Rocks Pirates and Beginnings

_________ POV Narration_________

The story started on a ship... Well, to call it a ship would be an insult to all shipbuilders in the world.

Instead, it was a raft. 5 Adam Tress tied together in chains. A large mast was also tied in the middle of it, revealing a sail and a jolly roger...

The sail was made out of a mishmash of bed sheets and other stolen masts sewed together. It was painted completely black, with the word 'ROCKS' written in white in the middle.

That jolly roger was of a rather simple design, clearly drawn haphazardly, showcasing a burning red skull with flames that resembled two horns at the top of its head.

The skull from the Jolly Roger also replaced the 'O' from Rocks on the sail, giving their raft quite a bit of personality... At least that was what Francisco, their resident painter claimed.

"This is bullshit..." Said a young man with long golden hair as he picked his nose clean, he was floating along, tied to the ship by a small rope.

He was wearing regular sailor clothes, cheap stuff one could find anywhere off the streets, but the two swords at his waist were treasures indeed.

That man was none other than Shiki in his youth, the navigator of the crew, complaining about the state of their ship.

"Oh, c'mon! It's looking great... I mean, Rocks spent a lot of time putting this together, no need to insult him by calling it bad..."

The one to respond to him in a passionate tone was a slightly older man with golden hair, wearing a loose white shirt, black pants and boots. At his waist was a sheathed cutlass, yet another treasure.

It was none other than Francisco, the First Mate. His blue eyes shined slightly as he tried to look at the positive of their situation.

"No... This is certainly shit."

A tall and rather middle-aged-looking woman was the one to speak out this time around. Her hair was a mix of black and white, tied in twin tails to her back.

She wore a shirt that bared her midriff, a purple blazer and purple low-riding pants. She also had a pair of pink sunglasses.

She spoke out while resting on a small beach chair near the mast. Near her was also a large backpack with all of her medical supplies.

She was Dr Kureha, their resident doctor, as well as the oldest in the crew.

"..." Francisco couldn't really argue with her in any way, he also didn't know how to speak around her since she was technically around 80, so she might as well have been everybody's grandma.

No one was stupid enough to say that to her face though...

"Heh, see? Even Grandma agrees!" Well, almost no one. Shiki just had a way with words at the end of the day.

Kureha just gave him a sideways glance and sighed, pulling a large mace out of a bag labelled 'MEDICINE'.

Shiki noticed that and quickly tried to fly away while laughing, but the rope tying him to the ship prevented that, which led to him being made one with the ship itself, as Kureha turned him into a nail near the mast.

'I hope that one didn't pluck a hole in the ship...'

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"Hmmm... " Francisco suddenly stopped recanting his tale and looked at Shiki with a curious gaze.

"Now that I think about it... Kureha, arguably the best doctor in the world, might ironically be responsible for Shiki going senile first out of all of us... You know, with all the head trauma and all that."

The First Mate nodded as he spoke, Enel also seemed to agree with him, which only further annoyed the Golden Lion.

"Ah, shut up and continue the story!" Shiki thankfully stopped them from derailing further.

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While Kureha was using Shiki's head as a hammer to fix up the ship, Francisco whistled off to the side as he walked to their only other member at the time...

A gigantic man with a large moustache arching upwards and long golden hair flowing freely in the wind.

He was also wearing rather simple clothes, a white shirt, black pants and boots, and a black gigantic coat draped over his shoulders.

To his side rested a gigantic naginata, his weapon, Murakumogiri, yet another great treasure. For a crew sailing on a raft, they were rather rich when it came to weapons...

It was none other than Edward Newgate, ironically, the cook of the crew, at least until they found an actual cook.

Whitebeard was more of a multipurpose member for now, as he was also the Left Hand of Xebec.

He was just sitting at the side, drinking some sake while leaning on a few barrels, sometimes giggling whenever Shiki got smacked down again.

