro? Did you wreck the boat again?" He said

"No!....No, I just came to ask if you wanted to have a party with us later. We caught extra fish today." Luffy replied. Franky slid his sunglasses down before smirking at Luffy. 

"Yes! It will be SUUUPPPERR!" He posed. "Where at?"

"Hmm.." Luffy pondered, then his eyes lit up. "Oh! Down the beach, you know by the little grove of mikan trees?" He finished.

"Super! Well, I close at around 7, then I'll be over there" 

"Yaay! This is going to be so fun!!" Luffy said as they both smiled at each other. Suddenly a scream rang throughout the beach, causing the two to just stare at each other. 

"USOPP!" They both screamed before they ran towards the middle dock. 

"What? What happened?" Luffy questioned when they got to him. 

"Duh...Sha..." He stammered pointing a shaky finger out at the ocean. Luffy and Franky followed to where he was pointing. Their eyes going wide with a fire burning in them. Luffy's smile widened splitting his face. Just outside the small harbor was a dorsal fin knifing through the water. A shark's dorsal fin. Franky picked up the two teens throwing them into the nearest boat. 

"Franky! What are you doing?!" Usopp screeched. 

"Isn't it obvious! We are going to get that shark!" He replied jumping in, untying, and pushing them off the dock. Luffy and Franky each grabbed a paddle rowing with all their might. It looked as if the boat had a motor as fast as they were going. Usopp in the front of the boat trying to regain his balance looked over the edge. 

"Uh guys! We are getting awfully close aren't we... GUYS STOP YOU'LL HIT IT!" just before the boat hit the fin it dipped underneath the surface. Usopp started to panic, blabbering about not knowing where the shark was and this is how people die and the tales were right and they were all gonna die. While Franky and Luffy lean over the edges to try and see if they could spot it through the water. 

"THERE!" Luffy yelled. He and Franky grabbed the net throwing it over where Luffy thought he seen it. Suddenly Luffy felt himself loose balance falling into the water. Now Luffy hasn't been able to swim for a long time, but he still tried to hopelessly kick he felt his legs tangled in the net sinking him lower. He could hear Usopp and Franky screaming above as he tried to pull the net free. He was started to feel his lungs burn from his body needing oxygen. He was about to black out when there was a flash of green and strong arms grabbing him hauling him upwards. 

Chapter Text

The next thing Luffy knows he is coughing up water on the deck of the boat he originally was on. His lungs still burning he tried to catch his breath, gripping the side of the boat for support. When he felt more in control, he gazed up at the other two expecting them to be giving him that look he got whenever he fell in the ocean. To his surprise neither of them were looking at him, they were both frozen with bewildered looks on their faces looking past Luffy. 

“Wha-” he started as he turned around following their gaze. His eyes went wide and anything he was going to say he immediately left his brain. The silence continued as the three stared, and a silvery eye stared back. Luffy took it in, the first thing he noticed was the short green hair and three gold earrings jingled in the slight breeze. Then he noticed the multiple scars that were all over, one large one that went diagonally from shoulder to hip, and a vertical scar that intersected his eye, no longer having the ability to open it. He noticed how strong he looked, curious if he would spar with him, he wanted to know how strong he was. Finally, he looked down into the water seeing the strong tail, tiger shark, green in color with darker green stripes. He was the shark they were hunting and Luffy began to feel bad. As he stared at the tail, he noticed that there were three swords attached to his hip, impressed that he didn’t see a spot of rust on them. Then looking further down there were two harpoons stuck in his tail, just out of reach for the merman. They must hurt. He opens his mouth to ask for a name but before he could he got splashed by the merman diving back into the water. He saw the dorsal fin for a second before it finally dipped below the surface again. The silence returned. 

“What...?” Usopp says, snapping out of his trance. 

Luffy mindlessly poked at his plate that was in front of him going over the events from earlier in the day. He wondered if he’d see green-haired merman again or if he left because he thought he was being hunted. He knew about mermaid hunting and what people did if they caught them live. He and the village thankfully didn’t agree with those views. He took a bite of fish and slowly chewed. 

“O…K, so uh Luffy what’s wrong” Nami asked. She hadn’t been the only one that had noticed, in fact everyone was staring at him. 

“Heeeeeggh” was the only response they got from him as he deflated in his spot now looking at the sky. 

“Oh dear,” Robin said now looking at Usopp, “What did you do to him?” 

“ME?! Nothing!” Usopp responded flustered now that the attention was on him. 

“You were with him all day, no?” Sanji said as he gave Nami a peeled mikan. She smiled up at him eating a slice. 

“Well, Franky was with us too for a bit, but-” Nami interjected before he could finish. 

“Well, he’s not here to defend you, so spill.”

“I was getting there. We met…someone and they don’t want to be Luffy’s…friend." As Usopp finished his statement another ‘Heeeeegh’ came from where Luffy was sitting. Everyone blinked at Usopp and then a collective sigh, everyone content with the answer realizing nothing was majorly wrong and Luffy was being, well Luffy. They all went back to doing what they had been doing beforehand. Brook got up and walked over to Luffy. 

“You know Luffy-san that they will come around as they always do.” he said looking down at the younger man. Luffy sat up looking around. It was a beautiful night; they had plenty of food and a good fire going. Everyone was here minus Franky and Jinbe but Franky will be there soon. He remembered when Nami first showed them this place. It was a little alcove with two small entrances, one from the ocean and one from the Mikan tree grove. The trees were Nami’s, she was very fond of them so naturally they helped her take care of them. Other than that, the stone walls were high and domed over almost creating a cave, but there was an opening at the top so you could see the sky. They had added some couches and chairs; there were a couple rugs too since the rock ground got cold sometimes. Franky had also engineered a small drink bar and kitchen and added string lights for when it got dark. By the ocean entrance there was a pool that was pretty deep, so they often went swimming with Nami and Jinbe when he wasn’t so busy, well Luffy, Brook, and Chopper all needed floaties and Robin didn’t really swim but it was fun regardless. He looked around again and a smile broke out on his face; he let out a laugh and everyone smiled. Not long after that Franky showed up and it was a full-blown party. 

After a while Franky plopped next to Usopp with a thud. “Whew! The cook never fails that was amazing.” Usopp hummed in agreement. “So, did you tell them about…?” 

“Not entirely, I said we met someone…but not uh what. Luffy was still pretty deflated from it, so it wasn’t talked about much.” He sighs in response. 

“I see, I’m sure they’ll find out eventually. Not like it’s that big of a deal anyway.” 

“Yeah, I guess so, wouldn’t be the only freak in our show” Franky laughed loud at that statement. 

“Ain’t that the truth.” He said smiling watching Luffy and Chopper do some sort of dance, as Brook spun playing his violin. Nami and Robin smiled while watching the dance as they chatted at each other. Sanji was still cooking since Luffy had regained his appetite, he hummed to the tune Brook played as he threw more meat and veggies into a pan. It was lively, and fun. In his mind though, Luffy had a new determination and was making a plan on how he was going to make a new friend, he thought what a nice addition he’d make to their group. He smiled at that thought and continued to dance.