1 Chapter1

The Cross-Brain and I once discussed that, as I had the 'best' Peggy Sue One Piece fanfic and they had the 'best' OC fanfic, one of us should try our hands at the Different Fruit fanfic. Well, here's my honest go at it. Hope it doesn't disappoint. Luffy is basically Professor Xavier from X-Men but with the body of a member of CP9. I hope he doesn't prove too overpowered to be interesting. Let me know what you think in the reviews!

A cruise ship sailed past a small whirlpool in the East Blue. With the captain and most of the crew occupied in the ballroom, a skeleton crew manned the deck. Two of the sailors were just shooting the breeze when one blinked and pointed off into the distance. "Are my eyes broken or is that a man riding a Sea King?" His fellow looked in the direction his shipmate indicated and squinted. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing something that wasn't there before taking a second look. He nodded numbly. "Well, what do you know? That is a man riding a Sea King." A tan young man, couldn't be older than 20 if that, was standing on the head of a grey eel-like Sea King. He wore a red vest, jean shorts, and a golden straw hat with a red ribbon. His sandaled feet were balanced perfectly on the sea monster's crown, keeping him dry and above the spray as the beast swam through the surf. The two sailors watched incredulously as the Sea King pulled up alongside the ship. With a mighty leap, the lad went from the creature's head onto the deck. The teen looked at the two of them and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "You didn't see anything." Then he walked through the door down to the lower decks as if he owned the place. The two sailors froze for a second before resuming their earlier conversation, the encounter they just had completely forgotten. Luffy withdrew his mind from theirs' after the mind wipe and acquiring knowledge on the layout of the ship. Erasing memories made him uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable as puppeteering or direct compulsion, but it still twinged his conscience. Not for the first time in the ten years since getting them, Luffy thanked whatever gods were out there that his powers belonged to someone with a conscience like himself. In the hands of a villain, they'd be catastrophic. The Mind-Mind Fruit was as simple as it was dangerous. Eating it granted the user complete control of their own mind and access to every mind in a kilometer radius. It would have been overpowered enough just by turning Luffy from the village idiot to a beyond-genius IQ with a photographic memory. But telepathy and mind control was part of the package too. If he so desired, Luffy could brainwash everyone he met into his willing slave, their every secret laid bare to him. Luckily for the world, Luffy had no desire to do any such thing. He just wanted to gather a crew of like-minded dreamers, sail the Grand Line, find One Piece, and become Pirate King. All with minimal usage of his powers… unless he or his Nakama was in true danger. Then woe betides the poor soul who went after his crew looking for trouble. Luffy shook himself out of his rumination and made for the kitchen. He hadn't had lunch yet, time to grab some food. Better hurry, though, that ship of pirates he sensed at the edge of his range felt like they would attack soon. He faintly heard the sound of cannonballs whistling through the air before the ship began to rock from the shockwaves of the iron balls impacting the water. Make that now. They were attacking now. Luffy found the ship pantry and ate as fast as he could chew. No idea where his next meal was coming from, best to eat until he was stuffed just in case. Once he couldn't eat another bite, Luffy rubbed his bloated stomach and idly scanned the minds on the two ships. There was one on both that drew his interest. On the cruise ship was a girl, Nami, who was a seasoned pirate thief. Luffy absorbed and reviewed a lifetime of memories with a second's effort and felt his heart go out to the indentured servant of Arlong. Maybe he'd go out of his way to help her. Plus she was a top-notch navigator, was going to need one of those for his crew. On the pirate ship, there was the cabin boy, Coby. Luffy could tell right away that the boy was a spineless weakling. But his mind had 'good bones'; there was potential there. He could be a giant rather than an ant; he just needed the right encouragement to grow. Calculating the next 200 moves in his head, Luffy planted a subliminal suggestion in Coby's mind and waited for the young boy to come to find him. Sure enough, while most of the Alvida Pirates, captain included, headed for the ballroom, Coby scurried through the decks to the entrance to the kitchen. "H-hello?" Luffy grinned and waved. "Hi there. I'm Luffy. I'm a pirate who snuck on board. What's your name?" Coby jumped, surprised someone actually answered. "U-um, hello. I'm Coby. Nice to meet you. I'm, er, one of the pirates raiding this ship." Luffy tilted his head. "Begging your pardon, but you don't look like a pirate. What are you, their slave, or something?"