"Edward! Have you seen captain yet?" Francisco sat down near him picking up a bottle from the ground and checking to see if it still had anything in it.

"Nope... He's still not resurfaced... I honestly hope he drowns." Newgate said as he scoffed a bit and took another swig of his sake barrel.

Francisco sweated a bit when hearing that, before turning and looking at the sea with a concerned gaze.

Almost everyone was recruited after Xebec defeated them and detested him, with Francisco being the only exception.

Shiki was a pirate upstart that managed to get in Xebec's crosshairs. He didn't 'hate' Xebec, but he did dislike being forced to follow orders from him.

Whitebeard's case was a bit different though... He was a man trying to protect his hometown.

Xebec had managed to defeat him and made Sphinx part of his territory, which was a rather strange move for a rookie.

But Edward had no choice but to follow along for now, as Rocks had technically vowed to slaughter all of them if he disobeyed.

Kureha's case was similar, she agreed to come along in order to stop Xebec from slaughtering her kingdom.

He had basically held it hostage and forced her to sign a contract for life to be the 'ship's' medic.

Those were the highlights of Xebec's recruitment methods... He was hardly an agreeable man.

Francisco was only really able to see the good in him because they had somewhat grown together...

Regardless, the entire crew was waiting on their captain, Rocks D. Xebec, as he was off skinny-dipping into the sea. Or, 'Going Treasure-hunting, as he put it.'

Xebec seemed to have some weird obsession with finding hidden treasures. He found that the bed of the sea was the best place to look for stuff that was lost over time.

Alas, the bed of the Sea wasn't something that many could claim to be able to explore.

Thankfully, Xebec's body was strong enough to withstand the pressure of the ocean, and his lungs were good enough to allow him to hold his breath for hours.

To Francisco and the rest, their captain was well and truly a freak of nature by all observable measures.

They were already past the Sabaody Archipelago, and they had yet to meet anyone able to even put a scratch on Xebec while on the first half of the Grand Line.

Well... Except for Francisco himself, of course, who had already learnt Armament and Conqueror's Haki to a rather decent level of mastery at that point.

Still, that did raise a rather large question...

"How are you even putting up with this guy? You've no reason to be afraid of him. Hell, we could kill him if we all banded together..." Newgate sighed as he looked at the more agreeable Francisco as a more deserving captain.

"... I believe in his vision. He is to one day become the king of this world." Francisco simply smiled.

"King of the world... Huh?" Newgate just sighed when hearing Francisco's devotion.

The swordsman had gone along with everything his Captain ordered. Even if it meant endangering civilians and innocents. He was somewhat reluctant, but his loyalty was stronger than his hesitation.

He was a pirate at the end of the day. And he was also a man with a goal.

Francisco's goal was to help his captain reach his goal. And he was willing to do anything and everything to get it done.

He didn't shy away from splitting a village in two and cutting down a few civilians if it meant furthering his captain's interests...

'I just hope all of this is working towards furthering his plans...' Francisco simply smiled as he thought of the future, he hoped to see his captain's plans send ripples through the world.

But they were still rather early, not quite strong enough to threaten the established order.

Piracy was also not that mainstream, so it was hard for Xebec to find any meaningful crews to swallow and grow his power.

So, instead of wandering over to the next island and hoping to find something worthwhile, Xebec had ordered them to take a detour.

They were currently sailing across the red line, going in a straight direction, only keeping the boat straight thanks to Shiki's powers and rather skilful navigation.

Shiki's fruit was the only reason they were able to even stop the raft in the middle of nowhere, as they had no anchor for it, and it normally would've just been carried away by the waves.

Eventually, as the crew continued going about their business, the waters at the side of the ship rippled.

Francisco barely had the time to register that before someone jumped out of the water creating rather large waves all around him, Whitebeard scoffed before he turned his head to the side to avoid getting splashed.

Francisco just waved his bottle and pushed the water away before it reached him.

On the ship landed the half-naked figure of a darker-skinned middle-aged man, of about the same age as Francsico.

