Chapter Text
In an universe in which Gol D. Roger didn't die of his illness, not much changes really.
He still makes an announcement that whoever finds his treasure may have it. The Great Pirate Age begins, and many souls venture towards the Grand Line in hopes of either finding the legendary treasure One Piece or defeating Gold Roger and laying claim to his title as King of the Pirates.
The World Government isn't pleased, trying their hardest to get rid of the threat Roger and his men pose. Yet in the end, they are forced to stop pursuing him. He seems to have no desire to share his forbidden knowledge with the world, so they have no choice but to let him be for the time being.
In a way everything proceeds more or less the same as it would have if he died.
That is, until a certain red-haired pirate decides to pay a visit to his old crew…
The Roger pirates were currently relaxing in Shakky's bar with Shanks and his crew.
They had to admit seeing Shanks, now a young man with a crew of his own and worth quite a hefty sum, made them feel rather old.
They still remember the little boy who would run around the deck with Buggy, laughing and fighting over the silliest things with his friend. Some of the pirates still wonder whether the two ever managed to figure out which pole is colder.
As such, the older pirates never stopped fussing over him, especially now that the Redhead had walked in an arm short.
“I made a gamble.”
The old pirates were baffled at his statement. What sort of gamble did Shanks make that could possibly be worth his sword arm?
“It was about Joyboy, I think I found him.”
Silence.
All the pirates of Roger's crew knew about Joyboy. That sometime soon he would return and a major war between the strongest forces of this world would begin.
The captain was the first to regain his composure following Shanks words. With a sharp glint in his eyes and a devious grin on his face he leaned forwards to ask Shanks something.
"Oh, did you, now?" What makes you think that?”
And so the young man started his tale of Foosha village. About a boy who loved to have fun and adventures. Who had dreams far too big for someone his size and desired to be the freest in the world.Who somehow managed to eat a legendary devil fruit,worth billions to the World Government, entirely by accident.
Once Shanks had finished his story he picked up his glass and drank it all in one go.He hadn't stopped once to catch his breath ever since he started talking and everyone could see just how much the man adored this child.
“In hindsight it was stupid of us to take the fruit into the bar knowing how big his appetite is but after a while I realized that maybe it wasn't dumb luck that convinced us to take it with us.”
“You believe the fruit chooses the kid?” Rayleigh asked, still not quite believing all of this happened to Shanks during his trip to the calmest of all blues.
Shanks nodded.
“Luffy was pretty down when I told him that he could no longer swim, but he was still rather excited about his new powers. I'm sure he'll figure out a way to use them for fights.”
Roger merely laughed.
Finding out that Garp's son had left the Marines to start a Revolution was pretty amusing but hearing about his grandson wanting to be the next Pirate King really took the cake. He could only imagine the different shades of red Garp’s face took on whenever the kid would make such an outrageous proclamation.
The boy would certainly take the world by storm once he was old enough to sail by himself.
Roger knew that he still had some years left in him. He wouldn’t bite the bucket anytime soon. But he also knew he wasn’t the youngest anymore. Luffy wouldn’t set sail anytime soon and who knows how long it’d take for him to challenge the World Government?
So once Shanks left with his men and most of his own men were sleeping soundly spread around the bar, the pirate king turned to his first mate and spoke, mischief filling his voice.
“Hey Rayleigh, how about we go for a vacation in the East Blue?”