Coby winced. "Just about. I got on the wrong boat to go fishing and wound up on Alvida's ship. I've been her cabin boy for two years now." "Why not run away?" Luffy asked, already knowing the answer but having to wait for Coby to give it. One of the drawbacks of mind-reading, conversations could get painfully repetitive or tedious as someone took the time to speak what Luffy had already sensed in their heads. Coby shivered. "I can't. Just thinking about it scares me. Alvida would come after me with her iron mace!" "So you're a coward," Luffy said bluntly. Coby hung his head. "You don't have to say it like that." "How else should I say it? Faint-hearted, craven, chicken-livered? You succumb to fear rather than overcoming it," Luffy said starkly but not unkindly. "If you don't like it, do something about it." Their conversation was interrupted by three of Alvida's goons walking in. "Coby! So you were hiding out here with this stowaway?" Coby dissolved into a babbling mess while the lead grunt pointed his sword in Luffy's face. "Hand over your valuables," he snarled. Luffy moved the blade to the side with his index finger. "I don't feel like fighting the riff-raff. Go get your boss and tell her a rival captain is issuing a challenge. And throw in that she's ugly as sin while you're at it." "Now why the hell would I do that?" the cur sneered, trying to straighten his blade with zero success. Luffy's finger was as immovable as the Red Line. Luffy looked into the goon's eyes. "Because I asked nicely," Luffy said, his voice cold as Death. The pirate saw something in those eyes that terrified him more than Captain Alvida ever had. Sheathing his blade, he grabbed the other two lackeys and raced for the ballroom. Coby gulped. "How did you do that?" he asked, amazed to see one of his main tormentors besides Alvida run off with his tail between his legs from just a look and some words. "Bullies are all the same. Once they realize they're dealing with a bigger fish, they lose all their bluster," Luffy said wisely. "So, back to you. What would you be doing if you weren't Alvida's henchman?" Coby straightened his glasses. "Well… I always dreamed I'd be a Marine. Catching bad guys, you know. But that's never going to happen." "Not with that attitude, it won't," Luffy replied. "If you want your dream to come true, you have to act as if it's a guarantee and every act leading up to it is just ensuring the inevitable. We are what we choose to be, after all." Coby gulped. "What's your dream then?" "Me? I'm going to be Pirate King!" Luffy declared with absolute certainty. Coby's jaw dropped to around his knees. "P-p-pirate King? Then, you plan to go to the Grand Line? Find One Piece?" "Yes and yes. Soon as I get a decent crew together and a worthy vessel," Luffy said, sensing an enraged presence start heading their way from the direction of the ballroom. Coby started waving his arms erratically. "It's impossible! Impossible I say! Every pirate in the world is striving to claim that title! Luffy will be killed before he makes it halfway there! It's impossible, impossible, impossible!" Luffy covered Coby's mouth and pierced him with a look that reached down into the rosette's very soul. "I know it's a dangerous path, and there's every chance I could die. But I'd rather die chasing my dream than live safe without one. Everybody dies, Coby. But until I do, I intend to live." Luffy leaned in. "Tell me, Coby, just how much do you want to be a Marine? Are you going to lay it all on the line, or are you going to just give up before you start?" A fire seemed to be lit in Coby's eyes. "You're… you're right, Luffy! I'd rather die alive than live dead anymore! I'm going to become a Marine and catch bad guys like Alvida! No, I'll catch Alvida myself! I-" The doorway exploded into splinters as a morbidly obese woman smashed a hole big enough to fit her bulk. "Who are you going to catch, Coby?" growled the unfortunately featured woman. Coby looked in danger of a heart attack while Luffy regarded the owner of one of the most self-absorbed, narcissistic minds he'd ever encountered. And he'd scanned most of Goa's nobility. Alvida regarded Luffy with narrowed eyes. "So… you're the 'rival' captain? I don't see your crew anywhere." "We all gotta start somewhere," Luffy shrugged. "I was just going to beat the stuffing out of you because I was bored, but then I met Coby. So now I'm going to kick your ass, dissolving your crew, and freeing him up to enlist." Alvida got a tic mark. "Coby! I'll give you one chance to redeem yourself! Who's the most beautiful woman on the seas?" Coby trembled as he looked at the woman who had bossed and belittled him for two years straight, but one glance at Luffy made him stand firm. "Not you, you ugly, fat, mean, old, WHALE!" he shouted in full voice. Alvida snapped, roaring her rage as she rushed at Coby. In the blink of an eye, Luffy stood in the way. A second later, there was a hole in the ceiling, and Alvida could be vaguely heard screaming her oversized ass off as she was sent express towards the sky. Luffy grabbed Coby and jumped up to the main deck. Luffy took one look at the assembled pirate gang and just didn't feel like beating up opponents so weak. Using his Devil Fruit to reach into their minds, Luffy commanded: "Sit down, shut up, and wait for the Marines to arrest you."