His upper body was bared, showing a multitude of scars, and his usually messy and spiky long black hair was now wet and pointed towards the ground.

What stood out to him the most was his back, which wasn't just filled with scars, his entire back was scarred over, almost as if someone had ripped out a large part of his flesh/skin.

He was wearing nothing more than a pair of black pants, he looked around with a large toothy grin on his face.

"Oy! You scum, prepare to hit land soon!" He shouted unceremoniously, not even bothering to talk about how his treasure hunting had gone, not that any one of his crew besides maybe Francisco really cared.

"Land? What the hell are you on about? There are no islands in sight..." Shiki scoffed as he dusted himself off.

Kureha seemed to have lost her previous mood already and stopped beating him, going back to her chair.

"Watch your mouth you flying rat!" Rocks immediately appeared in front of Shiki and slapped him across the face, causing him to tumble on the wooden floor of their raft and roll to the side, holding his burning cheek, spitefully looking at his captain.

Xebec probably noticed that spiteful look, as he then seemed to crack his knuckles, preparing to beat his subordinate into submission further.

"Now now... No need for violence." Francisco immediately tapped him on the shoulder, stopping the captain's rampage instantly, as the madman just scoffed at being stopped by the only other human being he really respected on that ship.

"Tsk, ruining my mood..." Respect was a strong word though, as Xebec still slapped Francisco's hand away.

But at the very least he also listened. Going away to get dressed properly, which only meant grabbing his coat, a black coat with their Jolly Roger embroidered on the back side and wearing it. He also put on a pair of shoes, but that was about it.

"... I'm sure captain meant that he wishes to go on the red line, prepare to bring us closer to it," Meanwhile, Francisco spoke to Shiki, who was still on one knee. He then went over to the navigator and extended a hand, trying to help him up.

"Don't need it..." Shiki instead stood up by himself while scoffing, leaving Francisco hanging as the First Mate ended up just retracting his hand and scratching the back of his head.

Shiki then went over to the mast and leaned on it, as he prepared to steer the ship.

Kureha also sighed, slowly getting back up from her chair and going over to Shiki with a bit of disinfectant and a cold patch.

She was rather quick to patch Shiki up, the navigator also didn't resist her in any way, only thanking her in the end.

Newgate in the corner just eyed his captain hatefully, only turning his gaze away whenever Xebec seemed to be turning in his direction.

Francisco could only sigh at the strained atmosphere on the raft... Alas, it was just the effect that his captain had on people, it couldn't be helped.

At the very least, their ship now headed straight for the Red Line, just as Xebec had ordered.

Eventually, they stopped, stepping on land, well, they first had to scale up the mountain, or at least they would have had to do that if Shiki didn't just float all of them up including the ship, parking it there as they continued their journey on foot, also at Xebec's orders.

"... So where are we going captain?"

Everyone was silent, not willing to interact in any way. So it was up to Francisco to try and make some sort of discourse happening.

"We're going to visit some old acquaintances..." Xebec's words ended there, and Francisco realised that it was useless to try and get more answers out of him.

After that, the rest of the journey was mostly in silence, with the crew just looking around the barren red line with bored gazes...

At least until 'it' came into view.

'A city? No, a village... On this part of the Red Line?' Francisco hadn't ever seen it on any map, so he was a bit confused.

Same for everyone else in the crew, everyone besides Xebec.

"There it is... Let's get going you worms, we have work to do..." Xebec's smile only seemed to widen more, becoming a bit crazed when seeing that village.

'... What is he planning?' Francisco and the others couldn't help but ask themselves that.

'I guess I'll have to find out, won't I?'

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Hope you liked the chapter! Sorry for the slower uploads lately, will try to get them back to the usual :)

Btw, I gave Whitebeard his signature moustache already, since I think he looks best with it ;))

And yea, I officially made Kureha part of the Rocks pirates. A non-combatant tho

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)