The buccaneers one and all sat down on the deck, placid as grazing cattle. Coby gaped. "How… how did you do that?" "Now why would a pirate tell a marine a secret like that?" Luffy teased. "But since we're friends, I'll tell you. I ate the Mind-Mind Fruit. I can make people think or do whatever I want. But I don't like using it in a fight cause it feels like cheating." While Coby marveled at that nugget of information, Luffy looked up as Alvida stopped rising from his uppercut and was reclaimed by gravity. Winding up the knock-out punch, Luffy hit her in the gut just as she was about to touch the deck. She was sent flying into the distance. Coby gulped. "Luffy… I'm guessing your Fruit and your freakish strength are unrelated?" Luffy dithered. "Eh. Yes and no. I read the minds of a couple of the strongest people on the planet when I was growing up. So I knew just what to do to get as strong as them. I had to put in the blood, sweat, and tears all on my own, though." "Ah." The two of them quickly prepared a rowboat and lowered into the waters just in time to catch Nami loading Alvida's treasure into her own rowboat. Luffy grinned at the shocked redhead. "Hi, there. I think we're both headed for the nearest island! MInd if we sail together?" Her answer was swallowed by the explosion of cannonballs hitting the water. The Marines had arrived, and of course, the protocol was to sink the pirate ship even at the risk of civilians. "Fine, whatever, just don't get in my way!" Nami yelled as she began to paddle madly. Coby mimicked her while Luffy just enjoyed the ride. 15 minutes later, the ships were out of sight and the boats slowed their mad retreat. "Now that things have calmed down, let's start over. Hi, I'm Monkey D. Luffy. I'm a Peace Main captain who just set out today." Luffy has his sunny grin while laying a hand on his hat. "I'm Nami. I'm a thief who steals from pirates. What the hell is a Peace Main?" Nami replied. "I'm Coby and I"d also like to know," Coby spoke up. "It's simple, really. Just as Marines can run the gamut from paragons of Justice to corrupt villains who abuse their power, pirates fall on a spectrum. At one end you have the Morganeers. The 'rape, pillage, plunder' type like Don Krieg or Saw-Tooth Arlong. Basically, black-hearted criminals who'd shoot a puppy or sell their mother into slavery to get what they want. At the other extreme are the Peace Mains. Free spirits like me who live for adventure on the high sea. Whitebeard and Shanks are excellent examples. And then, of course, some crews fall somewhere in between," Luffy lectured. Nami clutched her shoulder at the mention of Arlong, and her face reddened with rage as she realized the key point of Luffy's speech. "Wait… you're a pirate?!" Luffy nodded. "And proud of it. But like I said, I'm a Peace Main. I'm a 'good' pirate." "No such thing," Nami hissed. "Well, take our situation right here and now. If I were like the pirates you're used to, I'd have killed you and stolen that bag of treasure by now. Instead, we've had a perfectly civil discussion as we sail peacefully on our way." Nami came up short as she realized the truth of those words. "Well… maybe this conversation is just a ruse to lower my guard." Luffy's face lost all humor. Nami and Coby both shivered as the temperature seemed to drop 10 degrees. "Nami, if I wanted, I could do so much worse than kill you. Be thankful I"m not that way inclined." Nami gulped, unable to meet those cold eyes. "Whatever. Let's just get to the port and then we never have to see each other again." "As you wish." Luffy turned to Coby. "So, Coby, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Roronoa Zoro being detained at the Marine Base in Shell Town?" Coby nodded eagerly. "It was all over the news. The notorious bounty hunter captured! I can't remember what he was charged with, though." Luffy grinned. "Maybe I'll spring him. If he's a good guy. My crew could use a swordsman." Nami scoffed while Coby freaked out. "He's been imprisoned because he's a BAD guy! Luffy, you can't really be thinking of inviting him onto your crew! It's impossible! Impossible, impossible, impossible!" Luffy once again found himself covering Coby's mouth with his hand. "Coby. A bounty hunter turning pirate is not impossible. If you knew half of what I know about the world, you'd see how downright ordinary such a thing is compared to all the other 'impossible' things out there." Coby had nothing to say to that. They passed a couple of hours in silence, following Nami's unspoken course adjustments until they arrived at the dock of Shell Town. "See you never," Nami waved dismissively after she tied up her stolen boat.

Luffy chuckled and muttered to himself. "A month from now, you'll wonder how you ever lived a life without me as your Nakama." Deciding to give it time, Luffy nudged Coby. "So, ready to achieve your dream?" Coby gulped. "I'm really anxious. I don't know if I can actually go through with it." "Relax, you don't go chasing after pirates on day one. They'll start you out as Chore Boy. Should be familiar work to you!" Coby chuckled nervously. "Okay… I'm ready." They marched up the main road to the Marine Base. At the closed gate, Luffy clapped Coby on the back. "Well, here it is. Up to you now. Me, I'm going over to check out Zoro." Luffy walked the perimeter of the wall until he was directly opposite the exhausted but still powerful mind he sensed. Then, Coby for some reason still following him, Luffy jumped up to hang from the wall and look into the courtyard. Zoro had clearly seen better days. He was tied to a post in a way that bordered on the crucifixion. His clothes were dusty and bloodstained. He was soaked in sweat from the hot sun. Yet his eyes, glaring out from under his bandana, were resolute. Unyielding. Determined. Luffy wanted a man with that kind of conviction on his crew. Coby joined Luffy and gasped. "Green hair, black bandana, haramaki! That's definitely Roronoa Zoro!" A ladder clanked beside them. A little girl carrying a bundle shushed them with a finger and then swung from a cloth rope to the other side of the wall. Coby flipped out. "Luffy! He's going to hurt her! You have to save her!" Luffy gave Coby a side look. "I can safely say he won't. Trust me, I know him a hell of a lot better than you do. In fact, I know him better than he knows himself. He'd never even think of hurting a child." While Coby was confronted with the reality of Luffy's telepathic abilities, the little girl walked up to Zoro. "Hello, big bro! I thought you might be hungry so I made you some rice balls. It was my first time but I tried extra hard!" Zoro glared at her. "Don't want 'em. Get lost." Luffy sensed the incoming presences, deduced the likely outcome, and decided to intervene. "But I made them with all my heart," the girl said, hurt. "Are you deaf? Get out of here!" Zoro shouted. "Yelling at the air now, Zoro? Is the sun starting to get to you?" came a nasally, pretentious voice. 'Rika, stay very still,' Luffy projected into the girl's mind. She blinked but didn't move an inch. Helmeppo, the spoiled son of Captain Morgan who ran the Base, proceeded to mock and taunt Zoro, all the while oblivious to Rika's presence. He left with a sarcastic wave with his marine escort. Rika and Zoro both tilted their heads. "It's like they couldn't see me," she said confused. "Because they couldn't. I didn't let them notice you," Luffy explained, now standing in the courtyard near both of them. Zoro eyed the new arrival. "Who are you and how'd you do that?" "Monkey D. Luffy. My Devil Fruit made me psychic. I went into their minds and blocked them from seeing Rika here. And now that the danger's passed, you really should accept her rice balls. She made them with love, after all," Luffy encouraged. Rika looked up at Zoro with big puppy eyes. "Oh, all right! Give them to me." Zoro ate every bite, despite the use of sugar instead of salt. "They were delicious. Thank you very much," Zoro told Rika. Rika cheered and made to climb back over the wall, leaving the grown-ups to talk. "You read minds, huh? Prove it," Zoro challenged. "2001 losses," Luffy said plainly, making Zoro jerk at the reminder from his past. "So why are you here? Come to gawk at Roronoa Zoro all tied up?" Zoro asked once he recovered. "No. I'm here to free you. On the condition, you join my pirate crew," Luffy stated. Zoro blinked, then laughed out loud. "Thanks but no thanks. I have no intention of throwing my life away." "Join my crew, sail with me on the Grand Line, and you'll become ten times the swordsman you ever thought you could be. And you'll have a much better shot at the meeting 'that man' on my crew then you would be playing around here in East Blue." Luffy grinned diabolically. "Besides, Helmeppo is planning to execute you tomorrow. He never intended to honor your agreement. So your choices are me or a firing squad."

Zoro processed all that before smirking. "Are you the son of the Devil? Fine, you make a good case. Get me my swords, free me, and I'll sail with you. But know this! My goal is to become the World's Strongest Swordsman. Get in the way of that, and you'll apologize on the end of my sword!" Luffy returned the smir. "It would be embarrassing if the Pirate King's swordsman was any less than the world's best. I'll go get your swords. If I take a while, it's because I took a detour to kick the Marine Captain's ass. See ya!" With that, Luffy vanished in a blur of speed. Zoro waited patiently, hearing some kind of commotion on top of the base tower before Luffy came back with Wado Ichimonji and two ordinary swords. Behind him came a stream of celebrating marines. "What's got them so cheerful?" Zoro asked his new captain as the young man made to untie him. "The Captain, Axe-Hand Morgan, was running this island like his own private fiefdom. He ruled with an iron fist, demanding tributes, execution for innocent things, the whole nine. I kicked his ass into some butt-ugly statue he had built and broke both. The marines are cheering because they're freed from a tyrant. Watch them still kick me off the island since I dare to call myself a pirate," Luffy explained as he freed his first Nakama. Zoro, freed from the ropes, stretched to get some feeling back in his limbs. "Any chance we can have dinner before that happens? Those rice balls just reminded me of how hungry I am." "Three weeks, I'm surprised you're still standing. Sure, I know a great place." Luffy led Zoro to Rika's mother's pub, joined by Coby who had been informed of Morgan's and Helmeppo's sins by Rika. Once Luffy introduced himself as the vanquisher of Morgan, all three of them got to eat for free. Zoro leaned back and rubbed his belly after his 10th plate. "Nothing like survival food!" "Not that starving is worth the extra flavor but I agree," Luffy said, finishing his 9th plate, and deciding enough was enough. It's not like his stomach could expand or something. Coby rubbed his head. "I didn't do anything but I ate a lot myself." "It's no trouble! Anything for our heroes!" Ririka, Rika's mother, said brightly. Luffy ignored his knee-jerk offense to the h-word and turned to Zoro. "To answer the questions you're about to ask: it's just the two of us, our 'ship' is a rowboat, and our next destination is… Orange Town." Zoro blinked before nodding. "Right, right, psychic. So… how does that work exactly?" Luffy shrugged. "It's not that complicated. I can 'feel' every mind for a click in every direction. If I pay attention to one or a few, in particular, I can hear the thoughts going through their head at that moment. If I reach in and actively try to do something, I can do everything from learning their life story to make them believe they're an 8-year-old girl named Brittany from Mary Geoise. I mostly use it just to gather information, stuff like blocking Rika from sight makes me uncomfortable. I don't like messing with free will." Zoro rose a brow. "But, if you wanted to, you could be even worse than Morgan. You could have a whole island worshipping you as their god." Luffy winced. "Yeah. Which is why I trained my body so hard, so I don't have to resort to Mind-Mind tricks." "How strong are you, if you don't mind my asking?" Coby spoke up. "You sent Alvida flying! Your muscles must be superhuman!" Luffy chuckled. "Superhuman is a very low bar on the Grand Line, Coby. I'd give myself fair odds against a Vice-Admiral or one of the weaker Shichibukai. Against an Admiral or New World captain, I'd be a warm-up at best. And a Yonko, Sengoku, or Mihawk would squash me like a bug. But! Always getting stronger, still training every day. One of these days, I'll get strong as my Gramps." Commander Ripper walked in at that moment. Before he could open his mouth, Luffy was standing up. "We're going, we're going. Don't care that you're reporting this to HQ. Be a better boss than Morgan, okay?" Half an hour later, after being saluted away by Coby and the entire Marine Base, Luffy paused in adjusting the sail to turn to Zoro. "Zoro? I have an offer. I read the minds of a few New World swordsmen when I was a kid. There's also a force called 'Haki' that almost everyone in the big leagues uses. I can teach you all that the usual, slow way… or I can just copy it into your mind, the fast way. If that feels too much like cheating, I understand. Zoro considered it. "So… I'd just blink and be a better fighter?" "Well, you'd still have to train how to use it all properly. And your physical condition wouldn't improve any, just your knowledge and experience. But basically, yeah, a few years' worths of lessons crammed into a few seconds." Zoro got a shark's grin. "Do it." Luffy blinked, then prepared the memory packet and transferred it to Zoro's mind. The green-head clutched his skull. "GAH! You could have warned me about the headache!" "I told you I was cramming years of learning into an instant. I thought it was implied," Luffy fired back. Zoro moaned in pain for a few minutes while his brain assimilated all the raw information that had been dumped into it. He whistled when it all settled in and he had a chance to review it. "I was just a frog at the bottom of his well. I had no idea what a real swordsman could do." "Cutting steel, flying blade attacks, cutting steel with a flying blade attack, etc," Luffy listed. "I'm pretty sure Mihawk once cut a mountain in half because it got in his way."

"And Haki! So versatile! Observation and Armament, how does anyone NOT fight with them?" Zoro raved. It was times like this where the fact he was still a teenager, albeit an extremely mature one, shined through. "Well, except for the Marine elites and New World pirates, few know they even exist. Which is why it'll be such a surprise when the whole crew knows how to use both! Plus I have Conqueror's, not that I really need it with my Fruit, but still!" Luffy chuckled, caught up in his Nakama's enthusiasm. Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Who did you get these memories from? And if you know all about being a swordsman, why'd you recruit me in the first place?" Luffy shrugged. "Same people I got the Fruit from. For whatever reason, Red-Haired Shanks and his crew visited my island ten years ago. We became really good friends, and I accidentally ate the Devil Fruit they were carrying, no idea what it was. They were really nice, let me practice my new powers on them until they had to leave. So I have the collective experience of a Yonko's crew stashed in my brain. Plus my Gramps is Garp the Fist, so I know all about Marine fighting techniques and a bunch of juicy classified intel. As for why I needed a swordsman, quite simply, I'm not one. I'm a brawler, through and through. I might know how to wield a blade better than half the world's population in theory, but I have no desire to exercise it in practice. So I recruited you and now I gave you all the memories that I have that could help you be a better swordsman." Zoro nodded, turning to regard the sunset. "I see. Well, thanks for the upgrade. Even as relatively weak as I am right now, all this experience and technique will make me double or triple as deadly as I was this morning. Just have to work on getting fit enough to put all the REALLY good stuff to use." Luffy nodded. "Yeah. Not that we can really work out in a dingy or have any equipment. So I guess we'll have to wait until we're on land or we get a proper ship." Zoro nodded, yawning. "So, why Orange Town? What's waiting for us there?" "I've got my eye on a potential navigator for the crew. She's headed to Orange Town to steal Buggy the Clown's map of the Grand Line. We're going to help while I wind up the recruitment pitch." Luffy's eyes darkened. "She's already beholden to another captain, so we'll have to take care of that before we leave East Blue. Shouldn't be a problem for a crew as capable as ours, though." Zoro grunted, starting to nod off. "Great. Well, good night Captain." "Night, Zoro. Sweet dreams." Luffy grinned as his Nakama drifted off to dreamland. He had lost all sense of privacy from constant use of his powers, and one of Luffy's favorite activities was to peek on people's dreams. They were just so fascinating, unique to each person. Zoro… was dreaming that he was training in a field by carrying and cutting a bunch of boulders. That was a dedication to self-improvement right there. Luffy focused on maintaining its heading. Nami had long since left his range, but he knew exactly where she'd been headed, so it should be simple enough to catch up with her. He personally didn't need sleep. His mind was always razor-sharp and clear, the result of his Fruit's power. He grabbed a nap every few days to give his body a chance to recharge, but slumber was a quaint chore for him ever since he ate the Mind-Mind Fruit rather than a daily necessity. Luffy kept sailing through the night, eager to reach the next island and the next adventure.